Our forecast for Tuesday is for a partly cloudy day, with a high temperature of sixty-two degrees.
Whitewater’s Police Commission meets tonight at 6 p.m. in open session. The meeting agenda is available online.
Over at Wired, there’s a video in which cartoonist Bobby Boyle of the children’s character Wubbzy shows how easy it is to draw cartoons. Step-by-step instructions for drawing Wubbzy are available online. Cartoons are very much a part of our popular culture, and have been for generations.
There’s an encouraging story about Africa today, from the Associated Press, about the power of free market to overcome chronic famine.
Peter Waziweyi is bouncing around the lush countryside of Mozambique in his 30-year-old truck, visiting his customers’ maize fields and relishing the sight of their rich, ripening crops.
In an East African country that tried and failed to run its economy on Marxist lines, it is now the turn of small-time businessmen like Waziweyi to step forward. Waziweyi is a seed salesman and part of a chain linking scientists and farmers that experts hope will help Mozambique and other African countries solve their chronic food crises.
Waziweyi has gone from aid worker to entrepreneur, producing high-yield, drought-resistant hybrid seeds and selling them through the company he and his wife founded last year, called “Nzara Yapera” – “an end to hunger”….
There is no economic match — in most aspects of life — for the freedom of markets in capital, goods, and labor.
If there is to be a solution to third-world hunger, it will be found no sooner than when formerly socialist, often Marxist, nations liberalize into market economies.
It’s a rainy day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of seventy-six degrees.
The Wisconsin Historical Society notes that on this day in 1878,
Tornadoes Devastate[d] Three Counties
On this date destructive storms swept through Dane, Jefferson, and Iowa Counties. Accounts of the storms indicate that three separate tornadoes touched down causing damage to farm buildings, land, and livestock. Two people died as a result and many others sustained serious injuries. The property loss was estimated at $63,000 in Iowa County, $43,000 in Dane County, and $23,000 in Jefferson County. [Source: The Wisconsin Mosaic]
Here’s video of a recent tornado, hitting near Sparta on 5.22.11:
When asked if it wasn’t hypocritical for a multimillionaire director of Hollywood films to denounce capitalism as “evil,” Michael Moore averred that the free-market economy “did nothing for me.” It was, presumably, a devotion to Sandinista economics that enabled his purchase of an expensive Upper West Side apartment and covered his daughter’s private-school tuition. While Mr. Moore’s gift for self-absurdity is rare, it is common to find capitalism’s beneficiaries bemoaning a system that generously rewards their talent and perseverance.
Such disapproval is not merely hypocritical and incoherent, says Joe Kernen, but wrong on the merits. In “Your Teacher Said What?!,” Mr. Kernen, a co-host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” undertakes to demystify and defend the free market, not least for his 10-year-old daughter, Blake, who frequently peppers him with questions about how prices are set and whether or not greed is good….
There are several reasons to oppose the bill: we don’t have a problem that warrants so significant a change, thousands of now-lawful voters will be disenfranchised, vulnerable and minority populations will be disproportionately affected, providing photo identification will cost millions, and one’s fundamental right as a citizen to vote for representatives of an instrumental state is not dependent on any particular document. One is a citizen as a matter of fact, not procedure.
I see nothing libertarian in these restrictions.
Still, these are only a few starting-points. Others may have convincing arguments to the contrary.
There’s a poll, below, for those who’d like to participate that way.
There’s a challenge, too. Of the City of Whitewater’s two state legislators, there is a difference of opinion on this bill: Sen. Tim Cullen of the 15th Senate District opposes this legislation, but Rep. Evan Wynn of the 43rd Assembly District supports it. For those who support this legislation (and advance the supporting legislator prominently at every photo opportunity), here is your chance to defend support of this bill.
This website has more readers each day than another that supports, so to speak, the local legislative supporter of this bill. If one has a case to make on behalf of these voting restrictions, it will find a larger and wider audience here. Now, one may be able to show, convincingly, that I’m wrong about all this, and that voter ID legislation is a good idea. But if one can’t or won’t, well, that’s a powerful case all its own.
The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings is, of course, fine. Although the comments template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.
The forum will be open until Sunday morning, and this post will stay at the top of the website during that time.
Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, embedded below, included a discussion of Whitewater’s calculation and charges for new construction permits. That discussion takes places from 21:50 to 31:20.
Of that discussion, there were two positive changes to Whitewater’s current policy: (1) that the city should calculate new-construction permit costs by square footage, and (2) that the rate the city charges should be that of our lowest neighboring city (Jefferson). The overwhelming majority of the Council saw the value in these changes. That’s encouraging.
Calculating Fees.
Commercial ordinances should follow business practices. If builders (and other communities) typically calculate by square footage, then fees should be assessed this way. Complicated municipal efforts to calculate fees by supposed value are as much guesswork as anything else. We’ve made the right decision to calculate in a simple way.
Much of the first part of the twentieth century involved an effort to craft commercial codes to reflect actual business practices. That makes sense: commercial ordinances should be written in the language, and address the daily behavior, of businesspeople.
Staying Competitive.
It was sensible to match, at the least, the lowest fee charged nearby. Matching a city of similar size wouldn’t achieve a competitive advantage; it would merely makes us less uncompetitive than presently. Matching the lowest rate charged elsewhere achieves a better competitive result.
