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For those who have run out of articles for the month, some excerpts:
Charlotte officials have been tight-lipped about the city’s bid to land Amazon’s second headquarters campus, and haven’t disclosed any details about what tax incentives or prospective sites they offered in the attempt to lure Amazon. But in a summary of the Seattle tech giant’s feedback, the Charlotte Regional Partnership, the group that submitted the bid, said the city’s “pool of tech talent is lacking compared to other markets.”
Charlotte’s current pool of tech workers stands at about 47,150, well short of the average tech talent pool of Amazon’s candidate cities, which is more than 105,000.
Most of them have some identifiable reasons they made the list and Charlotte did not, however. Columbus is a state capital and home to a flagship research university, as are Austin and Nashville. The Raleigh area is home to Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State, as well as the Research Triangle Park. Indianapolis is a state capital and about an hour from Purdue University and Indiana University.
In fact, all of the smaller cities that made Amazon’s shortlist are state capitals except Pittsburgh, which is home to Carnegie Mellon University, a national leader in high-tech areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics.
The Raleigh area has about 60,900 tech workers, significantly more than Charlotte, according to figures from the partnership. Columbus has about 48,000 tech workers, roughly the same as Charlotte, while finalists Pittsburgh (42,130), Indianapolis (35,010) and Nashville (27,270) have fewer.
Other finalist cities have far more tech workers, such as New York City (246,180), Washington, D.C. (243,360) and Dallas/Fort Worth (161,150).
Hilarious to tell Charlotte the reason they didn't make the list is because they only have 47K tech workers when Nashville makes the list with only has 27K. Sometimes it's hard to tell someone how you really feel and you want to let them down easy.
Hilarious to tell Charlotte the reason they didn't make the list is because they only have 47K tech workers when Nashville makes the list with only has 27K. Sometimes it's hard to tell someone how you really feel and you want to let them down easy.
Nashville offers a state with additional incentive packages to use in the negotiations. Raleigh is the logical choice for a representative from North Carolina. Indianapolis, Columbus, Nashville, etc... introduce some other states that will offer up a lot of money to help play off the other states.
Virginia, DC, and Maryland bring in three separate incentive packages, all at the end of the day serving the Washington DC metro area. So if Maryland offers $5 billion, Virginia knows they need to up the ante to $6 billion.
Newark vs. New York City accomplishes the same thing. Both would serve the New York metro area and if they decide to be in the NYC area, they can play New York state and New Jersey off of each other to get the highest incentive package.
The only states with more than one city were Texas and Pennsylvania - likely because Amazon is torn between the largest metro areas in these large states and the smaller cities with good universities / tech talent.
If Raleigh is the ideal choice for North Carolina, there is not much reason to include Charlotte in the Top 20 if they know they would pick Raleigh over Charlotte. Nashville at least offers a whole new incentive package to bribe other states with, even if they ultimately won't pick Nashville due to the small tech workforce.
The Governor even admitted North Carolina's incentives will be about average among the competition and not at the top of the list. I think Amazon is truly interested in Raleigh due to the tech talent and cost of living, but since the incentive package isn't that big, Amazon only wanted to pick one city from our state. http://www.wral.com/cooper-nc-s-ince...ered/17271140/
Hilarious to tell Charlotte the reason they didn't make the list is because they only have 47K tech workers when Nashville makes the list with only has 27K. Sometimes it's hard to tell someone how you really feel and you want to let them down easy.
Another funny one is if Amazon uses the "lack of a robust regional transit network" as one of the reasons your city/metro didn't make it into the Top 20. I think Detroit got that one in addition to the lack of talent/tech workers.
I realize there's more to mass transit than commuter/heavy/light rail, but
Austin - one commuter rail line/no light rail
Columbus - no light rail, trying to get a plan together
Indianapolis - no light rail, trying to get a plan together
Nashville - no light rail, trying to get a measure on the May ballot to increase sales tax to pay for $3 Billion of light rail
The Triangle - no light rail, but Chapel Hill/Durham did pass a tax increase to build a 17.7 mile light rail line, but it won't even connect to RTP and won't open until 2028
It seems that Amazon definitely "gave a pass" to some of its top 20 finalists, in regards to mass transit/light rail, since some of those places it could be decades, if ever, to get a light rail system built and running.
Another funny one is if Amazon uses the "lack of a robust regional transit network" as one of the reasons your city/metro didn't make it into the Top 20. I think Detroit got that one in addition to the lack of talent/tech workers.
I realize there's more to mass transit than commuter/heavy/light rail, but
Austin - one commuter rail line/no light rail
Columbus - no light rail, trying to get a plan together
Indianapolis - no light rail, trying to get a plan together
Nashville - no light rail, trying to get a measure on the May ballot to increase sales tax to pay for $3 Billion of light rail
The Triangle - no light rail, but Chapel Hill/Durham did pass a tax increase to build a 17.7 mile light rail line, but it won't even connect to RTP and won't open until 2028
It seems that Amazon definitely "gave a pass" to some of its top 20 finalists, in regards to mass transit/light rail, since some of those places it could be decades, if ever, to get a light rail system built and running.
