How state lawmaker's appointment to obscure panel dealt death blow to Amazon's ...

A New York state lawmaker is being hailed as the man who dealt the death blow to Amazon's plans in Queens.

Despite freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's high-profile opposition to the Amazon campus in Long Island City, state Senator Michael Gianaris has emerged as the project's true vanquisher.

Gianaris, a Democrat whose district includes Long Island City, initially supported plans to bring Amazon to the area, but did an about-face after the deal was announced, criticizing the secrecy surrounding the negotiations and the nearly $3billion in taxpayer-funded incentives.

The tipping point came on February 4, when state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins nominated Gianaris as her appointee to the obscure Public Authorities Control Board.

New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, center, is seen at a November protest against Amazon moving to Queens. The lawmaker is seen as the force behind Amazon's reversal

New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, center, is seen at a November protest against Amazon moving to Queens. The lawmaker is seen as the force behind Amazon's reversal

The arcane state panel was set to vote in 2020 on whether to approve the financial terms for Amazon set forward by Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who both championed the deal as an engine for job creation and economic growth. 

Gianaris' installment on the board was seen as a sign that the state Senate was opposed to the deal, and sent Amazon scrambling for the exit.  

Concerned that Amazon could be in limbo for more than a year ahead of the state panel's vote, the growing consensus within the company was that it did not make sense to move ahead in the face of persistent opposition with a headquarters in New York City, where it already has 5,000 employees, two people briefed on talks inside the company said.

Amazon had no binding legal contracts to acquire or lease the land for the project. It could exit with relatively little pain, the people said.

Company officials also concluded Amazon could shift the jobs that would have been created in New York to other corporate centers it has across the United States, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Boston. Reopening talks with former HQ2 contestants did not make sense, the people said.

Gianaris blamed Amazon for

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