NSIAP: Amazon HQ2, more jobs and traffic jams

[bolverk 30237]

Yep. As we've all come around to expecting during that last few months, DC/NoVa region was the leader in this race and, honestly, makes the most sense from Amazon's perspective. We shall see.

[skipperj 377]

Amazon playing 4D chess, and the press is biting.

[clapclapclap 9000]

Can probably go ahead and scratch DFW off the list:

https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Texas-woman-posts-YouTube-videos-of-herself-13123416.php

Texas woman posts YouTube videos of herself living in Amazon parking lot after warehouse injury

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6017049/Amazon-employee-claims-lives-car-outside-Texas-warehouse.html

'I work for the world's richest man and I live in my CAR': Amazon employee claims she is shacked-up in warehouse parking lot after she was injured on the job TWICE and received no sick pay for her time away

• Amazon employee Vickie Shannon Allen claims she lives in her car outside work
• The woman first injured her back last October at a fulfillment center in Texas
• She managed to get on worker's compensation and return to work in January 2018 when she got hurt at the same station, still not fitted with a brush guard
• Now, she claims she lives in her car after she was evicted from her caravan park
• She said she did not receive sick pay for her time off, seeking medical treatment 
• This is the latest in a number of reports into conditions for employees at Amazon
• It was recently revealed that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is worth $150 billion

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/30/accidents-at-amazon-workers-left-to-suffer-after-warehouse-injuries

 

Accidents at Amazon: workers left to suffer after warehouse injuries

 Workers pack and ship customer orders at the Amazon fulfillment center Romeoville, Illinois on 1 August 2017. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Guardian investigation reveals numerous cases of Amazon workers being treated in ways that leave them homeless, unable to work or bereft of income after workplace accidents

 

[Jive Turkey 12930]

CNBC graded the finalists the other day.  Only two cities got an "A."  A minuses, to be exact.  They're both in Texas.

Quote

AUSTIN

Overall Grade: A-

Texas seems to have many attributes that align well with Amazon's needs. No state has a better infrastructure, and the state's business climate is the picture of stability, thanks to the nation's best all-around state economy. Austin offers not only those attributes but also a legendary tech scene fed by the state's flagship university and a vibe that tech talent can love. Texas does have some quality-of-life issues when it comes to crime, health insurance and inclusiveness. And while the state gets points for having no corporate income tax, high property taxes cancel out some of that cost advantage.

Population: A+

Stability: B+

Talent: B

Location: A

Quote

DALLAS

Overall Grade: A-

Dallas offers the same Texas advantages that Austin does — great infrastructure, a strong and stable economy, and a world class workforce. It also offers more air travel options. Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport is the world's fourth busiest based on aircraft operations, serving 233 destinations including 57 international cities. But Dallas also shares Texas' disadvantages when it comes to quality of life and cost. Plus it suffers a relative shortage of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers that companies like Amazon crave.

Population: A+

Stability: B+

Talent: B

Location: A

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/16/as-amazon-narrows-choice-for-hq2these-cities-finishing-strong.html

[clapclapclap 9000]

Fine print lulz:

Quote

Our analysis has its limits. For example, most of the data is at the state level, so grades are identical for Austin and Dallas, as well as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

 

[staboner 5067]

23 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Fine print lulz:

 

good fucking lord

[tokamak 6685]

This thing has been an absolute goldmine for business writers who don't currently have a story and need to crank out a listicle to meet their quota.

[Brisketexan 106629]

39 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Fine print lulz:

 

 

35 minutes ago, staboner said:

good fucking lord

So, by that mechanism.....Del Rio or Lumberton would have ranked the same as Austin or Dallas.

Brilliant.

[Guest]

When this hoopla first broke, I thought the winner was going to be announced sometime this summer. Any idea when the big gender city reveal is?

[Longhorn Al 440]

From a poster named Oraclelp on SSP:

" HQ2 is Austin; be prepared "

 

No idea what his connections are. Just adding to the speculation.

[gsoda3 3358]

the guy has 4 total posts on ssp.  i'm not a member, what are his other posts?

[Longhorn Al 440]

44 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

the guy has 4 total posts on ssp.  i'm not a member, what are his other posts?

Nothing to do with HQ2.  Just some comments on other buildings. 

[Aqua Buddha 14782]

7 hours ago, Longhorn Al said:

From a poster named Oraclelp on SSP:

" HQ2 is Austin; be prepared "

 

No idea what his connections are. Just adding to the speculation.

