As of late, it seems like nearly every city in America is vying for the attention of Amazon in hopes of attracting the planned HQ2 campus of the multibillion-dollar corporation. The second headquarters for Amazon promises to create 50,000 high-paying jobs and $5 billion in construction, for starters.
The city where I am mayor – Little Rock, Ark. – used to be one of the eager suitors.
Eager to sweep Amazon off its feet, I met with the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce and a team of our best and brightest business leaders to discuss our proposal. But as we reviewed the list of traits Amazon was looking for in an HQ2 city, we realized it would never work out between us.
We know ourselves well enough to realize that an ill-fated courtship could ruin everything we’ve worked to achieve for our city, which is on track to become one of the best places to live, work and go to school in the South.
As mayor of Little Rock, I must admit that our city was at first blindly smitten by the glamour of HQ2. And really, who wasn’t?
Amazon estimates its investments in Seattle from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an additional $38 billion to the city’s economy. And every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional $1.40 for the city’s economy overall.
My hat is off to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his company for creating such competition, intrigue and hope for America’s cities, 238 of which are putting their best foot forward in an effort to attract attention.
Chicago has even hired actor William Shatner, best-known from his TV and movie roles as Captain Kirk on “Star Trek” to pitch the city to Amazon. And one city even offered to rename itself “Amazon.”
But in Little Rock, we decided to make a very public break-up announcement to let the world know that while we are not right for Amazon, our city is available for business. Thus, we embarked on a targeted campaign and launched a website called Love, Little Rock.
