^^Agree.
If your corporate tax structure is lower, do you really need to add incentives?
It’s not all about what incentive is offered. Some of the criteria will be subjective, some will be objective. On the objective side, yes, part of that is the financial side but it is the bottom line of running a business in a certain locale. Some places will offer incentives but that might not make them the cheapest place to be.
Of course, but incentives are a key thing. And cities will give a lot to attract a good corporate employer.
Depends on how you look at incentives, I suppose. No outright tax breaks but there are certainly advantages, financial and otherwise, which are clearly outlined in the article I linked. It appears that not everyone has actually read it.
I thought this was an interesting piece in the Boston Globe today. There are probably similar pieces in many newspapers this morning. I’m going to send it to my kids so they stay in Boston.
My kid lives in Boston and works for a tech startup downtown. He just moved to Southie from Brighton and it’s a 15 min bus ride to work and two blocks from the beach.
He loves Boston. It’s a great place for young professionals. A huge majority of graduates of his college get jobs in Boston after graduating. They don’t get the “never heard of that school” that kids I know who moved to the west coast after graduating from LACs. Everyone knows the 3 Maine LAC and it’s easy for them to get really good jobs there.
It’s also more affordable to live than in NYC or SF.
Traffic in Boston is problematic and the T is very crowded and slow (which is why he loves being able to take a bus now. )
Traffic would have to be addressed if that’s possible. The spot that Boston is proposing has a lot of land in which they plan on building 10 thousand housing units right near/on Amazon’s proposed campus. They want the employees to be able to walk or bike to work.
My two older kids both work in tech companies in Boston (Kendall Square), but they keep threatening to move to NYC thinking the grass is greener. They’ve lived here their whole lives (except college) and I’m not sure they appreciate it.
Info on Philly
https://philly.curbed.com/2017/10/19/16502752/amazon-hq2-philadelphia-rfp-schuylkill-yards-navy-yard-ucity
Re: Toronto, since some were so concerned about flights, how’s it help to face customs every time you cross the border?
I need to stay away from this thread. Mindless speculation is addicting!
@ams5796 and @doschicos two sweet links. Each can generate pride.
That’s a good article on Philly. It’s considered in the top 3 by Moody’s. It’s nice to see everyone’s pride in their city.
Toronto does seem complicated in various ways. I’m not sure if that will deter Amazon.
If Amazon wouldn’t mind it taking 3 weeks to ship hard copies of important corporate documents back and forth, no problem with Canada! And the Customs/Immigration issues with air travel. It’s not going to be Toronto.
Canadian cities have US customs within their airports so you don’t have to go through customs when you land in the US. IME with that system returning from Ireland, it works much better!
“If Amazon wouldn’t mind it taking 3 weeks to ship hard copies of important corporate documents back and forth”
Where are you getting 3 weeks from? It can be done overnight.
As someone living in a state that borders Canada, tons of people, good, documents cross the borders without hassle daily. Additionally, tons of people, goods, and documents travel by air across the border daily. I really don’t think it is an issue.
Atlanta hand delivered its bid http://www.myajc.com/news/local/atlanta-races-for-another-olympic-moment-with-amazon-bid/C5KHJfkj8ca1tTpTN2uA6M/
I root for Philly. I want Philly to have more jobs, to rebuild inner city schools, and to keep our history.
@lookingforward I’m not sure how many of these employees will be travelling frequently and having to worry about customs. As someone who crosses the border several times a month, I don’t see it as an issue. A Nexus card makes it very easy.
@MomofWildChild Seriously? It’s taking you 3 weeks? If so, you are clearly doing something wrong. I get that you don’t think Toronto would be a wise choice but this claim is just ridiculous.
Does anyone know if there is a site that allows for reading the proposals?
Important documents? Doesn’t everything just get sent as a PDF attachment in an email these days? Or faxed?
@alwaysamom Some cities seem to have websites set up.
I’m rooting for Philly as well.
Regarding Canada, I was just watching Fareed Zakaria’s show today. He had the Canadian Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, on. They were talking about how Canada is the US’s largest trade partner and that the USA has a trade surplus with Canada. Canada accounts for more trade with the USA than China, Japan, and the UK combined. Interesting.