Promising Billions to Amazon: Is It a Good Deal for Cities?<br />Alicia Glen, the city’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development, said Amazon would probably get hardly any tax breaks<br />if it chose to locate its second headquarters in Midtown or Lower Manhattan, the city’s two traditional business centers.<br />“Nobody wants to get involved in it, nobody wants to have to do this,<br />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.<br />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?”<br />Indeed, tax incentives tend to flow overwhelmingly to big, established companies, rather than to the local start-ups<br />that research has shown are a more significant source of job growth.<br />But she said it was frustrating to watch local governments — three of the 20 finalists for the Amazon<br />project are in the Washington area — roll out the red carpet for a multibillion-dollar corporation.<br />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<br />and colleges, and amenities like affordable housing, parks and public transit that make a place desirable.<br />When New Jersey announced a $7 billion package of tax incentives to try to lure Amazon’s second headquarters to<br />Newark, local officials saw a chance to jump-start a city that has long struggled with poverty and joblessness.
