“Spankdown” at Woodlake
By Peter Galuszka Homeowners Associations are double-edged swords. They can preserve home values by enforcing covenants but sometimes morph into Neo-Nazi privatized governments that make life...
View ArticleRichmond’s Pathetic Leadership
At the Diamond By Peter Galuszka Richmond is going through an existential crisis. Its “leadership” can’t get anything done after wasting the public’s time and attention on the supposed possibilities of...
View ArticleTobacco Commission: Six of Eight Projects Fail
The old logo By Peter Galuszka Down Danville way, of eight companies that have received money from the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund (the old, embattled tobacco commission) only two have managed to...
View ArticleDon’t Stop a Welcome Purge
By Peter Galuszka The Confederate Battle flag is quickly unraveling throughout the Old Dominion. With it are going many icons of an era racked with controversy and hatred, along with mythology, which...
View ArticleWhy There’s No Swimming Pool at Gilpin Court
By Peter Galuszka Heat and humidity seem to have been especially intense this summer. But it can be much worse at an inner city public housing project where there are few trees and other vegetation and...
View ArticleWhy Can’t Dominion Do Big Wind Projects?
A wind farm in Texas By Peter Galuszka Down in the swamplands and farmlands of northeastern North Carolina, construction has begun on a huge new wind farm that will be the largest so far in the...
View ArticleRenewable Energy: A Tale of Two Virginias
Apologies to Mr. Dickens By Peter Galuszka Call it a tale of two Virginias – at least when it comes to renewable energy. One is the state’s traditional political and business elite, including Dominion...
View ArticleAlpha Natural Resources: Running Wrong
Alpha miners in Southwest Virginia(Photo by Scott Elmquist) By Peter Galuszka Four years ago, coal titan Alpha Natural Resources, one of Virginia’s biggest political donors, was riding high. It was...
View ArticleA Humble Proposal for Addressing Recurrent Flooding
Flooding in Portsmouth. Image credit: Virginia Newsletter By James A. Bacon The recurrence of tidal/surge flooding in Hampton Roads has increased from 1.7 days of “nuisance” flooding yearly in 1960 to...
View ArticleVLDS Big Data Just Got Bigger
by James A. Bacon This blog post is geeky, but it’s important — so stick with me! If you favor public policy based on what works as opposed to public policy based on ideology or political muscle, then...
View ArticleHere, Piggy Piggy Piggy!
Woo hoo! GO Virginia! by James A. Bacon Any time business leaders, university presidents and legislators agree on a great new spending initiative, I put my hand on my pants pocket to make sure my...
View ArticlePulse Has a Pulse after All
Click for larger image. by James A. Bacon When last I blogged about Richmond Pulse, the Bus Rapid Transit plan for the city’s Broad Street corridor, the projected cost had leaped $11.5 million over its...
View ArticleBikes, Bees, Beauty
by James A. Bacon New York City has its High Line park built upon an abandoned, elevated freight rail line. The City of Richmond has its Low Line park, built underneath CSX Corp. railroad trestles. In...
View ArticleYeah, It’s Probably a Good Idea to Update Your Zoning Code Every Half Century...
Pouring whale oil. At long last, Henrico’s zoning code will leave the 19th century behind. News flash: Henrico County officials see the need to bring the county zoning code into the 21st century....
View ArticlePlease, Norge, Don’t Go NIMBY on Solar Project
Norge residents gather to learn more about a proposed solar farm in their neighborhood. Photo credit: Virginia Gazette. Report from today’s Virginia Gazette: Members of the Norge community of James...
View ArticleBuilding on Virginia’s Data-Center Boom
Map credit: “Intertubes: A Study of the US Long-haul Fiber Optic Infrastructure“ Data centers are the hottest trend in Virginia economic development these days. But the state is only beginning to think...
View ArticleWhy Would Dominion Want a $19 Billion Nuclear Plant?
North Anna Power Station The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has indicated it will issue a license within the next few days to build a third nuclear reactor at Dominion Energy’s North Anna power station,...
View ArticleTwo More Signs that City of Richmond Is Kicking Donkey
Kicking donkey The City of Richmond is on a tear. Not only is it seeing more real estate investment than it has it decades, the city is laying the groundwork for future growth and re-development. Its...
View ArticleOn the Fine Art of Forecasting Peak Load Demand
Comparison of Dominion and PJM growth forecasts in peak load. Source: Dominion 2017 Integrated Resource Plan. Billions of investment dollars ride on the long-range forecast of Dominion’s peak load...
View ArticleBuilding on Virginia’s Data-Center Boom
Map credit: “Intertubes: A Study of the US Long-haul Fiber Optic Infrastructure“ Data centers are the hottest trend in Virginia economic development these days. But the state is only beginning to think...
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