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Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

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Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#101

Post by jimjansen »

chrisco255 wrote: post #55
thebradbain wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The writing is on the wall — Texas will turn blue sooner than later. Dallas is a liberal stronghold in Texas, and in absolute numbers turns out more for Democrats than any other city in the state, including Austin (percentage-wise Austin wins by +5%, I believe). Unlike Austin, which is gerrymandered in the state legislature, every single state/county/city official in Dallas is a Democrat. Dallas is also a gay rights…

Ft. Worth, right next door, is not though. I don't see this happening, by the way. Abbott is up by 15-20 points in the polls this year. And Texas is just different, culturally, than these other states. You can have your LGBTQ anti-discrimination and TX still remain red, BTW. They're not mutually exclusive.

So Amazon should only be allowed to have large offices in Blue states? What dangerous thinking.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#102

Post by imh »

standerman wrote: post #79
dmode wrote: post #56

Amazon is playing cities like chump. I had a sense in the beginning of this process that Amazon doesn’t really want to build a HQ2. They just want to open another office. Most large tech companies have large campuses across multiple cities. This exercise is no different than that. But Bezos branded it HQ2 to maximize handout. I also predict that they will end up hiring far less than the 25k projected. There is a rece…

"There is a recession coming in the near future, which could result in Amazon looking for cheaper developers globally." It's dangerous to post speculative things with such certainty. The future is never guaranteed.

The more worried people are that there's a bubble, the less extreme the irrational exuberance. I love all the "shit, the bubble's about to pop" talk. If people weren't worried, it's just make the correction that much worse when it comes. And someday we'll have one, that's a given. It's just a question of when and how bad.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#103

Post by hcg »

randyrand wrote: post #73
dpflan wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you are correct; this is a way to make the two cities compete to please / to accommodate / to benefit Amazon and get the headlines that they are Amazon's choice for X, Y, Z reason. Amazon's gravity is quite strong, and its tactics very honed.

I wish all cities competed for residents in this way. I think it would drastically improve our government if there was an actually significant risk of people leaving when the government messed up.

If I'm in government and I mess up then I would love if the people who are angry just packed up and left.

I'd be more upset if they stayed angry and showed up on election day.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#105

Post by randyrand »

johan_larson wrote: post #85
randyrand wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish all cities competed for residents in this way. I think it would drastically improve our government if there was an actually significant risk of people leaving when the government messed up.

It has happened. Remember White Flight?

Yes that a pretty good example, even if it hasn't held up well with modern day morality.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#106

Post by jimjansen »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #2

I'm extremely curious what the cities who were working closely with Amazon think of this development, as now it seems that they'll be getting half the jobs for their concessions. Additionally, the reason cited for splitting their new HQ is the lack of enough tech talent, which means that their concessions may have been for naught if they didn't have enough talent for Amazon in the first place.

I doubt that even spineless politicians would give up the same concessions for half the jobs and investments.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#107

Post by jimjansen »

mxuribe wrote: post #69
oh-kumudo wrote: post #39

This drama is getting ridiculous. HQ2-1, and HQ2-2? What does HQ even mean then? Even if they are called HQ, it is hard for me to imagine they can function as one.

Sure, some business have multiple "HQs"...in that they split where some of their major divisions are "headquartered". For example, maybe the original HQ in Seattle is where Jeff B. sits, but maybe the crystal city HQ (if that's one of them) is where AWS - as a business/major division - is "headquartered", etc. Oh, and i would venture a guess that they likely will name them something like HQ1, HQ-East-1, HQ-West-1, HQ…

Totally makes sense if they win the massive JEDI Cloud Contract as they seem to be a shoe in for.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#108

Post by kylek »

cwkoss wrote: post #84
kc10 wrote: post #83

Would it be HQ2 and HQ3? or HQ2.1 and HQ2.2? I hope they don't end up like a hydra with 9 heads. The whole HQ thing doesn't make any sense. It's just another office location.

If my experience with AWS has taught me anything, I'm sure someone will choose a clear and unambiguous acronym.

My vote goes for "S3" (Seattle's Secondary Site, of course)

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#109

Post by hcg »

thebradbain wrote: post #35
throwaway427 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Public transit, continued investment, world class museums, and honestly a pretty hip city with a lot of activity in the center, not unlike Seattle. Also lots of millennials moving there for its low cost of living and ample jobs. Minus museums, this could be said of plenty of other cities that are in places with less wacky politics. Museums don't mean a thing. Low cost of living as a requirement means a relative low…

The writing is on the wall — Texas will turn blue sooner than later. Dallas is a liberal stronghold in Texas, and in absolute numbers turns out more for Democrats than any other city in the state, including Austin (percentage-wise Austin wins by +5%, I believe). Unlike Austin, which is gerrymandered in the state legislature, every single state/county/city official in Dallas is a Democrat. Dallas is also a gay rights…

Unfortunately Dallas is still in Texas.

Not really any different than Seattle, except Seattle has enough sway over the rest of Washington to keep it from going hard right.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#110

Post by throwaway427 »

thebradbain wrote: post #35
throwaway427 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Public transit, continued investment, world class museums, and honestly a pretty hip city with a lot of activity in the center, not unlike Seattle. Also lots of millennials moving there for its low cost of living and ample jobs. Minus museums, this could be said of plenty of other cities that are in places with less wacky politics. Museums don't mean a thing. Low cost of living as a requirement means a relative low…

The writing is on the wall — Texas will turn blue sooner than later. Dallas is a liberal stronghold in Texas, and in absolute numbers turns out more for Democrats than any other city in the state, including Austin (percentage-wise Austin wins by +5%, I believe). Unlike Austin, which is gerrymandered in the state legislature, every single state/county/city official in Dallas is a Democrat. Dallas is also a gay rights…

> The writing is on the wall — Texas will turn blue sooner than later.

At this point the Democrats can't win for losing. If you field broadly likeable A teamers like Beto and Davis and still lose to comical villains like Cruz and Abbott, it's laughable to think the tide is really turning in our lifetime. Something big has to change, and I'm not sure what it is.

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