Ahhh… The day after Election Day.

Are you basking in the afterglow? Smoking a cigarette? Did you just roll over and go to sleep? Or were you one of the 72% who ignored the easy opportunity?

As I see it, there are two major takeaways from this year’s political fiesta:

This time around, I want to discuss consumer rights vs. the rights of those who seek profit without limits, healthy competition or public scrutiny, and why the rights of profiteers always seem to dominate.

For example, there’s this story, in which our old friends at Dominion Power continue to promote their plan to string a high-voltage power line over a historic section of the James River.

Truthfully, I don’t think I’m as concerned with the aesthetics of Dominion’s proposal as those who so passionately oppose it. What I am opposed to is Dominion’s ongoing attempts to force a project on the people who do oppose it through extortion, intimidation and coercion.

This week, I want to take a break from poking the bear and point out some good things going on around the region. As always, I hope they represent a trend, and I want to encourage the kind of progress these positive actions represent. 

A ray of sunshine? Let’s hope so

I want to start this week in Portsmouth, but for a more positive reason than usual. I’ve spent a lot of time picking on Portsmouth, and frankly it’s been justified. The litany of problems that city faces–when combined with the incredibly poor leadership displayed by it’s elected representatives–have combined to leave Portsmouth in a particularly bad lurch.

I hadn’t intended to write two back-to-back columns about infrastructure, but a confluence of events dictates otherwise.

The first of these is the recent passing of Louis Guy, a man I can easily describe as an “engineer’s engineer.” Louis was immensely respected in our region, not only for his engineering prowess, but for his love of local history and his passion for our region.

About three years ago, Louis had to drop something off at my home for a website I was working on. Over beverages, he listened while I pitched the idea I’ll describe in a minute. When I was done, he expressed genuine enthusiasm for it, which coming from a professional of his stature was huge to me.