City, county fight to keep details of Amazon HQ2 bid secret

PITTSBURGH — Lawyers for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County went to court Thursday to keep secret the details of the city's bid to get the new Amazon HQ2 facility built here.

Attorneys argued that releasing information from the bid would jeopardize efforts to land Amazon.

"We are going to keep going," said Andrew Szefi, solicitor for Allegheny County. "We are going to brief the issues for the judge and we will go from there."

An attorney who argued for the release declined to comment.

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He did tell the judge the bid should be released partly because city and county employees worked on the bid on the taxpayer's dime.

Allegheny Conference CEO Stefani Pashman testified that a handful of universities, along with non-profit organizations, the city and county all worked on the bid. Pashman also said Amazon requested it to be kept confidential.

Assistant county solicitor George Janocsko told the judge releasing the bid could jeopardize a once in a lifetime economic boost.

He also argued that the process requires input from the public.

Just two weeks ago, county executive Rich Fitzgerald and Mayor Bill Peduto told Channel 11 that it's a fierce competition down to 20 cities and they need every advantage.

"Tipping our hand to show everyone else what our cards are would put Pittsburgh in a competitive disadvantage to the other 19 cities," Peduto said.

The judge asked both parties to submit written arguments and then he will ultimately make a decision.

If he agrees to release the bid, the city and county are planning to appeal that decision.

Cox Media Group