[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Coco Chanel

When Amazon was recently searching for a second headquarters, Arkansas was considered.

ofgs:: a lot of places were being considered; what does this have to do with anything? I swore I would not waste my time on your garbage but this one I couldn't resist.

[Rock Climber]

Obviously Coco had some business dealings go sour in Arkansas, for reasons the rest of us can only speculate.

Coming here and posting about "Nazis" and an "alt right state government" is fantastical, and those of us who live here can identify it as such because it does not jibe with our experience in Arkansas.

The current state government is conservative. The same can be said for about half of the states in the union right now.

Arkansas' current GOP governor was elected only after the previous, very popular Democratic governor was term-limited. State politics here are not "uber-conservative" or anything resembling "alt right" in nature.

Arkansas is conservative, but with a population that voted to legalize medical marijuana over two years ago, and recently legalized casino gambling.

Arkansas as a state never passed one of the controversial "bathroom bills" like some states did, largely due to the fact that there are seven Fortune 500 companies headquartered here, including the Fortune #1, and the state has learned that actions like that can be detrimental to business.

Amazon not coming here had nothing to do with state government.

[gemstone1]

"Amazon not coming here had nothing to do with state government." In reality, it probably did, tho' not for the reasons outlined earlier. The state government no doubt did not provide as many tax incentives as the winning states. Bezos was squeezing all the states for the best deal, playing each state off the other, much like Bass Pro/Cabela's is known to do with selected cities. In the process he has gained sooo much information from states/cities that turned in their proposals, about those states/cities....and he didn't have to spend a dime.

Regards
Gemstone1

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Coco Chanel

When Amazon was recently searching for a second headquarters, Arkansas was considered.

Hadn't heard that. Thought they wanted a metro with no fewer than 1M residents. Lots of smaller places submitted apps, but I doubt they were seriously considered. Huntsville was one of those, as well as Birmingham (technically a metro >1M, but it covers 5500 sq miles).

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Coco Chanel

I disagree.

The people in Arkansas are warm and sincere but often not the most sophisticated people in the world. Those in Austin are sometimes warm and sincere and very sophisticated.

This is about the issue of a state government having it's head so far up it's butt that you can no longer run a business in the state. It's about simple little legal issues requiring years and tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands in legal fees to resolve. It's a truly horrifying level of dysfunction and intolerance.

The state of Arkansas is made up of some people who are just horribly biased and it's clogging up the system. They cannot look past their hatred or dislike of minorities. They carry those biases to work with them and clog the system. Don't these biased workers have supervisors? Yes, and they are also just sort of hopelessly biased.

Business are ATTRACTED to Austin. Things get DONE in Austin. Things don't get done in Little Rock because biased government officials have their heads up their butts. It's the citizens who need good, high paying jobs that suffer. Entrepreneurs don't want to go there. MUCH easier to do business in other states AND safer for their diverse employees.

Sorry ... hope I didn't come across as insulting. I was just wondering if, after having seen the rest of civilization, that coming "home" feels a little less civilized. I honestly know very little about Arkansas. Your post just seemed like an interesting topic to hop in on.

[Usrname]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"Amazon not coming here had nothing to do with state government." In reality, it probably did, tho' not for the reasons outlined earlier. The state government no doubt did not provide as many tax incentives as the winning states. Bezos was squeezing all the states for the best deal, playing each state off the other, much like Bass Pro/Cabela's is known to do with selected cities. In the process he has gained sooo much information from states/cities that turned in their proposals, about those states/cities....and he didn't have to spend a dime.

Regards
Gemstone1

For sure...Their "final choice" (made before the whole competition show, no doubt) was predictable...where it'd be easier for them to buy politicians. Next thing, they'll try to extend monopoly over all aspects of life. The "50,000" jobs they were to "bring"....how many would go to foreign H1B workers, did they forget to mention?

