Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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On the Renaming of Community Colleges
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A school task force has recommended that John Tyler Community College be renamed Brightpoint Community College. I can understand getting rid of the John Tyler name. He was a slaveholder and a member of the Confederate Congress. He also happened to be a former president of the United States, but only because…
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What Goes Up Stays Up
By Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the explanations for the increase in the cost of new housing recently has been the surge in the costs of raw materials. Builders have been forced to pass those increased costs on to buyers. Indeed, prices of materials, such as lumber, did increase significantly this last year, reaching a high…
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Psst! We Have Some Beds for You
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Something just does not seem right about this. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that the state has temporarily halted admissions to its mental health hospitals. In addition to being overcrowded, on Friday, Central State Hospital in Petersburg had more patients than beds, the hospitals have lost a significant number of staff and…
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What’s Youngkin Afraid Of?
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for governor has declined to participate in what has become a traditional kick-off for gubernatorial candidates, a debate at the annual meeting of the Virginia Bar Association. His reason — the moderator gave $250 in 2010 to a Haitian disaster relief fund run by the Clinton Foundation.…
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A Warning for Democrats
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Ross Douthat, a New York Times columnist, has written a couple of pieces that provide the best synopsis and analysis of the current controversy over teaching race and racial history that I have seen. (The columns can be found here and here.) He starts off with a perceptive comment on the current…
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Print Me a House
By Dick Hall-Sizemore For someone who stays away from housing issues, I now have my second one in two days. Yesterday, I expressed dismay at the price tag on new “affordable” homes. Today’s topic is 3D printed homes. As strange as that may sound, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported yesterday that work has begun in Richmond…
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Sticker Shock
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I will be the first to admit that public housing policy is beyond my area of expertise. But, I am often amazed and befuddled at the cost of what is supposedly “affordable” housing. Creighton Court is a traditional public housing complex in Richmond. The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority has decided to…
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School Board Fails on First Amendment
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Loudoun County School Board has gone too far by disciplining a teacher for speaking in opposition to a proposed Board policy. Tanner Cross, a physical education teacher, appeared before the Board at a meeting in May in opposition to a proposed policy regarding LGBTQ students. One of the provisions of the…
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Virginia Ratifies!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore On this date, 233 years ago, June 25, 1788, Virginia ratified the United States Constitution. The stakes could not have been higher. Ratification by nine states was required for the Constitution to go into effect. When the delegates to the ratifying convention began their deliberations on June 2, they knew that eight…
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From Farming Corn to Electrons
By Dick Hall-Sizemore In light of recent denials by local governing bodies, there has been some skepticism expressed on this blog as to whether the Commonwealth could meet its goals on solar energy. Going against recent trends, however, has been the city of Chesapeake. According to the Virginian-Pilot, the city council recently approved an application…
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Trees and the Chesapeake Bay
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There was a scuffle on this blog a few days ago over the production of more hardwood seedlings by the Department of Forestry. There were some who questioned the efficacy of planting more trees in the attempt to mitigate climate change. Others questioned why the state should be subsidizing the production of…
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Some Thoughts on Local Government Finance
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The recent posts and comments concerning the reversion of the city of Martinsville to town status (see here, here, and here) provide a good opportunity to discuss the complexity of local government finance and the limitations of using simplistic measures to compare governments. Jim Sherlock referred to the “wreckage” of Martinsville, which…
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The COVID Restrictions Have Been Lifted!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore We now have been a week without state-imposed COVID restrictions. No social distancing. No restrictions on venues opening. I can go to my grandson’s graduation tonight. Kerry can go to the beach without a mask on. We all can go to Flying Squirrels’ games. As of May 28, the Governor lifted all…
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Getting Electricity from Government
By Dick Hall-Sizemore More than 300,000 Virginia residents and numerous commercial enterprises are not subject to the monopolistic electric rates of Dominion, APCO, or the electric cooperatives. They get their electric service from their local governments. There are 16 municipalities in which electric service is provided by a governmental entity. Primarily, they are small towns…
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More on the Martinsville Reversion
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Like Jim Sherlock, the decision of the city of Martinsville to revert to town status caught my interest. There are several clarifications, as well as context, needed in response to his post on this subject, which would be too long for a comment. Therefore, I have decided to use a separate article.…