17

[Wally Fairway 5664]

So last Friday (9/7) it marked 1-year since Amazon released the RFP on HQ2. With a requirement to submit proposals by October 19. And in the 11 months since the submissions, they've narrowed the list to 20 cities.

Is there going to be a selection soon, or do you think they will narrow the list to 3 or 4 final finalists and see how those cities ramp up the incentives?

[Orange&White 5563]

1 hour ago, Wally Fairway said:

So last Friday (9/7) it marked 1-year since Amazon released the RFP on HQ2. With a requirement to submit proposals by October 19. And in the 11 months since the submissions, they've narrowed the list to 20 cities.

Is there going to be a selection soon, or do you think they will narrow the list to 3 or 4 final finalists and see how those cities ramp up the incentives?

Think of it like a 5* DL being recruited.

There will be top 10's, top 7's, top 5's, top 3's, OV's, UOV's, Twitter drama, rides will dematerialize and finally, Bezos will sit down at a table with a DC hat and an Austin hat and "shock the world".

Edited September 11, 2018 by Orange&White

[Pasken 1310]

1 hour ago, Wally Fairway said:

So last Friday (9/7) it marked 1-year since Amazon released the RFP on HQ2. With a requirement to submit proposals by October 19. And in the 11 months since the submissions, they've narrowed the list to 20 cities.

Is there going to be a selection soon, or do you think they will narrow the list to 3 or 4 final finalists and see how those cities ramp up the incentives?

 

I think it's pretty clear they are waiting until after the election to make any announcements so it doesn't turn into a campaign issue for city council and mayors across the country. 

[Aqua Buddha 14782]

Washington Post is reporting that AMZN is close to announcing that it's the DC area, Crystal City in particular.

[happyfunball 481]

30 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Washington Post is reporting that AMZN is close to announcing that it's the DC area, Crystal City in particular.

With Austin as runner up

[Guest Lobo]

It'll be hard for the Federal Government to further restrict Bezos' myriad monopoly plays across industries when there won't be a Congressman or agency regulator who doesn't live next door to an Amazon HQ2 employee.  By encircling those lawmakers and enforcers with tens of thousands of Amazon folks, there's a nice tacitly imposing donut of intimidation.  

Brilliant move by Bezos, IMO. 

Shit, you thought all those workers coming here were gonna jack up our cost of living and fuck up our traffic?  Arlington County is already an impossibly expensive place to live with traffic way worse than ours on top of a decent public transportation system.  

[Dbeasy 15526]

Part of me wanted Austin to win because it could possibly could have been the thing to launch Austin as a serious contender to Silicon Valley over the next twenty years. On the other hand, shitty traffic and people.

[clapclapclap 9000]

[Pasken 1310]

3 hours ago, happyfunball said:

With Austin as runner up

I think they’s CNBC or someone saying that. Not the post.

[Homercles 10206]

Looks like yoda didn’t need to tell her twice

[Horn Dog 10156]

7 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

You can work for Hooters with tiny titties?

Edited November 5, 2018 by Horn Dog

[tx 3 putt 78470]

5 minutes ago, Horn Dog said:

You can work for Hooters with tiny titties?

 

it's a crazy world we live in 

[cmontexas 3331]

Imagine how hard she had to work to win that beer selling contest

[Stunns38 3763]

I also read that they are considering splitting HQ2 between Northern VA and Austin.

[InkaUtexas 26803]

11 minutes ago, Horn Dog said:

You can work for Hooters with tiny titties?

Florida bro, anything is possible. 

[InkaUtexas 26803]

11 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Washington Post is reporting that AMZN is close to announcing that it's the DC area, Crystal City in particular.

Jesus that is going to wreak havoc on Crystal City's existing commuters. But makes sense with all of Google's DOD operations. 

[gsoda3 3358]

crystal city's what the media's running with but there's quite a bit of smoke about it being austin.

[zzzz 39]

[TKthunder2 5058]

1 hour ago, gsoda3 said:

crystal city's what the media's running with but there's quite a bit of smoke about it being austin.

Yeah! Another tech outpost to go along with Apple, facebook, and google offices...I guess it’s a requirement to have an Austin office for some reason all of a sudden.

[Guest Lobo]

All of a sudden?  Those companies have been here for well over a decade.  

[staboner 5067]

12 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

crystal city's what the media's running with but there's quite a bit of smoke about it being austin.

can you elaborate on this smoke?

or pass the J this way at least

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

11 hours ago, zzzz said:

Are you saying that even Olive Oyl could work at Hooters?

