Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson unveiled the box containing a copy of the city of Gary’s response to the Amazon Request for Proposals regarding the location of a second headquarters in the United States on Wednesday, October 18. Freeman-Wilson displayed a box in her office containing a copy of the proposal and indicated that the original documents were in route to the address designated by Amazon for response delivery.
Mayor Freeman-Wilson stated, “I am excited to say that the city of Gary’s working group forwarded our response to the Amazon Request for Proposals earlier today. I would like to thank President Ron Brewer and all of the members of the Gary Common Council for their support as well as the members of the Amazon working group. We are especially indebted to Economic Development Specialist Mike Citro for shepherding our effort. Now we have to send up prayers that Amazon CEO Jeff and his team will agree with us that Gary, Indiana will make a great second headquarters for Amazon.” The Mayor additionally thanked Governor Eric Holcomb for supporting the submission of Gary and Northwest Indiana.
Council President Ron Brewer added, “As President of the Gary Common Council, I was pleased to hear Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson respond to the RFP in regards to Amazon, which is an amazing company we hope will consider coming to Gary, Indiana. This will give our great city a chance to display the many assets we have available to a Fortune 500 company. Amazon coming to Gary would mean promising jobs within the region, a bright future for many, and building up a rising city for even more greatness. This is not only a game changer but also a life changing situation waiting to happen. My colleagues and I support this great endeavor 100 percent.”
The Amazon working group included representatives from the city of Gary, the Gary Economic Development Corporation, the Gary Housing Authority, the Northwest Indiana Forum, SEH, Inc., CDM Smith, NIPSCO, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and the Center for Workforce Innovation.
The city of Gary first announced its intention to respond to the Amazon RFP in a New York Times newspaper advertisement in the Business section, Page B2 on Monday, September 18, 2017.
The Mayor concluded, “To have Gary, Indiana enter an international conversation about the next Amazon Headquarters demonstrates potential business assets to Amazon and other potential businesses; this is a win-win for our community.
