Amazon is looking for a second HQ. Why not, Pittsburgh? (activity, venue)

[Katarina Witt]

It's kind of entertaining to go back and read the early posts:

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

We're now comfortably in first place. Pittsburgh is one of the most logical choices for Amazon, actually. MUCH cheaper overhead and labor costs than the typical larger coastal cities while we still have a great quality-of-life, decent mass transit, a good airport, increasing cycling infrastructure, generally low violent crime, and not prone to disruptive natural disasters. Bezos can also build a legacy for himself as being a huge part of Pittsburgh's "Comeback Story". Trump's America can more easily identify with Pittsburgh than with Seattle because our metro area is very socially conservative, so an investment here could also win over more clients who would otherwise boycott a "liberal company". I could say the same for Detroit or Cleveland but feel like we're better poised for this.

Originally Posted by Losfrisco

I agree that PGH should get this. As far as the amenities and infrastructure go, if you like living in Seattle you would like Pittsburgh and vice versa. In fact, of all the "top contenders" people have been throwing around, I would say Pittsburgh is the most similar with the possible exception of MSP., but I would give PGH the tech/university edge there. Also PGH is central to east coast/Midwest/great lakes/southeast, no too much west of MSP.

This one in particular is in retrosepct, very entertaining:

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Yes, I do. That's what attracts the talent they are seeking. This is not the kind of company that wants to be stuck out somewhere in the suburbs. They want youthful energy.

Just sayin'.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

It's kind of entertaining to go back and read the early posts:





This one in particular is in retrosepct, very entertaining:



Just sayin'.

A sobering retrospective! I am glad the decision has been made, actually. I was rooting for Pittsburgh at first...then not so much....then maybe...

bah - as if the roads around DC aren't harrowing enough to now add thousands more people. Have fun with that, Amazon.

[Mtl-Cns]

Just want to also say congratulations to us for not attracting Amazon. I mostly hang out on Reddit , where the mood was pretty overwhelmingly anti-Amazon but check over here occasionally. If anyone is actually feeling let down by this I encourage you to read the replies on NYC Mayor Bill Deblasio's Twitter feed. New Yorkers are pissed and being a transplant from there to Pittsburgh I get it. NYC offered them almost $2 billion dollars to locate to one of the few "affordable" (by NYC standards) bastions left in that city while their infrastructure decays (think how old the subway system is) and most there is little to no affordable housing. Meanwhile that $2 billion isn't exactly going to help the native New Yorkers, since more than likely, those high paying jobs will be given of course to only those who are qualified: white tech bros, many/most of whom will be transplants. So it's another wave of mass gentrification is about to hit a city that's been stricken with quite a few and there are fewer and fewer places to avoid it.

Very happy that kind of thing won't be happening in the city I now call home. I'd much rather see 50,000 quality jobs come here through 20 different employers than pay the richest man in the world another $2 billion to have them all come through one.

EDIT: Just heard on NPR that New York's tax incentives to Amazon equate to a whopping $50,000 PER JOB!!!!!!!! Wtf...

[JoeP]

...it's interesting to read the first posts in all of the threads. I wonder if they were called out as well.

There is no lack of city Amazon threads to choose....

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

It's kind of entertaining to go back and read the early posts:





This one in particular is in retrosepct, very entertaining:



Just sayin'.

She was right.

There is literally nothing suburban about Crystal City. It’s an intensely urban area and closer to downtown DC than downtown Pittsburgh is to Oakland.

Long Island City is in NYC proper and one subway stop from Midtown.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by gladhands

She was right.

There is literally nothing suburban about Crystal City. It’s an intensely urban area and closer to downtown DC than downtown Pittsburgh is to Oakland.

Long Island City is in NYC proper and one subway stop from Midtown.

I disagree about Crystal City, and I think the "urbanists" here on CD would as well. I'm aware than Long Island City is in NYC proper.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by JoeP

...it's interesting to read the first posts in all of the threads. I wonder if they were called out as well.

There is no lack of city Amazon threads to choose....

Here are the first three from Denver:

Originally Posted by emm74

Amazon is looking for a city where it can stick a second $5 billion HQ. Could a Colorado community be in the mix?

Tech giant has one facility is Aurora, is building a second there and one in Thornton



Amazon is on the lookout for another North American city to host the tech giant's second headquarters.

Seems like Denver could be in contention with the new Amazon facilities that are here or in the process of coming here, although maybe something further East makes more sense geographically.

But that would certainly be a great thing for the economy of whatever area gets it, and I hope that the powers that be here the Denver metro will be putting in a strong response to the RFP.

Originally Posted by TCHP

Nope, can't see it. If they are looking for a 2nd HQ away from Seattle, my money would be someplace closer to the highly concentrated population centers on the east coast. I'm thinking something like the FedEx hub, east coast access, close to population, mild weather...

Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker

too close to Seattle. Think central or east time zone.

Here's what our governor said back in January:
"Days after Denver made the list of 20 finalists for Amazon’s new headquarters, Gov. John Hickenlooper tempered expectations about the bid, saying that if the tech giant picked another location, “I’m not going to cry.” . . . “There will be a sense of relief if they choose somewhere else, because there are a lot of challenges and lot of hard work we will be avoiding,” Hickenlooper told the City Club of Denver on Tuesday in response to a question about Amazon."
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/2...on-hq2-denver/

[JoeP]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mtl-Cns again.

.

[Copanut]

So, Amazon is NOT coming to Pittsburgh?

[JoeP]

...or Dallas, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Philly, Boston, Raleigh....