‘Obviously Not D.C.’: New website, petition protest Amazon HQ2 bid

Mayor Muriel Bowser is all for enticing Amazon to choose Washington, D.C., for their second headquarters, otherwise known as HQ2. In a video posted September 2017, she said the choice should be “obvious,” arguing that the city is walkable, eco-friendly, with a thriving arts scene, and Jeff Bezos already lives here. Despite these reasons and various others noted by journalists who believe Amazon may choose the nation’s capital, there are still efforts to shoo away the tech company.

A brand new website and petition have been formed, titled “Obviously Not D.C.,” that argues, “Let’s prioritize D.C. communities, not the world’s richest man.” On the website, Bowser is criticized for “rushing to give away an unknown amount of taxpayer money” to attain HQ2. Amazon’s new headquarters is expected to bring up to 50,000 workers and cost as much as $5 billion. It is also expected to be the “full equal” to the headquarters in Seattle, Washington, which spans 8.1 million square feet in 33 buildings.

“In a city with a housing and homelessness crisis, where tens of thousands of longtime black residents have been pushed out over the last decade, our city leaders are clamoring to bring in up to 50,000 new, likely affluent residents, without any conversation about the impact on longtime residents,” writes the website. “And they’re boasting about 50,000 jobs, a made-up number invented by Amazon to spark a bidding war.”

Rather than fund the headquarters, the petition urges Bowser to instead “address the social, racial, and economic inequalities that plague our region,” more specifically affordable housing, homelessness, modernizing D.C. Public Schools, funding WMATA, closing the grocery gap, and more.

At the time of this article’s publication, 237 letters were sent to the D.C. Council saying “no” to subsidizing Amazon with a goal to send 400 letters.

Curbed DC readers, what are your thoughts on this new website and petition? Are you in support of Amazon’s HQ2 coming to the District, or no?