Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

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Tucy
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tucy » 02 Nov 2017 10:05

tanzoak wrote:It's funny to me when I head California described as not "business-friendly." Somehow 3 of the 4 largest companies in the world managed to be born there, 2 of which in the last 20 years.


Source for this? (According to Forbes' list of the largest public companies in the world, California has #5 Wells Fargo and # 9 Apple. 2 out of the top 20, not 3 out of the top 4. And neither was born in the last 20 years.)

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tanzoak
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tanzoak » 02 Nov 2017 12:15

Tucy wrote:
tanzoak wrote:It's funny to me when I head California described as not "business-friendly." Somehow 3 of the 4 largest companies in the world managed to be born there, 2 of which in the last 20 years.


Source for this? (According to Forbes' list of the largest public companies in the world, California has #5 Wells Fargo and # 9 Apple. 2 out of the top 20, not 3 out of the top 4. And neither was born in the last 20 years.)


Largest by market cap, which is the most typical measure. I suppose the most accurate term would have been "3 of the 4 most valuable." Btw, that Forbes list is just a random weighting of a bunch of different metrics, not some actual measurement.

As of 10/24/17
Apple #1
Alphabet (Google) #2
Facebook #4
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/08/the-top ... ation.html

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Tucy
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tucy » 02 Nov 2017 12:36

tanzoak wrote:
Tucy wrote:
tanzoak wrote:It's funny to me when I head California described as not "business-friendly." Somehow 3 of the 4 largest companies in the world managed to be born there, 2 of which in the last 20 years.


Source for this? (According to Forbes' list of the largest public companies in the world, California has #5 Wells Fargo and # 9 Apple. 2 out of the top 20, not 3 out of the top 4. And neither was born in the last 20 years.)


Largest by market cap, which is the most typical measure. I suppose the most accurate term would have been "3 of the 4 most valuable." Btw, that Forbes list is just a random weighting of a bunch of different metrics, not some actual measurement.

As of 10/24/17
Apple #1
Alphabet (Google) #2
Facebook #4
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/08/the-top ... ation.html


Sales, profits, assets and market value seem like pretty relevant metrics to try to measure largest companies, and it is not "randomly weighted". But anyway, thank you for making the correction.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby joshua.dodd » 02 Nov 2017 14:36

tanzoak wrote:It's funny to me when I head California described as not "business-friendly." Somehow 3 of the 4 largest companies in the world managed to be born there, 2 of which in the last 20 years. Plus, developing the center of innovation that presumably drives future growth. Sounds pretty business-friendly to me.

The most business-unfriendly regulations they have are all the ones preventing development, which drives up their rent and labor costs. Not that that's a minor thing (it's been what's been causing the relos we've seen), but on net CA seems pretty conducive to business. At least high-end businesses like Amazon, that is. Low-end and heavily-industrial businesses likely have a different experience.


Many of those companies are now relocating to Texas because of the regulatory constraints. Just because they favor a few big businesses does not mean they are business friendly. Just look at Toyota relocating from California to Texas, the massive growth of tech industry in Texas that has seen several companies relocate from Silicon Valley to Texas. California has lost 10,000 businesses, most of which have relocated to Texas, manufacturing being a large part. California is one of the most expensive states to not only live but to conduct one’s business or corporation. Various expenses associated with owning a business in The Golden State can be as much as 35% higher when compared to other states.

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tanzoak
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tanzoak » 02 Nov 2017 21:59

joshua.dodd wrote:Many of those companies are now relocating to Texas because of the regulatory constraints. Just because they favor a few big businesses does not mean they are business friendly. Just look at Toyota relocating from California to Texas, the massive growth of tech industry in Texas that has seen several companies relocate from Silicon Valley to Texas. California has lost 10,000 businesses, most of which have relocated to Texas, manufacturing being a large part. California is one of the most expensive states to not only live but to conduct one’s business or corporation. Various expenses associated with owning a business in The Golden State can be as much as 35% higher when compared to other states.


