Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:They will hire locals and most will commute in. There are already a lot of Amazon employees and many will be consolidated. They are having trouble filling the slots they have. They also allow telecommuting for some jobs so you can live further out and just go in as needed. We don't know anyone who works at Amazon who lives near work. Some live in other states and just fly in as needed.

+1 I have friends in close in Maryland who commute to Amazon in Virginia. They're not all going to live within a mile of HQ.

Yea, but their life is going to be a living hell. I already have people who commute in fro MoCo on my team and they are 1.5hrs in the car already. These marylanders are already so priced out, hopefully for their sake MD can try to figure out how to attract business and not drive it away.

No, they're not priced out, some people just prefer Maryland (which has equally expensive real estate as VA to date) for whatever reason. I have a neighbor in Chevy Chase who works at AWS. She says it takes about 30-40 minutes driving to AWS. That's not a bad commute (same as my commute to DC).

That's gotta be on a good day. One little fender bender, and we're closer to 2 hours. Trust me, I know.

You’re assuming everyone in Maryland needs to drive or lives in MoCo. A train ride from Takoma, Silver Spring or Forest Glen to Amazon is around 30 to 40 minutes...the same or less time as it would be from Vienna or anywhere on the Silver Line from Tysons or further out. Anyone coming from the Green Line stations in PG would have a similar commute.

As for driving, if you live in Fort Washington or somewhere near there it is a much shorter drive to Crystal City than coming from a lot of Fairfax (Reston, Oakton, etc) and you don’t have to pay tolls.

You have to get to the metro, then metro, then get to the AWS building. So, you are forgetting to include getting to the metro, waiting for a train, transferring trains and then getting to the AWS building.

It can be 2 hours like that poster said. Its been up to 4-5 hours in a snow store or fender bender.

I don’t get your point. The same can be said for people living near the Orange and Silver Lines in Falls Church and Fairfax, yet people assume that Falls Church and Fairfax are going to reap all the benefits. All I’m saying is that there are many places in close-in Maryland (a couple miles inside or outside the Beltway) that have just as convenient commutes to Amazon as places like Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, etc. It is faster to get to Crystal City from the end of the Green Line in Greenbelt via Metro than from Vienna. It takes about the same time to get to Amazon from Forest Glen and Strathmore than it does from Wiehle. This fantasy that most people are going to drive on the tolls on I-66 and pay $20+ a day to park isn’t realistic. A lot of their employees will be taking Metro and commuter rail.

If you live in walking distance to the metro and live in VA, sure, some will take the metro but from MD to VA it makes no sense to take the metro, especially if you are not in walking distance. Do you realize how many employees there are now working for Amazon who do the commute? Amazon is a flexible company depending on your supervision and job so often you can work at home a few days a week which makes the commute a lot more tolerable. If you own your home, you are not going to up and sell to work for Amazon in less you plan to move anyway. You commute. Many people commute. The advantage of buying further out VA vs. MD is you can get a nicer house for less money and more land.

Anonymous wrote:Ya no point in moving for a company like AMZN where employees typically only make it to the 1.5-year mark.

Most we know stay 3-4 years depending on their contract and their RSU's and then it just depends on what Amazon offers after that. Amazon is like most companies where you have to leave and come back to make more money and getting promoted is very hard and boss dependent.

It makes no sense if you live in Montgomery County to move to VA in less you want to move anyway for a job with Amazon. Amazon will recruit locals first. Most tech/IT jobs are disposable and people job jump all the time. Its much easier to live in Montgomery County and have the option to commute to VA or in further out MD vs. live in VA and commute to MD.

Metro makes no sense. You have to drive to the metro, pay for parking, pay for the metro, then take a bus to your office. To take the metro, you have to metro into DC first so its a long trip too.

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Anonymous wrote:They will hire locals and most will commute in. There are already a lot of Amazon employees and many will be consolidated. They are having trouble filling the slots they have. They also allow telecommuting for some jobs so you can live further out and just go in as needed. We don't know anyone who works at Amazon who lives near work. Some live in other states and just fly in as needed.

+1 I have friends in close in Maryland who commute to Amazon in Virginia. They're not all going to live within a mile of HQ.

Yea, but their life is going to be a living hell. I already have people who commute in fro MoCo on my team and they are 1.5hrs in the car already. These marylanders are already so priced out, hopefully for their sake MD can try to figure out how to attract business and not drive it away.

No, they're not priced out, some people just prefer Maryland (which has equally expensive real estate as VA to date) for whatever reason. I have a neighbor in Chevy Chase who works at AWS. She says it takes about 30-40 minutes driving to AWS. That's not a bad commute (same as my commute to DC).

That's gotta be on a good day. One little fender bender, and we're closer to 2 hours. Trust me, I know.

You’re assuming everyone in Maryland needs to drive or lives in MoCo. A train ride from Takoma, Silver Spring or Forest Glen to Amazon is around 30 to 40 minutes...the same or less time as it would be from Vienna or anywhere on the Silver Line from Tysons or further out. Anyone coming from the Green Line stations in PG would have a similar commute.

