Hearing on Northampton Zoning Ordinance Tues. Oct 20

The Northampton County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 6:00 P.M. in the auditorium of the former Northampton Middle School, 7247 Young Street, Machipongo, Virginia, to conduct public hearing on revisions to Northampton County Zoning Ordinance.

Northampton County Planning Commission Recommends Approval of the Zoning Ordinance to Board of Supervisors

After YEARS of review and in the face of an almost certain nationwide economic depression, the Northampton County Joint Local Planning commission tonight recommeded the Zoning Ordinance for approval to the Board of Supervisors – a plan that will DOWN ZONE all the commercial property in the county .  .  . a plan that contains NO MULTIFAMILY zoning by-right ANYWHERE in the county. . . a plan that will surely reduce the value of numerous properties throughout the county  WITHOUT WAITING FOR THE RESULTS OF THE  ECONOMIC ANALYSIS THAT WAS ORDERED AT A COST OF OVER $20,000.00 — the report is expected to be completed by mid-March.  This is the study that the public asked for over two years ago, the same study that was repeatedly represented WOULD be considered before recommendation  of the zoning ordinance by the NCJLPC to the BOS. 

There are no land hungry developers about to develop the last available stretch of farmland in the next three weeks.  Why weren’t they willing to wait for the study?  What is the rush?  A group of 11 people that can recommend sweeping changes to the land in the entire county with NO REGARD FOR THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THOSE CHANGES??!!  IS THIS WHAT YOU EXPECT YOUR PLANNING COMMISSION TO DO?  ARE THEY REPRESENTING YOUR INTERESTS? 

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT  WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE TOWN REPRESENTATIVES, IT WAS THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS THAT APPOINTED THE MEMBERS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE AND THE PLANNING COMMISSION TO CARRY OUT THEIR DESIRED AGENDA.

FOR THE RECORD, MYSELF, Mrs. Carter and Ms. Francis voted AGAINST the motion. (Mr. Gardiner was absent and Mr. Hughes had already resigned.)

Feb. 19 Show Lineup

Here is the line up for this weeks show:

Senator Ken Cuccinelli, II

Republican – District 37

Cuccinelli has been a strong conservative leader in the Virginia State Senate on issues such as fighting tax increases, protecting property rights, defending Second Amendment rights, fighting illegal immigration, protecting human life and traditional marriage, and keeping Virginia a low-regulation and pro-business state. He is a 2009 candidate for Attorney General of Virginia.

Dr. Eric Daniels 

Dr. Eric Daniels is a Research Assistant Professor at Clemson University’s Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He previously served as a postdoctoral fellow and visiting assistant professor at Duke University’s Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace, where he was nominated for a teaching award. In addition, Daniels has taught at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his doctorate in American history. He has lectured internationally on the history of American ethics, American business and entrepreneurship, and the American Enlightenment. He has appeared on C-SPAN’s “American Writers” series and his articles have appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the San Diego Business Journal. Daniels’s other publications include a chapter in The Abolition of Antitrust and five entries in the Oxford Companion to United States History. Most recently, he co-authored the U.S. Economic Freedom Index, 2008 Report.

The Morality of Capitalism Despite the enormous success of American capitalism at producing material abundance and political freedom, critics continue their assault on the system, calling it immoral. In this lecture, Dr. Eric Daniels makes the case that capitalism is the only moral social system. He also examines the conventional defense of capitalism, which relies on the practical, economic argument, and illustrates why only a defense of pure laissez-faire capitalism can succeed.

Eric Daniels Defends Free Speech

 

Mr. Daniels favorite charity is the Ayn Rand Institute.

Congressman Glenn Carlyle Nye III (VA-02) is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Virginia’s 2nd congressional district since 2009. He defeated two-term Republican incumbent Thelma Drake in the 2008 congressional election.

Nye was born in Philadelphia, but his family has lived in the Hampton Roads area for five generations. He grew up in Norfolk and graduated from high school at Norfolk Academy. A graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he volunteered on medical education missions to the Middle East while in college. He began his foreign service career focusing on economic development in war-torn Eastern Europe while working for the U.S. Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Taxes,Spending and the Economy – Nye supports maintaining the Bush tax cuts ^[2] He also supports the balanced budget amendment to ensure better spending practices.^[3] 

Congressman Nye’s favorite charity is The Veterans Transition House.

