Forums on Amazon HQ2 and the Right to the City

Forged for All? Amazon HQ2 & the Future of PittsburghHuman Rights, the Right to the City, and Equity implications of the City of Pittsburgh's Future. Forged. For All Plan
Amazon put forward a wish list that set off an inter-city competition to become the site of the company's planned new headquarters. Pittsburgh was one of more than 230 cities to submit proposals. But here and elsewhere, the general public had little opportunity to discuss cities offers to Amazon and how this development would impact residents. Human rights and social justice activists in our community have been convening community forums where Pittsburgh residents can learn more about the likely effects of the City of Pittsburgh's proposal to host Amazon HQ2. While the project would create certain kinds of jobs, would they, as leaders claim, be forged for all? Moreover, how will they impact Pittsburgh's already severe affordable housing crisis, and its racial inequities, infrastructure, and public services? Panelists will also examine how people in other cities have responded to similar initiatives around the country, and discuss ways that city residents can work to ensure that planning and development better accounts for the needs of residents for affordable housing and quality public services like transit, education, and urban infrastructure.

Latest updates

Our Fight for Democracy and Transparency: Pressing Public Officials to Make Amazon Bid Public

• June 2018: Press release-Community groups file amicus brief to release details of Amazon HQ2 bid

• “Advocacy groups file court brief supporting media efforts to make Pittsburgh’s Amazon HQ2 bid public” Public Source, June 21, 2018
• Protestors Demand Officials Make Pittsburgh’s Amazon HQ2 Bid Public WESA, June 21, 2018

• "Without public debate now on Pittsburgh's Amazon bid, citizens will lose" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette letter to the editor, May 13, 2018

• Governor Wolf, Mayor Peduto, and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald are now embroiled in a major legal battle over whether the non-disclosure agreements they signed with private entities violated our open records laws.

Forums and Events

• Saturday March 31 (Recording-Link) "Pittsburgh's Economic Revitalization: Technology, Corporate Power, and Democratic Accountability" As Pittsburgh seeks to attract Amazon's 2nd headquarters, residents are invited to consider how efforts to transform Pittsburgh from an industrial to a globally competitive, high-tech economy impact the human rights and priorities of residents. Panelists will provide information about the city's bid to host Amazon and other companies looking to do business in our city. Speakers: Kelauni Cook, Black Tech Nation; Laura Wiens, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Chris Potter, WESA; Moderator: Michelle King, Learning Instigator, Teacher Powered Pittsburgh
• Saturday February 10: Recording: 'Public Forum Saturday February 10:Human Rights, the Right to the City, and Amazon HQ2: Forged for all?'Panelists: Mila Sanina, executive director of PublicSource;Carl Redwood, Hill District Consensus Group; Jourdan Hicks, Hazelwood resident & activist; Amanda Green-Hawkins, Director, Civil and Human Rights Department, United Steelworkers, Board member, Pittsburgh United; Laura Wiens, Pittsburghers for Public Transit; Leigh Solomon Pugliano,Co-founder/CEO,Straightforward Consulting and Director of Opportunity, New Sun Rising;

Sign the Petition

Call on our public officials to be accountable to voters: Sign Community Power Movement's petition to the City of Pittsburgh, here: http://communitypowermovement.org/action/petition-to-the-city-of-pittsburgh/

Media coverage

• • Recording: 'Public Forum Saturday February 10://Human Rights, the Right to the City, and Amazon HQ2: Forged for all?//>> 'Panelists: Mila Sanina, executive director of PublicSource;Carl Redwood, Hill District Consensus Group; Jourdan Hicks, Hazelwood resident & activist; Amanda Green-Hawkins, Director, Civil and Human Rights Department, United Steelworkers, Board member, Pittsburgh United; Laura Wiens, Pittsburghers for Public Transit; Leigh Solomon Pugliano,Co-founder/CEO,Straightforward Consulting and Director of Opportunity, New Sun Rising;
  • ˜Whose City? Our City!: Pittsburgh citizens worry about consequences of Amazon HQ2Geekwire Feb. 10, 2018
  • How Amazon's HQ2 may both bring growth and imperil Pittsburgh's talent pool | PublicSource

Additional Resources

Analyses of Pittsburgh and other city impacts

• Is this for Everyone? Qs about Amazon's HQ2Urbankind Institute Pittsburgh
• "Is Pittsburgh's rental market a good fit for Amazon?"City Paper
• "Amazon Cannot Deliver on Working Class Needs in Pittsburgh" Socialist Alternative
• Unfulfilled promises: Amazon fulfillment centers do not generate broad-based employment growth Economic Policy Institute
• Jeff Bezos Quest To Find America's Stupidest Mayor Huffington Post
• Black Agenda Report Podcast: **Greg LeRoy**, of Good Jobs First, warns the remaining 20 cities bidding to become Amazon's second headquarters not to believe the corporation's promises of $5 billion in investments and 50,000 good-paying jobs. Cites always lose out on these corporate mega-deals, said LeRoy. Some bids would allow Amazon to pocket its employees tax payments. We're giving away other people's money, and without the permission or knowledge of the workers in almost every case, he said.

Campaigns-- National Activist groups put out Our HQ2 Wishlist:

• Our HQ2 Wishlist: Open letter to Amazon Chief Executive Jeff BezosActivist groups around the country put forward our demands for what corporations should bring to communities in which they invest
• Petition for a Non-Aggression Pact among Amazon HQ2 competing cities (Strongtowns.org)

Coverage of Pittsburgh Forums

• Whose City? Our City!: Pittsburgh citizens worry about consequences of Amazon HQ2Geekwire Feb. 10, 2018
• How Amazon's HQ2 may both bring growth and imperil Pittsburgh's talent pool | PublicSource
• At community forum on Amazon HQ2, Pittsburgh looks to avoid becoming the next SeattleGeekwire Feb. 8, 2018
• Pittsburgh's University Communities Wary Of Rapid Development From Amazon HQ2, WESA Pittsburgh

Alternative Development Strategies-- Place and People-Centered Economic Planning?

• The City of Pittsburgh recently passed an ordinance to implement the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. The following Gender Equality Principlescan provide benchmarks for us to demand of any city development project--particularly those that involve corporate tax subsidies or other public resources.
• Seattle's Racial Equity Toolkit also provides a resource for cities seeking to reduce racial discrimination and move towards greater racial equity.
• A related issue here is the City's relationship with Uber, which has grown through a similar process of corporate-politician dealing that remains outside the public view. Here's a new report on "Uber State Interference: How Transportation Network Companies Buy, Bully, and Bamboozle Their Way To Deregulation", published by the National Employment Law Project and Partnership for Working Families."
• New Economics Foundation "People and Places First" Strategies for place-based development

• City of Pittsburgh's proposal