Amazon solicits bids from North American cities for a second HQ (Columbus: 2014, community college)

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by SWOH

Sure, thanks for asking.
Amazon is looking to move quickly into grocery. Its main competitor will be Kroger, Wal-Mart (good luck moving to Arkansas), Aldi, possibly Lidl, and Target (which is why Minneapolis might be an interesting choice too).

Of those, Kroger is the strongest player against Amazon. It already leverages an analytics powerhouse that got it to its current position, it has a nearly nationwide network of stores, and it has a supply chain of organic and non-organic goods that beats Whole Foods at every turn.

That's a lot of expertise Amazon doesn't have and is going to need if it really wants to beat Kroger. Otherwise, Kroger will keep doing laps around Whole Foods like it has been. And Simple Truth at the end of the day will continue to be the organic brand of choice for the average consumer, as Kroger continues to tweak it based on the data it gets from its customers.

Columbus is in the wrong kind of retail.
Amazon has already won at clothing / department store goods.
It has already developed the best platform for selling these goods.


Also, what other cities can offer a dual state tax incentive package?

Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington and New York just to name a few.

As far as retail goes, Amazon could move literally anywhere and get plenty of people in the grocery retail side to come work for them. They don't have to be in the same city as a strong grocery competitor.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by motorman

As could be expected, this thread's become just another contest between Ohio's 3-C's, rather than an overall appraisal of Cleveland's chances of winning HQ2-vs-other cities across the nation. My suggestion is that Cleveland advocates turn attention to the "City-vs-City/General-US" forum for a better idea of who the city's real contenders actually are. If one dares to read through all these pages of speculation, it will be discovered that neither Cleveland, Cincinnati nor Columbus are mentioned much at all. There's a reason for this: it's because none of our 3-C's are really serious competition when ranked with the nation's biggest and best cities as a whole. Look at the list and draw your own conclusions.

I made the case for Cleveland in posts 33 and 39.

If the criteria listed there, such as climate change impacts in coming decades, low cost of living, relative fiscal futures of states, cultural amenities, mass transit backbone, water availability, pro sports, etc. are indeed serious considerations, Cleveland has a more serious opportunity than its detractors would recognize.

IMO, city vs. city obviously is not a hospitable forum for anyone positive about Cleveland's attributes.

//www.city-data.com/forum/cleve...oratorium.html

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by motorman

My only reason for bringing up the RNC is that although it's understandable that having won such a coveted event would give Cleveland confidence in its pursuit of Amazon's HQ2, be aware that the all-powerful West Coast Democratic oligarch, Jeff Bezos, may not favorably regard a city that helped usher in Donald Trump.

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are liberal bastions, so it's unlikely that Bezos would care one bit that the city hosted the Republican National Convention, other than that Cleveland successfully pulled it off to rave reviews, btw, unlike Philadelphia when it hosted the Democratic National Convention.

[quote=motorman;49466178]My reason for bringing Lebron into play is to draw attention to that despite all the accolades this superstar has earned for Cleveland, sports of any kind are not likely to impress or attract the likes of Jeff Bezos and his AI Borg Army.

You mean tech stars, such as Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer, never care anything about pro sports?

Originally Posted by motorman

Bottom line: neither of these past "assets" that Clevelanders routinely tout are going to get any mileage in this present endeavor; in fact, they could potentially damage the city's already slim chances.

"Past" assets such as world-class, thriving cultural institutions, relatively superior mass transit assets, and exciting pro sports franchises that homers from Cincinnati enjoy diminishing?

E.g., how many consecutive games have the Indians won? I suppose you want to equate this with the truly "past" glories of the Reds.

Your knowledge of Cleveland is limited if you think that PlayhouseSquare is a legacy of Cleveland's days as one of the richest cities in the world.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g...usesquare.html

Similarly, the massive recreation of the Cleveland Museum of Art is a 21st century wonder.

And Blossom Music Center opened in 1968 and the renovation and expansion of Severance Hall also occurred in the 21st century.

How would any of the exemplary successes of recent decades, also inclusive of the creation of Cuyahoga National Park, improvement of mass transit assets such as the Healthline bus rapid, etc., do anything but promote Cleveland's chances as a worthwhile suitor?

These relatively recent successes also would include the reinvigorating Case Western, the establishment and growth of Cleveland State University, and the creation of exemplary junior college systems.

"Past" glories? Hardly.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by motorman

As could be expected, this thread's become just another contest between Ohio's 3-C's, rather than an overall appraisal of Cleveland's chances of winning HQ2-vs-other cities across the nation. My suggestion is that Cleveland advocates turn attention to the "City-vs-City/General-US" forum for a better idea of who the city's real contenders actually are. If one dares to read through all these pages of speculation, it will be discovered that neither Cleveland, Cincinnati nor Columbus are mentioned much at all. There's a reason for this: it's because none of our 3-C's are really serious competition when ranked with the nation's biggest and best cities as a whole. Look at the list and draw your own conclusions.

