Phoenix metroplex should go after Amazon's 2nd HQ (Mesa, Scottsdale: tech jobs, live in)

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Well, with all those thousands of people that would've moved/relocated here, I'm willing to bet the vast majority of said folks would have ended up in the burbs. You know, in the "sprawling suburbs that keeps us expanding into the abyss."

I guess it depends. It depends where their facility would be and what type of jobs would be housed there. Young, educated, high-earners tend not to want to live in the lands of Applebee's and Walmart.

[Valley Native]

Why is it such a sad surprise that Phoenix was eliminated from the list of finalists? Phoenix is still seen as a laid back desert resort destination most famous for sunshine, retirement, and hot weather. For as large as this place is, we focus too much on these things, but not enough on better jobs or attracting people with talent and ambition. Too many people move to the Phoenix area to escape the cold climates, sit by the pool, and go hiking. Sorry, these things are NOT bringing in top notch companies like Amazon.

At this point we have a choice: we can either sit around & feel sorry for ourselves that we didn't make the Amazon list, and keep doing things the same old way ... or we can get busy and start behaving like a true world class city that has some real potential to be a competitive market both nationally & globally. So we have to ask ourselves: what are we going to DO about this? Hmmmm?

While we're on the subject, look at the other two cities which were eliminated as well: San Diego and Detroit. San Diego is too expensive, and has a reputation of being more of a recreational beach destination than an attractive place for big business. Being less than 100 miles from L.A. also doesn't help. Detroit has been economically depressed for a while, and has been drastically losing population. It used to be one of the top 10 largest cities in the U.S., but now it's the 23rd largest (smaller than El Paso). One of Detroit's big mistakes was they concentrated on one industry for a long time. When that industry lost ground and started moving operations overseas, Detroit became what it is today.

[kitshipp]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Sadly, there are many that share this attitude that hinders our advancement. They would rather we remain a mediocre sprawling suburb that keeps expanding into the abyss.

The reason we are a sprawling suburb is because of the droves of people moving here every year.

[Highpointer]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Why is it such a sad surprise that Phoenix was eliminated from the list of finalists? Phoenix is still seen as a laid back desert resort destination most famous for sunshine, retirement, and hot weather. For as large as this place is, we focus too much on these things, but not enough on better jobs or attracting people with talent and ambition. Too many people move to the Phoenix area to escape the cold climates, sit by the pool, and go hiking. Sorry, these things are NOT bringing in top notch companies like Amazon.

Perhaps Phoenix would be a better place to live, and to do business, if the weather was not so warm and sunny, and the scenery not as attractive. What can Phoenix do to turn the metropolitan area into a world-class metropolis, like New York, Boston, Chicago, or the San Francisco Bay area?

How about could the Phoenix area establish several prestigious universities in the region, like there are in the northeastern USA? Perhaps, Arizona State University should substantially strengthen its admission standards, so getting into ASU would be as hard as getting into Stanford or Berkeley. By doing this, ASU would improve its national rankings and its prestige.

I used to live in the greater Phoenix area, but I don't live there anymore, because I would prefer to live in a region that is considered to be more prestigious and offers a more intellectual standard of living. Why can't the Phoenix area have as many high-class universities as the Boston area?

I would expect most aspiring and super-smart students would prefer to attend school in a region with the weather and scenery of Phoenix over a region with the weather and scenery of Boston. Why are there no Ivy League universities in Arizona? What if I was a top-notch student, and I wanted to attend the best university possible, but I don't want to endure long, cold, and snowy winters and drab scenery and paucity of outdoor recreational opportunities? Why can't Arizona offer such top-notch universities, instead of having a disproportionate number of such universities in the northeastern USA?

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by kitshipp

The reason we are a sprawling suburb is because of the droves of people moving here every year.

I'm not sure it's as much the quantity of people moving here, but rather what those people want based on their perception of the area. People seem to think that they can get a palace here for under $300k and they then find that they have to live in BFE to get it, so they compromise and keep pushing things outward.

It's also because we're attracting average earners with average aspirations. We're not attracting as many of the types that want to live in the heart of the city and will pay a premium to do so. People seem to want to move here to coast, not to advance.

[techaz]

Originally Posted by Highpointer

Perhaps Phoenix would be a better place to live, and to do business, if the weather was not so warm and sunny, and the scenery not as attractive. What can Phoenix do to turn the metropolitan area into a world-class metropolis, like New York, Boston, Chicago, or the San Francisco Bay area?

