Dozens of cities are working frantically to land Amazon’s second headquarters, raising a weighty question with no easy answer: Is it worth it? An article in Mercury News answers this question with a big “yes.”
“Most economists say the answer is a qualified yes.” Amazon is promising $5 billion of investment and 50,000 jobs over the next decade and a half. “For the right city, winning Amazon’s second headquarters could help it attain the rarefied status of ‘tech hub,’ with the prospect of highly skilled, well-paid workers by the thousands spending freely, upgrading a city’s urban core and fueling job growth beyond Amazon itself.”
It’s that hope that has triggered excitement, from such metropolises as New York, Boston and Chicago to tiny Maumee, Ohio (population 14,000). The deadline for submissions was October 19.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Southern California region has several willing candidates that are expected to submit bids, including Irvine, Santa Ana and San Diego.
Other known contenders will be communities in Los Angeles County, where a regional effort includes locations in Los Angeles and Pomona, where Cal Poly Pomona and the Fairplex have offered up land.
According to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., which is helping coordinate the regional effort, the L.A. County bid contains nine separate sites that would each fulfill Amazon’s requirements. Some of the locations are outside Los Angeles and Pomona, but a spokesman declined to name them or the individual sites.
“This is a highly competitive process and we do not want to give our competitors around the country any information that could be used to strengthen their hands,” Lawren Markle said.
The city of Irvine and the Irvine Co. are expected to submit a combined bid. They, too, have been largely mum since the developer issued a news release a day after Amazon announced its competition.
A possible location for Amazon could be land the Irvine Co. owns around the Irvine Spectrum. A company spokesman didn’t return emails seeking comment.
Gov. Jerry Brown has been supportive of the effort to lure Amazon, writing a cover letter for communities to include in their proposals. Addressed directly to the Amazon CEO, the letter cites the state’s strong university system and talented workforce as reasons the company should give “careful consideration to the many California cities interested in becoming the next home for Amazon’s newest headquarters.”
Brown’s office also supplied communities with a list of possible state tax credits available to Amazon – something the tech company asked for in its request for proposals. Among the subsidies available under current law are up to $200 million as part of the California Competes Tax Credit program and up to $100 million in workforce training funds. Brown has also pledged to establish a multi-agency “strike team” that can help expedite permits and approvals.
Some cities are considering packages of their own. In Chula Vista, the City Council was expected to debate a $400-million incentive deal Tuesday evening.
Good luck with all that! The Chief Executive Magazine 2017 ranking of the 50 Best and Worst States for Business “California anchored the bottom of the list at No. 50 for the sixth consecutive year, New York wallowed at No. 49 and Illinois listed at No. 48.” .