Amazon May Know Which City it Wants to Move to, And may be Playing Us All to Get the Best Deal.

Amazon's Race to the Bottom Puts Chicago Transit at Risk

Transit has emerged as a key issue in the furious competition between municipalities to land Amazon's second headquarters. With the company placing a premium on access to rail and bus networks, cities like Chicago put transit front and center in their applications.

From article, (research by University of Texas professor Nathan M. Jensen, who recently found that in roughly two-thirds of cases, city and state-level incentives go to corporations that were already planning on moving there anyway. As Brookings researcher Richard Shearer recently argued, “There’s a very good chance Amazon already knows exactly where it would like to open its second headquarters,” adding that the ruse of a competition “is a way of inviting the place it has already chosen to foot the bill for Amazon’s new digs.”

For cities like Chicago, the risks of pledging too many public resources like transit for too little public benefit are high. Instead of offering deeper tax breaks and incentives, Chicago leaders should ask Amazon itself to make investments in transportation and other sectors that will benefit the company, its employees, and  the entire region’s residents. “If you’re talking about public goods like transit, it’s not a matter of just how a company benefits from transaction. It’s a matter of community benefits,” says CNT’s Bernstein. “Cities have been missing an opportunity to reframe these competitions as something that could be more beneficial.”

The massive corporate welfare package Chicago leaders have cobbled together may be unprecedented in the city’s history, but it’s hardly unique among municipalities seeking Amazon’s favor. Along with billions in tax breaks and land giveaways, municipal leaders nationwide have made it clear that almost any public asset can be monetized in the quest to land HQ2.

Such an aggressive race to the bottom recently prompted more than 600 leading economists and transportation experts to call on city officials “to forge and sign a mutual non-aggression pact that rejects such egregious tax giveaways and direct monetary incentives for the Amazon headquarters.)

For More Info