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Hip & Prosperous

The Common Council Session for 1.20.15

I’ve two quick remarks about last night’s Council session.  On an appointment to the Third District seat until April, I’d say Brienne Diebolt-Brown was a solid choice.  Three residents were willing to be appointed, two of whom (Ken Kienbaum, Christopher Grady) are running in the spring general election.  Ms. Diebolt-Brown doesn’t plan to run in…

In Support of the Complete Streets Initiative for Whitewater

This Tuesday, January 20th at 6:30 PM, Common Council will consider a Complete Streets ordinance (item O-3) for Whitewater. A Complete Streets program simply requires planners to consider bike and pedestrian travel, for example, when either building or reconstructing streets within our city. (I listened closely to discussion of the idea at our 12.16.14 Common…

Whitewater’s Independent Merchants: Supporting Small Bricks Over Bytes

A quick summary of my views on business would be to say that (1) private markets are typically superior to government regulation, subsidies, or game-rigging, (2) government should be impartial to different kinds of businesses, (3) government ‘business’ or ‘development’ efforts are often self-promoting efforts of officials, bureaucrats, and hangers-on who are parasitic of public…

The Planning Commission Meeting for 11.11.13

Whitewater’s Planning Commission met last night, and among the topics was consideration of re-zoning and a conditional use permit for Casual Joe’s, a new restaurant, tavern, and distillery to operate at 319 W. James Street (at the site of a long-unused commercial building, the former Fort Auto Body).    On 4-3 votes, a majority of…

Downtown Whitewater and an Emerging Business Culture

At Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, there was a brief presentation from two board members of Downtown Whitewater (DTWW), with others from that group also in attendance.  In the life of a small town, success of merchants matters greatly.  (I’m opposed to pitting local independent merchants against local chain stores, but I very much support local…

Whitewater’s Common Council Meeting for 10.15.13 (Downtown Whitewater and Whitewater’s Merchant Class)

Municipal funding for local business groups, including Downtown Whitewater, Inc., lies ahead.  I’ll not discuss those line items today.  Instead, I’ll offer a simple observation about local merchants. Whitewater has spent too much time and money on failed big-ticket, white-collar projects and too little time on her local, merchant class. I’ve no particular interest in favoring local retailers over national…

What Standards for Whitewater?

This post is a companion to one from yesterday on rights, entitled, How Many Rights for Whitewater? Whitewater is a place of great natural beauty, hundreds of years of indigenous and settled living, and a quaint, small-town scene. If residents of Whitewater should have the same rights as those elsewhere in Wisconsin and America –…

Choosing Whitewater

At Whitewater’s last meeting of Common Council, on 2.21.13, there was a discussion about the choosewhitewater.org website, a promotional portal for Whitewater. (The site has been around for a while, slowly adding content or links.) It’s labeled as a joint effort of the city, school district, and university, but it’s easy to see that the…

Restaurant Reviews

I’ve started reviewing restaurants, in the city and nearby, with the first review to be published next week (as part of a Wednesday feature). It’s a longstanding project, about which I’ve been thinking for over a year. (To the readers who’ve encouraged me: thank you, kindly.) We’ve a small but growing restaurant culture here in…

Which Homeowners for Whitewater?

The preceding post, Who Should Live in Whitewater?, was about immigration. Here’s a second question, a bit more specific: which homeowners for Whitewater? One hears repeatedly that out city could use more families with children. I don’t disagree: it would help our public schools to have a stable, or growing, school-age population. Here’s where I…