Didn't Amazon say North America, not United States?
Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
201–210 of 253 posts
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well Amazon isn't a charity; why would you expect them to care about anything other than their own criteria?
For the same reason my company used to, I'm retired, sponsor the local little league sports teams - even though the audiences were absolutely never going to be clients? Sometimes, you do the right thing, just because it's the right thing to do. It wasn't an investment. It was just giving back to the community that housed us. I guess you could argue that it improved employee morale? I don't think any of our employees…
I'm sure Amazon would be happy to sponsor a little league team. Sponsoring a city in the same way is to then be responsible for people who don't even work for you. It's much better for Amazon to stake its flag in a city that is self reliant, but also fertile for new blood.
Microsoft and Boeing anchor Seattle next to Amazon, that makes Seattle a very stable and fertile place. If Amazon moved to, say, St. Louis? What else is there to balance it out? Budweiser?
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#203It will probably land in Reno. Just my prediction.
I agree, Nevada is able to provide the largest tax abatements which is probably going to be the deciding factor (helped recruit GigaFactory, Las Vegas Raiders etc). 300 days of sunshine, cheap real state, low cost of living and close proximity to 15 ski resorts, plus 45 minute flights to Seattle/Silicon Valley.
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
Off the top of my head, two main points for why Austin is better-suited than Houston for a tech HQ: - UT (@Austin) means a large pool of fresh grads from a top-10 CS program they can recruit. - Existing presence of both Amazon itself and other tech companies (Google, FB, MS, etc) means they don't have to relocate workers, and it's a lot easier to convince SDEs from other companies to jump ship.
Gay employees can't marry. That's all you need to say no.
Even if that were true, why would that be relevant for deciding between two cities in the same state?
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#205This really burns me. The Times compared the metro population of Grand Rapids (1 million) to Detroit's population (670,000) in order to disqualify the city in their first round. But metro Detroit has a population of 4.5 million so the Times either was sloppy with their criteria or they deliberately snubbed Detroit. Detroit may be a dark horse in this competition but with Dan Gilbert going all out to win I don't think…
I work at a software company between Boulder and Denver. It's easy to recruit people here. You fly them out (at any time of year, even winter) and the weather is typically sunny and pleasant. (yes, in the winter, it's usually sunny, dry, and mild temps) Good luck doing that in Detroit.
But why would you want Amazon in Colorado? Rent there is already increasing, Amazon there would make everything unaffordable.
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
Philadelphian here. The times has a well known anti-philly bias. They're mad about our cheap houses.
The times is a New York publication and most New Yorkers believe NYC is the best city by far on the east coast. That bias will surely be reflected in their articles. I don’t think it’s quite as simple as cheap houses. [edit: I see now TFA settled on Denver, but I don’t think that invalidates my point]
When you say "believe NYC is the best city by far on the east coast", did you mean to say the world =P
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
The times is a New York publication and most New Yorkers believe NYC is the best city by far on the east coast. That bias will surely be reflected in their articles. I don’t think it’s quite as simple as cheap houses. [edit: I see now TFA settled on Denver, but I don’t think that invalidates my point]
When you say "believe NYC is the best city by far on the east coast", did you mean to say the world =P
Haha, I did not, though that is a fairly common refrain. As a New Yorker, I do not believe it’s the best city in the world, but I think it’s the best in the States.
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#208Actually I would challenge the idea Houston doesn't have enough of the professionals required. Houston was eliminated as not having enough white collar workers. Yet they left in Austin which is far smaller because at least 12.5 % base of their base has the right skills. It makes sense to compare desired jobs versus the general population but not without context. Seriously with six million+ people here, do you really…
Off the top of my head, two main points for why Austin is better-suited than Houston for a tech HQ: - UT (@Austin) means a large pool of fresh grads from a top-10 CS program they can recruit. - Existing presence of both Amazon itself and other tech companies (Google, FB, MS, etc) means they don't have to relocate workers, and it's a lot easier to convince SDEs from other companies to jump ship.
I'm glad that NYT removed Austin from the list for mass transit / transportation reasons: the roads are full during rush hours. The only reason I make it is because I commute against traffic, and even that is becoming worse.
Plus the water situation when there's no hurricanes around to refill the lakes is fairly dire.
Nope, Austin's full.
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gay employees can't marry. That's all you need to say no.
Gay marriage has been legal in all 50 states for 2 years now
You're right. I'm a moron. However, I'd like to point out that Texas state gov't doesn't send a big "welcome" message of tolerance and inclusion to LGBTQ community.
Re: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work at a software company between Boulder and Denver. It's easy to recruit people here. You fly them out (at any time of year, even winter) and the weather is typically sunny and pleasant. (yes, in the winter, it's usually sunny, dry, and mild temps) Good luck doing that in Detroit.
But why would you want Amazon in Colorado? Rent there is already increasing, Amazon there would make everything unaffordable.
I can't speak for the grandparent poster, but it seems he was making a case for Denver being great for Amazon, not necessarily discussing if Amazon would be great for Denver.
That said, I wouldn't mind seeing Amazon HQ2 locate here. While I doubt I would personally want to work for Amazon due to its reputation as being a lousy place to work, it would probably boost the tech scene and salaries. I think Denver's cost of living is going to continue its steep trajectory with or without Amazon.