Author: James A. Bacon
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Yup, Cities Are Safer than Suburbs and Countryside
Another study has come out suggesting that life in the city is safer than life in the suburbs and countryside. In “Safety in Numbers: Are Major Cities the Safest Places in the United States,” Sage R. Myers and several co-authors run the numbers on fatal injuries from a wide range of causes, ranging from murders,…
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Will More Gov’t Spending Reduce Richmond Food Insecurity?
by James A. Bacon After two years of deliberations, a Richmond Food Policy Task Force has issued recommendations for tackling so-called “food deserts” in low-income city neighborhoods racked by obesity and food insecurity. I was anticipating a touchy-feely report full of good intentions divorced from real-world considerations. My worst fears were not confirmed. Although they…
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IG of the Day: Local Gov’t Payrolls
Virginia cities rank among the highest in the nation for the number of local government employees expressed as a ratio of the population, according to data compiled by the Washington Examiner. Richmond ranked 5th with one city worker for every 39 residents. Norfolk scored in the top quintile with one worker for every 44 residents,…
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Why Do People Visit Spain, Not Virginia, to See Smart Cities in Action?
by James A. Bacon Spain’s economy is a wreck, or so we surmise from the dismal drum beat of news about the European Union. The country is in recession, unemployment is nearly 27% and central government staggers from crisis to crisis. Yet, somehow, Spanish cities manage to stay on the forefront of harnessing technology to…
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You’ve Built It. Will They Come?
by James A. Bacon The Washington Metro system is bracing for its toughest challenge since opening 37 years ago — persuading people to ride the Silver Line to Tysons. So argued Dana Hedgpeth and Scott Clement in the Washington Post yesterday. Drawing upon the results of a WaPo poll, they suggest that Northern Virginians rely…
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Should Dulles Co-opt NoVa Economic Development?
by James A. Bacon Last week, Reed Fawell III noted in his article on this blog, “A Mortgage on Northern Virginia’s Future,” that few Northern Virginians or Washingtonians had paused to ask whether the massive road investments proposed to advance Washington Dulles International Airport as an air-cargo hub made sense. But clearly people are beginning to…
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Boomergeddon Watch: Detroit
Defenders of the leviathan state were getting so hopeful. The U.S. budget deficit is well below $1 trillion a year, the economy is still growing, the health care cost curve shows signs of bending and even California has a balanced budget. Things may not be great right now, but they’re mending. All that talk about…
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A Mortgage on NoVa’s Future
Dulles’ speculative bid to become a national air-cargo hub dominates the transportation, growth and economic-development agenda of Northern Virginia. Can it succeed? And if it does, will it crowd out other paths to prosperity?
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Drip… Drip… Drip…
Dude, why are you even here? So, it turns out that Governor Bob McDonnell asked Virginia’s health secretary to meet with his pal, Jonnie Williams Sr., CEO of Star Scientific. The Washington Post seems to think that such a request is worth a full-length news article in today’s newspaper. Health Secretary Bill Hazel told the…
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Who Speaks for the Parents of “Normal” Kids?
Julie Landry’s autistic son had trouble adapting to 2nd grade in Fairfax County schools. The rambunctious lad was prone to outbursts. In one incident in April, the boy ignored instructions during P.E. class, ran around the gym, yelling and throwing volleyballs, and, when teachers tried to restrain him, punched, kicked, head-butted and bit multiple staff…
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Oysters and Other Biological Breakwaters
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to go about buttressing Virginia’s waterfront communities from flooding, storm surges and other risks associated with rising water levels: with hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure. Hard infrastructure consists of walls, levees, berms, jetties, pipes, pumps, sand replenishment and other expensive, engineered solutions. Soft infrastructure entails building up of biological…
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IG of the Day: Federal Contracts in Virginia
This map, published in the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy’s “Virginia Economic Forecast 2013-2014,” shows how dependent the economies of Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and the Interstate 95 corridor as far south as Hanover County are upon federal contracts. — JAB
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Another Year, Another (Small) Budget Surplus
Overlooked in the frenzied weekend coverage of Governor Bob McDonnell’s “GiftGate” debacle: The Commonwealth of Virginia closed Fiscal 2013 with a $262 million budget surplus. State officials attributed the outcome to stronger-than-expected revenue growth of 5.3%, which surpassed the revised revenue forecast of 3.6%. McDonnell credited “prudent fiscal management” and a reallocation of state funds…
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Another Tired Defense of the Henrico Status Quo
Addressing the Henrico Business Council, County Manager John Vithoulkas made a familiar case for a 4% meals tax yesterday. The county, which has already cut to the bone, faces another $100 million revenue shortfall over the next five years, due in great part to the recent recognition of its massive pension obligations. A meals tax…
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The Secrets of the Governor’s Mansion
by James A. Bacon Enough is enough. GiftGate has expanded beyond the point where there are reasonable explanations that Governor Bob McDonnell can offer for his behavior. The drip-drip-drip of revelations has steadily eroded my confidence since May, when I offered a lukewarm defense of the governor in “Still Looking for the Scandal.” Now there…