Philadelphia Best

Promising Billions to Amazon: Is It a Good Deal for Cities?
Alicia Glen, the city’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development, said Amazon would probably get hardly any tax breaks
if it chose to locate its second headquarters in Midtown or Lower Manhattan, the city’s two traditional business centers.
“Nobody wants to get involved in it, nobody wants to have to do this,
but we’re in a competitive environment,” said Dennis M. Davin, secretary of community and economic development for Pennsylvania, where two cities — Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — are among the 20 finalists for the Amazon project.
Alluding to Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, she added, “Why should the richest man in the history of the world get money to open his business?”
Indeed, tax incentives tend to flow overwhelmingly to big, established companies, rather than to the local start-ups
that research has shown are a more significant source of job growth.
But she said it was frustrating to watch local governments — three of the 20 finalists for the Amazon
project are in the Washington area — roll out the red carpet for a multibillion-dollar corporation.
Megan Randall, a researcher at the Urban Institute who studies economic development policy, said companies cared most about a talented work force, which requires good schools
and colleges, and amenities like affordable housing, parks and public transit that make a place desirable.
When New Jersey announced a $7 billion package of tax incentives to try to lure Amazon’s second headquarters to
Newark, local officials saw a chance to jump-start a city that has long struggled with poverty and joblessness.

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