Alexandra Harney (Author) will join us to discuss her new book: The China Price : The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage

Dreaded by competitors, the China price has become the lowest price possible, the hallmark of China’s incredibly cheap, ubiquitous manufacturers. Financial Times editor Harney explores the hidden price tag for China’s economic juggernaut. It’s a familiar but engrossing tale of Dickensian industrialization.

Randal O’Toole is author of “The Best Laid Plans”, In the 1990s, O’Toole emerged as an outspoken critic of New Urbanist design and smart growth strategies. O’Toole contends that these development strategies—in which regulatory measures and tax incentives are employed to encourage denser development, more efficient land use, and greater use of public transportation—ignore the desires and preferences of most housing consumers and ultimately waste public funds.Randal O’Toole is a Cato Institute Senior Fellow working on urban growth, public land, and transportation issues.  He is an American economist and public policy analyst. He has held the position of director at the Oregon-based Thoreau Institute since 1975. Since 1995, he has been associated with the Cato Institute as an adjunct scholar. The majority of O’Toole’s work has focused on environmental policy, particularly public land use and regional and urban development.

 O’Toole is the author of numerous Cato papers. He has also written for Regulation magazine as well as op-eds and articles for numerous other national journals and newspapers. He also has a daily blog called The Antiplanner. O’Toole travels extensively and has spoken about free-market environmental issues dozens of cities.  he is also the author of:

The Planning Penalty

How Smart Growth Makes Housing Unaffordable

Smart growth and other land-use restrictions cost U.S. homebuyers at least $275 billion in 2005. This conclusion is based on several measures of housing affordability in more than 300 metropolitan areas. The 48-page report finds that high housing prices are almost always due to government planning rules that prevent homebuilders from meeting the demand for new homes. Such rules cause prices to increase much faster than incomes, which quickly makes housing unaffordable.

O’Toole has held fellowships at Yale University, and served as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and Utah State University.

One of Mr. O’Toole’s favorite charities is American Dream Coalition. The American Dream Coalition’s mission is to support citizens and organizations that promote the American Dream of freedom, mobility, and affordable homeownership.

Will we run out of time again?  You betcha ~ don’t miss a minute!

Feb 12, 2009 interview with Ilya Somin

ILYA SOMIN is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University School of Law. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy. He currently serves as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals. 

  For the podcast of this segment click here.

On tap for February 5, 2009

This week we will be joined by Jeff Frederick, a member of the House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly, representing the 52nd district.  He is also the Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. http://www.va52.com/about.asp

Think Planning has to stay ‘in the box’ and have a strangle hold on individual rights? Mark Hinshaw has a proposition for Americans: Come out of your bunker, throw open the gate, and meet the neighborhood. True Urbanism, his passionate and highly readable appeal for re-engagement with city life, celebrates the growing number of people who reject sterile, paint-by-numbers subdivisions in favor of rich, vibrant, and often unpredictable urban neighborhoods.

Mark L. Hinshaw FAIA, FAICP (BArch University of Oklahoma ’70, MUP Hunter College/CUNY ’72) has had an influential career spanning architecture, planning, and journalism. His election to the AIA College of Fellows in 1994 recognized the unique professional fusion that had made him effective as Bellevue’s City Architect during the formative decade of his tenure there.

Now let’s talk a little about Government power at it’s worse.  Our next guests will be Jeff Benedict author of the new book ‘Little Pink House’ and Susette Kelo of the Supreme court case Kelo v New London.  They will share the story of what happened when the City of New London decided that they could get more taxes from a parcel if they seized it by eminent domain and sold it to a developer.  Hmm, so if your town needs more taxes they can seize your $200,000.00 home  to sell your property to a developer that wants to erect a $500,000.00 home so they can collect more taxes??  What’s that you say?? You don’t think that could happen in Virginia?  There is a Senate and House bill PENDING RIGHT NOW in Virginia that would facilitate this type of ‘taking’!   HB1671 and SB1094

Want to hear from a respected professor from one of our own great universities about Global Warming? Next on deck will be Patrick J. Michaels a Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies he is a research professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and visiting scientist with the Marshall Institute in Washington, D.C. He is a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists and was program chair for the Committee on Applied Climatology of the American Meteorological Society. Michaels is a contributing author and reviewer of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Capitol Hill Briefings:
“What to Do about Climate Change,” February 29, 2008 [Capitol Hill Briefing]“Global Warming: Some Convenient Facts,” May 7, 2007 [Capitol Hill Briefing]

Ok,  we may have a few more guests in between – don’t miss a minute ~ join us 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. this Thursday for “Melody Scalley ~ On the Edge of the Shore!”

