终于官宣！备受瞩目的亚马逊第二总部选址于美国东部时间11月13日发布，亚马逊宣布将在纽约市皇后区的长岛市和北弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿市的水晶城共同设立公司的第二总部。两地将均分亚马逊先前承诺过的50亿美元投资和5万个高薪就业机会。
238个北美城市争夺
当然，这条官方消息也让北美的236个城市感到失望。一年前亚马逊宣布第二总部计划，共有238个北美城市向亚马逊提交了投标方案，多数给出了相当的优惠政策。许多评论曾寄望亚马逊的第二总部计划或可重振、改造一个陷入困境、发展停滞的城市或地区，很显然他们的希望落空。
然而许多财经界人士已经在早前对亚马逊的选择作出了成功预测。财经媒体彭博专栏作家贾斯丁·福克斯在亚马逊正式官宣前一周，也就是11月7日曾发表文章预测，几乎所有人都预计亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)会在华盛顿地区的某个地方选址，作为其大肆宣传的第二大总部所在地。该公司正在考虑的不仅仅是一个第二总部，而是两个第二总部，而且其中一个预计将与华盛顿隔波多马克河相望，另一个则很大可能是皇后区长岛市。
福克斯还特别指出，对于皇后区长岛市来说，亚马逊可为这里带来许多全新的产业和创意。不过，对于纽约市来说，情况并非如此。纽约已经有很多人在科技行业工作，主要集中在曼哈顿。近年来，随着金融业就业岗位的减少，科技行业的增长一直是经济增长的主要推动力。这篇文章的标题是“纽约已经成为一座科技之城”——纽约已有非常多的市民从事科技相关产业，可能这也是亚马逊选择皇后区长岛市作为第二总部选择之一的原因。
第二总部建设也将帮到其他城市
这也是亚马逊的这次官宣引起争议之处——选择了已经繁荣的长岛市和水晶城，而不愿意进行“扶贫”。作为已经繁荣的地区，长岛市(Long Island City)和水晶城(Crystal City)没必要通过亚马逊来进行“复兴”。相反，它们的中选正是因为良好的基础设施(可用的公寓住房等)、良好的营商环境、大量高科技人才供应等。不过亦有评论认为，尽管亚马逊的选择面临批评声音，但如果它能负责任地在两地建设第二总部，它仍有机会挽回一些损失。
有评论认为，亚马逊的第二总部建设也将帮助到其他城市。首先，这表明科技公司正在拓展海湾和西雅图以外的地区。这表明，随着成本和人才竞争的升级，在任何一个都会区的扩张都是有限的。这些新技术工人在美国东北部的枢纽城市所带来的高成本和拥堵，将不可避免地导致其他一些人才和公司决定不搬到纽约和华盛顿。高额的通勤成本甚至可能促使现有的人才和公司开始寻找更便宜的场地。比如，一些人可能会搬到波士顿、费城或芝加哥等类似的大都市，而另一些人可能会搬到罗利、纳什维尔或亚特兰大等较小的地区。也许15万美元的高薪科技岗位将流向最富裕的城市，但与此同时9万美元薪酬的技术岗位将不得不转移到成本更低的地方。这样的连锁反应或将把繁荣扩展到更多的大都市地区。
What Amazon’s HQ2 Could Look Like
The Bezos has spoken. Amazon’s HQ2 is officially a split-decision between Long Island City in Queens， New York， and Crystal City in Arlington， Virginia-the predictable epicenters of finance， commerce and government.
The official news leaves 236 other cities feeling extremely disappointed (or even used) like they were part of some bizarre， overhyped Seinfeld finale. Many believe Amazon missed a golden opportunity to revitalize or transform a financially distressed city or region.
Justin.Fox， a business opinion journalist in Bloomberg， just made a prediction of Amazon’s HQ2 a week before the announcement. He said， just about everybody， myself included， expected Amazon.com Inc. to pick somewhere in the Washington area as the site of its much-ballyhooed second headquarters. Less expected has been the news that the company is contemplating not just one “HQ2” but two， and that while one is indeed expected to be located across the Potomac River from our nation’s capital， the other will reportedly be across the East River from Manhattan.
For Long Island City， the neighborhood in Queens where Amazon may put down roots， this status as a prospective technology hotbed is something new and different. For New York City， though， it really isn’t. New York already has lots of people working in tech， mainly in Manhattan， and growth in tech has been a major economic driver in recent years as employment in the financial sector has sputtered. The title of this article is “New York Is Already a Tech Town”--there are tons of people in the city doing the kinds of thing that Amazon does， which is probably why the company has set its sights on it.
As already thriving districts， Long Island City and Crystal City didn’t wait for Amazon to launch their renaissance. They were rewarded for their booming condo development， available housing， commercial viability and high-tech worker supply. While Amazon takes the criticism like an uppercut to the chin， there’s still a chance for some redemption if it builds HQ2-3 responsibly.
First， it’s noteworthy that tech companies are looking outside of the Bay Area and Seattle to begin with. This suggests that， as costs and competition for talent escalate， there are limits to expansion in any one metro area.
What’s less apparent are the second-order effects that will be set in motion by Amazon and Google’s expansion plans. Higher costs and congestion brought about by all these new tech workers in Northeast hubs will inevitably lead to some other workers and companies deciding against moving to New York and Washington. The costs might even prompt existing workers and companies to start searching for cheaper pastures.
Some may move to similar metro areas such as Boston， Philadelphia or Chicago， while others may go to smaller areas such as Raleigh， Nashville or Atlanta. Perhaps the $150，000 tech jobs will go to the richest cities. But the $90，000 tech jobs， unable to compete on cost， will have to go somewhere cheaper. The ripple effects will spread prosperity to more metro areas.
