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May HQ2 be ever in your favor: Amazon’s new short list pits 20 cities against each other

Published on January 21, 2018

Amazon sphere and Seattle space needle
Image Credit: ​Flickr: Peterhess: CC BY 2.0

Amazon’s decision to establish a second and equal corporate headquarters outside of Seattle made the company an object of desire and scorn simultaneously, as cities were suddenly pitted against one another for the $5 billion prize.

And while the 20 candidates that made Amazon’s HQ2 short list last Thursday are likely celebrating, the decision to publicly narrow the field isn’t going to assuage any concerns that Amazon is staging its own Hunger Games, and using cities in need of economic development as the contestants.

“In an age where cities and states are starved for resources, often times these efforts at economic development, the costs of tax breaks for the city, will far outweigh whatever benefits come from the number of jobs created,” Margaret O’Mara, a University of Washington History professor specializing in urban history, told GeekWire this past September.

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​Originally posted on GeekWire by Monica Nicklesburg
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