Mayor Kenney Reflects On Lessons Learned From Amazon Bidding Process
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It will probably be at least three months of waiting before Philadelphia finds out how Amazon greeted its bid to host the company's second headquarters, but Mayor Jim Kenney says the bid process was useful, regardless of the outcome.
After a month of all-out, non-stop effort, the mayor met with a small group of local business people to talk about what he thought the city had gained in the process.
"We did a real self-examination of all of our assets," Kenney said.
Besides a template for recruiting any business, with up-to-date data and media, the mayor says the most valuable things were intangible.
One, was a sense of community.
"It was everybody that we need, not just for Amazon, but for every issue that we face," said Kenney.
And that extends to surrounding suburbs.
"We've become more regional through this process, even though we're competing against each other a little bit, or a lot, but it's become this regional attitude, 'Yeah, this is a great place to be,'" Kenney said.
And that is perhaps the biggest gain, the mayor says.
"When I was a kid, Philadelphia was not a city that was proud of itself, and I think that if we continue this positive attitude about our city, there's no limit to what we can do," he said.