Arlington County officials made every effort to smooth the way for Amazon’s arrival in Northern Virginia, newly released emails and text messages show, including giving company representatives an advance copy of questions they planned to ask at a public hearing on the major economic development deal.
The correspondence reveals a friendly, sometimes cozy-sounding, relationship between Arlington, Amazon and developer JBG Smith after the county won the national competition to become the location of Amazon’s second headquarters, a project that is expected to bring at least 25,000 jobs and billions of dollars to the region.
Thousands of documents, released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Washington Business Journal and now posted on the county’s website, indicate that elected and appointed Arlington officials helped tailor communications, delay a request for an expansion of a higher-tax business improvement district, and arrange hearings in front of friendly civic and business audiences.
Several county leaders said their interactions with Amazon and JBG Smith have been appropriate, even typical of how they deal with anyone interacting with the county. But opponents said the messages reflect a lack of scrutiny and reluctance to ask hard questions before agreeing to a $23 million incentive package.
“This report confirms what many of us already knew: that our county officials have worked in lockstep with mega developers to craft a shady deal stuffed with millions in giveaways to a mega corporation,” said Danny Cendejas, an organizer with the For Us, Not Amazon coalition. “It’s past time our elected officials actually worked to provide what our communities need, not more profits to help expand corporate empires.”
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