New York State Sen. Michael Ginaris Friday defended his fight to keep Amazon out of the Queens section of New York City, saying that when the online retailer comes in, "the community dies."
"Amazon needs to get ahold of what they mean to communities, and act responsibly," Gianaris told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "When they come in and take over a community like that, the community dies."
The lawmaker represents the Long Island City neighborhood where Amazon had initially agreed to build, before the online retail giant announced Thursday that it had decided to back out of the plans. He said he was concerned that his district would have been hit hard in the same way Seattle has been by Amazon.
"In Seattle, the local restaurants are dying," Ginaris told CNBC. "It's all insular to the campus. They go home at 5 o'clock. No one is having dinner in those restaurants."
Gianaris said he also opposed the $3 billion in incentives New York City offered Amazon to seal the deal for the HQ2 project.
"When Amazon, who doesn't need the money is squeezing the government for billions of dollars just to show up, we've got a problem," said Ginaris.
The project had been opposed by several liberals, including freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted his fellow Democrats for helping to tank the deal.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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