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The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast

Amazon Is Creating Cities for the Rich

When the megacorporation announced its new headquarters, many locals in New York and DC weren't happy.
Amazon boxes
Image: Ankita Rao

Amazon played a yearlong bidding game with cities across the US, gathering massive amounts of data and hearing proposals from locales vying for the possible influx of economic prosperity Jeff Bezos promised. Still, many were surprised when the Seattle-based company, valued at $1 trillion, decided on the crowded, pricey, quickly gentrifying neighborhoods of Arlington, Virginia, and Long Island City in Queens, New York.

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Since the announcement, locals have spoken out against the willingness of politicians like Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to give Amazon millions in tax cuts, as well as the stress the company's new operations will put on neighborhoods already struggling with high rents, spotty public transport, and a scarcity of healthcare and schools. Residents are also worried that the same thing that happened in Seattle might happen to them (which is likely).

VICE's news editor Matt Taylor joined editor Ankita Rao to discuss what could happen in Long Island City and Arlington now that Amazon is coming to town.

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