WARREN, Mich. – Earlier this week Amazon announced it was reversing course on plans announced in November for a new headquarters in New York City.
In a statement, spokeswoman Jodi Seth said, "After much thought and deliberation we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens."
Amazon noted in the statement that opposition from state and local politicians contributed to the decision.
The e-commerce company selected Long Island City, Queens and Northern Virginia to spilt duty as its second headquarters after a year-long search.
After learning of the decision Mayor Jim Fouts took to Facebook to make an appeal to Amazon to now consider Warren to be the home of its "HQ2" headquarters.
On Facebook Fouts posted:
"Amazon is cancelling New York City as a destination, so why not Warren? We already have the world headquarters of Cadillac leaving New York City for Warren. So, why not another world headquarters move to Warren? We have the best fund balance in the area! We are number one in Industrial Assessment in the metro area. We also have the best Fire Dept and Police Dept in the state. Our Fire Dept won the American Heart Association gold award for being the best fire department in the state. We have a highly-skilled laid off work force formerly from the GM Global Tech Center ready to work for Amazon. We also have 100% LED lights on all of our roads. We have a major roads project second to none. We have top notch sanitation vehicles and brand news bins. We are building two new downtown areas. We will soon have two new libraries. We have I 696 expressway with easy access to our other two major expressways ( I 94 and I 75 ). Those expressways give us easy access to Downtown Detroit and Metro Airport. We have 26 neighborhood parks. We have an administration that focuses on a clean and safe city. We have affordable housing and friendly safe and clean neighborhoods. We have a business friendly administration. Recently, we had a corporation in Rochester Hills that chose to move its headquarters to Warren rather than New York City. For all practical purposes we have the GM Tech Center which I consider the defacto world headquarters and the largest research and development facility in the U.S. and maybe the world. It employs 25,000 highly skilled professional employees. Lastly, our metro area has more than enough highly skilled workers to fill the new 25,000 jobs that Amazon will offer. Amazon, please consider dynamic Warren as your headquarters! You will not be disappointed!"
Amazon had planned to bring 25,000 jobs to the Long Island community, but many people living there took issue with the state and city tax incentives and Amazon's anti-union policies.
The e-commerce company said it will still be moving forward with Virginia and the opening of a hub in Nashville.
Amazon says it has no plans to reopen the search for "HQ2."