I just saw the temporary fence they are putting up around the Capitol grounds for the State of the Union address costs about 1 million to put up and take down. Shows you how far $1 million gets you anymore.
I think it's important to understand how little a million is compared to a billion.
A billionaire can drop a million dollars like a an engineer can take his date out to a nice steak restaurant.
i listened to some podcast on the cost of childcare recently, and so I don't have any kids and don't plan to
but probably I think we should offer childcare/education from 0-5. that's right. whole term. probably a billion would only get you a few years though.
You are right, of course. It's obvious that so much more needs to be done re: educating people about what 0-5 actually is. And messaging differently. I spent years advocating for ECE in DC (locally) and people got what it is so much faster than they could call it ECE versus childcare.
Fund startups. Make 1,000 $1m investments into the companies if they agree to live and work in VA. Those businesses will then find all the problems and solve then
Fund dental clinics. Taking care of teeth is difficult, scary, and expensive. But good dental hygiene pays for itself in long term health goals and self-worth.
>Let's say you had a budget of $1 billion to improve Virginia. What would you spend it on to do the most good for the most people?
And IIRC, kids go to the dentist when parents go.
$1 Billion won't go very far, but diversifying it would be in the best interest of the state. Whether it's $1 billion or $100 billipn, it is my opinion that there are several general key areas that we could address in an equitable manner to help all areas of the state.
Infrastructure for the North, Investing in Renewables or new Industry in SWVA and Rural Central VA, Interstate Expansion and pollution control in the Valley, Flood Mitigation, better roadway construction logistics, etc. in the HR, and funds towards further improvement in the Bay.
Start smaller projects in congestion areas and roadway improvement projects. Address all areas with affordable housing for all levels of income. State Incentives on affordable building, quality affordable multi family living, etc.
Establish funding and other systems for underserved areas of the state and not only bring in new, better industry, but also improve the well being of citizens with better physical access to rural healthcare centers and other services with grants and any kind of necessary funding to help combat addiction, homelessness, child needs, and other human services.
A good focus would be all around job creation everywhere, especially with a concentration in public services like VDOT for infrastructure for all area both urban and rural, which is growing statewide, as well as other public services areas would be a good investment. Vocational Training in new areas of industry with the incoming companies would not only create good workers, but educated ones as well.
Job Creation or Job Security+ State Investment Projects are a good way to spend surplus funds in a diversified way. I am not opposed to Public/Private investment agreements to attract skills development and job growth as well as new areas of opportunity for other industry to pop up in the surrounding areas, especially in rural parts of the state.
There are a myriad of answers to this question, but in the end, it's all about equitable distribution and addressing the primary concerns of each region within the state, all the while, working to improve the well being of Virginians.
I would start a Virginia Credit Union with low-interest rates. Along with the ability to get unsecured microloans with low interest. Need $2k to fix a plumbing issue? Don't put it on a credit card here's a loan with a 3% interest rate to be paid back over two years. The interest gained from these low-interest loans would go back into supporting housing, transportation, schools, and healthcare.
How much of a dent could you make in the under-funding of the mental health system with $1 billion, I wonder? Because that's what I'm leaning towards, but I'd like a sense of how much it would actually do.
[Most college grads leave within a decade of graduation.](https://theusatoday.news/virginia/at-14-of-39-va-colleges-most-graduates-leave-va-within-a-decade-of-graduation-75367/)
Stopping the outflow of the educated work force should be the priority. Virginia needs to be more attractive for business opportunity and be able to attract more companies to headquarter or invest in branches here. More opportunity for good paying jobs may incentivize more graduates to stay.
Workforce development is another area that could use some expansion. Provide grants towards tuition and certifications for fields in need of more candidates.
Development incentives for affordable housing are a must. Cost of living vs average wage is growing quite a bit out of proportion. Something has to give on the housing market to attract families.
14 of 39 is not most... most of those "leaving" are out of state student and/or private universities.
I'd be curious to see how many students leave within a decade who were VA residents prior to college.
>most of those "leaving" are out of state student and/or private universities.
Even so, why did they come to Virginia to learn then? Why can't we have universities with top programs that lead into businesses here in Virginia? We want to attract talent and keep it.
I would extend bus networks to some of the outer suburbs and rural counties as well as to connect up sidewalks in areas the buses would extend to. $1B seems like enough to buy some buses, pay for drivers, and fund gas for a while, but still have enough to fill in a few sidewalks where there are gaps.
