Austin can't handle it, Houston doesn't need it, and whoever gets it will have a massive civic financial boondoggle on their hands. Best of luck to all involved.
This. It is going to be a community desperate that makes an enormous concession. Chicago is struggling and going all out to get Amazon. All the politicians are feeling the heat.
We give them out like hotcakes. It is funny reading the ridiculous income tax laws we pass that are designed for a specific company.
I wish I could find the study I read a couple of years ago on the long-term economic implications for some of these sweetheart deals given out by states/counties/cities. I don't remember it being very pretty.
I do, too. While I think it would be good for the city as a whole, Jebus help the area close to wherever they build it. If you think home prices and availability in The Woodlands was ridiculous during the time that Exxon was moving people here, just wait for this monstrosity that will be hiring 5 times the people.
Austin is hot, but Houston still draws a plurality of all the state's engineering, legal and MBA talent because the energy companies are a self-sustaining banking sector between all the consolidation, private equity for midstream projects, commodities trading/clearing and ETRM/ERP systems implementation and overhauls. I think most multi-billion multi-nationals eventually have the same types in the boardroom; and Amazon basically announced this in order to coax a bidding war for tax incentives. Irrespective of their lobbying efforts, most companies after a certain size just aren't operating with political or cultural biases in mind. Separately once all the sympathy dies down Houston's risks and inefficiencies will become a much bigger part of our reputation, I just don't think Amazon's rejection will be based on any sense of progressiveness. For some reason it feels like Charlotte, Phoenix, Northern Virginia or New Jersey could be the winner for this.
Screw Chicago and Toronto. I want it to be a city in Texas. If it won't be based in Texas, then I would rather it be in an "underdog city" like Charlotte or Pittsburgh than an overrated city like Chicago.
Don't see Amazon moving to a high population city. I even think Austin and Denver are too big for them. It should be a decent mid sized city.
LOL, you guys have not even thought that Amazon hq2 might come to Mexico or Canada? Canada obviously having an advantage with a huge highly educated workforce and a low dollar! Calgary is close to Seattle and has a new airport with large unused capacity, also they have a lot of large office buildings empty due to oil prices. Lastly Calgary would bend over backwards to make it happen.
Houston should just say no to Amazon. I thought about it and decided it won't be Mexico or Canada. It will be somewhere in the good ole USA. The government of Calgary can bend over all it wants to but Amazon won't go there.
You are probably right, wishful thinking on my part. What makes it even more unlikely is Mr Donald Ducks issue with NAFTA.
Calgary is in the middle of nowhere and is too close to Seattle. Amazon is not going to build two headquarters near each other. Toronto is a possibility, but I don't think Amazon goes with Toronto when Boston would be just as good or better in the Northeast.
COR-PORATE WEL-FARE, CLAP-CLAP-CLAPCLAPCLAP, CORP-ORATE WEL-FARE, CLAP-CLAP-CLAPCLAPCLAP, CORP-ORATE WEL-FARE...
Ehh, you're acting like tech companies think and operate akin to oil and gas or automotive companies. Tech companies care about quality of life for their employees and care about culture. It's more than just tax incentives. Denver, Austin, Atlanta. Maybe even Raleigh-Durham or Fort Worth. Centralized location matters too. Houston is going to have a harder time attracting anything decent moving forward. It's just not an attractive city. Lived here my whole life and 99/10/290 expansion has made it even worse.
Silly. Tech companies care about quality of life and culture, as long as their bottom line is succeeding for their shareholders. It's ALWAYS about money. Now, everything else being equal, then sure, they would choose some place which has more 'culture' than Houston. But they certainly do NOT choose that over the bottom line. Not if they want to stay in business.
