Amazon HQ2 should go to NYC

[Renew Deal]

Between homophobia, gun nuttery, and ridiculous attacks, HQ2 should go to a blue state that they can count on being good for business. In fact, it should go into the World Trade Center so Trump has to look at it if he gets out of prison.

[oberliner]

1. Not until they fix the subway

[Renew Deal]

2. The subway works great

Though there are lines sometimes in some hipster paradises. And compare that to most major cities that barely have any mass transit.

[oberliner]

3. No, it doesn't

Every New York City Subway Line Is Getting Worse. Here’s Why.

Subway delays have become a frustrating fact of life in New York City. Every day brings a new set of alerts about painful disruptions across the system. Trains creep along or stop in the tunnels. Crowds thicken on the platforms.

Is the main culprit behind delays the aging equipment in the 112-year-old system — signals and tracks taxed beyond their limits and patched together to eke out a few more creaky years, only to break down again and again?

That is certainly an enormous problem, but it is not the No. 1 reason.

The major cause of subway delays is a factor that basically did not exist 15 years ago: overcrowding. The subway is a victim of its own success and the city's resurgence. Large crowds slow down trains, which creates more crowding in a vicious circle that takes hours to unwind during every rush.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/28/nyregion/subway-delays-overcrowding.html

Adding Amazon HQ2 would make the overcrowding problem even worse.

[aikoaiko]

4. Or reward and grow blue cities within red states to make the whole state blue.

NYC has plenty of businesses.

[dawg]

7. Atlanta.

Georgia is close to a tipping point.

[aikoaiko]

12. Yep. ATL would be a good choice.

[snowybirdie]

5. Chicago fits the bill

Good universities, affordable housing good transit, great restaurants! And is a solidly blue area. Much more feasible than crowded NYC

[DFW]

6. Almost any place they choose will be expensive and crowded

If they want their talent to follow, they have to offer a place people want to live. I love NYC for an urban environment, especially for singles, but if I were looking to attract younger people with, or soon to have, families, I think I'd go with northern Virginia. Blue and getting bluer, lots to offer culturally, but lots of nature close by, and Dulles Airport that has lots of flights to almost anywhere. Good access to the Atlantic coast or the Blue Ridge mountains, schools, restaurants and great food stores, and a fairly decent metro system if you need to get into downtown DC for something, such as a fast train to New York or a day at the Smithsonian. You DO need a car in NoVa, whereas you don't in NYC, but just to be able to run up to Great Falls for a few hours is worth it.

[SidDithers]

8. No, it should go to Toronto...

where employees will have a $15 minimum wage, health care, Health & Safety and Human Rights protections.

And with the 1 $CAD = about $0.75 of the USD, Amazon will get an immediate discount on the $CAD expenses while their revenues remain in $USD.

And lastly, Bezos should put HQ2 in Canada to send Trump over the edge.

Sid

[TheBlackAdder]

9. Only if it's a HQ. NY doesn't need a vast tent city & trailer park of impoverished transient workers

[FakeNoose]

10. Is Bezos a Democrat? I don't know, but I wonder

The things I've heard and read about Amazon, it sounds like a Republican wetdream. Amazon is a 21st century sweat shop, but it does offer opportunities to people who are willing to work hard and learn their system. It seems they don't discriminate against minorities or immigrants in their hiring practices, to their credit.

I do know that Bezos bought a mansion just outside of Washington DC last year, which suggests leaning towards northern Virginia as the new company headquarters. But who knows - he's getting such great offers from everywhere. Amazon is really milking this for all it's worth.

[Henry Krinkle]

11. As long as it's not ANYWHERE near Boston...

I don't care where they go.

[FarCenter]

13. Fairfax County, VA or Austin, TX

Amazon Web Service has a second headquarters near Herndon, Bezos has a home in Maryland, and Bezos owns the Washington Post.

So Northern Virginia would be a strong candidate.

Whole Foods has it's headquarters in Austin, TX. So expanding there would be another logical choice.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

14. Stay out of Pittsburgh,

please.

[dembotoz]

15. how about a blue state that has a lower cost of living and a need for a bunch of jobs?

look at the cost of living in some major metros and who the hell can afford to live there?

[Tatiana]

16. They should bring it to Chicago.

Less congested than NYC. Decent housing options. Solid infrastructure and mass transit options. Culture, diversity, and world-class universities...

There is Rahmbo and City Hall, but even he's been a bit less rabid of late.

[DavidDvorkin]

17. Denver, to help make the Rocky Mountain West blue

Or at least purple.

Colorado's increasingly blue, and N. Mexico seems fairly solidly blue, but I think the influence would spread to neighboring states.