Amazon planning second headquarters with 50,000 jobs

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by spuzzum

The bid from Toronto is outstanding. A 100 page proposal with references from corporate, provincial and city officials. 8 potential building sites and a transit, airport, university, and economic analysis. I'd be interested to see the details from the Calgary bid.

I wonder what is the perspective thoughts from upper mgmt are on desired distance from HQ1 - if they even care or want a max 1-2 hour flight. YYC lacks the amount of non-stop flights into the US. Calgary also has a pretty crappy transit system. We unfortunately might be a little bush league but what a coup if they were able to land HQ2.

I'm wagering Denver, Atlanta or Toronto as front runners.

Why not Austin?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Question for the corporate folks on the west coast. With time change does that mean most prople are in at 6? That is 9 out east.

Always curious what hours are like out there.

I work for a financial tech firm based out of San Francisco that deals with big banks largely operating on Eastern Time. People roll in at 9-10 Pacific regularly.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Why not Austin?

Longer flight from Seattle; also not sure about immunity from natural disasters like we saw during last hurricane season. I don’t know if you want to have to deal with that on a yearly basis.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Longer flight from Seattle; also not sure about immunity from natural disasters like we saw during last hurricane season. I don’t know if you want to have to deal with that on a yearly basis.

Austin is closer to Seattle than either Atlanta or Toronto.

Austin is also far enough inland that it doesn't suffer the full brunt of a hurricane's impact if they get anything at all.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by getbak

Austin is closer to Seattle than either Atlanta or Toronto.

Austin is also far enough inland that it doesn't suffer the full brunt of a hurricane's impact if they get anything at all.

I meant relative to Calgary. Calgary short of another major of another flood, has a pretty inert environment.

I don't know if this would classify as not suffering much, but I think these photos were taken mostly around Austin from Hurricane Harvey. Nothing devastating, but still.

http://kxan.com/gallery/photos-kxan-...rvey-pictures/

[bluejays]

If Amazon wants to take on the financial industry, I'd imagine Toronto will be important to them to poach talent. I personally can't see Toronto winning given the incentives other US cities will offer, but the three biggest things going for Toronto are a) Talent of Population b) Canadian Dollar c) Financial Hub of Canada

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Bunk

I had some involvement in Calgary’s bid. It’s excellent. The stuff that was public facing is just pure PR, they chose to keep the details of the actual bid secret. Employees apparently will have some say, so getting the Calgary name at least into people’s brains is necessary.

as excellent as Calgary Next? will it knock peoples socks off?

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Longer flight from Seattle; also not sure about immunity from natural disasters like we saw during last hurricane season. I don’t know if you want to have to deal with that on a yearly basis.

What natural disasters has Austin ever experienced?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

What natural disasters has Austin ever experienced?

I should have phrased that as more of a question, but didn't Austin also feel the effect of some of the recent hurricanes around the Gulf Coast?

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by pgsieve

Two very unhelpful comments, but have been on my mind for quite some time:

1. I see this whole campaign as another opportunity for Nenshi to get an ego boost by sticking his nose at someone else. First the Flames, then the IOC, now Amazon.

2. Is anyone else surprised that the campaign focused around the comment "We will punch a bear for you". Even as someone who has hunted bears before, I find this a bit unnecessary.

nm

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I should have phrased that as more of a question, but didn't Austin also feel the effect of some of the recent hurricanes around the Gulf Coast?

I’m not aware of Austin ever experiencing any disasters. I guess they got some wind and rain from Harvey but it’s really far too inland to have any meaningful consequences. I did look at the photos in the link and it seems one cat was feeling a little gloomy during the rain. I see Austin as a front runner for this and I think the lack of storms etc. works in their favor as travel would very rarely be disrupted. It is seen as a favorable place to live by many and seems to be emerging as a secondary tech center. Tremendous access to talent too.

[jeffporfirio]

I'm also going to call Austin as the winner.
Lots of land to expand, sheltered from natural disasters, and access to talent from UT and A&M.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

I'm also going to call Austin as the winner.
Lots of land to expand, sheltered from natural disasters, and access to talent from UT and A&M.

And also Whole Foods, if that's an important factor to Amazon.

[Weitz]

Amazon says it received 238 bids for its second headquarters, HQ2

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-hq2-1.4367359

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Amazon says it received 238 bids for its second headquarters, HQ2

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-hq2-1.4367359

Well at least there isn't too much competition, lol.

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by Wormius

And also Whole Foods, if that's an important factor to Amazon.

Can also poach talent from Dell once in Austin.

[Wormius]

Are there that many cities in North America with metro areas of 1 million or more people? Or is it kind of analogous to Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey each claiming the same population?

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Are there that many cities in North America with metro areas of 1 million or more people? Or is it kind of analogous to Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey each claiming the same population?

There is no where near that. If you're looking at population of city proper within the city limits, there's under 15 cities with a million or more in the USA and Canada. Probably around 50 metro areas, depending on the definition, within the two countries. But yeah places like Mississauga and Brampton, for example, would jump on the GTA metro and then 'qualify' so you can have multiple cities in the same metro with the same 'population' submitting a proposal like you suggested.

EDIT: 57 metro areas with a population of a million or more in Canada and USA after a quick google search with another 10 or so in Mexico.

[getbak]

If Winnipeg and Halifax both submitted bids, there were obviously some cities that ignored the 1 million metro area requirement on the RFP. The entire province of Nova Scotia doesn't even cross the 1 million mark.

[Frequitude]

I really hope we aren't short listed and don't spend another dollar on this. There is zero percent chance of Calgary being selected. If they choose Canada, they're going with Toronto.