Amazon is looking for a second HQ. Why not, Pittsburgh? (McKeesport: rental, unemployment)

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

//www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...ters-city.html (Dallas)
//www.city-data.com/forum/austi...n-chances.html (Austin))

Sorry these aren't in alaphabetical order. I did a search for "Amazon"; these are the cities that have threads with "Amazon" in the title. There may be many others.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bezos chose Texas or Florida. He has ties to each and is heavily invested in Texas. Texas and Florida are both more business friendly than Washington State. Pittsburgh is going to have more tech competition in the future...https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/13/as...r-vc-and-tech/

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

I wouldn't be surprised if Bezos chose Texas or Florida. He has ties to each and is heavily invested in Texas. Texas and Florida are both more business friendly than Washington State.

Texas is not notably more business friendly regarding its state taxes than Washington. Last I checked Texas was #14 nationally, and Washington #17.

The people I know from Austin say it would be a terrible location for Amazon to locate. The local traffic has become a nightmare with the population boom, and the transit system is still too skeletal to put any dent in it. Basically Austin's infrastructure can't absorb that sort of job growth, since it's barely keeping up as it is.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Mtl-Cns

Is it? I feel like we're just discussing pros and cons using their wishlist as a metric.

Oh? See the OP, below:

Originally Posted by gladhands

Amazon has announced that it's looking for a city to be a second headquarters. They insist that I will be for equal of the Seattle headquarters, bringing up to 50,000 jobs with it. Do your yinzer best to tell me why it should'tt be in Pittsburgh.

From the first 40 posts:

Originally Posted by gladhands

It should be noted that it was an already has a presence here. They have a local office that works on optimizing Alexa.

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

Efforts recruiting would likely be a big effect when it comes to such a large office. It is possible to find maybe 1000 people willing to relocate to an area without a major city nearby, but 50000 is a lot. I don't think Columbus or Research Triangle to get that.

There are many people that work in tech that are more than a little annoyed that all the job centers tend to be in expensive areas, SF, Silicon Valley, Seattle, LA, NYC, Northern VA, Boston, etc. They should really look at cities that have room to expand. There are cities like Detroit, or Cleveland that were much higher population in the past and so have room to house more people without skyrocketing cost of living. I imagine with a decent set of nearby universities and small office for Apple, Uber and Google, and admittedly a significant amount of vacant formerly residential lots, Pittsburgh might be able to make the case that they could be a good recruiting location, without the backlash of skyrocketing cost of living like SF, further expansion in Seattle, LA, or NYC.

Originally Posted by PITairport

This is the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this news:

Confidential Project - AE7







Seems like that development on the Civic Arena site would be perfect for Amazon.



PC Magazine seems to think Pittsburgh would be a good match:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/356056/6-...-us-headquarte

Originally Posted by JoeP

This site thinks Pittsburgh is one a few cities that makes the most sense...

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/six-ci...-headquarters/



Yes, it does.

Originally Posted by krogerDisco

They are talking 50,000 jobs. Wow. That would make up for the steel industry. Instantly make whatever city they choose a 2nd Silicon Valley. CMU had better step up, and PA, give whatever tax breaks they want.

Originally Posted by Losfrisco

Something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread or anywhere else. Amazon has a booming film and television business. Wouldn't that bump Pittsburgh up a notch over some of these other cities?

Originally Posted by Losfrisco

Pittsburgh is tied for the lead in the General U.S. forum poll for this.

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.

Originally Posted by JoeP

I believe so - CMU and Pitt are already significant in tech, provide talent and helped grow a presence of other big name tech companies.

This will be a challenge to get for all cities involved, but Pittsburgh does have great assets and amenities coupled with a very livable cost of living compared to coastal cities.

Originally Posted by krogerDisco

Who knows, Amazon might be the boost to the Mon Valley we've been looking for. At least maybe for housing.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Texas is not notably more business friendly regarding its state taxes than Washington. Last I checked Texas was #14 nationally, and Washington #17.

The people I know from Austin say it would be a terrible location for Amazon to locate. The local traffic has become a nightmare with the population boom, and the transit system is still too skeletal to put any dent in it. Basically Austin's infrastructure can't absorb that sort of job growth, since it's barely keeping up as it is.

Dallas/Fort Worth has been mentioned as a top contender.

[JoeP]

Again, we saw your posts the first time. Can we move on now?/Can't wait 'til some irrelevant comments are deleted.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Dallas/Fort Worth has been mentioned as a top contender.

Ugh..I hope not, Dallas is insufferable as it is.

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Again, we saw your posts the first time. Can we move on now?/Can't wait 'til some irrelevant comments are deleted.

Seconded. Its clear that some people here have nothing better to do than scan the posts and play pretend moderator, or turn the Pittsburgh forum into another city vs city forum, which is an albatross on any real discussion.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Dallas/Fort Worth has been mentioned as a top contender.

Dallas lacks top universities and has poor transit. I would be really, really surprised if Amazon chose that location.

[JoeP]

Dallas lacks top universities and has poor transit. I would be really, really surprised if Amazon chose that location.

Amazon clearly has a vision, based on what we know from the RFP and from what they have done in Seattle. It will be interesting to see where this lands.

[Strelok]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Amazon has announced that it's looking for a city to be a second headquarters. They insist that I will be for equal of the Seattle headquarters, bringing up to 50,000 jobs with it. Do your yinzer best to tell me why it should'tt be in Pittsburgh.

Creating that many amazon.com jobs to Pgh would enormously increase the COL here. No thanks.