They don't just favor a few big businesses. A large part of the reason Silicon Valley flourished while Route 128 (Boston) stagnated is because non-compete clauses are unenforceable in California, so employees could create their own businesses, whereas in Boston they largely stayed with their existing employers.

I readily grant that California has regulations that make it tough for manufacturing. But that's not what we're talking here. Toyota didn't leave because of those kinds of regulations. It left because the building restrictions and regulations made rents and labor costs (which have to be higher to compensate for the higher housing prices) too high. It's generally a very friendly environment for high-end white collar knowledge-intensive businesses, which is what an Amazon HQ is, though that building restriction thing is ultimately why there's no way such a cost-conscious company will ultimately end up there.

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Waldozer
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Waldozer » 03 Nov 2017 06:27

Even with some corporate relocations, I don’t know that claims of Texas’s economic strength and California’s economic weakness are supported by the data over the past couple of years.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines ... 202452.php

http://www.politifact.com/texas/article ... mp-democr/

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/ ... a-economy/

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby I45Tex » 03 Nov 2017 13:09

There aren't a lot of places where a nineteen-year-old can get a hearing in corporate America.
Talented tinkerers are much less scarce here than the supply of white-collars willing to go to bat for them.

At the turn of the century, the people who wanted the space to test the newest tools -- tools whose prices were just coming down into reach thanks to the most recently maturing fields of industry developed in the Victorian generation -- gravitated to the Midwest, to Dayton, Detroit, Chicago, and their satellite cities.

Industries tended to stay put and freeze their regions in a certain way of doing things. Californian policymakers are trying to escape that fate in some small measure, and jettison the maturing industries out to places like Arizona and Texas so that the West Coast can remain the hotspot for the global youth to go and do the highest-value-added work. We are basically importing our innovation from California instead of coming up with the new ideas in our own ecosystem. For businesses relocating here, the feature set is substantially matured and their management's job is essentially to ride it out as far as possible; a sign that those businesses no longer ride the leading edge of experimental added value. But leave it to Texans to think that it's a sign of our attractiveness.

The biggest beneficiaries of the unregulated Web days are now well on the path of diminishing marginal returns to complexity. They're having to add highly complicated patches to their products, and the skyrocketing growth is harder to come by. If California fails to find the next big industry and keep it there, who knows? Just as California rode the coattails of the Midwest, we, if we're lucky and willing to change our ways, might someday become a youth magnet. Somebody's got to be known for fiddling with the technological possibilities tech brought into reach before its plateau. But we Texans think we're doing so great we shouldn't have to change very much. Therefore I would say that that longer pendulum of industry -- compared to which Amazon is a pipsqueak -- is going to go somewhere else.

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tanzoak
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tanzoak » 03 Nov 2017 15:13

^Good post

I'd say a major way CA got to that innovative frontier has been investment in higher education. If you look at the Times Higher Ed World Uni Rankings (a ranking that is much more research and citation based, rather than prestige a la US News), CA has all of these public unis in the top 100 worldwide: #10 UC-Berkeley, #12 UCLA, #41 UCSD, #48 UC-Santa Barbara, #51 UC-Davis, #98 UC-Irvine. Texas has #50 UT. There's also private unis, of course (tho not so much a state policy kind of thing), where CA has #2 CalTech and #3 Stanford, which certainly contributes to being a center of innovation.

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Tivo_Kenevil
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tivo_Kenevil » 03 Nov 2017 17:17

It's definitely the schools that attract young talent.

