The following is cross posted here, from the Our Revolution Arlington Facebook page, at their request. My view is basically that I’m not a fan of corporate welfare in general, and am generally skeptical that the benefits outweigh the costs when cities, counties and states play this game…

As you may have heard, Arlington County has submitted a bid for Amazon’s HQ2.The Board has been highly secretive about the incentives they’re offering Amazon to bring HQ2 here. This is absolutely unacceptable given Amazon’s track record and the potential consequences for the community.

If the one of the sites in Arlington is selected, it is unlikely that there will be much time for the citizenry to review the details of that deal before the board takes a vote.

Amazon’s record is atrocious, giving us countless reasons to oppose the county board’s bid for HQ2, such as:

them on the hook for paying for the consequences of their growth. Some examples of community benefits might be: If the board remains determined to bring Amazon to Arlington, ORA asks them to negotiate a robust community benefits agreement instead that forces Amazon to make concessions to the Arlington community and leaveson the hook for paying for the consequences of their growth. Some examples of community benefits might be:

linked safeguards to protect and build affordable housing (e.g. a community land trust);

intentional local-hiring preferences;

job quality standards (living wages, full-time hours, health care, paid family leave, and other benefits) for all of Amazon’s employees in the state;

transit-system improvements;

procurement systems that favor minority and women owned-businesses, worker-owned cooperatives, and other local suppliers;

partnerships with local schools and universities;

other community-specific benefits based on local needs.

ORA believes that the County Board should not pursue partnerships with corporations whose record stand in stark contrast to our community’s values and therefore oppposes any incentives given to Amazon.