It could be one of the biggest days since our bid to bring the RNC to Cleveland; the deadline to submit proposals for cities interested in landing Amazon's second headquarters, along with its five billion dollars in investments.
Sounds exciting, except the city won’t say a word about what they’ve offered. Is that because we don't have a good plan? I don't know. But we sure know a lot about what other cities are doing.
We know in Detroit, Dan Gilbert's heading up that city’s bid for Amazon's HQ2. And that their proposal could involve Canada, making it an international project
Dallas, Texas says it's proposing a $15 billion dollar bullet train station to Houston to surround the company's headquarters.
Frisco, Texas says it's so "primed" for Amazon, it's willing to turn its city of only 160,000 people, into Amazon town.
And many of the cities pitching for the business released creative videos which show Alexa saying they're the best choice.
The country is in a bidding frenzy. But what have we heard from Cleveland?? Silence.
We called. Sent emails. Even filed a Freedom of Information Act Request.
All we got was this voicemail from Dan Williams of Mayor Jackson’s Office:
"I can't give you anything because I don't have it and you'll have to wait and see. Thanks, bye."
In fact, if it wasn't for an interview earlier in the morning on WTAM, with Joe Roman from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, some could question whether Cleveland was making a bid at all.
But about the only information we got from that interview was that he said, "We do think there are some things in our bid that will be special. And those are the kind of proprietary things that we need to be mindful of."
What's no secret is the successful deals this area has already done with Amazon, bringing their distribution centers to abandoned malls in North Randall and Euclid. Hopefully that will be included in their pitch.
Because that's not just seeing the possible, that's delivering on it.
Just after 6:00 p.m. on Thursday evening, the city of Cleveland finally announced its bid to bring Amazon's HQ2 headquarters to the North Coast.
According to an official release from the city, more than 20 organizations and over 90 individuals from throughout the community came together to develop the case to present to Amazon.
But in essence it revealed the same thing they have been telling us all along about the bid…nothing.
Mayor Frank Jackson and County Executive Armond Budish announced the submission in a video:
“In recent days we worked with public, private and civic leaders across our community to tell the story of Cleveland’s resurgence and pursue this enormous opportunity. Our city has a palpable sense of energy and is in a position of readiness that we have never seen before,” said Jackson. “Our momentum is rooted in a great and storied history. We are excited at the opportunity to tell our story in this highly competitive situation.”
READ: Cleveland's official announcement of its bid for Amazon HQ2
Cleveland HQ2 Release by WKYC.com on Scribd