A COMPATIBLE CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT.

in Arlington, Virginia (three D.C. area sites are finalists), noticed a boost in readership of a post about an award Arlington County received from the U.S. Green Building Council. The accolade apparently drew a high number of views from an Amazon web location working on HQ2.

In Texas, a business group blocked a bathroom bill last summer, before the Amazon competition began. But another attempt at such legislation in the state is possible in 2019.

“Study after study shows millennials in particular want to work for a company that is tions” for gays and lesbians. It’s a long list: Atlanta, Austin, Columbus, Dallas, Indianapolis, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Raleigh as well as Northern Virginia.

But no metropolitan area in contention will be as progay rights, pro-sustainability, pro-composting, pro-climbing walls, pro bring-dogs-towork as the home of HQ1. (Seattle has more dogs than children, and well-behaved dogs may spend time at work. What better way to keep employees Velcro-ed to their desks?)

Cities are naturally more Democratic than suburbs or rural areas, but the Amazon finalists are more so, voting for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by 57 per cent to 38 per cent, according to Echelon Insights, a research and analytics firm. Other Top 50 markets favoured Clinton by just three points.

Once Amazon selects a second headquarters, employees will usher in an unabashed Urbanism. They will demand non-car transportation options and prompt a big spike in housing costs. Seattle is often ranked as the nation’s fastest growing city, boasting, if that is the right word, rapidly rising housing and rental prices.

Over time, growth politics become all-consuming, pitting old-timers (you know, those with perhaps five years of residency) against newcomers in battles over density and traffic.

But starting almost from day one, the new headquarters city will get a huge boost from massive investment in real estate as tax coffers fill, new restaurants arise and newcomers bearing new ideas energize the place.

New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway thinks all the speculation about the new site is moot at this point.

“The cake is baked,” he said, and the winner is one of three D.C.-area sites. After all, D.C. is where Bezos recently acquired a huge house, where he and his family might want