Queens Marie Kondos Amazon

Note to Jeff Bezos: ever hear the phrase "Democracy Dies in Darkness?"

To Review:

1. Amazon dangled a new big headquarters like a contest, weaponizing I imagine its own ambiguity about which area near Bezo's house would be a nice commute.  Cities across America fell all over themselves making proposals, many of which involved taxpayer subsidies. (This ludicrousness, angling for a pot of public money, also involved huge amounts of public salary time.)

2. New York "wins," a nearly foregone conclusion (isn't that Jeff's place over there), after hiding the negotiating process from the local governments and the public and a making a lot of backroom deals specifically to avoid controversy, and indeed, actual democracy.

3. Locals worried, rightly, that shady is shady, that this prosperity will not reach many or most of  them*, and that they will lose their apartments, friends and neighborhoods. Presented with an "inevitable" deal, unions, neighborhoods and local pols resist, despite the prospect of what is likely to be OTHER PEOPLEs considerable prosperity - a prosperity that will only disrupt their lives.

4. Amazon- somehow shocked by the booing?- abandons the HQ idea entirely, to Nowheresville in what is best described as a Press Huff. (Which means to me they were angling for a better deal out of NY all along.)

5. In the same Press Huff Amazon notes, huffily, that they will STILL BE HIRING IN NEW YORK.

6. Result: New York still has lots of jobs, Amazon is in NYC, NYC is still a democracy, and a lot of people whose lives are in Queens will get to stay in Queens.

Conclusion for governments: Surprise. Corporations are legally obligated to serve themselves and their shareholders.  Always assume that and negotiate solely with that clarity. And your public is an ally to major projects, not an enemy, in that it will demand honesty and good results. Start with the "they don't know what's good for them, so let's not tell them" and expect egg on your face. 

Conclusion for Amazon: Do not end run around democracy to meet a short term goal. You got the fear and contempt that you earned by avoiding the ordinary scrutiny of a democratic society, by refusing and attacking unions, by a dishonest lead up. The national scramble was based on giving fake hope to little cities. With a more long term attitude, you'd have an HQ2 and probably some reasonable indirect public subsidy by now. 

TL: DR
Well, Queens Marie-Kondo'ed HQ2. Also noting: according to its own Press Huff about uppity locals not understanding when a secret deal is best for them, Amazon is so apoplectic it's going to refuse to take the $3 Billion in taxpayer money and will continue to hire in NYC.