Amazon last week announced, to much fanfare, that it plans to construct a second headquarters and in doing so solicited bids from cities who hope to land HQ2, in Bezos parlance. Civic leaders are tripping over themselves to come up with proposals by the October deadline.
There are good arguments for why cities shouldn’t be jumping at the chance to throw subsidies at Amazon, but most of those have been ignored and speculative horse-race prognostications ranking the best and worst candidates are coming fast and furious.
Cleveland, naturally, along with just about every other city and region that meets all or most of Amazon’s requirements, is throwing its cap in the ring.
Frank Jackson and Armond Budish today issued a bare-bones joint statement acknowledging their intent to submit a proposal but disclosing little else besides their very warm nostalgia for that time the RNC came to town. (Incidentally, the RNC economic impact report, finally released earlier this month more than a year after the event, noted an underwhelming and below-expectation financial effect on the region, for what it’s worth.)
Anyway, their statement is in full below.
“Cleveland is a city on the rise and we envision Amazon potentially being a major part of the region’s growth. Our goal, with this proposal, is to integrate the organization within the fabric of the Greater Cleveland community. The City of Cleveland, The County, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Northeast Ohio Area-wide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), Cleveland State University and our partners are no strangers to working closely to ensure that Cleveland is competitive.This will be a community effort, similar to the process that this community undertook to win the Republican National Convention. Just as we did then, we are pulling together civic leaders from government, higher education, business, and other crucial sectors to put together an aggressive, collaborative package; one that addresses all aspects of the Amazon RFP and highlights the essence of Cleveland and our competitive advantages.
We were an underdog during that process, yet we won. We are confident that working together we can highlight what sets us apart from the competition. This opportunity will have tremendous near and long term impact on the City and the region.”
This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2017.
If we followed the Scene Magazine editorial advice what would downtownCleveland look like? No Progressive Field thus no Indians and no World Series appearances; no Q and therefore no Cavs, no championship, no Lebron, no parade, no admissions taxes, no revenue, no hotels, no restaurants, no jobs and no energy. We’d be pathetic.
So yep we better go all in to get Amazon or we could all sell strip club advertising like Scene.
Amazon officials can kick back and watch the coast to coast bidding explode the tote board — with the final incentive package making the Foxconn-Wisconsin deal look like peanut shells on a stadium concourse.
I’m so sick of this magazine being anti-anything that is good for the city. It gets real old
It doesn’t matter in the slightest what Scene thinks. This won’t come within hundreds of miles of anywhere in the Midwest, much less Ohio. They say Denver most likely. No harm trying for the practice, but let’s be real. You can’t get an Amazon by stuffing ballot boxes like the Rock Hall deal. Keep rebuilding downtown and business will follow, but manage expectations.
If there’s a Midwest city that fits the bill, it’s Detroit, not Cleveland.
Cost of living, taxation and wages are low.
Strong close proximity to research universities.
International airport hub.
And where that bid falls apart involves matters around recreation and mass transport. Which, in the grand scheme of things pales in comparison to open access to an affordable, educated workforce.
Cleveland does not compete and should focus on building on its strengths in the medical field. Chasing Amazon is folly.
That being said, I’d bet on Denver, personally.