WEBVTT - The Battle for the Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>There's a battle brewing across North America, and it's all

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<v Speaker 1>about becoming the second home to the multibillion dollar tech

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<v Speaker 1>company Amazon. What's its stake? I'm Jonavin Strickland and this

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<v Speaker 1>is text updating. Amazon is looking to expand beyond its

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<v Speaker 1>Seattle headquarters. As such, the company opened up the opportunity

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<v Speaker 1>for cities to submit proposals to the company as part

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<v Speaker 1>of the corporate decision on where it will set down

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<v Speaker 1>roots next. A few cities responded to the call, specifically

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<v Speaker 1>two thirty eight of them. Only seven states in the

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<v Speaker 1>US did not submit a proposal. Those seven, in case

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<v Speaker 1>you are curious, are Arkansas, Vermont, Montana, Wyoming, both the Dakotas,

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<v Speaker 1>and Hawaii. It seems as though there will be no

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<v Speaker 1>aloha spirit at Amazon. The competition is fierce and more

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<v Speaker 1>than a little odd. Take the offer that originated from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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<v Speaker 1>Banners in that city proclaimed that Calgary would fight a

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<v Speaker 1>bear for Amazon. This likely falls slightly outside the list

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<v Speaker 1>of requirements Amazon was looking at. Charlotte, North Carolina, declared

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<v Speaker 1>October eighteenth, the day before the proposals were due, as

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<v Speaker 1>c LT is prime day. No word on whether all

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<v Speaker 1>citizens were expected to enroll an Amazon Prime and observance

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<v Speaker 1>of the holiday, Tucson, Arizona sent over a cactus to

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon's headquarters, twenty one ft saguaro cactus. The Amazon Twitter

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<v Speaker 1>feed thanked Tucson for the gift, but explained they couldn't

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<v Speaker 1>accept it. Instead, they donated the cactus to the Desert Museum,

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<v Speaker 1>a natural history museum in Tucson. Birmingham, Alabama, built giant

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<v Speaker 1>mock ups of the Amazon dash buttons, which our WiFi

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<v Speaker 1>enabled buttons that allow you to order certain projects from

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon just with a press of said button. The Birmingham

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<v Speaker 1>version allowed people to walk up and press the giant buttons,

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<v Speaker 1>which would then send out one of six hundred pregenerated

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<v Speaker 1>Twitter messages to Amazon touting the benefits of moving to Alabama.

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<v Speaker 1>Closer to my home is Stone Crest, Georgia. Stone Crest

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<v Speaker 1>is just to the east of Atlanta, Georgia, my hometown.

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<v Speaker 1>In an effort to convince Amazon to hang its hat

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<v Speaker 1>in this relatively small city, the city council voted four

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<v Speaker 1>to two to d annex Stone Crest and rename it

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon Georgia. I'm not sure how I feel about that,

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<v Speaker 1>Not all the proposals were accompanied by publicity stunts. One

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<v Speaker 1>intriguing one would locate the headquarters in three nearby cities.

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<v Speaker 1>The surprising thing is that these three cities aren't all

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<v Speaker 1>in the same country. They include El Paso, Texas, Las Cruces,

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<v Speaker 1>New Mexico, and Juarez, Mexico. Such a site would require

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<v Speaker 1>special considerations such as border control, but it demonstrates the

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<v Speaker 1>creativity many sites were employing when pitching their proposals. Not

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<v Speaker 1>everyone saw this as a positive thing. The city of

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<v Speaker 1>San Antonio published an open letter to Amazon pointing out

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<v Speaker 1>that this process had created what amounted to a bidding

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<v Speaker 1>war between cities and states, pitting them against each other.

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<v Speaker 1>But then that's exactly what Amazon intended. By making the

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<v Speaker 1>proposal process public, Amazon put pressure on prospective cities and regions.

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<v Speaker 1>Attracting a massive tech company like Amazon would win powerful

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<v Speaker 1>political points for any local government officials. Amazon's HQ would

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<v Speaker 1>create jobs and other economic opportunities. In fact, according to Amazon,

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<v Speaker 1>the new HQ will bring fifty thousand new jobs and

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<v Speaker 1>five billion dollars of investment to a region. But to

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<v Speaker 1>convince a company to build out a massive development in

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<v Speaker 1>a city requires some incentives. Typically in the form of

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<v Speaker 1>massive tax breaks, and it worked. For example, Newark, New Jersey,

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<v Speaker 1>put together a proposal that included around seven billion dollars

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<v Speaker 1>in state tax breaks. This is as high stakes as

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<v Speaker 1>gambling gets. According to the financial services company Moody's Analytics,

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<v Speaker 1>the cities that are most likely to get the nod

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<v Speaker 1>from Amazon include, in order, Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rochester,

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<v Speaker 1>New York, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. New York City follows close

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<v Speaker 1>behind in sixth place. Other firms have a very different

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<v Speaker 1>lineup of the likely finalists, and Amazon is staying mute

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<v Speaker 1>on the subject. That will likely be the case until

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<v Speaker 1>sometime in two thousand eighteen, when the company is expected

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<v Speaker 1>to announce its choice for the new headquarters. At that point,

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<v Speaker 1>the city might discover what folks in Seattle have known

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<v Speaker 1>for a while. Amazon's presence can be both good and bad.

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<v Speaker 1>In Seattle, Washington, Amazon has been responsible for massive building

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<v Speaker 1>projects throughout the city. Construction cranes seem to be on

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<v Speaker 1>every corner, Housing prices have increased dramatically, public transit improvements

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<v Speaker 1>have lagged behind the growth of the city, and the

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<v Speaker 1>homeless population has increased. These issues must be weighed against

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<v Speaker 1>the benefits of the company's presence, and perhaps more to

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<v Speaker 1>and should be directed toward them before Amazon gets neighborly

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<v Speaker 1>with a new city. To learn more about Amazon and

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<v Speaker 1>tech in general, subscribe to The Tech Stuff podcast. I

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<v Speaker 1>love to explore how tech works and how it affects

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<v Speaker 1>us in our daily lives. That's all for today. I'll

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<v Speaker 1>see you again soon.