Cash for Clunkers program data show that Virginians are now driving Toyota’s and many traded in their clunkers for Camry’s and Corolla’s.

By Sasha Lester

Cash in your clunker. On June 24, 2009 House Democrats and the Obama administration signed the Car Allowance Rebate System bill into place that later became known as the “Cash for Clunkers” bill. According to the Edmunds website, the program was initially set to end November 1 but the program ended August 24 due to concern that the program was running out of money.

The program was modeled after similar successful programs implemented in Europe and allowed for consumers to cash in their “clunkers” or old vehicles and trade them in for brand new vehicles of their choice.

The bill would provide federal vouchers of up to 4,500 for consumers to trade in their gas-guzzlers for fuel efficient cars with better mileage. An article in USATODAY breaks down the step-by-step process of how consumers purchased a new vehicle by simply trading the government for another.

“Vehicles that are traded in are to be destroyed, not resold, and the base manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the new replacement vehicle cannot exceed $45,000 (Edmunds)”.

The Breakdown. The Government would send up to $4,500 to the selling dealer on your behalf, if you:

1. Trade in a car that — this is a key point — has been registered and in use for at least a year, and has a federal combined city/highway fuel-economy rating of 18 or fewer miles per gallon.

2. Buy a new car, priced at $45,000 or less and rated at least 4 mpg better than the old one (gets a $3,500 voucher). If the new one gets at least 10 mpg better, you get the full $4,500 (Healey, USATODAY).

Healey said the program was designed for two specific reasons.

“Supporters say it would replace older vehicles with new ones that use less fuel, are safer and pollute less. And it would give the struggling auto industry a sales boost (Healey)”.

A waste of cash. Even though many supported the program there were some who didn’t see the potential of the program – especially after numbers were released once the program ended in August 2009.

Reporter Peter Valdes-Dapena for CNN Money said that the program didn’t accomplish anything and ended up being a waste of money in the end.

“The average rebate was $4,000. But the overwhelming majority of sales would have taken place anyway at some time in the last half of 2009, according to Edmunds.com. That means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales (Valdes-Dapena, CNN Money)”.

Virginians drive Toyota. According to data released from the Car Allowance Rebate System website, 23,231 vehicles were sold in Virginia and 4,267 of those purchased were Toyota’s. Nationwide totals show that Toyota was the only manufacturer to have two of its vehicles makes the top of the list for purchased vehicles in the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

A Toyota dealership in Virginia Beach sold 285 vehicles and its competitor’s numbers weren’t as high. Chevrolet and Jeep dealers didn’t break 100 and Ford sold 149 and Honda sold 137 vehicles.

Dealerships in Woodbridge sold 248 vehicles and Ford came up short with 88 new vehicles purchased. Some Toyota dealerships in Chesapeake sold 370 vehicles compared to Chrysler who sold 18 vehicles in that area.

Don’t stand a chance. In Chester, Priority Toyota sold 226 new vehicles and trampled all of their surrounding competitors. Chevrolet sold 81 vehicles, Honda sold 166 and Hyundai sold 91 vehicles.

Priority Toyota salesman Colby Hall participated in the Cash for Clunkers program and says that Toyota’s reputation is what made them a tough competitor.

“The reason I think that Toyota did well in the Cash for Clunker program is because they have built a reputation over the years for quality and reliability. For those people that wanted to buy or needed to buy, they wanted a Toyota because if they spend the money they think it’s a better value”.

Hall was glad to be part of the program but said the program may have had a greater impact if it took place at a different time.

“I think the program would have been better to do in the slower part of the year so it could help balance sales. The summer already has a lot of sales. The program was fun and I’m very appreciative to have been apart of it”.

Toyota’s for all. According to the Car Allowance Rebate System data, Toyota sold more cars than any other manufacturer during the Cash for Clunkers program.

Nationwide, Toyota sold 131,961 new vehicles to consumers. The Toyota Corolla was the number one car sold in country for the program and the Toyota Camry was the 3^rd most purchased vehicle. Toyota’s hybrid synergy Prius was the 7^th most popular among consumers.

REFERENCES

Healey, James R. “Q&A: How the ‘cash-for-clunker’ plan would work”. USATODAY. June 10, 2009. Retrieved on December 7, 2009 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-11-chrysler-gm-cash-clunkers_N.htm

Valdes-Dapena, Peter. “Clunkers: Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car”. CNN Money. October 29, 2009. Retrieved on December 7, 2009 from http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/28/autos/clunkers_analysis/index.htm

Car Allowance Rebate System. Last updated December 2, 2009. Retrieved on December 7, 2009 from http://www.cars.gov/

**All of the data was collected from the Car Allowance Rebate System website, found here. The visulations you see have been created using Many Eyes**

By Sasha Lester

Abstinence-Only Not Working

Sex education programs at middle schools and high schools are meant to educate youth on the important of using protection and the consequences that can occur if you choose to have sex unprotected.