Show Notes Jan. 29, 2009

We were first joined by our own Virginia Delegate Lynwood Lewis.  He shared with us the typical day in the life of a legislator and we discussed some of his current initiatives.  His visit was cut short due his being called back into a committee meeting, we hope he can join us again soon.

Riveting! That is the word that comes to mind when I try to describe my conversation with Prof. Richard Epstein.  A quick perusal of the list of books this man has authored will give you some insight into how dynamic a speaker he is: How the Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (2006); Free Markets under Siege: Cartels, Politics and Social Welfare (Hoover Institution Press, 2005), Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (2003); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (1998); Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Health Care? (1997); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Bargaining with the State (1993); Forbidden Grounds: The Case against Employment Discrimination Laws (1992); and Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (1985). Epstein is also the editor of Cases and Materials in the Law of Torts (8th ed. 2004) and has written a one-volume treatise, Torts (1999). 

Our main focus this show was property rights and also the intrinsicly false thinking behind zoning and government protectionism that stem from a naive understanding of economics that leads planners and supervisors to champion restrictive zoning that will ultimately strangle the areas where it is imposed.   Richard A. Epstein,  probably has a better understanding of property rights, zoning and its relation on economics then all the planners and supervisors put together.  He is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, is the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Member, Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force.  A Cato Institute Adjunct Scholar, his resume is impressive and far too long to list here so please visit: http://www.hoover.org/bios/epstein.html

Then Steven Minor the Accomack County Administrator  http://www.co.accomack.va.us/index2.html joined us to discuss new happenings in the county.  I am very very envious as to the number of jobs that Accomack County has the opportunity to attract in the face of this looming recession.  Kudo’s to you all and here’s hoping that you get your zoning in order in time to actually snare those potential jobs!  If only Northampton wanted to have that type of opportunity.  But alas, your potential business endeavors do not include agriculture, aquaculture or tourism so they probably didn’t want them anyway.  Right?!

Phil Dunn and Bob Savage shared their expertise in well and septic requirements.  Mike Starling answered survey questions.

Finally, H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS, http://eteam.ncpa.org/about/sterling-burnett one of the country’s leading authorities on energy and environmental issues. He is the lead analyst of the National Center for Policy Analysis’ E-Team — one of the largest collections of energy and environmental policy experts and scientists who believe that sound science, economic prosperity and protecting the environment can go hand in hand.Burnett routinely discusses energy and environmental policy on national television and radio networks. 

Jan. 29, 2009 Show Schedule

Ok, let’s PUMP UP THE VOLUME with some talk about Economics & Property Rights.  Our first guest, Richard A. Epstein,  the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, is the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Member, Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force.  A Cato Institute Adjunct Scholar, his resume is impressive and far too long to list here so please visit: http://www.hoover.org/bios/epstein.html

Then we’ll be joined by our own Virginia Delegate Lynwood Lewis.  Del. Lewis has a number of initiatives he is working on for 2009.  Call in and share your questions or concerns.

Steven Minor the Accomack County Administrator will be on deck to discuss new happenings in the county.

Phil Dunn and Bob Savage have some serious expertise in well and septic requirements.  Mike Starling can answer any survey or subdivision plat question you might have.  Put that expertise together and let’s chat about the difficulty and negative impact the proposed zoning ordinance in Northampton county could have on the residents there.

Finally, H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS  is one of the country’s leading authorities on energy and environmental issues.  (Oh? What’s that you say ~ you hadn’t heard that 2008 was the COOLEST since 2000?!  C’mon folks, take a deep breath and remember that Climate CHANGES.  If the ‘man made’ global warming scenario were indeed true we wouldn’t have had a COOLER year.  Sorry, I’m not buying into it, explain it as you will we’ll still come back to a simple truth.  COOLING is not warming ~ it’s COOLER. Climate goes in cycles, so CHILL out already!) He is the lead analyst of the National Center for Policy Analysis’ E-Team — one of the largest collections of energy and environmental policy experts and scientists who believe that sound science, economic prosperity and protecting the environment can go hand in hand.Burnett routinely discusses energy and environmental policy on national television and radio networks, including CNN Headline News, Fox News, and CNBC. His commentaries and articles have appeared in publications such as USA Today, The Washington Times, Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Rocky Mountain News, and the Miami Herald.
 

 Whew ~  I’ll just admit right now that we’ll probably run out of time yet again!  Tune in — don’t miss a minute! Thursday 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.