Could Atlanta be in the running for second Amazon headquarters? (Boston: residency, soccer)

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by arjay57

For all we know there could be war in the Amazon boardroom, with the Virginia/DC faction duking it out with the Atlanta contingent, with the Boston and Austin fans sniping at both of them from the side.

Pay-per-view anyone?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by arjay57

For all we know there could be war in the Amazon boardroom, with the Virginia/DC faction duking it out with the Atlanta contingent, with the Boston and Austin fans sniping at both of them from the side.

It would be interesting to know the hometowns and educational backgrounds of the decisionmakers in order to determine any inherent biases.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by arjay57

For all we know there could be war in the Amazon boardroom, with the Virginia/DC faction duking it out with the Atlanta contingent, with the Boston and Austin fans sniping at both of them from the side.

I'm kinda thinking West Side Story style.

[bu2]

We shouldn't be giving away the ship for Amazon, but I bet they are. New Jersey has $7 BILLION in incentives! Is the rest of the community subsidizing the new employer? Amazon will not go to their first choice unless they offer an arm and a leg. I suspect the incentives necessary to get Amazon are going to be too high a price to pay for whoever "wins." And Georgia's politicians will likely pay whatever price is necessary.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

It would be interesting to know the hometowns and educational backgrounds of the decisionmakers in order to determine any inherent biases.

Here are the members of the Amazon Board of Directors. You may can glean something from their short bios here. The board has an unusual number of female members (good!). Looks to have a large west coast / Pacific NW representation and NE representation.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by bu2

We shouldn't be giving away the ship for Amazon, but I bet they are. New Jersey has $7 BILLION in incentives! Is the rest of the community subsidizing the new employer? Amazon will not go to their first choice unless they offer an arm and a leg. I suspect the incentives necessary to get Amazon are going to be too high a price to pay for whoever "wins." And Georgia's politicians will likely pay whatever price is necessary.

I may be in the minority, but I don't think incentives are going to mean as much for Amazon. Certainly they will be a factor, but for a company of this caliber, what's most important is access to talent.

[Atlanta Scientist]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i agree with this, however, i don't think the issues being discussed (re-legalizing discrimination, a private company choosing to cut ties with a lobbying organization) fall under "the morals and principles of the country". i am fine if amazon passes us up because if they move here, that means those of us who have called atlanta home for a very long time are going to be displaced by high-income people who don't have any particular affinity for, or attachment to this place.

i don't want atlanta to be another manhattan.

it doesn't matter if you're on the right or the left, you can see the problems— if you're a conservative, you hate the elitism, the nanny-state laws banning large sodas, salt, and a large number of personal freedoms being removed.

if you're a liberal, you hate the fact that the entire island has essentially become a playground for the super-rich, and has been whitewashed— for example chinatown, little italy, and now harlem are losing their identity and becoming disneyland versions of themselves.

and all in the name of more jobs, progress, whatever. but really think about it, if you take all the people out of atlanta and replace them with different people, is it still atlanta anymore? we're a city of six million. we need to start thinking about how to help the communities of people who already live here make their community into better versions of themselves, not replace all the people with rich people and claim it's "gotten better" when no one's income has really changed... you're just shuffling people around, that's not progress.

Even if Amazon doesn't come, I think Atlanta will still be heading in that direction. People need to learn to adapt. Change is coming whether we're ready or not.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Here are the members of the Amazon Board of Directors. You may can glean something from their short bios here. The board has an unusual number of female members (good!). Looks to have a large west coast / Pacific NW representation and NE representation.

Your post didn't include the link, so I added one.

Board of Directors

Jeffrey P. Bezos, 52
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, Inc., The Business Council

Daniel P. Huttenlocher, 58
Independent Director
Amazon.com, Inc.

Wendell P. Weeks, 57
Independent Director
Amazon.com, Inc.

Judith A. McGrath, 63
Independent Director
New York City Ballet, Inc., The American National Red Cross, Amazon.com, Inc.

Jamie S. Gorelick, 65
Independent Director
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, VeriSign, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Urban Institute

Jonathan J. Rubinstein, 59
Independent Director
Amazon.com, Inc., QUALCOMM, Inc.

Thomas O. Ryder, 71
Lead Independent Director
Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Sheraton Madison Hotel, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., RPX Corp., Quad/Graphics, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc.

Alain Monié, 65
Independent Director
Amazon.com, Inc., Ingram Micro, Inc.

Patricia Q. Stonesifer, 59
Independent Director
Amazon.com, Inc., Miraval Holding LLC

John Seely Brown, 76
Independent Director
Amazon.com, Inc., Cbrite, Inc., Brown University, Palo Alto Research Center, Inc., Acuitus, Inc.

AMZN Company Profile & Executives - Amazon.com Inc. - Wall Street Journal

Time to do a little digging. Check you later.

[Iconographer]

OK, here is the 411.

Jeffrey P. Bezos
Born: Albuquerque, NM
Raised: Houston, TX, Miami, FL
Alma Mater: Princeton

Daniel P. Huttenlocher
Born & Raised: Boston, MA
Alma Mater(s): Univ of Michigan, MIT (employed by Cornell Univ)

Wendell P. Weeks
Born: Reno, NV
Alma Mater: Lehigh Univ

Judith A. McGrath
Born: Scranton, PA
Alma Mater: Cedar Crest College

Jamie S. Gorelick
Born: New York, NY
Alma Mater: Harvard University

Jonathan J. Rubinstein
New York, NY
Alma mater(s): Cornell University, Colorado State University

Thomas O. Ryder
Born: Varnville, SC
Raised: Alexandria, LA
Alma Mater: Louisiana State University

Alain Monié
Born and Raised: Mexico City, Mexico
Alma Maters: Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Metiers, Institut Supérieur des Affaires in Jouy en Josas

Patricia Q. Stonesifer
Born and Raised: Indianapolis, IN (the plot thickens!)
Alma Mater: Indiana Univ

John Seely Brown
Born and Raised: Utica, NY
Alma mater: Brown University, University of Michigan

Not much Southerness going on up in there. Shout-out to Thomas O. "Bubba" Ryder.

[arjay57]

They don't look all that diverse either.