• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 14, 2019

After being met with widespread resistance, Amazon just abandoned plans to build an East Coast headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York.

“After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward,” the tech titan said in a statement released on Thursday.

Amazon is blaming local and state politicians for ruining a plan that it insists had widespread support among New Yorkers.  

“While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project,” Amazon said.

The so-called HQ2 campus faced significant grassroots resistance, which was vigorously supported by the likes of New York City Council member Jimmy van Bramer and New York State Senator Mike Gianaris, among other local politicians.

Despite the promise of adding roughly 25,000 new jobs over 10 years, critics large and small took issue with the enormous government incentives promised to Amazon, along with the impact that the HQ2 Campus would have had on New York City’s already-taxed infrastructure. 

For the privilege of bringing HQ2 to Queens, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly promised Amazon nearly $3 billion in incentives. 

Mayor de Blasio expressed his disappointment with Amazon’s decision on Thursday.

“You have to be tough to make it in New York City,” he tweeted . “We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world … Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity.”

Amazon is proceeding with plans to build new facilities in Northern Virginia and Nashville, while shelving the search for new HQ2 locations -- at least for now.