Yesterday's Dallas Morning News featured a report by a land use strategist, Christopher B. Leinberger, who praised Dallas as a leader in the development of walkable urban centers. The article is here: Dallas a model for 'walkable' urban centers. A great quote from the article:


But that led me to look at more of Leinberger's work, including this press release: Is Urbanism the New American Dream?. One interesting quote:


What the critics of HRT's Light Rail fail to see, is how safe, efficient and comfortable mass transit is the backbone for these walkable urban centers. Town Center is obviously one -- downtown could be another. The EVMS area could be another, if more housing is built in Fort Norfolk. This is the vision we need to insist upon in HR -- not ever more sprawl. Interested in how others see this.

Leinberger's web site is here: The Option of Urbanism

Thanks! Yea the area is starting to see an influx of residents from DC & Richmond (and on a smaller scale actually from C'ville to the valley).

Here's one of the more controversial projects that was just approved:

North Pointe
North Pointe

Location: US 29 (roughly 10 miles north of Charlottesville), Albemarle County
Status: Development/Construction (site plan approved in Aug 2006)
Est. Completion: Unknown
Size: 265 Acres
Residential Units: 893
Commercial/Office Space: 841,000
Developers: Great Eastern Management Company

Renderings:

West Virginia is an illegal state. No offense intended. It was created by President Lincoln without the permission of the legitimate and elected government in Richmond. It was a move to reduce the power of Virginia and the Confederacy. I think that a reunification would be appropriate for the eastern counties of West Virginia who never voted to seceed from the mother state originally. Greenbriar County is one that comes to mind, but pretty much all the eastern counties were loyal to Virginia. So I would be in favor of re-absorbing the counties who belong with East Virginia. They tend to be more southern oriented and conservative.

Haven't VA 2010 Census results been released? Is there no discussion here of the new population figures for VA cities, counties, metro areas, etc.?

“21st Century Steam” would highlight milestones in rail history and provide an opportunity for audiences to learn about today’s safe and service-oriented freight railroads. The program would feature three venerable coal-powered steam locomotives:

• Southern Railway 4501: Built in 1911 by Baldwin Locomotive Works, 4501 served Southern Railway in freight service in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, before being sold to a short line railroad. No. 4501 was retired from revenue service in 1963 and enjoyed a second career in the excursion program operated by Southern Railway and Norfolk Southern from 1966 until 1994. This Ms (Mikado superheated) Class locomotive has 63-inch driving wheels.
• Southern Railway 630: Built in 1904 at the Richmond, Va., works of American Locomotive Company, this Consolidation-type locomotive has traveled throughout the Southeast, often in the company of 4501 and sister locomotive 722. An extensive six-year rehabilitation to Federal Railroad Administration standards is being completed at TVRM’s Soule Shops complex in Chattanooga.
• Tennessee Valley Railroad 610: Built in 1952 by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton for the U.S. Army, 610 has been the mainstay of TVRM steam operations since 1990. It also appeared on several Norfolk Southern steam excursions from 1990 to 1993. No. 610, also a Consolidation type, was one of the last steam locomotives built in the U.S.

Development at the Wallops Island launch site continues at a brisk pace. The Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF), where Taurus II will be assembled and mated with the payload, is totally under roof. At Pad 0A, tons of concrete are being poured to finish the launch pad structure and flame trench. The main Liquid Oxygen (LOX) storage tank completed a three-month-long journey from its manufacturing facility in Mexico and was installed at the site in August. The RP-1 storage tank had a much shorter voyage, coming from North Carolina and was installed in August as well. In addition, workers are busy finishing the ramp the launch vehicle will travel on its way to the launch pad, as well as preparing the site for installation of the numerous smaller gas storage tanks used for pressurization and other pre-launch functions. Although not associated with Taurus II, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is also extending the height of the mobile gantry at Pad 0B, just south of the Taurus II Pad 0A. The gantry is being expanded to accommodate Orbital’s Minotaur IV and V launch vehicles. The pad will host the inaugural Minotaur V mission that will launch NASA’s Lunar Atmospheric Dust Environment Experiment (LADEE) spacecraft into a trans lunar orbit.

So what do you think, is it worth it?
Looks a little desperate to me

More than 800 DIA personnel are expected to move into the area by next year to work at the 46.6-acre facility. They will join 200 NGIC personnel from the nearby Army center. DIA personnel are coming from several offices in the Washington, D.C., area.The agencies have different missions that often overlap. NGIC provides intelligence on theater-specific Army operations such as those in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. DIA provides intelligence and information on a world level, investigating potential threats from other nations, political and religious movements and possible terrorist organizations. NGA develops intelligence across the world using a variety of techniques, including satellite imagery.

Area business officials have estimated that the DIA could bring $64 million in earnings to the community, with annual salaries that are expected to average about $80,000. The Rivanna Station intelligence center is expected to generate another 600 off-site jobs in a variety of occupations, from janitorial service to defense intelligence contractors, industrial development officials have estimated.

Local developers have said they began building residential and commercial properties near Rivanna Station because of DIA employees

Pollina Corporate has named Virginia “America’s most pro-business state” for the second year in a row.
Virginia has also held the top spot on the list in 2003. Each year, Pollina ranks states based on 31 factors that can be controlled by state governments, including taxes, education, right-to-work laws, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers compensation laws, economic incentive programs and economic development efforts.

Virginia Railway Express added the first of 19 new locomotives to its fleet Monday -- a move designed to improve the efficiency of the system and pave the way for future expansions, VRE officials said.
"In the middle of the worst economy we've seen, we were able to budget for new locomotives," said Paul Milde, chairman of the VRE operations board. "I am confident that when these new locomotives are all put into service that VRE will be better positioned to ease congestion, decrease pollution and improve the quality of life for our riders and the region."
VRE officials said the new units will allow for adding capacity in the future, as they can carry up to 10 cars instead of six. VRE is the 10th-largest commuter rail system in the nation, with average daily ridership of more than 17,000.

AMTI, which provides contract manufacturing and product-to-market services, is now on track to double its revenues in 2010, says owner Larry Hatch. What’s behind the comeback? One factor, Hatch says, is that the recession left a major gap in manufacturing services. “Companies shut down factories and laid people off, and now that capacity just doesn’t exist anymore,” he explains. “Now there are a lot of opportunities available for anyone that has that capability.”

Hatch knows something about the effects of downsizing. He started AMTI in 2003 after being laid off when telecommunications giant Ericsson closed its Lynchburg operations. AMTI now has 72 employees and is hiring more.
Hatch says the company has focused on helping companies produce products that are critical to Americans’ health and well-being. Recent examples include jamming systems for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), high-tech electronic safety systems for coal mines, chemical-sensing detectors and building control systems.

Hatch hopes to continue his company’s expansion through organic growth, acquisitions or movement to new types of products. He acknowledges growth will be a challenge because of a continued credit crunch and a global shortage of key electronic components. But he believes that the company’s strong relationship with suppliers and clients will carry it forward.

By opening a $50 million Biomedical Research Laboratory (BRL) in June, George Mason University intends to position itself on the front lines of efforts to combat infectious diseases and bioterrorism.The 52,000-square-foot fac­ility is one of 13 regional biocontainment laboratories being built nationwide with competitive grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. But GMU officials say that in addition to seeking medical breakthroughs, BRL will be an economic engine for the region.

In one tale of how the horses came to be on the island, the Spanish warship La Galga ran aground and broke up on rough seas in 1750 off Assateague Island, its human and equine survivors swimming to shore. (Jay Jones)