Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2 • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#211

Post by rubidium » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:13 PM UTC

opportune wrote: post #195

hprotagonist wrote: post #15

on realpolitik grounds, Indianapolis would be a fascinating choice.

The main problem with some of these cities, Indianapolis in particular, is that it might be hard to attract software developers to go live there. Even though the dollar goes farther in Indianapolis, after adjusting for cost of living, you would still need to add a bonus to entice developers to live there rather than Seattle. I grew up near Indianapolis and I certainly would not live there over Seattle, for political/…

It depends. It would be a beacon for all software developers from the midwest. Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana all have solid state schools with some of the better CS programs (top 25) in the nation.

For all the home-grown developers, many would prefer to stay close to home than have to move to the mad-house of the coasts. In other words, I question that most developers would think the same way you do.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#212

Post by brtt » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:13 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #168

dx034 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denver appears to be the current favourite (also chosen by the NYT as the winner) but doesn't have any flights to Asia except for Tokyo[1]. But I guess being sufficiently connected within the US is enough, not sure how many flights to China they need. [1] https://www.flightera.net/airport/Denver/KDEN

Denver has a huge airport and is a major United hub. It's just that most non-stop flights to Asia from the US leave from the West Coast (although this is less true than it used to be).

not only that, they have approved and are planning a multi-billion dollar gate expansion project so direct asia flights aren't out of the picture.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#213

Post by smileysteve » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:13 PM UTC

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #21

What's the point of announcing your candidate cities? Seems like it's only there so that the two or three cities they're really considering have to throw loads of tax breaks at them.

I theorize that Bezos is using this as a way to make cities compete on infrastructure and states to not pass "religious liberty" bills.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#214

Post by philipodonnell » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

rb808 wrote: post #4

Its basically most of the major metro areas in North America >500 miles away from Seattle. Doesn't seem to be cutting it down much.

I'm pretty sure this process was something like 'hey Alexa, what are the 20 largest metropolitan areas more then 500 miles from Seattle.' followed by an email to each one asking how much they would pay for Amazon to come to town.

But that's why I'm not in public relations. :-)

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#215

Post by hinkley » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

It amuses me to think of what will happen to Amazon’s neurotic overworking culture if their other HQ in Miami or Denver.

I can’t see amazon casting a big enough cultural shadow to change those cities instead of those cities changing them.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#216

Post by 52-6F-62 » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

saalweachter wrote: post #62

I wonder if New York is just New York City, or New York Metropolitan region. I guess including Newark makes the latter unlikely, but with IBM shuttering a chunk of its operations here, the Hudson Valley is full of empty IBM office parks and desperate local governments, while close to infrastructure.

How far is Newark from the old Bell labs. Didn't that building just undergo renovations and is starting to house some tech companies?

As much as I'd like to see Toronto happen, if I was being on the decision panel for that, the old Bell labs building would be mighty tempting for completely selfish reasons.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#217

Post by philipodonnell » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

bruceb wrote: post #68

jasode wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that Amazon isn't _seriously_ considering all 20 cities equally. Instead, they privately already have 2 or 3 particular cities in mind and the other 18 cities are just there for negotiating leverage for the 2 they really want. The problem is that the cities themselves don't know if they're "really in contention" or just "disposable chess pieces". Again, that's just my guess.

I agree. Nobody seriously thinks they are going to pick Miami.

My favorite part of the Miami story is the argument that Miami has affordable housing. Amazon is pretty much infamous for sending rents near their offices soaring through the roof.

Got affordable housing in your metro? Amazon can fix that!

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#218

Post by xienze » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

nsx147 wrote: post #10

Ask for Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area to build better transportation, and that's the pick

Not really sure what’s wrong with it in the first place. There’s traffic but it’s nothing like other major cities.

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#219

Post by s73ver_ » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:19 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #47

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…

> escape form the US government. Curious what specifically would be different between Canada and USA polices towards amazon.

Well, for one, you wouldn't have the leader of the country constantly saying that your company's leader is a proponent of "fake news".

Re: Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

#220

Post by xienze » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:19 PM UTC

bradleyjg wrote: post #111

nsx147 wrote: post #10

Ask for Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area to build better transportation, and that's the pick

That's a multi-decade project. They should get started now and will be competitive for whatever the Amazon of 2040 is. The first step is a backbone rail line that starts in Chapel Hill, runs up to Duke, then through Durham to RTP, to the Airport, and from there to and through Raleigh. Then add spurs and spokes to cover the region and funnel people to the backbone. Good luck getting the legislature to authorize, much…

How did we ever manage to get where we are today without all that? Pretty much every major company has a presence here, not sure why Amazon alone warrants all that infrastructure.