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tanzoak
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tanzoak » 14 Nov 2017 13:35

The Wall Street Journal names Dallas its #1 pick.

http://www.wsj.com/graphics/amazon-headquarters/

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 14 Nov 2017 13:45

tanzoak wrote:The Wall Street Journal names Dallas its #1 pick.

http://www.wsj.com/graphics/amazon-headquarters/


I bet that's a cool article but unfortunately I'm not a WSJ subscriber. Subscribers: you don't have to post the full article here, but it'd be a lot cooler if you did. :)

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby cowboyeagle05 » 14 Nov 2017 13:58

Just click the link through Facebook. If a friend isn't sharing the link just make a private post and click your own link and you will be in the paywall for that article. WSJ and Facebook have a deal.
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 14 Nov 2017 14:08

Ah gotcha. For the folks who don't want to do all that, here's their overall rankings:

Image

DPatel304
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby DPatel304 » 14 Nov 2017 14:12

Thanks for sharing! Wonder what the 'fiscal health' is referring to. So, even without tax incentives being considered, Dallas ranks at #1, but definitely some stiff competition there. Their list looks pretty accurate in my eyes. In particular, it's good to see an article that's actually more realistic about Austin's chances. I still disagree about how they ranked Austin's culture so high. These days, the only difference in culture between Dallas and Austin is that people in Austin just constantly rag on Dallas and sometimes Houston.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 14 Nov 2017 14:31

DPatel304 wrote:Thanks for sharing! Wonder what the 'fiscal health' is referring to. So, even without tax incentives being considered, Dallas ranks at #1, but definitely some stiff competition there. Their list looks pretty accurate in my eyes. In particular, it's good to see an article that's actually more realistic about Austin's chances. I still disagree about how they ranked Austin's culture so high. These days, the only difference in culture between Dallas and Austin is that people in Austin just constantly rag on Dallas and sometimes Houston.


From the article:


Methodology:

COLLEGE POPULATION: Percentage of population that is college educated.

TECH LABOR FORCE: Total labor force in a tech occupation. Includes tech jobs not in the tech industry.

FISCAL HEALTH: Cities are scored on metrics including ratio of general fund balance to expenditures; ratio of pension contributions to total government-wide revenues; change in unemployment rate in 2015; and change in property values in 2015.

COST OF LIVING: Estimated cost of living for mid-management households by weighting different consumer expenditure categories.

CULTURAL FIT: Sites that reflect "Cultural Community Fit" and "Community/Quality of Life" as outlined in the Amazon request-for-proposals. Strong universities, diverse population, recreational opportunities, and an overall high quality of life. Excludes government incentive packages.

STATE TAX RANK: Rank of tax rates (​including corporate, income and property-tax ranks). One is lowest tax state, 50 is highest tax state.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tanzoak » 14 Nov 2017 14:48

eburress wrote:
tanzoak wrote:The Wall Street Journal names Dallas its #1 pick.

http://www.wsj.com/graphics/amazon-headquarters/


I bet that's a cool article but unfortunately I'm not a WSJ subscriber. Subscribers: you don't have to post the full article here, but it'd be a lot cooler if you did. :)


Oops, sorry! Here's a twitter link that will get you through: https://mobile.twitter.com/asharma/stat ... 3312804864

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Tivo_Kenevil
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tivo_Kenevil » 14 Nov 2017 14:50

Dallas needs more recreation and outdoor activities. Trinity River Park may be a catalyst for the city in improving in those aspects. But we're still decades away from that happening.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby DPatel304 » 14 Nov 2017 15:25

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:Dallas needs more recreation and outdoor activities. Trinity River Park may be a catalyst for the city in improving in those aspects. But we're still decades away from that happening.


It irks me that we have the Trinity River and Fair Park being completely underutilized and it doesn't seem like that will change anytime soon.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby ForumFollowsFunction » 14 Nov 2017 15:29

DPatel304 wrote:Thanks for sharing! Wonder what the 'fiscal health' is referring to.


Where to even begin...

Victory or Bust: Dallas Makes $4 Billion Bet in Back-Pay Battle With Cops, Firefighters
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-rejects-a-300-million-settlement-faces-make-or-break-back-pay-case-with-cops-firefighters-9953971

The city council voted literally today to settle and avoid this potential financial cataclysm:

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas-city-hall/2017/11/14/61m-dallas-police-fire-back-pay-lawsuit-settlement-wins-unanimous-city-council-approval

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby DPatel304 » 14 Nov 2017 15:41

Thanks for enlightening me on what Fiscal Health was referring to. Now that I know, I'd say their rating for Dallas is completely justified..haha.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby I45Tex » 14 Nov 2017 17:13

As for the part beyond fiscal health, though...

