@lookingforward I find it hard to believe that none of the people you interact with would see a positive impact from having a large influx of “new money” into the community. Regardless of what field they are in there will be impact. Insurance agents will have more people to sell to, restaurants will have more patrons (more tips for servers, bus staff, etc.), grocery stores more customers, teachers more students. Not only will there be more income potential in almost any field I can think of this will also create job security for those not seeing a financial impact. At a time when many schools are being downsized/consolidated more students may not mean more money in the teacher’s pocket but it does give a new level of job security which can equate to more dollars in their pocket.
About the only people I don’t see as benefiting economically would be the retired, who actually may benefit from increased property values when they look to downsize or relocate. If I am missing some large portion of the workforce that would not benefit from a larger consumer base please let me know, I’m always open to learning.
Cost of housing, folks. Retired folks who like their urban houses and are not planning to move now see their property taxes skyrocket which forces them out of their places and derails their retirement plans. Renters see their rents go through the roof. Whatever a waitress makes in extra tips, she has to spend on the increased rent. This is what is happening in Seattle - the new SF.
Quite selfishly, I was hoping my son would get a job with them, and it would be lovely acted in Miami, Atlanta, or one of the carolinas. Boston and Rochester are just so overdone,
Boston and Cambridge rents are already ridiculously high. I’m not sure they’ll go much higher if Amazon comes in.
Top 10 Cities with the Highest Rents - June 2017 (RentCafe)
City State Average Rent
Manhattan NY $4,046
San Francisco CA $3,441
Boston MA $3,233
San Mateo CA $3,085
Cambridge MA $3,042
Jersey City NJ $2,822
Sunnyvale CA $2,802
Santa Clara CA $2,726
Brooklyn NY $2,710
San Jose CA $2,656
I can never understand a list like that. Why do they break it down to boroughs in NYC but not anywhere else? To me, the only meaningful to compare would be to define the parameters first, within 30 min commute for example. That would lump Manhattan, part of Bronx and Brooklyn and Queens.
D1 is interviewing for her Doctoral Internship in Boston, Cambridge, Seattle, San Diego, Providence, Portland (OR), and Charleston. From a housing cost perspective, she is likely to be hit hard. She currently lives with BF in an 1800 sq. ft house in Durham, NC that rents for $1700/month. She is going to have to make a big adjustment. I’m being very selfish and hoping that Amazon does not move to wherever she ends up!
Amazon closed on a deal to expand an air hub at the Cincinnati airport (which is in Kentucky lol). I wonder if this bodes well for Cincy getting the new headquarters? It would be a win for Amazon.
Cincy has a plethora of reasonable housing in good school districts, taxes are low, no major traffic issues compared to other cities, professional sports teams, college sports, and an overall low cost of living. The downside is many of those good things will go away if amazon comes to town, like traffic congestion, and unaffordable housing.
Boston is disadvantaged by the high cost of living and the state’s seeming unwillingness to give much in the form of tax incentives, but it does have a stable business climate, great health care, and probably the best education setup in the country. Not only has Massachusetts consistently ranked at the top of ratings for K-12 education (a draw for execs planning to put their kids in local public schools), but the plethora of strong colleges and graduate programs means Amazon would have a ready supply of techies ready to step into intro. level jobs. Harvard, MIT, BC, BU, Wellesley, Northeastern, Tufts, Brandeis, Babson and many more are within a reasonable commute of the proposed site.
Boston would definitely have to make some long-overdue improvements to the city’s transportation infrastructure. The T can barely keep up as it is. IMO traffic and the COL, and perhaps to a lesser extent the weather, would be the biggest obstacles. Anyone who thinks there isn’t enough outdoor activity in Boston hasn’t looked very hard. Granted, New England skiing doesn’t compare to Rockies powder but the area does have serious and easily accessible skiing, as well as beautiful beaches, lots of open land and rivers for recreation, plus great restaurants, hotels, theater, music and other amenities.
I was one of the only ones way upstream on this thread to suggest Cincinnati. Hebron has become a huge distribution hub and warehouse location for many companies (this is the location of the Cincy airport). Amazon is locating their Air Prime airline there. Cincy has the advantage of being an underdeveloped city (Boston, Atlanta, etc. are very crowded already), the prices are lower, it is far west although in EST, and would benefit from a big influx of jobs and development.
My daughter works for a company which has employees in both Boston and Hebron. She was party to a discussion where one person in Boston took more time and more money to redo her kitchen than the other person in Hebron did to build a house from scratch. We are talking about two places far apart on the expense spectrum.
“I live in Denver. There were 8 different places/cities for the proposed HQ, but the most likely was right downtown (Elitches), right on my train route. NO. I’m selfish and want to sit on my ride.”
I’m in Denver, too! (Park Hill.) Where do you live? I never take the train anywhere. Even when I was commuting to the Tech Center, light rail didn’t save me time, money or hassle. There is no way Amazon will think our pitiful existing light rail/bus system is adequate, if public transportation is truly one of their criteria.
I wish Pittsburgh would,get this. Back in about 2000, they built a gorgeous addition to their airport which now has a wall blocking the concourse from the rest of the airport…due to USAir pulling out.
