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Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

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Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#201

Post by rm999 »

SippinLean wrote: post #12

> Long Island City is a mixed-use community where arts and industry intersect It's mostly empty warehouses, housing projects, and luxury condos. There's very little in terms of culture or even basic needs, like grocery stores. > Long Island City has some of the best transit access in New York City, with 8 subway lines, 13 bus lines, commuter rail, a bike-sharing service, and ferries serving the area Realistically it'…

This comment is skewing what LIC is. LIC is a neighborhood in its infancy because it was rezoned from primarily industrial to residential/commercial only a few years ago. But it's basically the perfect neighborhood for the city to grow into. In defense of the neighborhood I lived in for years:

> There's very little in terms of culture

There are literally 100s of artists who work out of LIC. Many of those "empty warehouses" are actually art studios full of spaces rented out by artists. It's the densest concentration of artists in the outer boroughs, and probably beats out 90% of Manhattan too. Check out the LIC art walk, or the LIC art open, or PS1. I agree with the lack of basic amenities (see: neighborhood in infancy), but lack of culture is an absurd accusation.

> Realistically it's the densely overcrowded 7 train, getting worse each year, with no relief in sight

Why not mention the E, N, W lines, which feed a lot of Queens and more of Manhattan than the 7? LIC (especially Court Square) is a convenient neighborhood to commute into, if it's nothing else. Also, LGA and JFK are both straight shots on the highway (15 and 30 minutes respectively) and JFK is easy by subway+airtrain. This beats out most of the rest of the city, any other criticism should be pointed towards the placement of the airports.

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#202

Post by magic_beans »

gorkemyurt wrote: post #103
raiflip wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's partially true. Not sure where you are from, but as opposed to places like San Francisco, NYC has a functioning real estate private sector that reacts rationally to increases in demand by increasing supply. This is not to say gentrification is not a thing, but it's not like in San Francisco where there's basically a set housing stock and new people completely displace the old people. Instead new people displac…

In case you didn't know SF has been building more housing/per capita than New York City for a while now..

Where is this housing you speak of???

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#203

Post by asr »

arrosenberg wrote: post #148
alehul wrote: post #140

Why do we give Amazon subsidies but not small businesses, who altogether provide over 50% of the jobs in America? The reason, as I understand it, is because Amazon as a single corporate entity provides far more jobs and holds more power. Following that: Wouldn't the small businesses, due to our anti-trust regulations, actually be considered a cartel if they tried to negotiate as a group and gain the same tax advantag…

Also not a lawyer, but cartel behavior usually refers to price-fixing and other anti-competitive behavior. Small businesses banding together the way you described would just be lobbying and already happens frequently. Amazon should be investigated for anti-competitive practices, and their ability to negotiate this kind of a circus is certainly an indication of that. The problem has been two-fold - 1. The Sherman act…

The SEC does not enforce the antitrust laws. Do you mean the DOJ?

If you are going to take unsubstantiated potshots at government agencies you would sound more credible if you at least picked the right agencies.

* * *

On the substantive question here, I agree that small businesses already band together to lobby the government for special treatment. It's not an antitrust violation to ask the government for things, even if you couldn't get together and do those things directly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noerr%E2%80%93Pennington_doctr....

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#205

Post by glenntzke »

jrockway wrote: post #114
SippinLean wrote: post #12

> Long Island City is a mixed-use community where arts and industry intersect It's mostly empty warehouses, housing projects, and luxury condos. There's very little in terms of culture or even basic needs, like grocery stores. > Long Island City has some of the best transit access in New York City, with 8 subway lines, 13 bus lines, commuter rail, a bike-sharing service, and ferries serving the area Realistically it'…

I am not sure I agree with this assessment. Where are Amazon employees going to live? Probably not out on Queens Boulevard on the 7/E/F/M/R so they'll be taking the train in the opposite direction. If they live on Long Island, they can take LIRR to Hunterspoint Ave (infrequent service, but demand can change that). If they live in New Jersey or in MNR territory, they'll take the train to Manhattan and then take the su…

This need not be a thread battle over airport commute times, but I've made the trip from LIC/Astoria to JFK many times and even with a good amount of train luck it roughly takes an hour door to door via public transit. In no situation has it been on the order of 30 minutes.