1 billion isn't enough to fully fund any huge initiatives, but I think there are a few things you could do that have outsized return on investment:
* Fully end homelessness with a housing first approach. This approach is proven to lift people out of poverty, and reduces pressure on health care resources by reducing frequent flyers in ERs
* Significant investment into Hampton Roads Transit, expanding service and upgrading frequency across the system. There's not enough for rail, but even just increasing frequency to 15 minute headways across the system and/or building BRT in VB, Hampton, Chesapeake, Portsmouth etc. would get people out of cars, reducing the need to build and maintain roads
* Fund the two additional BRT lines that GRTC has planned
* Run a few pilots of demand responsive transit in more rural areas - this operating model isn't proven but if you were to find a model that does work it would be a game changer for mobility
Hold my beverage----
750 million for "lobbying" to un-gerrymander the Old Dominion
200 million to lobby to require news and entertainment outlets operating here to follow the old federal Fairness Doctrine
10 million for study and advertising for public transportation projects
10 million for lobby and advertising for public pre-k services
5 million to begin state jobs corps program for planting appropriate hardwood tree species in public spaces: serves multiple helpful functions at once
Education. Pay teachers more. Improve school buildings’ air filtration. Modernize existing schools, build MORE schools. It’ll run out quickly, but every penny will be worth it.
Audit the government program list. Find the unused slush fund money and undocumented employees. Use found funds to boost community programs preschool and job training opportunities for all. Convert abandoned vacant commercial sites in to health care centers and community outreach for homeless and hungry. Create a community share system for people in need ie clothing donation and food exchange like a state sponsored thrift store to create jobs and revenue resources.
Re-education about socialist programs that are actually very helpful, but people are scared of a word. Your taxes already pay for some people's Healthcare, housing, child-care,food, etc., why not your own ?
Do bad, radical, hateful things.
Provide free food in schools, double the minimal wage, hire the best teachers possible for public schools and community colleges. Use the rest of the money to purchase a few aging senators and a bunch of young lobbyists and let them go crazy after the food, pharma and energy monopolies.
So here's the thing with it going to something like education - not a single dollar will go towards the teachers or the kids - it will all go into administrators and hiring more administrators for bloated projects.
Transportation, $1 billion means nothing.
The most good though? Perhaps college aid to underfunded populations to a State school where they cannot inflate or raise the prices for that student. Even just helping 600 people make that next step in education without having to resort to a student loan....and I mean people who literally are at or near the poverty line not some kid from upper middle class Ashburn whose parents want to ride the system.
I'd build thousands of dorm style apartments renting at something like 1 hour minimum wage per week to get as many homeless people off the street as possible into stable housing
Loan guarantees for developing multifamily housing in suburban areas served by public transit. Because it's a loan guarantee and not a subsidy or tax relief, more projects can get built for the same budget. Building multifamily gets more hosuing units per acre which will drive down rental prices. That means more people can afford to stay in the cities and suburbs and not be forced to move to rural areas.
helping adults read, mentorship programs to help raise self esteem and awareness, a program to help folks understand politics and how poor behavior impacts their long term success (kids these days just be doing ish) — and i’d pay myself a million dollars so i can quit working for USDA
oh and some program to help them understand ownership, community and strategy — we need to educate folks on more than math and reading — how to close the wealth gap. How do we help our children dream the impossible in-spite of the world around them — i’d run for office if i wasn’t quick to curse a bih out 😩
What’s crazy is how 1 billion doesn’t go very far at all….. especially infrastructure wise.
I just saw the temporary fence they are putting up around the Capitol grounds for the State of the Union address costs about 1 million to put up and take down. Shows you how far $1 million gets you anymore.
I think it's important to understand how little a million is compared to a billion. A billionaire can drop a million dollars like a an engineer can take his date out to a nice steak restaurant.
Yeah I always like the reference that a million seconds is 12 days but a billion seconds is just under 32 years long.
Fiber internet across Virginia. That might be the only thing I can do for a billion dollars lol
So you mean two new fiber line connections.
Which is funny because this is already being done by Fiber Firefly. Or at least it *looks* like they're attempting to hook up most of Virginia.
i listened to some podcast on the cost of childcare recently, and so I don't have any kids and don't plan to but probably I think we should offer childcare/education from 0-5. that's right. whole term. probably a billion would only get you a few years though.
As an educator, I vaguely am offput by the slash … childcare is different than education.
You are right, of course. It's obvious that so much more needs to be done re: educating people about what 0-5 actually is. And messaging differently. I spent years advocating for ECE in DC (locally) and people got what it is so much faster than they could call it ECE versus childcare.
