Newark?? Not likely people will want to live in town.
As for the 2014 Atlanta ice storm, watch this time lapse video traffic map of how fast the roads got totally blocked - it was an absolute sheet of ice https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjFwciw4IXdAhWOv1MKHXgqAlEQwqsBCBAwAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsY4J71hndPo&usg=AOvVaw1uaNpvOOAFonCylPSRm14e
I think anything “super suburban” will be out as it won’t offer many amenities for Amazon employees.
Also, how much do local universities really matter in this case? Doesn’t Amazon have the resources to hire someone from anywhere in the US? (I guess research work might matter for Amazon?)
@partyof5 said:
Relative to most of the cities mentioned there and elsewhere on this thread, Dallas doe not have a HCOL. And when I say Dallas, I mean the metroplex.
Traffic isn’t great, but with recent road construction, it’s gotten a lot better.
Still, it won’t break my heart at all if Amazon chooses to go elsewhere.
Employees wouldn’t live in Newark, they’d live in the suburbs and commute. NJ Transit and Amtrak trains stop at Newark Penn Station, downtown. People could even commute from Manhattan if they wanted to.
People in New Jersey commute 45-60 minutes by train into Manhattan, and Philadelphia, so Newark wouldn’t be a problem.
@sciencenerd - even if companies “have the resourses to hire someone from anywhere in the US” as this now aging graph shows, a lot are hired from the nearby schools https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/in_schools_f.jpg Easy co-ops, internship opportunities, low or no moving costs, etc. Makes sense to first consider excellent candidates right in one’s back door. As you surely know, Apple hires a lot form SJSU.
Genuine ice storms will take down any city, but honestly Atlanta really doesn’t know how to handle snow.
As someone upthread mentioned, in areas where it snows a lot municipalities send out sand and salt trucks to pretreat roads when there’s a danger of icing. People are also just more experienced in driving on snow.
Of course people in areas where it gets hot scoff at heat emergencies in the North, where people often don’t have air-conditioning and people in places like Montana think people in New England are wusses for not going to work after a 2-foot snowfall. It’s all relative. Some places get floods, other droughts, a few floods and droughts. The Midwest get tornadoes, the Southeast hurricanes, the West wildfires and mudslides. No place is immune.
I think there are many reasons Amazon wants a location with top notch universities; not only for recruiting, but also good K-12 education, vibrant city life, and jobs for spouses.
“jobs for spouses”
Speaking of spouses, an educated dating pool is nice, too. 
@jym626 Yes I realize people won’t want to live in Newark. That’s why I listed all the commuting options to NJ and NYC. I would think whatever city Amazon chooses, many people won’t live IN the city, but rather in a nearby city or suburb.
Prudential and Rutgers (undergrad, grad & med school) both have a big presence in Newark. Among other companies and schools, like NJIT. Even an FBI field office. Most people with families live in NJ, often as far south as the Princeton area or the beach area, since both are only @ 60-70 min train ride. Many younger professionals live in downtown NYC, Hoboken and Jersey City, all @ 30 min away by train and loaded with all the amenities that would draw that demo. Even midtown NYC is less than a half hour by train. I’m not saying it’s the best choice, because I don’t know that. But it’s clearly a choice for Amazon, since it made the final 20.
Some of the draws of several of the cities being considered are that many employees will NOT have much of a commute @waitingmomia. It would be a huge coup for Newark if they got it. They have a lot of work to do to turn around their safety issues and reputation.
As for Atlanta, many people in Atlanta are transplants from areas where they are quite familiar with driving in snow, so mocking Atlanta drivers is off the mark. The issue is more comparable to why many buildings and homes up in the far north do not have A/C, or have it only in a limited area of the building or perhaps a window unit or two… There simply isn’t that much need for it and it may not be cost effective to put in big A/C units. Atlanta has equipment to pretreat/salt/sand/plow roads, but they simply don’t have all that much to be able to address the huge metropolitan area.
I’m sorry, I think I was not that clear about the Newark commute. There are plenty of nice towns – at all income levels from moderate to wealthy – within a range of 15 to 25 minutes from Newark. I just meant that the living options include the Princeton area and the beach, if one was so inclined.
Not to mention the short commutes to NYC (downtown and midtown) and Hoboken/Jersey City.
@jym626 I agree it’s more a function of government not being able to treat the roads as opposed to the drivers, but I will add, Atlantans are awful drivers on dry roads IMO.
There are awful drivers everywhere, @partyof5. Overgeneralizations are IMO pointless. There are terrible drivers and aggressive drivers in lots of places. At least Atlantans don’t feel the need to put those dreadful bumper grilles on their cars to prevent them from being smacked by bad parkers.
@jym626 Well good thing this is a forum and we are entitled to our opinions. Most of us have traveled extensively and it’s normal to have opinions about what cities have good drivers and which do not.
And I too hate those ugly bumper guards that I’ve seen in the NY area.
There is a huge difference between intermittent driving while occasionally visiting an area and driving it daily for decades. Limited data is just that. That said, one less driver on the road is fine with me!! I’ll take driving in/around Atlanta over driving in/around NYC any day, and I’ve done plenty of both.
Not sure if your ever moved to the Chicago area or not, but New DIL grew up there and when she went back for grad school there she did not want to have a car!
No matter which location they select they won’t have the statistics they do in Seattle where a large majority of the employees bike or walk to work (live very close to the Amazon offices).
That won’t happen in the bigger cities like Newark or Boston. because these cities are already filled (in Boston they are offering East Boston where they will put up new housing but no where near enough for the number of employees they are talking about…)
The more suburban locations they are looking into (DC area), would require people to drive or commute another way to get to work (basically because they are suburbs.)
I was a big fan of the cincy/hebron KY idea (since they have already invested heavily in that area with amazon prime air located there, the location is not already over-developed, etc.), but it didn’t make the cut.
@jym626
Actually I am in Atlanta more than intermittently , enough so that I have an opinion on the drivers. My friends and family that live there also say the drivers are awful.
Yes I did relocate to Chicago but thank goodness I’m out in the suburbs so I don’t have to deal with the traffic. I do think the traffic can be awful but I don’t think the drivers are that bad. At least an accident doesn’t slow them down. Ohio was the “rubberneck” capital.
You are exactly right about the walk/bike desirability. @kiddie. Amazon also cut cities that didn’t have the public transportation they desired https://www.axios.com/amazon-hq2-shorlist-shows-that-jeff-bez-1516308780-e87b39b5-f4b2-4f46-9cd1-3b2bca6598d8.html
@kiddie I also thought the cincy/no ky area would’ve been a good fit.
I am surprised Columbus made the cut and Cincy didn’t, they are pretty much mirror images.
I think you are forgetting the resources that the universities may offer, in the case of UT Dallas they are not only offering their land and their students but also the use of their facilities. UT Dallas is offering Amazon its GENI rack with an ability to connect into its 100 gigabit capacity system.
Texas also has no income tax and the state is kicking in some ecconomic incentives too. From a financial stand point north Dallas seems like a great deal, from a political stand point I could see some place in the DC area
Sent you a PM @partyof5