Editorial Roundup: West Virginia

Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:

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Aug. 18

The Herald-Dispatch on a new ordinance by a West Virginia city council offering tax breaks to new homeowners in the city:

Last week, the Huntington City Council enacted an ordinance offering a tax break to new homeowners looking to build new houses or renovate existing ones. It is the first step in Mayor Steve Williams’ plan to persuade people to move to the city.

“The one thing we all have come to learn is that ‘normal’ has forever changed in our lives, and more recently I’ve been reading and have received data that in major metro areas, a significant percentage of individuals living in those areas are indicating that they would now be interested in moving to smaller towns or rural areas,” Williams told the council. “It occurred to me that we need to up our game a little bit and give an additional incentive to those who are wanting to move to Huntington.”

The ordinance eliminates the 2% business and occupation tax assessed for contractors and subcontractors of single-family homes, specifically for first-time buyers, up to $200,000 in gross revenue.

Because much of the housing in Huntington was built nearly a century ago, Williams said the new ordinance would also assist in bringing those older homes with “good bones” into modern-day standards.

The ordinance goes into effect Oct. 1 and is just one of several steps the city will soon take moving forward, Williams said.

Demolishing dilapidated or abandoned structures in Huntington has also been a priority in recent years, and Williams said the second phase will be to make those properties more accessible for individuals to acquire and remodel.

For several years, the city has demolished vacant and dilapidated structures — the kind that lead to blight and attract crime. At least 100 such structures were torn down last year. That creates vacant lots for redevelopment if they are in suitable locations.

“And the third step — it could involve the city, but will certainly involve individuals within the community — is to identify and target individuals in certain markets, of certain occupations, who could be working remotely and are looking to be able to live in smaller towns or rural America,” Williams said. “We are taking the first steps toward identifying who is our target market.”

Williams said Huntington appeals to those interested in the amenities of a larger city with the charms of a small town, especially as the pandemic continues to drive people away from crowded “hot spot” areas.

It’s an interesting plan that takes advantage of the possible after-effects of the COVID-19 situation.

There will be obstacles for Huntington to overcome. Other than the ones addressed in Williams’ plan, what other ones must be addressed for Huntington to be more marketable? Infrastructure, including broadband in residential areas, is one. The storm sewer system needs significant upgrades, and city streets have potholes galore. Every city has them, but it would be a good selling point if Huntington could document that it has fewer than average.

There may be other problems. If employers expect employees to work from home long-term, will current zoning ordinances be a roadblock? Somehow taxes and fees will come into play as well.

The big one, though, is reputation. It’s not unusual for a person who lives in or near Huntington to hear someone from another area to point out the city’s problems with drugs and crime. It was bad enough before, but what happened with opioid addiction made it worse. Yes, the city has made improvements, but once lost, reputations can take time to restore.

Nevertheless, Williams’ plan is a good one. No one knows if the trend toward home-based work is a permanent one, but Huntington must be ready if it is.

Online: https://www.herald-dispatch.com/

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Aug. 17

The Intelligencer on funding for the West Virginia National Guard:

West Virginians have had many reasons to be grateful to our National Guard servicemen and women during the past several months. They have been all over the state, including the Northern Panhandle, taking leadership roles in fighting COVID-19.

But the cost of keeping them on duty constantly has been high. In normal times, the National Guard is not much of a drain on the state budget, but these are far from normal times.

Recognizing that, federal officials had provided funding to cover the states’ expenses for National Guard deployments. Unfortunately, that may be coming to an end.

Starting Aug. 21, West Virginia and all other states except Florida and Texas are to begin covering 25% of the cost of National Guard activity during the epidemic. The federal government is to provide the remainder.

Many members of Congress recognize that ending some federal funding of National Guard operations would be difficult, if not impossible, for state budgets to absorb.

U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are among lawmakers asking President Donald Trump to continue providing 100% federal funding for National Guard work.

“I am imploring you to continue to cover the WVNG 100 percent as hardworking men and women of the Guard continue to assist West Virginians as they face these unprecedented times,” Capito wrote to Trump.

Reducing federal funding “comes at the worst possible time,” agreed Manchin in his letter to the president.

Trillions of dollars are being spent by the federal government to battle COVID-19 and help states do so. Funding for National Guard efforts is a minuscule portion of that.

Trump should reverse course and continue National Guard funding for all states at the 100% level. Frankly, we need the help.

Online: https://www.theintelligencer.net/

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Aug. 14

The Charleston Gazette-Mail on the NCAA calling off fall sports championship events except for major college football:

The decision Thursday by the NCAA to postpone championships for all fall sports, except FBS football, shows that the agency governing college sports only cares about one thing — money.

This is hardly an earth-shattering revelation, but the fact that top-tier college football, which brings in billions of dollars annually, will still go forward in the midst of a pandemic that spreads by people being in close proximity and large crowds, makes it even more clear.

The NCAA didn’t list the health of the student athletes the body purports to care so much about in cancelling other championships. Instead, agency officials said it wouldn’t make sense to play for championships in those sports because so many schools have already postponed or cancelled their fall seasons, leaving less than half of membership schools still planning on playing sports like soccer and volleyball.

Meanwhile, despite two of the football Power Five conferences — the Big Ten and Pac-12 — postponing their seasons to the spring, along with the Mountain West and other, smaller conferences, the NCAA apparently thinks it’s fine for the ACC, Big 12 and SEC to play.

Even if the NCAA did pretend to care about player health, such concern clearly doesn’t apply to its fall cash cow. That’s also apparent at the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly Division 1AA, level, where many teams are cancelling their seasons and the championship has been called off, but programs are still planning on playing their non conference games (which typically involves the FCS school getting a big check to travel to a Power Five team’s stadium and taking the obligatory drubbing). Eastern Kentucky playing its opener against West Virginia University is a prime example.

There are all kinds of logistical problems that must be navigated for a fall college football season to take place. Public health officials have advised to limit gatherings during the pandemic, and, at various times in various places, have suggested limiting those gatherings to 10 to 25 people, while staying socially distanced or masked.

College football rosters allow for up to 85 players. Sure, they’re not all in the same film sessions or practice areas at the same time, but keeping them properly distanced and making sure they’re following the proper health protocols is going to be difficult. That goes double for loading the team up on a bus or plane and traveling to another town for a game. Major League Baseball has seen outbreaks among teams with rosters consisting of a couple dozen players, playing in empty stadiums.

The venues are another issue. Some college football programs, especially in the SEC and top ACC and Big 12 programs, can have around 100,000 fans at a single game. Obviously, the schools and conferences will have to address that. Will fans be allowed in at all? If they are, how do you make sure they’re following public health guidelines? Will they close off tailgating? These are all questions that need to be answered.

One final major concern is the locales of these schools. Many of them are in Texas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, all places where COVID-19 — through a combination of government mismanagement and willful disregard for public health standards — has run rampant and continues to do so.

A bubble system, like the NHL and NBA have employed, seems impractical for college football, but traveling with 85 people, along with coaches and staff, to all of these places and engaging in physical contact for three hours seems like an easy way to create a surge in infections and deaths.

As of Friday, COVID-19 had killed more than 165,000 Americans and infected more than 5 million. The NCAA and these conferences had better have a good plan, because those numbers, growing everyday, will get markedly worse otherwise. In the meantime, all conferences and schools preparing to go ahead with football need to reconsider and ask if it’s really worth the risk.

Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/