Three Fairfield County political leaders are raising their voices to bring Amazon”™s proposed $5 billion second North American headquarters campus to the Bridgeport area.
State Rep. Laura Hoydick believes that Stratford would be an ideal location for the e-commerce giant”™s new offices.
“Stratford and the greater Bridgeport region fits the bill perfectly for Amazon”™s new corporate headquarters and we have numerous locations right here in Stratford that would be ideal,” said Hoydick, who is also executive director of the Stratford Chamber of Commerce and a candidate for the Republican nomination for mayor of Stratford.
“We have the skilled labor force down here essential for Amazon”™s operations, as well as access by highway, airport, train and medium harbor ports, and Bridgeport has a deep harbor port.”
Hoydick said that she was disappointed that Gov. Dannel Malloy was advocating Hartford as Connecticut”™s choice for the second Amazon headquarters.
“I know the governor is very tight with his former employee and now Mayor Luke Bronin, but honestly he should be looking beyond his determination to bail Hartford out,” she said. “To be blunt, the governor”™s intervention in favor of Hartford is directly and intentionally undercutting our region.”
Also interested in luring Amazon to Fairfield County is Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, who noted his city was part of an online poll run by the MarketWatch site allowing people to select their favorite to be the next Amazon headquarters city.
“We believe that the city of Bridgeport and Fairfield County have the attributes and meet the criteria that Amazon is looking for as evidence displayed in the analysis done by MarketWatch, which publicized 12 cities throughout the country; Bridgeport is one of those cities selected,” said Ganim, who is also using the city”™s social media accounts to encourage residents to vote for Bridgeport in MarketWatch”™s poll.
Joining Hoydick and Ganim in the Amazon derby is Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau. “We are keenly interested to attract a world-renowned company like Amazon to advance Fairfield County as a potential site for its second corporate headquarters,” he said in a statement.
If Stratford, Bridgeport or Fairfield are serious about pursuing Amazon as a new corporate resident, they will need to submit a formal proposal on the company”™s website. Amazon claimed that it will hire as many as 50,000 employees to staff the new operation.
