Amazon HQ2 RFP

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akmags said:
I'm shocked by how many people think that the seaport is this isolated community that you can only access via car. Legit - take a walk over the channel. You'd be surprised how close it is to downtown, south station, and much more. Just because there isn't a T stop on every other corner doesn't mean that there isn't access to public transportation.
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The entire point of living in the city is instant access without car transportation.
Seaport is walkable but its too far of a walk in the winter times.

MBTA access is key----the Red Line/ Orange Lines flowing through Cambridge/Somerville is a perfect of example of why everybody wants to live there.

Along with Commercial Rents in Cambridge surpassing Boston.
 
TheRifleman said:
MBTA access is key----the Red Line/ Orange Lines flowing through Cambridge/Somerville is a perfect of example of why everybody wants to live there.
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lived in both cambridge and somerville for essentially my whole life. the difference between "T-accessiblity" in the two places is night and day. yeah, there's the new assembly stop and davis, but somerville -- until the GLX thing happens (i'll believe it when i see it) -- is ridiculously disconnected.
 
TheRifleman said:
The entire point of living in the city is instant access without car transportation.
Seaport is walkable but its too far of a walk in the winter times.

MBTA access is key----the Red Line/ Orange Lines flowing through Cambridge/Somerville is a perfect of example of why everybody wants to live there.

Along with Commercial Rents in Cambridge surpassing Boston.
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Since I spent almost 8 years working on Summer Street in Fort Point, and the last 5 working in Kendall. I have a pretty good handle on the walking from mass transit angle that you seem to not understand one iota.

South Station to the un-built Seaport Square Parcels are on Summer street is about 0.6 miles per google maps (though it uses the bus station side on atlantic to start, so closer to 0.5 miles.) It's 0.5 miles from Kendall Station to my office in Tech Square. Same walk in the area you seem to think is awesome and super transit adjacent.

Add to the Seaport area the Silver Line you continue to dismiss which has stops on both ends of the seaport square development. The area is as T accessible from Subways (or more so than many parts of what is now considered Kendall.) Kendall has much better bus access however, and a much more extensive bike lane setup. Silver Line is not perfect, but it is in addition to the same distance from the Red Line as many parts of Kendall. (Silver Line will only get better with new buses entering the fleet.)

That said, the most compelling Amazon Seaport connection I've heard is the South Station/USPS/Gillette parking lots location, which is by no means too far a walk in the winter. One I did everyday for 8 years across the Summer Street bridge.

Seaport Square doesn't offer the required SF to support Amazon's campus. But, the above location would in spades.

That being said, your dismissal of the Seaport constantly is just based on ignorance, and despite all signs that point to the opposite, you keep making the same baseless arguments. Is there a problem with you learning things, and then applying what is learned to your opinions and conclusions?
 
I agree my area I live in Dorchester would be considered close to transit and Im a half mile walk to the Savin hill stop. Its a short easy walk and about as good as you can ask for with regards to transit access close to home. This is the same distance South Station is to Seaport Square but the Fort Point channel for some reason makes it seem more distant and disconnected. Its not and I have made that walk many times and its going to be even easier when the steps from Summer St are built making it a straight line walk from South Station to the new Seaport Square parcels.

Right now you have to hook over to Congress St but once that new connection is made it will be even more direct. People make half mile walks to and from transit every day with no problem, this is no different I just think the channel and the still extensive parking lots make it seems further than it is. Once the seaport is more developed I think no longer making the walk past undeveloped parking lots will make it seem shorter with things to look at the entire length along street level vs now where a good portion of the walk can be past nothing. I think the parking lots add a lot to making it seem further than it is.
 
Does anyone know what the deal is with Boston and AWS - Amazon's cloud service? There's some big presence inside the Jordan Marsh (sic) building, right? Or is that just office space. A company called the Markley Group owns that building. http://www.markleygroup.com/about-markley

Would there be any strategic benefit for Amazon to have its HQ2 here as a result?
 
There is no AWS datacenters in Boston. Virginia, Ohio, Oregon and North California are the regions available in the United States (with multiple data centers in each region).

There are AWS development teams in Cambridge @101 Main Street on several floors.
 
TheRifleman said:
U think GE came up here for a change of pace. More like relocate to Boston or DIE off.

What does Boston have over most cities? -Ambition, Energy, Innovation-
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Well, you got 1 out of 3 there, Rifleman.

"Ambition"? "Energy"? Most every other US city has more ambition and energy. If Boston had more ambition and energy than other US cities it never would have look the gift horse in the mouth regarding the 2024 Olympics.

Do you think Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, Chicago, etc would have won the competition and then sneered and said "go away"? Your statement about Boston having more ambition and energy is laughable. LA scooped up the Olympic bid like Patriots safety Steve Gregory picking up the Jets Buttfumble. They are still laughing their heads off at their good fortune. As a result, they ended up with the 2028 Olympics. We still can't build the NSRL.

