A lie for a lie and your soul for sale

[sovay]

Mayor Curtatone finally made a public decision I don't agree with, but he picked a doozy: "Somerville is preparing a regional proposal for Amazon's new headquarters." First of all, I have hated since the start of this process the very idea that Boston has to court Amazon, has to flatter the largest internet retailer on the globe into gracing our brick-and-mortar backwater with its $135 billion presence; Bezos' ego doesn't need the extra stroking. Second, I don't want Amazon in Boston: I don't want to become the Seattle of the East Coast or, God forbid, the San Francisco. I don't want to live in a company town. I especially don't want to live in a company town with Amazon's well-documented, exploitative employment practices. And I really, especially don't want to see Somerville, which is struggling enough with costs of living and gentrification and rents approaching asymptote, turn into an exploded shell of itself with the neutron star of Amazon at its core. When I feel less like a bomb went off in my head, I will try to write some less furious version of the above and send it to the city. I cannot see any way in which an Amazon "campus" in Somerville ends well, except for Amazon.

Comments

[dewline]

We've got enough problems with the consequences of being the national capital making us a "one of a relative handful" kind of "company town" to be sure. Whether having Amazon around would make that situation better or worse, I don't know. Also, we - as a country - still like our labour unions somewhat more than seems to be the case in the States and we're redeveloping an appreciation for the details of our tax laws. If fear of Trump becomes enough to make Amazon go along to get along up here...?