OT*-Who do you think should get the Amazon headquarters?

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by cmg

The company said it would invest more than $5 billion over almost two decades in a second headquarters, hiring as many as 50,000 full-time employees that would earn more than $100,000 a year on average.

Do any of the current Amazon locations have 50,000 full time employees making $100k or more now? No, I didn't think so. if so they'll need that amount as an incentive from the area they'll build in.

Amazon has a bunch of employees working in their warehouses who live in tents, because they don't make enough to live.

[coreyaugustus]

100k/yr... Yep. They're gonna need it in Crystal City.
Where's that "rent is too d@mn high" guy when you need him?

[echappist]

well, effing A, it's now official

i hope they stall the s*** out of it. Loudon County, sure, why not. But Crystal City? Last Friday they had a nightmare at DCA, as the metro shut down. People were dragging their luggage to the airport from Crystal City due to the traffic gridlock created by the shut down. Place needs serious infrastructure work first before it can host anything...

And this doesn't even mention how much they extracted from the VA and Arlington governments. Hilarious how certain people who lean left think this is actually beneficial b/c of some virtue signalling by Bezos. Complete bananas. I have yet to hear of anything beneficial to come out of these new-breed tech entrepreneurs (Bill Gates aside)...

Once upon a time, I thought about returning to my own HQ (which is located in the area); well not anymore... The ~$100k i've saved up for a down pay already doesn't mean jack in the DC area; now it will mean even less...

[unterhausen]

seems to me that these two locations don't really fit their stated desires for infrastructure. The areas just beyond the reach of the Metro really don't want it extended because they are convinced that gangs will come and steal their $700 flat screen tv and take it back to inner city DC on the metro. "Where'd you get that TV sir?" "yard sale, got a really good deal". I guess gang clubhouses need a lot of TV's because they can't agree on what to watch. And NOVA is growing like crazy anyway. I navigated my way by bike from the C&O to Leesburg, and roads that were obviously low-traffic not that long ago now feature 30 minute waits at traffic lights. These new workers are going to be commuting from West Virginia, Maryland, or somewhere near Richmond. Apparently, it's difficult for some highly-paid people to predict what most of us see as the obvious results of adding a job center to a location. There will be a multiplier effect that is going to be much bigger than just the jobs they add.

Bike riding in a fairly wide radius around DC really stinks anyway, this might be the end of road riding.

[dbnm]

Amazon had the opportunity to really turn another small city into a major destination and instead chose places with really high costs of living and housing issues.

[fiamme red]

The Atlantic: Amazon’s HQ2 Spectacle Isn’t Just Shameful — It Should Be Illegal

Every year, American cities and states spend up to $90 billion in tax breaks and cash grants to urge companies to move among states. That’s more than the federal government spends on housing, education, or infrastructure. And since cities and states can’t print money or run steep deficits, these deals take scarce resources from everything local governments would otherwise pay for, such as schools, roads, police, and prisons...

[benb]

Yep, usually the politicians get fleeced to the moon on these tax break deals.

It works out well for you if you work at the company on the receiving end of the windfall though.

The tax breaks for sports stadiums for billionaire owners drive me nuts a lot more than something like Amazon though.. Amazon will be employing an order of magnitude more people in better jobs. The billionaire sports franchise owner hires a bunch of temp people to hand out hot dogs and beer for nothing.. and doesn't even create full time jobs.

[zap]

NoVA was at the top of my list.....never mind the incompetence of DC area metro. Heard about the latest metro mess when we were up there this past weekend.

Crystal City makes sense..........it's a long walk to DCA

NY is a surprise.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

The Atlantic: Amazon’s HQ2 Spectacle Isn’t Just Shameful — It Should Be Illegal

correct, but sigh...

each city/state trying to outdo one another in giving away things

Originally Posted by benb

Yep, usually the politicians get fleeced to the moon on these tax break deals.

It works out well for you if you work at the company on the receiving end of the windfall though.

The tax breaks for sports stadiums for billionaire owners drive me nuts a lot more than something like Amazon though.. Amazon will be employing an order of magnitude more people in better jobs. The billionaire sports franchise owner hires a bunch of temp people to hand out hot dogs and beer for nothing.. and doesn't even create full time jobs.

i think it's the populace that gets fleeced. the politicians (and people negotiating) probably end up with sweetheart deals after their term's over, so they can lobby on the company's behalf...

agreed on the stadia though...

[benb]

Yes for sure the politician "retires" to a nice cushy job after they leave office.

Megacorp always has open reqs for "Vice President of Graft".

[fiamme red]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/n...land-city.html

“Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of $1.525 billion based on the company creating 25,000 jobs in Long Island City,” the company wrote in a blog post formally announcing the deal, most of which come from a state tax credit. “Amazon will receive these incentives over the next decade based on the incremental jobs it creates each year.”

The state also offered a capital grant to the company that could total as much as $500 million that Amazon can use to build new offices.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/n...land-city.html

i guess the silver lining is that it's not as much as what either MD or NJ was proposing to give away. At least MD could have afforded it, but NJ definitely couldnt have...

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/n...land-city.html

Sweet. Only $65k/new job.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by dbnm

Amazon had the opportunity to really turn another small city into a major destination and instead chose places with really high costs of living and housing issues.

This is a good point. They wanted a nice place to live right off the bat, but in the right environment any city could become that. OTOH, they could have ruined a nice small city like has been done to Austin.

[54ny77]

It's pretty bonkers how much they're extracting from the state. GE couldn't get it from 'em.

That's a staggering # of "knowledge workers" coming into one place over the course of a year or two once HQ is completed. RE agencies are surely salivating, as are merchants, businesses, etc.