Author: James A. Bacon
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Graduation Rates and White Social Pathology
by James A. Bacon Over the weekend, I heard a story that a teacher from Wilkes County, N.C. in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, told about discipline problems he had encountered at school. My friend kept us spellbound as he described how a trouble maker, whose mother had taught him “not to take…
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Tourism and the Creative Class
by James A. Bacon A draft plan written by PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP makes a valuable contribution to thinking realistically and creatively about Virginia tourism. The “Virginia State Tourism Plan” comes tantalizingly close to integrating the development of tourism initiatives with economic development in the Knowledge Economy… but never quite completes the loop. Virginians have long touted…
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New Criticisms of the U.S. 460 Connector
by James A. Bacon The state of Virginia is putting $400 million more of its own cash — $1.18 billion in all — into the U.S. 460 Connector under a recently announced deal financing than it would have under a public-private partnership contemplated two years ago, writes Peter Samuel, proprietor of Toll Road News in…
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The Grass Isn’t Always Greener
The de-lawning movement is slowly taking hold in the Richmond region. Converting grass into flower beds and vegetable gardens creates more attractive yards, cuts the expense of lawn maintenance and helps clean the Bay.
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Virginia Immigrants: More Prosperous than the Natives
With more than 900,000 foreign-born residents living here in 2010, Virginia had the ninth largest immigrant population in the United States, reports the Commonwealth Institute in a new report, “Critical Assets: The State of Immigrants in Virginia’s Economy.” Forty percent of Virginia immigrants hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. They are more likely to participate…
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Another Dismaying Governance Ranking for Virginia
Add another abuse to the list of Virginia’s governance flaws: The Old Dominion ranks 5th among the 50 states for the most gerrymandered congressional districts. In a new study, “Redrawing the Map on Redistricting: 2012 Addendum,” Azavea, a Philadelphia-based GIS company, is careful to say that the metrics it applies to the nation’s 435 congressional…
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The Latest in Bicycle Design: Munchkin-Hauling Electric Bikes
If anyone is still skeptical that bicycling will continue to gain transportation market share, consider the new bicycle designs that appeal to every conceivable demographic. The latest case in point: Japan’s Bridgestone, known for its automobile tires, has sold 300,000 of the bicycles (displayed at right) that cater to moms with tots. The electric bike,…
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Are Virginia’s Dropout Numbers Too Good to Be True?
by James A. Bacon Virginia appears to be making extraordinary progress in reducing the high school drop-out rate in public schools, according to data released yesterday by the McDonnell administration. The statewide dropout rate fell to 6.5 percent for the class of 2012, compared to 7.2 percent for the class of 2011 — a huge…
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A Sensible Idea for Marketing Virginia
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) is partnering with Virginia’s public institutions of higher education to generate more leads for corporate recruitment. A Memorandum of Understanding signed by VEDP, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and Virginia public colleges and universities, establishes the goals of promoting “core strengths, assets and expertise of…
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Yeah, Bike Lanes Actually Do Reduce Cycling Accidents
An interesting view about bicycle safety has long prevailed among traffic engineers: Cyclists are better off in the long run learning to ride in traffic with automobiles than having their own dedicated bike lanes. This counter-intuitive idea can be traced back to a certain John Forester, popularizer of “vehicular cycling,” who argued that bikers should…
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Repeat after Me: A Smaller Increase in Defense Spending Is Not a “Cut” in Defense Spending.
Defense cuts may have less impact on Virginia’s economy than many commentators, including myself, have feared. Much ado has been made of what “sequestration” — automatic spending cuts imposed upon the defense budget if Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on any other form of debt reduction — will have upon the Old Dominion’s defense-dependent economy.…
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Revisiting Transportation’s Black Hole
by James A. Bacon Earlier this week, I published data compiled by the Richmond Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization illuminating the vast disparities in regional transportation funding — not just in absolute dollars, but on a dollars-per capita basis. In FY 2012 and FY 2013, Northern Virginia got the lion’s share of state transportation spending, putting…
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Concrete Exec Advocates “Two Pavement” Road System
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) spends only 7.6% of its paving dollars on concrete, as opposed to asphalt, and the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the American Concrete Paving Association wants a bigger piece of the action. Pitching the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) Wednesday, Executive Director Robert R. Long Jr., outlined four “opportunities” for the state…
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McDonnell Team Pushes New Transit-Funding Scheme
by James A. Bacon Virginia should overhaul its funding formulas to reward local transit companies for superior productivity and performance, argued Thelma Drake, director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) during a presentation yesterday of the McDonnell administration’s funding reform plan to the Commonwealth Transportation Board. “The current system dates back to…
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Virginia: A Bike Semi-Friendly State
Virginia has received a 17th-place ranking in the League of American Bicyclists’ 2012 list of bicycle-friendly states, communities, universities and businesses. States and communities are scored on the basis of physical infrastructure, education programs, incentives and promotions, law enforcement and a commitment to plan for the future. Given the recent emergence of a bicycle movement…