Amazon Possibly Moving to Queens
While I love Amazon and I know having a warehouse in Brooklyn would mean I get my packages delivered faster, I also know that an Amazon warehouse in Brooklyn is not good for Brooklyn. Brooklyn politicians may be trying to woo Amazon to Brooklyn, but they are doing so under false pretenses. Deputy Mayor, Alicia Glen (pictured above) was on Channel 1 News talking about Amazon possibly being in the other four boroughs, but she left out Brooklyn. It looks like Amazon will be in an area of Queens called “Innovation Hub,” as that is directly across the water from Manhattan.
Mayor Bill deBlasio promised manufacturing jobs to NYC residents, but Amazon is not a manufacturer, it’s a warehouse business. The footprint Amazon will take up in Brooklyn will not bring enough jobs to the area. And while we have heard Amazon treats their warehouse employees better than other warehouses, former employees of Amazon have a lot of gripes.
If Amazon came to Brooklyn, there would be hundreds of trucks each day using the already crowded and stagnant roads in Brooklyn. Amazon trucks and employees will spend more time sitting in traffic than being productive. All Amazon needs to do is send a representative to drive on the streets here – they are horrendous because of overcrowding and poorly maintained streets. While other states try new methods to improve roads, NYC is using the old method of dumping asphalt and rolling over it. These patches break up after the first snow storm each season. No one has made any provisions for the extra traffic brought into the area, so people are constantly sitting in traffic.
More trucks means more pollution in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is already severely polluted and bringing more warehousing to the area would increase pollution. Again, politicians haven’t done anything to cut pollution in the area. “Sunset Park has high numbers of beneficiaries with asthma and other respiratory problems.” (NYC 2014 report) The politicians and business people don’t live in Sunset Park, so they don’t care what happens to the families there.
Amazon, the politicians failed to tell you that in July 2017, there were 60,856 homeless people, including 15,173 homeless families with 22,789 homeless children in NYC (source). NYC isn’t making plans for those 60K people. Thousands of homeless people are housed in Sunset Park hotels.
Amazon, although I love you, Sunset Park, Brooklyn has taken a beaten and needs time to recover from the city’s mess.
Hugs,
marlene
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