Author: James A. Bacon
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Quieter Roads Coming to a Neighborhood Near You
If you live near a noisy road or highway, help is on the way: The Virginia Department of Transportation is studying quiet pavement technologies. And according to an interim report to the General Assembly, new pavement surfaces deployed in demonstration projects near Williamsburg and in Leesburg “were “noticeably quieter” on average. If the noise reductions…
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4th of July Ruminations upon the Income Gap
by James A. Bacon America, we are being reminded on this 4th of July, was a lot more equal in the time of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin than it is today. Historical research suggests that the Top 1% accounted for 8.5% of the proto-nation’s income in 1776 versus 20% today — a difference that…
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No Stopping Rail-to-Dulles Now
by James A. Bacon The final obstacle to construction of Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project fell yesterday when the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to fund its estimated $270 million share of the project. Now all four funding partners — Loudoun, Fairfax County, the commonwealth of Virginia and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority…
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Freedom’s New Frontier: Basement Apartments
by James A. Bacon Let’s see… On the one hand, the economy is still in the tank, wages are stagnating and the cost of housing in desirable locations (near jobs) remains out of reach for many Americans. On the other, millions of homeowners, many of them childless, would love to monetize the spare square footage…
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Medicaid Expansion a Dangerous Choice for Virginia
by James A. Bacon Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, Virginia now faces the choice of whether or not to expand its Medicaid program. We are sure to hear many arguments along the line of Judy Solomon with the Center for Budget Priorities that Medicaid expansion is a “good deal for states.” She…
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Housecleaning on State Mandates
by James A. Bacon Yesterday, July 1, marked the day when bills enacted into law earlier this year went into effect. Among other changes in the way we conduct the affairs of local government, cities and counties are no longer required to obtain permission from the Virginia Department of Transportation to install red light cameras!…
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McDonnell Bolsters UVa Board, Keeps Dragas
Governor Bob McDonnell has put his stamp on the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, reappointing its lightning-rod Rector Helen Dragas, replacing five old board members and appointing two “senior advisors.” “Cognizant of the need for varied and wide-ranging voices, I have appointed competent professionals to the board who come from the fields of academia,…
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The Coming Medicaid Battle
The Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare now presents Virginia with a huge decision. While most attention has focused on the legality of the Obamacare “mandate,” the Supremes also determined that Congress cannot compel the states to participate in the expansion of Medicaid. Thus, the General Assembly will have to decide whether or not Virginia will…
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O’Bummer
by James A. Bacon Yeah, I’m bummed out by the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, although it does contain a silver lining in declaring that there is a limit to Congress’ ability to invoke the Interstate Commerce Clause to regulate anything and everything. That’s no small consolation. And, yeah, I do feel lied to. The…
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Health Care’s Big Victory
Posted on behalf of Peter Galuszka, who is out of town today. — JAB The U.S. Supreme Court’s surprising and wise decision backing the vast majority of the Affordable Care Act is a major victory for ordinary Virginians, tens of thousands of whom up to now don’t have or can’t afford health insurance. The victory…
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Money for the Bi-County Parkway? I’ve Got a Nice Fireplace. Perhaps You’d Like to Burn Your Money There Instead.
by James A. Bacon I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Buried within the massive Six Year Improvement Program approved by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) last week was a line item that provides $5 million for preliminary engineering and design of the Bi-County Parkway (BCP). The parkway, the dream of a vocal element…
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Population Growth Shifting to Cities
And the evidence just keeps pouring in… Growth and development in metropolitan regions is shifting from the periphery to the core. I’ve made that point previously by pointing out that property values tend to be rising in metro cores and falling in the periphery. Now comes Census Bureau data that population growth in “cities” (presumably…
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UVa Needs Someone Who Thinks like Helen Dragas but Isn’t Helen Dragas
Governor Bob McDonnell soon will reveal his appointments to replace three members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, including Rector Helen Dragas. The sad truth is that, despite the BoV’s recent vote of support for her, Dragas is damaged goods. She rushed through the forced resignation of President Teresa Sullivan without respect for…
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Pssst, I Heard this Rumor that There’s an Oil and Gas Boom in the U.S.
by James A. Bacon I never cease to be amazed by the cluelessness of alternative energy advocates. They endlessly repeat the mantra about United States dependence upon foreign source of oil as justification for investing billions in clean energy sources that supposedly will give our economy a huge lift. It’s as if the most important…
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Sullivan Back In
The Board of Visitors has reinstated Teresa A. Sullivan as president of the University of Virginia while also expressing support for Rector Helen E. Dragas, the university news service has reported. Dragas had taken a leading role in forcing her resignation, effective August, earlier this month. Given the overwhelming support Sullivan enjoyed among faculty, staff…