Will we get a ‘do-over’ to try to bring that Amazon campus to Chicago?

There are many aspects of life where we wish we could have ‘do-overs,’ as in the ability to ignore some negative outcome and try to do it again in a more positive manner.

EMANUEL: Would do-over revive his legacy?

It would seem public policy is becoming one of those areas; what with the issue of Amazon.com citing a new corporate headquarters to supplement the existing campus in Seattle, Wash. All part of Amazon’s desire to make itself a company whose presence is all-dominant and powerful.

IT WAS A big deal last year when Amazon.com stirred up an application process that got municipalities all across the country eager to beg and plead with the Internet retailer of just about all kinds of goods to locate within their municipal boundaries.

Heck, even Gary, Ind., felt compelled to genuflect before the almighty-Amazon corporate image – hoping they could gain the facility.

It wasn’t surprising to many that when Amazon finally chose sites for their new proposed facility, they went with Washington, D.C. (the national capital) and New York (the largest city).

Specifically, they picked a New York proposal to locate within the borough of Queens. Only for it now to turn out that many of the locals are expressing objections to their city offering up much of anything in the way of incentives to attract Amazon.com to “the Big Apple.”

THAT IS WHERE the do-over comes into play. For Chicago officials on Friday made sure that Amazon.com officials were aware that the Second City is still willing to put forth the same offer (which would let the company pick from about five sites scattered around the city) that they did before.

Will Rahm succeed in resurrecting brawl w/ New York for Amazon.com?

In short, if New York doesn’t want ‘em, then Chicago is more than willing to take ‘em.

If New York can’t get local officials and activists to go along with the $2.8 billion in incentives that were offered up, Chicago is willing to resurrect its own plan for incentives.

With Mayor Rahm Emanuel indicating he’s more than willing to take the Chicago equivalents of those people who object to corporate tax breaks and other incentives being offered get with the program.

RAUNER: Will he get blame for initial loss?

AS IN HE’LL be prepared to use his political muscle to get those critics to “stifle themselves!” so that Chicago can draw a business entity that would definitely become one of the most prominent to call the Second City its home.

It’s not surprising to learn that Emanuel is willing to use his final couple of months in office to try to win over Amazon.com with a political do-over.

If he could actually manage to snatch this project away from New York City, it would be a significant move for his legacy. If anything, he could erase the failure he felt for being unable to get the project in the first place.

People ultimately will remember where Amazon.com chooses to locate. If Emanuel and other political people (including Gov. J.B. Pritzker and possible future Mayor Toni Preckwinkle) succeed, no one will remember that they initially failed.

IF ANYTHING, THEY may well try to shift blame to former Gov. Bruce Rauner – whose own support for the project was apathetic, at best, and in fact included some support for St. Louis. Indicating he seemed not to care where it actually wound up.

We’ll have to see just how important a New York City address is to Amazon.com officials. It may well turn out that it matters too much, and that Amazon officials are merely trying to sway New Yorkers into going along with the deal they originally agreed to.

So will a do-over for Amazon.com manage to succeed? It will be intriguing to watch the coming weeks to see whether Chicago’s level of clout is anywhere as strong and intense as our political people always fantasize it is.

Although I also suspect that when it comes to the average Chicagoan, there’s another issue where we’d rather have a do-over – as in that NFL playoff game the Chicago Bears managed to lose to Philadelphia. We’d love to have Cody Parkey try again at kicking that field goal, whose miss wound up bringing the Bears’ Super Bowl aspirations this year to a crashing end.

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