Category: Economic development
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Virginia as Best-Educated State – a Worthy Goal?
The Virginia Plan for Higher Education, the strategic plan for Virginia’s public colleges and universities, has set a bold objective: to make Virginia the best-educated state in the nation by 2030. To accomplish this goal, the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) plans to increase the number of degrees and workforce credentials granted…
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New VEDP Chief Brings Workforce Training Credibility
Steven Moret, an economic development executive from Louisiana, has been selected to run the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) on the strength of his track record of attracting private investment to Louisiana by building one of the most respected workforce training programs in the country. The VEDP board approved the hire in a special meeting yesterday against…
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McAuliffe, Koreans to Cooperate on Smart Grid
Hmmm, I wonder what the story behind the story is on this: Governor Terry McAuliffe announced yesterday the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) for “comprehensive cooperation” on the Smart Grid and new energy projects. States the press release: This MOU…
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Pipeline Creates Opportunities in Buckingham
Kyanite Mining Corp. , one of the largest employers in Buckingham County, has entered into an agreement to access a natural gas tap off a lateral line from the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). And now the county is exploring the possibility of acquiring 200 acres of land along the tap line for industrial development.…
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VEDP Inefficient, Ineffective, Says JLARC
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), once renowned as one of the top state economic development organizations in the country, suffers from “systemic deficiencies,” concludes a blistering report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). Some of the conclusions: VEDP is not an efficiently or effectively managed organization. The partnership “lacks many of the fundamental…
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Economic Development Incentives Under JLARC Review
Virginia’s legislative watchdog agency has embarked upon an evaluation of 76 economic development incentives offered by the Commonwealth, starting with the Virginia Film Office. Grants and tax preferences cost the state at least $147 million in the most recent fiscal year, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We don’t have any handle on what is going on,” said…
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UVa, Inova Partner in Research Initiative
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia and Inova Health System have joined forces in a $112 million partnership to launch a medical campus and a biomedical research initiative in Fairfax County. The partnership has three main components: A cancer research partnership between the Inova Schar Cancer Institute and UVa. Cancer Center. The aspiration…
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The Peninsula’s Infrastructure Bottleneck
by James A. Bacon I don’t envy the poor blokes in charge of economic development for the Virginia Peninsula. The Newport News-Hampton-Williamsburg area has major infrastructure issues — constrained electricity, water and gas capacity — that are hindering economic growth. Any one of these deficiencies would put the 500,000-person sub-region of Hampton Roads at a competitive disadvantage…
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Dueling Polls on the Pipeline Issue
A month ago, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) published the results of a poll that found that 55% of Virginians opposed Governor Terry McAuliffe in his backing of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Only 28% of respondents endorsed the pipeline plans. Yesterday the Virginia Chamber of Commerce released a…
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How Land Use Regulation Aggravates Income Inequality
The thesis advanced by economists Daniel Shoag and Peter Ganong in their paper, “Why Has Personal Income Convergence in the U.S. Declined,” is not new. Market-oriented urbanists have made the same connections for years: that land use restrictions drive up the cost of housing, and that high housing costs aggravate income inequality by throttling the flow…
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VCU Takes Lead on New Richmond Baseball Stadium
by James A. Bacon The big news out of Richmond today is that Virginia Commonwealth University and the Richmond Flying Squirrels have committed to being “major contributors” to a baseball stadium near the location of the existing stadium, known as the Diamond. The memorandum of understanding was announced in a press release yesterday. “This is…
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Cybersecurity a National Nightmare… and Opportunity for Virginia
by James A. Bacon Not long ago, an unknown hacker from outside the United States shut down the server of Professional Dermatology Care PC in Reston in what appeared to be a ransomware attack: Give us money or you’ll never see your 13,000 patient records again. The dermatology practice posted a statement on its website, stating…
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Gas Pipeline Approvals Out of His Hands, Guv Says
Governor Terry McAuliffe says he can’t stop the planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline even if he wanted to — and he really doesn’t want to. Responding to a question on WTOP’s “Ask the Governor,” McAuliffe said he supports the project as a boon to manufacturing jobs and as an alternative to transporting natural gas over roads…
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Confessions of a Buffalo Hunter
by Greg Wingfield Hello, my name is Greg and I was a Buffalo Hunter for more than 35 years. In economic development parlance a “buffalo hunter” is a marketing professional who is only after the “big game” — the hundred-million-dollars-in- capital-investment/1,000-new-jobs economic development projects that are rare and far between. Over 35 years I had my share…
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Richmond’s Future as a Global Exporter
(This post is taken from the introduction to the Metro Richmond Exports Initiative report published earlier this month, written by John Accordino, Fabrizio Fasulo & Greg Wingfield under the auspices of the Virginia Commonwealth University’s VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis. — JAB) To ensure Richmond’s future as an economically competitive and vibrant region with a…