DPatel304 wrote:...I still disagree about how they ranked Austin's culture so high. These days, the only difference in culture between Dallas and Austin is that people in Austin just constantly rag on Dallas and sometimes Houston.


It's not very true, what you're saying. For instance, just this week, the East Austin Studio Tour is featuring 241 open houses of artists' workspaces, plus almost seventy participating art galleries (and 155 temporary exhibitions). Dallas puts its mouth where its money is, and its money isn't in an atmosphere of exploratory playfulness. But nevermind that -- look at the bigger picture of cultural narrative. Even if DFW did foster that same depth of community, it wouldn't be _about_ the same thing. It wouldn't be what we find fun, nor the way we want to help folks see the world. Artistic learning, introspection, and exchange? These are error-filled and awkward. Dallas is aghast. We were stung by coastal critiques of our rich Texan tackiness throughout the 20th Century. Most of our aspirational civic pride and excitement are now in being stylishly presentable, poised and certain, unobjectionably successful. That lust for success is a form of red tape to the explorer.



* If Amazon wants an atmosphere of willingness to ride the experimental and creative, they should never expect to simply change Houston's or Dallas' leading values. They should go join the trajectory (although they're fairly soulless hucksters themselves, and I'm not saying they will) of somewhere that shows it already cares about that kind of life path.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby DPatel304 » 14 Nov 2017 18:01

I45Tex wrote:It's not very true, what you're saying. For instance, just this week, the East Austin Studio Tour is featuring 241 open houses of artists' workspaces, plus almost seventy participating art galleries (and 155 temporary exhibitions). Dallas puts its mouth where its money is, and its money isn't in an atmosphere of exploratory playfulness. But nevermind that -- look at the bigger picture of cultural narrative. Even if DFW did foster that same depth of community, it wouldn't be _about_ the same thing. It wouldn't be what we find fun, nor the way we want to help folks see the world. Artistic learning, introspection, and exchange? These are error-filled and awkward. Dallas is aghast. We were stung by coastal critiques of our rich Texan tackiness throughout the 20th Century. Most of our aspirational civic pride and excitement are now in being stylishly presentable, poised and certain, unobjectionably successful. That lust for success is a form of red tape to the explorer.


That's actually pretty cool, and I wasn't even aware of it. I spent the last 1.5 years living there, and didn't really pick up on any major cultural differences between the two cities, but, I did miss events like the ones you've pointed out. I'm just a bit bitter about all the Dallas hate that goes on in the city, so I'm definitely biased against the city.

The article gave Austin full marks for culture, and put it up there with Boston and New York. Perhaps I'm wrong and it does have more culture than Dallas, but I have a hard time believing it's up there with those other two cities.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby willyk » 14 Nov 2017 20:55

eburress wrote:Ah gotcha. For the folks who don't want to do all that, here's their overall rankings:

Image


The case for Dallas only gets stronger from there.

What are Amazon’s main businesses?

1. Distribution: needs low cost, central location. Dallas wins.
2. Data center operations: needs central location with low cost power. Dallas wins.

Fundamentally, these businesses compete by lowering costs. Over the life of HQ2, the cost advantages of Dallas will save Amazon billions upon billions of dollars. And that means they will win more and more business.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby DPatel304 » 14 Nov 2017 23:40

Not to mention Texas will be offering tax incentives, which is a category the WSJ excluded from their comparisons.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 15 Nov 2017 05:52

DPatel304 wrote:Not to mention Texas will be offering tax incentives, which is a category the WSJ excluded from their comparisons.


Tax incentives, as well as a really really big check. The State paid Toyota $10K per relocated employee, so if that's any guide, one can imagine how much they're likely to pay Amazon.

