Fuggedaboutit: NYC's tech scene mourns Amazon but is ready to move on

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By Jason Abbruzzese

New York City’s growing tech scene was poised to receive a once-in-a-lifetime boost: tens of thousands of high-paying jobs.

Now, with Amazon having announced its cancellation of plans to build a sizable office in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, the city’s tech community — which has enjoyed years of growth and remains optimistic — is left to wonder what might have been.

“The cost of this rejection will be felt more in 10 years than tomorrow,” wrote Fred Wilson, a partner at New York-based VC firm Union Square Ventures and among the city’s most influential tech investors, in an email, “and it is the next generations of New Yorkers who are the biggest losers today.”

The issues raised by local activists and politicians about Amazon’s development mirror a growing national discussion about the impact of big tech companies on issues including inequality, gentrification and housing — raising some fears that New York City could miss out on jobs and economic development from big tech companies.

source: nbcnews.com