City announces formal campaign to attract Amazon headquarters

Birmingham metro area leaders thought outside the box when they decided to announce a campaign to bring Amazon to Birmingham.

Literally.

On Monday morning, larger-than-life replicas of Amazon's recognizable packaging appeared throughout the Magic City, creating a stir from The Pizitz to Railroad Park.

At the park, city, county and state politicians and leaders gathered for an announcement that put into formality the discussion that has been going around for weeks, about Amazon's interest in relocating its headquarters to Birmingham.

"This represents our united effort to put together an application," Mayor William Bell said. "We're very sincere about this effort, we're very united about this effort."

Birmingham and surrounding city council members were in attendance, along with Jefferson County commissioners and state legislators.

County Commissioner David Carrington said that bringing large companies to Jefferson County stimulates the growth the area so desperately needs.

"Why we do things like this is because it revitalizes our community," he said.

And for Amazon, he said Birmingham is a unique potential new home because of the symbiotic relationship and growth a partnership could provide.

"The Birmingham metro area offers Amazon a real opportunity to actively participate in the redefinition of a community already in the midst of an accelerated transformation," he said.

Carrington asked for Birmingham metro residents to use social media to convince Amazon to make the choice, using the BringAtoB hashtags and 

State Sen. Jabo Waggoner said he and those looking to stimulate economic development in the state have updated the incentive package the state has to offer, and hope that Amazon will take a look and give Birmingham a chance.

In early September, Amazon announced it was looking for a location for its "HQ2" or second major headquarters, outside of its home base of Seattle.

Requirements for its new home included having a million people, a diverse population, infrastructure to support 50,000 new workers and economic incentives from state and local governments.

The deadline for cities to reply to Amazon's request for proposal is Oct. 19.