EDC President James Patchett during City Council testimony with Amazon executives on Dec. 12, 2018 (Photo: William Alatriste/City Council Flickr)
By Rosa Goldensohn, THE CITY
This story was originally published on 08/28/19 by THE CITY
Just a dozen days after Amazon announced this winter that it would pull out of plans for a Queens headquarters in the face of raucous opposition, the local authority that had helped forge the deal sought help from a familiar face, emails obtained by THE CITY show.
Andrea Hagelgans, the de Blasio admininistration’s former communications chief, got a message from the NYC Economic Development Corporation chief of staff James Katz on Feb. 26 requesting a phone call about a “potential engagement.”
That engagement — cemented in April at $80,000 for four months’ work — was a reputational rescue led by Hagelgans at the public relations firm Edelman, which she’d joined in 2018 after leaving her City Hall job.
Her team signed up to lead a course correction in Amazon’s aftermath, the correspondence shows. It would enhance EDC’s existing press operation, rehabilitate the corporation’s wounded image and win future land-use fights against community and political opponents.
EDC spokeswoman Stephanie Báez characterized the hiring of Edelman as nothing out of the ordinary. “EDC carries out dozens of complicated projects that require time and attention,” she said. “As in the past, we’ve taken the straightforward step of engaging outside help to assist with capacity and strategic support.”
She did not answer questions about total billing, whether the contract would be extended or renewed or if the work was ongoing.
Edelman declined to comment.
Gearing Up for Future Battles
As part of its mission to generate jobs and revenue for New York City, the quasi-public EDC doles out public property and aid to private developers for real estate projects. Some depend on politically controversial land use approvals that require winning over community and City Council support.
That was the case with Bedford Union Armory, a massive apartment and recreation center project in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, currently under development by BFC Partners. EDC secured Council approval in 2017 despite vocal local opposition, but only after adding public dollars to the project and making other concessions.
EDC had never pushed a project quite as explosive as Amazon HQ2. When Amazon last November announced its intention to locate in Long Island City with the help of city and state tax breaks and other aid, left-leaning local groups and elected officials began to attack on multiple fronts — and the company shrank away.
The Edelman proposal from March, released to THE CITY under a Freedom of Information request, describes EDC’s “most urgent needs” as “capacity building and the preparations needed to weather and win critical land use fights.”
“We have designed a program that we believe meets your immediate needs while propelling NYCEDC forward as you work to shape the future of NYC for its residents,” Hagelgans wrote in an email to Katz.
The proposal also aimed to elevate EDC President James Patchett in the public eye, “building executive visibility.”
The objectives included positioning Patchett “as a fierce advocate for business growth and development,” and creating a “playbook outlining a strong defense to political or community-related attacks surrounding high-profile land use fights and other reputation risks.”
The strategy involved a “systematic, rapid-response approach to effectively navigate political and community-related opposition that could slow or stall progress” on such deals.
One tactic would take advantage of poll data from The Edelman Trust Barometer, which is “launched annually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.”
Controlling the Message
Edelman staff also told EDC it would attend public meetings, arrange sit-downs with reporters and help place “think pieces” for a “controlled platform on which to share NYCEDC messages,” according to the proposal.
The company would further recommend ways EDC could pay for advertising and sponsorship.
The “stories we want to tell” section of the proposal is redacted in its entirety.
Letters of agreement were quickly drawn up, and Katz looped in another consultant, Blake Zeff, who was tasked with “doing a deep dive with our staff and drafting an initial comms plan for EDC.”
State Sen. Michael Gianaris at an anti-Amazon rally in front of City Hall last winter. (Photo: Senator Mike Gianaris via flickr)
Katz wanted to make sure Zeff would work on publicizing the need for EDC more generally — “core branding” — possibly by capitalizing on the threat of economic recession.
The five-person Edelman team would focus on day-to-day press work, an initiative related to business incubation and an “in-depth assessment of risks related to high-profile land use fights and other reputational challenges.”
In April, Katz signed a deal for work through July totaling $80,000, including $420-an-hour billing for Hagelgans.
Not Buying It
Key Amazon opponents responded to the EDC public relations push with renewed frustration at what they described as a disconnect between the corporation and community.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), whose opposition to the Amazon deal combined with his position on a state decision-making board precipitated its demise, said EDC’s public relations efforts, and the money backing them, are misplaced.
“It’s the job of public entities like EDC to listen to communities, not to hire people to fight against them,” Gianaris said. “It’s indicative of the problem that existed from day one, that rather than have real engagement with the community, they signed a non-disclosure and they somehow think the problem was that they didn’t adequately convince people that the community is wrong.”
“If the lesson they’ve drawn from all this is that they didn’t spend enough time trying to manipulate the community to agree with them, then that speaks volumes about why this thing went sideways to begin with,” he continued.
