Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2 • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#521

Post by prklmn » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 8:59 PM UTC

astrodust wrote: post #491

prklmn wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How many Americans are "pissed off" that their American cars are made in Canada? They don't even know where their stuff is made any more. Toyota makes cars in Kentucky, Texas, Indiana, Alabama, West Virgina and Mississippi, but they're an "import". Ford makes vehicles in Mexico and Canada but they're "domestic".

Your point is valid, however no car factory built recently has garnered a fraction of the publicity/public interest that HQ2 has. What people don't know can't hurt them.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#522

Post by maxerickson » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:00 PM UTC

swerling wrote: post #519

From wsj.com: "...some site-selection experts to speculate Mr. Bezos may choose a location where an influx of workers could help promote political change..." Playing with that notion. Premise: 50k tech workers would have more impact on US politics if: 1) added to U.S. cities; 2) added to cities in states with smaller populations. (Debatable premise(s), but just go with it). Below is trimmed down version of the origin…

Electorally DC is less relevant to national politics than any house district (I was replying as you trimmed DC from your list).

Which would be the next unit to analyze, as the statewide population doesn't impact house elections all that much.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#523

Post by EamonnMR » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:01 PM UTC

nkassis wrote: post #334

arcaster wrote: post #169

If they come to Boston, I'll be leaving ASAP. Please don't ruin Austin either...

I highly doubt they could ruin boston, the city is big enough to absorb this.

Maybe they could get Amazon to rig up a new signaling system for the T. The current one has really mediocre uptime at peak hours.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#524

Post by mindcrime » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:02 PM UTC

selectodude wrote: post #492

mindcrime wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard anybody describe Lao Sze Chuan as "average" before. Petterino's... I like them a lot in general, but one thing in particular about them stands out to me: the Midwest Corn Chowder. Funny thing to fixate on I guess, but I fell in love with that the first time I was there. Food taste is pretty subjective though... and also consider that while I've spent a lot of time in Chicago for work, I never lived t…

The guy who started Lao is in jail for tax fraud which has really torpedoed the place. It’s not nearly as good as it used to be. Granted, I think the Chinese food here by and large sucks.

The guy who started Lao is in jail for tax fraud which has really torpedoed the place. It’s not nearly as good as it used to be.

Oh yeah, I remember hearing they got raided and had their records seized, but I never heard what the actual outcome was. So Tony Hu went to jail huh? That's too bad. At least last time I was there (2013?) Lao Sze Chuan was amazing.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#525

Post by biocomputation » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:02 PM UTC

wfo wrote: post #402

wyattk wrote: post #126

Something about this just makes my stomach sick... A massive corporation is pitting governments against each other for its own gain, often to no benefit of the local population. I'm scared to see the numbers of "incentives" that local politicians try and hand out to Amazon. There's little evidence that the public money used/lost will ever be recouped. One of the worst cases of this happening so far is the Foxconn dea…

It is terrifying how this power is being wielded. Cities try to compete to see who can be more obsequious and subservient to corporate interests in the hope that they win some "victory" -- the company moving to their town -- which in the end does very little for the actual city or the people in it. It is just an impressive line item on the mayor's resume when they try to move up in politics, "I got Amazon!" Seattle h…

Thanks for posting this. I remain horrified at the changes that Amazon has pushed on Seattle.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#526

Post by mholmes680 » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:02 PM UTC

mholmes680 wrote: post #54

chollida1 wrote: post #3

Nice to see Toronto on the list, though game theory suggest that we're only here because having a Canadian Candidate has the potential to have all 3 levels of government involved rather than just state and city. I'm not really sure how to go about handicapping the finalists. Given the current political climate, Toronto is interesting because it's the only city that gives Amazon some escape form the US government. You…

I think Newark set the bar on the financial discounts: $7B [1] so far, but we just changed Governors, so we'll see. I think it meets all the other requirements you mentioned, but I think we got knocked on Infrastructure on some list a month or two ago. [1] http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/12/10_reasons_for_ama...

CNBC updated its grades: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/18/how-cities-rate-in-the-race-...

Given the headlines and buzz today, you'd think Amazon at this point would just create an Amazon Original reality show at this point where each week a new city gets voted off.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#527

Post by jzymbaluk » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:03 PM UTC

nyokodo wrote: post #482

ashelmire wrote: post #340

Part 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…

Unless Amazon is going to be paying $0 in tax or will be given tax credits in excess of any tax it will pay, neither of which I gather is the case, then how would this fail to deliver a net increase in tax revenue for the city? The 1000s of employees are not getting any tax breaks either so that'd also have to factor into the calculation. I don't think cities are acting against their own self interest in these negoti…

Not to mention, those thousands of highly paid employees are going to be buying houses, renting apartments, buying cars, groceries, haircuts, etc

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#528

Post by trevize1138 » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:03 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #203

chollida1 wrote: post #3

Nice to see Toronto on the list, though game theory suggest that we're only here because having a Canadian Candidate has the potential to have all 3 levels of government involved rather than just state and city. I'm not really sure how to go about handicapping the finalists. Given the current political climate, Toronto is interesting because it's the only city that gives Amazon some escape form the US government. You…

> 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.

I thought I heard 40% of Amazon's employees are not US citizens. This all makes me think Toronoto is the #1 pick.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#529

Post by biocomputation » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:04 PM UTC

closeparen wrote: post #520

wfo wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is terrifying how this power is being wielded. Cities try to compete to see who can be more obsequious and subservient to corporate interests in the hope that they win some "victory" -- the company moving to their town -- which in the end does very little for the actual city or the people in it. It is just an impressive line item on the mayor's resume when they try to move up in politics, "I got Amazon!" Seattle h…

TIL software engineers aren’t actual residents of the places we live.

TIL software engineers think it's okay to participate in the economic and social destruction of neighborhoods in which people have lived for decades.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#530

Post by paxy » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 9:04 PM UTC

epmatsw wrote: post #296

drumttocs8 wrote: post #249

Amazon would have the greatest impact in Atlanta. You could argue that Atlanta is the economic, cultural, and geographical center of the Southeastern United States. It has the busiest airport in the world and is a major rail hub. There are already dozens of major corporations headquaratered in Atlanta. There is no shortage of talent, with a top-5 engineering school in Georgia Tech. Yet there are things missing which…

From what I’ve heard, there’s a bunch of mostly unused land south of the football stadium that has been slowly being bought up over the last year or so. Obvious speculation is that it’s either Amazon or someone betting that Amazon will want to buy a big chunk of land near downtown...

Would be a pretty big slap in the face for all other "contestants" if it turns out that Amazon intended to move to Atlanta all along and this whole thing was only for publicity and leverage.