City still $42K short on paying for its failed Hamilton Amazon bid

Nearly two weeks after it learned its Amazon bid was unsuccessful, the city is still short $42,000 it hoped to raise to pay for it.

Hamilton spent $467,000 to submit a bid to host Amazon's new headquarters, which would have brought 50,000 jobs over 10 years.

The goal was to gather donations from private industry to pay for half of that cost, and the city would pay for the other half. The Hamiltonbid was always a long shot, with more than 100 cities tryingfor it. City manager Chris Murray saysthe material will be used to try to draw other industries.

But there's still a $42,000 hole in the budget one that the city still hopes to fill with corporate donations. If the city can't find more partners, said Mayor Fred Eisenberger, the money will probably be taken from a reserve.

"We're close to 50/50 but we're not quite there yet," Eisenberger said. "But I'm not terribly disappointed about that."

"I'm sure that amount of money can be found."

Murray said the city is still trying. "We made a commitment to try and find the money, and that commitment hasn't changed."

The scramble to attract Amazon started last year, when the online retail giant said it planned to spend $5 billion on Amazon HQ2.

Cities, dazzled by the notion of 50,000 jobs over 10 years, tried to grab Amazon's attention. Calgary, for example, put ads on Seattle sidewalks. Birmingham, Ala., put large Amazon Dash buttons around the city.

Hamilton used the phrase "Welcome to Unstoppable," complete with a video, a hashtag (#Hamazon) and a hefty bid book of more than 200 pages. Hamilton included Burlington and Niagara in its bid and hired several consultants to help.

Last week, city councilvoted for staff to report back every year on how the Amazon material is being used.

"We said right from the beginning it wouldn't be a waste if we failed in our attempts," said Jason Farr, Ward 2 councillor.

"The information has been used and will continue to be used," said Murray, adding that the bid book has been downloaded 110,000 times.

Here's who did make the shortlist:

• Toronto.
• Boston.
• New York City.
• Newark, N.J.
• Chicago.
• Washington D.C.
• Raleigh, N.C.
• Northern Va.
• Atlanta.
• Miami.
• Columbus, Ohio.
• Los Angeles.
• Dallas.
• Austin, Texas.
• Philadelphia.
• Pittsburgh.
• Indianapolis.
• Denver.
• Nashville.
• Montgomery County, Md.