Amazon $5 bil co-HQ's in play

[FlaBoy]

Jax's economy is so reliant on the financial services sector that it could be extremely vulnerable to a major disruption in that field, like Blockchain and Cryptocurrency could potentially have. The City really needs to make some kind of bold, innovative long term move, or it could be left in the dust in 20 years.

Isn't the city being left in the dust right now? Unless the next Amazon/Apple/Google is developed locally, the city seems set to remain in the mid-tier status for quite some time (not that that is necessarily a bad thing) and should be content with and embrace any upgrades such as the Laura St. trio, IKEA, Brightline stopover between Miami and Atlanta, etc. The goal shouldn't be to become like an Atlanta or Orlando, but to become a better Jacksonville.

Orlando is 100% driven by its tourist economy and service industry. Actually, Jacksonville is probably in better shape than Orlando with a downturn because of the its a traditional regional business center.

I have been screaming it for awhile, but Jax needs to try to form a closer relationship with UF Health/UF and attract some research funding to Jacksonville. When you look at that list, it is full of cities with large research universities like Austin (UT), Nashville (Vanderbilt), Columbus (Ohio State), Raleigh (NC State, with Duke and UNC between 30 to 45 min away). We have a portion of the UF Med School here, we need to push for some research which I think would be beneficial for both UF research being in a bigger city and Jax.

[I-10east]

Muh the end is near!!!

[CityLife]

Jax's economy is so reliant on the financial services sector that it could be extremely vulnerable to a major disruption in that field, like Blockchain and Cryptocurrency could potentially have. The City really needs to make some kind of bold, innovative long term move, or it could be left in the dust in 20 years.

Isn't the city being left in the dust right now? Unless the next Amazon/Apple/Google is developed locally, the city seems set to remain in the mid-tier status for quite some time (not that that is necessarily a bad thing) and should be content with and embrace any upgrades such as the Laura St. trio, IKEA, Brightline stopover between Miami and Atlanta, etc. The goal shouldn't be to become like an Atlanta or Orlando, but to become a better Jacksonville.

Orlando is 100% driven by its tourist economy and service industry. Actually, Jacksonville is probably in better shape than Orlando with a downturn because of the its a traditional regional business center.

Not even remotely close to being true. The vast majority of Orlando's middle class residents located north of downtown have nothing to do with tourism. Orlando has substantial video game programming, software design, military simulation/R&D, and engineering sectors. It has a more evolved and diversified 21st century economy than Jax does, and this is coming from someone that hates Orlando. As I said earlier, Jax's reliance on financial services could be potentially be devastating in the future as banking and financial firms utilize blockchain (and other emerging technologies). There is a very realistic possibility of massive financial service industry layoffs. See below Harvard Business Review and Forbes articles.

https://hbr.org/2017/03/how-blockchain-is-changing-finance

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/08/10/practical-examples-of-how-blockchains-are-used-in-banking-and-the-financial-services-sector/#624b6a031a11

Jax was never going to get Amazon and does not need Amazon to become a great city. However, it should be a wake up call that the City is not even in the top 20, particularly with the offer of free premium real estate, which many other cities could not offer. I cited the example of Orlando's proposal being substantially better than Jax, because that means that Jax probably wasn't even close to the top 20 either.

[jaxlongtimer]

What confuses me is that three places in the DC metro made the list. They couldn't just choose one or say 'DC metro'?

I think it's shown as 3 distinct listings as it is 3 distinct governing entities - Maryland, Virginia and DC.  They all just happen to be in proximity to each other.  I haven't read that they are actually cooperating on some regional basis which means they are competing against each other.  Like Newark, NJ and New York, NY.

As to Jacksonville, if we really want to make ourselves more appealing, we should take Amazon's criteria and work to improve our responses to each of them over time.  We are talking about such items as urban core street interactions, green space and walk-ability, mass transit, all levels of education, cultural attractions and greater acceptance of diverse populations.  In many ways, this is all interconnected and, as noted, is what we should be doing for those already living here before worrying about adding newcomers.

