5 ms·

Does it? Amazon chose NYC because it wanted to be in NYC. The whole point was to show what the movers and shakers actually think of Middle America and every cu

Does it? Amazon chose NYC because it wanted to be in NYC. The whole point was to show what the movers and shakers actually think of Middle America and every culturally irrelevant place on this continent. It succeeded. Were any of those places whoring for yield ever in the running? No.

dba7dba 7y ago
But amazon DID go around announcing plans for HQ2 and making a big deal about it, to get tax breaks etc.
javagram 7y ago
As far as Amazon’s DC metro area location I don’t see why amazon wouldn’t have considered locating in the DC or MD parts of the region if the incentives and pitch were right. Making the three jurisdictions bid against each other seems like a reasonable strategy even if there was a secret plan to end up somewhere in the region in the end.
- rayiner 7y ago
  But they ended up in the place that offered the least incentives.
  - rolltiide 7y ago
    Because thats where they wanted to be. Its not that confusing. Amazon was playing Tag the Sponsor to reveal all the municipal whores for fun.
  - javagram 7y ago
    The incentives that MD or DC offered probably weren’t enough to make up for the deficiencies of the areas. I’m not sure about DC but it seems like businesses are frequently choosing to locate in NoVA rather than MD. https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/neighborhood/cameron-pratt-on-why-montgomery-county-has-fallen-behind-northern-virginia-99668?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser#ath https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/neighborhood/camer...
TulliusCicero 7y ago
The things Amazon wants and needs -- particularly, desirability by young, affluent techies -- don't really exist in "middle America". For example, public transit. Only a handful of US cities have decent public transit at all, probably the only cheap city in that group is Philly. You're not gonna find good transit in Cleveland or Phoenix or Nashville, because they've chosen not to seriously invest in it. Is that Amazon's fault somehow?
- ok_coo 7y ago
  Chicago has decent public transportation and plenty of young, affluent techies. It's not SV or NYC but it fits the bill for a midwest city. Chicago, and IL, have plenty of issues to work through though so I get why they didn't want to setup a HQ there.
  - whb07 7y ago
    Chicago has a doomsday clock that keeps ticking down with its pensions and the state's pensions. Those governments might start raising the taxes more and more and fall into a tighter death spiral as it pushes people away, leading to less revenue.
    - keenmaster 7y ago
      The pension explanation doesn't make sense. Chicago would gladly offer tax breaks to any company opening a major HQ here, as it has in the past. It's had a streak of being business friendly. I also don't get the "violence" explanation. Violence is terrible and everyone in Chicago wants to end it, but the average person is far removed from any shootings.
      - whb07 7y ago
        Can't exactly guarantee offer tax breaks if they are short on tax revenue, and while every government federal/local is always short Chicago/Illinois is deathly short. The tax increases have already begun and there have been weird talks coming out of the Chicago mayor's office essentially asking for a tax on the rest of the state to help out Chicago proper.
remarkEon 7y ago
It acted as a kind of ruse to get these places to signal how far they would go to be “connected” to the tech world that they, rightly or wrongly, feel is leaving them behind. I tend to agree that what Amazon did was pretty cheap and low class, though.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  yeah it was a cheap shot and hilarious, all of us "coastal elites" were scratching our heads during the whole charade looking at each city in the running wondering how the likes of Little Rock Arkansas, Nashville Tennessee, Pittsburg, Columbus etc would ever be desirable places, let alone if any of us would run the risk of being sent to one of those doldrums if we worked for Amazon, all for the conclusion to revert to the norm of coastal elite decision makers at Amazon echoing our preexisting sentiment because they are one of us after all trolling level: phenomenal

dba7dba 7y ago

But amazon DID go around announcing plans for HQ2 and making a big deal about it, to get tax breaks etc.

javagram 7y ago

As far as Amazon’s DC metro area location I don’t see why amazon wouldn’t have considered locating in the DC or MD parts of the region if the incentives and pitch were right. Making the three jurisdictions bid against each other seems like a reasonable strategy even if there was a secret plan to end up somewhere in the region in the end.

rayiner 7y ago
But they ended up in the place that offered the least incentives.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  Because thats where they wanted to be. Its not that confusing. Amazon was playing Tag the Sponsor to reveal all the municipal whores for fun.
- javagram 7y ago
  The incentives that MD or DC offered probably weren’t enough to make up for the deficiencies of the areas. I’m not sure about DC but it seems like businesses are frequently choosing to locate in NoVA rather than MD. https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/neighborhood/cameron-pratt-on-why-montgomery-county-has-fallen-behind-northern-virginia-99668?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser#ath https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/neighborhood/camer...

TulliusCicero 7y ago

The things Amazon wants and needs -- particularly, desirability by young, affluent techies -- don't really exist in "middle America". For example, public transit. Only a handful of US cities have decent public transit at all, probably the only cheap city in that group is Philly. You're not gonna find good transit in Cleveland or Phoenix or Nashville, because they've chosen not to seriously invest in it. Is that Amazon's fault somehow?

ok_coo 7y ago
Chicago has decent public transportation and plenty of young, affluent techies. It's not SV or NYC but it fits the bill for a midwest city. Chicago, and IL, have plenty of issues to work through though so I get why they didn't want to setup a HQ there.
- whb07 7y ago
  Chicago has a doomsday clock that keeps ticking down with its pensions and the state's pensions. Those governments might start raising the taxes more and more and fall into a tighter death spiral as it pushes people away, leading to less revenue.
  - keenmaster 7y ago
    The pension explanation doesn't make sense. Chicago would gladly offer tax breaks to any company opening a major HQ here, as it has in the past. It's had a streak of being business friendly. I also don't get the "violence" explanation. Violence is terrible and everyone in Chicago wants to end it, but the average person is far removed from any shootings.
    - whb07 7y ago
      Can't exactly guarantee offer tax breaks if they are short on tax revenue, and while every government federal/local is always short Chicago/Illinois is deathly short. The tax increases have already begun and there have been weird talks coming out of the Chicago mayor's office essentially asking for a tax on the rest of the state to help out Chicago proper.

remarkEon 7y ago

It acted as a kind of ruse to get these places to signal how far they would go to be “connected” to the tech world that they, rightly or wrongly, feel is leaving them behind. I tend to agree that what Amazon did was pretty cheap and low class, though.

rolltiide 7y ago
yeah it was a cheap shot and hilarious, all of us "coastal elites" were scratching our heads during the whole charade looking at each city in the running wondering how the likes of Little Rock Arkansas, Nashville Tennessee, Pittsburg, Columbus etc would ever be desirable places, let alone if any of us would run the risk of being sent to one of those doldrums if we worked for Amazon, all for the conclusion to revert to the norm of coastal elite decision makers at Amazon echoing our preexisting sentiment because they are one of us after all trolling level: phenomenal