Similarly, Parilla thinks cities can win even if they lose the Amazon sweepstakes. “Anytime you’re pulling together a story about your place, it forces you to make an affirmative but realistic pitch about who you are and what you can offer,” he said. “It will be a useful exercise, determining where you stand and whether you have the attributes to attract a company like Amazon.”

For one thing, St. Louis officials will begin to understand the transformative effect that 50,000 good-paying jobs could have. If they aren’t going to come from Amazon, we need to look at other strategies for creating them.

If there are strengths that can bolster an Amazon bid, such as our growing community of technology entrepreneurs, all of the region’s leaders will be made aware of them. Their job will be to look for ways to build on those strengths.

Weaknesses will also become apparent. If racial divisions make St. Louis less attractive to a company like Amazon, we need to heal them. If our workforce isn’t skilled enough, we need to invest more in education.

Amazon wants proposals by Oct. 19, so St. Louis doesn’t have much time to make its case. Let’s hope our leaders can craft a bid that will pay off even in defeat.

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