Amazon fever
As Pgh. and Philly vie, equal state support is vital
As actors say about the Academy Awards, it’s an honor to be nominated in the Amazon HQ2 sweepstakes. On Thursday, Amazon announced that Pittsburgh is one of the 20 places in contention for the prize of hosting its second headquarters, whittling down the list from 238 entries. Not to be snooty, but the good people of Brunswick, Maine, probably didn’t really think they had much of a chance.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has been pegged as a contender since Amazon announced the competition for its alluring new HQ in September. The rapid reaction from city, county and state leaders has paid off, and they should be congratulated for their efforts — even as this newspaper and others have filed right-toknow requests to discover the details of the proposal and incentives offered. The prospect of a $5 billion investment by the multifaceted company for facilities and the creation of perhaps 50,000 jobs over a decade is a transformational bit of economic development — even as reasonable people warn of possible downsides to rapid growth and the distortions of a “wealth effect” on a city’s social fabric.
Nevertheless, as problems go, too much job growth is a good one to have; most any city leader would relish the challenge. If Pittsburgh does win Amazon’s favor in the end, there’s every reason to believe that the region is up to the task of managing the consequences. Take the macro view: In the 1950s, the city of Pittsburgh had a population of 670,000. Today it’s a bit over 300,000. There’s plenty of room around here.
Another name in the Amazon Top 20 is the great city of Philadelphia, all the way at the other end of this long state of Pennsylvania and, in some aspects, worlds away from Pittsburgh in culture, history and distinct regional accents. But for the governor of Pennsylvania and all the levers of power in Harrisburg, there can be only one point of view: Pittsburgh and Philadelphia must be treated absolutely equally in state support for the bid as the next round gets underway. For decades, Western Pennsylvania politicians have carped about Philly holding too much sway over state matters, given the needs that come with its sheer size (1.5 million in the city, 6 million metro area) and its central role in Pennsylvania since the Colonial era. Gov. Tom Wolf has so far said all the right things. Pittsburghers should expect him to be scrupulous about equitable treatment for the Keystone State’s two largest cities, as one expects parents to love all their children equally (even if Philadelphia sports fans are sometimes rather badly behaved).
Overall, the frenzied process of courting Amazon has been good for Pittsburgh and all places making the bid — even if it has forced some civic leaders into desperate attention-getting actions (the folks in Tucson, Ariz., shipped a local 21-foot saguaro cactus to Amazon’s HQ1 in Seattle, but it was refused). Putting together the bid has galvanized people across the public and private sectors, and forced everyone to think about what’s great about Pittsburgh — and what could stand to be improved to attract economic development. Amazon will keep the show going, paring down the list until the big reveal sometime this year. At this point, there’s one mindset around here: Be in it to win it.