Early one morning, while you’re in a coffee shop, a woman walks through the door, orders an Americano, and sits down at your table. She sips ever so tentatively, while poring over a local newspaper. She turns to you and asks, “Do you know how I could leave my mark on this community?” You’re not…
New Whitewater
Education, New Whitewater, School District
Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 3: An Invitation
by JOHN ADAMS • • 6 Comments
City, Good Ideas, New Whitewater, Open Government
‘Best Practices, Fair Treatment, Transparency’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Writing about the city requires reading the public documents of local government, even if one chooses not to write about what one’s read. Reading and observing come well before writing. Daily observation inclines an observer not to the immediate, but the distant – one takes a longer view of things. Along the way,…
City, Local Government, New Whitewater, Open Government, Politics
Could the Koch Brothers Dominate Whitewater’s Politics?
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Assume for a moment that Charles and David Koch decided to use their vast billions to dominate Whitewater’s local politics. They’d spend whatever they had, under this hypothetical, to put their hand-picked candidates in office, for advertising, public relations, goodwill community events, and lobbying to get their way in elections, appointments, and in pressuring local…
City, Liberty, New Whitewater
Why Whitewater?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This post is the third of a trilogy about Whitewater. Months ago, I posted the first two of this series. (See, How Many Rights for Whitewater? and What Standards for Whitewater?). Those earlier posts may be summarized simply: Of rights — All of America, and all of Wisconsin, for all of Whitewater. Of standards — The…
City, Corporate Welfare, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, New Whitewater
The Middle Time
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
New Media, New Whitewater, Politics, Press
What the ‘Shock of Inclusion’ Means Locally
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I posted yesterday on Clay Shirky’s Shock of Inclusion and New Roles for News in the Fabric of Society, published in 2010 and just as relevant today. His essay isn’t about local media especially, but his observations are useful to assess both local news and politics. Shirky writes about the collapse of a pipeline…
City, New Whitewater
Believe in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It was Gov. Romney, I think, whose presidential campaign slogan was ‘Believe in America.’ I’m not a Republican (I’m Libertarian), but I did like the slogan. America is worth believing in. I believe in Whitewater, too. Not how she’s been depicted, entirely, but how she truly is, and in the good things that lie…
Business, City, Free Markets, Good Ideas, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, New Whitewater, Planning
The Planning Commission Meeting for 11.11.13
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
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…
Business, City, Development, Free Markets, Hip & Prosperous, New Whitewater
Whitewater’s Common Council Meeting for 10.15.13 (Downtown Whitewater and Whitewater’s Merchant Class)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, New Whitewater, Open Government
What Standards for Whitewater?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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 –…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Good Ideas, New Whitewater
Join Downtown Whitewater’s August Downtown Cleanup, Saturday, August 24th from 8 AM to Noon
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s your chance to be part of a group that’s keeping Whitewater beautiful — Join Downtown Whitewater for its August Downtown Cleanup to welcome UWW students and their families back to town When: Saturday, August 24th from 8 am to Noon. Where: Meet at Discover Whitewater (150 West Main Street). We’ll be sweeping the streets…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Development, Good Ideas, Hip & Prosperous, New Whitewater, Planning
Tidying the Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A new school year begins, and thousands of students on whom the economy of this city depends are returning to Whitewater. Volunteers, as they’ve done previously, will help tidy up the town. These volunteers have, I think, held similar clean-up efforts in June and July. It’s a fine idea. (I’ve not been part of those…
City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, New Whitewater, Planning, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
A Review of Whitewater’s Economy is Like Peeling an Artichoke
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Artichokes, of course, symbolize the idea of multi-layered things, of peeling back an exterior to discover an interior truth. Whitewater’s economy is like that – one needs to peel away layer upon layer of happy-talk headlines to address the truth of our present condition. (In a way, the only indubitable success those headlines assure is…