Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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The “Missing Middle”: Is it an Answer to the Affordable Housing Problem?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Three years ago, in one of his periodic pleas for more flexibility in zoning laws to enable more affordable housing, Jim Bacon discussed “missing middle” housing and noted that Arlington County was beginning to consider how to address that idea. Arlington released its study late last year and the concept and recommendations…
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Violence Prevention and TATs: A Dissenting Opinion
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been a lot of discussion on this blog about violence prevention committees and threat assessment teams (TAT). There have been disagreements over whether the University of Virginia is in compliance with state law as well as lamentations about the lack of enforcement where it is considered that an institution is…
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Not A Rubber Stamp After All
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin just got a lesson on how being governor is different from being CEO of a hedge fund. He just cannot get what he wants by fiat. The Board of Education, on which his appointees constitute a majority, on Thursday rebuffed the administration on two of its top priorities — Standards…
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The Times They Are A-Changin’
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In Halifax County, the home of the late former governor Bill Tuck, and a bastion of the Byrd machine, which gave Donald Trump, who wondered why we were taking in immigrants from “all these shithole countries,” about 57% of its votes in both 2016 and 2o2o, Sentara recently announced a new pediatrician…
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The History Standards: A Correction, An Apology, and Some Comments
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In an earlier post dealing with the proposed Standards of Learning in History and Social Studies, I complained that I could not find a copy of the earlier draft on the Department of Education website and suggested that it had been purged. I was mistaken. The draft is available on the website.…
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Potpourri
WEAPONS AT AIRPORTS It has long amazed and puzzled me that people think they can get away with taking guns and other weapons onto airplane flights. On Monday, a woman was caught at the Richmond airport with a loaded .380 caliber handgun in her carry-on bag. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reports that, as of…
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Richmond Slashes Permit Backlog and Delays
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The city government of Richmond has often taken a beating on these pages, usually deservedly so. Now, there is some good news to report. David Ress of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the city has significantly improved its permit processing times. For example, the time to process a building permit application dropped…
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Those History and Social Studies Learning Standards: Another Perspective
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Predictably, the Youngkin administration’s proposed Standards of Learning for History and Social Studies have created controversy. Being able to compare the administration’s proposal with the Standards developed by the previous Board of Education that were ready for consideration and adoption, but put on hold by the Superintendent of Instruction, would add some…
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As Election Day Approaches
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For most Virginians, this election season has been fairly quiet. In only three of the 11 Congressional districts has there been anything close to a contested election. Some local offices are on the ballot. Here and there is a bond referendum. There have been two major election issues in the news that…
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That Transparency Will Cost You
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Attorney General Jason Miyares promised “to increase transparency” in regard to elections. In fact, this was one of the motivations behind the creation of the Election Integrity Unit. However, it seems that this transparency comes with a price. As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Virginia NAACP filed a Freedom of Information…
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What Housing Slowdown?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I keep reading and hearing that the housing market has cooled. Well, the folks in my neighborhood have not gotten the message. About three weeks ago, a house a block and a half from me went on the market. It quickly went under contract. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a “For…
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Clarification and Additional Information
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In a recent article, I discussed the progress that the Department of Education (DOE) and the Board of Education have made toward fulfilling two of the top educational priorities of the administration—increasing the SOL “cut scores” and revamping the school accreditation process. In my research for the article, I overlooked, and thus…
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Youngkin’s Get Well Soon Card
“Listen, I want to stop for a minute and — listen — Speaker Pelosi’s husband had a break-in last night in their house and he was assaulted. There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re going to send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re going to go do,” Youngkin said.
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Election’s Over; Time to Govern
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The fall in the NAEP test scores of Virginia fourth-graders is alarming. A decrease itself is not surprising; in fact, it was expected in the wake of the disruption in schools caused by the pandemic. It is the magnitude of the decrease that is surprising and alarming. That it was the largest…
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Ah, Those Woke Prosecutors!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Here is a quiz. Below is the description of a crime that was released by the public information office of a Virginia locality. The killer pled guilty to charges of first-degree murder, attempted robbery (2 counts) and use of a firearm (3 counts). The judge sentenced him to 63 years in prison…