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Forget about what the RFP ranks as important criteria, the only thing that really matters is Amazon's ability to hire 50,000 high-end tech industry workers (fro

Forget about what the RFP ranks as important criteria, the only thing that really matters is Amazon's ability to hire 50,000 high-end tech industry workers (from new grads to seasoned tech executives). There is only one location in the world that can supply this kind of tech talent without draining the rest of the ecosystem and that's Silicon Valley (not including SF or Oakland here). Google is already planning it's future growth in downtown San Jose (8 million square foot "Google Village"), Adobe is expanding it's downtown SJ presence with a fourth tower, Apple and Microsoft are planning new campuses in north SJ, and Amazon is already expanding it's South Bay presence significantly. As more companies look to expand to urban, transit oriented sites, Downtown SJ will emerge as a premier location for tech company HQs.

Apocryphon 9y ago
The Bay Area is already incredibly glutted, and is the site of most of Amazon's competitors. They already have a presence there that can be gradually expanded upon. There is no reason to build an entire second headquarters there unless they wanted to bring about even further hatred and rancor on the part of those who detest growing CoL. They would only fan the flames of anti-tech discontent. It also makes the entire HQ2 contest completely pointless, as the mayor of San Jose has already rejected it to begin with: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/10/05/san-jose-mayor-no-sweetheart-deal-for-amazons-hq2.html https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/10/05/san-jose-mayor-no-swee...
- joejerryronnie 9y ago
  Yes, the CoL (housing in particular) is a significant issue for the entire Bay Area but that hasn't stopped the rest of the industry from continued local expansion. I would argue for a strong regional authority to tackle this issue but that's another discussion. Also, San Jose's mayor has not rejected the Amazon HQ2 proposal, only the notion of providing major financial/tax incentives to any corporation as he feels the civic benefit does not outweigh the cost.
  - Apocryphon 9y ago
    Expansion is one thing, bringing in tens of thousands of employees with a whole new headquarters is another. Traffic alone it would be nightmarish. And the contest format would be a terrible charade; why give hope to non-tech hub communities at all if your plan was to flock to Silicon Valley like everyone else?
    - ghaff 9y ago
      Yeah, if you've already reached the IMO very misguided conclusion that the only rational place to site a large tech HQ/HQ2 is the Bay area, why on earth would you go through the motions of this whole process? Hope that some Bay Area city is going to be so desperate for you to move in that they'll shower you with incentives? Possible but unlikely. And it's not like some previously unknown pool of engineering and other professional talent is going to suddenly spring up somewhere. I'm often pretty cynical (and Amazon will certainly be looking for sweetheart deals) but this seems a legitimate effort to find a location that may not be an obvious choice.

Apocryphon 9y ago

The Bay Area is already incredibly glutted, and is the site of most of Amazon's competitors. They already have a presence there that can be gradually expanded upon. There is no reason to build an entire second headquarters there unless they wanted to bring about even further hatred and rancor on the part of those who detest growing CoL. They would only fan the flames of anti-tech discontent. It also makes the entire HQ2 contest completely pointless, as the mayor of San Jose has already rejected it to begin with: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/10/05/san-jose-mayor-no-sweetheart-deal-for-amazons-hq2.html https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/10/05/san-jose-mayor-no-swee...

joejerryronnie 9y ago
Yes, the CoL (housing in particular) is a significant issue for the entire Bay Area but that hasn't stopped the rest of the industry from continued local expansion. I would argue for a strong regional authority to tackle this issue but that's another discussion. Also, San Jose's mayor has not rejected the Amazon HQ2 proposal, only the notion of providing major financial/tax incentives to any corporation as he feels the civic benefit does not outweigh the cost.
- Apocryphon 9y ago
  Expansion is one thing, bringing in tens of thousands of employees with a whole new headquarters is another. Traffic alone it would be nightmarish. And the contest format would be a terrible charade; why give hope to non-tech hub communities at all if your plan was to flock to Silicon Valley like everyone else?
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Yeah, if you've already reached the IMO very misguided conclusion that the only rational place to site a large tech HQ/HQ2 is the Bay area, why on earth would you go through the motions of this whole process? Hope that some Bay Area city is going to be so desperate for you to move in that they'll shower you with incentives? Possible but unlikely. And it's not like some previously unknown pool of engineering and other professional talent is going to suddenly spring up somewhere. I'm often pretty cynical (and Amazon will certainly be looking for sweetheart deals) but this seems a legitimate effort to find a location that may not be an obvious choice.