Some counties have turned to ‘Abstinence Only’ sex education programs that stress the importance of remaining abstinent until marriage to avoid any sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies.

Associate Professor at VCU’s School of Medicine, Dr. May Kennedy, says that some programs work better than others.

“The abstinence-only programs don’t meet the highest standard of effectiveness,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy says that some web sites like www.cdc.gov show examples of effective programs through the organizations research.

“There have been careful reviews of science-based programs that work to prevent unprotected teen sex, and those are the programs that I think schools should adopt,” said Kennedy.

According to the Virginia Administrative Code, who let local school boards determine which type of sex education they prefer to teach in their schools. However, the Virginia state board is responsible for setting guidelines and standards for sex education curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade.

The VAC also allows parents an ‘opt-out’ policy that enables them the choice of not having their children participate in the program. If a parent chooses to opt-out, he is also required to justify why they decided to do so.

According to the Advocates for Youth Web site, Virginia doesn’t require sexual education even though 120,000 youth in Virginia are sexually active. Both Advocates for Youth and VAC show that there is no Virginia law that mandates sex education in schools.

Dr. Rick Zimmerman is a professor in VCU’s Department of Social Behavior and Health and says that he was shocked at number of reported cases among young students but thinks it goes beyond sex education.

“This is surprising. But the most likely reason has to do with regular partnerships/boyfriends/girlfriends thus fewer sexual partners for the 20-29 year old age group,” said Zimmerman.

Truth in Numbers

The Virginia Health Department released the 2008 ‘Reported Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Total Early Syphilis (TES)’ data for all Virginia counties.  The data was collected and sorted into different categories, and the results were found in the data sorted by age of person with reported STD’s.

Westmoreland, Fredericksburg, Wythe, New Kent and Gloucester counties had 2 or more 15-19 year olds with gonorrhea than 20-29 year olds.  Westmoreland County had 7 more cases of gonorrhea among 15-19 year olds than 20-29 year olds.

Russell, Lancaster, Page, Appomattox and Lunenburg counties had 3 or more 15-19 year olds with chlamydia than 20-29 year olds. Russell County had 6 cases of chlamydia among 15-19 year olds and only 1 reported case among 20-29.

The Eastern region of Virginia had 4,010 reported cases of chlamydia among 15-19 year olds which was more than any other region in Virginia. The Eastern region also had the highest number of reported cases of gonorrhea among the same age group.

The Eastern region consists of counties that stretch from the Norfolk area to Tidewater. Lancaster County had 24 cases of chlamydia among 15-19 and only 20 cases among 20-29.

In October 2007, Governor Tim Kaine released the state’s 2008 Fiscal Year Budget and said that Virginia would not be applying for federal money that would be used for ‘abstinence only until marriage’ sex education program.

Kaine said, “Eliminate general funding match for federal Abstinence Grant…Formal program evaluations at the federal level have indicated that this particular program is no more effective than any other birth control education effort.”

Efforts were made by the governor to enforce sex education that doesn’t educate youth on ‘just saying no’. However, there are still high numbers of young adults being contracted with sexually transmitted diseases each year.

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Here is a visualization of the data created through Many Eyes!

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REFERENCES

Advocates for Youth. “Virginia Report Card”. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1048&Itemid=629

Amplify. “Amplify Report Card: Virginia”. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/main.cfm?s=amplify&actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpState&htmlKey=stateVirginia

Craig, Tim. The Washington Post, “Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Funds Cut Off by Kaine”. November 13, 2007. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/12/AR2007111201716.html

Virginia Department of Health. “Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphyllis data”. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epidemiology/DiseasePrevention/DAta/

Multi-Genre author Pamela K. Kinney at the 2009 Hanover Book Festival

Even with more people reading online and the development of Amazon.com’s Kindle, local authors don’t see an end to printed books in the near

future.

By Sasha Lester

As technological innovations like Amazon.com’s Kindle have emerged for people to read electronically, Virginia’s reading and writing professionals acknowledge an impact to traditional reading but don’t see an end to the printed page. On Saturday, 40 authors, librarians, publishing agents and publishers gathered at the Hanover Book Festival, an event sponsored by the Hanover chapter of theVirginia Writers Club. Virginia authors showcased various genres of books.