If anything, Boston has been held back by a distinct LACK of ambition.

What Boston DOES have, however, is the smarts and innovation.

At least you batted .333.
 
The Olympics were more Trojan horse than gift horse; let other cities have them.
 
Thank you. I'm not sure what they have at One Summer, then.

Markley’s One Summer street location is New England’s primary telecommunications facility and only “Carrier Hotel”. Home to over 90 different carriers and network providers, One Summer offers clients unlimited bandwidth, high density connectivity, unsurpassed infrastructure, abundant and reliable power, and true network diversity

920,000 square feet
High-security facility
Carrier neutral
90+ network providers
24x7 on-site staff and security
30MW of backup power generation on-site
2N UPS, cooling and generator backup
Customized colocation solutions
High-density solutions for high performance computing

meddlepal said:
There is no AWS datacenters in Boston. Virginia, Ohio, Oregon and North California are the regions available in the United States (with multiple data centers in each region).

There are AWS development teams in Cambridge @101 Main Street on several floors.
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Boston lost the Olympics 20 years ago when Menino and Kraft couldn't work out a stadium deal leaving Boston proper without a large open air privately financed stadium.

Likewise HQ2 will be won or lost because of planning and investments made in the last few decades and not something that may or may not be cobbled together in the next decade.
 
cadetcarl said:
The Olympics were more Trojan horse than gift horse; let other cities have them.
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Thank you for the great example!

There's that Durgin Park mentality that separates Boston from the cities with "ambition".

Boston succeeds despite that attitude because of it's universities. If it had even an average ambition, it would be growing at Austin or Las Vegas annual rates.

In Boston, "ambition" is looked down upon as too declasse.
 
Hush ....lest you expose the Brahman cabal that runs Boston.

Walsh said:
“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the Boston, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”
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odurandina said:
Hush ....lest you expose the Brahman cabal that runs Boston.
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I just found the adjectives "ambition" and "energy" hilarious when used in context with Boston.

"Intellect" and "Innovation"? Yes.

But Boston is not an ambitious mindset.
 
Only 1 City in America can't replace 3 Garages without a war breaking out.... and more than a decade in (on all 3) -- and not one has broken ground
 
Aimless ambition is merely avarice. Since unbridled ambition resulted in the near nuclear destruction of large swaths of Boston in the 1950s and 1960s I think Boston's ambition has been tempered with the reality that a city needs to live, grow and change at a sustainable pace.
 
tangent said:
Aimless ambition is merely avarice. Since unbridled ambition resulted in the near nuclear destruction of large swaths of Boston in the 1950s and 1960s I think Boston's ambition has been tempered with the reality that a city needs to live, grow and change at a sustainable pace.
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Were THAT true, Boston would be investing in the infrastructure to support all the landscrapers in the Seaport and North Point.

I don't see much movement on the NSRL and the only thing spurring talk about the Blue-Red Cnnection is if it aids the Amazon HQ2 bid. Otherwise, it's just dust on the shelves.

Inertia reins on the big picture, long-term infrastructure to make the city truly world class. To your point, how does the ignoring of core infrastructure needs mean "change at a sustainable pace"?
 
shmessy said:
Were THAT true, Boston would be investing in the infrastructure to support all the landscrapers in the Seaport and North Point.

I don't see much movement on the NSRL and the only thing spurring talk about the Blue-Red Cnnection is if it aids the Amazon HQ2 bid. Otherwise, it's just dust on the shelves.

Inertia reins on the big picture, long-term infrastructure to make the city truly world class. To your point, how does the ignoring of core infrastructure needs mean "change at a sustainable pace"?
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Boston wouldn't be investing in Northpoint/Cambridge anyways, but, the GLX will move Lechmere closer/across the street (along with it being a brand new station), and there is also Community College on the other side which should see a big increase in capacity with the new Orange Line fleet.

As for the Seaport, we could/should do a lot more, but, its not really up to the City of Boston to expand transit (or do the NSRL) - thats squarely on the State, and the City of Boston can't do much other than study and propose things (like was done in the 2030 document).
 
odurandina said:
Only 1 City in America can't replace 3 Garages without a war breaking out.... and more than a decade in (on all 3) -- and not one has broken ground
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+1000--

All 3 above garages absolutely demoralize the entire area in the core of the city with easy transit access.

This is our govt agencies logic instead
#1 let's build up all the open space parking lots on prime real estate (seaport area) with coprorate or developer tax incentives
#2 then block all waterfront views and lack of efficient transit from the public to enjoy this prime real estate area (seaport)
#3 leave all the above parking garages in the core of the city were there is actually transit access for the public.

This is the type of logic we have been dealing with for the last 3 decades.
Biggest issue Boston faces now
#1 traffic
#2 rotting & outdated infrastructure
#3 political and unions pensions +healthcare
All bluechip and tech companies are focused on easy transit access for their employees for commuting options
 
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