Amazon HQ2: Will Amazon Help Repair New York City Districts?

Amazon has apparently decided for two sites for its second headquarters: Long Island City, Queens, and Crystal City, Virginia.

Basically, Amazon made it as if it would only crown one win in the HQ2 competition. It would have brought 50,000 new jobs and add $ 50 billion to a city economy. Instead, these jobs and funds could now be shared between two sites.

An economic stimulus of $ 25 billion and 25,000 more workers could do wonders for Long Island City – an area that has recently begun attracting a growing population.

But New Yorkers are far from ecstatic about the decision. The locals in Long Island City worry about overpopulation in schools and sewers that support. Throughout the city, residents fear that more commuters can put pressure on an already fragile subway system.

Before a word discovered about Amazon's choice, New York City had a plan for its worsening subway.

In May, Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) revealed a $ 37 billion strategy to install a new multi-line signal system, add thousands of new subway cars and renovate old cars. The plan also featured an updated ticket method and hundreds of new lifts at subway stations.

There was only one question: Who would finance it?

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City claimed it was the responsibility of the state. A spokesperson for Governor Andrew Cuomo told the New York Times that the plan was "dead on arrival" without the city's investment.

Now the inhabitants ask : Could Amazon be the one to pay?

New Yorkers are Freaking Out

In the hours after the Times broke the news that Amazon could move to Queens, New Yorkers took Twitter to share their fear of the tunnel's future. People are particularly keen on the 7-line, which is the most direct route from Long Island City to Midtown Manhattan. Commuters say that the line is already crowded and delayed, with riders experiencing long wait for the platform .

According to Danny Pearlstein, Political and Communications Director at Riders Alliance, a Transport Response Group, these delays can be the result of "growing pain" associated with a new system.

While other metro lines have been around for decades, the 7 line is less than four years old. It also undergoes a signal rendering, as Pearlstein said was on the brink of being done. New signals will allow the trains to run closer, cutting delays.

But the addition of 25,000 new Amazon employees can challenge the reliability of the metro.

"The main question is whether the city can absorb a large influx of jobs when the transit system falls apart," said Pearlstein. "It can be capacity, but if it is not reliable because the signals are not working and the cars are too old, it does not matter what the capacity is."

If the subway stops dealing with apocalyptic conditions that the residents have predicted, it will be due to the government's lack of funding for the renovation – not the Amazon.

"The sweet spot in this proposal [HQ2] is that if people come to Long Island City from Manhattan, they go to rush hour traffic on the subway," said Pearlstein. He also noted that many Amazon employees can choose to live in Brooklyn and commute on the G-train, which has significant capacity. Given how many people who now choose to live in Long Island City, anyone may even be able to go to work.

Does not count on Amazon

] Although HQ2 leads to greater overpopulation and delays on the subway, Amazon is unlikely to help finance MTA's multi billion dollar overhaul strategy.

"Traditionally, some New York companies have not made direct investments in the transit system , says Pearlstein.

While many subway lines were originally built by private companies, the city took over these lines in 1940 before they ruled control of the state in 1968. Since that time, transit improvements in New York City have been funded by state taxes, fares, customs on bridges and tunnels, and debt accrued by MTA.

The idea that Amazon should suddenly enter and revitalize a broken system is unlikely – especially when the city and state have gone so far to woo the company in the first place. Last week, the city launched a spending plan that would consider building a new railway station in Sunnyside Yard, just two miles outside of Long Island City. The new drive may benefit Amazon employees, but thanks even more to the city's transit costs.

For its credit, Amazon has not shot away from transit investments in the past.

As the company expanded its workforce in Seattle (where the first HQ is located) to over 45,000 employees, commuter times for locals have grown longer. Last year, the Atlantic Ocean Ronald Brownstein reported that Seattle was adding 60 people to their population daily – the fastest increase the city has seen since Gold Rush. Seattle now has around 61,000 "super commuters" or people who spend at least 90 minutes at work every day.

Read more : Here's what New York promised Amazon to win it over

Amazon has helped with some transit investments – especially the purchase of a 5.5 million dollar running Seattle campus and a contribution to 1.5 million dollars to add more trips to the city's transit system. In 2016, the company also provided $ 110,000 to a ballot paper that will add more stations and light railways in 2041.

In its request for HQ2, the company said it contributed $ 43 million to Seattles transport industry from 2010 to 2017 in the form of employee benefits.

Even when combined, these investments fall from the $ 37 billion required to ease the pressure in New York City. With the city expected to be more congested, the number could climb even higher.

Although Amazon can not destroy the subway in the way some New Yorkers expect, it's also unclear to save the system.