Amazon HQ2

[freerover]

I'm skeptical the power outage at the Atlanta will make much of an impact but I guess you never know.


Will Atlanta's airport outage hurt its Amazon HQ2 bid?
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/19/technology/amazon-second-headquarters-atlanta/index.html

The massive power outage that crippled Atlanta's main airport on Sunday came at a particularly bad time. The city is believed to be a leading contender to host Amazon's second headquarters.
Experts cite Atlanta's cost of living, talent pool and access to the world's busiest airport as some of its top advantages.
But now one of its biggest selling points -- Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport -- could also be a trouble spot.
"The timing is really horrible for Atlanta," Ilir Hysa, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics, told CNN Tech. "Amazon might be in the process of short listing who's in and who's out at this point."
The airport outage began with a fire at a Georgia Power underground electrical facility, according to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. The fire stranded passengers on planes and in dark terminals. More than 1,000 flights were canceled in and out of the airport. The cause of the fire is still being evaluated.

"[The airport] turns now from an attraction to sort of a problem," said Hysa.
Related: Cities are doing wacky things to host Amazon's second headquarters
While Hysa doesn't believe the incident will stop Amazon from choosing Atlanta, the outage will likely become a talking point.
"It definitely will be on its radar," he said. Amazon will probably want to learn more about what triggered the issue and whether it has the potential to happen again, Hysa added.
Earlier this year, Amazon encouraged cities to submit proposals to host its second headquarters. The company later said 238 cities and regions across North America sent in requests for consideration.
Amazon says it's looking for a suburban or urban area with more than 1 million people and access to mass transit, as well the ability to attract technical talent. The new facility, to be called HQ2, will cost at least $5 billion to construct.
In recent months, gambling site Paddy Power and Sperling's BestPlaces pegged Atlanta as the company's number one pick. Moody's listed Atlanta second behind Austin, Texas.
Related: The city Amazon picks for its second headquarters will change forever
However, Sunday's incident is a reminder of Atlanta's potential infrastructure issues. The city already suffers major traffic congestion and its public transportation system isn't as sophisticated as other cities, according to experts.
"Atlanta has done great work recently to improve infrastructure, but congestion remains a problem," Hysa said.
For example, the city broke ground last year on an $800 million improvement project for Interstate 285/State Route 400 to address traffic jams.
Still, an influx of 50,000 workers to the city would add to existing traffic problems, said Bert Sperling, founder and CEO of Sperling's BestPlaces.
Atlanta is the eighth most congested city in the world. The average commuter spends 70.8 hours in traffic per year, according to a 2016 survey from transportation analytics firm INRIX.
But Sperling doesn't expect drawbacks such as heavy traffic and Sunday's airport power outage to hurt Atlanta's chances with Amazon (AMZN).
"The [outage] won't make an impact, unless it somehow points to a vast infrastructure meltdown," he said. "[Atlanta] maybe has less negatives than anywhere else does."
Marcelo Ballvé -- VP of intelligence at CB Insights -- agrees, noting the airport remains one of Atlanta's biggest assets.
"You can't do better than Atlanta if you're looking at an air hub, in terms of connections offered," Ballvé said.
Amazon declined to comment. The Atlanta Mayor's office did not respond to a request for comment.

The article points out infrastructure issues in Atlanta but that's true with every major city. Still, they are real concerns that will likely have to be addressed.


The recent news from TXDot is catastrophic for Austin for a lot of reasons. There is a reason why republicans and democrats were at their office petitioning TXdot not to kill 4 major Austin projects. They were joined with major business groups including the commerce chamber which does a lot of lobbying to get major investments including Amazon. Groups included: Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Chair Will Conley, state Rep. Celia Israel, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair Wade Cooper or representatives from the Downtown Austin Alliance, the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Circuit of the Americas and the Alliance for Public Transportation)

Delaying major work on 35 by maybe 5 or so years is not going to bode well for the city with any potential investments. The move by TxDot kills the 35 overhaul, mopac south overhaul, 183 toll/free lane which would directly connect from mopac toll lane/71 Oak Hill Expressway. I can't even begin to explain how awful this is for the city. Ugh.