Deborah Axt, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, which also fought the deal, said the hiring signaled that the de Blasio administration’s plan post-Amazon is “to shove those deals down our throats with more finesse.”
“It felt like when Amazon changed course, that the de Blasio administration had learned something about errors made in this process, so we’re disappointed to see these maneuvers.” she said.
“Community engagement is not a PR firm mobilizing what looks like grassroots support,” she added. “Community engagement is actually engaging meaningfully with real community organizations on the ground and re-envisioning the way that economic development could benefit those communities.”
This story was originally published by THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
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13 Comments
But repeated polls showed that “the community” DID agree with EDC and Amazon, particularly the residents of Queens. What “community” is Gianaris talking about? I guess for these pols, “community” is whoever agrees with their point of view. Everyone else is the opposition. https://licpost.com/new-poll-finds-queens-residents-support-amazon-in-long-island-city
Follow to yestetday’s post…Gianaris and Van Bremer we’re part of the posse that stop this giant cash cow and all the local improvements that would have come along.
Why is it that people who own nothing think they own everything and can say anything? Amazon came to realize it was hopeless against such public complainers.
What a mistake you electeds made and those who voted you in!
Steve- How many non tax paying companies that are making huge profits do you speak for? Does Bevos pay you for tireless advocacy?
You’re one of those “people who own nothing think they own everything.” I don’t care if they pay not one cent in taxes…the job growth they would have brought would have brought prosperity and new development incentives for others. Now what do you have? A motley collection of complainers who were “concerned” about gentrification when in fact we’re riled up by your big mouth elected.
Now those same elected have a cause celebre to rant about to get them re-elected.
It never ends…pathetic.
SteveS-You don’t know me or what I own. I do know you’re a Fox informed low performer that is obvious by your baseless post. Corporate America says thank you for donating your time and efforts to their causes. They’re not thankful enough to pay you for it although. That would certainly be foolish.
Go ahead, re-elect that clown AOC, cheer her on to fight for the little man like yourself. I most certainly know you don’t really make a lot just by your post, which imbues you with that public entitlement of owning everything, relying on govt for all else.
Score one for your mediocre-at-best kind by not having Amazon come in and trying to maintain the current motley patchwork of LIC land uses. Who cares if big biz pays taxes (and they pay most of them in this country…why the hell do you think why our real estate taxes are so low compared to neighboring counties/states?), they would have brought scores of high-paying (and thus taxable) jobs.
Oh no, we have to be victorious in keeping them out (cue: “Fanfare For The Common Man”), and keeping the streets filthy.
Steve _ I didn’t say I voted for AOC or whatever her initials are..I asked you a simple question. You’re screaming and carrying on as an advocate, so are they paying you or not?
Since January 2017, retail has lost more than 140,000 jobs; the sector added to those losses in March 2019, according to Labor Department data.
Major retailers shut shops across the US last year. A record 6,700 stores shut in 2017, according to Fung Global Retail & Technology, a retail thinktank. Macy’s alone closed 68 stores and shed 10,000 jobs. Drugstore chain Walgreens closed 600 locations. The Amazon effect too is hurting women more than men. Alongside store closures in non-durable goods – food and clothing for example – retailers are experimenting with ways to remove checkout positions, jobs where women dominate.
Amazon is not only not paying taxes its killing jobs and companies that were paying taxes and contributing to this great city and nation of ours. With all this money heading their way they could definitely afford to financially compensate an over opinionated and under informed loud mouth like you for your efforts.
Ah, you want to hang on to an old model (ala horse-drawn carriage industry)…street retail is DYING, just like the yellow-cab industry. You’re a dinosaur, and the asteroid is in the atmosphere.
Amazon is the model…Sears is about to close its doors bc it couldn’t see the future they owned: their catalogue had everything in it but they eschewed going on line with it.
Get over yourself, get over the old way of doing things…it’s forced obsolescence. Follow, lead, or stfu and get out of the way!
Ah yes so sad to see this totally normal and absolutely wonderful non tax paying company owned by the world’s richest man not get a free ride into the neighborhood.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-missing-piece-of-amazons-new-york-debacle-it-kept-a-burn-book-11567003239
I’m mad cause I didn’t get a chance to sell my overpriced apartment to an Amazon hipster!
Its farrrrr tooooo late…big-mouth AOC opened the barn door, the horse was let out and long gone! Who cares now, Amazon was the big fish!
If anyone thinks amazon backed out just because a then-recently-elected congresswoman asked amazon to pay their fair share a then AOC has more power than loser Joe Crowley ever had?
What a hypocrite Gianaris is, claiming developers & businesses don’t interact with the community that they are looking to develop in. When was the last time he reached out to the community or created a single job that was not paid by the public. This goes for Cortez and Van Bramer too. Everything is reactive with them, they don’t have the wisdom or foresight to be a community organizer let alone be vocal on business development. I hope the hell they stay out of the way for any further progress for western queens.