Amazon HQ2 RFP

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odurandina said:
You're poorly informed. There's way more immigrants from all over the world/ and various ethnicities in Texas than there are in Massachusetts. Texas has a large Asian community as well. The young people in Texas are very Progressive.... but Texas has a very significant number of conservative immigrants that just happen to be a bit older.... People from all ethnic backgrounds are doing quite a lot to keep Texas a red state [for now].

I'm sure you'd feel quite welcome in Texas even after venturing out into the Hill Country, including the German communities of Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Boerne, Walburg, and Bulverde. Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg and New Braunfels is pretty fun, that people from all ethnicities enjoy.
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Odur, I'll admit that Texas is changing and is probably one of the more progressive "Red State". In time, perhaps this will no longer be an issue. I can think of other states that I find less tolerant (Missouri, for example, which I visited last year during a travel advisory after they passed Senate Bill 43).

Also, just because statewide, it is diverse, doesn't mean that diversity is distributed equally across the entire state (nor do I expect it to be). They are mostly concentrated in urban cores, but outside of that, it is a different story.

jass said:
Are you a minority?

If not, then don't try to speak about how comfortable one should or should not feel in an area based on your experience as a non-minority.
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This is very much appreciated. Thanks Jass.

Let's move this back on topic.
 
KentXie said:
Odur, I'll admit that Texas is changing and is probably one of the more progressive "Red State". In time, perhaps this will no longer be an issue. I can think of other states that I find less tolerant (Missouri, for example, which I visited last year during a travel advisory after they passed Senate Bill 43).

Also, just because statewide, it is diverse, doesn't mean that diversity is distributed equally across the entire state (nor do I expect it to be). They are mostly concentrated in urban cores, but outside of that, it is a different story.



This is very much appreciated. Thanks Jass.

Let's move this back on topic.
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Actually, I think it is very much ON topic, KentXie, you brought up something that may very well be a key criteria in Bezos' decision for his employees. We had been focusing on the numbers - - 50,000, 8 million square, whatever other data points, etc....... but there is the human/social element to the Amazon decision that is probably not as lost on the actual decision makers.

Let's face it, the HQ2 employees will not be blue collar factory line workers - - they will be highly educated, mobile workers who could easily skip to a different company if they feel their environment is not friendly. For that basic reason, your point is actually crucial.
 
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It bears repeating what another poster wrote previously, which is that Suffolk Downs fit all of the criteria that Amazon was asking for (space, near airport, single owner, on transit, etc). If Bezos and crew state that they'd rather be in the Seaport instead, I'm sure Mahty and Charlie will be able to accommodate them.
 
DominusNovus said:
You know, for a forum that got rid of its political section, people really do enjoy political sniping
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....Bezos cited the story of his adoptive father, who left Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan. “He landed in this country alone and unable to speak English,” Bezos said in a statement. “With a lot of grit and determination — and the help of some remarkable organizations in Delaware — my dad became an outstanding citizen, and he continues to give back to the country that he feels blessed him in so many ways. MacKenzie and I are honored to be able to help today’s Dreamers by funding these scholarships.”
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Bezos' statement on gifting $33 million on scholarships for Dreamers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hip-fund-for-dreamers/?utm_term=.b5e7702c96e5

Mr. Paxton (the Attorney General of Texas) on 'Dreamers'.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/29/texas-attorney-general-end-daca-dreamers-240121

Seattle ranked as 3rd most liberal city in the U.S. (Boston is #5 most liberal)
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...the-most-liberal-and-conservative-big-cities/
 
Amazing how some people are just going to keep pretending the politics don't matter here. When Amazon chooses Austin or Dallas I'll believe that.

Also if you turn everything into a crime, you're going to need more beds. Texas building prisons has everything to do with the government (and population) of Texas wanting a punitive justice system, and not much to do, as anyone who cares about facts would know, with criminality among immigrant populations. Which are lower.
 
Well yes..... Williamson County is especially egregious,

w/ people doing hard time for minor marijuana possession up until very recently [at least].

But, also to be fair, "criminality among immigrant populations" ....needs a lot more study
 
Can we please keep politics out of these development threads. The criminal justice system or undocumented immigrants are not relevant to the HQ2 discussion imho.
 
tysmith95 said:
Can we please keep politics out of these development threads. The criminal justice system or undocumented immigrants are not relevant to the HQ2 discussion imho.
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Oh, but those that think they know how a multi billion dollar conglomerate think about choosing where to build beg to differ with you. Over and over..

Red States suck. Blue States suck.
End of story.
 
Sorry to push it there. I will absolutely concede that I have no insight into how megacorporations make these kinds of decisions.

I think not talking about it because we don't know whether it matters is totally different than pretending there aren't meaningful political distinctions between these places. Texas and Washington are very different states. And further, I want to respect people's wishes because I like coming here and don't want to turn into a "that guy" commenter, so I'll just end by saying, I find "keep politics out of my X" and "both red and blue states are bad" to be the refrain of people who occupy positions of comfort. If your job is so good or you live in such a place that what happens between work and home don't matter, I'm happy for you. However, I don't think it's strange to consider that there are some people who'd be more okay moving their family to Dallas from Seattle than others. And it's fine if Amazon doesn't care, or they'd do it for tax reasons, or whatever. Again, I'm not trying to pretend to know. But we should just be clear that we don't want to talk about those things, for our own reasons--not that those are irrelevant factors.
 
I understand wanting to keep politics out of discussions on this board in general - and thankfully, that's usually the case here. But for this specific discussion about Amazon, you cannot leave politics aside, because the original Amazon RFQ / RFP was already "politicized". It asked for pro-transit, pro-diversity proposals. Sadly in America today, both of these requests are necessarily political.

Bidding cities' state legislatures' track records on these issues - and the legislature's overall makeup - will heavily impact the final choice. When you have a liberal city like Atlanta being constantly knee-capped by the conservative-AF Georgia Statehouse, you're at a distinct disadvantage here. Amazon isn't moving to a state without protections in place for LGBT employees, for example.
 
Relevancy:

How Bezos' personal political ideals fit or clash with the politics of certain states is absolutely going to play a part in this decision. Whether or not that outweighs other factors is unknown, but it is a factor and therefore relevant to the discussion.

The way you personally feel about immigration, gender equity, etc. will not play any part in the decision and therefore is not relevant to the discussion.
 
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