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NYC Mayor Rips Amazon Prime Day: ‘Perfect Day Not To Shop Amazon’

The mayor offered his definition of a true "prime shopper."

   DailyWire.com
AUSTRIA - 2019/07/26: In this photo illustration an Amazon Prime day logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday blasted Amazon Prime Day, calling it the “perfect day not to shop Amazon” and encouraging New Yorkers to shop locally.

“This is the day when Amazon tries to outgun every small business, every local retailer everywhere, and continue to dominate,” de Blasio said at his daily press briefing. “I’m saying something simple today. Today’s Prime Day, it’s a perfect day not to shop Amazon. It’s a perfect day to keep it local, to buy from your neighborhood stores. It’s a perfect day to shop your city, keep the money in our city, support our small businesses.”

The mayor said Tuesday is also the “perfect day to show solidarity with Amazon workers.”

“While Amazon has gotten richer and richer, their workers have not,” the mayor said.

De Blasio noted that Amazon has warehouses on Staten Island and is the borough’s largest private employer, adding, “We appreciate that.”

“What we don’t appreciate is repeated efforts by Amazon to stop unionization by the workers,” the mayor continued.

De Blasio made sure to include a pun in his attack on Amazon, offering his definition of a true “prime shopper.”

“To me, a real prime shopper keeps it local, keeps the money in our neighborhoods, helps working people directly, doesn’t put the money in the pockets of Amazon,” he said.

New York City is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the city hard in March and April of last year. The city is still down more than 500,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate is about twice the national average.

“A recovery for all of us has to include our small businesses. A recovery for all of us means keeping it local, keeping money in our communities, community jobs, mom and pop stores, family businesses that have been around for generations, the backbone of our city, the heart and soul of our neighborhoods,” de Blasio said.

Also on Monday, the mayor announced a new program, “NYC Business Quick Start,” which de Blasio said is intended to “make New York City the easiest place in America to start a business.”

“We’ve created a small business concierge. Literally, you want to open a business? You call the city of New York, you get a specific person, a facilitator, someone who’s going to be with you the whole way through to cut the red-tape to make it simple, to get you answers and to get the doors of your business open,” the mayor said.

The program will be funded with $11 million and will be a collaboration between 100 city workers from a group of city agencies. It has a guaranteed 48-hour response time to all small business inquiries, which is meant to cut the processing time by 50%.

The Democratic mayoral primary to elect de Blasio’s successor will be held Tuesday. Voters will head to the polls for the general election on November 2.

Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a former NYPD captain, currently leads the race over Andrew Yang and several other candidates.

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