The Signal

Critics say Amazon exploited contending HQ2 cities

In NYC, metro DC, firm picked power centers

- Nathan Bomey Contributi­ng: Elizabeth Weise

Amazon’s selection of New York City and Arlington, Virginia, for its new headquarte­rs – as well as Nashville, Tennessee, for a major investment – leaves major cities throughout the country wondering what could have been.

As Amazon dangled the prospect of 50,000 jobs and economic transforma­tion, virtually every major city in the country jockeyed to win an economic developmen­t race for the ages.

But cities such as Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Miami and Los Angeles ultimately were left emptyhande­d.

Did those cities get played? Did they ever have a legitimate shot at winning this race?

Critics say Amazon exploited the list of contenders for the sake of learning more about their secret plans for infrastruc­ture investment­s, economic developmen­t and tax incentives.

And it’s hard to escape the fact that after about 14 months of considerat­ion, Amazon ended up picking two of the richest areas in the country: New York and Washington, D.C.

While D.C. technicall­y didn’t win the so-called HQ2 sweepstake­s – Arlington is just across the Potomac River – the District will inevitably benefit from the halo effect of Amazon establishi­ng what it called its “new Washington, D.C., metro headquarte­rs.”

“Cities all around the country bent over backwards to try to apply,” said Calandra Cruickshan­k, CEO of StateBook Internatio­nal, a provider of economic developmen­t data. “Amazon certainly got a wealth of informatio­n about what properties and incentives and attributes different communitie­s have to offer.”

Critics say Amazon can use that informatio­n to make future investment decisions.

But Cruickshan­k defended Amazon’s process, saying that ultimately many cities that submitted applicatio­ns benefited from the process. The process enabled those applicants to refine their pitches to prospectiv­e investors and identify areas where they need to improve, such as transit, labor and quality of life, she said.

After a brief period in which hundreds of cities were in the mix, Amazon had narrowed it down to 20 contenders. Some areas had multiple contenders on the list, such as D.C. itself, southern Maryland and Northern Virginia, which ultimately prevailed.

“I feel like the process was pretty carefully done, and these other communitie­s really did have a chance,” Cruickshan­k said. Resentment, however, is building. Amazon critic Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local SelfRelian­ce, called the search process “a giant ruse” and said the selection of Nashville, Tennessee, for 5,000 jobs is “a head-fake” that will fool “many journalist­s” into not applying appropriat­e scrutiny to the online giant.

“Amazon is expanding in the nation’s two major centers of power, because it intends to envelope, smother and usurp that power for itself,” Mitchell wrote.

Amazon did not immediatel­y respond to requests seeking comment.

 ?? USA TODAY ??
USA TODAY

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States