[Coco Chanel]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

22 out of 22 posts "Coco" has made has been bashing AR on this very thread, seems very legit for a supposed big business woman / lawyer to make these types of postings mostly during the hours of 2am to 4am.

Well, I feel like I've had a lot of positive and some negative things to say about the state. I don't think that the time that I post makes me some sort of troll. Sorry that you can't tolerate any criticism of the state of Arkansas and it's government, but this is a thread about leaving Arkansas and why people might choose to leave the state.

[Coco Chanel]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"Amazon not coming here had nothing to do with state government." In reality, it probably did, tho' not for the reasons outlined earlier. The state government no doubt did not provide as many tax incentives as the winning states. Bezos was squeezing all the states for the best deal, playing each state off the other, much like Bass Pro/Cabela's is known to do with selected cities. In the process he has gained sooo much information from states/cities that turned in their proposals, about those states/cities....and he didn't have to spend a dime.

Regards
Gemstone1

Well, I think that the final decision probably had a lot to do with infrastructure and population density, in addition to tax incentives. Still, it would be a smart, business savvy things for the Chamber of Commerce to contact Amazon and just ask, "Hey, where did we go wrong and where did we go right with our application?"

Further, "We feel like our state has enormous potential for more outside businesses to relocate here and employ people. Could you give us a little bit of guidance?"

Just sayin

[Coco Chanel]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Sorry ... hope I didn't come across as insulting. I was just wondering if, after having seen the rest of civilization, that coming "home" feels a little less civilized. I honestly know very little about Arkansas. Your post just seemed like an interesting topic to hop in on.

This is not so much a topic that I like to talk about or discuss, but when I felt the need to move back to Arkansas in 2014 for business purposes, I was really shocked at how Little Rock had changed for the negative. For example, the beautiful area of West Little Rock known as Chenal where I had previously lived and chose to live again, had declined. My apartment complex was located in a beautiful, woodsy area, but it was pretty constantly being visited by police. Were the people nice? Yes, they were pretty uniformly awesome, but apparently some had serious drug problems.

If I get further into specifics, apparently I'll be labeled a troll and perhaps banned, so I guess I'll just "shut my mouth" like a good girl born and raised in Louisiana (but one who moved away from Louisiana and learned how to be assertive and get what I want and need).

Okay, so I'm noting that both Arkansas and her people remain beautiful and they do. Does that make me a troll? Is it really THAT simple?

[Coco Chanel]

Originally Posted by Rock Climber

Obviously Coco had some business dealings go sour in Arkansas, for reasons the rest of us can only speculate.

Coming here and posting about "Nazis" and an "alt right state government" is fantastical, and those of us who live here can identify it as such because it does not jibe with our experience in Arkansas.

The current state government is conservative. The same can be said for about half of the states in the union right now.

Arkansas' current GOP governor was elected only after the previous, very popular Democratic governor was term-limited. State politics here are not "uber-conservative" or anything resembling "alt right" in nature.

Arkansas is conservative, but with a population that voted to legalize medical marijuana over two years ago, and recently legalized casino gambling.

Arkansas as a state never passed one of the controversial "bathroom bills" like some states did, largely due to the fact that there are seven Fortune 500 companies headquartered here, including the Fortune #1, and the state has learned that actions like that can be detrimental to business.

Amazon not coming here had nothing to do with state government.

I disagree and I'm old enough and I've had enough business experience with the state government of Arkansas that I can state with authority that the state government of Arkansas used to be quite sharp and business friendly but I don't think it's that way anymore.

Whether or not a state government is going to play by the legal rules or just make up their own set of rules as they go along plays a HUGE role in corporations choosing to move there and employ the locals. AFTER a corporation has made a huge monetary commitment to move to a state is NOT the time to discover that the state doesn't respect the constitution.

As for the GOP, the grand old party, my parents raised me to be a Republican, but the party was very different back then. It believed in a balanced budget, low to moderate but necessary taxes, and promoting small business, NOT supporting the oligarchy.