Amazon HQ? (Philadelphia, York, California: school district, landlord, high income)

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by NewtownBucks

I certainly understand your concern, but I just can't see property values/taxes shooting through the roof because of one company. Even if it would be all 50,000 promised jobs, that's barely making a dent in the total city population and many of the new employees would live in the suburbs anyway.

I would definitely see this as a positive for the city if it happens. Actually, the biggest negative might be additional traffic on the highways for commuters like myself if there is any warehousing or transportation associated with this.

Exactly! Philadelphia is a major city with a major metropolitan area, its not a coal town in West Virginia.
And people act as if 50,000 jobs would appear overnight and that every single new member of Amazon would live in the city. I would guarantee more than half would live in the suburbs and the 50,000 jobs would phase in over at least a decade.

Some people on here clearly do not know much about how the real estate market works if they think 1 additional company will turn Philadelphia into NYC.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Fireshaker

This is exactly why I don't want Amazon here, and why anyone who truly cares about Philly shouldn't, either. Look at what's happening in Seattle, especially the skyrocketing cost of housing. Part of why Philly is Philly is that it offers world-class amenities at a still-affordable price. It's still a "livable" city. If Amazon comes here, that's gone. Yes, it has a lot of allure and would put us on "the map." But you know who else is on that map? A lot of cities where people can no longer actually live. I don't want that to be us.

Sometimes, the cost of being "it" is losing everything that made you that way in the first place.

If we want Philly to truly take that next step, we need to actually focus on the unsexy things like crime, poverty, schools, and the overall business climate--and not just sit back and wish for some benevolent CEO to shower us with money.

Overly dramatic. Please explain how 1 major company relocating to Philadelphia would remove the "livability" aspect? Philadelphia has lost several Fortune 500 companies in the last decade to either the suburbs or other cities, now Philadelphia has a shot at landing Amazon and people are frightened. I don't get the thought logic...

[KansastoSouthphilly]

Originally Posted by Fireshaker

This is exactly why I don't want Amazon here, and why anyone who truly cares about Philly shouldn't, either.

Give me a break.

Look at what's happening in Seattle, especially the skyrocketing cost of housing. Part of why Philly is Philly is that it offers world-class amenities at a still-affordable price. It's still a "livable" city. If Amazon comes here, that's gone. Yes, it has a lot of allure and would put us on "the map." But you know who else is on that map? A lot of cities where people can no longer actually live. I don't want that to be us.

Philly lost 500k in population. That's more than the entire population of Kansas City. It is not and will not come anywhere close to bursting at the seams. I also think the high rate of homeownership here will help preserve the character of or neighborhoods greatly especially in comparison to the other "it" cities in which normal people rarely own property.

Sometimes, the cost of being "it" is losing everything that made you that way in the first place.

If we want Philly to truly take that next step, we need to actually focus on the unsexy things like crime, poverty, schools, and the overall business climate--and not just sit back and wish for some benevolent CEO to shower us with money.

Like it or not we can't preserve Philadelphia in Amber. Its going to change. I think Philadelphia is particularly well suited to absorb that change.


Crime is typically attributed to poverty. Bringing in a lot of jobs is a good way to address poverty. Increasing tax revenue is a good first step in addressing our schools. Amazon will have a lot of clout which, hopefully, can help us address our business climate as such an adjustment is in their self interest. I don't think Amazon will "solve" those problems but it will make dealing with them slightly easier.

[Fireshaker]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Overly dramatic. Please explain how 1 major company relocating to Philadelphia would remove the "livability" aspect? Philadelphia has lost several Fortune 500 companies in the last decade to either the suburbs or other cities, now Philadelphia has a shot at landing Amazon and people are frightened. I don't get the thought logic...

Not frightened, but not looking at Amazon through rose-colored glasses, either. Again, we simply have to look at what Amazon has done in Seattle RIGHT NOW:

"Housing has become a real problem, Bertolet acknowledged, and the region has seen a major increase in the number of so-called super commuters, who journey 90 minutes each way to and from work. Expansions to the city’s north-south light rail system, Link, are underway, but still decades from completion. And some who aren’t making Amazon salaries have found it impossible to stay in the city..."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...IUP/story.html

Yes, we have more land and better infrastructure than Seattle, but it's incredibly naive to think that we can just dump 50,000+ workers into the metro with minimal impact on housing demand and prices, as well as traffic. That 50,000, by the way, would automatically make Amazon the largest employer in the city by far. From last year:

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...employers.html

The closest is Penn, at just under 40,000. And they certainly didn't spring up overnight.

I understand the allure of it all, I really do, and on some level I agree it would be a source of pride if we got it. But people need to understand the very real downsides of something like this. I hope I'd be wrong on this, but the all the evidence points to this being a "be careful what you wish for" thing....

[ThomasDarcy]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

There was one city I hadn't expected to see on the finalist list: Columbus, Ohio.

What surprised me about the 3 DC entries is that I thought Amazon wanted one submission per metropolitan area. Granted, some of our satellite communities - Camden, Wilmington, Bensalem (!) - also submitted applications - but the three entries for DC suggests less regional unity there than I thought existed. (Then again, I should know better, seeing how dysfunctional the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority board is.)

I think a stronger case can be made for considering New York and Northern New Jersey as each worthy of their own submissions.

I don't think "regional unity" is a real concern --- and if it was, they wouldn't have shortlisted 3 DC metropolitan proposals.

What it does do is allow for Amazon to concentrate its attention on DC, without giving up the ability to auction themselves to the highest bidder.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Fireshaker

Yes, we have more land and better infrastructure than Seattle, but it's incredibly naive to think that we can just dump 50,000+ workers into the metro with minimal impact on housing demand and prices, as well as traffic.

Fine but it's also silly to think that for a metro that currently has 3,000,000 jobs that a less than 2% increase (yes, that's all it would be) would create Armageddon.


The City of Philadelphia has 700,000 jobs so even if you want to disregard the Metro, even that is only a 14% increase. I think we will survive.

[kyb01]

We've expressed our opinions about the latest hq2 development re Philly.

How about a shout out about having PA's two major cities on this list?

[mslhu]

Originally Posted by kyb01

We've expressed our opinions about the latest hq2 development re Philly.

How about a shout out about having PA's two major cities on this list?

Time to dust off that Philly v. Pittsburgh thread and trash each other's city again.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Overly dramatic. Please explain how 1 major company relocating to Philadelphia would remove the "livability" aspect? Philadelphia has lost several Fortune 500 companies in the last decade to either the suburbs or other cities, now Philadelphia has a shot at landing Amazon and people are frightened. I don't get the thought logic...

Would it lure SAP or the rest of Vanguard to move into town for instance?

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by mslhu

Time to dust off that Philly v. Pittsburgh thread and trash each other's city again.

Lol, I'm almost too scared to check it.