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tamtagon
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tamtagon » 15 Nov 2017 09:05

I would love to see the construction and operation of Amazon's Dallas HQ lead the expansion of solar electricity generation in Texas....

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby muncien » 15 Nov 2017 11:14

While watching a helicopter scouting out the Las Colinas Urban Center last evening, it reminded me that last time I saw similar activity, we were presented with the massive Verizon/Hidden Ridge proposal a short time later. Of course, I couldn't help but think our visitors last night may be the next big proposal to come our way.
But then, watching NBC5 news last night I see that it was their helicopter, gathering footage for what else? Their Amazon HQ2 story, of course... haha
They also had a crew on site at the Music Factory for the same...
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/DFW-T ... 02103.html
"He doesn't know how to use the three seashells..."

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Tucy
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tucy » 15 Nov 2017 13:29

willyk wrote:
eburress wrote:Ah gotcha. For the folks who don't want to do all that, here's their overall rankings:

Image


The case for Dallas only gets stronger from there.

What are Amazon’s main businesses?

1. Distribution: needs low cost, central location. Dallas wins.
2. Data center operations: needs central location with low cost power. Dallas wins.

Fundamentally, these businesses compete by lowering costs. Over the life of HQ2, the cost advantages of Dallas will save Amazon billions upon billions of dollars. And that means they will win more and more business.


Sadly, central location does NOT seem to be a factor in the HQ2 search. It's not as if they will be shipping packages from this facility.
Last edited by Tucy on 15 Nov 2017 17:25, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Cbdallas » 15 Nov 2017 15:14

I think Perot and Victory have the deal if it comes to Dallas. They already have a connection and history together and they have both immediate build out ready for the first phases and room more for the back end phases all connected to DART station(s future) with direct service to DFW.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby R1070 » 15 Nov 2017 20:07

Victory/Harwood/West End would be an amazing location for it.

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Jbarn
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Jbarn » 16 Nov 2017 06:58

Thank god they are making their decision before the bathroom bill gets passed in the next legislative session. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even be in the running for this project.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tivo_Kenevil » 16 Nov 2017 08:56

Jbarn wrote:Thank god they are making their decision before the bathroom bill gets passed in the next legislative session. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even be in the running for this project.

Business community has been very vocal against it. I'm not sure it passes.

Furthermore, I highly doubt that Amazon isn't aware.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tamtagon » 16 Nov 2017 09:31

Wasn't Amazon one of the companies sending representatives to Austin speaking against the bathroom bill. Sanctimonious Christians will continue to be the ruin of many a good civilization!

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 16 Nov 2017 12:59

tamtagon wrote:Wasn't Amazon one of the companies sending representatives to Austin speaking against the bathroom bill. Sanctimonious Christians will continue to be the ruin of many a good civilization!


You're an admin, right? Shouldn't you be policing the forum for controversial and/or incendiary remarks, rather than making them yourself? I can't imagine initiating a heated, wildly irrelevant debate about the positive and negative effects of Christianity on civilization is super constructive.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Brettoj » 16 Nov 2017 13:05

eburress wrote:
tamtagon wrote:Wasn't Amazon one of the companies sending representatives to Austin speaking against the bathroom bill. Sanctimonious Christians will continue to be the ruin of many a good civilization!


You're an admin, right? Shouldn't you be policing the forum for controversial and/or incendiary remarks, rather than making them yourself? I can't imagine initiating a heated, wildly irrelevant debate about the positive and negative effects of Christianity on civilization is super constructive.


+1

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Waldozer
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Waldozer » 16 Nov 2017 13:06

Is it really that controversial to call some Christians out for having a holier than thou attitude towards everybody else? Especially the ones who support this bathroom bill.

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eburress
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 16 Nov 2017 13:11

Waldozer wrote:Is it really that controversial to call some Christians out for having a holier than thou attitude towards everybody else? Especially the ones who support this bathroom bill.


This is precisely my point. hahaha

That could be fine and/or relevant, but talk of ruining civilizations?

