Sponsored Page
What could Amazon do for Detroit? Just imagine...
Members of Detroit’s Amazon HQ committee
tasked with landing the business behemoth
make the case to The Michigan Chronicle for
why this matters
Amazon announced on October 5 that it is
planning to open a second headquarters, to be
called Amazon HQ2. Facing steep competition -
and some might say steeper odds – a broad list of
59 local and regional power players, led by Rock
Financial’s Dan Gilbert, is betting Detroit can con-
vince Amazon that the Motor City is home sweet
home – as well as a swell place to park all those
jobs and all that cash.
Amazon set an Oct. 19 deadline for cities to
submit bids.
Why should your average Detroiter care
about whether or not Detroit lands Amazon?
Nearly more than one-third of Detroiters are
living at or below the poverty line, and more
than that are functionally illiterate. How will
landing Amazon improve their lives?
Mayor Mike Duggan
Opportunity is what lifts people out of poverty
and bringing Amazon to Detroit would create a
level of opportunity we’ve not seen in genera-
tions. Amazon could create up to 50,000 jobs
in the Metro area. While we still are learning
exactly what types of jobs would be included
in the 50,000, there’s no doubt they will span a
wide variety of job sectors and skill levels. One of
the things Detroit needs most is more jobs in the
city limits. The income taxes alone that would be
generated by 50,000 jobs would be a tremendous
boost to the city’s tax base. That’s money we could
use to fund critical city services and continued
investment in our neighborhoods.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans
A development of this magnitude would bring
jobs and investment at levels few projects could.
It will also significantly impact the tax base, which
will better fund the services the city provides to its
residents. Now, if you’re sitting below the poverty
line or struggling to find a job, that may not get
you excited. I wouldn’t blame you if you felt that
way. But this level of outside investment would
infuse the city with energy and resources that
weren’t there beforehand. That’s going to create
opportunities and impact throughout the region.
City Council President Brenda Jones
Detroit’s selection as Amazon’s HQ2 can result
not only in a new industry coming to the city, but
additional job opportunities, a boost to second-tier
sourcing and stimulation of the entrepreneurial
sector. According to a recent report from Detroit
Future City, there are not enough jobs for Detroit
residents (30 jobs for every 100 residents).
Amazon’s entry into the Detroit market will boost
available slots in the private sector. The chal-
lenge will be to identify and train the thousands
of Detroiters who will need to fill professional,
skilled and non-skilled labor slots. The Detroit
Employment Solutions Corporation has slightly
improved job placement results, but targeted
actions must continue to be ramped up to meet
Amazon’s need. Research into the specific posi-
tion requirements and skill sets will be necessary
to design demand-based training that leads to
placement and sustainability.
Dennis Archer Jr.
The average Detroiter should care about
Amazon coming to Detroit for several reasons.
To outline the one most obvious to me: Amazon
would bring thousands of new technology-related
jobs to Detroit. That will not only add significant
business and payroll taxes to the City which can,
in turn, be used to improve public services to
all citizens, it will also create more demand for
incremental jobs in various areas, such as legal,
service industry, maintenance, hospitality, real
estate, dry cleaning, physicians, etc. That's good
for our entire community. Additionally, having
thousands of jobs in this sector coming on line
over the course of several years should encourage
our educational institutions to adapt their curricu-
lums to address these opportunities.
Rip Rapson
First, it increases the tax base, injecting new
financial capacity into city’s government’s ability to
provide all residents with improved public services.
Second, it contributes to long-term economic sta-
bilization by helping diversify our economy. Third, it
provides a wide spectrum of possible employment
ladders – in technology, e-commerce and logis-
tics. And fourth, it could accelerate the region’s
adoption of a comprehensive, effective public
transit system that ensures that all city residents
have ready and affordable access to the region’s
employment centers, health care facilities, and
recreational amenities.
But we cannot seek and embrace an invest-
ment of this type without insisting – guaranteeing
– that the positive benefits are genuinely equitable.