Preferring Print

In the battle of virtual books versus traditional print books, Christian author Elizabeth Nicholas has clearly chosen sides. “They definitely should not stop publishing books…who the heck wants to go at two in the morning, like I usually do, and pick up Kindle?” Nicholas said. “You want to lie in bed, look under covers and enjoy yourself and two or three years down the road come back and reread it.” Nicholas enjoys the permanence of the printed book and finds regular books easier on her eyes. “I’m sorry but I don’t want to lie in bed with my computer.”

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Listen to our podcast interview Hanover Writers Club Treasurer Joanne Liggan and college professor June Forte as they talk about why the Kindle is important to both authors and readers alike.

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The Modern Library

Pamunkey Regional Library Branch Manager Jamie Stoops said changes in technology have lead to different needs for modern library space. Stoops manages the Mechanicsville Branch which recently opened a 16,000 square foot facility. The library is more than three times the size of the original building and was the result of public demand for new technology.Stoops said technology is “definitely changing the face of libraries.” While the facility used to have eight computers, the expanded building holds 30.

“We offer a whole bunch of new services,” Stoops said. “I think the library is more of a community center rather as opposed to a place that houses books.”

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Ghana native and author Naana Kyereboah showcases her children's book.

View an audio slideshow on the 4th Annual 2009 Hanover Book Festival. The Hanover Book Festival began in 2006 by the Hanover Chapter of the Virginia Writer’s Club to help promote reading. Since then, the event has grown and now features various authors and genres from all over Virginia.

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Here To Stay

With the economy in turmoil, a couple of authors said people still want printed books. Non-fiction author Fredric Almond Sr. published his first book earlier this year and believes that despite technology, the number of printed books will keep going up.

“With the economy people can’t go on trips like they used to so they’ve got to read…reading is in,” Almond said.

Multi-genre author Pamela Kinney said books from smaller publishers are coming into their own, especially when hard cover books can be expense; she doesn’t see electronic reading as a threat to books.

Kinney uses a Sony E-Book and reads on her laptop.

“I just want to read.”

Civil War era author Emerson Williams predicts books may go all electronic, but not for at least another 10 years.

“I think it’s more down the road you’ll see a change as far as hard copies,” Williams said. “People will use the Internet more rather than buy the actual hard copy of the book.”

By Sasha Lester

Backyard 500 Comes to Town

The “Backyard 500” is an outdoor event for held by the Children’s Museum of Richmond for children to gather for fun events such as car racing around the track and arts and crafts. Lisa Hailey, director of marketing and guest services at the museum, said the event was designed to get the kids moving in a fun way. “It is an event geared for children to help them get outside and exercise,” said Hailey, “it’s all about pedaling and it also helps us to promote the fact that we have a backyard that has sand and water. It helps us and it helps the kids, it’s a great and fun event.”

History of the museum.

The museum opened in 2000 and is a 44,000 square foot facility that is partly made from large building blocks and toys to resemble a large jungle gym. The large space allowed for the event to stretch from the entrance of the museum to the actual backyard of the museum filled with real sand and grass areas. The museum holds special events every month, although the Backyard 500 has become a favorite. Hailey also said that the weather plays a big part in the turnout of the event but is confident this year will be just as successful as last year’s turnout of almost 1,000 people. “It was the one weekend in June last year that had a heat advisory…we were way over 100 degrees but we still had 900 people show up. It’s a gorgeous day today and usually the best weather for us is when it’s a little cold or a spot of rain. But I do think it’s going to be a great event,” she said.

Volunteer Help.

Event helper Heather Talley has been to the museum on several occasions and was excited to help out with the Backyard 500. “This is my first time at this event and today I’m going to be painting faces and then later I’ll be going out to help the kids understand the whole concept of pedaling,” said Talley. There were more than 30 event coordinators within the museum helping kids with various activities where they could create shapes with building blocks or paint a picture to take home as a souvenir.

An International Visitor.

The Backyard 500 event is still new to the Richmond community but the word has spread among many families and some for the first time. China native and mother of twins, Anna Belle, just arrived to Richmond from Shanghai on Monday but was happy to attend the event for the first time. “I actually am not familiar with this event down here, I just came to visit the museum but I plan to go to the Backyard event later,” said Belle.

Returning Families.

For father Greg Urquhart, this was his second time returning to the outdoor event. “I came last year and had a good time. I’ll stop by the Backyard 500 although I’m not sure if it will be good for my kids…one is 4 and the other is 16-months-old.” Richmond local, Trei Battle was familiar with the event and brought his 8-year-old nephew to the event so he could go to the track and race around with other kids. “He’s a boy so he loves anything that goes fast,” said Battle. “I came last year and we all had fun so I came back again this year. We’re all excited.”