Category: Economic development
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Beach College Weekend Was a Dud: The Good News & The Bad.
by Kerry Dougherty Talk about spinning until you’re dizzy, get a load of the local coverage of last weekend’s taxpayer-subsidized Audacity Oceanfront Concerts: Describing the anemic “crowds” as “smaller-than-expected” The Virginian-Pilot added “That’s not to say those who attended didn’t have a good time.” Oh please. We, the taxpayers, gave the organizers of this dud…
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Diamonds Aren’t Forever
by Jon Baliles The entire saga of the development of the Diamond District project in Richmond has come full circle in the last 18 months, as Mayor Levar Stoney, desperate for an economic development win after the failure of his Navy Hill boondoggle and two failed casino referendums, has rounded the bases trying to get…
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Youngkin Kicks the Can Down the Road on Affirmative Action
by Jock Yellott By partisan votes, the Democrat controlled General Assembly presented Republican Governor Youngkin with HB 1404, mandating affirmative action in Virginia government contracts. Bacon’s Rebellion published a piece that listed the bill as a veto candidate. One of those that would “have the greatest negative economic impact on the Commonwealth.” But instead…
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RVA Meals Tax: Practically Poetic Injustice
by Jon Baliles As noted, two weeks ago City Council approved the change to city code to make sure the city’s Finance Department only applies meals tax payments to the month for which the invoice is submitted. So, no more of the shady practice that had been applying a portion of say, May’s tax payment,…
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The Case for an RVA Meals Tax Amnesty
by Jon Baliles Today we are posting a special edition featuring an email from former restaurateur Brad Hemp that he recently sent to City Council about the meals tax fiasco you have probably heard about as a result of seven years of neglect at City Hall. The Mayor raised the meals tax in 2018 to…
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The Aggressive Progressive Democratic Agenda
By Steve Haner The Democrats now running Virginia’s General Assembly are not just more progressive, but far more ambitious than their predecessors. To fully understand how ambitious you must compile the entire list of progressive bills advancing in the 2024 session and consider their total impact on the cost of living and cost of doing…
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Rent Control Legislation Passes House Committee
from Liberty Unyielding Legislation to allow rent control ordinances has passed a committee in Virginia’s House of Delegates. On a party-line, 11-to-9 vote. The Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns passed HB 721, which defines rent gouging to include raising rent to keep up with inflation, if inflation exceeds 7 percent. This vote reflects the leftward…
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Congratulations, Virginia, You’re Now a High Tax State.
As the debate plays out over Governor Glenn Youngkin’s tax restructuring plan, which includes $1 billion in tax relief over the next budget biennium, rest assured that the opposition party will attack it as a heartless attack on poor and marginalized Virginians with their illimitable unmet needs. In that context, it is worth remembering Virginia’s…
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Subsidizing a Billionaire
by Dick Hall-Sizemore If approved by the General Assembly and the City of Alexandria, the deal reached between Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the owner of the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals for those teams to move from Washington, D.C. to the Potomac Yards site in Alexandria would constitute the largest public subsidy for a…
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Deja Vu, All Over Again
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia is trying again to land a sports facility for a national professional sports team, The Washington Post reports. This time it is an arena for the Wizards of the National Basketball Association and the Capitals of the National Hockey League. Both teams have the same owner and are currently located in…
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Norfolk Hipsters & Lefties Try to Block a Military-Themed Brewery
by Kerry Dougherty Now is the time. If you believe that cities ought to be open for business, regardless of the viewpoints of the business owners, if you support the military and don’t consider flag-waving a provocative act, you might want to let Norfolk’s City Council hear from you. On December 12th it is scheduled…
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Virginia Democrats’ Minimum Wage Bill Would Wipe Out Jobs, Especially During Recessions
from Liberty Unyielding The Democratic leaders in both houses of Virginia’s legislature have just introduced legislation that would raise the Virginia minimum wage from $12 to $15. The bill also retains provisions that make the minimum wage rise with inflation, while preventing it from ever falling due to deflation. As a result, it could rise…
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More Bad News for the Governor
Yesterday was a bad day for Gov. Glenn Youngkin. In addition to having to absorb the news about losing both houses of the General Assembly to the Democrats, he learned that the federal General Services Administration has decided to locate the long-coveted new FBI headquarters in Maryland rather than Virginia. That was bad news for…
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Casino’s Last Stand: A Nauseating Display of Hate
by Jon Baliles The second casino referendum will be decided on Tuesday and it will be a vote (again) on whether or not Richmond wants to do the get-rich-quick schemes to help people or do the hard work of methodically mapping out a strategy and building a future. The get-rich-quick schemes like the casino and…
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Virginia Set to Help Taxpayers for a Change
from The Republican Standard Good news for Virginia taxpayers. In the coming weeks, several hundred dollars are heading back into the pockets of eligible Virginians. Up to $400 per household will be heading to mailboxes and bank accounts across the Commonwealth thanks to a surplus in the state budget recently signed by Governor Glenn Youngkin.…