NEW YORK - Mayor Bill de Blasio appears to slight Amazon just hours after the city submits a proposal to be the online retailer's second headquarters. 

During a town hall in Brooklyn Heights Wednesday night, the mayor was asked about keeping small businesses open around the five boroughs. 

De Blasio says New Yorkers should shop local and avoid online retailers.

"A lot of people are turning to amazon and other online options. That's one of the underlying factors, not the only, it's one of them. I've said this at a number of other town meetings and I want to tell it to the people in this room. If like me, you love your local neighborhood stores, your bakeries, your cafes, your clothing stores, all these things, you need to spend your money there, and not at Starbucks and not on other alternative places," De Blasio said.

The city has been courting Amazon for the past several weeks to open its second headquarters here, saying it would be a good fit.

The city also lit up major landmarks Wednesday night, including One World Trade Center in orange to commemorate the proposal. 

Midtown West, Long Island City, the Brooklyn Tech Triangle, which includes DUMBO, the Brooklyn Navy Yards and Downtown Brooklyn, and Lower Manhattan are included in the city's official proposal for Amazon HQ2.

The city's economic development corporation received more than 24 proposals to be inlcuded in the offiical bid to Amazon. 

These neighborhoods made the final cut because of their available commercial space, proximity to transit, highways and airports.