Like a slew of other American cities, Cleveland wants to distinguish itself and convince the tech giant to build its second company headquarters here. That could translate into billions of dollars in economic development and thousands of high-level jobs.
Ever since Amazon announced the request for proposals earlier this month, cities across the country have been madly dashing to prepare competitive bids, while editorial boards have been aroused to the point of climax as they fantasize about their town’s chances. We’re all convinced we have a shot!
In a sweeping analysis of Cleveland’s odds, published in this Sunday’s Plain Dealer, Michelle Jarboe interviewed a Brookings fellow who had crunched certain relevant numbers and didn’t put Cleveland in his top 20 contenders. But — but — Cleveland has an ace up its sleeve that it may or may not be willing to play.
Burke Lakefront Airport.
In an editorial Wednesday, Cleveland.com urged the city to “drop everything” and construct an incentive package for Amazon around Burke.
“Think about it,” the editorial said. “What other city could offer Amazon such a jewel, a downtown site fronting on one of the Great Lakes, with public transportation running nearly to the doorstep? … Offering Amazon the Burke site would give Cleveland an immediate leg up on the competition. Every other site that might be considered in Cleveland would be similar to offerings elsewhere.”
Those other potential sites: withering golf courses, the I-X Center, the Warehouse District parking lots… They leave a great deal to be desired.
Jarboe dismissed the possibility of Burke, writing that the site was more or less off the table due to “complexities involving the Federal Aviation Administration, environmental concerns and the sheer cost of putting up buildings on a former landfill.”
For the editorial board, those are mere details, to be ironed out after Cleveland is selected. (And maybe they’re on to something.)
For now, as is customary, everyone at City Hall is being real tight-lipped about their work. Jarboe reported that members of Frank Jackson’s cabinet are working alongside reps from the county, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, NOACA, CSU, DCA, and Team NEO, the local affiliate of Gov. Kasich’s JobsOhio.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2017.
We ought not to confuse the back breaking, mind numbing jobs in the distribution centers with the high paying, high status office jobs in the new headquarters.
Cleveland will get the former, but never the latter.
Jeff Hess
Have Coffee Will Write
Non-clickbait version of this story:
Cleveland does NOT have an ace up it’s sleeve for Amazon HQ2
Isn’t part of Burke Lakefront Airport built on some kind of landfill? That’s one of the reasons why it’s never been offered to a developer for a large project. It can’t carry the weight of multi-storied buildings.
Cool what else are they reporting?
I thought the whole idea of Cleveland’s latest “plan for tomorrow” was not to bury the lakefront, in commerce, but to praise it…and to open it up to Joe and Josephine Sixpack.
We are among a handful of inland American cities that is blessed with lake frontage. This is akin to Chicago building a second GM corporate HQ just east of Lake Shore Drive. On landfill, no less.
WTF are you people thinking? or drinking? Or smoking?
How ironic that old malls, the commercial distribution outlets of the past, are being torn down and replaced by the distribution outlets of the future. When you wished for something back in the day, you got in your vee-hickle and drove there, parked it, and bought it. And took it home.
Now your wishes, hopes, and dreams will be “fulfilled” and the new crap will be brought to your doorstep. Let’s cut through the bullshit, shall we? To call it a “fulfillment center” is just a glorified synonym for “warehouse”…and that is what NE Ahia is about to get…the low-level warehouse jobs…mid-level for a lucky few overseers.
The high-level corporate gigs? Dream on, folks. Whatever city picks the brass ring will either already have a vast pool of highly-educated potential employees…or else the new HQ will be in one of a short list of “dream” cities that the Millennials drool over…the Chicagos, the Denvers, the Miamis, the Bostons. Where they would kill to live, work, and play.
Cleveland has a great deal to offer. It is a decent, affordable city, with wonderful housing opportunities. In which you will be spending all those lovely, mild, temperate months between Halloween and Easter.
That is the main reason why it will not happen. And if it somehow does happen to happen…putting it on the lakefront would be a big mistake on a big lake.
Charlie :twocents: