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Director of SPCD responding to #204982 re: possible financial incentives and a community benefits agreement in the city's Amazon bid.
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To the Honorable Board:
In response to Agenda Item 204982: That the Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development outline any financial incentives offered in the city's Amazon bid as well as plans for a Community Benefits Agreement in the possible development.
In response to Agenda Item 204982, OSPCD has forwarded to the Board of Aldermen and to its Finance Committee, under separate cover, the enclosed material prepared by Thomas Galligani, Director of Economic Development.
Please contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Michael F. Glavin
Executive Director, OSPCD
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From: Thomas Galligani
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2018 10:07 AM
To: Katjana Ballantyne
Cc: Michael F. Glavin; Tim Snyder
Subject: Response to Agenda Item 204982 related to financial incentives offered in the City's Amazon bid
Agenda Item 204982 That the Director of SPCD outline any financial incentives offered in the city's Amazon bid as well as plans for a Community Benefits Agreement in the possible development.
Madame President,
The City’s regional-focused proposal to the Amazon HQ2 RFP highlighted the region’s inherent assets-its world class universities, diverse quality workface, exceptional transit access, thriving arts and culture hub and mixed-use permitted sites-as the incentive for Amazon to locate HQ2 in and around Somerville.
The City also made note of existing state and financial local incentive programs, in particular state incentives available generally from the Commonwealth’s EDIP program and our local brownfields site assessment and cleanup loan programs. All of these programs are potentially available to organizations and projects which meet clearly-defined eligibility criteria. No commitment was made in our proposal-we simply referenced the same program information that’s already publically available on City and Commonwealth web pages.
The City’s HQ2 proposal can be found here <https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/ospcd-economic-development/amazon-t-tapping-vitality-greater-boston> <https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/ospcd-economic-development/amazon-t-tapping-vitality-greater-boston>.
Our proposal does not include any plans for a Community Benefits Agreement.
Please let me know if you require any further information.
Thomas F. Galligani, Jr.
Director of Economic Development
Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development