The government was starting to stack against Amazon’s permitting needs. Permitting is already notoriously complex in NYC. From https://www.businessinsider.com

The government was starting to stack against Amazon’s permitting needs. Permitting is already notoriously complex in NYC. From https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-council-speaker-amazon-hq2-cancellation-2019-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-council-speaker-amazon-h... the anti-Amazon movement's best shot at stopping the deal was through the Public Authorities Control Board, which the deal needed approval from. New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, who has been highly critical of the Amazon deal, was just nominated to the board, and his "no" vote could have scuttled the entire project.