(Amazon HQ1 | Photo: Jon Geeting)

Philly has tended to lag many of our peer cities in job growth since the Great Recession, but this week we got some good news from real estate research firm JLL about the city's jobs picture that shows we've at least made some big improvements on our own past performance.

Two weeks ago, the City submitted its bid (two days early!) and now the waiting game begins. Smart money is on Amazon announcing a shortlist and letting those sites battle it out. In the meantime, here are ten quick thoughts on the bid, the shortlist, and what this all means for Philadelphia. 

The Amazon bid has provided a great opening for a new, more positive narrative about Philadelphia to take hold locally, but Center City District President Paul Levy is out with a timely corrective to some of the marketing glitz, warning us not to get complacent.

You can't go a day on social media in 2017 without seeing a story or listicle about how Philadelphia is on the upswing. And compared to our own recent history, this is true. There's a lot of good stuff happening, and some amount of self-back patting is appropriate. But as a corrective, everyone should also read Christy Speer Lejune's piece at Philly Mag pouring a big glass of ice water on all the happy talk about Philly's economy. 

(Darrell Clarke proposes down-zoning a big section of Sharswood right next to Ridge Ave. Image: Philadelphia City Planning Commission)

Diana Lind had a thoughtful piece in The Philadelphia Citizen this week about the need to proactively support and preserve independent business on Philly's commercial corridors before a tidal wave of national chain retail makes everything really boring.