Well the 37 mile Commuter Heavy Rail will connect Raleigh to RTP to Durham plus the Light Rail all three major universities and all 5 key regional cities will be connected via rail. Heavy Rail is faster due to having fewer stops. Part One of Phase 1 will be complete this year (TTA Terminal at Union Station) and the Wake County portion will be open around 2024. Faster if Amazon located here.
Last edited by raleighsocial; 01-23-2018 at 01:16 PM..
It seems that Amazon definitely "gave a pass" to some of its top 20 finalists, in regards to mass transit/light rail, since some of those places it could be decades, if ever, to get a light rail system built and running.
Realistically, the day that Amazon announces their intentions is not the day that 50,000+ workers and their families descend on a particular city. Getting to 50k is going to take a couple, if not a few years.
What these cities *could* do for Amazon is provide a plan for mass transit IF Amazon decides to select their city. It also gives Amazon a good deal of input into the mass transit solution. By the time Amazon ramps up to 50k, the transit plan could be well on it's way towards completion.
Realistically, the day that Amazon announces their intentions is not the day that 50,000+ workers and their families descend on a particular city. Getting to 50k is going to take a couple, if not a few years.
What these cities *could* do for Amazon is provide a plan for mass transit IF Amazon decides to select their city. It also gives Amazon a good deal of input into the mass transit solution. By the time Amazon ramps up to 50k, the transit plan could be well on it's way towards completion.
I realize that, Amazon themselves, said it could take them up to 20 years, if ever, to get to that 50,000 employee mark (their HQ1 doesn't even have that many employees currently).
I would imagine the new HQ2 will have maybe just a few thousand employees for the first 3-4 years.
Mass transit is one of those hot button issues that takes forever, if ever, to get completed, just look at how long the Durham–Orange Light Rail is taking from start to finish, and that is only for 17.7 miles!
My point was, those cities/metros that were left out of the Top 20, could have also eventually gotten mass transit down the road, whose to say? I voted yes, to increase my taxes in Durham for the light rail.
Another funny one is if Amazon uses the "lack of a robust regional transit network" as one of the reasons your city/metro didn't make it into the Top 20. I think Detroit got that one in addition to the lack of talent/tech workers.
I realize there's more to mass transit than commuter/heavy/light rail, but
Austin - one commuter rail line/no light rail
Columbus - no light rail, trying to get a plan together
Indianapolis - no light rail, trying to get a plan together
Nashville - no light rail, trying to get a measure on the May ballot to increase sales tax to pay for $3 Billion of light rail
The Triangle - no light rail, but Chapel Hill/Durham did pass a tax increase to build a 17.7 mile light rail line, but it won't even connect to RTP and won't open until 2028
It seems that Amazon definitely "gave a pass" to some of its top 20 finalists, in regards to mass transit/light rail, since some of those places it could be decades, if ever, to get a light rail system built and running.
WalkScore gives some sort of "Transit Score" to cities to note how accessible transit options are from any one spot in the City (on a scale of 100)
Atlanta - 44
Austin - 34
Boston - 74
Chicago - 65
Columbus - 31
Dallas - 39
Denver - 47
Indianapolis - 24
Los Angeles - 51
Miami - 59
Nashville - 23
Newark - 65
New York City - 84
Philadelphia - 67
Pittsburgh - 54
Raleigh - 23 (Durham - 27)
Toronto - 78
Washington - 71
Obviously this doesn't count for transit plans in progress or about to be implemented (many of these cities have plans to upgrade their transit system in the upcoming years including Raleigh). Also doesn't take into account the different size of the cities themselves obviously (some are big, others are small with much of the metro area being suburban towns etc...)
Like someone said, if the Triangle can put together a plan that shows a functional system could be in place before Amazon reaches full capacity, that could be a selling point.
Well the 37 mile Commuter Heavy Rail will connect Raleigh to RTP to Durham plus the Light Rail all three major universities and all 5 key regional cities will be connected via rail. Heavy Rail is faster due to having fewer stops. Part One of Phase 1 will be complete this year (TTA Terminal at Union Station) and the Wake County portion will be open around 2024. Faster if Amazon located here.
Much much faster
Charlotte is now thankful it didnt get into the final 20
How Charlotte may have dodged a bullet with Amazon HQ2
"A sigh of relief: That’s what some around Charlotte breathed last week, when Amazon announced the city didn’t make its shortlist for the massive second headquarters known as HQ2."
Charlotte is now thankful it didnt get into the final 20
How Charlotte may have dodged a bullet with Amazon HQ2
"A sigh of relief: That’s what some around Charlotte breathed last week, when Amazon announced the city didn’t make its shortlist for the massive second headquarters known as HQ2."
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