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Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

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Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#501

Post by srinivasan »

patrickxb wrote: post #240

I think travel between HQ and HQ2 has to be a nonstop flight for it to be viable. The cities sorted by number of nonstops to Seattle per day: Los Angeles 23 Denver 18 Chicago 14 Dallas 12 Washington, D.C. 7 Atlanta 6 Newark 6 New York 6 Boston 5 Austin 3 Nashville 2 Philadelphia 2 Raleigh, N.C. 2 Indianapolis 1 Toronto, Canada 1 Miami 1 Columbus 0 Pittsburgh 0 Montgomery County, Md. ? Northern Virginia ?

Of all the issues to be considered, this is the easiest one to fix and so should be the least important consideration at this stage.

A fairly busy airport already exists in every case, so all they have to do is provide a revenue guarantee for one daily nonstop flight to Seattle. This is very common in the industry to entice airlines to open new routes.

This requires no new infrastructure, and would only be needed prior to HQ2 being fully operational. At that point, the airline would be selling enough tickets that the revenue guarantee wouldn't be needed anymore.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#502

Post by mathperson »

mozumder wrote: post #375
sol_remmy wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes new immigrants get tax breaks though

I agree with your OP, but citizens get far more tax breaks than immigrants. Citizens don't have to pay foreigner rates for public Universities. That's a nice $50k-$100k savings for higher-education that citizens get that universities don't get, right there. What kind of breaks do immigrants get over citizens that are worth $50k-$100k? None.

That is NOT a tax break....the immigrants and their families didn't spend years paying into the state tax base used to support the public university which the citizens presumably did and will continue to do in the future...

edit: I am using immigrant-when perhaps one should use 'international student'

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#503

Post by hylianwarrior »

holtalanm wrote: post #36
hprotagonist wrote: post #15

on realpolitik grounds, Indianapolis would be a fascinating choice.

I was going to say that Indianapolis is probably a good choice simply because its airport is an international freight hub, as well. Proximity to an international airport that can easily handle Amazon's shipments has got to count for something, right?

Amazon already has a couple warehouses here as well!

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#505

Post by thehardsphere »

klipt wrote: post #339
gist wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without the problems of trying to get US visas This assumes that politicians eager to get Amazon are not able to speed up and fix that process which they certainly would be motivated to do. [1] [1] This is not 'your shitty startup with 10 employees'. It's Amazon and the brass ring.

I doubt it. Congress has failed at immigration reform for years and the current administration wants even less immigration than currently occurring.

The current administration says they want less immigration occurring, but also seems confusingly willing to cut deals that completely flying in the face of the President's public statements. There's presumably room for a deal if partisanship doesn't get in the way, because it seems as if there's no will to revoke DACA for real on anybody's (even Trump's) part.

But, it's an election year, so...

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#506

Post by hylianwarrior »

jonlucc wrote: post #45
hprotagonist wrote: post #15

on realpolitik grounds, Indianapolis would be a fascinating choice.

Why would that be? I live in Indy, and it just seems like the only thing we have going for us is an abundance of Amazon warehouses.

Cost of living / housing prices, available space for new buildings, tax incentives, etc, etc.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#507

Post by ForrestN »

pzone wrote: post #476
ForrestN wrote: post #245

It's interesting how little culture figures in to this conversation. It seems to me that the North and the South (Canada aside) are drastically different in ways that will really matter to a lot of people. I don't work at Amazon, but my family and I would not feel fully safe or comfortable living in Texas, Tennessee, Georgia or North Carolina.

All these locations are major cities, bright blue on the electoral map (or at least purple) and cosmopolitan. Get your FUD out of here - the South isn't a bunch of hicks and white supremacists.

I'm from the vicinity of one of those cities, and my spouse is from another one. The idea that a "blue" place isn't subject to the larger culture of its state and region is, sadly, completely disconnected from reality. I'm not speculating, I'm describing a lived experience of visiting the south after moving away as an adult.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#508

Post by gumby »

prklmn wrote: post #261
gumby wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nice to see Toronto on the list, though game theory suggest My bet is on Toronto because they can pick up all the staff they need worldwide without the problems of trying to get US visas.

They won't do this after getting bids from numerous American cities. To choose a city in Canada would piss off too much of their customer base, including the president of the country, and would have a long term material impact on sales.

I think your analysis is a bit Amerocentric. They said they wanted a second HQ in “North America” and received several Canadian bids, all but one of which failed to make the cut.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#509

Post by zbobet2012 »

hbosch wrote: post #305
hinkley wrote: post #215

It amuses me to think of what will happen to Amazon’s neurotic overworking culture if their other HQ in Miami or Denver. I can’t see amazon casting a big enough cultural shadow to change those cities instead of those cities changing them.

Hm. I have always thought of Seattle and Denver having equally blue-leaning, outdoorsy, marijuana-legalizing, progressively-led cities. What are the cultural differences between them that you're thinking of?

Colorado has a more laid back lifestyle than Seattle in my experience. When people say "work life balance" here, they actually mean it.

When I go to coffee or happy hour in Seattle people seem to be just talking more shop. In Colorado we talk about skiing, biking, etc. Everyone.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#510

Post by dragonwriter »

dhimes wrote: post #489
williamsmj wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atlanta, Raleigh and Dallas are all in states whose statewide electorate makes them a governor's veto away from passing "religious freedom" laws that would make hiring difficult. Maybe it would be good for Atlanta, but I don't think Amazon would risk it.

I thought "religious freedom" laws made it so the employer could legally refuse to hire, say, homosexuals. That probably won't pose a risk to Amazon, the hiring company. Are you thinking the second order effects would come into play, like spouses not being able to find work? Or am I wrong about the definition of rf laws?

They don't just affect employers, they also affect lots of service providers. As a result, people who would be likely to be subject to discrimination under those laws (whether currently living in the area or not) may view living and working in the affected areas as less attractive, making hiring more difficult for employers in the affected areas.

This may, of course, be somewhat offset by attracting people supportive of the discrimination thus enabled, making it easier to hire those people.

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