Whitewater’s Goal.
Our goal should not be the status-quo goal of matching existing (or confusing) rates elsewhere. It should be that of offering a comparative advantage over rival cities. The way to do this is to match the lowest price elsewhere, and offer superior service through a welcoming approach and streamlined process. Something like this —
WHITEWATER:
The Finest Service at the Lowest Cost
I’m not a slogan-maker, but one sees my point.
The alternative is unappealing, and will get us nowhere:
WHITEWATER:
Our Costs are About Average, But We Know You Really Don’t Care About That Anyway
It’s a serious misunderstanding to think that the rate selected doesn’t make a difference. It does.
Trying to hold on to a certain number of cents per square foot misses a bigger goal: to show the world we strive, each day, for a more efficient and productive result — better service for less than rival places. That should be our goal, and we can only make that claim credibly if we establish a competitive price.
The low price is instrumental to something even more important: a deserved reputation in Wisconsin that no one will offer a better opportunity than Whitewater. That reputation doesn’t happen just by saying we’ll do better — it requires a concrete offer to businesses.
America’s Standard of Success.
We’re prosperous because we’re free, a freedom that offers this opportunity: that we can be productive, and make better products at lower costs. The resulting prosperity is part of the American Dream.
No one ever made a success of himself by saying ‘well, let’s not try harder, customers will pay what we charge, as they’ve no where else to go.’ America’s finest companies — leaders in all the world — are committed to making better products more cheaply and efficiently. Apple, Intel, and Ford offer people more today than last year, at lower costs.
Organizations that say costs don’t matter, value doesn’t matter, and that rates and quality should stay the same don’t succeed. Like GM, they declare bankruptcy, and beg federal taxpayers for bailouts.
Whitewater can do better than other cities, and when she does, and more people recognize the advantages we offer, they’ll join us, enriching all the community.
It’s a cloudy day in the forecast for Whitewater, with a high temperature of seventy-one degrees.
The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls the participation of Wisconsin soldiers at the the battle of Vicksburg on this day in 1863:
1863 – (Civil War) Forces regroup at Vicksburg
After the unsuccessful assault on Vicksburg the previous day, Union forces regrouped in front of the city. The 1st Wisconsin Light Artillery and the 8th, 11th, 18th and 23rd Wisconsin Infantry regiments joined the 14th and 17th Infantries to prepare for the next attack. While these arrangements were taking place at Vicksburg, the 4th Infantry fought in a skirmish in Cheneyville, Louisiana.
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but a rise in the four-week moving average to a six-month high indicated the labor market recovery will remain painfully slow.
I respond to email directly, but sometimes summarize questions and replies in a post. Here are a few summaries, in one of those posts.
A question about fees for new construction permits, from the discussion at Common Council Tuesday night.
These are positive changes, and it was right to seek a lower and more competitive fee schedule, with a more modern method of calculation. I’ll write more about this, and why it’s a good idea, tomorrow. One of the reasons that I’ve not yet written is that I like to include the video of a meeting along with my commentary, so readers can assess for themselves if my take reflects the proceedings accurately.
Embeddable videos of Council meetings are not always available the next day, so sometimes a post takes longer. The way around that limitation, however, would be to embed my own clip of a portion of a meeting.
In any event, more tomorrow about fee reform.
Will comments be back?
Yes, tomorrow, running from Friday around noon through Sunday morning. Featuring a poll, too, and styled as a challenge on a particular topic, at least for a while.
Questions about the search for a new police chief.
One searches for a set of standards, and then afterward someone who’ll live them. Leaders come and go, and it’s their policies, not their personalities, that remain to shape those who come after.
Do the Brewers still have a chance?
Yes, you bet they do.
Why don’t you write / comment / praise / celebrate/ endorse / ponder / express gratitude for the Ron Paul candidacy?
Oh, brother.
You don’t comment as much about newspapers as you used to do.
That’s true. It may not always be true.
Don’t you feel at least a little sorry for bin Laden?
No, absolutely not. Bin Laden was a murderous enemy of our people, of our way of life. The president’s order was the right thing. Libertarians believe in peace; we are not, however, pacifists. Men and women have a natural right to defend themselves.
Bin Laden broke the peace, and America was right to bring the consequences of that breach directly to him.
It’s a partly cloudy day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of sixty-nine degrees.
If you’re a Progressive, today’s a memorable day for you, I’d suppose. The Wisconsin Historical Society writes that in
1934 – Wisconsin Progressive Party Formally Organized
On this date Wisconsin’s Progressive Party was formally organized near 30 E. 2nd St. in Fond du Lac. It had begun as a “progressive” movement within the Wisconsin Republican Party more than 30 years before, and under leaders such as Robert M. LaFollette its list of achievements brought national attention to Wisconsin.
By the 1930s, a new generation of policy makers, many of whom had been trained under progressive Republicans, were advocating for reforms as part of Democrat Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs (see our page on the Wisconsin roots of Social Security for an example). At the same time, a new generation of Republicans such as Walter Kohler were advocating their own solutions to the nation’s problems. The heirs of the LaFollette tradition organized a third party, the Wisconsin Progressive Party, to keep alive the traditions they valued. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers, edited by Sarah Davis McBride]