Instead, we are focused on expensive taxpayer funded side shows like a new convention center, "panacea" developments like the District & Shipyards, a 7 city-block courthouse complex in the middle of a major downtown street, subsidized parking garages, tearing down road ramps, tearing down LaVilla, doubling down on the stadium, dredging the river, creating a poorly designed inter-modal complex, maintaining/expanding a poorly implemented and expensive-to-operate Skyway, etc. all of which amount to putting the cart before the horse at the very best.  And, none of these mostly poorly conceived and disjointed projects substantially enhances the quality of life for the average person and, maybe, actually subtracts given the substantial resources invested could have been deployed on the issues that really matter as highlighted by Amazon.

[jaxrox]

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/john-gallagher/2018/01/18/detroit-amazon-headquarters-finalists/1043624001/
Detroit is OUT, on this one. Therefore, Jacksonville is not out yet, I'm hoping anyway?

[jaxrox]

Aaaag, I knew I shoulda double checked:

This is the list of top 20 considered cities:

Atlanta

Austin, Texas

Boston

Chicago

Columbus, Ohio

Dallas

Denver,

Indianapolis

Los Angeles

Miami, Fla.

Montgomery County, Md.

Nashville

Newark, N.J.

New York City

Northern Virginia

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Raleigh, N.C.

Toronto, Ontario

Washington D.C.
Ok so Jacksonville didn't make the top 20 list

[KenFSU]

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/john-gallagher/2018/01/18/detroit-amazon-headquarters-finalists/1043624001/
Detroit is OUT, on this one. Therefore, Jacksonville is not out yet, I'm hoping anyway?

Reading this article about why Detroit didn't make the cut makes it crystal clear that Jax never had a chance.

[thelakelander]

If Amazon went by the criteria they said they would, no one should be upset like they are in Detroit. We're not near most of their benchmarks and we have no plan to even get close.

[MusicMan]

Pretty sure last time I watched The Weather Channel, Jacksonville is not a feature city either.......

[thelakelander]

Jax is the 40th largest MSA. That should provide some additional perspective. Subtract the bigger MSAs and see who's left on that list. Whatever Nashville, Indy, Columbus, Raleigh, etc. are doing is what smaller MSAs like Jax should be paying attention to.

[Lostwave]

Here's a nice writeup of all the finalists.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/technology/cities-amazon-headquarters.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Technology&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article

[Papa33]

Jax is the 40th largest MSA. That should provide some additional perspective. Subtract the bigger MSAs and see who's left on that list. Whatever Nashville, Indy, Columbus, Raleigh, etc. are doing is what smaller MSAs like Jax should be paying attention to.

Bingo.

[jaxlongtimer]

I noted that almost half the pictures from each finalist city in this NY Times article featured significant public parks and waterfront access.  The other cities listed have them as well.  Jax... not so much!  Until I see our urban planners providing for this, I can't take seriously our community's commitment to developing the urban core and expect that we will continue to languish in Downtown.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/technology/cities-amazon-headquarters.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Technology&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article

[jaxnyc79]

Jax is the 40th largest MSA. That should provide some additional perspective. Subtract the bigger MSAs and see who's left on that list. Whatever Nashville, Indy, Columbus, Raleigh, etc. are doing is what smaller MSAs like Jax should be paying attention to.

I agree.  Where did Raleigh and Nashville stand a generation ago relative to Jax, and where do they stand now? 

In addition, and this may be too idealistic, but I'm more interested in investing in homegrown talent to create the next "disruptive" behemoth, versus trying to incentivize some transformational project from the outside.  We're always focused on someone else from the outside to come in and profoundly remake us.

A first-class city is a front-office city, and the front-office has the big idea guys, the creatives, the people of vision who feel empowered to pursue products and services that have lasting impacts, that change people's interactions with their surroundings and with each other, that add global value. 

As a community, does Jax have a set of values, cultural institutions, educational experiences, and a "social network" to create a native talent pool that constantly pushes the envelope and is constantly looking to innovate and differentiate.  When we effectively put that sort of striving in our people (especially our young), then we'll be on sound footing to greatness.  That's the only sort of "incentives" program I feel mostly at ease with.

[jaxjags]

 Columbus and Raliegh don't meet all qualifications such as mass transit and true international airport. But they have well respected universities in the metro area.