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#206

Post by arbitrary_name »

justtopost wrote: post #141
gayandproud wrote: post #110

Hope all you want, but a good half+ of the HQ2 hires will be minorities. Not a lot of minorities want to live in a deep south or Texas region due to racism, stand-your-ground, etc. Same thing for gays. If you want to hope for diverse knowledge businesses opening in Dallas, perhaps start with pushing for equality. I can think of a thousand examples, but here is the latest: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/dallas-…

Preach all you want, but the south is no more homophobic than any other region. Your own hefty bias only muddies the waters.

No, the south is noticeably more racist. More overt, and more of it.

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#207

Post by urda »

discodave wrote: post #86
devmunchies wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not good. govt paying off student loans just makes them a sure bet and validates the behavior. Govt has the power to allow you to default, but why don't they?

Student debt is harder to discharge than other debts. You cant even discharge it through bankruptcy. One reason this was done was to reduce interest rates.

> You cant even discharge it through bankruptcy.

And why do you think that is? Once you get an "education", you can't exactly have another company repossess that from you.

Not being able to remove your student debt by going through bankruptcy is a positive thing.

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#208

Post by alexhutcheson »

basseq wrote: post #98
mikeash wrote: post #3

What the heck is “National Landing”? I’ve lived in this area for over a decade and that’s the first time I’ve heard the name.

I'm skeptical at the choice of Crystal City. (Sorry, that's where it is, call it what you want.) I think being "urban" mattered a lot to them, and Crystal City has the most opportunity for a significant tenant to move in. But that "opportunity" is there because it's a secondary or tertiary choice for employers. Considering that 70%+ people are commuters, a) there are more desirable locations no matter where you're co…

With some infrastructure upgrades, they could merge the VRE and MARC routes to have regional rail that runs through DC between Maryland and Virginia. Crystal City already has a VRE station, so this could enable relatively painless commutes from as far away as Manassas, Fredericksburg, Rockville, and even Baltimore.

However, there are major organizational and political hurdles that would have to be tackled to put any new infrastructure to effective use, so I wouldn't hold my breath. But maybe Amazon's choice of location could spur things in the right direction.

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#209

Post by Carlton87 »

blindwatchmaker wrote: post #79
devmunchies wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not good. govt paying off student loans just makes them a sure bet and validates the behavior. Govt has the power to allow you to default, but why don't they?

Excessive rents and debts are a drain on consumer spending and ultimately harm the economy. The root cause isn't greedy students wanting an education (weird way to think about it), but tuition costs ballooning out of control. It's also increasingly harder and harder to default on student debt, with states forcing extreme measures such as wage garnishing and taking away people's driving licenses: https://www.nytimes.c…

The root cause are greedy loan providers that know payment back is a sure bet. My 50,000 foot view of the problem is that it is far to easy to obtain a huge sum of money to go to school for a career with no job prospects. My solution would be to factor in degree and ability to repay, making loans much harder to get. Also, I would revoke many degree paths from the ability to get approved federal loans.

Re: Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters

#210

Post by alexhutcheson »

jocro wrote: post #169
basseq wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm skeptical at the choice of Crystal City. (Sorry, that's where it is, call it what you want.) I think being "urban" mattered a lot to them, and Crystal City has the most opportunity for a significant tenant to move in. But that "opportunity" is there because it's a secondary or tertiary choice for employers. Considering that 70%+ people are commuters, a) there are more desirable locations no matter where you're co…

Honestly a ferry across the Potomac could make a lot of sense if it runs frequently enough. Could be a release valve for a lot of that Metro congestion, and otherwise the 14th St bridge would be nightmarish for 4+ hours a day.

There's really nowhere for a ferry to dock that would be close enough to the proposed office locations for people to walk.
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