Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) In a region known for its biting competition over big, transformative projects, an olive branch of sorts was offered on Wednesday as multiple areas in the D.C. area ready their bids to win Amazon’s coveted second headquarters.
Regional leaders at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Wednesday agreed to explore submitting one region-wide proposal to Amazon, highlighting strengths of the metropolitan area as a whole while also including individual jurisdictions’ plans.
“It’s going to highlight, I think, and perhaps be a test of our concept of regionalism, and how important it is,” COG Board Chairman Kenyan McDuffie, a D.C. Councilmember, said at Wednesday’s meeting. “A number of the COG member jurisdictions have been mentioned as potential sites.”
The proposal for a region-wide submission first came from Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner, who noted Amazon in its announcement appeared to urge one plan for each metropolitan area, even if multiple site proposals were included. The District, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, and Loudoun Counties have all expressed interest in hosting Amazon’s HQ2. Loudoun County approved the creation of an ad-hoc committee earlier this week to move the process forward.
“This is an opportunity for us to have collaboration and competition, integrate those two concepts,” Berliner said. “If we do this together, we will have shown ourselves and everyone else that we can work together even in a context in which we are competitive.”
The COG Board voted unanimously to explore the region-wide approach, which would also necessitate COG hire a consultant to assemble the regional introduction. Berliner specified his plan will not force jurisdictions to disclose to each other what kind of incentive packages are being offered.
“I see COG’s involvement here as adding to our individual efforts in bringing attention to the region,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairwoman Sharon Bulova said. “When companies…are looking all over the United States for where they want to be, they kind of focus in on a region, not necessarily particular parcels of land.”
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