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Jeff Bezos was in the Boston area this past weekend. Was spotted out with his family dining in Cambridge on Saturday 10/27/18. There has been no confirmation of why he was in the area.
While Atlanta underperforms on transit, the Gulch site is near the main transfer point for the entire MARTA train system. It's actually pretty good in that regard.
While Atlanta underperforms on transit, the Gulch site is near the main transfer point for the entire MARTA train system. It's actually pretty good in that regard.
Not to mention, The Gulch is the end point of rail lines that radiate throughout all of Metro Atlanta and can be retrofitted for commuter trains.
IMO, The Gulch is the best site outside of Philly and Chicago.
Well, your posts are generating strong responses because they're making statements about the cities' strengths and weaknesses but without being very familiar with those cities.
On mass transit, for instance, you are severely underestimating Atlanta's weakness on this front, while understating Chicago's strength. It's not just a checkmark. It has a serious impact on the way urban life is experienced. If comprehensive mass transit is indeed a key factor in Amazon's search.
The early predictions had a very simple explanation. The national media is concentrated on the East Coast mostly in NY, D.C. and Boston, and they ranked the cities according to what they were most familiar with. Atlanta and Raleigh are their regional competitors so those cities ranked high as well.
But outside the East Coast media bubble, the rankings start to shift. You're beginning to see the cities with base fundamentals like massive labor pools and existing housing and mass transit infrastructure being talked about.
I never mentioned Chicago's strengths and I never mentioned a weakness of any of the cities.
"The media concentrated in NY, DC, Boston ... and Atlanta and Raleigh ranked high as well."
"outside the east cost media bubble, the rankings start to shift"
So my initial reply that made people from Chicago set themselves on fire was I said how it's interesting how in different regions, there is a different consensus of who the front runners are. In the South and Midatlantic, it seemed the consensus was ATL, DC, BOS as top 3 and AUS, NYC, RAL as other front runners.
While Atlanta underperforms on transit, the Gulch site is near the main transfer point for the entire MARTA train system. It's actually pretty good in that regard.
The train service itself is mostly fine. It's the BUS service that's killer, and unfortunately the neighborhoods surrounding the station are not dense enough for most people to take the train directly.
I never mentioned Chicago's strengths and I never mentioned a weakness of any of the cities.
"The media concentrated in NY, DC, Boston ... and Atlanta and Raleigh ranked high as well."
"outside the east cost media bubble, the rankings start to shift"
So my initial reply that made people from Chicago set themselves on fire was I said how it's interesting how in different regions, there is a different consensus of who the front runners are. In the South and Midatlantic, it seemed the consensus was ATL, DC, BOS as top 3 and AUS, NYC, RAL as other front runners.
Which you basically confirmed my point.
My point is that these general rankings have been completely useless from the very beginning and have little to add to the debate, being more akin to marketing than anything else. There are interesting discussions to be had on ranking individual metrics such as percentage of software engineers or cost of housing or taxation, but talking about the general rankings in and of themselves is just opening a can of worms.
However, you were careless in some of your statements on these metrics, even if you didn't intend it.
For instance: "I didn’t say amazon overlooked Chicago because of mass transit. I said that was one of the criteria people used to determine which would be the most likely. Hence NYC and ATL. Low cost of living (Raleigh, Austin). Tech workers, all of them. Universities, all of them."
You implied that NYC and ATL were ranked high because of mass transit, and Raleigh and Austin for low cost of living. There's no other way to interpret those lines. And that's the source of the debate because some of those statements are factually wrong.
I personally replied because I had lived in the South for twenty years, and the suggestion that Atanta excels or ranks in mass transit hurts the soul after fighting with it for all that time. There would have been little uproar if you has stated Atlanta was ranked because of housing, logistics or taxes.
My point is that these general rankings have been completely useless from the very beginning and have little to add to the debate, being more akin to marketing than anything else. There are interesting discussions to be had on ranking individual metrics such as percentage of software engineers or cost of housing or taxation, but talking about the general rankings in and of themselves is just opening a can of worms.
However, you were careless in some of your statements on these metrics, even if you didn't intend it.
For instance: "I didn’t say amazon overlooked Chicago because of mass transit. I said that was one of the criteria people used to determine which would be the most likely. Hence NYC and ATL. Low cost of living (Raleigh, Austin). Tech workers, all of them. Universities, all of them."
You implied that NYC and ATL were ranked high because of mass transit, and Raleigh and Austin for low cost of living. There's no other way to interpret those lines. And that's the source of the debate because some of those statements are factually wrong.
I personally replied because I had lived in the South for twenty years, and the suggestion that Atanta excels or ranks in mass transit hurts the soul after fighting with it for all that time. There would have been little uproar if you has stated Atlanta was ranked because of housing, logistics or taxes.
I implied NYC & ATL Had enough of mass transit where it was a plus in their column. Do you disagree that their mass transit is unacceptable to Amazon compared to the other Amazon contenders?
Looks like Amazon is headed for Crystal city in Northern Virginia, right across the Potomac from DC. While urban, this would be surprising considering Bezos' preference for a downtown fully amenitized location. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...54e_story.html
Good luck to those Millennial employees ever being able to afford those multi-million dollar McMansions in Loudoun/Fairfax County...
Between this report and Bezos saying he would go with his heart (which is clearly in DC and not Atlanta or Chicago, two cities he hasn't even visited), it's hard to believe NoVA isn't a done deal at ths point.
EDIT: To be fair, not that it changes my point (Bezos owns a home in Texas as well), but the article also says things are down to Austin.
Last edited by citidata18; 11-03-2018 at 12:24 PM..
I implied NYC & ATL Had enough of mass transit where it was a plus in their column. Do you disagree that their mass transit is unacceptable to Amazon compared to the other Amazon contenders?
For Atlanta, absolutely, if the numbers they state are accurate.
I have strongly believed that Washington D.C. and New York are the only realistic choices for a massive urban East Coast headquarters.
They likely included cities like Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas to consider smaller regional headquarters of 5,000-15,000 people. They are mostly independent business and employment markets from the East and West Coasts. But if left alone, those regions will throw their support behind the various Amazon tech rivals who DO establish an early foothold. SalesForce for example is making a substantial Midwestern push right now.
Which is why I despise the HQ2 rankings. There's a lot more going on those misleading lists show.
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