Author: James A. Bacon
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Parking Libre!
by James A. Bacon City planners in the District of Columbia want to waive parking requirements for new buildings near its 40 Metro stations. A change in the city’s zoning code, part of a comprehensive overhaul, would allow developers to determine how much parking, if any, was needed, reports the Wall Street Journal. Relaxation of…
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Bacon Drops into the Urbanism Speakeasy
Andy Boenau, a private-sector transportation planner in Richmond, is really passionate about his job — so passionate that in his spare time he publishes a blog and podcast, “Urbanism Speakeasy.” Every week he interviews people with fascinating perspectives on smart growth, New Urbanism and urban planning. In recent weeks, to mention just two examples, Andy…
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Can Henrico Hitch Its Economic Wagon to Washington?
Speaking of economic development (see previous post), give Henrico County credit for thinking differently. The Henrico County Economic Development Authority is marketing the county as an alternative, low-cost location for companies in the Washington region. I’m not sure the EDA has formulated a winning sales pitch yet, but as long as it keeps tinkering with…
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CCAM — the Right Kind of Economic Development
William Fulton, mayor of Ventura, Calif., and a columnist for Governing magazine, has singled out the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) for praise — for all the right reasons. Virginians should pay heed: While CCAM is highly regarded within narrow circles in the Old Dominion, it doesn’t get the attention it deserves, nor has…
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Better Government through Better Metrics
by James A. Bacon Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones wants to tackle the city’s entrenched poverty, and he wants to do it by investing smartly in community revitalization efforts. The big question is, what works? Supporting job training might seem a logical way for the city to lift people out of poverty. But what good is …
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Dulles’ Grand Plan
How is it that Northern Virginia, with some of the worst traffic headaches in the country, has embarked upon an economic development plan to bring thousands more trucks into the region? by Reed Fawell III In October 2005, the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF) got a wake-up call. Its transportation consultant reported that traffic heading east…
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Dogs and Bikes Welcome
I had a business meeting this morning at the Lamp Lighter in the fan. The coffee house is located on the gritty side of Cary Street but it draws a steady flow of customers — a disproportionate number of whom sport tattoos. What I loved most was this scene captured out front. Park your bikes,…
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McDonnell Solicits Ideas for “Air Rights” Development
The McDonnell administration is soliciting “innovative ideas” from the private sector to develop air rights at the Rosslyn Metro station in Arlington and the East Falls Church Metro station on Interstate 66. In administrative parlance, this solicitation is a “request for information,” which will gather feedback on the feasibility and types of development that could…
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No Easy Answers for American Legion Bridge
The last bridge built to span the Potomac River in the Washington region was the American Legion Memorial Bridge, part of the Capital Beltway, in 1962. The population of Montgomery and Fairfax counties, which the bridge connected, totaled about 600,000. In the intervening six decades, the combined populations now exceed 2.1 million, accounting for 36%…
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Map of the Day: Venture Capital Per Capita
Despite the presence of a vibrant high-tech community in Northern Virginia, the Old Dominion is a relative backwater in the venture capital world. But there is one exception, albeit a small one — Charlottesville. According to data published by economic geographer Richard Florida in the Atlantic Cities blog, when measured on a venture deals per…
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Violent Crimes Down in Virginia… If You Can Believe the Numbers
by James A. Bacon The incidence of violent crime increased 1.2% nationally in 2012 over the previous year, according to the latest Department of Justice Uniform Crime Report, but declined somewhat in Virginia’s most populous cities, as seen in the chart above. That appears to be good news, at least for Virginia. Sadly, questions are…
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Time to Consider New Downtown Parking Models in VA
In May Richmond City Council voted to increase the hourly rate for street parking downtown from $.50 to $.75 per hour with the goals of netting an additional $250,000 yearly in revenue and helping downtown businesses by increasing the turnover in parking spaces. By way of market research, according to the Times-Dispatch, city officials had…
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Cuccinelli Hints at New Formula for Road Construction
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has yet to roll out his promised comprehensive transportation plan, but he hinted in a Washington Post op-ed Friday that he won’t mince around with baby steps when he does. Instead of political reasoning, my administration would rely on a statewide traffic congestion index to determine how new construction is…
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Overzealous Agents… or Symptomatic of Something Deeper?
The NSA collects meta-data on everyone… The IRS cracks down on Tea Party 501(c)4 applications… The DOJ subpoenas Associated Press phone records and spies on Fox News reporter James Rosen… The abuse-of-power scandals in Washington, D.C., grows so long that we become almost inured. That sort of thing could never happen in Virginia, could it?…
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Parking Drove Richmond’s Gateway Plaza Participation
There’s a bit more to the Gateway Plaza than I blogged about yesterday. I caught up with Larry Chapman, a partner in Clayco, the company developing the $110 million office tower in downtown Richmond, and asked him why the City of Richmond needed to chip in $11.25 million to make the project happen. It’s all…