Category: Economic development
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George Mason Achieves R1 Research Classification
George Mason University has received the coveted “R1” status bequeathed by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Only 115 institutions across the country earn the “highest research activity” designation. States the cover story of the winter edition of Mason Spirit magazine: About 20 years ago, Mason thoughtfully began building a research portfolio that ranged…
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Owens & Minor Goes for Millennials, Walkable City
Good economic news for the Richmond region: Medical supply giant Owens & Minor Inc. announced plans Thursday to open a client engagement center in downtown Richmond that will employ 500 people. Jobs will average about $53,700 in annual pay. In making the announcement Governor Terry McAuliffe made much of the fact that Richmond competed against…
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Many Virginians Prefer Training over Incentives
The Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs has published a public opinion poll delving into Virginians’ attitudes toward a wide range of issues relating to K-12, higher ed, and workforce training. The poll appears to be methodologically sound. I will use the poll results as stepping stones to address several topics. Workforce training: When…
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How Virginia’s Slowing Population Growth Plays Out Locally
Speaking of slower population growth… Even though Virginia’s population growth is slowing overall, the dynamics play out differently at a local and regional level. Luke Juday, director of planning for the City of Waynesboro, has developed a useful schema for examining Virginia’s cities and counties. He has created a matrix based on two variables: whether a…
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Is Virginia Getting its Mojo Back?
The Port of Virginia saw an 8.5% surge in container traffic in 2016, making it the fastest-growing port on the East Coast and second fastest in the country, trailing only Los Angeles, reports the Virginian-Pilot. Said port Chairman Jon Milliken: “We outstripped other East Coast ports; we outstripped the West Coast ports. We outstripped everybody…
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Governors as Heroic Champions of the Economy
Writing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch today, Bart Hinkle takes Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie to task for asserting that he’s going to shape a “dynamic economy that creates jobs” in contrast to the anemic economy under the tutelage of Democrat Terry McAuliffe. As Hinkle correctly observes, a governor’s actions have a limited impact on a state’s…
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Invest in Virginia Workers, Not Corporate Subsidies
(The Richmond Times-Dispatch published my op-ed this morning.) The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), once one of the most respected economic development teams in the country, has been taking it on the chin. A year ago, a Chinese company bilked the partnership for a $1.4 million incentive payment in a deal that never transpired. The…
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VCU’s Impact on the Region: Talent, Innovation and Collaboration
Executive summary Universities, as large organizations that are anchored in their communities, can potentially have significant economic and social impacts on the immediate community, the region, and even the state. Virginia Commonwealth University’s economic impact on the Richmond region is significant. Within the metropolitan statistical area (Richmond MSA), VCU’s spending on operations, maintenance and capital…
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Economic Development “Reset” Needed in Virginia
It’s time for a “fundamental reset” for the way Virginia’s colleges and universities think about economic development, John O. “Dubby” Wynne told the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) board yesterday. Wynne, former CEO of Norfolk-based Landmark Communications, is a driving force behind the Virginia Go initiative. “For the first time in decades,…
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How to Roll Back Regulations in Virginia
A case study in regulation run amok: To earn a living blow drying customers’ hair in Virginia, one must acquire a license from the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. To acquire such a license, one must attend an accredited cosmetology school, the average cost of which is $14,887 nationally, not counting the time…
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Virginia’s Sports Tourism Boom Cannot End Well
Spending associated with sporting events was $9.4 billion nationally in 2015, a 5% increase from the previous year and part of a steady growth pattern for at least six years. Much of the activity consists of amateur and youth athletics in which participants and family members are looking for inexpensive, family-friendly venues. Virginia municipalities have taken…
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Tax Preference or Tax Prejudice?
by Steve Haner Three times per year a massive coin show is held in Baltimore, packing a large convention space for several days and filling hotel rooms and restaurants all around the area. The photo above is from 2015. The dealers and the buyers include the key Virginia players in this industry. A 2013 analysis…
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“It’s Not about Money. It’s about New Thinking.”
While nitwits in the national media stumble over themselves covering the president-elect’s latest tweets — Newt Gringrich calls them “rabbits” sent out to distract the news hounds — important things are taking place outside of public view. You can get a sense of the new thinking about to overwhelm Washington, D.C., in comments that the former…
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Gas Pipeline puts Virginia in Race for Three Prospects
Virginia is in the running for three economic development projects that would rely on natural gas, and one is “mammoth,” Governor Terry McAuliffe told a group of manufacturers yesterday. “The only reason I’m in the hunt is because of the pipeline,” he said, referring to the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The 600-mile gas pipeline would…
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Hundreds Seek Pipeline Construction Jobs
The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is highly controversial in Augusta County, where property owners fear pipeline construction will jeopardize water supplies, create a safety hazard for nearby residents, and drive down property values. But hundreds of mechanics, welders, electricians and other blue-collar workers see the $5 billion project as a potential boon. By noon Thursday,…