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Instead of pulling out the taxpayers' collective wallet to seduce the online retail giant, state boosters have tried a modest bragging – Minnesota Nice.
While other communities offered huge sums of money – more than $ 1.5 billion in the case of New York City's infamous offer – to attract the retailer, the Minnesota's 122-page bid on the company, released Monday after months of secrecy, relied heavily on quality of life as a selling point.
Two short pages from the Department of Employment and State Economic Development describe grants and other public assistance of more than $ 20 million available to attract businesses to Minnesota. According to DEED, although an expansion such as that envisaged by Amazon had been envisaged, it generally only resulted in public subsidies of $ 3 to $ 5 million.
Nearly two dozen additional pages of the nomination showcase all of cycling, lively restaurants and more than 3,500 jazz concerts each year organized by Twin Cities.
We now know that Amazon went for money.
Of the 238 proposals submitted by North American communities, Twin Cities' bid was not even among the 20 finalists. Amazon chose New York, with its massive incentives, and Arlington, Virginia, which offered more than $ 500 million in seductions.
However, when the New York public got wind of everything the city had committed, a public outcry ensued and the company finally canceled its plans to set up part of its new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens.
COMBAT FOR SECRET
The inability of Minnesota leaders to convince Jeff Bezos to afford the charm of life in the Midwest does not preclude many details of the state's bid to be a well-kept secret. Greater MSP, the civic group enlisted to compile the pitch of Twin Cities, refused to divulge its details until Amazon said the secret no longer requires it.
After being beaten for over a year to keep his offer secret, Greater MSP forwarded it to DEED on Monday, which then went online.
Peter Frosch, executive director of Greater MSP, said Monday that Amazon was no longer pushing for details to be hidden. He defended the decision to initially retain the information, saying it was key to the region's competitiveness.
"It is sometimes necessary to maintain competitive strategic information for private customers so that this region has the opportunity to compete for hundreds and hundreds of jobs," Frosch said.
Public Record Media, a government oversight agency charged with transparency, was not in agreement. Last year, they filed a lawsuit to force Greater MSP to release its entire bid.
A Ramsey County Court ruled in favor of Greater MSP, but a call was pending. The leaders of the watchdog won Monday.
"We believe from the beginning, when public and private entities are involved in an economic development project, the details of this project must be accessible to taxpayers," said Matt Ehling, executive director and one of several alumni journalists. work for the group. "We are pleased that the nomination is published today."
What we already knew
The state had already released three boxes of documents from local governments and other organizations in response to requests for documents from reporters.
These records showed that 18 sites considered by local leaders to be Amazon's second head office.
At the top of the list was an area to be redeveloped in the North Loop of Minneapolis, along the St. Paul River, in Bloomington near the Mall of America, on a vacant lot at Apple Valley and on a former munitions plant in the Army at Arden Hills. The Rosemount, Woodbury, Inver Grove Heights and Lakeville sites were also possible.
All of these communities included something unique in their speech, such as Minneapolis touting the North Loop as the "coolest neighborhood of America" or Bloomington noting the 1,000 square feet of green space per capita and the 34-kilometer National Wildlife Refuge along the Minnesota coast. River.
WHY MINNESOTA BID
Heads of State set out on the run for Amazon's second seat and some 50,000 jobs, believing it would be a great victory for the state's economy. According to a study by the Metropolitan Council, bringing the retailer to twin cities would have an economic impact of $ 130 billion over 15 years.
Housing wages and prices would rise and an additional 90,000 jobs would be created to support the influx of new campus workers that Amazon had promised to create.
The leaders of the States hoped that the exceptionalism that Minnesota itself had described would be enough to conclude the agreement.
"People who move here stay here. The people who grew up here and who left, come back. Our community is open, affordable and full of opportunities, "said the candidacy.
But Amazon has shopped and found a better deal elsewhere.
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