Search results for: “amazon”
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Bacon Bits: Alexa, Graphene, Nurse Practitioners
Hey, Alexa, does Amazon have any job openings for its Alexa project? Amazon has posted its first job listings for its new Arlington County headquarters and is moving two vice presidents from Seattle to Arlington, reports the Washington Post. One will oversee workforce development, and the other will run a technical team focused on international…
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Bacon Bits: Economic Development Edition
High-tech bonanza. Virginia has captured almost $16 billion in capital investment through economic development since Governor Ralph Northam took office 16 months ago, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “It’s probably the biggest 16-month period in state history,” said Stephen Moret, who came on board as CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in early 2017. The investment…
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Virginia’s Unaffordable Approach to Affordable Housing
If the public policy debate over affordable dwellings is as impoverished as that described in The Virginia Mercury this morning, poor Virginians are doomed to lives of housing misery. Here’s how reporter Ned Oliver sums up the controversy: “Is affordable housing something for the state to tackle, or should it be left to cities and…
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NoVa Transit Projects Got Highest Congestion Scores This Round
Yes, it’s true that most of Northern Virginia’s regional transportation funds were dedicated to mass transit projects in the last round of funding, says Deputy Secretary of Transportation Nick Donohue. But six of the seven projects that did receive funding scored highest in congestion mitigation under the state’s Smart Scale scoring system. The only project…
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Arlington Could Spend $11.5 Million to Do What?
Let’s see now. Arlington County offered $29 million in incentives to land the economic development coup of the decade, Amazon’s HQ2 project. Now, according to the Washington Business Journal, the County Board is considering granting another $11.5 million in incentives to keep the Drug Enforcement Administration in town. Are you kidding me? Citizens are raising…
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What can Virginia learn from Nashville (Part 1)?
Juggernaut. The Guardian published a story today on the amazing rise of Nashville as a business center, an entertainment center, a tourist destination and a city. Music City is certainly going through a multi-decade growth spurt rising from a population of 170,874 in 1960 to an estimated population of 691,243 in 2017. Interestingly, Richmond had 28%…
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The Woonerfs Are Coming!
Enter a new term into the vocabulary of Virginia land use: woonerf. Woonerfs, according to this brief treatment by real estate information firm CoStar, is a word of Dutch origin meaning livable landscape. Increasingly, developers in the United States — and the Washington region in particular — are adopting the Dutch/Flemish technique of creating public…
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Time to Stop Kicking the Can
The hypocrisy of General Assembly members is astounding sometimes. They complain about vexing problems, but create obstacles to fixing those problems. Governor Northam included funding in his proposed budget to begin detailed architectural and engineering planning for replacing Central State Hospital in Petersburg, one of the state’s major mental health hospitals. There is a consensus…
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Fear and Loathing in the People’s Republic
The City of Charlottesville is closing all of its public schools today after alleged threats of racial violence surfaced online. Authorities did not say what the threats were, but the Washington Post reported images circulating on social media sites referring to a post on 4chan, an anonymous online messaging board, that “included a racist meme,…
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Passing Class No Guarantee of Certificate In New State Workforce Program
Virginia’s FastForward workforce credential program now in its third year is showing good success in getting students through training, but a high number of people in some programs do not earn the matching certificate. Those who achieve both usually show the highest wage growth. For those who went into the program earning under $20,000 a…
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Killjoys versus GilJoy: Grievance Versus Opportunity
Northern Virginia progressives opposed to subsidies for Amazon are grievance-mongering nihilists who have nothing to offer but spittle and bile. Far from helping the people they purport to speak for, if they were successful in scuttling the Amazon deal — the Arlington County Board still must vote on county subsidies — they would cause only…
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Progressives Perpetuating Poverty
Amazon’s decision to scrap a $2.5 billion investment in New York City has emboldened far-left progressives in Northern Virginia to oppose the e-commerce giant’s plans for plans to build an East Coast headquarters in Arlington. Critics of HQ2 are targeting $23 million that Arlington County will contribute to the pot of incentives, reports the Washington…
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Data Centers Spur Electricity Demand in Virginia, Says Greenpeace
Continued expansion of data centers in Virginia is driving demand for electricity, which gives Dominion Energy the justification for expanding its gas-fired generating fleet and building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, according to a new report by Greenpeace, “Clicking Clean Virginia: The Dirty Energy Powering Data Center Alley.” While several major providers of cloud services —…
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Virginia Voters Should “Clean House” this November
State of affairs / affairs of state. Multiple scandals have rocked Virginia’s state government this week. All three of our state’s top officials stand accused of substantial wrongdoing. Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have admitted to dressing in blackface during their college / medical school days. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is being…
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20th Century Tax Meets 21st Century Economy
Both chambers of the General Assembly are on the verge of passing bills expanding the duty to collect state sales tax to internet retailers selling into Virginia, a once controversial idea that is generating far less heat than before but is still hitting resistance. Senate Bill 1083 and House Bill 1722 still have a few…