KCRag Forum

Don't think will get chosen but I hope that this moves our politicians away from, "We have excellent schools" as our biggest sales promotion.

Bloomberg article suggests anonymous Amazon execs think Boston is the city to beat. HQ2 RFP may just be forcing Boston to offer up some big incentives. Is this really an open competition?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... adquarters

KCMOJoe89 wrote:Bloomberg article suggests anonymous Amazon execs think Boston is the city to beat. HQ2 RFP may just be forcing Boston to offer up some big incentives. Is this really an open competition?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... adquarters

They came out and denied it, but the leaks don't look good.

KCMOJoe89 wrote:Bloomberg article suggests anonymous Amazon execs think Boston is the city to beat. HQ2 RFP may just be forcing Boston to offer up some big incentives. Is this really an open competition?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... adquarters

I never thought it was an open competition, i thought it was a publicity stunt the entire time.

START THE PROCESS OVER!

KC grabbed Richard Florida and Joel Kotkin to be on KC's HQ2 proposal team. Thoughts? Waste of money?
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... -city.html

earthling wrote:KC grabbed Richard Florida and Joel Kotkin to be on KC's HQ2 proposal team. Thoughts? Waste of money?
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... -city.html

Waste of money. Richard Florida isn't a magic bullet. We need transit, bike lanes, walkabilty, attract the creative class, thanks Richard, we get it. What is he going to do? And Joel Kotkin? Isn't he like, the exact opposite of Richard Florida? Someone needs to tell him and the KCADC that the only way we get this thing is if propose an urban location that is cheaper than the alternatives in other cities. If Amazon is okay with suburbs, they could go literally anywhere else, and it would probably be better than a suburban location here.

Who is paying for these people to "help us"?

I watched an NYU Stern Business School prof. Talk about how Walmart is king of the rural shopper while Amazon wants to grow there yet is currently the king of the urban wealthy. Maybe floating Kansas City as a modern city, that also haS deep roots in the country? By coming to KC or any other medium sized Midwest city would help to bridge the distrust people may have with big coastal tech companies and allow them better access to the midwestern and rural markets they are interested in.

ldai_phs wrote: By coming to KC or any other medium sized Midwest city would help to bridge the distrust people may have with big coastal tech companies and allow them better access to the midwestern and rural markets they are interested in.

I like this idea.

Sell Kansas City as being an urban center with "small town values"

earthling wrote:KC grabbed Richard Florida and Joel Kotkin to be on KC's HQ2 proposal team. Thoughts? Waste of money?
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... -city.html

ldai_phs wrote:Who is paying for these people to "help us"?

Yes, what are they thinking. Any city money spent on consultants needs to go to a city vote first. &&& /s

On the upside, the output/deliverables generated by them can be applied to other future proposals when attracting outside companies if even branch offices. If anything, Amazon may take a closer look at KC's proposal just to see what those two have to say. Maybe a good move after all.

My midtown Amazon campus idea. Light Blue = Lots for Amazon. Green = new Parks. Red= 31st street light rail (grade separated through this section with 2 stops shown.

Continuing the trend of forcing minority and low income residents out to support a large corporate headquarters will go down in flames

flyingember wrote:Continuing the trend of forcing minority and low income residents out to support a large corporate headquarters will go down in flames

This need to help build up neighborhoods . Not bulldoze them

.

Basically the city can use this to "Show-Me Institute" the voting population that being "Citizens for Responsible Government" is costing the city high value jobs and that "Smart KC" development is anything but.

My 22nd & Paseo Master plan: Amazon + New Royals Stadium + Streetcar line.

This is an idea location for many reasons:

1. downtown adjacent (without FAA building height restrictions north loop location may run into with downtown airport proximity)
2. could be reached with a short streetcar extension (and gets the 18th/Vine jazz district gets streetcar access too)
3)Many of the blocks are completely vacant and city owned so don't need to buy out many owners or tear down housing.
4) It smack dab between 2 brand new housing developments (marked in green circles)
5) next to the cities premier public high school (imagine the possiblities of having Lincoln HS partnerships with Amazon HQ?) (school land marked in light green)
6) Perfect location for the Royals new stadium when their lease ends (next to negro leagues musuem, blocks from original stadium, downtown adjacent property large enough for a stadium)

Light Blue: Amazon blocks
Purple: buildings that should be saved
red: streetcar line

^ uh, no.

Yea I'm sure Amazon wants to go to 22nd and the Paseo. This has spiraled into ridiculous

Downtowner wrote:Yea I'm sure Amazon wants to go to 22nd and the Paseo. This has spiraled into ridiculous

What's wrong with 22nd/Paseo? It's the best downtown adjacent location where they can have 10+ blocks to build on. It's literally a block from $500k+ houses, next to a hospital, a jazz street, a baseball museum, a highly ranked high school, etc. It's easier to get a streetcar line there than many other places. I honestly don't get the hate for the location.

Only better location would be east village IMO.

^ Because there are little over a million 22nd and Paseo's in this country. It also doesn't really have any of the amenities that they are looking for. Sure, you could add nightlife with a baseball stadium and build the transit that they requested and build housing for employees...but, they could do that anywhere. There's no logic for the company to go there. There's probably no logic in the choosing KC. But, if they do, they would choose the best of what we have to offer instead of the worst.