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Tivo_Kenevil
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tivo_Kenevil » 16 Nov 2017 13:43

Let's all be mindful of others and their views.


With that said, I hope politics doesn't affect our bid. Shame if that negates our bid

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eburress
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 16 Nov 2017 16:39

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:With that said, I hope politics doesn't affect our bid. Shame if that negates our bid


I completely agree.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Waldozer » 16 Nov 2017 17:07

eburress wrote:
Waldozer wrote:Is it really that controversial to call some Christians out for having a holier than thou attitude towards everybody else? Especially the ones who support this bathroom bill.


This is precisely my point. hahaha

That could be fine and/or relevant, but talk of ruining civilizations?


That part is simply a matter of historical fact. From the Roman Empire to the Spanish Empire, conquerors cloaked in Christianity have decimated or enslaved entire populations all for the glory of God. Christians today should be well aware of this history.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecu ... man_Empire

http://www.christianitytoday.com/histor ... erors.html

http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/10 ... s-bay.html

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buildingswithlegs
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby buildingswithlegs » 16 Nov 2017 19:14

Is it me or is all this wildly inappropriate for a forum about urban development?

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Tivo_Kenevil
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tivo_Kenevil » 16 Nov 2017 20:27

buildingswithlegs wrote:Is it me or is all this wildly inappropriate for a forum about urban development?


Yeah, I agree. Can we just drop this?

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R1070
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby R1070 » 16 Nov 2017 20:46

This is Dallas... We should be talking about Christian Dior instead.

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eburress
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby eburress » 16 Nov 2017 23:56

Waldozer wrote:That part is simply a matter of historical fact.


Historical fact that's relevant to Amazon's HQ2?

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tamtagon » 17 Nov 2017 08:16

eburress wrote:
tamtagon wrote:Wasn't Amazon one of the companies sending representatives to Austin speaking against the bathroom bill. Sanctimonious Christians will continue to be the ruin of many a good civilization!


You're an admin, right? Shouldn't you be policing the forum for controversial and/or incendiary remarks, rather than making them yourself? I can't imagine initiating a heated, wildly irrelevant debate about the positive and negative effects of Christianity on civilization is super constructive.


It's Satire and a relevant companion to the topic -- well, I guess I don't know if it's still satire if it must be explained. Provocative totally for sure. As an admin, I'll make sure it doesn't get out of control. Controversial remarks certainly belong; incendiary is relative to the established demeanor of the participant. 'Throwing shade' at religious leaders and/or politicians gone wild has been discouraged on the forum in the past, but the outlet has been been allowed.

The bathroom bill is germane to discussion of where HQ2 will land, maybe it's a tertiary issue, maybe secondary, maybe primary....

An opinion piece from the Corsicana Daily Sun:

http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/opinio ... 9d8e9.html

State Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana
...But there is also bad news that could be facing our state in this fierce competition. Specifically, among the key requirements on Amazon's detailed wish list for its second headquarters is to avoid states with discrimination policies. This includes Amazon's opposition to open discrimination like the recently attempted bathroom bill in Texas, which fortunately did not pass in either this year's regular or special sessions of the Legislature.

Amazon is not alone in condemnation of the purposeful discrimination hidden behind the controversial Texas bathroom bill. Others who strongly opposed it include our state's top corporate leaders, the Texas Association of Business, college and professional sports organizations, Texas' local tourism industry, and even Gov. Greg Abbott's former campaign treasurer.

...So, will Amazon seriously consider any of the Texas cities competing for Amazon's second headquarters? Probably not, unless Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick take the bathroom bill off the table for future legislative sessions.


I agree that purposeful discrimination should not be manifest in legislation.

I was thinking specifically of Europe during the Dark Ages as a good civilization ruined by sanctimonious Christians.... but I should broaden the scope. It's not just Christian sanctimony that'll destroy more than it protects. Tehran used to be a leading world city, until ruined by sanctimonious Muslims.... I don't have examples from Buddhist or Hindi leaders, but I'm sure they exist.

