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New York made New York appealing to Amazon. Snark aside, it’s unlikely one can link Amazon’s decision to a single factor. New York being what it has has a larg

New York made New York appealing to Amazon. Snark aside, it’s unlikely one can link Amazon’s decision to a single factor. New York being what it has has a large number of assets in its favor: a huge, mobile workforce, strong business community, strong sales community, deep tech pool, a strong transit system, legitimately a world-class city...

jeron 8y ago
New York is definitely a world-class city, but Amazon had the opportunity to attract talent to make a city that is not currently a world-class city into one but instead selected an already established one
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- sib 8y ago
  Amazon's already had to go through the growing pains of doing that once (in Seattle) and probably learned that they didn't want to do it again.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago
  > Amazon had the opportunity to attract talent to make a city that is not currently a world-class city into one Not really. Big cities operate at scales and complexities far above what Amazon can bring. Density begets density. Meanwhile, that cities have largely been built—and remained—in similar places (protected harbours with navigable rivers and ideally shallow bedrock) implies there are deeper reasons for why density exists where it does.
  - stochastic_monk 8y ago
    I’m not sure about that. Amazon turned Seattle into a truly big city, which it wasn’t before.
    - secfirstmd 8y ago
      Eh, Microsoft and Boeing?
      - stochastic_monk 8y ago
        I lived in Seattle for a few years, as Amazon expanded. Traffic and housing exploded during that time. Boeing and Microsoft had their large facilities outside of Seattle proper, which I think minimized their effects on the city itself compared to Amazon.
- kkhire 8y ago
  difference is, NYC has all the talented MBAs, engineers and other smart people who will work 60+ hours a week already. that kind of culture just isn't present in many other cities
chaosbutters 8y ago
strong transit system? no
- fierro 8y ago
  Come to SF then you will think nyc transit is quite strong in fact
- deleted 8y ago
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- danharaj 8y ago
  I'm not aware of another city in the USA with as useful a transit system. In terms of what it could be, it's atrocious. In terms of how it enables the city to function, it's essential.
- magic_beans 8y ago
  Name a single city in the US that has a better one. NYC doesn't compare to Europe or Asia, of course, but it's streets ahead of anything else in the US. *Note: there is SO MUCH wrong with the MTA and the NYC subway system, but it's currently the best in the country, unfortunately.
docbrown 8y ago
The $4.6b in subsidies also helped make NY more appealing to Amazon. >“The taxpayer costs of these two deals is high, both in absolute terms and on a per-job basis, contrary to Amazon’s artful spin. Together, we believe they exceed $4.6 billion and the cost per job in New York is at least $112,000, not the $48,000 the company used in a selective and incomplete press release calculation. [1] [1] https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/news/releases/amazon-hq2-hq3-subsidy-awards-costly-not-yet-fully-accounted https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/news/releases/amazon-hq2-hq3-s...
- robertAngst 8y ago
  That seems a bit extreme, but that was the response from our engineers in Detroit. Amazon claimed we didn't have enough programmers, but the reality is that most of our programmers are picked up by automotive companies. There is talent, but they are already high in demand. If amazon admitted they didn't want to exceed our 6 figure salaries, the response would have been better. Instead I see Amazon as an increasingly crony company.
  - shados 8y ago
    Not 100% sure I get the last point, since NYC programmers don't exactly come in cheap either.
  - curiouscat321 8y ago
    Automotive doesn’t pay well by tech standards. Amazon’s engineers in Detroit are paid far better than their automotive counterparts. Detroit has a good tech talent base, but sadly, it isn’t up-to-par with the coastal tech hubs.
gist 8y ago
> it’s unlikely one can link Amazon’s decision to a single factor. It will never happen but imagine if when articles like this were written you had some understanding of how the article came about? In other words was it floated by Columbia's PR department? Did the author just trip over the subject and then decide to somehow write an article that ended up with the very timely link bait title? Paul Graham's 'The Submarine' for context: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

jeron 8y ago

New York is definitely a world-class city, but Amazon had the opportunity to attract talent to make a city that is not currently a world-class city into one but instead selected an already established one

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
sib 8y ago
Amazon's already had to go through the growing pains of doing that once (in Seattle) and probably learned that they didn't want to do it again.
JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> Amazon had the opportunity to attract talent to make a city that is not currently a world-class city into one Not really. Big cities operate at scales and complexities far above what Amazon can bring. Density begets density. Meanwhile, that cities have largely been built—and remained—in similar places (protected harbours with navigable rivers and ideally shallow bedrock) implies there are deeper reasons for why density exists where it does.
- stochastic_monk 8y ago
  I’m not sure about that. Amazon turned Seattle into a truly big city, which it wasn’t before.
  - secfirstmd 8y ago
    Eh, Microsoft and Boeing?
    - stochastic_monk 8y ago
      I lived in Seattle for a few years, as Amazon expanded. Traffic and housing exploded during that time. Boeing and Microsoft had their large facilities outside of Seattle proper, which I think minimized their effects on the city itself compared to Amazon.
kkhire 8y ago
difference is, NYC has all the talented MBAs, engineers and other smart people who will work 60+ hours a week already. that kind of culture just isn't present in many other cities

chaosbutters 8y ago

strong transit system? no

fierro 8y ago
Come to SF then you will think nyc transit is quite strong in fact
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
danharaj 8y ago
I'm not aware of another city in the USA with as useful a transit system. In terms of what it could be, it's atrocious. In terms of how it enables the city to function, it's essential.
magic_beans 8y ago
Name a single city in the US that has a better one. NYC doesn't compare to Europe or Asia, of course, but it's streets ahead of anything else in the US. *Note: there is SO MUCH wrong with the MTA and the NYC subway system, but it's currently the best in the country, unfortunately.

docbrown 8y ago

The $4.6b in subsidies also helped make NY more appealing to Amazon. >“The taxpayer costs of these two deals is high, both in absolute terms and on a per-job basis, contrary to Amazon’s artful spin. Together, we believe they exceed $4.6 billion and the cost per job in New York is at least $112,000, not the $48,000 the company used in a selective and incomplete press release calculation. [1] [1] https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/news/releases/amazon-hq2-hq3-subsidy-awards-costly-not-yet-fully-accounted https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/news/releases/amazon-hq2-hq3-s...

robertAngst 8y ago
That seems a bit extreme, but that was the response from our engineers in Detroit. Amazon claimed we didn't have enough programmers, but the reality is that most of our programmers are picked up by automotive companies. There is talent, but they are already high in demand. If amazon admitted they didn't want to exceed our 6 figure salaries, the response would have been better. Instead I see Amazon as an increasingly crony company.
- shados 8y ago
  Not 100% sure I get the last point, since NYC programmers don't exactly come in cheap either.
- curiouscat321 8y ago
  Automotive doesn’t pay well by tech standards. Amazon’s engineers in Detroit are paid far better than their automotive counterparts. Detroit has a good tech talent base, but sadly, it isn’t up-to-par with the coastal tech hubs.

gist 8y ago

> it’s unlikely one can link Amazon’s decision to a single factor. It will never happen but imagine if when articles like this were written you had some understanding of how the article came about? In other words was it floated by Columbia's PR department? Did the author just trip over the subject and then decide to somehow write an article that ended up with the very timely link bait title? Paul Graham's 'The Submarine' for context: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html