Take Seattle where a thriving technology industry has fueled the housing market over the past eight years, with Amazon alone adding roughly 40,000 new jobs in that time. The median home price soared 138% since the post-recession trough in 2013, and the city enjoyed significant population growth as highly skilled, well-paid workers ditched Silicon Valley and San Francisco in favor of Seattle’s relative affordability.
Amazon canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from Ocasio-Cortez, other Democrat lawmakers, Left-Wing Democrat progressive activists and Left-Wing Democrat union leaders, who believed a tech giant did not deserve nearly $3 billion in government incentives. Opposition took hold among the city’s Democratic politicians who organized a hostile City Council hearing. Protesters filled the seats, unfurled banners and chanted against the company. Not a single council member spoke up in defense of the deal or the company.
Gianna Cerbone, who owns a restaurant several blocks from what would have been the main Amazon campus, saw the benefits of Amazon. She said the demise of the deal was a major blow to people who need jobs and local businesses that would have benefited.
“I’m really upset because I don’t think they realized what they did,” she said of the elected officials who had opposed the plan. “And they’re proud of it? They think they did something lovely? They wanted the political gain, they should have done it in a different way. They get put into office for us, not to work for themselves.”
Their goofus decision caused the abrupt turnabout by Amazon after a much-publicized search for a second headquarters on the East Coast… which had ended when it announced it would open two new sites — one in Queens, with more than 25,000 jobs, and another in Virginia. Head goofy Ocasio-Cortz led the charge.
Amazon’s retreat was a blow to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, damaging their effort to further diversify the city’s economy by making it an inviting location for the technology industry. Here’s hoping Amazon moves to Bucks County, PA. We would welcome the 138% increase in the value of our homes over the next four years… C’mon Amazon… We will work with you to build the types of relationships required to go forward. Bring your jobs and more prosperity to Southeastern PA… It’s a great, great place to live… There’s loads and loads of prime lane available right in Richboro where Murry’s Richboro Mart building is on the market and the great Council Rock, Neshaminy and Central Bucks School Districts have available classrooms and loads of teachers.
When Amazon announced plans for a second headquarters in September 2017, it promised 50,000 high-paying jobs and billions in investment for a community that would be coequal to its home in Seattle. The fast growing successful company, whose ambitions outgrew the number of people it could hire in the Pacific Northwest, set off a nationwide frenzy, with more than 200 cities making bids.
Amazon decided last fall that no one city could provide the number of tech workers it needed and split the headquarters in two.
The company has long been willing to take short-term pain in exchange for maintaining long-term leverage. Richboro, PA sounds like it fills the bill for one of Amazon’s great additions. It’s close to: Philadelphia, Northeast Philadelphia and Trenton airports, three airports that are fully jet-capable right now with all-weather runways that easily connect flights all over the world. Housing prices are far lower than Queens. More room for future expansion and local government’s that are far more flexible than the goofies in Queens.
Lower Buck’s County is also right next door to Northeast Philly which has a large and excellent labor pool of trained workers. Colleges and Universities abound with University of Penn and Princeton very close by.
Views: 13
