Anable Basin today, where Amazon will build its headquarters. (Photo: Nathaly Pesantez)
Nov. 23, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
After a whirlwind week following Amazon’s official announcement to locate half of its second headquarters to Long Island City, Community Board 2 is now on the offensive, deliberating on how it can steer the project viewed by many as a done deal.
Members of the board’s Land Use committee mulled over the ways during its Nov. 20 meeting, after a representative from the city’s Economic Development Corporation presented an outline of Amazon’s future Anable Basin campus, and facets of the deal the company struck with the city and state.
“We’re very happy that Community Board 2 is one of our first stops for some information about the project,” said Nate Bliss, EDC senior vice president of development, later adding, “Certainly, a lot of ink has been spilled on this in the past week.”
Many of the committee members, however, first took the opportunity to express their bewilderment at the secrecy of the negotiations, despite the EDC’s constant attendance at land use meetings over the past year.
The waterfront properties where Amazon is set to build its 4 million square foot campus were both slated for significant rezonings for mixed-use developments by the EDC and Plaxall, respectively. They were a constant source of discussion.
The EDC had appeared multiple times before the committee in the past year to give updates on its 44th Drive project, then called the Long Island City Innovation Center. It even held a scoping meeting in September before Amazon’s bombshell announcement just months later that it would build on that very site.
Plaxall also appeared before the committee for a preliminary presentation on its massive project.
“Trust is a little compromised at this point in time,” said Lisa Deller, land use chair. “I just want to put that out there.”
Committee members also made clear that they were fed up with the agency, which they say has a history of failing to collaborate with the board on projects and for lacking transparency.
Bliss, however, insisted that the 44th Drive projects were being worked on in earnest, and that much of the talks with Amazon were up in the air until only weeks ago.
“That was not pursued under false pretenses,” he said of the prior waterfront project.
While committee members raised questions during the presentation about the project’s likely layout, the conversation shifted to strategizing at the end of the three-hour meeting—well after city officials left the building.
“How do we really have meaningful community input?” Deller asked the committee.
But she, like other board members, now felt torn between the impact participation would have on validating a process many locals considered a farce from the start, and pulling out from a chance to try to guide the development to work for the neighborhood, which residents have also expressed interest in.
Even within the committee there was a mix of positions on Amazon that made it challenging for the members to nail down how to best serve residents within the district on the matter.
Some pointed to the widespread opposition they’ve heard to the company being in Long Island City regardless of the city-state mechanisms that brought it, while others said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the plan.
“It’s probably a bit naive to think that you can redirect the flows of the waters of Niagara,” said Pat O’Brien.
O’Brien was also wary of what position the board should take at all during this point, given the limited information available on Amazon’s project besides the features written in the non-binding MOU.
“There’s nothing to support right now,” he said. “We don’t support concepts and ideas.”
CB2 Chair Denise Keehan-Smith
Questions were also raised on the Community Advisory Council and the other methods officials tout as ways the public can engage during the next 14 months that the state’s Amazon’s General Project Plan is drafted.
Denise Keehan-Smith, chairperson of the community board, vowed to not shy away from engaging with Amazon, the city, and state on the development, affirming that she will take a seat on the Community Advisory Council formed as part of the GPP process.
“I’m not going to shut them down,” she said. “I’m not going to close my ears to them.”
Her stance came moments after both Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and State Senator Michael Gianaris, vocal critics of the Amazon deal, announced that they had turned down participating in the CAC—their own strategy against the corporate giant.
After pitching ideas ranging from requiring Amazon to commit to an internal steering committee, to having a town hall in the middle of the holiday season, or doing nothing at all and avoid misrepresenting constituents, the committee decided to first draft a letter and then hold a town hall some time in January.
The letter, to be sent to the city and state, will identify concerns across the spectrum on A
Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer (left) and State Senator Michael Gianaris. (Photo: Nathaly Pesantez)
mazon in Long Island City, and the fact that the board cannot embrace or support the project given its early stages and community response.
The committee will then organize for a detailed presentation on Amazon and where the project is and isn’t during its next full board meeting in December to get the board and attendees up to speed.
A town hall with be held some time in January, with enough time to notify locals. The board will also independently reach out to Amazon to begin direct conversations with the company, which has already gotten in touch with the board and provided a contact point person.
