How does Georgia feel about Atlanta's bid to win Amazon HQ2? (Macon: houses, universities)

[Pemgin]

In the wake of Lt. Governor Casey Cagle's crusade to eliminate a jet fuel tax incentive aimed at Delta following the airline's decision to disassociate itself from the NRA, much has been made about the gulf between liberal leaning major corporations and conservative legislators and their constituents in Georgia. For those who do not live in the Atlanta metropolitan area, how do you feel about the region's bid to attract Amazon's second headquarters? How do your neighbors feel? Do you feel that it could be threatening to the longstanding conservative political establishment in Georgia and continue Atlanta's mushrooming liberal influence, or do you see it as a win for the state as a whole? Or are you ambivalent to it all?

[JayHey]

I don't see how HQ2 would quickly change the political landscape of the state. It's 50k jobs, obviously a lot of people, but the last gubernatorial election, Deal won by 200k.

What 50k jobs could change is the Atlanta metro political landscape (there are just as many Republican voters in the metro area as Democratic voters), a few of those northern suburb areas might turn blue, but assuming an overwhelming majority of those jobs would be filled by liberals is a pretty big stretch. Atlanta has no shortage of well-heeled, Republican execs.

Of topics I'd bring up with my neighbors HQ2 has got to be near the bottom of the list, that sounds extremely lame. Everything I know about it I've read in the paper, I have never heard anyone talk about it - maybe if it actually happens it would be worth talking about.

[Brian_M]

Heh, I know nothing about it beyond the chatter of "might"... and don't care. It'll have Zero impact on my life, positive or negative (that I can foresee).

As for the rest, m'eh. Don't really care.

[midgeorgiaman]

Not going to happen. If Atlanta were in the running...after this week they're not. Amazon has been political in the past and dealing with GA politicians who are stuck in 1900s social wars is not their idea of fun would be my guess.

That being said, in Macon nobody is discussing it. The locals vary from, "Thank God for Atlanta...it keeps us from being Alabama" to, "Georgia is great except for yuppie Yankee Atlanta". It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

[Beach Sportsfan]

Whether amazon comes to Atlanta or not it will not change that Atlanta is the driving engine of the state economy and will continue to grow faster than the state and will change the political climate of the state eventually

[cwkimbro]

I think ATL was and still is the front-runner, however....

I think Atlanta only had 25% odds of being selected and now its like 21-23%.

I just don't think any other city had higher odds and there is a still a large pack of high quality city all with pro and con nuances, so anything can happen. It really depends on the inner-feelings of Amazon's top brass.

[Born 2 Roll]

I get the feeling that Atlanta, the Washington D.C./Northern Virginia area and Boston are the Top-3 with maybe Philadelphia and potentially Newark/North New Jersey having outside shots.

Obviously, Atlanta seems to be extremely appealing to Amazon because it is the site of the world's busiest airport and is in a state that generally has the reputation of having an excellent business climate (...though, the attacks on the state's largest private employer, Delta, by the Georgia Lt. Governor and Georgia Legislature over Delta's discontinuance of discounts for people traveling to NRA Conventions obviously has not helped to enhance Georgia's reputation as an extremely business-friendly state).

Amazon also seems to find Atlanta appealing because it is an explosively-growing Sunbelt city/metro that is at/near the geographical center of one of the fastest-growing regions in the country in the Southeastern U.S.

The Washington D.C./Northern Virginia area seems to appeal heavily to Amazon because it is the center of political power for the nation, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and has a home in the D.C. area.

The Boston area seems to be appealing to Amazon because of the overabundance of tech talent and a seemingly endless pipeline of tech talent from the numerous colleges and universities in the region.

Both D.C. and Boston obviously have issues with high housing costs, but the D.C. and Boston areas have fairly extensive and robust multimodal transit systems that make it possible to get around without a car. And not unlike the home city/state of their original headquarters, both D.C. and Boston also have the center-left/left-of-center political climates that the leadership of a corporation like Amazon seems to find appealing.

In any case, it seems that Amazon appears to be looking to locate their new headquarters in the Eastern Time Zone where the largest proportion of the nation's population lives and where the nation's political capital (D.C.), financial capital (New York) and world's busiest airport (Atlanta) are located.

Though, Texas economic powerhouses like Dallas and Austin most certainly cannot be counted out in the sweepstakes for Amazon's second headquarters.

[Atlanta Scientist]

I wonder what type of effect Amazon in Atlanta would have on Augusta's growing cyber security field. Would it be harder to retain talent in Augusta if Amazon located in Atlanta?

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by Columbia Scientist

I wonder what type of effect Amazon in Atlanta would have on Augusta's growing cyber security field. Would it be harder to retain talent in Augusta if Amazon located in Atlanta?

Zero impact

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by Columbia Scientist

I wonder what type of effect Amazon in Atlanta would have on Augusta's growing cyber security field. Would it be harder to retain talent in Augusta if Amazon located in Atlanta?

Minimal, but any impact that exists is two-way... so it isn't necessarily a negative.

There are synergies to companies locating to the same place. Often when people leave a job, it can from interpersonal relationships at the office, being passed over for promotions in heavy competition, etc... not necessarily bad employees.

This means means something like Amazon can be a major draw to get people into Atlanta before they switch jobs later career. Then it is just a matter of how often workers will consider jobs offers between Augusta and Atlanta.