Landing Amazon will reportedly translate
into thousands of jobs and job opportunities
for Detroiters, perhaps more at one time that
any time in Detroit’s recent history. But will
Detroiters qualify for these jobs?
Mayor Mike Duggan
Again, these 50,000 jobs will span a wide
range of employment opportunities – and that’s
just direct Amazon jobs. We will also continue to
implement new Detroit At Work programs to train
Detroiters for careers such as software engineer-
ing and logistics. If Amazon chooses Detroit, we
will have several years to ramp up and train as
many Detroiters as possible so they are prepared
for these jobs when they become available.
Detroit also is one of very few cities nationally
that has a program – The Detroit Promise – that
guarantees any high school graduate will have the
opportunity to go to college and get the education
and training they need to land these high paid
Amazon jobs.
Is this the shape of things to come if Amazon selects Detroit?
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans
There has been a stronger effort in recent years to
help more Detroiters pursue training and education
needed in today’s workforce. There’s obviously
more work to do on that front, but we’re making
progress and this project can hopefully move us
closer to the day when we don’t have to ask that
question.
City Council President Brenda Jones
Detroiters are more than ready to qualify for posi-
tions at Amazon, with the ability to respond quickly
to training and development. Also, our graduating
students from local and national colleges and
universities are an untapped resource. They should
be strongly recruited to remain and/or return to
Detroit to live, work and play. Amazon’s presence
would boost Detroit’s tax base, which could pro-
vide greater amenities that might attract and retain
additional workers.
We will need a comprehensive plan to reach the
approximately 50% of working-age Detroiters who
have fallen off the radar screen as it relates to
employment. Vigorous outreach to those under the
poverty line, using unconventional methods, will
be crucial.
Dennis Archer Jr.
Yes, Detroiters who have skills in coding, tech-
nology and supply chain logistics will be in high
demand - today and tomorrow - by companies like
Amazon. Detroiters, who today lack those skills,
can still benefit from the spin off jobs created
by an influx of higher income technology work-
ers. More importantly, this opportunity highlights
the importance that both our present-day work-
force and those soon to enter it, regardless of skill
level, need to learn about these new technologies
and acquire the requisite skills to be relevant in
the 21st Century workplace.
Rip Rapson
In addition to the direct jobs proposed by
Amazon, a development of this size has the
potential to not only create thousands of indirect
jobs, but to help sustain and grow businesses of
all sizes that will be essential to support Amazon,
its employees and visitors. From construction and
professional services, to vendors and surrounding
retail, restaurants, entertainment and hospitality,
there will be an impressive cascading of new,
resultant employment opportunities.
But the community must prioritize what that
means for Detroiters. Working together, govern-
ment, business, nonprofits and philanthropic sec-
tors must make a concerted effort to challenge the
barriers that leave too many of our citizens behind.
will be an impressive cascading of new, resultant
employment opportunities.
But the community must prioritize what that
means for Detroiters. Working together, govern-
ment, business, nonprofits and philanthropic sec-
tors must make a concerted effort to challenge the
barriers that leave too many of our citizens behind.
Responses were edited for length
About this series
New Michigan Media (NMM) is the collaboration of
the five leading minority media outlets in the region.
The New Michigan Media Newspapers have a com-
bined estimated reach of over 140,000 weekly, and
include The Latino Press, The Michigan Chronicle,
The Jewish News, The Michigan Korean Weekly,
and The Arab American News. For the past 3
years, NMM has also been a member of the Detroit
Journalism Cooperative (DJC), the unique collabora-
tion between some of the leading media outlets of
the region, which includes The Center for Michigan’s
Bridge Magazine, Detroit Public Television, Michigan
Public Radio, and WDET. Funded by the John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation, the DJC aims to report
about and create community engagement opportu-
nities in Detroit and the region. The article you are
reading is part of the DJC project of this year, and
will appear in all the NMM member newspapers, as
well as with the DJC partners.