Sen. John C,. Watkins (R-Chesterfield) said a mouthful when he stated re the upcoming special session on transport: “I don’t think anyone has put something out there that solves the problem.” John, my friend – and all politicians are my friends – no one can put something out there if you are looking for facility…

Virginia metropolitan regions are among the biggest contributors to global warming, asserts a new Brookings Institution study, “Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Urban America.” According to the study… Washington: The average resident in metropolitan Washington emitted 3.115 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005 — ranking it 89th out of the…

Memo to: James Atticus BowdenFrom: Peter Galuszka Re: Reading Assignment Okay, I got my copy of Thomas Sowell’s “Basic Economics,” have skimmed through it and am ready to make some points. I know your views are generally the polar opposite of mine, but I think I deserve at least a Gentleman’s C” for my efforts.…

The disconnect between the general public and the special interests pressing for taxes for transportation (the Axis of Taxes) seems to widen with each passing day. As the General Assembly gears up for a special session to address transportation funding, according to the latest Commonwealth Poll, transportation ranks only fourth among the topics that the…

I hate to say I told you so, but… I told you so. Back in February, I took note of major shifts in global trading patterns resulting from the declining value of the U.S. dollar. In “The Inscrutable Meaning of the Shrinking Trade Deficit,” I noted that a weaker dollar would translate into greater U.S.…

As the General Assembly gears up for a special session to hammer out a transportation-funding “solution,” you’ll hear a lot about the catastrophic decline in gasoline tax revenues. Because maintenance projects get first crack at all state gas-tax dollars, the plunge in revenues translates into a dollar-for-dollar reduction in construction spending. You’ll hear a lot…

One of the key concepts in Richard Florida’s new book, “Who’s Your City?” is that of the “clustering force,” a knowledge-economy phenomenon that reward people for congregating in places where they can network and collaborate with one another. (See “The Clustering Force Be With You.”) The need to cluster is impelling smart, creative people to…

Today Becky Dale compiled her last daily digest of Virginia transportation/land use clips, a resource that I have leaned upon to keep track of developments across the state. I have owed much of my ability to keep tabs on obscure controversies and trends around Virginia to stories I have picked up from the email that…

I completed my reading assignment from Jim Bacon and wrote my response for a Virginia perspective as installments. So, here is a reading assignment – an economics book without math. Piece of cake. “Basic Economics, A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy”, Thomas Sowell, published in 2000. Consider to what degree Virginia’s public policy issues are…

The United States has seen at least two great migrations in its history: the great trek of settlers to America’s seemingly endless frontier through the end of the 19th century, and then the migration of farmers to towns and cities in the 20th century. The late 20th century has experienced a significant movement of “snowbirds”…

The movement to privatize large sections of state-owned highways is gaining momentum. Citigroup Inc. and Abertis Infraestructuras SA have won an auction — paying $12.8 billion — to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike from the state of Pennsylvania for 75 years. Money from a turnpike lease would help the state close a $1.7 billion gap in…

It’s amazing what happens when you deprive a region like Hampton Roads of the easy solution — raising taxes — for reducing transportation congestion. People come up with some pretty creative ideas. Not all of them will prove viable, but some of them will. And none of them would have surfaced if the General Assembly…

TooManyTaxes (aka, TMT) posted a number of comments on the Jim Bacons “The Transportation Debate and the Unreported Land Use Revolution” submission below. TMT is right about the Dillon Rule, wrong about Greater-Warrenton Fauquier and the future of the 9 Beta Communities that fall all or partly in Fairfax County. Greater-Warrenton Fauquier already has planned…

And the clarions called forth, and the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine did respond to the call, bringing truth and understanding to a benighted land. You can read the May 19, 2008, edition in all its glory, including a list of hottest blog postings over the past two weeks, by clicking here. Or you can just scroll…

We all know my home town of Richmond is a pretty conservative place — perhaps even a stodgy one. It’s an old story how we lost our status as the leading city of the South to Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh. But things are changing. The economy continues to reinvent itself at a furious pace —…