Not so sorry in Seattle
Five members of Seattle’s nine-member City Council, along with five state legislators, King County and Port of Seattle officials, have signed a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking to “hit the refresh button” to create a more collaborative relationship.
The letter comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement last month that it is looking for a second company headquarters (H2Q) outside of Seattle that will be “a full equal” to the Seattle headquarters. Amazon’s non-Seattle H2Q will cost about $5 billion to build and will employ 50,000 workers.
Amazon said a high priority for the new location will be a “stable and business-friendly environment and tax structure.” Notably absent from the “refresh button” letter are any mention of either of those Amazon priorities.
Of course, those aren’t just priorities for Amazon. Business leaders in the city, some of whom are self-proclaimed progressives, have complained about the city council’s increasingly aggressive anti-business attitude. Democrat state Senator Guy Palumbo (and former Amazon employee) says the Seattle City Council has “created a hostile business climate.” (Palumbo is one of the lawmakers who signed the letter). One frustrated Seattle business leader who says the city is “unpredictable and outright hostile” to business, said city officials should do everything they can to convince Amazon to expand in Seattle, declaring “it’s never too late to say we’re sorry.”
The letter does not apologize for Seattle’s blatant anti-business bent, nor does it promise to roll-back the slew of existing, and proposed, anti-business regulations the city has been piling on employers. Instead the letter suggests creating a regional task force to examine how to better collaborate with Amazon on issues such as transportation, freight mobility, public safety, the role of workers in the new gig economy and education.
The letter was included as part of a King and Snohomish county regional bid for the H2Q. In two days Amazon will begin opening offers from competing cities across the nation promising all sorts of incentives and deals as they vie to be the lucky winner of Amazon’s HQ2 location contest. I wonder how many of those proposals will include a task force to figure out how to “collaborate” with the company to deal with the growth it will bring? I’m guessing those proposals will instead make it clear that growth is more than welcome in their cities.
In addition to missing the signatures of nearly half of the members of the Seattle City Council, missing from the letter to Amazon is the new Seattle mayor Tim Burgess. Mayor Burgess has side-stepped any admission that the city has become increasingly anti-business, instead saying the business community has "interpreted" comments by council members as anti-business:
“One or two of my former colleagues on the (city) council often make comments that I think people in the business community have interpreted as anti-business. I think some, maybe at Amazon and others in the business community, have expressed some perspective and feelings that they don’t always feel welcome at City Hall.”
Just for fun, let’s recap a few of the city councilmember comments that one might “interpret” to be anti-business:
“I would love a break from (Amazon’s) growth to create a little more diversity.”
—Councilmember Mike O’Brien
O’Brien has since teamed up with fellow Councilmember Kirsten Harris-Talley to propose a new employee tax (which has been dubbed the “Amazon Tax”) that would cost Amazon $4 million per year.
“We need to unionize, and to take these behemoths (Amazon) into democratic public ownership, so that they are run not for profit for a few, but in the interests of the majority of working people and of society.”
—Councilmember Kshama Sawant
This isn't the first time Sawant has radically called for a business to be "taken-over" into what she calls "democratic ownership."
“It (Amazon’s H2Q) gives us a little breathing room to build good mass transit, ensure affordable housing and open up pathways into higher education for the future workforce.”
—Councilmember Lisa Herbold
Herbold joined with Councilmember Kshama Sawant to champion the bill imposing the city’s illegal income tax.
And while not exactly a city official, the man Seattle paid $50,000 to develop and defend the city’s illegal income tax, John Burbank with the Economic Opportunity Institute, called Amazon “a sociopathic roommate, sucking up our resources and refusing to participate in daily upkeep.” Burbank says he worries “for the next city that will fall victim to Amazon.”
To give credit, while the letter to Amazon is no apology for Seattle’s behavior, it is at least a gesture in the right direction that acknowledges the harm it has caused and reassures that not everyone feels the same. Unfortunately, the fact such a letter was needed, along the fact half the city council and the mayor refused to sign it, only serves to highlight the ongoing challenges to any attempt making Amazon feel more welcome.