mercuex

Va. wineries among top tourism destinations

Newport News Considers Light Rail Looks good to me ...

Rus is right. You know that assault weapons ban that sunsetted not long ago? Didn't make a bit of difference in the crime rates. Look it up. That's why no one cared to renew it. How about the Bay Cities? Washington DC? Both have highly restrictive gun laws and yet also have award-winning homicide rates. And what about the school shooting that just occurred in Montreal - the most European city on the continent? Or what about Norway, Switzerland, or Finland? All countries with high rates of firearm ownership and low homicide rates. You can't parade statistics around and make such dramatic inferences. "This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" Adolf Hitler [1935] Here's the thing: a government that doesn't trust its populous is the one that restricts its ability to defend itself. The founding fathers knew this and that is why it's the second amendment, only after free speech. Does the state have the right to make a law on gun ownership that would be equally well suited in both Mississipi and Minnesota (similar gun laws but very different levels of violence)? If not, how about between Roanoke and Richmond? Or even Carytown and the Fan? We should not encourage greater centralization (and thus bureaucratization) that coerces an entire population (some 300 million) with wildly varying situations into uniformity. That would be both incongruent as well as coercive. The decision must ultimately lie with the consenting adult. And as Rus rightly points out, many of the weapons used for violence are not obtained legally. If one really wants to kill another, guns are hardly the instrument with a monopoloy on dealing death. It's like this thing with terrorism. Are our airlines really safer now?? The 9/11 hijackers attacked with box cutters, so we ban sharp objects. Then Richard Reid had his bomb shoes, so we make everyone take off their shoes. And recently after the near-catastrophe with the trans-atlantic flights, you can't even bring shampoo aboard. And at the same time, it's a well-known fact that much of that kind of stuff being brought aboard isn't even detected. Of course there are an infinite number of ways to bring about danger and terror to an airplane, and we will never be able to screen them all. When will we learn that it's the motivated person who is the real weapon, and not the box cutter?

Sorry burt, but I don't know Russian (as you probably guessed). What I'm learning here is this ancient and almost completely isolated language called Kartuli (otherwise known as Georgian). It's unrelated to Russian, Azeri, Turkish, Armenian ... the closest relative linguists THINK it MAY POSSIBLY have is ... Basque. So ... yeah ... Being away for awhile is sort of cool because when I get back in two years, there will be all these new things and I can stare gape-eyed at all of them in wonderment. Not the same if you watch it being built over time.

haha! Harasho! Dzalian didi madlobt, megobaro. Major retailer?! (drool) Any rumors or predictions?? Please let it be an FAO Shwartz lol

Woops! I can't believe I said Jefferson Commons. It's the name of a strip development in Newport News. Heh. About VCU I remember when I was there (in May. I just graduated and moved here.) I saw renderings of the new campus and I think they even broke ground awhile back. Looked really cool. Made me wish I was actually a business student. Cadeho - no offense meant. I actually agree with you in many ways about Shortpump, though something about it is clearly working and it just means that Richmond needs to get off its arse and play hardball back. Richmond has certain advantages that Henrico cannot ever have, and I think we need to take advantage of them more.

Cadeho has a point. Big venues are cool and fun and stuff, but they rarely create or sustain growth on their lonesome. What made MacArthur Mall so successful was the 20 year revitalization which built up a good critical mass which meant that MacArthur was a perfect way to announce to the world the downtown norfolk was back open for business. At the end of the day, the real salvation comes from ground-level business/commerce. And good bars.

Nothing is free! A couple of dollars won't really deter people and will help sustainability a huge deal. I don't know how people think of public funds as being in the abstract, that they are somehow disassociated from the taxes that continue going up ... How much money would be siphoned from other good projects to make this thing "free?" How much would taxes have to get raised otherwise? How much of the new money would be wasted on pointless overhead, accountants, middlemen, bureaucrats, and their busybodies?

Hey Burt (et al) - Yeah my disdain for Richmond was more jealousy than anything else I think. I still would like to see Newport News (and HR) grow and improve, but my happiest city memories were in Richmond. I've learned to be more appreciative, I guess. I think this news is really exciting. I think I'll need to read up a little more on the project and Richmond happenings. I was reading some of Cadeho's predictions regarding shortpump and Richmond and it was really pretty depressing. Hopefully his declarations that Richmond is nigh dead aren't true ... and if Rockett's Landing and this Jefferson Commons thing really picks up, then I think there's real hope. I wish I could reply during the daytime but I'm living in Georgia (republic) right now (in the South Caucasus) as an NGO consultant and so I only have internet at work which is night for ya'll. I think that if Rockett's landing generates that hoped-for bump in traffic and activity downtown, a movie theatre may come. Honestly, though, I can't really see why it makes such a difference. Jefferson Commons is close enough to keep people from clamoring for another multiplex. If a theater does pop up, it won't be more than a 2-3 screen (which would be kind of a refreshing change, actually) and may be more of a Westhampton sort. That would definitely fill a niche downtown with all the first friday peacocks desperate to put their artistic appreciation on display by doing anything to make people gasp.

AH!!!! That's RIGHT NEXT to my old apartment!!!!!! I'm so stoked. You guys have no idea how much having to drive all the way out to the west end to catch a movie made me want to die! And I can't stand short pump! This is beautiful!!

