Court fight likely for city’s Amazon HQ2 proposal

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Astate order to disclose the Pittsburgh area’s Amazon HQ2 bid appearsbound for a court fight.

The city and Allegheny County law departments are reviewing appeal options after the state Office of Open Records said Wednesday that the development proposal should be made public.

“While we respect the decision ... we believe it to be in the best interests of Pittsburgh to file a legal appeal,” according to a statement Thursday from PGHQ2.

The group, a subsidiary of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, is shepherding the region’s proposal to land the second headquarters of the e-commercegiant, based in Seattle.

City and county officials have declined requests to share the bid publicly, citing competitive concerns, a nondisclosure pact with Amazon and agreements with private property owners.

Still, some other regions’ proposals have become public, at least in part. Pittsburgh news organizations including the PostGazette asked the state records office to force the local bid’s release.

On Wednesday, the office granted one of those requests — from WTAE-TV. The office gave the city and county 30 days to share the document or appeal the matter to county court.

“The surprise isn’t that we feel it necessary to see these documents,” said David M. Shribman, executive editor at the Post-Gazette. “The surprise is that these officials don’t want to share something that is clearly in the public interest — and of great interest to the public.”

The records office says the