As for driving, if you live in Fort Washington or somewhere near there it is a much shorter drive to Crystal City than coming from a lot of Fairfax (Reston, Oakton, etc) and you don’t have to pay tolls.

You have to get to the metro, then metro, then get to the AWS building. So, you are forgetting to include getting to the metro, waiting for a train, transferring trains and then getting to the AWS building.

It can be 2 hours like that poster said. Its been up to 4-5 hours in a snow store or fender bender.

I don’t get your point. The same can be said for people living near the Orange and Silver Lines in Falls Church and Fairfax, yet people assume that Falls Church and Fairfax are going to reap all the benefits. All I’m saying is that there are many places in close-in Maryland (a couple miles inside or outside the Beltway) that have just as convenient commutes to Amazon as places like Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, etc. It is faster to get to Crystal City from the end of the Green Line in Greenbelt via Metro than from Vienna. It takes about the same time to get to Amazon from Forest Glen and Strathmore than it does from Wiehle. This fantasy that most people are going to drive on the tolls on I-66 and pay $20+ a day to park isn’t realistic. A lot of their employees will be taking Metro and commuter rail.

That's either wishful thinking or cray-cray. Flip it around: if I got a job in Greenbelt MD, Crystal City VA isn't even in my Top 10 places I'd look. Why is it that all anyone could talk about for months was how there was no way - NO WAY! - Amazon would ever choose a "gun-loving, gay-bashing, Confederate state like Virginia." They swore up & down that gravy train had one stop, and one stop alone: Montgomery County. Now all I hear is that it's no big deal where HQ2 is located, because a lot of the employees will want to live in MD anyway...

The parts of MD close to VA are very expensive that can commute there. But people can easily commute to Crystal City VA from MD. In NYC folks who work on wall street pay six figures for houses that have "short commutes' to the city that around one hour 15 minutes one way and commuter train, subway, parking at station run around $500 a month. People DMV might think it is a lot but for folks in San Fran or NYC it is nothing.

And who says you have to drive? The metro goes right there. In NYC or San Fran that would be super easy. VA gave Amazon a boat load of free money to come. DC is real winner as tons of workers will live in DC and pay DC taxes but DC was not stupid enough to give them money to come.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will hire locals and most will commute in. There are already a lot of Amazon employees and many will be consolidated. They are having trouble filling the slots they have. They also allow telecommuting for some jobs so you can live further out and just go in as needed. We don't know anyone who works at Amazon who lives near work. Some live in other states and just fly in as needed.

+1 I have friends in close in Maryland who commute to Amazon in Virginia. They're not all going to live within a mile of HQ.

Yea, but their life is going to be a living hell. I already have people who commute in fro MoCo on my team and they are 1.5hrs in the car already. These marylanders are already so priced out, hopefully for their sake MD can try to figure out how to attract business and not drive it away.

No, they're not priced out, some people just prefer Maryland (which has equally expensive real estate as VA to date) for whatever reason. I have a neighbor in Chevy Chase who works at AWS. She says it takes about 30-40 minutes driving to AWS. That's not a bad commute (same as my commute to DC).

That's gotta be on a good day. One little fender bender, and we're closer to 2 hours. Trust me, I know.

You’re assuming everyone in Maryland needs to drive or lives in MoCo. A train ride from Takoma, Silver Spring or Forest Glen to Amazon is around 30 to 40 minutes...the same or less time as it would be from Vienna or anywhere on the Silver Line from Tysons or further out. Anyone coming from the Green Line stations in PG would have a similar commute.

As for driving, if you live in Fort Washington or somewhere near there it is a much shorter drive to Crystal City than coming from a lot of Fairfax (Reston, Oakton, etc) and you don’t have to pay tolls.

You have to get to the metro, then metro, then get to the AWS building. So, you are forgetting to include getting to the metro, waiting for a train, transferring trains and then getting to the AWS building.

It can be 2 hours like that poster said. Its been up to 4-5 hours in a snow store or fender bender.

I don’t get your point. The same can be said for people living near the Orange and Silver Lines in Falls Church and Fairfax, yet people assume that Falls Church and Fairfax are going to reap all the benefits. All I’m saying is that there are many places in close-in Maryland (a couple miles inside or outside the Beltway) that have just as convenient commutes to Amazon as places like Falls Church, Vienna, Reston, etc. It is faster to get to Crystal City from the end of the Green Line in Greenbelt via Metro than from Vienna. It takes about the same time to get to Amazon from Forest Glen and Strathmore than it does from Wiehle. This fantasy that most people are going to drive on the tolls on I-66 and pay $20+ a day to park isn’t realistic. A lot of their employees will be taking Metro and commuter rail.

That's either wishful thinking or cray-cray. Flip it around: if I got a job in Greenbelt MD, Crystal City VA isn't even in my Top 10 places I'd look. Why is it that all anyone could talk about for months was how there was no way - NO WAY! - Amazon would ever choose a "gun-loving, gay-bashing, Confederate state like Virginia." They swore up & down that gravy train had one stop, and one stop alone: Montgomery County. Now all I hear is that it's no big deal where HQ2 is located, because a lot of the employees will want to live in MD anyway...