[left of center]

How Emanuel’s exit may affect Chicago's bid for Amazon's HQ2
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...904-story.html

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Tuesday announcement that he won’t seek a third term throws a big unknown into the city’s efforts to score Amazon’s second headquarters, which would be the crowning achievement in a line of corporate wins under his leadership.

The city is one of 20 locations in the running for what Amazon has dubbed HQ2, which will bring up to 50,000 high-paying new jobs to the chosen North American location. Amazon has said it will pick a location by year’s end.

Emanuel has been hands-on in trying to woo Amazon to Chicago, touting the city’s growing tech sector, assembling 600 heavy hitters on a committee to support the bid and even hiring William Shatner to narrate a pitch video because Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a “Star Trek” fan.

The pending exit of the pro-business mayor after eight years creates new questions for corporations that already have a large presence in the city, those considering one and the developers whose cranes dot the downtown skyline. Emanuel is known for being an aggressive pitchman, often picking up the phone himself to call CEOs and tell them why they should consider Chicago.

“I don’t know anybody who could do it better,” said Dennis Donovan, principal at site selection consultant Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting. “He made it known Chicago was open for business.”

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