Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/13/its-official-amazon-to-open.html
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Yay! Amazon can start by bulldozing Crystal City’s ugly empty office buildings down to the ground.
Pity goes to DC commuters because it’s going to be ugly.
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“National Landing”? I guess that’s supposed to evoke some sort of former port colonized and repurposed by hipsters… Because Crystal City is nothing like that. No former warehouses, no quaint, rusted port cranes, because it was never a port.
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A “new Operations Center of Excellence” sounds like the monikers the Chinese Communist Party gave their projects, like “The Great Leap Forward” and “Operation Faithful Patriot.” Wait a minute, I think I got that wrong…
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The other 18 cities dodged a bullet in terms of housing prices and transit overload and corporate tax breaks. Plus their finalist status identifies them as desirable tech hubs for smaller companies that won’t land on them like a boulder.
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All through the deliberations about where Amazon was going to go, I secretly wished that they’d pick someplace other than Northern Virginia. Thanks to the Federal government, our area is basically recession-proof. There are any number of other places that could really benefit from the development and revitalization. As for Northern Virginia, the traffic is about to get much worse.
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A sigh of relief was heard through out San Diego, adios Bezos.
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“From (Arlington) county, Amazon will get a portion of hotel taxes expected to be $23 million over the next 15 years. Amazon generates 300,000 hotel stays a year in Seattle, Hoskins said. The state offered additional incentives.” -Bloomberg
Oh man! The Americana Hotel is set!
It’s the one thing I hope that survives the Amazon redevelopment plan. It’s a little piece a kitch in an otherwise sad excuse of brutalist architecture.
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Are we taking bets on how many days until Nashville’s first workplace shooting? That’s a pot set on a slow simmer, I think.
Toronto was the true standout, offering no real tax giveaways beyond those that were already there but still making the final 20 out of 300+ bids (many of them shamefully selling out their own tax bases). Amazon won’t put their HQ2 there, but I’m sure other companies are taking a look at why Toronto was worth looking at despite its unwillingness to offer tax breaks.
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Long Island City resident here - not a single person I’ve met wants Amazon to come here. Also not sure how this place can be “gentrified” any further, it’s already like living in an Apple Store since the condos were built. In any case, it’s amazing how shitty this all is and how the people have no say at all. Everyone I know will be relocated within 2 years anyway.
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In the case of Crystal City, Va. there is no displacement. Of any sort. The Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) emptied CC long ago. So empty that the fire department is using some of the buildings for training purposes. Most buildings sit unoccupied as greedy land lords merrily await someone like Amazon to waltz in and pay the high rent.
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What fucking obvious choices. Sounds like a move to drum up tax credits in the place they already wanted to be by whipping up competition where there really was none.
Amazon, raking in billions in taxpayer incentives while its workers are on food stamps and the profits make their CEO the richest man in history.
The swagger, the chutzpah of it all. Amazon, die in a fire, I’ll dance on your grave and I will never, ever buy anything from you or work for you.
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The two new headquarters are each less than ten miles from one of Jeff Bezos’ five homes.
This was a con, not a contest. Bezos knew all along where the new headquarters would go, but he scammed New York into giving him massive incentives to put them there.
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Obviously if there’s more than one it’s a misnomer to call them “headquarters.” They are two regional offices that are only being labeled “headquarters” so Amazon can bilk both cities for sweet tax breaks at the same time.
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Hey - bet those other Cities feel great about spending all that cash for what was a forgone conclusion of DC.
Though they dodged a bullet on the hit to their tax base with all the tax breaks and infrastructure Amazon wanted.
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“In exchange for the promise of 25,000 new jobs, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) agreed to provide tax credits worth about $1.5 billion, Amazon revealed. The company could also take advantage of as much as $500 million]in grant money to build its new offices.”
Yes - if there’s someone who needs tax give backs and grants - it’s the guy who’s worth about $150 billion.
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