Author: James A. Bacon
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Richmond’s Edge in Logistics: Human Capital
The Richmond region has the potential to become a leading center of shipping and distribution, and logistics could become one of the key drivers of the regional economy, concludes a report prepared by the Logistics Task Force of Richmond’s Future, “The Future of Logistics in the Richmond Region: Getting to the Tipping Point.” Over and…
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Red State, Blue State, Old State, New State
by James A. Bacon The American people have chosen four more years of partisan gridlock in Washington. There is a remote chance that President Obama and a Republican-dominated House of Representatives will reach a grand compromise to put the country back onto a fiscally sustainable path, but I’m not holding my breath. I foresee four…
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Who Runs UVa?
By Reed Fawell Last month, the University of Virginia received the extraordinary news that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges was investigating the integrity of its Board of Visitors for the manner in which it had removed President Teresa Sullivan last summer. The Commission informed the university that it would refer…
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Danger, White People Voting!
Our long, national nightmare is almost over — the presidential election campaign of 2008 is fiiiiinally drawing to a close. There was a very long line this morning at my lily-white, Republican-tilting precinct in Henrico County. Thanks to a malfunctioning voting booth — voter suppression!! — it was a 50-minute wait. Due to my congenital…
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Thinking the Big Thoughts about Transportation Planning
by James A. Bacon Under the auspices of updating the VTrans 2035 transportation plan, the McDonnell administration is executing a far-reaching overhaul of Virginia’s strategic planning process. The new approach would use performance metrics for such criteria as safety, congestion, the economy and the environment to create a data-driven system for prioritizing transportation projects. The…
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The MWAA Contracting Scandal
by James A. Bacon Thanks to the Inspector General’s report, we know that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has played fast and loose with expense accounts and hiring practices. Super Bowl tickets. Junkets to Europe. Relatives on the payroll. Sweetheart deals with former board members. It’s an ugly picture… but it’s not the real…
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Taming the Asphalt Jungle
Rain gardens and pervious pavers are encroaching on hard surfaces as Richmond’s three-year-old stormwater utility rolls out programs to control flooding and reduce runoff into the James.
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Fall Folly
If there’s one thing more ridiculous than the suburban ritual of cutting the grass lawn once a week (see “The Grass Isn’t Always Greener“), it’s the demented ritual of raking leaves every autumn. Leaf raking defies reason. Americans expend hundreds of millions of man hours yearly moving leaves from one spot to another. It’s like…
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MWAA: Even Worse than We Thought
The interim Inspector General’s audit of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, issued earlier this year, was scathing, documenting the abuses of a runaway board of directors. The final report, issued yesterday, is even more devastating. You know it’s bad when the title of the report — “MWAA’s Weak Policies and Procedures Have Led to Questionable…
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APM’s Case for Port Privatization
Privately owned APM Terminals provides something for Virginia’s ports that the state cannot: super-efficient container yards and the ability to expand capacity without incurring $2 billion in debt.
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Uh, Oh, Irresistible Force Meets Immovable Object
The $1.4 billion U.S. 460 Connector has hit a roadblock: The Army Corps of Engineers is not ready to sign off on the route selected by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), reports Dave Forster with the Virginian-Pilot. VDOT’s proposed route for the Interstate-grade highway, which would parallel the existing U.S. 460, is not the…
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Celanese Cypher: Why Did the State Contribute $2 Million?
by James A. Bacon Celanese Corporation has announced that it will invest $150 million at its Giles County chemical plant to replace coal-fired boilers with natural gas-fired boilers. The project, in conjunction with unspecified “other efforts” at the site, will create 22 full-time Celanese positions and employ 200 construction workers. Noting that Virginia competed against…
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Moral Hazard and the Federalization of the Disaster Business
According to a graphic displayed on the “Morning Joe” show on MSNBC this morning, Hurricane Sandy will be the second most expensive hurricane in United States history, after Katrina. The usual suspects will use information like this to argue that a bigger, stronger federal government is needed (a) to respond to natural disasters, and (b)…
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Idea Jam: Bicycles and Community Health
The Richmond metropolitan region has one of the highest obesity rates in the country — 29.4% of the population compared to 26.1% nationally, according to the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index. The resulting health care treatment costs the region $520 million a year. Cutting obesity in half would save the regional economy roughly $254 million…
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More Internet Sociology on Dropout Rates
by James A. Bacon In a blog post yesterday, I observed that, while blacks are more prone to drop out from high school than whites statewide, in some 30 rural Virginia localities, blacks showed a lower dropout rate. In Nottoway County, the drop-out gap between blacks and whites was 14 percentage points for the class…