Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's got good information, but Charlotteisprime.com looks like it was made by a high school senior.
It is the same platform as the Charlotte Chamber and it isn't that great, but Amazon.com looks like a high schooler made is as well from a UI perspective, haha. https://charlottechamber.com/
Again, these online and public promotions are more to placate voters. Amazon gave a VERY specific RFP for a reason. Wasting time to create a website for the public is diverting resources from the actual proposal going to Amazon.
I do think Charlotte's business community and chamber of commerce is organized and working hard on the actual proposal and focusing the 40+ resources dedicated to this on the RFP, rather than information for the public. Amazon isn't going to pick a multi billion dollar investment based off what is trending on Twitter or who figured out the best way to incorporate Amazon into a mural in their downtown.
Hope Amazon never moves to this racist ****hole. Not that I think the diverse company that amazon is, most employees wouldn't want to move to this ****ing crap hole
Regardless of which city is ultimately selected as Amazon's HQ2, their decision will likely be based on wide-ranging quantitative, objective, and subjective holistic analysis. One individual's brief posting pattern, perhaps not quite so much ...
Hope Amazon never moves to this racist ****hole. Not that I think the diverse company that amazon is, most employees wouldn't want to move to this ****ing crap hole
It would be nice if you would explain you general, nonsensical rhetoric. It would help readers to understand what the hell you are saying and either agree or disagree with you. Why is Amazon racist and why wouldn't employees want to live in Charlotte?
Note: the article may not be available without subscription, and I know it is New Jersey, but here is a key part:
"Promises of incentives for HQ2, as Amazon calls its new headquarters, are already coming in. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday announced the state and the city of Newark will offer a potential $7 billion in tax incentives over 10 years, tied to Amazon’s pledge to create 50,000 new corporate jobs."
So, $7 billion in incentives, don't think NCGA will even be close!
From the beginning the 10 billion incentive was floated, but most small/medium cities could never afford a corporate welfare that large. I sure hope CLT will not be dumb enough to somehow promise the money to be considered.
It is like the choosing the Olympic city, many fight for the honor and the one finally getting it, also gets to be in red for many years after.
Note: the article may not be available without subscription, and I know it is New Jersey, but here is a key part:
"Promises of incentives for HQ2, as Amazon calls its new headquarters, are already coming in. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday announced the state and the city of Newark will offer a potential $7 billion in tax incentives over 10 years, tied to Amazon’s pledge to create 50,000 new corporate jobs."
So, $7 billion in incentives, don't think NCGA will even be close!
$7 billion? So basically they don't have to pay their $1 billion/year property tax for 7 years? :-)
$7 billion? So basically they don't have to pay their $1 billion/year property tax for 7 years? :-)
You jest, but with 50k employees and an extremely modest jersey property tax of $20k each, Amazon would be on the hook (at least indirectly through inflated wages) for $1 billion annually in just property taxes.
A lot of the cities with no chance like Birmingham are having to do more gimmicks to get attention (which is good for their economy in general to get a news article about their gimmick). It also makes their citizens feel like "Hey at least we tried."
Cities like Charlotte, Boston, Raleigh, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, etc... that have better chances are spending their time putting together the RFP response and answering the questions, putting together the report, coming up with subsidy solutions, transportation solutions, etc.... That's why all the marketing gimmicks have largely been from metros with less than a 1 million people rather than the bigger cities.
Charlotte will be releasing a promotional video next week, but their primary focus is putting together the best RFP answers possible. Hopefully for Birmingham, they do more than just put up architectural boxes and can show Amazon they have a large enough educated labor force and can get flights at their tiny airport (just 60 flights per day) to the West Coast and Northeast. Currently the entire Birmingham metro area has just 26,000 people working in the Professional, Scientific & Technical Services category of the labor market. In addition to hiring almost every single person currently in Birmingham in the tech industry, they would have to import an extra 25,000 people to get to full build out and 50,000 workers.
If you compared Birmingham's Amazon site to Charlotte you will notice one big difference: Data and facts.
Birmingham's site is just citizens taking pictures with boxes. There is nothing on the labor force, education, university graduates, transportation, etc... Help Out | Bring Amazon to Birmingham
Charlotte's site includes awards and recognition for the city, our millennial growth rate, IT growth rate, university graduates with computer science degrees, airport statistics, etc... The data driven approach is what Amazon is looking for in the RFP. For example, Charlotte directly answers the RFP questions regarding airport transportation and flights to Seattle, San Fran, New York, and DC. Get The Facts
"As the sixth most active airport in the world, Charlotte Douglas Airport provides easy and affordable access to and from the region.
700 daily flights to more than 150 destinations
3 daily nonstop flights to Seattle
44 daily nonstop flights to New York
4 daily nonstop flights to San Francisco
24 daily nonstop flights to Washington D.C.
8 nonstop European destinations"
Birmingham likely doesn't want to talk about their airport situation.
This is all good information on why Charlotte is a better candidate than Birmingham, but with all due respect, you're comparing an unlikely candidate with a no-chance-in-hell candidate. From what I've read, Austin is the city Amazon most likely will select. Among the qualities Amazon is looking for is a large international airport, a great quality of life, and diversity. I don't know about Austin's airport, but as for quality of life, Austin is known as one of the best music cities in the country. 6th Street in Austin is pretty famous. There's nothing like that in Charlotte. Austin also has the benefit of being a state capital, which means quality museums and culture. As for diversity, Austin stands in contrast with the rest of the state in terms of its attitudes: it's a cultural island in Texas the way Chapel Hill is compared to most of the rest of NC. Although the Charlotte City Council tried to move the city in a positive direction, the actions of the NC State Legislature with HB2 to counter the city council did damage the state's reputation, and to Charlotte, in a way that would be a put-off to Jeff Bezos and his Seattle-based company. Austin also has the University of Texas, Texas State University a half-hour away, and other educational institutions, as well as a very large and thriving, highly educated, high-tech workforce. Charlotte may have a leg up, though, when it comes to spectator sports.
Last edited by brichard; 10-21-2017 at 02:56 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.