NYC Is So Desperate for Amazon’s Love It’s Turning Every Single Light Orange
Credit to Author: Louise Matsakis| Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2017 18:22:29 +0000
New York City’s most iconic locations, including the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center, are turning orange Wednesday night in a desperate plea for the attention of a technology corporation.
Amazon announced in September that it plans to build a second headquarters outside Seattle. The tech giant is searching for a city with at least one million people, a diverse population, and excellent schools, among other qualifications. It gave municipalities six weeks—until this Thursday—to submit a proposal.
Local governments in more than 100 American cities tried to prove that they should be home to Amazon’s new corporate office, which is expected to employ up to 50,000 workers. Tucson sent Amazon a gigantic cactus, which it politely returned. The mayor of Washington, DC, Muriel Bowser, produced an original video featuring an Echo, Amazon’s smart speaker. Plenty of other locales made similar gestures to try and win Amazon’s love.
But New York City has outdone them all.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that “several key” New York City landmarks and venues tonight are going to be lit up “Amazon Orange,” the color of the arrow on the company’s logo. That includes the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, and numerous other iconic venues.
Amazon will likely only come to the Big Apple if its government can promise gigantic subsidies, for which taxpayers would foot the bill. It’s worth remembering that the tech giant sued the state of New York in 2008 over a new sales tax it imposed on internet retailers.
I’m certain plenty of people will mistake the pumpkin hue for some sort of early Halloween celebration, but it’s actually something far spookier.