re: Only a few cities could actually accommodate Amazon's second HQ

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It is not coming to Ohio.

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Probably not, but we have 3 cities that are on the short list of 50.

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The only reason Ohio was a thing is because the south couldn't get our shite together.

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Well I think the results are still mixed from the posts here. Obviously places like Atlanta and Nashville are doing great, but you also have states that rank at the bottom of numerous metrics, including economically. I would say besides the aforementioned cities, and if you're including Florida, NC, and Texas as well, then some areas there as well, we have a far better chance than anywhere else in the South.

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Geography wins here. Amazon wants a sea port.

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What are you basing this off of? Of course some of the most logical options (Houston, NYC, Boston, etc.) are near the coasts, but unless they're getting into a new industry altogether, I don't see why they would make it a priority.

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When did they ever say this was a goal?

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Although I do think they may prefer a location on the other half of the continent, before meeting the limited criteria that as announced, Phoenix would provide a good alternative, based solely on climate alone.

Don't want to move to our cloudy, cool, and wet headquarters? Well then come to our sunny, hot, and dry headquarters instead!

Texas has the following top 100 Universities according to US News and World report.

#15 Rice
#56 SMU
#56 UT Austin
#71 Baylor
#74 Texas A&M
#82 TCU


Having said that, I don't think that is super important as young graduates will move states away for good jobs.

Probably

If you don't think Atlanta is in top consideration, you're not paying attention.

The amount the number of tech companies relocating to Atlanta already, the airport, the talent pool to choose from, cost of living, mass transit, climate, existing production studios for producing original content, and a couple other nuggets of info no one seems to be considering: 70% of all credit/debit payments are processed in Atlanta and over 50% of all financial tech firms in the country are based here.

AL has 10,000 Acre Ft Mclellan that they refuse to sell in pieces, so it's just been sitting there useless for the past 20 years.

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Chicago already employs over 143,000 people in its tech sector, including 44,000 in software engineering and development. It does not boast an MIT, Carnegie Mellon, University of Toronto or University of Texas, but Chicago’s cosmopolitan appeal, welcoming culture and central location could serve it well as a contender for Amazon’s second headquarters.

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Good insight until I got to this part. Has this guy never heard of the University of Chicago or Northwestern? Not to mention UIUC and Purdue both only 2 hours away and UMich only 4.

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Houston not putting in an east west and north south train to the burbs years ago was a terrible decision

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Houston had an abandoned railroad right of way with the track still on it running from Katy all the way downtown parallel to I10 (the primary commuter artery) given to it 20 years ago and instead of building a commuter rail line down it they tore it up and widened I10 over the top of it, then spent an enormous sum to construct an at-grade commuter rail line from downtown to Reliant, which isn't anyone's commute. That's the most Houston decision ever.

Louisiana could only come close with a sweetheart package.
Free land and no tax for a long while.
Other than that, no chance

The only reasons The Advocate newspaper printed its Amazon-HQ-in-Louisiana fiction are:

1) Localization: New outlets try to localize every syndicated/national news story, otherwise almost no one local would bother to read it.

2) Lotto-win-style fantasy feeding: Saying/writing that Louisiana has a shot in hell at landing Amazon is the same kind of breathless nonsense one hears on WWL radio or the local TV stations when lottery-ticket buying lines stretch out the doors of convenience stores. The media feed the fantasy of winning that $500 million ticket -- to sell newspapers and maintain ratings. Wishful/magical thinking right up the alley of the lowest common denominator.

3) Maintaining the fantasy that Louisiana is economically viable is crucial to the local media's survival: If everyone who consumes this pap realized the opposite -- that New Orleans/Shreveport/Baton Rouge don't have a shot in hell at landing a Fortune 500 company -- the rush to be the last one to turn the lights out on this state would kill subscribers and ratings. Just listen to the sunny-side-up pap on WWL radio every morning -- pitching every little minor positive ranking that N.O. scores, and/or disputing every 49th/50th in the nation ranking that Looziana seemingly gets tagged with on a daily basis now. Why would anyone with blinders off continue to live here?