Search results for: “amazon”
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Amazon Donates CRT Book to Arlington Schools
by Hans Bader Amazon donated hundreds of copies of a racist, error-filled book by a critical race theorist to Arlington County public schools. In doing so, the Seattle-based company helped poison young minds and taught high-school students falsehoods about America’s history and politics. It did this at the urging of a school official in Arlington.…
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If Your Porch Is Piled With Amazon Packages Shut Up About Stay-At-Home Orders
by Kerry Dougherty Sometimes you read an entire news story and just one sentence sticks with you. That happened this weekend when I read an online piece on the pandemic. In it the experts admitted they’re not sure how or where the virus is spreading. Following a quote from one of these public health experts,…
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Surviving COVID-19 with Video Chat, Netflix and Amazon Prime
Northern Virginia reader Allen Barringer responded to my request yesterday for readers to describe how they are coping with COVID-19. He started writing this piece as a comment, but it became so comprehensive that we decided to publish it as a full-fledged post. — JAB by Allen Barringer We live in a surreal moment: On…
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Amazon to Create 1,500 Jobs in Hampton Roads
by James A. Bacon Amazon has announced the launch of two state-of-the-art operations facilities in Hampton Roads that will create 1,500 jobs. One is a multi-story robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk, creating 1,000 jobs, and the other a 650,000-square-foot processing center in Chesapeake, creating 500 jobs. Both operations are scheduled to open in 2021. Since…
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Amazon’s Security Collaborative: Cool or Creepy?
by James A. Bacon Amazon.com, Inc., is pushing for an intelligence-sharing alliance with law enforcement and emergency-management agencies around its Arlington office complex, similar to arrangement it already has with its Seattle headquarters, reports the Washington Business Journal. On the positive side, Arlington police and other participants could gain access to Amazon’s tech, best practices, and…
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The Curious Case of the Amazon Op-Ed
For decades, Stephen S. Fuller has been regarded as a regional asset. His study of the state’s economy as a professor at George Mason University has been praised as insightful, especially his idea that Virginia needs to diversify from its traditional reliance on federal government spending. So, it seemed odd that Fuller, who plans to…
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How Moret and Moretti Won the Amazon Deal
Everybody who pays attention to economic development in Virginia knows by now who Stephen Moret is. He is the Louisianan, recruited to turn around the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and rethink the state’s economic development strategy, who landed the Amazon HQ2 deal. Few are familiar, however, with the theoritician behind the practitioner, a man with…
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Amazon Campaign Contributions: $75,000 and Counting
Speaking of alien overlords (see previous post)… I believe I’m correct in saying that Bacon’s Rebellion’s Steve Haner was the first pundit to note that if you like Amazon as a major player in Virginia’s economy, you’d better get accustomed to Amazon as a major player in Virginia politics. Now comes the Washington Business Journal noting…
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LaRock: Northam “Hijacked” Road Funds for Amazon
Money from Northern Virginia taxpayers meant to address traffic congestion has been “hijacked” by Gov. Ralph Northam to keep the governor’s promises to Amazon in the HQ2 project, charges Del. Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun, in a Washington Post op-ed. The state’s Smart Scale scoring system, which by law is supposed to emphasize congestion-mitigation strategies, has been…
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JBG Smith Raises $75 Million for Amazon-Related Affordable Housing
JBG Smith, the dominant developer in the National Landing area where Amazon will build its HQ2 offices, has raised $78 million in an affordable housing initiative. The company hopes to raise between $100 million and $150 million in all. The funds would be used to develop “workforce” housing, targeting households with incomes too high to…
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Bacon Bits: Boomtowns, Amazon, and Rent-a-Tribe
Pockets of prosperity. America’s big metropolitan regions may be sucking up most of the growth and prosperity of the current business cycle, but they’re not sucking up all of it. In crunching data measuring economic prosperity, population growth and rising incomes, GOBankingRates found numerous “cities” (not metros) that qualify as “boomtowns.” One region stood out…
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Arlington Welcomes Amazon 5-0 As Crowd Screams
The Arlington Board of Supervisors endured six hours of public hearing marked by local hooligans screaming at Amazon company representatives, then voted 5-0 Saturday for the modest local incentive package negotiated to bring the tech giant to a new location near Reagan National Airport and Crystal City. A review of the final county staff presentation…
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Amazon in Northern Virginia: 5 Positives
1-The Future. In 2011 Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape, wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal titled, “Why Software is Eating the World.” The eight years since Andreessen’s essay was published have served to vindicate, validate and verify the accuracy of his thesis. Yet while software eats the world, it doesn’t necessarily dine in the…
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Amazon Local Incentives Not Worth A Revolution
One of the self-styled revolutionaries seeking to prevent Amazon from planting its second headquarters in Arlington County complains the local incentive package offered is $23 million. A research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University puts the total at $51 million. The actual monetary value is elusive and still to be determined. Both…
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Amazon as Un-Apple
When Apple decided to build a new corporate headquarters, it designed a massive structure that resembled a flying saucer. The facility was an architectural marvel but it was entirely self contained, permitting no interaction with the surrounding community. It was impossible for employees to walk to work from home, and the campus was located far…