Anyone else think Amazon released a list of twenty cities to create a substantially higher buzz factor, rather than a much shorter list would?
Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
441–450 of 747 posts
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#442Three candidate cities are in the same metro area (DC). * Montgomery county, MD * Northern Virginia * Washington DC
I think this is politically smart and that one of these 3 will end up being the winner. The current US administration is very anti amazon. It is a little tougher for politicians and staff to publicly bash a company when 50k of their employees live and work in the same zip code.
This logic doesn't hold up. Trump bashes us Washingtonians/Marylanders all the time. And the feeling is mutual back at him with a large large majority of the population.
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#443Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh, there's nothing out in the eastern part of Colorado that qualifies as a city. Sterling, is like 10k people, if that. But anything east of Greeley is still relatively affordable. Anything along the Front Range, Colorado Springs, and north, all the way up to Fort Collins, have seen huge increases in housing costs in the last 5 years. Denver and Boulder are expensive, yes, but the commuter (bedroom) communities, lik…
> Uh, there's nothing out in the eastern part of Colorado that qualifies as a city. Sterling, is like 10k people, if that. You realize that both Ft. Morgan and Sterling call themselves cities? But I get your point. They are small in population compared to Front Range municipalities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Co...
I didn't realize that. I thought the term City was used mostly for places with larger populations. Thanks for the insight!
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#444on realpolitik grounds, Indianapolis would be a fascinating choice.
The main problem with some of these cities, Indianapolis in particular, is that it might be hard to attract software developers to go live there. Even though the dollar goes farther in Indianapolis, after adjusting for cost of living, you would still need to add a bonus to entice developers to live there rather than Seattle. I grew up near Indianapolis and I certainly would not live there over Seattle, for political/…
I also grew up in Indianapolis and still live here. There are only a few tech companies that will pay engineers 150k+ but they do exist, and 150k+ in the suburbs here (Hamilton County) buys a very nice life for somebody wanting to raise a family.
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#445Earlier quoted context omitted.
And direct exposure to hurricanes for the parts that are not underwater!
Previous employer had an office in St. Pete's. Hurricane shutdowns are a non-zero cost.
That's why I find it surprising that Miami is even on the list at all. Most other cities immediately have an advantage over them because they don't have to contend with hurricanes and tropical storms on a regular basis.
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#446Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chicago is a major city with lots of culture, food, attractions, etc. Personally I love Chicago, and it's one of my favorite cities to visit in the US. And that's at least in part due to the food scene: Au Cheval, Cantina Laredo, Lao Sze Chuan, Petterino's, Wishbone, Star of Siam, Sushi Pink, etc. But... personally speaking I would not want to live and work in Chicago full-time for one big reason: the weather. It's j…
What an odd list of restaurants.
What an odd list of restaurants.
Oh? How so?
On a related (sad) note, at least two restaurants in Chicago that I used to love are closed now: Bombay Spice, and Dragon Ranch Moonshine & BBQ. That and the Resa's location near River North. :-(
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#447Los Angeles (i.e. Hollywood) could be a strategic move given Amazon's massive push in original series and programming via Amazon Studios. Also, shares a coast with Seattle.
They would also have a monopoly on CS grads in the LA area ([0] among the highest number of grads in the country) which is experiencing a serious brain drain of talent to the Bay Area, NYC, and Seattle. [0] https://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/24/is-southern-california...
I'm surprised that LA is experiencing such a brain drain, anecdotally, it seemed there were quite a few LA/SD area jobs in last month's job listing.
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#448My money is on one of Nashville, Indianapolis or Columbus with Pittsburgh as a dark horse. Amazon is going to be looking to build a major campus (say 5-10 big buildings) right in the center of town (as they've done here in Seattle) and that's just not feasible in expensive cities like LA, Boston, NYC, Chicago or DC. Denver is too far west, Miami, Atlanta and Raleigh too far southeast. Newark and Philadelphia don't ha…
Nashville does not stand a chance. It is growing rapidly, but the infrastructure is not keeping up. It is a car-centric city with almost nonexistent public transportation. As a result there is a citywide gridlock twice a day during rush hours. And not a single alternative. "It's a village that grew too big" is what my SO says about Nashville.
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#449Part of me would love to have a big tech / infrastructure company like Amazon in Philly. But I take serious issue with the idea of the city paying millions or billions to bring them here, promising years of tax breaks (a free ride), and the tightening of an already very tight real estate and rental market. I don't think my fellow Philadelphians should have to pay to bring a company here that's just going to hire peop…
Why do you think they wouldn't hire current residents? Isn't this supposed to be a whole new HQ? I thought they had said it would be 50,000 NEW jobs. Philadelphia has a 6% unemployment rate. Don't you think HQ2 might drive that down some? Here in Dallas, there has been a stream of companies moving headquarters in from out of state. Even though they are bringing their people with them, they wind up scouring the landsc…
> Philadelphia has a 6% unemployment rate. Don't you think HQ2 might drive that down some?
It might drive it up, if the tax incentives and other provisions required to secure it mean it's not paying for it's fair share of shared infrastructure, so that either overall infrastructure crumbles or is paid for by others (through higher overall taxes), either of which can drive other businesses away.
Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2
#450I feel like Columbus is going to be a strong contender based on Amazon's plans to use CVG as their hub for Amazon Air and wanting to have some proximity to that.