Community impact. Although I think that was part of it, and things like affordable housing were incorporated according to the deal makers. But Amazon wanted some of what you're talking about - access to walking distance housing options, easy options in Manhattan, and by NY standards easy access to suburbs for backyard living. Also a rich workforce and potential educational partnerships. PR was certainly meant to be part of it, and I think Amazon saw that tip from expected reward to expected risk very quickly.

NY competed and won the deal. A lot of evidence suggests most NYers saw it as likely a good deal, and many thought it could be a transformative deal if done right - for areas in NYC and maybe beyond, like LI. I suspect more NYers who favored it blame the progressive dem wing than Amazon, but I'm not sure that's clear yet. You can see why de Blasio would prefer not to blame the progressives.