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Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

nytimes.com

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Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#31

Post by 0x4f3759df »

dkarl wrote: post #22

Austin city council member Leslie Pool, pictured and quoted in this article, is a notorious pseudo-progressive NIMBY. When she speaks in generalities, everything that comes out of her mouth aligns with my political ideals and my concerns about growth in Austin, but at the same time, she fights tooth and nail against anything that might help. She talks incessantly about affordable housing while at the same time doing…

How I wish we could build European block housing (is this the correct term?) in this country. The buildings are shoulder to shoulder and take up the whole block.

visual example: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Prague,+Czechia/@50.079818...

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#32

Post by xvedejas »

0x4f3759df wrote: post #31
dkarl wrote: post #22

Austin city council member Leslie Pool, pictured and quoted in this article, is a notorious pseudo-progressive NIMBY. When she speaks in generalities, everything that comes out of her mouth aligns with my political ideals and my concerns about growth in Austin, but at the same time, she fights tooth and nail against anything that might help. She talks incessantly about affordable housing while at the same time doing…

How I wish we could build European block housing (is this the correct term?) in this country. The buildings are shoulder to shoulder and take up the whole block. visual example: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Prague,+Czechia/@50.079818...

Maybe "row housing"? "Block housing" evokes images of soviet-era detached apartment buildings.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#33

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

fipple wrote: post #18
gervase wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My cynical side says that this is a feature, not a bug - a litmus test to see whether or not the selected city will be politically pliable under Amazon's significant financial leverage. Any city that can't pass (or force through) favorable legislation isn't one that Amazon would want to choose long-term anyway, especially viewed in the context of their relationships with local governments in Seattle [0]. The key poin…

Yeah, my guess is that the principal function of HQ2 is to increase negotiating leverage with Seattle.

This whole charade is to increase the negotiating leverage with the city they selected long ago.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#34

Post by rajacombinator »

rayiner wrote: post #2

DC should just let Amazon run the city government as Amazon sees fit. I wouldn’t mind living in an Amazon company town, I bet they’d shape things up around here.

If it’s between DC cultural malaise vs amazon quasi efficiency, I’m taking DC all day.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#35

Post by jsoc815 »

empath75 wrote: post #30

I’ll be stunned if they end up anywhere other than northern Virginia and if nova gives than much more than token incentives. They have a huge presence there already and if they want to negotiate for big government contracts it helps to be nearby.

Same, although I can see some cooperative deal w/ DC and possibly MontCo (MD).

However, I heard the Virginia's governor speak about this broad topic, and given what he'd already indicated the state had done to attract tech and defence sector bis, I pretty much consider NoVA to get something.

He also mentioned that consultants do much of the footwork to feel out which which locales will provide the be$t offers. He indicated that such consulting is actually a billion dollar industry and that to even be a viable contender in such races, cities/states must offer some incentive(s).

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#36

Post by docker_up »

The only reason why they would do this is for plausible deniability. If it turns into a disaster, then they can claim they didn't do anything about it. It's pretty disgusting to think we're that stupid, but journalists will just take the lazy way out.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#37

Post by florabuzzword »

xvedejas wrote: post #32
0x4f3759df wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How I wish we could build European block housing (is this the correct term?) in this country. The buildings are shoulder to shoulder and take up the whole block. visual example: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Prague,+Czechia/@50.079818...

Maybe "row housing"? "Block housing" evokes images of soviet-era detached apartment buildings.

“Soviet-era”? What era is that?

I think they are referring to post-war social housing common in Europe. The concrete exteriors were meant to convey stability in a society wrought with precarity. Those raised in these buildings generally express this exact sense of appreciation. An architecture nerd, I find these buildings simply marvelous. The style is termed ‘Brutalist’ architecture.

EDIT: I didn’t see their link before but, after following it, I guess it’s not what they meant.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#38

Post by internet_user »

maxxxxx wrote: post #26
rayiner wrote: post #2

DC should just let Amazon run the city government as Amazon sees fit. I wouldn’t mind living in an Amazon company town, I bet they’d shape things up around here.

Put under-performers on an improvement plan and then lay them off from the town?

probably a private prison for those that took one too many bio breaks.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#39

Post by florabuzzword »

0x4f3759df wrote: post #31
dkarl wrote: post #22

Austin city council member Leslie Pool, pictured and quoted in this article, is a notorious pseudo-progressive NIMBY. When she speaks in generalities, everything that comes out of her mouth aligns with my political ideals and my concerns about growth in Austin, but at the same time, she fights tooth and nail against anything that might help. She talks incessantly about affordable housing while at the same time doing…

How I wish we could build European block housing (is this the correct term?) in this country. The buildings are shoulder to shoulder and take up the whole block. visual example: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Prague,+Czechia/@50.079818...

Given the conflation with development style and architecture style, I’m not sure which term you’re looking for. Development-wise, I think we would just call this 18th/19th century urban apartment buildings. The architecture style could be mixed. But, what would you say the differences between this and older apartment buildings in NYC? Urban development typically has a bias for ground-level storefronts these days.

There are elements in the architecture which make the original European implementations especially livable. These are details that are entirely lost on average Americans who have never lived in these buildings. It seems to be a moot effort to communicate the luxury of lifestyle that can be found in these buildings, with their cozy crooks and jagged crannys, if you will. Popular thought is that this is outdated. It really takes living in them to appreciate the lifestyle French windows afford, for example.

Gaston Bachelard’s ‘Poetics of Space’ is some reading that I think speaks directly for the psychological value in this attention to detail.

Re: Cities’ Offers for Amazon Base Are Secrets Even to Many City Leaders

#40

Post by paulddraper »

florabuzzword wrote: post #37
xvedejas wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe "row housing"? "Block housing" evokes images of soviet-era detached apartment buildings.

“Soviet-era”? What era is that? I think they are referring to post-war social housing common in Europe. The concrete exteriors were meant to convey stability in a society wrought with precarity. Those raised in these buildings generally express this exact sense of appreciation. An architecture nerd, I find these buildings simply marvelous. The style is termed ‘Brutalist’ architecture. EDIT: I didn’t see their link be…

> “Soviet-era”? What era is that?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_architecture

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