Category: Economic development
-
Forgotten Battles, Missing Landmarks
by Cliff Page On an abnormally warm early Spring day, I took a 150-mile motorcycle ride from Portsmouth to Stony Creek, Va. That’s where my Great Great Grandpa was captured by federal forces in 1864. He rode with the South Carolina 6th Insurgent Calvary (Aka: the Dixie Raiders), which fought in nearly every major engagement…
-
After 400 Years, the Pamunkeys Shall Rise Again
Wow, ever since winning federal recognition as an Indian tribe, the Pamunkey Indians are on a tear. Last week I highlighted PamunkeyNet, a proposal to bring broadband Internet service to rural counties in the Chesapeake Bay region. Now, we find out that the Pamunkeys are thinking bigger… way bigger. According to Daily Press, the Pamunkey…
-
Yet Another Path to Rural Broadband: Other Peoples’ Money
Speaking of bringing broadband Internet to rural Virginia (see previous post)… PamunkeyNet, a business entity of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, has received approval from the GO Virginia State Board to develop a plan to bring broadband to Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex and other rural counties along the Chesapeake Bay. The newly awarded federal designation of the…
-
Another Path to Rural Broadband: Electric Co-ops
The Central Virginia Electric Cooperative has been delivering electricity to the inhabitants of 14 Central Virginia localities for 80 years. Now it’s planning to provide high-bandwidth Internet connections. The company has announced a plan to invest $11o million to connect all 36,000 co-op members. Co-op members will be able to purchase 100 megabits per second…
-
To Someone with No Skin in the Game, Virginia Beach Entertainment District Sounds Great!
The City of Virginia Beach is creating a special use entertainment district on the beachfront. There are three main components to the plan: a sports center, a redevelopment project, and a new pier. Developers are getting in on the action. One has submitted a proposal for a double-decker pier with retail and restaurants on one…
-
Tax Credits for Virginia Coal Mining?
The House of Delegates has passed a bill sponsored by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, in the House and Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, that would provide state tax credits for the production of metallurgical coal. The legislation, which would offer $200,000 in tax credits next year and about $500,000 the year after, is more modest than…
-
Hey, You, Get Onto My Cloud!
Early this month an obscure Virginia-based company, REAN Cloud, announced a nearly $1 billion deal to provide cloud computing services for the Defense Department, reports the NextGov website. REAN doesn’t build the data centers — it helps customers migrate to commercial cloud environments. Which cloud environments? Amazon Web Services’s cloud environments. There’s likely to be more business…
-
This Bitcoin Mania Is out of Control
If people want to invest in bitcoin, or invent competing cryptocurrencies, or dedicate their computers to “mining” bitcoin by solving computationally difficult puzzles, well, it’s a free country and they can do what they want. As a political-policy commentator, I would never advocate banning such endeavors. As a social commentator, I am moved to ask,…
-
Is Amazon Leaning towards Washington?
In today’s buzz about the location of Amazon’s second headquarters, often referred to as HQ2: There has been an unusual spike in traffic — more than 6,000 views over the past week — for an obscure article in ARLNow, entitled “County Wins Top Environmental Award from U.S. Green Building Council.” The vast majority of the…
-
How Critical Is “High Quality” Electric Power?
Among the more influential business groups backing the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018 is the Northern Virginia Technology Council. In a Richmond Times-Dispatch op-ed today, President Bobbie Kilberg outlines her reasons for supporting the legislation, which would repeal the electric rate freeze and plow utility over-earnings into modernization of the electric grid. Kilberg…
-
Transparency and Accountability for EDAs
How transparent and accountable should Economic Development Authorities be to the public? That’s the fundamental issue raised by Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, who submitted a bill that would require local government approval for all EDA grants and budgets. That bill was defeated by one vote in the Senate’s local government committee, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch,…
-
Can We Afford to Let Rural Hospitals Die?
By Beth O’Connor In the January 24th edition of Bacon’s Rebellion, author James A. Bacon poses the question; “Are Broke Rural Hospitals Worth Saving?” He acknowledges that many of Virginia’s rural hospitals are in trouble, but wonders if it makes financial sense to let them die. The problem with his question is that he is…
-
SW Virginia to Share Pumped-Storage Tax Revenue
Dominion Energy Virginia is studying two potential sites for a proposed $2 billion pumped storage facility in Southwest Virginia, one in Tazewell County and one in Wise County. Over and above the jobs created, the facility would generate more than $7.7 million a year in new tax revenue. Under Virginia’s current tax structure, a single…
-
Want Amazon? Fix Metro, says Wiedefeld.
If Virginians want Amazon to locate HQ2, its second headquarters, in the Washington area, they need to help fix Metro, the region’s ailing commuter rail service. That was part of the message delivered by Metro General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld yesterday to the House Appropriation Committee’s Transportation subcommittee. The Metro needs at least $15.5…
-
This Is Us. Ugh.
by Chris Saxman During Monday’s Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, three bills were on the agenda attempting to raise the minimum wage. Virginia’s policy has been at least since the late 1990s to mirror the federal minimum wage which stands at $7.25 an hour. That rate became effective in July of 2009. Watching the committee hearing…