Year: 2012
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Who Is Mamadi Diané, and Why Did He Serve on the MWAA Board So Long?
by James A. Bacon Consider the odd case of Mamadi Diané. The former Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board member, whose term expired last year, was cited, though not by name, in two recent letters during the General Assembly imbroglio over Virginia’s representation to the tri-state authority. The McDonnell administration was lobbying Del. David Toscano,…
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Fleeced by the Fed
Fed’s zero interest rate bails out Wall Street and Treasury, sinks middle class by James A. Bacon The Federal Reserve Board announced plans last Tuesday to keep short-term interest rates at near zero for another three years and said it might embark upon another bond-buying program to drive down long-term interest rates. The stock market…
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The Ultrasound Abortion
By Peter Galuszka Abortion is always a very unpleasant topic just as it must be horrendous for a woman to be in a position to make such as choice. Still, it is her constitutional right, the law of the land. So, after years of trying, Virginia’s conservative legislators are on the verge of putting themselves,…
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Beware Optimistic Traffic Forecasts
by James A. Bacon Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA), a transportation consulting firm, is scheduled to soon complete its third traffic and revenue forecast for the Dulles Toll Road for use in a final go/no go decision on Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project. Don’t trust the results, says a study released Friday by the Reston…
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Obama Sees the Light (Well, He Sees Part of It)
by James A. Bacon Give President Obama a modicum of credit: He finally recognizes that there’s more to increasing the affordability of higher education than shoveling tens of billions of federal scholarships and loans at students. Someone also has to constrain the increasing tuitions. Yesterday, the president warned colleges and universities to cut costs or…
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Up to Our Alligators As Area Warms?
By Peter Galuszka Holy magnolia! The area just south of Washington on the Potomac River and all the way north of Baltimore on the shores of Chesapeake Bay have become noticeable warmer over the past 22 years. Consequently, it is possible to grow species of plants in that zone that previously needed warmer, more southerly…
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What’s the Case for Inter-City Rail?
Inter-city passenger rail service is a wonderful thing… if it can pay its own way. The folks at the Department of Rail and Public Transportation managed to cut a really favorable deal with Amtrak, so the Virginia-backed regional service connecting Lynchburg and Richmond with Washington are both break-even propositions — virtually unheard of elsewhere in…
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The Kings Dominion Law Survives Another Round
Apparently, there are competing visions on how Virginia can thrive in a globally competitive economy amidst rapid technological change. One vision makes it a top priority to educate our children in order to equip them with the knowledge and skills required to be creative, economically productive citizens across a wide variety of disciplines. Another vision…
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The Tab for Tysons Transportation: $3 Billion and Counting
by James A. Bacon How much will it cost to build the transportation improvements needed to accommodate the increased density of the new-and-improved Tysons Corner? The Fairfax Department of Transportation issued updated estimates last week at a meeting of the Tysons committee of the Fairfax County Planning Commission (PCTC) — and the estimate increased 20%…
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Can “Objective” Ratings for NoVa Transportation Projects Be Truly Objective?
by James A. Bacon Del. Jim LeMunyon, R-Oak Hill, and Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Burke, have introduced companion bills (HB 599 and SB 531) that would require the Commonwealth Transportation Board to evaluate “all significant transportation projects in and near the Northern Virginia Transportation District” for the purpose of providing an objective, quantitative rating for each…
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Does Vlad Have the Right Idea?
By Peter Galuszka As conservatives argue about cutting deficits and keeping low taxes for the rich both in Virginia and nationally, a bigger question is coming up: does Vladimir I. Lenin actually have the answer? Sounds strange, I know, but not if you read Britain’s center-right weekly business newsweekly, The Economist. In a leader titled,…
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U.S. 460 Project as Economic Development Powerhouse
by James A. Bacon The McDonnell administration’s thinking behind the $1.6 billion reconstruction of U.S. 460 between Suffolk and Petersburg has come into clearer focus with the publication of an economic study by Chmura Economics & Analytics. The I-85 Connector, as the administration has dubbed the project, will have an annual estimated economic impact of…
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A Misdirected Attack on UDAs
by James A. Bacon With Virginia Tea Party activists egging them on, Republican legislators have submitted at least six bills that would repeal the Urban Development Area (UDA) requirement for Virginia localities. Overturning the law would eliminate an important tool for local governments to contain growth-related costs and hold down taxes — presumably a high…
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McDonnell Budget Short-Changes General Fund Programs
The Commonwealth Institute has come out swinging with the toughest critique of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed 2013-14 budget that I have yet seen. States a new report, “Reality Check,” written by Sara Okos and Michael J. Cassidy: Instead of reforming, reallocating and reinvesting in the programs that make government more efficient, effective and accountable, the…
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McDonnell Seeks Private-Sector Input on Operations Centers
by James A. Bacon Phew, it’s hard keeping up with all the transportation initiatives flying out of the McDonnell administration. I’m breaking a sweat here at the Bacon’s Rebellion command center just tracking the press releases! Here’s the latest: The Virginia Department of Transportation is seeking private-sector ideas to “operate, integrate and innovate” the state’s…