...I also don't buy the argument that Amazon setting up shop here would transform the tech sector in NYC. It's already quite big, and it will never ever rise to the level of Silicon Valley. Google is expanding here as well, without the incentives. If big tech brings other tech, then it's already happening, with or without Amazon.
I don't know about that -
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-27/new-york-will-never-be-silicon-valley-and-it-s-good-with-that - It's getting close in terms of dollars raised, and while SF might have some great university talent coming out of Stanford / Cal - NY has no shortage of engineering schools Cooper Union, Columbia, NYU Tandon, CCNY and others. In addition to a lot of big tech presence, there are also dozens of incubators and startups. For example, there is an Incubator for NYC-based startups with Israeli Founders.
People forget that Bloomberg gave money to build NYC Tech on Roosevelt Island - which is connected to LIC - NYC Tech has a joint Cornell/Technion engineering graduate school and incubator.
So really the biggest incentive to NYC is primary and secondary jobs, and income tax. Of those 25K people - how many of their spouses would now work/live in NY? (You can argue that not all 25K would live in NY, but they'd still be paying NY income taxes).
Still, the person who benefits most is Cuomo - just my $0.02