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Waldozer
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Waldozer » 17 Nov 2017 11:33

Sanctimonious Muslims exist but are probably not as relevant in a discussion of what could tank Dallas’s chances of attracting Amazon as sanctimonious Christians like Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-texa ... SKBN16D2CY

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tamtagon
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby tamtagon » 17 Nov 2017 12:01

I wonder when the finalists will be announced. Wouldn't think Amazon will go straight from the open call to a winner.

I still think this will come to Dallas. The fiscal health of the city is under repair, and the culture fit is better than the lists/ranks show; North Texas shows up as a "conservative" place, but Dallas (like Austin) has been a among the most "liberal" cities in the South Central US.... and like anywhere, what is measurable to put on a list doesn't always represent the way it is to live in a place. Boston is liberal, Seattle is liberal, but these political labels don't register as strongly in line at the grocery store or whatever. The tone of life in East Dallas, Uptown, Oak Lawn, Oak Cliff, West Dallas and The Cedars would surprise most people unfamiliar with the variations of the metropolitan area.

This is true for any city, and hopefully will become apparent about Dallas as Amazon decision makers sort through.

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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby cowboyeagle05 » 17 Nov 2017 14:49

Amazon has told the press they wouldn't make any announcements until next year so I would just be patient. The first thing you should do though is compare notes on Rawlings schedule and whoever is in charge of these kinds of economic incentive negotiations at City Hall. If they keep having some secret meetings with some mysterious person or company then they may just be in talks. I imagine its also possible they will pick two to three cities and see what final closed-door options they have with the municipal and state governments.
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”

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Cord1936
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Cord1936 » 17 Nov 2017 17:36

The very recent comments below are quite encouraging.

Coming from Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of The Perot Companies as well as Hillwood, who is already a trusted Amazon business partner having built 14,000,000+ sf of commercial space for them over just the last few years ... it all but assures Perot has his finger on Amazon's HQ2 pulse.

Perot's points mimic what I posted in bullet form on 10-24-17 ... I happen to think Ross Perot Jr. is correct in his assessment of Dallas' chances of landing this big fish ... Victory Park Urban Village has Amazon's name all over it!

Image
Ross Perot Jr. thinks D-FW is a good choice for Amazon. (David Woo)

Developer Ross Perot Jr. likes North Texas' chances to land huge Amazon HQ2
By Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News, 11-15-17
...
This week, The Wall Street Journal said that D-FW was its favorite spot for the Amazon deal.
Perot's Hillwood real estate company does a lot of business with Amazon.

"Our Amazon relationship is very strong," he said. "They are a great client — an amazing company. We spent time with them in Seattle."

Maybe that gives Perot some insight to what Amazon's top dogs are thinking.

"I do think they want an urban solution," Perot said. "They want an uptown solution. They are going to want mass transit," he said. "We have wonderful sites that can take care of Amazon."

Perot's Hillwood is pitching its Victory Park property on the northwest edge of downtown Dallas as a potential Amazon headquarters site.

He said the real estate needs for the new Amazon begin small.

"It starts at 500,000 square feet and ramps up to 6 or 7 million square feet," Perot said. "The first years are very doable at a half a million square feet of office."

Perot said soaring costs in West Coast markets are sending major companies, including Amazon, scouting for new locations.

North Texas' huge airport and geographic location would be important for Amazon as it expands around the globe, Perot said.

"What better place to grow around the world than [with] DFW Airport," he said. "A huge airport like DFW to connect to the world with affordability in the middle of the United States

"I think we have a great shot at Amazon."
...

Article: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2017/11/15/perot-likes-north-texas-chances-land-huge-amazon-hq2

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Tucy
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Re: Could Dallas land Amazon HQ '2'?

Postby Tucy » 18 Nov 2017 07:09

The more interesting take from that article is from Hillwood's president, who thinks Amazon will end up splitting this between 2 or 3 cities.