Let's see, it's a Cleveland Amazon thread issue and by post 11 you chime in telling CLE to forget it, followed by the other Cinci homer, thereby turning this into a 3C debacle, followed your exasperation that this turned into ''another contest''...uh, you turned it into one.

Pretty certain that CLEders are not thinking they are getting this project but thanks again for your guidance in assuring the great city up north on the lake that its not getting anything. To even suggest that CLE thinks its getting this project because it won the RNC is ridiculous. If you rely on the fact that CLE is eliminated because of the Trump/RNC/Cleveland connection and Bezos's politics you really are intimidated by CLE.

CIN's pushing that streetcar though for getting Amazon, which is hilarious meanwhile no one in CIN

As far as I know, CLE and COL haven't even committed to making a bid.

This thread is just a discussion so you can relax just because there's an actual thread on this in CLE and not, for obvious reasons, in the CIN forum.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by jbcmh81

I don't want this to turn into the typical 3-C fight, but can you be specific as to Cincinnati's huge advantages in this case? I think they all have flaws and strengths, and none of them stand out as an obvious choice.


And you're most likely correct. They probably already have a short list of cities they want to go in and are just waiting to hear what the incentives packages will be.

This is all about a few cities being able to really compete for this but the one with the best deal will win. The timeline on this is short, just over a month to submit bids.

Many cities can meet some of the requirements but only a few can meet them all. The city with the meeting the requirement standards and deal will win. A city with a deep labor pool of techies have the real edge...and none of the 3Cs are there.

[motorman]

Originally Posted by WRnative

I made the case for Cleveland in posts 33 and 39.

If the criteria listed there, such as climate change impacts in coming decades, low cost of living, relative fiscal futures of states, cultural amenities, mass transit backbone, water availability, pro sports, etc. are indeed serious considerations, Cleveland has a more serious opportunity than its detractors would recognize.

IMO, city vs. city obviously is not a hospitable forum for anyone positive about Cleveland's attributes.

//www.city-data.com/forum/cleve...oratorium.html

If you really believe that Cleveland would be a good candidate for HQ2 and that the city has a solid chance of winning it, then present your best supporting argument on the "City-vs-City/General-US" Amazon HQ2 thread already in progress. However, be fully prepared to defend your position in ways you haven't had to before, namely because here you have a built in home-field advantage. For all purposes, this is merely a Municipal Court while over there it's Common-Pleas.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by motorman

If you really believe that Cleveland would be a good candidate for HQ2 and that the city has a solid chance of winning it, then present your best supporting argument on the "City-vs-City/General-US" Amazon HQ2 thread already in progress. However, be fully prepared to defend your position in ways you haven't had to before, namely because here you have a built in home-field advantage. For all purposes, this is merely a Municipal Court while over there it's Common-Pleas.

Well it's only home field advantage 'cuz no one even opened a thread in CIN about Amazon...you must really have some RNC scars if you're so freaked out about this CLE thread.

[jmecklenborg]

If the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Symphony are such draws, why has Cleveland now slipped to to third place in Ohio behind Cincinnati and Cowtown?

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

If the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Symphony are such draws, why has Cleveland now slipped to to third place in Ohio behind Cincinnati and Cowtown?

What's CIN CSA population?

Answer clue: it doesn't have one.

If CIN is now Ohio's big town, why doesn't it have an NBA or NHL team, mass transit, or even a decent arena? Instead of you crusading for light-rail in CIN (lol) or high-speed trains to Chicago (LOL) why don't you focus on bringing U.S. Tanked Arena outta of the '70s?

I see the CLE envy is alive and well in CIN. Two CIN posters cannot handle the fact that an Amazon HDQ conversation is even going in CLE...there has to be some innate fear they think CLE could actually land Amazon.

Maybe it's 'cuz Cleveland's CSA is 3.5 million in a larger region of 4.3 million.

[motorman]

Originally Posted by Kamms

I see the CLE envy is alive and well in CIN. Two CIN posters cannot handle the fact that an Amazon HDQ conversation is even going in CLE...there has to be some innate fear they think CLE could actually land Amazon...

I think you got it reversed. What's actually happening here is that one CLE poster cannot handle the fact that an Amazon HDQ conversation isn't going to CLE, although it's on a CLE thread. It's also obvious that this CLE poster is very upset that more than just the two CIN posters have entered the conversation to help establish this fact.