How about could the Phoenix area establish several prestigious universities in the region, like there are in the northeastern USA? Perhaps, Arizona State University should substantially strengthen its admission standards, so getting into ASU would be as hard as getting into Stanford or Berkeley. By doing this, ASU would improve its national rankings and its prestige.

I used to live in the greater Phoenix area, but I don't live there anymore, because I would prefer to live in a region that is considered to be more prestigious and offers a more intellectual standard of living. Why can't the Phoenix area have as many high-class universities as the Boston area?

I would expect most aspiring and super-smart students would prefer to attend school in a region with the weather and scenery of Phoenix over a region with the weather and scenery of Boston. Why are there no Ivy League universities in Arizona? What if I was a top-notch student, and I wanted to attend the best university possible, but I don't want to endure long, cold, and snowy winters and drab scenery and paucity of outdoor recreational opportunities? Why can't Arizona offer such top-notch universities, instead of having a disproportionate number of such universities in the northeastern USA?

I partially agree, and partially disagree with this. It would be nice if the admission standards were increased at ASU, and other colleges/universities in general. There can only be so many Ivy league schools before saturation and dilution of prestige takes place. Every state would like to have 1. Where you went to college does not matter for 90% of the jobs out there. A company like Amazon, any top tech company, can open up a HQ anywhere....the talent will go to where the jobs are in a field like that. It doesn't need to be located next to MIT or Stanford. At this day in age, the tax breaks and their approving board of executives personal opinions are what matters when they make the decision, anything else that is said is PR speak (in my opinion).

It is astronomically stupid for kids to get an education and be 200k in debt unless their job has an actual placement rate of 90%+ and starting salary expectation of 6 figures.

[man4857]

Originally Posted by Highpointer

Perhaps Phoenix would be a better place to live, and to do business, if the weather was not so warm and sunny, and the scenery not as attractive. What can Phoenix do to turn the metropolitan area into a world-class metropolis, like New York, Boston, Chicago, or the San Francisco Bay area?

How about could the Phoenix area establish several prestigious universities in the region, like there are in the northeastern USA? Perhaps, Arizona State University should substantially strengthen its admission standards, so getting into ASU would be as hard as getting into Stanford or Berkeley. By doing this, ASU would improve its national rankings and its prestige.

I used to live in the greater Phoenix area, but I don't live there anymore, because I would prefer to live in a region that is considered to be more prestigious and offers a more intellectual standard of living. Why can't the Phoenix area have as many high-class universities as the Boston area?

I would expect most aspiring and super-smart students would prefer to attend school in a region with the weather and scenery of Phoenix over a region with the weather and scenery of Boston. Why are there no Ivy League universities in Arizona? What if I was a top-notch student, and I wanted to attend the best university possible, but I don't want to endure long, cold, and snowy winters and drab scenery and paucity of outdoor recreational opportunities? Why can't Arizona offer such top-notch universities, instead of having a disproportionate number of such universities in the northeastern USA?

I honestly don't think it's in our interest to turn Phoenix into a "world class metropolis". We can be a good city with enough interest without attracting all the attention we want. Because as soon as you attract attention and show people it's a nice place to live, then we get all the problems those large cities get: unaffordable housing and sky high COL.

[Ponderosa]

Good riddance to Amazon. This was just a scheme to get taxpayers to foot the bill for a private company's grandiose plans. It would have returned pennies on the dollar if it did not end up being a liability. Whatever city gets suckered - good luck - and be happy it is not Phoenix.

Apple is planning a mega build on data centers. We will probably get some of that action. We are far more suited for that than HQs.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

I guess it depends. It depends where their facility would be and what type of jobs would be housed there. Young, educated, high-earners tend not to want to live in the lands of Applebee's and Walmart.

Yet they flock to places like Scottsdale. Sure urban areas also attract them, but that's mainly because of where the HQ's are located. Back in IL, all my young, educated friends chose to live in the burbs and commute to the city. I guess it all depends on the individuals.

[sh9730]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Good riddance to Amazon. This was just a scheme to get taxpayers to foot the bill for a private company's grandiose plans. It would have returned pennies on the dollar if it did not end up being a liability. Whatever city gets suckered - good luck - and be happy it is not Phoenix.

Apple is planning a mega build on data centers. We will probably get some of that action. We are far more suited for that than HQs.

Actually Apple's first big expansion they announced this week is a large Customer Support Center campus.

Phoenix probably DOES stand a good chance for the project as this article points out:

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...campus-as.html