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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

#201

Post by kodablah »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #196
kodablah wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit not being very upset about it. How are they strongarming governments? A government says no and everyone moves on. Or are you saying communities can't get businesses without this strongarming? I don't believe that. I recognize the art of both sides shopping for the best deal for themselves, and with how many of these governments operate against their companies, it's definitely bidirectional. The leverage does…

The problem seems to be less that the governments are being “strong armed” and more that the people running the government are incentivized to satisfy their own interests when dealing with the corporations, and those interests do not necessarily align with the constituents that they supposedly represent.

Yup, this definitely exists and misrepresentation is a real problem in all legislative contexts. We can only ask their citizens to care and make change (assuming elections are run legally). Being able to affect this change locally is very important and why these abatement decisions deserve to remain in their hands.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#202

Post by esf »

xienze wrote: post #191
esf wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California migration is disproportionate this way. In-migration to CA is high income and high educated vs out-migration is middle to low income and less educated. I believe I've seen these trend analyzed in other states as well (low and middle income earners have the most to gain by moving to lower cost of living states, so it's a common pattern). https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article13647809... https:…

> In-migration to CA is high income and high educated vs out-migration is middle to low income and less educated. Perhaps you should clarify that this is true of legal in-migration. Wanna take any guesses as to how wealthy and educated the folks crossing over the border on a continual basis are?

The question and references are specifically about domestic state to state migration patterns. That was was obvious from context.

Illegal immigration to Texas btw is much higher than to California: https://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article174373...

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#203

Post by gowld »

skookumchuck wrote: post #187
cronix wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree. Giving breaks in terms of property taxes directly affects our schools. So we're just shooting the upcoming generation in the foot to keep jobs here "today"

Washington state schools get plenty of money.

WA Supreme Court ruled that schools we not performing at the level demanded by the WA consitution. Funding might or might not be a part of that.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#204

Post by ethbro »

kodablah wrote: post #201
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem seems to be less that the governments are being “strong armed” and more that the people running the government are incentivized to satisfy their own interests when dealing with the corporations, and those interests do not necessarily align with the constituents that they supposedly represent.

Yup, this definitely exists and misrepresentation is a real problem in all legislative contexts. We can only ask their citizens to care and make change (assuming elections are run legally). Being able to affect this change locally is very important and why these abatement decisions deserve to remain in their hands.

Having limited term length elected / appointed government figures responsible for making these decisions, and then free to accept industry positions, is toxic.

If we really wanted to stamp this out, throw some serious sand in the revolving door gears.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#205

Post by juli1pb »

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…

Recession secured

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#206

Post by hnmonkey »

kodablah wrote: post #193
hnmonkey wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples of "many of these governments operate against their companies?" I'm intrigued by this because this isn't how government generally works at all at a local level. They usually work with these companies and give them sweetheart deals knowing that the money will not really come back to the city and the effect will happen years down the road. All the positives for them of working with the company…

You can see it in auto sales rules against Tesla, alcohol and zoning restrictions that aren't subject to votes, grandfathering old businesses on all sorts of things like parking lot regulations to denials of permits based reasons like too many restaurants in the area, etc. Some may seem reasonable, some may not. The point is in a transaction, neither side has to accept concessions they are uncomfortable with. Quite o…

So you're right (and I forgot about it), cities have fought against Tesla but it was my understanding that the push for that was lobbying from the old-school car dealerships and car companies to keep things from changing that would negatively impact their businesses. I don't think most cities have a real dog in the fight and many would welcome new electric car service/business since it's mostly positives for them.

Am I wildly off here?

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#208

Post by madengr »

dbllxr wrote: post #34
thebradbain wrote: post #8

I’m biased, but I’ve had a feeling in the beginning it was always going to be Dallas in some capacity: 1. DC area may have three potential cities, but Texas is the only other region that has two cities being considered 2. DFW airport is one of the US’s busiest airports, and American Airlines is headquartered there, so you can get a direct flight to anywhere in the country in 3 hours tops. Amazon already has multiple…

>... covering Seattle (West Coast), DC/NoVa (East Coast), Texas (South) gives them nationwide influence. It's a bit hurtful whenever the Midwest is left out like it's not part of the country.

Assuming the politics of Amazonians are reflected in this thread, I don’t want them in the red states.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#209

Post by oh_sigh »

throwaway427 wrote: post #110
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…

> 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.

> likeable A teamers like Beto and Davis and still lose to comical villains like Cruz and Abbott

Saying stuff like this just makes you sound like a partisan hack. I'm not a "both sides are equal" guy, and I have my preferences, but you should work on trying to see other's points of view a little better than what you apparently have been.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#210

Post by jonathankoren »

xienze wrote: post #191
esf wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California migration is disproportionate this way. In-migration to CA is high income and high educated vs out-migration is middle to low income and less educated. I believe I've seen these trend analyzed in other states as well (low and middle income earners have the most to gain by moving to lower cost of living states, so it's a common pattern). https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article13647809... https:…

> In-migration to CA is high income and high educated vs out-migration is middle to low income and less educated. Perhaps you should clarify that this is true of legal in-migration. Wanna take any guesses as to how wealthy and educated the folks crossing over the border on a continual basis are?

All in-migration is legal. The United States does not have an internal passport.
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