Reply to S/O Maryland, Virginia, Business, and Marc Elrich

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Does Amazon corporate really make line item decisions on how much their custodial staff make and whether or not they unionize? Would tech companies or fortune 500s really care that much about whether or not they can use styrofoam and straws in their cafeteria? Don't large companies actually have the advantage in being able to pay their lower level workers more and have environmentally sustainable policies?

My point is, Maryland needs to be more business friendly to increase its tax base, but scapegoating labor and environmental regulations doesn't appear to be the answer. Why hasn't the I-270 tech corridor been more successful? What else did Virginia have to lure Amazon (besides National Airport..) [/quote]

Amazon picked NYC as the 2nd HQ (yes, we know they are bowing out now due to political pressure) -- high minimum wage, high taxes, and high regulations.

It was purely because of the location - near an airport.

The same principle applies to house hunting applies to corporate hq hunting -- location location location.

So you're right.. it's not about unions or high minimum wage or taxes.   IMO, it's about access to international airports.

I have worked for several large high tech companies, and they all want easy access to large international airports.  NoVa has two, though DCA is not much of an international airport, it does have some int'l flights.  The problem IMO with MoCo location is the traffic bridge you have to deal with to get to those airports.  Yes, MoCo has access to BWI  but that's just one airport.

As for the argument about educated workforce -- this entire DC area has a highly educated workforce. If that was the ONLY factor, the decision could go either way. But, the location for access to a largish airport was probably the bigger factor.   Again, look at their decision to choose NYC.[/quote]

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