[jonesrmj]

Amazon, as you may have heard, needs another base of operations. Rather than pick the best geographic location, Jeff Bezos dangled a substantial carrot in front of North America’s metropolitan centers: $5 billion in investment, and up to 50,000 jobs.

Over 100 urban centers have already bent over backwards to submit their most enticing proposals to Amazon in the hopes that favorable subsidies, tax breaks, regulation reform or whatever else Big Orange wants will coax the Seattle-based megacorp to kickstart local economies blighted by financial crises, a withering manufacturing sector, and the scourge of the “gig” economy which Amazon itself has had no small part in fostering.

New York alone has pitched Brooklyn, the Bronx, Long Island, Albany, Buffalo, and Syracuse; California happily vies to host Bezos in Concord, San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, Long Beach, or Irvine. Atlanta, Denver, Baltimore, Dallas, and Pittsburgh are also considered strong contenders. Experts and pundits have weighed in on which city would prove the most advantageous (for Amazon), with list after list after list of frontrunners piling up ahead of the October 19th due date—but this is not one those lists.

Some cities, have thrown themselves—out of desperation or to simply cash in on some easy PR from the local news—into a fight they seem all but destined to lose. Most of these places don’t even come close to meeting Amazon’s proposal requirements.

Here are the cities that, while highly unlikely to win Amazon’s favor, are showing the kind of moxy needed to crowd a field of wanton, race-to-the-bottom bidding likely to further income inequality in America.

Read More - https://gizmodo.com/the-8-cities-lea...uar-1818581872

(None of the Philly Metro cities are on this list)