Comments

1
The whole redonkulous "debate" about HQ2 has become weirdly personal, so it's critical to keep in mind what's most important to Amazon: tax evasion. In this race to the bottom, Chicago is likely out for that reason, even though it best meets their other criteria.

My bet is on Atlanta if anyone's taking wagers, since attempting to take public transit and recycling are felonies in Texas, which rules out Austin and Dallas.

Seattle is still one of the best places in the world to live, and whatever Amazon does or doesn't do with HQ2 isn't going to change that.
2
Too keep Seattle one of the better places in this country to live, Amazon should get the fuck out. Disruption is a parasitic mode looking to overturn a cartel and replace it with another with strong-arm tactics. I don't want these leaches around anymore as they contribute nothing besides pushing rents and burger prices up. Bonus in their toxic individualist corporate culture inspires these community "thought leaders" to be a bunch of self-serving civic jackals.

3
Why doesn't Amazon just dispense with pretense and set up HQ2 in the Caiman Islands or Panama or where ever Bezos is currently off-shoring his tens of billions of dollars in corporate cash?
4
Toronto is the best bet for HQ2. They don't have our housing cost problem because they allow housing growth on par with their employment growth, they have great transit, and the extra tax cost is more than balanced out by the savings on health insurance. Plus, crossing the border is a great way to stick their thumb in 45's eye.
5
It takes a heap of imagination to imagine that Seattle lacks political imagination.
6
@Original Andrew: Atlanta would also have the added bonus of potentially helping the bolster their abysmal diversity stats... Not that that's something they probably actually care about.
7
Seattle is simply oversaturated with people and there really isn't that much developable land left to build on. Eventually it will become an anthill society. This is why Amazon is shifting it's business elsewhere.
8
Seattle is definitely a 2D city in a 3D world, not even close to anthill complexity.
9
I mean, too urban for rural-minded people but basically a big suburb to actual city folks (with its satellite suburb east of Lake WA)
10
@4:

Toronto was only just recently surpassed by Vancouver as the most expensive Canadian city in which to live.
11
Tuscon! Tuscon! Tuscon! (He said from San Francisco.)
12
I was a manager for Amazon and needed to hire. I spent about 1/3 of my time recruiting for my team. Living in Seattle was a show stopper for lots of folks for many reasons. Some it was the weather, some it was the political climate, and some it was the cost (even though the job payed in the 6 figure range). Amazon is having a tough time hiring. It is a common point of conflict internally as teams jump on candidates that have passed the hiring process. I had an easier time finding qualified candidates that wanted to join our team in South Africa.

Jeff wants to rule the world, he can't do it without an army. I don't think taxes are a prime driver. Amazon is not concerned with profit, they want to grow and grow fast. Internally there were no goals about making money, the goals were about growth.
13
@4 buying property in Toronto is crazy expensive with most house going over a couple million. Sure you can live in one of the suburbs but traffic is horrible. Rent isn’t that bad because it’s control across the province (the provincial government sets how much rent can be raised each year, although i believe this only applies to buildings built after the 90s). Also ontartio has outlawed short term rentals, allowing renting for only 90 days or more.

But H2 isn’t going anywhere in Canada (as much as the Canadian press wants you to believe). This is about low taxes and Canada can’t come close to the usa for that.
14
I lived in New York in the '70s, It was dirty, dangerous and broke -- but affordable and gloriously creative!

Now New York has been gentrified to the point that only Russian billionaires can afford the apartments.

Amazon leaves Seattle , rental and housing markets crash -- Good! The artists, writers and musicians may then come flooding back in.

Enjoy!
15
When Amazon recruits say they don't want to live in Seattle because of the "political climate" that's a euphemism for "I'm racist shit bag."
16
@15. Or maybe they just don't want to be around people who call everybody who disagrees with them racist.

You know, the "political climate"in Seattle.
17
Not everyone wants to live in the NW corner, a six hour flight from their family. Imo that's a big part of it.
18
Re politics: or maybe it's our bad tax system this ain't no Sweden
19
Wouldn't it be a good thing for Seattle and environs to be rid of racist shitbags?
22
Just how white does Seattle have to be for your liking? How about Caspar Wyoming?
23
@12 Thank you for the insider scoop. I'll take anything that circumvents and deflates all this self-centered civic navel gazing ("we" must have done something wrong or not done something right), hand wringing (not doubling in size here=they're leaving us!) and extreme extrapolation (next up, housing crash and real estatepocalypse which is horrible/wonderful). Get a grip people and get over yourselves!
24
As a Life Long Seattlite (as long as jeff bezos has been alive) I have TRIED to appreciate the changes that have occurred, given that many were driven by employees of amazon or their spouses/partners.

Most of the obvious changes Seem to be the ubiquitous high-rise condominiums in s.l.u. (thanks so much weber thompsom) and the proliferation of food delivery services.

Being a native born resident, I'll be Not At All disappointed when Seattle is no longer the "Hip" city for millennials (and amazon employees) to relocate.

If some other city receives the beneficence of the current crop of amazon employees then, rest assured, Our Gain (their absence) will, Eventually, become some OTHER city's problem (i.e. Loss).
25
@14 Please note: Amazon isn't going anywhere, unfirtunately. It is simply not going to double its footprint here. In other words, it's only going to fuck us half as hard.
26
seattle may have Ira problems but it's still a lot better than just about anywhere else. I'll agree the dew is off the rose and it was way better when I moved here from Houston in 1994. It's overcrowded, too expensive, becoming less pristine and it's lost its cool, off the grid vibe. The secret is out and the damage is done. I don't think there is any turning back. Amazon is one of the contributors of this loss of innocence but it's not completely to blame. Abd they'd be smart to have another headquarters elsewhere. Personally I'd go Kansas City or even Iowa or Detroit. Cheap labor, cheap housing, cheap land for downtown building. You could reinvent their economy singlehandedly. We have enough people, thanks. Let's move some people back to the rust belt.
27
seattle may have its problems but it's still a lot better than just about anywhere else. I'll agree the dew is off the rose and it was way better when I moved here from Houston in 1994. It's overcrowded, too expensive, becoming less pristine and it's lost its cool, off the grid vibe. The secret is out and the damage is done. I don't think there is any turning back. Amazon is one of the contributors of this loss of innocence but it's not completely to blame. And they'd be smart to have another headquarters elsewhere. Personally I'd go Kansas City or even Iowa or Detroit. Cheap labor, cheap housing, cheap land for downtown building. You could reinvent their economy singlehandedly. We have enough people, thanks. Let's move some people back to the rust belt.
28
@15: So your argument is that racist people don't want to live in one of the least diverse, whitest cities in America?

Ok then.
29
@25: I'm not so sure that Amazon isn't going anywhere. For the time being they will be here but with a large second HQ they just might close up in Seattle or more likely reduce the workforce. this new HQ is likely a political hedge for them.
30
@21:

Northern Idaho, probably...

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