Desperately Seeking Amazon

Over the last two months, cities of every size and in every part of the country fell over themselves in a lurid, nauseating pageant of suitors. To whom would Amazon give the rose? The deeper urban revolution may be taking place at a subterranean level, where left-wing organizations birthed out of last year’s campaigns, alongside those long in existence, are moving to take power from the city machines, old and new. Though it will not be registered in the videos and website of the bids, it is happening in Philadelphia, as well as dozens of the cities attempting to sell their souls to Amazon. Among the calls most prominent—a takeover of the local party structure, an end to mass incarceration, a guarantee of healthcare, reinvestment in schools—there is still the unfinished work of planning. Left untouched, cities will rely on Amazon to do it for them.