Amazon recently announced a search for a site to build its second headquarters. Christie is offering cold, hard cash the Jersey way.
By Alan Bauer
The Sun
Gov. Christie doesn’t mess around when he sees something he wants.
Consider the great Amazon Competition. The company recently announced a nationwide search for a site to build its second headquarters called Amazon HQ2. It will spend $5 billion to build the facility and hire 50,000 people. And then it invited interested parties to submit “bids.”
Make no mistake: That’s a humdinger of a project to land. But, for some reason, many cities and government leaders are getting cute instead of practical.
According to The New York Times, among the cute bunch is Tucson, Ariz., which tried to send a 21-foot cactus to the company. The mayor of Frisco, Texas, offered to build his city around HQ2 and included a video from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in his pitch. Good luck with that, buddy. Others have posted YouTube videos extolling their virtues.
Amateurs, one and all.
Christie, on the other hand, went straight for the kill, offering cold, hard cash. It’s the Jersey way:
“Here’s a pile of money to do what we want you to do.”
Christie has rallied a cadre of politicians from both sides of the aisle to support a plan that offers Amazon $5 billion in tax incentives if the company picks a site here. Hey, Jeff Bezos, do you know how many cacti you can buy with $5 billion? A lot.
Cute works if you want to post a video of your cat dancing in a Halloween costume. Not so much with business decisions. Christie’s offer is a solid one, and should get Amazon’s attention.
But maybe we’re wrong. Maybe cute wins out. Anybody got a cat we can borrow just in case?
