Author: James A. Bacon
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Why Brat Beat Cantor
by James A. Bacon I rarely pontificate about congressional races but I live in the 7th Congressional District, so I believe I have a few insights into how David Brat slew Goliath, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. National media have examined the race through the prism of national issues such as immigration and the Tea Party. While…
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Note to Readers
I have added a new feature designed to block comment spam to the blog. As readers, you don’t see the spam but it fills my inbox and it slows the blog server. The feature requires everyone who registers and submits a comment to prove they are human by typing in a few letters displayed in a box. It’s…
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The Rise of Innovation Districts
by James A. Bacon The landscape of innovation has been dominated in the post-World War II era by places like Silicon Valley and the Research Triangle, suburban corridors of disconnected corporate campuses, accessibly only by car. But a new model — the innovation district — is emerging, contend Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner with the Brookings…
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The Smart Transit Revolution
by James A. Bacon Bridj, a Boston start-up, bills itself as “the world’s first smart transit system which uses big data and luxury shuttles to adjust to your individual commuting needs.” The company charges $6 per ride, or three times that of a city bus, but it provides Wi-Fi connectivity and luxury seats, and it saves…
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High School Graduation Rate, Too Good to Be True?
Over on the StatChat blog, Hamilton Lombard draws attention to the steady rise in high school graduation rates across Virginia. The percentage of graduating seniors was significantly higher in 2013 than 2008 for all major ethnic groups, most appreciably for blacks and Hispanics. That’s good news, as Lombard says, because a high school diploma opens…
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Combating Poverty with the Extended Family
by James A. Bacon One of the central debates about poverty in the United States has been the degree to which public policy should promote marriage. Children raised in two-parent families are less likely to grow up in poverty, goes the conservative argument. It’s not the marriage but the higher levels of education and income…
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Mobile Homes, Wealth Accumulation and the Poor
by James A. Bacon Manufactured dwellings — mobile homes, trailers, call them what you will — are a major source of affordable housing in the United States. But a few market reforms would make them even more affordable to lower- and middle-income families and make them better vehicles for accumulating wealth. That was the message…
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What Makes a Resilient Community?
by James A. Bacon During the depths of the Great Recession in 2008, hundreds of cars dropped off the Department of Motor Vehicle rolls in Washington, D.C. As then-director of planning Harriet Tregoning parsed the data, people were dialing back their expenses to make ends meet. Yes, that was a sign of economic hardship but it…
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Deconstructing Duany
by James A. Bacon Never in all the times over the years that I have heard Andres Duany speak, nor in those occasions in which I interviewed him, have I heard him utter a scintilla of partisan political sentiment. If I had to guess, I would say that he disdains both political parties. As he said yesterday of…
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Lean Urbanism: Cheaper, Faster, Smaller
by James A. Bacon Andres Duany, the leading theorist of the New Urbanism movement, has toured Detroit seven or eight times. The first trips consisted of what he calls “ruin porn” — post-apocalyptic landscapes of tumble-down houses, weeded lots and decrepit public buildings. But the most recent trip was very different. His guide conducted him through an…
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Buffalo, N.Y. — More First Impressions
by James A. Bacon Let me say up front that any comments you read in this post about Buffalo, N.Y., are totally superficial and devoid of authority. They are based upon a single stroll through downtown last night without benefit of an informed guide. Upon presentation of evidence to the contrary, I will recant everything! However,…
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Buffalo, Beer and Pot Roast
So, I rolled into Buffalo, N.Y., around 6:30 p.m. this evening, checked into my hotel, then looked for some action with fellow attendees of the Congress for the New Urbanism. I ran into fellow Richmonder Andy Boenau during a guided tour of the city’s historical canal district, we got hungry and we decided to get something to…
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Buffalo Hunting
I’m off to Buffalo, N.Y., to attend the 2014 Congress for the New Urbanism. I’ll be networking with fellow conservative and libertarian urbanists, and blogging as opportunity permits. I’ve never been to Buffalo before and I’m looking forward to learning more about the Empire State’s No. 2 city. — JAB
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The Cost of Automobile Crashes
by James A. Bacon Virginia transportation policy is driven overwhelmingly by a desire to mitigate transportation congestion and, to a lesser degree, to promote economic development. Rarely does traffic safety enter into the discussion of which transportation improvements we finance. As evidence that congestion is one of the state’s foremost pressing concerns, elected officials can point to…
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The Nation’s Leading Cluster of Financial Literacy
by James A. Bacon Back in April, I posted on a Wallethub survey ranking Virginia as the third most financially literate state in the country. Now comes a survey of the 100 best high schools in the country for teaching personal finance, as determined by Working In Support of Education (WISE). It turns out that 29 Virginia…