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When Amazon said last year that it was looking for a place to locate its second headquarters, cities around North America inundated it with proposals. Most didn’t make it.
In total, Amazon received 238 proposals from cities, states, districts and territories — all hoping for Amazon’s 50,000 new jobs and $5 billion in spending. As of yesterday, just 20 cities are left on the shortlist.
Here are a few reasons why some didn’t make the cut, according to local press:
Baltimore, Maryland
Bad news about crime might have soured Amazon on Baltimore. Or maybe it was the lack of good mass transit.
Did Baltimore's rash of bad news push Amazon away? https://t.co/7dNMwNnrVZ pic.twitter.com/s7Y7WF11cq
— Sun Breaking News (@BaltSunBrk) January 18, 2018
Charlotte, North Carolina
“Our bid had the distinct feel of a 50-year-old putting on Adidas and a craft brew shirt to look cool to the kids,” wrote the editorial board at the Charlotte Observer. Still, Charlotte was able to buck up and congratulate its neighbor city, Raleigh.
Amazon HQ2: Charlotte's out. Raleigh's alive. It's hard to say what we're about to say. #HQ2 https://t.co/dvvuGbgIuw
— Peter St. Onge (@saintorange) January 18, 2018
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit didn’t have a big enough pool of tech talent, the Detroit Free Press wrote. Its lack of mass transit might have hurt, too.
Why Detroit may have fallen short in its Amazon bid https://t.co/FUihe4QQk7
— Detroit Free Press (@freep) January 18, 2018
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City lamented its minimal incentives to lure in Amazon as well as its relatively small population of tech workers, among other reasons.
Why Kansas City didn’t make Amazon’s top 20 list for new headquarters https://t.co/UaYyrbguP0
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) January 18, 2018
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota’s $3 million to $5 million in incentives to Amazon were far smaller than the “more than $1 billion in incentives offered by at least nine of the 20 cities still on Amazon’s list.”
Twin Cities out of the running for Amazon's second headquarters https://t.co/BwRTzsPPza pic.twitter.com/dsRGQ7zzAG
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) January 18, 2018
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City’s mayor put some of the blame on a lack of state investment in education.
And indeed, failures at the state level to fund core services like education are undoubtedly a significant reason neither OKC or Tulsa were serious Amazon contenders. I will work arm-in-arm with @gtbynum to advocate for progress at the state level. https://t.co/o8k23LzQGZ
— Senator David Holt (@davidfholt) January 18, 2018
Salt Lake City, Utah
The governor’s office chalked it up to Salt Lake City’s tiny population and western location.
Left off @Amazon's list of finalists for its second headquarters, a Utah official say he suspects the Beehive State's population was too small and its location too close to the West Coast HQhttps://t.co/4EOlnGbBGE
— The Salt Lake Tribune (@sltrib) January 19, 2018
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis pitched a sky tram and a dedicated Amazon welcome center at its airport, but “Amazon just wasn’t that into us.” Its aging population might also have had something to do with it.
Amazon narrows HQ search to 20 cities, St. Louis doesn't make the cut https://t.co/lXTmxTbrow pic.twitter.com/5tL5PAqhxX
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) January 18, 2018
Tucson, Arizona
A giant saguaro cactus, vacant land and tax breaks weren’t enough to lure Amazon to Arizona.
Here are the cities that made the cut.
- Atlanta, Ga.
- Austin, Texas
- Boston, Mass.
- Chicago, lll.
- Columbus, Ohio
- Dallas, Texas
- Denver, Colo.
- Indianapolis, Ind.
- Los Angeles, Calif.
- Miami, Fla.
- Montgomery County, Md.
- Nashville, Tenn.
- Newark, N.J.
- New York City, N.Y.
- Northern Virginia, Va.
- Philadelphia, Pa.
- Pittsburgh, Pa.
- Raleigh, N.C.
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Washington, D.C.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.