Amazon’s announcement that it will allow some lucky American city to pay oodles of corporate welfare in exchange for a $5-billion complex that would house its second headquarters has set off a zealous frenzy among the economic development crowd—even in Baton Rouge.
“And what’s not to love?” Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball writes in his latest column. “Amazon, wherever its drones drop a second headquarters, will create 50,000 high-paying jobs that millennials dream about and billions of dollars of new investment. It’s an historic opportunity that no doubt will radically transform the economic and physical landscape of the winning city. In other words, some place is about to become a big deal city.”
Just to be clear, Baton Rouge has absolutely no shot at landing the complex, Ball says. The city lacks most of the basic criteria Amazon is seeking—a million people, an international airport, good schools, non-clogged roads and a qualified workforce.
Still that hasn’t stopped Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and the Metro Council for passing a symbolic resolution “expressing support” for the company to declared Baton Rouge the home of Amazon’s HQ2.
And while Louisiana has found ways to create jobs even in the most dire of budgetary circumstances, Baton Rouge—and the state for that matter—also lacks the company’s other key preferences like a stable business climate, highly educated labor pool, strong university, high quality of life and a presence of diverse populations.
Amazon also wants to know about crime rates, area highway and road system, sidewalks, bike lanes, and trams, among others things, Ball notes.
So how does Baton Rouge fare?
“Not good,” Ball writes.
The point here isn’t to rip Baton Rouge, he says, but rather to turn a spotlight on what companies like Amazon are looking for in a city.
“Putting together economic incentive packages are easy and everyone is doing it. In the end, the desirability of a city to live, work and play is the deciding factor in where these new economy companies reside—along with the accompanying jobs today’s young, educated professionals crave,” he says.
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