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What if another state gave the concessions, and then it worked out spectacularly for them, completely reviving a city and building up a new ecosystem that funne

What if another state gave the concessions, and then it worked out spectacularly for them, completely reviving a city and building up a new ecosystem that funnels in new wealth and new money. Would NY be kicking itself then?

erentz 8y ago
No because NYC doesn't need Amazon to be a large, thriving city with all the agglomeration benefits large cities have. Because it already has all those things. Amazon arguably needed NYC more than NYC needed Amazon. On the other hand, smaller, not thriving cities may have indeed benefited from attracting an Amazon. But it's a bigger debate whether they would benefit more than the cost they might've had to pay to attract an Amazon. Do we even have an example on record of a state or city making huge concessions to attract a company and it "completely reviving a city and building up a new ecosystem that funnels in new wealth and new money"?
bilbo0s 8y ago
??? You're suggesting that another city will generate money and wealth to rival NYC by getting a few Amazon jobs? Frankly, that would not happen. Maybe if that other city was DC? But, yeah, probably not even then.
- _grep_ 8y ago
  Per capita, Northern Virginia is already the wealthiest area in the United States. Amazon will probably nudge it a little further into the lead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_countie...
  - bilbo0s 8y ago
    That's income per capita, which is a little bit different than wealth. There is no place, in the US, that rivals the wealth and power of NYC. Now internationally, that's where you start to get your Beijing's, and your London's, and your Tokyo's, and your Monte Carlo's, and your Paris, and Shanghai's etc. But in the US it's NYC at the center of the preponderance of wealth and power. Only place in a position to make a run at NYC is DC, and they'll need a lot more than Amazon to do it. (There's also LA and Chicago, but those cities are not as "powerful", nowhere near as wealthy, and to be frank, making a run at NYC is not their ambition.)
    - _grep_ 8y ago
      How are you quantifying wealth and power?
asdff 8y ago
Take Columbus, one of the other contenders for Amazon's bachelor-like charade, with 850,000 people living there. 25k jobs would have been a bigger deal. If you compare 25k jobs to NYC's population of over 8 million, it would be proportional to adding ~2.5k jobs to Columbus, not all of which are tech workers making 6 figures. It's a drop in the bucket for NYC, especially considering Amazon already has thousands of workers in NY and will likely reach that 25k figure in time without needing billions in concessions.

erentz 8y ago

No because NYC doesn't need Amazon to be a large, thriving city with all the agglomeration benefits large cities have. Because it already has all those things. Amazon arguably needed NYC more than NYC needed Amazon. On the other hand, smaller, not thriving cities may have indeed benefited from attracting an Amazon. But it's a bigger debate whether they would benefit more than the cost they might've had to pay to attract an Amazon. Do we even have an example on record of a state or city making huge concessions to attract a company and it "completely reviving a city and building up a new ecosystem that funnels in new wealth and new money"?

bilbo0s 8y ago

??? You're suggesting that another city will generate money and wealth to rival NYC by getting a few Amazon jobs? Frankly, that would not happen. Maybe if that other city was DC? But, yeah, probably not even then.

_grep_ 8y ago
Per capita, Northern Virginia is already the wealthiest area in the United States. Amazon will probably nudge it a little further into the lead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_counties_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-income_countie...
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  That's income per capita, which is a little bit different than wealth. There is no place, in the US, that rivals the wealth and power of NYC. Now internationally, that's where you start to get your Beijing's, and your London's, and your Tokyo's, and your Monte Carlo's, and your Paris, and Shanghai's etc. But in the US it's NYC at the center of the preponderance of wealth and power. Only place in a position to make a run at NYC is DC, and they'll need a lot more than Amazon to do it. (There's also LA and Chicago, but those cities are not as "powerful", nowhere near as wealthy, and to be frank, making a run at NYC is not their ambition.)
  - _grep_ 8y ago
    How are you quantifying wealth and power?

asdff 8y ago

Take Columbus, one of the other contenders for Amazon's bachelor-like charade, with 850,000 people living there. 25k jobs would have been a bigger deal. If you compare 25k jobs to NYC's population of over 8 million, it would be proportional to adding ~2.5k jobs to Columbus, not all of which are tech workers making 6 figures. It's a drop in the bucket for NYC, especially considering Amazon already has thousands of workers in NY and will likely reach that 25k figure in time without needing billions in concessions.