Amazon is looking for a second HQ. Why not, Pittsburgh? (Steelton: minimum wage, safe)

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

There isn't anywhere else in the world with as many bridges (traffic funnels/chokepoints) - not even Venice, Italy.

Tell me anywhere else Amazon is considering that has had homes taken out by landslides (whose homeowners aren't protected by insurance), who has a major highway taken out by a landslide, and who has its other major highways or bridges under construction. All at the same time.

Tell me.

Santa Barbara. And add in wildfires.

Seriously, every area has some risk of weather or geologic hazard. Many places in the US have way more of that kind of trouble than Pittsburgh. Seattle has an active volcano in the area.

[acenturi]

Well there must have been something besides "talent" that caused Amazon to place Pittsburgh in the 20. What are Pittsburgh's assets, that caused Amazon to select it, or was the selection of Pittsburgh and its somewhat peer cities in the race, like Columbus, Indianapolis, Nashville, Austin, Newark and Raleigh done to create an aura of Fairness? Except for Newark, none of those cities has a significant international airport and of course EWR is there to primarily support NYC and United Airlines connecting traffic.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Pittsburgh is always going to be a middling, medium-sized city. The infrastructure and topography here make anything else impossible.

Exactly. The only thing crazier than Amazon choosing Pittsburgh is Walt Disney choosing some swampy, humid, stormy backwater in the middle of nowhere for the location of his new theme park. It's not even near the coast, for crying out loud! Seriously, who would go?

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Exactly. The only thing crazier than Amazon choosing Pittsburgh is Walt Disney choosing some swampy, humid, stormy backwater in the middle of nowhere for the location of his new theme park. It's not even near the coast, for crying out loud! Seriously, who would go?

Why would Amazon truly want to come here when they can go most anywhere they want?

I think it would be awesome, and I get the hype, but imo the area is being extremely overrated when it comes to thinking Amazon would want to come here.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by erieguy

Why would Amazon truly want to come here when they can go most anywhere they want?

Talent. They've repeatedly mentioned a lack of talent when eliminating other cities from their list. Carnegie Mellon University produces a lot of talent, especially in industries pertinent to Amazon.

Originally Posted by erieguy

I think it would be awesome, and I get the hype, but imo the area is being extremely overrated when it comes to thinking Amazon would want to come here.

Whatever Pittsburgh's chances really are, Amazon nonetheless sees something in Pittsburgh that many Pittsburghers apparently don't. These are the playoffs for Amazon, and Pittsburgh qualified. If Pittsburgh wins, then that's great. If Pittsburgh loses, then it doesn't change the fact that the city was good enough to qualify for the Amazon playoffs. If it was all about population growth and infrastructure, then Houston wouldn't have been eliminated already.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Talent. They've repeatedly mentioned a lack of talent when eliminating other cities from their list. Carnegie Mellon University produces a lot of talent, especially in industries pertinent to Amazon.



Whatever Pittsburgh's chances really are, Amazon nonetheless sees something in Pittsburgh that many Pittsburghers apparently don't. These are the playoffs for Amazon, and Pittsburgh qualified. If Pittsburgh wins, then that's great. If Pittsburgh loses, then it doesn't change the fact that the city was good enough to qualify for the Amazon playoffs. If it was all about population growth and infrastructure, then Houston wouldn't have been eliminated already.

I think these reasons are pretty obvious. I just don’t see enough reasons to make them want to come here, especially when you factor in the problems that tyovan4 pointed out.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Exactly. The only thing crazier than Amazon choosing Pittsburgh is Walt Disney choosing some swampy, humid, stormy backwater in the middle of nowhere for the location of his new theme park. It's not even near the coast, for crying out loud! Seriously, who would go?

There is a difference between choosing a blank slate, and choosing a slate that is cracked and held together by fraying duct tape.

At one point in time, Pgh had a bangin location. Rivers, coal, and choo-choo trains? Bangin for the steel industry. That industry is as dead as my mill hunky ancestors that slaved away in the mill in Steelton.

The geography of Pittsburgh is detrimental in this new economy. It's isolated from the coasts, the Turnpike is highway robbery and unpleasant to drive, there are few rail connections, domestic air connections are limited.. the topography makes infrastructure difficult and expensive. The economic collapse and poor governance leading to neglected maintenance is finally reaching a crisis point.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Talent. They've repeatedly mentioned a lack of talent when eliminating other cities from their list. Carnegie Mellon University produces a lot of talent, especially in industries pertinent to Amazon.



Whatever Pittsburgh's chances really are, Amazon nonetheless sees something in Pittsburgh that many Pittsburghers apparently don't. These are the playoffs for Amazon, and Pittsburgh qualified. If Pittsburgh wins, then that's great. If Pittsburgh loses, then it doesn't change the fact that the city was good enough to qualify for the Amazon playoffs. If it was all about population growth and infrastructure, then Houston wouldn't have been eliminated already.

CMU produces the most tech professionals on Amazon's payroll only behind Stanford... And only by about 50 people...

[Paul2421]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

The infrastructure here can't support the massive growth that Amazon would bring.

Parkway North is a mess. Rialto St is closed. Heading North is a headache.
Route 30 is messed up. Heading East is a headache.
Liberty Bridge is still a cluster storm of utter crap. Heading South is a headache.

Public transit is a joke, unless you live along the Busway (in the East End Centre of the Universe), or near a T station in the South Hills.

Pittsburgh is always going to be a middling, medium-sized city. The infrastructure and topography here make anything else impossible.

are you really complainining about them having insight and fixing the parkway before it gets worse? sounds kind of ridiculous.

[eschaton]

As I've said several times in the past, Pittsburgh makes sense for Amazon if all of the following three things are priorities for the company.

1. They are serious about having an urban campus (which would rule out the suburban DC and most of the Sun belt options).

2. They want to park HQ2 in a relatively low-cost area where there can be considerable wage savings (e.g., they aren't seriously looking at Boston, DC, NYC, etc).

3. They want to locate in a smaller city, both in hopes they have lots of pull in the local government (making it into something of a "company town") and in an effort to try and reduce turnover (since the techies will have fewer job options without leaving the metro). This is the one big advantage Pittsburgh has over somewhere like Philly or Chicago, although it's somewhat a dubious one, because if Amazon goes down this route, it would be just as much to exploit our weaknesses as take advantage of our strengths. Then again, capitalism is all about exploitation, so YMMV.