Amazon is planning to open its second headquarters and it has turned this into a contest. At the moment, numerous states and cities are competing in order to win the Amazon headquarters. That is because Amazon has promised that H2Q will improve the prosperity of the city, just as it has happened to Seattle.
While it is true that Seattle’s economic state improved thanks to Amazon and more than 40,000 people received a job, there are also some negative aspects. Here are some of them:
Gentrification
In Seattle, the Amazon headquarters led to bigger rents and growing prices, and soon it became hard to afford a place to stay, which also hurt the culture of the city. “High demand and low inventory creates bidding wars and animosity among those who can’t even afford a starter home in the city they grew up in,” explained Kurt Schlosser.
The homeless population is rising and that is because more and more people can’t afford homes. This becomes clear if we take a look at a homeless shelter. For example, Mary’s Place, a non profit shelter, had 2,300 beds in 2010, and the number went up to 170,000 in 2017.
Traffic
With a booming tech industry, there is also more traffic. Congestion got a lot worse as the Amazon headquarters attracts thousands of new residents. Seattle became one of the worst cities when it comes to traffic and it was even placed in top 10 US cites when it comes to this.
Local businesses are shut down
While the tech industry might see an evolution, local businesses had to suffer in Seattle. Numerous coffee shops, restaurants or grocery stores went out of business, and this happened mostly in the neighborhood where the Amazon headquarters is located.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.