The DFW area does check off a lot of things on their list including land, universities, huge tech workforce, etc. Not sure about things like walkability, and a lot of the region isn't within 45 minutes of DFW Airport except at midnight, though. lol. There's about 5000+ acres of Brinkmann Ranch in Frisco they can have.
I'm still rooting for the Detroit metro. Surplus housing, a great airport hub, a strong local university (University of Michigan) for recruiting and there's some damn good land to build on. The public transit there is quite bad but that's true of cities in Texas as well. Of course, it is Detroit so it has its fair share of problems but the Michigan government strikes as me one of those Republican governments that will totally throw billions of dollars at a company like Amazon even if it doesn't make financial sense.
Looks like we are officially off the list (while Austin and Dallas are still in). https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-hq2-list-is-officially-down-to-these-20-cities/
There is a huge PR problem with any city in Texas. Consider: -Both the Governor and Lt. Governor have promised to try to pass a bathroom bill in 2019 -Bathroom Bill passed senate easily in 2017 -The two guys who prevented a vote in the house in 2017 have retired Amazon is going to face a huge PR problem if they commit to a project and then the bathroom bill comes up and is passed. The ledge is also going to make it harder for cities to pass expensive bonds that can help address needs like transit.
Absolutely no surprise that they did not consider Houston. My money is still on Denver with Raleigh in second, though Columbus, Ohio sounds like an interesting location.
I'm pretty sure he expressed no concern about it. His post intimated that it was something Amazon might be concerned about.
No, it's just the issue that is common to both Dallas and Austin. I think Austin's major problem is transportation. The governor pressured TxDot to cut billions of highway work in our area because there were tolls involved despite a huge collection of members of the business community there to protest. The ledge is also going to make it harder to raise taxes which puts Austin's desired big mass transit 2020 bond in question. The existing transit in the city is below average and the 2016 bond that was passed doesn't come close to funding all of the improvements that have already been identified in 11 different major corridors. Austin also has a much much smaller workforce and many less qualified tech workers compared to the bigger metros. It may be a "tech city" in terms of percentage of workers but the huge metros still have more qualified people because of their raw size. Austin also has stiff political opposition to tax breaks from a minority of city council members but that could go to the majority if the Mayor is voted out of office for a former council member who is hardcore NIMBY. She already has stooges on the council and she has another one running in west Austin. Austin is really at a crossroads and the decisions made this year with housing development code revamps as well as the question of expanding the convention center and that relies on who gets re-elected. If the city agrees to raise the hotel tax to expand the convention center, downtown hotels will agree to an additional tax on top of that which would go toward cleaning up downtown and helping with homelessness. It will also make a big difference to our business community. Really, this is the wrong year for Austin to be competing for this project. Its a shame because it really needs it.
I'm glad Houston isn't on there. Those tech companies can go someplace else. Im sure Amazon will entice an increase in cost of living around Dallas. Thanks but no thanks brahs.
