Boston last night released a 218-page proposal in hopes of convincing Amazon to choose the city as the site of its second North American headquarters. Featured in the glitzy marketing proposal is Suffolk Downs, a 160-acre horse track in East Boston and Revere that is close to the airport and the waterfront and is served by two Blue Line MBTA stations.
Shirley Leung, Boston Globe business columnist and WGBH contributor, says there are pros and cons to Boston's bid, which is vying for Amazon's promise of a more than $5-billion investment and 50,000 high-paying jobs over the next 15 years.
Leung says the reason the city chose Suffolk Downs is that it's a blank slate, and since it's near the airport, it meets a lot of the criteria that Amazon set in its request for proposals.
But, Leung adds, one of the downsides of the Suffolk Downs proposal is that it's isolated in East Boston.
"Some people might not think that it's even part of Boston," she said. She continued that Jeff Bezos might see Suffolk Downs and think, "where's Cambridge, where's MIT, where's this famed seaport district?"
To listen to the full interview, click on the audio player above.
