LIC Landlord Left With 'Broken Heart' Urges Amazon Boycott

MIDTOWN – A Long Island City landlord wants a nationwide Amazon boycott after the company canceled plans to open a sprawling campus in the neighborhood – and left his own development plans in tatters.

Sammy Musovic, 55, protested the online retailer’s decision outside a brick-and-mortar Amazon Books outpost in Manhattan on Friday. Musovic, who also owns two Upper East Side restaurants, said he had borrowed money to renovate a four-story residential building in Long Island City in anticipation of Amazon's arrival.

Flanked by ten men with "Boycott Amazon!" and "Amazon Left Us!" signs, Musovic bemoaned his lost business opportunity, as well as the disappearance of the 25,000 jobs Amazon had promised.

“Musovic, after learning of the 25k six-figure jobs to be created in Long Island City, invested over a million dollars into his facility, only for Amazon to stand him up on Valentine’s day -- and leave him with nothing but the bill and a broken heart,” a press release reads.

Amazon announced in November that it would build one of two new headquarters in Long Island City, but aggressive protests of the nearly $3 billion incentive package it was offered prompted the company to announced Feb. 14 that it was backing out of the deal.

Musovic said he wants to convince Amazon to return to the negotiating table. "It would be historical for me if I could be the one to bring Amazon back. I’d be a hero," he told Patch in an interview.

The other protesters said they wanted the jobs Amazon promised. Now, they're boycotting the company for flaking.

Charlie Perry, a 21-year-old Harlem resident, said he had hoped to get an Amazon job to help pay his college tuition; Perry is a full-time student about to transfer to St. John's University. "I have to think about the now," he said.

Brooklyn resident Bruce Gladwin, 28, also had his eye on one of the new Amazon jobs; he has worked as a contractor in Amazon's warehouses and done deliveries for the company. "The city has jobs, but they're not making it reachable for the urban communities," Gladwin said. "We felt like Amazon cared about us."

(Lead image: Sammy Musovic speaking at an Amazon protest. Maya Kaufman/Patch)