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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the Ares-and-Harmonia dept.

Cities Dream Of Landing Amazon's New HQ And They're Going To Great Lengths To Show It

Officials in Tucson, Ariz., uprooted a 21-foot-tall saguaro cactus and tried to have it delivered to Amazon's Seattle headquarters. Birmingham constructed giant Amazon boxes and placed them around the Alabama city. In Missouri, Kansas City's mayor bought a thousand items online from Amazon and posted reviews of each one.

All of these cities are clearly trying hard to get Amazon's attention. Why? Because they know that otherwise, they don't stand a chance against some big-name cities that are all trying to win the contest to land Amazon's second headquarters.

The retail giant announced a month ago that it has plans for a second home outside of Seattle, where it is currently headquartered. The project has been named HQ2, and the deadline for final bids is Thursday. Amazon has promised to invest $5 billion and said the facility will create as many as 50,000 jobs.

It has led to a mad scramble from cities across the nation and even in Canada. And various publications have analyzed cities' chances of landing this deal. Atlanta, Denver and Pittsburgh have made it to a few of those lists.

Many cities don't really figure as finalists on any of those lists. But that hasn't stopped them. In fact, just like Tucson or Birmingham, cities are pulling out all the stops to get noticed.

The Amazonk Prometheans may be coming to your city...

Previously: Amazon Spheres Add to Seattle's Quirky Architecture
Amazon Acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion
Amazon to Invest $5 Billion in Second HQ Outside of Seattle
Amazon Looks to New Food Technology for Home Delivery


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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday October 17 2017, @04:59PM (5 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @04:59PM (#583538)

    Because the government is the only entity with the reach and mandate to pull together a complex package of offers (land, taxes, roads, building/water/power rights) to entice a potential major employer to come provide a major burst of employment to its constituents.
    Typically, the initial offer is a loss leader, with the local government pledging to lose money in exchange for the tax revenues from the expected development, rising local business, and jobs.

    Sure, the government shouldn't do that, and let companies choose their location without input. Who wants to attract prosperous businesses anyway? The extra traffic scares the horses.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:26PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:26PM (#583553)

    ... but it shouldn't be that way.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:06PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:06PM (#583603)

      Yeah, but here we are... We've figure out that "it not supposed to be that way" doesn't work in practice. Great in theory, horrible in practice.

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:30PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:30PM (#583614)

        Society creates wealth through the voluntary exchange of resources, and then this parasite (named "government") siphons off some of the wealth under threat of violence, pretending to be the master orchestrator of all that is good.

        The new idea is that what matters is voluntary exchange and freedom, not the Dear Leader.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:26PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:26PM (#583636)

          and then this parasite (named "government")

          United States Constitution, Preamble:
          "We the People,"
          We are the government. Who the fuck are you?

          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:52PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @08:52PM (#583651)

            Whatever makes you feel like part of the team.