By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez | The Republic
Amazon has rejected a 21-foot saguaro cactus that a Tucson economic development group sent to the online giant in hopes of luring a second company headquarters to the city.
Amazon tweeted Tuesday to the group, Sun Corridor Inc., that the company cannot accept gifts — “even really cool ones.”
Last week, the group packed up the giant cactus for delivery to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Seattle as the company weighs where it will locate its second headquarters. The cactus, according to Sun Corridor’s CEO, was intended to communicate that there is room for Amazon to grow in Tucson long term.
Related: Tucson tortures a cactus to get Amazon’s attention
There is some irony in the company rejecting the gift. A 2016 study found state and municipal governments bestowed “almost a quarter-billion dollars in economic development subsidies in the past two years for warehouses … tied to its Amazon Prime business model,” according to Good Jobs First, a policy group that studies such subsidies.