There's an interesting (but not necessarily good) article on the Daily Press today about transportation and the importance of rail. The author, while managing to hit on several good points, does an excellent job of coming to the exact opposite conclusion of the sum of his arguments. For example, the premise of the piece is the necessary central role of rail in Virginia's future. He mentions the infamous $4 billion Dulles line as proof of the desirability of rail, though he does (rightly) question whether four billion dollars could be better used than in a single rail line. In the end - though he questions the massive appropriation for the Dulles line, and when one considers the strength of evidence against new tax hikes when Virginia is running a $1 billion surplus, AND there is clear signs of gross misappropriation in the way money is currently spent (transportation and not) - the author seems to believe that it is still those Republican haters who are determined to stymie growth in Virginia. If we raise taxes now, while we're in a bonanza, when would we not raise taxes?? And doesn't this all seem like a highly convenient (or decidedly inconvenient, rather) valve so that the ridiculous way that money is spent in this state can continue business-as-usual? Is anyone at all paying attention to this craziness??

Hm ... that cant be good for cross-river traffic/interaction ...

EZ pass or not, it'll be traffic hell anyway with that kind of a bottleneck.

man wheres the HR love?

so you say now you capitalist bourgeois pig! you just wait until the proletariat takes matters into his own hands and wipes away the filth of your hedonist imperialism!

woops

First of all, you're assuming that spending levels in the 80s was sustainable/justifiable. With Virginia economy even more centered around federal government and military projects, certain levels of spending could be justified that just cannot today. Inflation and population growth aside, the budget has increased 30% over the past decade ... not a minor figure. And are you confident that all major localities have cut their properly taxes accordingly like you say? I am not so certain. And didnt the state schools request more autonomy in return for lesser state funding? And it VA revenues did not decrease under Gilmore. In fact, they flatlined, which means the surplus from the Allen administration carried over and has since been unused. Compound that with the revenue generation during Warner's tenure and you have a significant chunk of change that is not being used effectively. There's no reason to build a rainy-day fund when it's raining!

lol well its not like ive never been. ive gone to see friends quite a few times actually and my friends, god bless them, are great people but man they can be such elitists. that it's a relatively recent development makes me wonder about the environment there.

Well apparently it isn't such a shining steward if -surplus money is being earmarked for unnecessary pork projects around the state. -state spending since 1996 has increased 80% (from 16 billion to now almost 30 billion) ... and to where? -spending for education has risen approx 57% between 1996 and today, with more and more money being demanded. is this spending hike being accounted for properly? are virginia taxpayers getting their money's worth? -Transportation funding, you'd be surprised to learn, has grown by nearly 60% since 1996 levels. And this money? undoubtedly lavished on pet projects around the state without investment in the critical corridors like Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia How quickly we DO forget. It was through the policies of Gov Allen that was responsible for the boomtime in the late nineties. Gilmore's administration, admittedly, was horrendous, but it does not account for the fact that there has been no comprehensive audit of state spending that justifies either Warner's tax increase and certainly not Kaine's (which likely won't survive). I don't know why you call it a phantom surplus because the money is there. Attention all shoppers, but Virginia's entire revenue stream is contingent on the health of the economy, not simply surpluses. We need to review spending top to bottom, and ESPECIALLY in areas like Transportation and Education where we have seen exorbitant increases without commensurate results. Why is it that the state budget - overweight with pork projects and misappropriation - should stuff itself even further at the expense of the family budget? what about virginians?

me too, which is why i indulge in it so often! in all seriousness though, you have to admit that there's a kernel of truth to it. otherwise uva wouldn't have that reputation, no? i am wahoo, hear me roar?

I just dont like amusement parks. And while UVA has a good academic program, WM seems like a much better academic environment. Maybe its because it doesn't have that popped collar frat boy culture that is so ubiquitous at UVA. Don't get me wrong, I like Cville and UVA, but I'd choose WM in a heartbeat. WM to me is classier without the the amt of snobbiness you find at UVA/cville.

That's really an amazing school. Better than UVA if you ask me. I wish I had applied there ... (sigh)... water under the bridge... Its too bad we can't call HR 8-cities like we do 7-cities. It doesn't have that phonetic alliteration. A pity. I do love Williamsburg even if I hate hate hate Busch Gardens/Water Country.

Rus is right, the governor is expected to be basically the lobbyist-in-chief for Virginia. That means entertaining potential investors both commercial and governmental. Oftentimes the governor will hint at tax breaks, subsidies, and other state goodies to sweeten the pot, and the legislature usually approves since the more money in Virginia, the better. At least that's what you'd think. Apparently this administration seems to think that more money (surplus) means we need more money (new taxes). Yeah ... Anyway the modeling and simulation thing really is a big coup for Hampton Roads. This area really is moving along with high-tech industry. We're the NOVA of Virginia (since NOVA is more Maryland than VA IMHO, lol) without all the toffs and berets.

*rummages for torch and pitchfork*

we're a close-knit bunch here, haha. honestly, if i get something wrong by all means correct me. damn i wish hampton roads had some kind of confederal parliament or something.