Posted on 10/13/2017 6:29:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
On Wednesday, Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn penned a joint letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, pitching the state of Texas as the landing site for the online retail giant’s planned second headquarters, HQ2. “Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes our economy, our skilled workforce, and our quality of life,” they wrote, noting that three of the nation’s top-five fastest growing cities are in Texas: Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. All three of those cities and others across the state, including Dallas, El Paso, and Frisco, put themselves in the running for HQ2 when Amazon called for proposals last month. But on the same day Cruz and Cornyn wrote their letter to Bezos, two San Antonio leaders, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and Mayor Ron Nirenberg, wrote a separate letter to Bezos informing him that the Alamo city no longer wishes to be considered a potential landing spot for HQ2.
“We’ve long been impressed by Amazon and its bold view of the future,” they wrote. “Given this, it’s hard to imagine that a forward-thinking company like Amazon hasn’t already selected its preferred location. And, if that’s the case, then this public process is, intentionally or not, creating a bidding war between amongst states and cities. Sure, we have a competitive toolkit of incentives, but blindly giving away the farm isn’t our style.”
While San Antonio probably didn’t have a realistic shot to land HQ2 anyway—the detailed wish list Amazon released last month included a major airport and lots of available office space downtown, two things San Antonio doesn’t really have—it’s still surprising to see the city take a stand against the nationwide fervor to score HQ2, which is expected to generate 50,000 new jobs....
(Excerpt) Read more at texasmonthly.com ...
Over half of San Antonio’s workforce comes from Mexico. Many speak only Spanish. All of the students in the SAISD receive free lunches. Does this sound like a place for Amazon?
I seriously doubt that Amazon would have created 50,000 six figure jobs in San Antonio. Because of the cost of living, the salaries would be lower, and that 50,000 number probably includes 40,000 non-executive level employees.
“Those 50,000 jobs pay six figures each. I’d be hot if my city fathers turned them down if I was still in the labor force. “
An invasion of 50,000 left-wing radicals into your community. What’s not to like.
Those jobs mostly aren’t going to come out of the local workforce. They would be imports. And they’d bring their cultural baggage with them. This Amazon facility would be like opening another giant LEFTIST university campus, with all the Gramscian cancer that comes along with such. Just look at the effects that UT has on Austin. This Amazon facility will do the same to whatever locality it sets down in.
I’m fine with Amazon going elsewhere.
Texas does not need this anti-American company.
When will the decision be made?
So making a six-figure income instantly makes you a left-wing radical?
Here in Dallas/Ft Worth we have absorbed many corporate headquarters and Texas still reliably votes Republican.
Next year I believe.
Didn’t happen to me the few times I earned that kind of money.
That sounds like the cue for the city council in Austin to offer a few bones to Amazon to come here. They usually offer a few million in tax breaks to such companies, further burdening residential property tax owners to pick up the tab via the annual prop. tax increase Travis county loves to impose.
You really think that 50,000 families are going to move from a place like Seattle to Dallas, Atlanta, Des Moines or Raleigh? Really?
Austin is already electric blue, if it MUST be a TX city.
What company, even a growing successful company, needs a second he office stuffed with over 50,000 Super high paid clerks, whatever etc ? There’s something we’re not being told about this strange “bidding war”.
50,000 high paying jobs in San Antonio equals 50,000 all moving to the northwest of the city. that’s all the aquifer doesn’t need. dry summers already put the city in a bind as it has for years. judge and mayor made the right decision here imo. SA is my old college home and i can’t begin to explain the massive growth the city has experienced in the last 40 years.
Why not? Millions of Mexicans have moved here without the incentive of $100k jobs. People move all the time. Here's a census map of migration to Travis Co. during 2011-15.
And that's without the Amazon bait. Do you think dangling $50 billion won't draw people from all over? People mostly poached from other Amazon-like companies or hired off of wacky leftist uni campuses.
Dittoes on your comment ... and I live just North of San Antonio.
While the 50,000 jobs *MAY* materialize (I doubt it will be anything close to that), way less than 10% of the actual job number will be in the six-figure range. There is a good amount of semi-skilled labor around SA but the list of demands that Amazon presented was financially onerous for the local taxpayer. SA does not need new business that starts up in the red from the city’s point of view.
Yes, People move to where the jobs are. That is the entire point.
Every place has its’ advantages and disadvantages. Amazon will move where it is most advantages to their company. They will decide based on what the area is offering. Usually massive tax and financing advantages. Read: GIVEAWAYS!
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