Indy advances to the final 20 in bid to win Amazon's 2nd HQ (Indianapolis: wages, taxes)

[missik999]

Originally Posted by hapaleeretired

While 8% of INDIANA roads are in poor shape.........what percentage of Marion County Streets are in poor shape?
I am not an expert but don't consider myself to be a "hyper-emotional" Joe.
Welcome to Indiana. I too am a transplant and love it here.

Problem is, it’s many if the main streets that are crumbling. All the local news stations have reported on them and shown major streets that are more pothole than road.

When people have to take a different route to work because of the condition of the roads it is out of control.

Have you seen the pictures of disabled cars on 465 after they have hit giant pothole?

Local news gives pothole reports on which streets and roads to avoid.

There is even a twitter account “Potholes of Indy.”

State Senator Jim Merritt released a statement Tuesday calling the pothole problem “shameful” and calling Hogsett “Pothole Joe.”

[sheerbliss]

If he's calling the mayor "Pothole Joe" because he's working to fix the potholes, groovy. But if he's blaming him for the potholes--not fair. Hogsett's only been mayor since 2016, and some of the side streets look like they haven't been repaved in decades. The major streets have only gotten really bad this winter; the city has been filling potholes since late January.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/...ns/1078168001/

[missik999]

Now the street department is putting sandbags into potholes until they can be repaired. That tells you how bad they are.

We drive to Briad Ripple for dinner last night. Drivers were swerving around and changing lanes to avoid potholes. When we parked on the street in BR the asphalt was crumbling as we walked on it.

[Berteau]

But I thought Indy was going to get Amazon? Looks like it is going to NYC. Looks like all the homers on here were wrong when they thought INdy was good because of its low cost of living, yet they chose the highest cost of living city in the country!


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/a...020200793.html

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Berteau

But I thought Indy was going to get Amazon? Looks like it is going to NYC. Looks like all the homers on here were wrong when they thought INdy was good because of its low cost of living, yet they chose the highest cost of living city in the country!

[indy_317]

Originally Posted by Berteau

But I thought Indy was going to get Amazon? Looks like it is going to NYC. Looks like all the homers on here were wrong when they thought INdy was good because of its low cost of living, yet they chose the highest cost of living city in the country!

I don't know anyone who claimed Indy was a for sure bet. I was thinking they might try a low cost of living area, but figured they'd go to North Carolina. I guess given the wages they are going to pay, was the cost-of-living even on their radar? Millions of people have proven that they don't care to be debt slaves in terms of high cost of home ownership or getting nothing in return sky-high rent. If that is a large personal income philosophy, Amazon could careless about local affordability. I was on another forum and saw that a $300Kish newly constructed house would run anywhere from $800K-$1.5M in a nice suburb of northern LA. In my field, pay would increase only about $40K with over-time. Even if both my wife and I made another $80K/year living in some of the high costs cites, I'm not sure needing another $500K minimum for a similar style home is worth it. I guess if other costs are relatively the same (taxes, user fees, etc.), it might be worth it for the area (mountains, oceans, etc.). I do know that I'd be putting as much of that $60Kish after taxes down on the house. The amount of interest on such a mortgage would be huge.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by indy_317

I don't know anyone who claimed Indy was a for sure bet. I was thinking they might try a low cost of living area, but figured they'd go to North Carolina. I guess given the wages they are going to pay, was the cost-of-living even on their radar? Millions of people have proven that they don't care to be debt slaves in terms of high cost of home ownership or getting nothing in return sky-high rent. If that is a large personal income philosophy, Amazon could careless about local affordability. I was on another forum and saw that a $300Kish newly constructed house would run anywhere from $800K-$1.5M in a nice suburb of northern LA. In my field, pay would increase only about $40K with over-time. Even if both my wife and I made another $80K/year living in some of the high costs cites, I'm not sure needing another $500K minimum for a similar style home is worth it. I guess if other costs are relatively the same (taxes, user fees, etc.), it might be worth it for the area (mountains, oceans, etc.). I do know that I'd be putting as much of that $60Kish after taxes down on the house. The amount of interest on such a mortgage would be huge.

Jobs at an Amazon HQ are going to be doing bleeding edge product development and the like. These kinds of jobs are the elite of the elite.

It's much easier to get that very top tier of talent to move to an NYC or DC than an Indy, Columbus, or Raleigh. You have network effects with the very top talent. There's other top companies there, and those companies want to cluster with other top companies, top universities, etc.

I agree that Indy and similar metros are going to be a much better value for the average person than northern VA or NYC, but these are very high end jobs where a lot of compensation is in stock options and bonuses instead of straight salary.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Jobs at an Amazon HQ are going to be doing bleeding edge product development and the like. These kinds of jobs are the elite of the elite.

It's much easier to get that very top tier of talent to move to an NYC or DC than an Indy, Columbus, or Raleigh. You have network effects with the very top talent. There's other top companies there, and those companies want to cluster with other top companies, top universities, etc.

I agree that Indy and similar metros are going to be a much better value for the average person than northern VA or NYC, but these are very high end jobs where a lot of compensation is in stock options and bonuses instead of straight salary.

While I agree that in general it is easier to sell NYC than Indy, we're talking about Amazon. People who want those 1% type jobs will go where they are, independent of whether they're in Indy or KCMO or NYC.

[Berteau]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

While I agree that in general it is easier to sell NYC than Indy, we're talking about Amazon. People who want those 1% type jobs will go where they are, independent of whether they're in Indy or KCMO or NYC.

IF this were true Amazon would be in a small midwest city like Indy. Its is not going there.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Berteau

IF this were true Amazon would be in a small midwest city like Indy. Its is not going there.

Amazon can't be headquartered everywhere broski.