League of Women Voters: States of the City & the Schools 09/19/19 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo.
Whitewater’s city manager, Cameron Clapper, and the Whitewater Unified School District administrator, Dr. Mark Elworthy, presented on the states of the city and school district, respectively. Embedded above is a full video of their presentations.
The municipal government presentation begins at 1:45 on the video; the school district presentation starts at 29:00. It’s well worth watching the full video.
A libertarian reminder, that always bears repeating: the municipal government and the school district, however important, are only part of a larger community in which thousands of people engage in tens of thousands of interactions each day.
Libertarians are ideologically vigilant of government action not because we think government is the most important matter, but to keep government from imposing itself as the most important matter.
One final observation, about City Manager Clapper’s reply to a view (he rightly calls it a myth) that city government is actively trying to keep a grocery from coming to town. (See video beginning at 24:00.)
It’s mistaken to say that government isn’t trying to bring a grocery to town – of course it is trying to bring one. I’d argue that the city shouldn’t spend public money to bring an outside grocer, but I have no doubt that city officials are trying. The real discussion is whether the city should use public money as incentives.
(If the city does use public money on a grocery, they’ll simply be purchasing a bag of hurt as it becomes clear the local economy cannot sustain an out-of-town grocery for the long-term. See Gas Stations, Fast Food, and What the Market Will Bear.)