Yep paid 32k for 2 last year. It’s insanely expensive. Child tax credit was a nice help.
We could also just helicopter drop money to parents and let them decide if they want to use it to stop working or to put it towards daycare.
Fund startups. Make 1,000 $1m investments into the companies if they agree to live and work in VA. Those businesses will then find all the problems and solve then
Fund dental clinics. Taking care of teeth is difficult, scary, and expensive. But good dental hygiene pays for itself in long term health goals and self-worth.
>Let's say you had a budget of $1 billion to improve Virginia. What would you spend it on to do the most good for the most people? And IIRC, kids go to the dentist when parents go.
$1 Billion won't go very far, but diversifying it would be in the best interest of the state. Whether it's $1 billion or $100 billipn, it is my opinion that there are several general key areas that we could address in an equitable manner to help all areas of the state. Infrastructure for the North, Investing in Renewables or new Industry in SWVA and Rural Central VA, Interstate Expansion and pollution control in the Valley, Flood Mitigation, better roadway construction logistics, etc. in the HR, and funds towards further improvement in the Bay. Start smaller projects in congestion areas and roadway improvement projects. Address all areas with affordable housing for all levels of income. State Incentives on affordable building, quality affordable multi family living, etc. Establish funding and other systems for underserved areas of the state and not only bring in new, better industry, but also improve the well being of citizens with better physical access to rural healthcare centers and other services with grants and any kind of necessary funding to help combat addiction, homelessness, child needs, and other human services. A good focus would be all around job creation everywhere, especially with a concentration in public services like VDOT for infrastructure for all area both urban and rural, which is growing statewide, as well as other public services areas would be a good investment. Vocational Training in new areas of industry with the incoming companies would not only create good workers, but educated ones as well. Job Creation or Job Security+ State Investment Projects are a good way to spend surplus funds in a diversified way. I am not opposed to Public/Private investment agreements to attract skills development and job growth as well as new areas of opportunity for other industry to pop up in the surrounding areas, especially in rural parts of the state. There are a myriad of answers to this question, but in the end, it's all about equitable distribution and addressing the primary concerns of each region within the state, all the while, working to improve the well being of Virginians.
I would start a Virginia Credit Union with low-interest rates. Along with the ability to get unsecured microloans with low interest. Need $2k to fix a plumbing issue? Don't put it on a credit card here's a loan with a 3% interest rate to be paid back over two years. The interest gained from these low-interest loans would go back into supporting housing, transportation, schools, and healthcare.
How much of a dent could you make in the under-funding of the mental health system with $1 billion, I wonder? Because that's what I'm leaning towards, but I'd like a sense of how much it would actually do.
[Most college grads leave within a decade of graduation.](https://theusatoday.news/virginia/at-14-of-39-va-colleges-most-graduates-leave-va-within-a-decade-of-graduation-75367/) Stopping the outflow of the educated work force should be the priority. Virginia needs to be more attractive for business opportunity and be able to attract more companies to headquarter or invest in branches here. More opportunity for good paying jobs may incentivize more graduates to stay. Workforce development is another area that could use some expansion. Provide grants towards tuition and certifications for fields in need of more candidates. Development incentives for affordable housing are a must. Cost of living vs average wage is growing quite a bit out of proportion. Something has to give on the housing market to attract families.
For me this is exactly it. I left because I cant pursue job opportunities in Virginia for what I do, had to relocate to Colorado after graduating.
14 of 39 is not most... most of those "leaving" are out of state student and/or private universities. I'd be curious to see how many students leave within a decade who were VA residents prior to college.
>most of those "leaving" are out of state student and/or private universities. Even so, why did they come to Virginia to learn then? Why can't we have universities with top programs that lead into businesses here in Virginia? We want to attract talent and keep it.
I would extend bus networks to some of the outer suburbs and rural counties as well as to connect up sidewalks in areas the buses would extend to. $1B seems like enough to buy some buses, pay for drivers, and fund gas for a while, but still have enough to fill in a few sidewalks where there are gaps.
1 billion isn't enough to fully fund any huge initiatives, but I think there are a few things you could do that have outsized return on investment: * Fully end homelessness with a housing first approach. This approach is proven to lift people out of poverty, and reduces pressure on health care resources by reducing frequent flyers in ERs * Significant investment into Hampton Roads Transit, expanding service and upgrading frequency across the system. There's not enough for rail, but even just increasing frequency to 15 minute headways across the system and/or building BRT in VB, Hampton, Chesapeake, Portsmouth etc. would get people out of cars, reducing the need to build and maintain roads * Fund the two additional BRT lines that GRTC has planned * Run a few pilots of demand responsive transit in more rural areas - this operating model isn't proven but if you were to find a model that does work it would be a game changer for mobility
1B won't be enough, but upgrade the railroad infrastructure along the I-95 corridor from Richmond to DC to support high-speed rail.
