Nashville or Atlanta.
I’m all over the place with this now…but seeing all of the skyscrapers lit up tonight in NYC with the Amazon orange…well, I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up in the City. Google East there. Facebook East. Etc.
Canada does have immigration policies that favor skilled workers and is more willing to grow its population through immigration. Toronto was my early thought back at the beginning of the thread and I still think it is a good option based on objective considerations when I’m not favoring other locales for personal reasons.
Speaking of tech and Toronto, this was in my inbox:
https://www.wired.com/story/google-sidewalk-labs-toronto-quayside/?mbid=nl_101917_daily_intro
Probably don’t want to forget the effective tax rates for personal income tax as well. http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-highest-effective-personal-tax-rates-2013-1
This is an interesting (and I think very accurate) picture of some things cities should consider:
Amazon likes to boast about the large percentage of their Seattle employees who either bike or walk to work each day. (Although they also provide free company buses to shuttle back and forth from some local neighborhoods). I wonder if any of the cities in contention can provide a workforce that close to their offices. They requested public transportation but I think they would look more favorably on cities where walking/biking works best.
The location in East Boston would require most employees to commute there by car or train (T). Any of the other cities really walkable/bikeable?
You’d be surprised how many people, mainly younger, do it in big cities. I know people in their 20s who commute to work most days by bike in Philly and NYC (including from the outer boroughs into Manhattan). On really bad weather days they might used public transportation or take uber/lyft.
Is there a date they are suppose to announce? I’m getting tired of hearing the “what if’s” - lets just pick one!
(I think the deadline for submitting apps was this week? Last night??)
^^That said, I would really cheer if Detroit landed the deal.
This is a sweet video they are promoting along with their Amazon bid:
http://www.detroitmovestheworld.com/
midwestforthewin!
@doschicos, GE is a dying company. This is Thomas Edison’s company, one which started out in 1890, when CT was a central site for manufacturing and production. The company thrived and expanded and then in the 1990s, started to falter when it relied much more heavily on its financial arm than on its traditional manufacturing businesses.
At this point, it’s barely hanging on. It moved to MA when that state offered more incentives than CT had done. And now there is talk of another move and yet another restructuring (i.e. layoffs).
Amazon is a rising company with different needs. That campus would be a built in site for them to set up shop. It would be the answer to CT’s dreams. There is reliable train service to NYC and at this moment housing is depressed and available.
Even so, my post was tongue in cheek. I can’t really see Amazon wanting to settle in the burbs of CT. That’s the past not the future.
The Detroit video bothers me. Move here, move the world. Actually, move here, drive up the prices so high the folks who live here will have to leave … but wait, they can’t. Public transportation is inadequate.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Detroit. I just don’t think Amazon is something that will benefit “Detroit” so much as it will benefit a select few (many of whom would never actually live in Detroit) who stand to benefit financially from Amazon moving to town. I get how it is all intertwined, but I think the issues in Detroit are so difficult that popping in a mega-company is probably not the best way to solve them. It just doesn’t seem to be a good fit, IMHO.
Amazon is going to take 90 days to review these proposals. At that point they will go to a next round. Sources say the “answer” will take six months.
Those 50,000 jobs are not going to come from present residents. They will come mainly from young people who want to live in the chosen city. Any city should expect an influx of workers who will change the city to meet their needs. read some local Seattle news articles and Geekwire articles. Imagine the best/brightest qualified twenty somethings figuring out which big player to work for- the decision will be influenced by where they will live.
Perhaps Amazon will choose Toronto, a great city, in a nod to the many Canadians who choose to work in the US. An easy place for many from the US to get to, by car as well as a flight- making trips home (ie parents/hometown) easy for many more than the Seattle location. The decision will be made sometime next year- don’t expect it too soon.
@wis75 –
All true, but having worked for a company with a major HQ in Toronto and traveled there frequently, customs gets ornery when you come through too many times back and forth from the US. Start asking a lot of questions about where you are really working out of (with the base idea that the taxes should go to Canada instead). They would have to promise Amazon to soften this approach.
Also…Toronto is cold in the winters! If you grew up in Canada or the Northern US, it might be considered a great city, but weather does matter to a lot of the young professional US population. Just ask Buffalo.
@kelsmom, 50,000 young people need bus drivers, laundry services, restaurants, bike shops, dentists, doctors, garbage pickup, Uber/Lyft drivers. If they stay longer, they need day care, teachers, karate classes, housekeeping, lawn service, swimming pools, and piano teachers. Detroit’s housing market is so awful right now – average home price is $45,000 – Seattle’s is $722,000. Their housing market could go up 4 times, and still be not bad. People don’t buy homes there now because there aren’t decent jobs. More than any other city on the list, I think Detroit would be helped more than hurt if they get it. Doubt it will happen, but I hope it does.
Detroit was propped up by huge companies in the past whose business model no longer works for US workers. I see nothing wrong with another mega-company stepping into that gap.
I’ll be very didappointed if it’s Canada. US company, US city.
Imo, the key isn’t depressed housing. It’s perceived value. Some are looking at this as what area Amazon could revitalize. I’m guessing Amazon thinks they’re the ones who are entitled. They want what they want now (the relative now.) Not wow, savvy tech folks could move here, buy a dump, work on it for 5 years, and change the city.
@3girls3cats I think you meant to tag someone else in your GE/CT as I made no comments on either. 
“Also…Toronto is cold in the winters! If you grew up in Canada or the Northern US, it might be considered a great city, but weather does matter to a lot of the young professional US population”
Canadian techies are used to it.
I was referring to parents and the kid going back and forth to visit. Vacation, not work, so no questions about taxes. I, too favor keeping Amazon in the US but was pointing out how it is a viable option. Seattle rain and gloom is no bargain, either. Tampa is miserable for being outdoors many months of the year- I can’t imagine walking even a few blocks to work in the summer. There is no perfect climate. There are places with enough infrastructure for easy transportation (by foot, bicycle, transit, car) plus the places to do things outside of work. Just like Florida caters in many ways to retirees some cities seem made for young people. There are still the other age groups but they make you feel like you belong or can make the city yours.