Search results for: “amazon”
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CyberX Not Just an Amazon.com Subsidy
Virginia economic development officials have kept their lips tight about the incentive package Virginia is extending to Amazon.com, Inc., to induce the e-commerce giant to locate its second headquarters in Northern Virginia. My concern has been that the Commonwealth might attempt to outbid other states in dangling obscene tax breaks and subsidies to attract the…
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I’ll Take Apple over Amazon Any Old Day
Amazon.com Inc. isn’t the only West Coast technology giant shopping for a new community to build a large corporate campus. Apple Inc. is looking to make a big investment as well, although it hasn’t drawn nearly much attention to itself. As with the Amazon project, Northern Virginia appears to be in the running. From a…
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Virginia, Maryland and D.C. Collaborating on Amazon Pitch
As much as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan wants Amazon.com to locate its HQ2 in Montgomery County, he’d be delighted if the tech giant picked anywhere in the Washington metropolitan area. Accordingly. Maryland, D.C., and Virginia are working to pitch Greater Washington to Amazon as a unified region, he said Wednesday. Hogan’s remarks, reports the Washington…
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Here’s an Idea, Let Maryland Have Amazon
Maryland legislators approved Wednesday an $8.5 billion incentive package to lure Amazon’s second headquarters to Montgomery County. Governor Larry Hogan (R), who proposed the plan, is expected to sign the bill. I love it! This is the best of all worlds for Virginia. Amazon has estimated that the headquarters will invest $5 billion and employ…
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Amazon-ification and Vehicle Miles Driven
I visited my daughter Sara the other day and was amused to note that delivery services had dropped off two cardboard boxes in front of her house. When I stepped inside, there was a third box, still unopened. Three packages delivered in one day. Wow, thought I. My wife and I might average one delivery…
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Is Amazon Leaning towards Washington?
In today’s buzz about the location of Amazon’s second headquarters, often referred to as HQ2: There has been an unusual spike in traffic — more than 6,000 views over the past week — for an obscure article in ARLNow, entitled “County Wins Top Environmental Award from U.S. Green Building Council.” The vast majority of the…
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Want Amazon? Fix Metro, says Wiedefeld.
If Virginians want Amazon to locate HQ2, its second headquarters, in the Washington area, they need to help fix Metro, the region’s ailing commuter rail service. That was part of the message delivered by Metro General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld yesterday to the House Appropriation Committee’s Transportation subcommittee. The Metro needs at least $15.5…
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NoVa Enters Finals for Amazon Sweepstakes
Just out: Amazon has narrowed its list of candidate locations for its $5 billion second headquarters, and Northern Virginia made the list. So did Washington, D.C., which gives the Washington metropolitan area a one-in-ten chance of winning the big prize. USA Today lists the finalists. (Hat tip: Rick Gechter)
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Amazon, Incentives, and Virginia’s Best Sales Pitch
The odds that Virginia can snag the Amazon HQ2 project strike me as exceedingly long. Not because our communities don’t measure up well against Amazon’s location criteria but because we don’t have the stomach in Virginia to assemble massive enough subsidies and tax giveaways to compete with metropolitan regions willing to stroke blank checks. New…
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Virginia Gears up for Amazon HQ2 Pitch
The Amazon gold rush is heating up. Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads are pitching the online retailing giant on multiple site in their regions for Amazon HQ2, a $5 billion, 50,000-employee second headquarters complex. Michael Martz with the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the scoop, citing “multiple” unidentified sources. Northern Virginia, writes Martz, has identified four…
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San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo: No Special Deals for Amazon
San Jose, Calif., Mayor Sam Liccardo, a Democrat, wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal today explaining he will not offer subsidies or incentives to induce Amazon to locate its second headquarters in his city: Why do public officials throw away taxpayer dollars in subsidies while trying to promote economic development? Perhaps because they…
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McAuliffe Hires Consultants to Pursue Amazon Deal
Governor Terry McAuliffe has hired McKinsey & Co. to help Virginia localities build the best possible packages to recruit Amazon’s second headquarters, reports the Virginian-Pilot. The state plans to pay the consultant more than $1 million, while state regions will chip in hundreds of thousands of dollars more. That information, which I haven’t seen reported…
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Virginia to Prepare “Robust” Response to Amazon Project
The latest news on the great Amazon elephant hunt comes from Virginia Business magazine. Managing Editor Paula Squires quotes Stephen Moret, CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership: Virginia has a keen interest in the Amazon HQ2 opportunity. We are thoroughly reviewing the company’s RFP, which includes a formidable set of site-selection criteria appropriate for a…
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Amazon Sparks Competition for World’s Top Economic Development Trophy
Amazon has announced its intention to build a second headquarters complex, the equal in size to its Seattle headquarters. And localities across North America — including some in the Washington region — are salivating over the prospect of winning what could be the biggest economic development trophy of all time. The potential reward is stupendous.…
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Who Needs Amazon Drones When You’ve Got a Starship Robot?
A robot developed by Starship Technologies, of London, can make deliveries in urban environments. Capable of carrying loads as large as two grocery bags, this “personal courier” can make deliveries of groceries, wine, flowers, whatever, within a three-mile radius. Customers can track the robot’s location location on a smart phone. “Our delivery platform will launch…