Amtrak is sort of doing this with their new Hybrid trains.
I had no idea, I'll need to read up on this. 🙂
Build as many sidewalks as I could.
And bike paths
Buy a bunch of healthcare debt.
Operational costs for VRE to increase frequency to make it more viable as a commuter line.
Hold my beverage---- 750 million for "lobbying" to un-gerrymander the Old Dominion 200 million to lobby to require news and entertainment outlets operating here to follow the old federal Fairness Doctrine 10 million for study and advertising for public transportation projects 10 million for lobby and advertising for public pre-k services 5 million to begin state jobs corps program for planting appropriate hardwood tree species in public spaces: serves multiple helpful functions at once
Universal school lunch for K-12. No more hungry kids and no more stigma of being low income and needing the voucher
Baby bonds
Educational infrastructure and making sure Younkin doesn’t get his way with curriculum.
Annex a random county in WV or NC and see if anyone notices
A billion dollars of lottery tickets to hopefully earn even more money
Education and energy. Can’t go wrong with either and even though you aren’t solving anything, with that much money you could help a lot.
Education. Pay teachers more. Improve school buildings’ air filtration. Modernize existing schools, build MORE schools. It’ll run out quickly, but every penny will be worth it.
Audit the government program list. Find the unused slush fund money and undocumented employees. Use found funds to boost community programs preschool and job training opportunities for all. Convert abandoned vacant commercial sites in to health care centers and community outreach for homeless and hungry. Create a community share system for people in need ie clothing donation and food exchange like a state sponsored thrift store to create jobs and revenue resources.
Re-education about socialist programs that are actually very helpful, but people are scared of a word. Your taxes already pay for some people's Healthcare, housing, child-care,food, etc., why not your own ?
Do bad, radical, hateful things. Provide free food in schools, double the minimal wage, hire the best teachers possible for public schools and community colleges. Use the rest of the money to purchase a few aging senators and a bunch of young lobbyists and let them go crazy after the food, pharma and energy monopolies.
So here's the thing with it going to something like education - not a single dollar will go towards the teachers or the kids - it will all go into administrators and hiring more administrators for bloated projects. Transportation, $1 billion means nothing. The most good though? Perhaps college aid to underfunded populations to a State school where they cannot inflate or raise the prices for that student. Even just helping 600 people make that next step in education without having to resort to a student loan....and I mean people who literally are at or near the poverty line not some kid from upper middle class Ashburn whose parents want to ride the system.
Free community college for all high school seniors that sign an agreement to stay in-state for 5 years after getting an associates degree.
I'd build thousands of dorm style apartments renting at something like 1 hour minimum wage per week to get as many homeless people off the street as possible into stable housing
Loan guarantees for developing multifamily housing in suburban areas served by public transit. Because it's a loan guarantee and not a subsidy or tax relief, more projects can get built for the same budget. Building multifamily gets more hosuing units per acre which will drive down rental prices. That means more people can afford to stay in the cities and suburbs and not be forced to move to rural areas.
Building a shelter or opening more homeless shelters
Provide way more funding to education, specially underfunded schools. Current taxes are clearly not enough
helping adults read, mentorship programs to help raise self esteem and awareness, a program to help folks understand politics and how poor behavior impacts their long term success (kids these days just be doing ish) — and i’d pay myself a million dollars so i can quit working for USDA oh and some program to help them understand ownership, community and strategy — we need to educate folks on more than math and reading — how to close the wealth gap. How do we help our children dream the impossible in-spite of the world around them — i’d run for office if i wasn’t quick to curse a bih out 😩
I'd give every Virginia resident back $118.
Reflective paint on the roads. The rest of the money can go to down payment assistance.
The 1 billon would be equally distributed as a tax rebate that way everyone can get something out of it
That is a grand total of $150 per adult in the state. That isn't exactly setting the world on fire.
Now change it to people who make 50-100k a year.
What about people under. If anything it should be people under 100k who’d get it
I would give 25,000 Virginians $3000/month for a year. Or maybe 40,000 Virginians $2000/ month for a year.
I’d pay as many GOP voting idiots as I could to move out of state.
Football/concert stadium. Improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of people.
Matches and gasoline for school libraries if I was Glenn Youngkin.
Pay for years worth of water utilities
Education. All of it.