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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 17 2017, @02:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the Ares-and-Harmonia dept.

Cities Dream Of Landing Amazon's New HQ And They're Going To Great Lengths To Show It

Officials in Tucson, Ariz., uprooted a 21-foot-tall saguaro cactus and tried to have it delivered to Amazon's Seattle headquarters. Birmingham constructed giant Amazon boxes and placed them around the Alabama city. In Missouri, Kansas City's mayor bought a thousand items online from Amazon and posted reviews of each one.

All of these cities are clearly trying hard to get Amazon's attention. Why? Because they know that otherwise, they don't stand a chance against some big-name cities that are all trying to win the contest to land Amazon's second headquarters.

The retail giant announced a month ago that it has plans for a second home outside of Seattle, where it is currently headquartered. The project has been named HQ2, and the deadline for final bids is Thursday. Amazon has promised to invest $5 billion and said the facility will create as many as 50,000 jobs.

It has led to a mad scramble from cities across the nation and even in Canada. And various publications have analyzed cities' chances of landing this deal. Atlanta, Denver and Pittsburgh have made it to a few of those lists.

Many cities don't really figure as finalists on any of those lists. But that hasn't stopped them. In fact, just like Tucson or Birmingham, cities are pulling out all the stops to get noticed.

The Amazonk Prometheans may be coming to your city...

Previously: Amazon Spheres Add to Seattle's Quirky Architecture
Amazon Acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion
Amazon to Invest $5 Billion in Second HQ Outside of Seattle
Amazon Looks to New Food Technology for Home Delivery


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:02PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:02PM (#583542)

    Well, they sure as hell found out how bad Seattle is for all of the above.

    High taxes, over and above state taxes. Not much room to expand because of Seattle's geography (hills, sound, lakes, crowded area with silly building codes), agency state with strong union tradition, and $15/hour minimum wage in the city.

    Honestly, of all those factors the minimum wage is probably the least relevant for their HQ workforce. When your typical HQ has maybe 2% of staff anywhere near the minimum wage, it's a non-issue. Unions and taxes are likely the bigger factors, with available space or a friendly zoning board being near the top.

    But honestly, at the top I'd expect to see low cost of living and low prevailing wage levels. Why pay $150K/year for an engineer in Seattle when someone will live the same way of life, or damn near, for $90K in Smalltown, Nebraska?

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:07PM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:07PM (#583544)

    Because the boss has to go to HQ2 occasionally, and Nebraska weather can interfere with Amazon-like clockwork planning?

    The answer is obvious: US citizens for cheap, in very nice (yet cheap) area with very eager government: Puerto Rico!

    • (Score: 2) by AssCork on Tuesday October 17 2017, @06:40PM

      by AssCork (6255) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @06:40PM (#583591) Journal

      Puerto Rico

      And they could build pretty much anywhere they want to, as long as they clear the rubble first?

      --
      Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:08PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Tuesday October 17 2017, @11:08PM (#583713) Journal

      They were trying to build up in what, the 70's? Then they took away the tax breaks and all the businesses along with the smart Puerto Ricans, left.

      Too bad it does have that whole hurricane problem. Would be nice to work and live in the tropics.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @06:50PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @06:50PM (#583595)

    Idiot washington has no state taxes but you probably didn't hear about that in russia.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:31PM (#583615)

      HAHAHAHAHAH! ...

      oh, wait, you were serious?

      Washington has no state INCOME taxes. But it has state property taxes and state sales taxes, on top of which counties and cities can add higher ones. You will be shocked - SHOCKED to learn that Seattle does so, to an extent that exceeds most other locations in the state, and adds additional things like higher car tab fees (lots of news articles if you google for Seattle taxes, you will be surprised to learn).

      So ... yeah. Seattle taxes. Not low.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:22AM (#583822)

    or smalltown, WA (AKA Spokane)