Edited November 5, 2018 by ImissWallyPryor
Dammit, autocorrect

[clapclapclap 9000]

13 hours ago, Horn Dog said:

You can work for Hooters with tiny titties?

 

13 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

Florida bro, anything is possible. 

 

Wonder, bro

[gsoda3 3358]

35 minutes ago, staboner said:

can you elaborate on this smoke?

or pass the J this way at least

have had several contacts whose business it is to know, say 1.)  crystal city isn't a done deal and 2.)  austin is still in the running and top of the list.

[jimmyjazz 46979]

50 minutes ago, staboner said:

can you elaborate on this smoke?

or pass the J this way at least

CNBC reported that there is talk of a split (2nd) HQ, with CC and Austin the 2 leading candidates.

I have no idea if CNBC knows what they're talking about, because fake news.

['stache 22117]

Article I saw said talks with Dallas are continuing.  Probably seeing how far Dallas would go to whore themselves and see if Crystal City would match.  If there's one thing Dallas loves, it's whoring itself to private businesses to locate there while paying no taxes.

[NeverMarryAStripper 22242]

Article I saw said talks with Dallas are continuing.  Probably seeing how far Dallas would go to whore themselves and see if Crystal City would match.  If there's one thing Dallas loves, it's whoring itself to private businesses to locate there while paying no taxes.

At least it makes some sense to whore yourself out to a real business that provides jobs as opposed to providing a $ billion whoring yourself out to the NFL

[TornACL 7792]

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

CNBC reported that there is talk of a split (2nd) HQ, with CC and Austin the 2 leading candidates.

I have no idea if CNBC knows what they're talking about, because fake news.

Split HDQ and put Elon Musk's hyperloop train underground between the two, to shuttle people back and forth. Dream big!

[BigDHornfan 6625]

Local news here in DFW are reporting that Dallas is heavily rumored to be one of the 2 cities.  The old Dallas Morning News building and surrounding 7 acres right next to Union Station was just recently purchased for $33 million by the same company that did the deals for Toyota and State Farm HQ campuses here in the metroplex.  

[Trey3216 15450]

Wouldn't be shocked at all to see it split between Dallas and Austin.   

[gsoda3 3358]

19 minutes ago, BigDHornfan said:

Local news here in DFW are reporting that Dallas is heavily rumored to be one of the 2 cities.  The old Dallas Morning News building and surrounding 7 acres right next to Union Station was just recently purchased for $33 million by the same company that did the deals for Toyota and State Farm HQ campuses here in the metroplex.  

i don't remember what the dmn building looked like, how big was it?  and 7 acres seems like a pretty small footprint for what they envisioned.

[SizzleChest 8302]

3 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

i don't remember what the dmn building looked like, how big was it?  and 7 acres seems like a pretty small footprint for what they envisioned.

The city, Hunt Realty Trust, and AH Belo put together a 50 acre total proposal for that site.  Not sure how it's configured.

[crash_davis 23465]

this opportunity would be great for any city.  however, i don't think people outside of austin realize just how much the people who live in the austin area DO NOT want this.  the economic boom would not make up for all the shit that would go with it, namely even higher housing costs and an absolute kick in the balls to traffic.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

19 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Wouldn't be shocked at all to see it split between Dallas and Austin.   

I’d be pissed and jealous as hell as a Houstonian if that happened. One or the other great, but both as split HQ would sting. Like when Top Chef came to Texas and went to SA, Dallas and Austin not Houston just like with In-N-Out too.

[happyfunball 481]

28 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Wouldn't be shocked at all to see it split between Dallas and Austin.   

High speed rail between Dallas and Austin!

[happyfunball 481]

14 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

this opportunity would be great for any city.  however, i don't think people outside of austin realize just how much the people who live in the austin area DO NOT want this.  the economic boom would not make up for all the shit that would go with it, namely even higher housing costs and an absolute kick in the balls to traffic.

As a central Austin resident, I want it to be in Austin as I assume it would not be in city center but bring significant follow-on industries, start-ups, etc.

Edited November 5, 2018 by happyfunball

[crash_davis 23465]

2 minutes ago, happyfunball said:

As a central Austin resident, I want it to be in Austin as I assume it would not be in city center but bring significant follow-on industries, start-ups, etc.

all of those people have to live somewhere and will travel throughout the area.  make no mistake, no matter where in the austin area, it will be a major strain to the area.