The committee’s deliberations come as advocacy groups, elected officials, and more are also figuring out how to gain more control over the conversation on Amazon, and even put a complete halt to the company’s Long Island City move, through rallies, legislation and new opposition campaigns.
“I just don’t want to be co-opted,” Deller said. “I feel strongly about that.”
Update 11/27 – A earlier version of this article referenced a statement made by Lisa Deller, who said during the meeting that the LIC Partnership asked Community Board 2 to sign a letter of support for Amazon. Deller’s statement, however, was erroneous.
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11 Comments
Bypassing the City Council for a BACK ROOM DEAL with Bill DumBlasio aand Gov. Corruption Cuomo. is a great step toward TRANSPARENCY they talked about. (NOT). Crooked from the start. Both knew it would face scrutiny in the first place from the neighborhood and City Council, THE PUBLIC BE DAMNED IN NYC, as usual. Community Board #2 voices were not listened to about the 2 Luxury towers to be built on Jackson Ave. near the QB Koch Bridge overpasses near the Pepto-Bismol pink statue. SHUT this deal down now.
I think it would be great if the new Amazon HQ2 has a marina, and provide space for a not-for-profit sailing school for kids.
“Trust is a little compromised at this point in time,” said Lisa Deller, land use chair. “I just want to put that out there.” It’s under her watch and JVB’s that that hotels have been built in LIC and converted into Homeless Shelters. Trust is what we lost under your watch and that of JVB. We as a community never had any imput when DHS dropped hundreds of homeless in our neighborhood and overnight converted local hotels into homeless shelters. Lisa Deller you should step down, you represent the interests of the Real Estate industry and your Real Estate investors you represent as VP at the Asset Management Equity Fund.
Denise Keehan-Smith, chairperson of the community board don’t be like JVB. Stand strong in favor of good jobs and make a pitch for true affordable housing and good schools in LIC, NY people will come, move here and stay.
Here is how CB2 can help: just get out of the way. This deal will bring a 9:1 return on investment. Don’t follow in JVB’s footsteps, since he will protest until he gets his paper bag of bribes, then get in line.
After decades of CB2 bullying business owners and landlords. It’s no wonder there was no local input. Ever try to get a liquor license? or use your own backyard for commercial purposes? Nothing would ever get done with these short sighted out dated and out modded guard. It’s time for a big big change. It’s all finally coming home to roost! Term limits, regime change, zoning changes. Its all coming!! and fantastic. It’s time to say goodbye to the old guard and build build build LIC! Thank you AMAZON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ummmm that is the point. It shouldn’t be easy to get a liquor license. Using your backyard for commercial purposes? What a nightmare for a neighbor
Yes, but CB2 has been a huge barrier to the development and improvement of the area. Given that they are not elected, CB2 represents the changephobic dinosaurs of LIC.
SHUT This BAD DEAL for NYC/LIC DOWN NOW!!!!!! There is no way the Buses and Trains can handle the influx of people we already have here now!!!!!!
Another hand extended that wants to be “greased”.
Unfortunately, the real estate deplopers, Rockrose, etc. stand athwart the land that Plaxall controls. A giant along our waterfront, their prescence precludes true diversity, which Plaxall could embrace, as their legacy to the community.
1. A dedicated artists harbor, for shows, classes and small studios, would be a building or low-rise space that continues the tradition. Please consider this.
2. Plaxall has supported LIC’s non-profit kayaking activity, an exciting and innovative use of their corporate structure. Volunteerism as a value at it’s best. Let’s hard wire this into plans.
3. QueensWest corporation, who started the amazing enterprise of our waterfront revival with the State twenty-five years ago, must be plucked at and revived. Let’s get visionary input. Are they sleeping of hiding? Perhaps they are simply passive or fearful.
4. Diversify foodmarkets. Relations to a massive builder run One of on,y two markets. Foodcellar also has the major food market near the Court Square buildings. What gives with that? A Trader Joe, please. On my knees….(as I crawl over and back on subways, with my recycling bags knees are going fast).
There are a wealthy few builders directing our waterfront fate. That is not democratic, fair, nor interesting. This is New York, state and city, not a central planning Soviet era operation, right?