Author: James A. Bacon
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Online Learning on a Roll: Picture a Steamroller that Accelerates like a Ferrari
Sophia Naide, a high school student in Northern Virginia, is studying Computer Science 101 with her mother. Is she taking a high school course? No. Is she enrolled in a community college? George Mason University? The Virginia Tech satellite campus? No, no, no. She signed up for a free, online course with Coursera, the online…
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A Suburban Boy Can Survive!
The definition of what constitutes a “sustainable” community continues to evolve as entrepreneurs introduce innovations into the marketplace. A fascinating, if potentially flawed, example is Foxmont in western Fairfax County, which is being developed by environmentalist and attorney Jay Zawatsky. In 300 acres west of Centreville, Zawatsky has plotted 14 five-acre lots for his first…
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Hi-ho, Heyo, It’s Off to Blacksburg We Go!
Yesterday I argued that the economic odds were stacked against Virginia’s smaller metropolitan areas when it came to stimulating the start-up and growth of technology businesses. Economies of scale in the knowledge economy, I suggested, favor large regions with larger, more diverse labor pools. Could I have been wrong? (What, me wrong? Never!) This morning,…
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Innovation and Business-Establishment Density
by James A. Bacon In previous posts, I have postulated that some human settlement patterns do more than others to promote creativity and innovation. Following the lead of such thinkers as urbanist Jane Adams, architect Leon Krier and economic geographer Richard Florida, I have suggested that certain urban forms — cul de sac subdivisions, massive…
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Chart of the Day: Virginia’s Clean Jobs
I’m ambivalent about economic studies on the “clean” economy for at least two reasons. First, authors of such studies equate “clean” largely with “low-carbon.” Thus, a nuclear power plant is “clean” because it has no carbon dioxide emissions, even if it stockpiles radioactive nuclear waste, while a natural gas pipeline, which delivers non-polluting natural gas…
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The Blessing and Curse of Charlottesville for High Tech
Four Charlottesville companies were named this year to the Inc. 5,000 list of fastest growing companies: SNL Financial, WillowTree Apps, Search Mojo and Silverchair Holdings. All four firms are located in downtown Charlottesville, which is emerging as a high-tech district of sorts. Proximity to a leading university and its supply of engineering and IT graduates…
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Citizen Input on the Charlottesville Bypass: Influencing the Edge of the Periphery of the Margins
Let me set the scene… The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has allocated $200 million to build the Charlottesville Bypass and has selected a contractor to move the project forward. Before construction can commence, the state must submit an Environmental Assessment (EA) for final approval by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). But the bypass design…
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Will Virginia Flub the MFUB Challenge?
Sooner or later the United States will embrace Mileage Based User Fees (MFUBs) as a financing tool for roads and highways. The idea makes so much sense that even American politicians can understand it. Every vehicle owner should pay taxes for road maintenance in direct proportion to which he contributes to the need for that…
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The Entertainment Economy — Double-Edged Sword
by James A. Bacon As robots, artificial intelligence and other labor saving innovations penetrate the economy, traditional jobs that entail making things or providing routine services — Toro is testing a robotic lawn mower for golf courses, for Pete’s sake — could disappear. The only jobs that will be left, it seems, are those in…
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The Biggest Transportation Game Changer of All
In a recent post, “Fixing Transportation Takes More than Money,” I argued, among other things, that it is useless to forecast the need for future transportation capacity based on past trends. I neglected to mention one of the greatest game changers on the horizon: Intelligent vehicles. The ability of cars (1) to sense one another…
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The Madness of Building in Flood-Prone Areas
My skepticism of Global Warming alarmism is well documented on this blog. But being skeptical of chicken-little, the-world-is-going-to-end hysteria is very different from being skeptical of the fact that global temperatures are rising and so is the sea level along with it. We can argue how rapidly sea levels are rising but not the fact…
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Cool Richmond: Two Hours from the Beach… and One Minute from Itself
by James A. Bacon The denizens of River City are ecstatic about Outside magazine’s designation of Richmond as the “Best River Town in America.” The recognition is very cool, considering the competition. Better than Ashville, N.C., and Durango, Colo., cities known for their connection to the great outdoors? Yessss! (Fist pump!) Cynics might observe that…
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Fixing Transportation Takes More than Money
Yes, Virginia, the Old Dominion has a transportation funding crisis. The problem has been highlighted for the upteenth time in a letter from government leaders from urban crescent encompassing Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. (See previous post.) Everybody knows there isn’t enough money to support, much less modernize, Virginia’s transportation system. But that’s where…
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Virginia’s Urban Crescent Needs Transportation Funding, Say Mayors and Chairs
Inaction on growing traffic congestion in the state’s urban crescent is undermining the state’s quality of life and its economic competitiveness, warn 38 “mayors and chairs” of Virginia local governments in a letter to Governor Bob McDonnell and leaders of the General Assembly. “The Urban Crescent’s economic health is vital to the Commonwealth, and without…
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After a Town Is Buried, Controversy Still Rages
In Colorado and Virginia residents debate whether proposed uranium mills will help or hinder their economies. by Rose Jenkins To reach the place where an entire town had been dismantled and buried in a Superfund cleanup, I traveled through coils of red rock canyons—sheer cliffs that enclosed the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers in southwest…