A regional gas tax is an idea that has been floated occasionally for some time. Bacon’s Rebellion has a good article as does the Road to Ruin about this very subject…. I personally would be more prone to support a regional rather than a state gas tax (of course, we would need a regional authority to levy said tax). This sort of tax would be painful, no doubt about it, especially in light of some predictions/educated guesses that oil may shoot up to $75.
Date Archives August 2005
No bubble?
Bacon’s Rebellion: Housing Bubble Watch:Land developers say that the need to comply with environmental requirements, zoning laws, and delays in putting the necessary infrastructure in place – roads, water, electricity and sewer lines – limits residential lot development and thus the number of area houses being built. They tell us that it can take upwards of three years or more to take a housing project from start to finish.” (For details click here.)So long as there are more buyers than sellers, (in my un-economist opinion) there is no bubble…. I just don’t see it in this market, especially when new construction prices are being bumped up in increments of $5 every couple of weeks when properties don’t sell …
Taking notes by hand
As tech-savvy as I am, I haven’t found a substitute for pen and paper. The biggest shortcoming is I have not yet found an efficient backup system.Over the last year or so, when I attend conferences (or meetings, or anything I want to make sure I remember something) I leave my laptop either in it’s bag during sessions, or I don’t bring it at all. This has worked out great, and just how I thought it would. I get much more out of sessions (etc.) when I’m taking notes by hand.Taking Notes By Hand.
NIMBYs unite.
From a letter to the editor in today’s C-Ville – This letter is to the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority [“So simple, it just might work,†The Week, August 2]…. No charge for the advice.This kind of simplistic response is all good and well, but simply not practical…. We need to accept the growth, but manage it within the guidelines that are 1) currently in place or 2) can reasonably be put in place by reasonable people working together. Maybe we should stop the continuing development of the Downtown Mall while we’re at it.The above sentiment seems to be that of many natives and NIMBYs alike.
The Parkway is coming
From today’s Progress -Remember that debate over whether or not the Meadowcreek Parkway needs an interchange to work?… An at-grade intersection was a much cheaper design that would have allowed construction on the parkway, under discussion for 38 years, to begin sooner…. To gain some history on the Meadowcreek Parkway, cvillenews is a great place to begin. Quite simply, our region needs more, more efficient infrastructure to cope and deal with the growth.
Building Green
If building green were as immediately equal economically, we would probably see more of it from the larger local builders.WINAThomas Jefferson Planning District’s Green SourcebookTimesDispatch”The premium wasn’t that much and I bet it paid itself back in the first year with my electric bill,” Winn said. And this is why – what is the immediate return for building green, besides the good press? Oh, wait, good press is a good thing. All it takes is good start, and more will come …
Thank you again
I have ad-blocking on Safari and Deerpark, so I didn’t see this until today.The Daily Progress has an online listing of the Reader’s Choice Awards.Self-promotion is one of the most difficult aspects of my profession; I don’t do it well and I don’t like it very much – but it is one of the most important parts of of my job. So here it is.