{"id":1429,"date":"2025-10-14T12:25:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T12:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/1429\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T12:25:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T12:25:22","slug":"in-ashes-of-amazon-fight-tensions-emerge-in-huge-bet-on-n-y-c-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/1429\/","title":{"rendered":"In Ashes of Amazon Fight, Tensions Emerge in Huge Bet on N.Y.C. Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

When New York wanted to lure Amazon to western Queens with more than $2 billion<\/a> of public money in 2018, an ascendant left wing rallied to defeat it. Progressive politicians, headlined by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>, condemned the move as a corporate giveaway that would accelerate gentrification.<\/p>\n

Seven years later, a much bigger project is on the table. This time it\u2019s not about granting hefty public subsidies to one of the biggest companies in the world. Instead, New York City is proposing a huge rezoning in the area that would allow private developers to construct almost 15,000 apartments across 54 blocks currently filled with warehouses and parking lots. A vote in the City Council is expected at the end of the month.<\/p>\n

The response from Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, New York\u2019s progressive standard-bearer and the Democratic nominee for mayor, has been unmistakably warm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always excited about the prospect of building additional housing,\u201d Mr. Mamdani, who also represents the area in the state assembly, said during a recent interview with Errol Louis on NY1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The contrast in tone, from both Mr. Mamdani and the left more broadly, reflects fundamental differences between the plans of 2018 and today.<\/p>\n

The Amazon effort<\/a>, with $1.7 billion in incentives from the state and hundreds of millions more from the city, was hatched by company executives and city and state officials<\/a>. The new plan, in contrast, has followed two years of open negotiations among civic leaders, city officials and residents, and puts a priority on benefits for New Yorkers like affordable housing and park space.<\/p>\n

But the shift also underscores how the left has increasingly changed its posture toward encouraging private development as a means to solve the city\u2019s housing crisis. It also highlights how Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has a more nuanced position on addressing New York City\u2019s housing crisis that is often overshadowed by his uncomplicated pledge to freeze rents on rent-stabilized homes.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Long Island City plan, Mr. Mamdani has spoken favorably about Mayor Eric Adams\u2019s push to unleash development across the city, otherwise known as \u201cCity of Yes<\/a>.\u201d In an interview<\/a> with The New York Times earlier this year, he said he now accepts that \u201cthere is a very important role\u201d for the private sector to play in building homes, acknowledging that it was a position he did not previously embrace. He has spoken about finding ways to reduce insurance premiums for landlords<\/a> and red tape for developers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he is generally a pro-development progressive,\u201d said Alicia Glen, a deputy under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was involved in the negotiations with Amazon.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mamdani\u2019s top opponent in the mayor\u2019s race, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, was one of the architects of the Amazon deal and has made private development a centerpiece of his housing agenda.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mamdani\u2019s campaign declined to answer questions about his position on the plan, pointing instead to comments he made in the NY1 interview on Sept. 25. A spokesman for his assembly office did not respond to questions about the rezoning, referring them to his campaign office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in an affordability crisis,\u201d Mr. Mamdani said in the NY1 interview. \u201cWe are in dire need of additional housing. And that housing has to be built all across New York City. I\u2019m excited to be the mayor that finally delivers that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The housing crisis is a top issue in the mayor\u2019s race. The city is dealing with the worst housing shortage it has faced in nearly 60 years<\/a>, and rents remain high, threatening the city\u2019s economy and making it difficult for average people to afford to live here.<\/p>\n

City officials hope that encouraging more development in Long Island City, which has good access to public transportation and offers short commutes to the corporate offices and tourist attractions of Midtown Manhattan, will be a big part of the solution.<\/p>\n

Already, parts of Long Island City are booming. After a 2001 rezoning, several towering luxury apartment buildings sprouted in the area, yielding almost 28,000 new housing units between 2010 and 2024 according to Planning Department data, and making the neighborhood one of the fastest-growing places in the country.<\/p>\n

The new plan would target blocks that were not part of the 2001 rezoning but are in the same general area. They have long been an alluring site for development \u2014 there have been at least five attempts<\/a> to build on portions of the site since 2015, including in the Amazon deal \u2014 but nothing has yet come to fruition.<\/p>\n

City officials estimate that a new rezoning, as currently formulated, would make way for 14,700 additional homes, including 4,300 restricted to people of lower incomes that would most likely rent at below-market rates. The plan would also add waterfront park space and create commercial space that could yield some 14,400 jobs, according to city estimates.<\/p>\n

It must, however, be approved by the City Council, which would all but require a go-ahead from Julie Won, the council member who represents the area. The Council traditionally respects the sway of the local representative, a practice known as member deference.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Ms. Won recalled being part of the opposition to Amazon. \u201cIt didn\u2019t reflect anything that our community actually needed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She recalled celebrating that plan\u2019s demise by smashing a pi\u00f1ata that displayed a picture of the head of the company\u2019s founder, Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n

Now, she said, she wants rezoning to move forward<\/a>, though she has not yet given the city\u2019s plan her endorsement. She said her support hinges on a commitment to more affordable housing than the city is proposing, a connection between nearby parks situated along the waterfront and improvements to local schools, public housing and sewers.<\/p>\n

She said that Mr. Mamdani has told her that he agrees with her \u201cred lines.\u201d In the NY1 interview, he said he is taking Ms. Won\u2019s concerns seriously, and that rezoning should be coupled with investments in infrastructure and an increase in connections along the waterfront between neighborhoods that have historically been split apart and segregated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are things I would examine very closely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Won said if the city doesn\u2019t change the plan in the coming weeks to address her priorities, she would reject it and work with Mr. Mamdani, should he win the election, to come up with something better. \u201cWe\u2019re together on this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Glen, now the founder and managing principal at MSquared, a development firm, said it would be \u201cna\u00efve\u201d to push the rezoning into the next administration, which might want to spend money on other priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough needle to thread,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Won\u2019s skepticism of the city\u2019s effort \u2014 echoed by activists and other constituents during Council hearings \u2014 illustrates the difficult position Mr. Mamdani is in. Many in his political base are wary of the involvement of private developers in housing solutions and prefer public investment, a dynamic that does not fully align with the city\u2019s plan in Long Island City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we are facing this level of housing crisis, I support only deeply affordable housing,\u201d said Mary Jobaida, a democratic socialist who has lived in Long Island City for 20 years and is running for Mr. Mamdani\u2019s assembly seat. \u201cNo mixed income. We need to solve the immediate problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Jobaida, who immigrated from Bangladesh, opposes the city\u2019s plan, as she opposed the Amazon development. \u201cOur fight continues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When New York wanted to lure Amazon to western Queens with more than $2 billion of public money…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1912,433,1917,1909,1915,1908,1910,1906,1914,416,1913,1907,1916,1919,1920,1445,1442,9,24,56,1911,63,122,1921,124,123,578,1918,1446],"class_list":["post-1429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-adams","tag-affordable-housing","tag-alicia-k","tag-amazon-com-inc","tag-andrew-m","tag-area-planning-and-renewal","tag-city-council-nyc","tag-city-councils","tag-cuomo","tag-elections","tag-eric-l","tag-gentrification","tag-glen","tag-julie-1990","tag-long-island-city-queens","tag-mamdani","tag-mayors","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-ny1","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-nyc","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-real-estate-and-housing-residential","tag-won","tag-zohran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}