Discussion

Amazon and Tax Myth

Amazon assures anyone who asks that they are just fulfilling the obligations that are legally required.  You don’t like it you must blame the tax codes. Amazon reported $1.7 billion in federal income tax expense in 2020 and $1.8 billion in other federal taxes,...

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The Myth of Amazon Job Creation

There is this blind faith that wherever Amazon comes, jobs will be created.  It is not true.  Studies have shown over and over again that there are no net gains in jobs, In fact, at year three in almost every single location, there is no net area job gain. It disrupts...

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Amazon Stifeling Jobs

Sometimes prescient studies are buried into obscurity, even though the accuracy remains current and applicable 5 years later.  That is the case here with the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-reliance. AMAZON'S STRANGLEHOLD: HOW THE COMPANY'S TIGHTENING GRIP IS...

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Understanding How the Amazon Flex Delivery System Works

UNDERSTANDING HOW THE AMAZON FLEX DELIVERY SYSTEM WORKS April 30, 2021 As we research the effect of distribution centers, and in particular how Amazon operates as it is the apparent force behind the Hillwood proposal in Churchill, we collect background on aspects of...

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Developers Defenses Against NIMBY

April 27, 2021 If you want to be effective in defeating a real estate development, it is critical to understand how developers counter these objections.  And they encounter them all the time.  Most people do not like change and any little change will inevitably...

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Won’t you not be my neighbor?

That is the question many residents of Churchill are asking Amazon. Hillwood Development plans to build an Amazon distribution center on the former Westinghouse site in Churchill. The footprint will be over 600,000 square feet, the total square footage over 2.9...

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Amazon Working Conditions

Amazon has set a very high standard for ease in ordering and speed in delivery of products.  It has forced other companies to raise their standards in order to compete. By understanding what actually takes place in an Amazon distribution center, we can better evaluate...

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Fulfillment: winning and losing in one-click America

April 19, 2021 I read this book (Fulfillment: winning and losing in one-click America) over the weekend of April 17 and 18.  I used half a pad of yellow post-ums for pages to read again more closely.  It confirms everything I have found from searching the web since...

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Amazon Secrecy in Action

April 19, 2021 First hats off to Alec MacGillis, a reporter for ProPublica, for his long-term reporting and recent book with finely detailed references and sources for much of what I discuss below.  So anyone can go look up dozens of pages of tiny print resources on...

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Tree loss in Churchill Borough

April 16, 2021 Tree loss in Churchill Borough will have adverse effects on health, community life, and water runoff.  This subject needs closer attention in light of the drastic destruction of trees required for the Hillwood distribution center for Amazon. There is a...

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