Please see a Downtown Whitewater 2013/2014 Board of Directors Nomination Form: The Downtown Whitewater, Inc. Board of Directors is the legal entity responsible for overseeing Whitewater’s downtown revitalization program under the guidance of the Wisconsin Main Street Program, including the budget, staff, and program effectiveness. We are currently seeking nominations to fill five seats of the…
Business
Business, City
Design and the Downtown
by JOHN ADAMS •
Downtown Whitewater’s (DTWW) design committee met today, at 8 AM. DTWW is the publicly-subsidized business-advocacy association for this small city’s center-of-town merchants. There’s much to be said for design, for the look and feel of a place. In the end, however, there are few more attention-grabbing sights than empty storefronts. (Peeling paint and trash on…
Business, City, Government Spending
Whitewater’s Downtown, January to December
by JOHN ADAMS •
Like many towns, Whitewater has a downtown, and a merchants’ association, in our case Downtown Whitewater, Inc. (DTWW). I’ve written occasionally about DTWW, and not long ago in support of continued municipal funding for that organization. See, The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: Downtown Whitewater, Inc. There’s been a wider effort to reorganize and consolidate…
Business, City, Food, Liberty, Local Government
The Game of Thrones Food Trucks
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Institute of Justice, the nation’s leading libertarian public interest law firm, asks a question about Chicago that would be as fitting of other cities’ regulators: Should the city of Chicago be in the business of protecting a few politically connected restaurateurs from competition? That is the question to be answered by a major lawsuit…
Business
Small Business Saturday in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
What’s Small Business Saturday? Small Business Saturday is a day for everyone — from the business owners who create jobs to the customers who buy locally — to support small businesses that invigorate the economy and keep communities thriving. It began in 2010 when American Express founded Small Business Saturday to help small businesses get…
Business, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Planning
Whitewater’s Common Council Session of 11.20.12: 25 Questions about the Generac Bus
by JOHN ADAMS •
Most of Tuesday’s 11.20.12 Common Council session concerned the 2013 municipal budget, and of that, a half hour’s discussion addressed whether to give Generac Power Systems, a thriving corporation, ten-thousand dollars to bus its workers to and from other cities. That’s not all, of course: one heard the company-specific program touted as the hope for…
Business, City, Development
The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: Downtown Whitewater, Inc.
by JOHN ADAMS •
The last portion of the 11.13.12 council session on the budget concerned funding for Downtown Whitewater, Inc. That organization sought $30,000, and received $20,000, in municipal funding. I wrote recently about Downtown Whitewater, in support of 2013 funding. See, The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Draft Budget: Downtown Whitewater. In that post, I emphasized the importance…
Business, City, Laws/Regulations, New Whitewater, Planning
The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Draft Budget: Downtown Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Under the 2013 draft budget, there’s the possibility of the City of Whitewater increasing the contribution for Downtown Whitewater, Inc., to compensate for the loss of funding via Tax Incremental District 4. While I’d surely rather the city didn’t prop up businesses, and I’d rather it didn’t fund just one area at that, I candidly…
Business, City, Laws/Regulations
The Transient Merchant Ordinance
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a discussion at Common Council tonight of our “transient merchant ordinance.” The text under discussion is part of the agenda packet, at numbered pages 33 – 42. This current provisions of our municipal code are online as well. Council’s session begins at 6:30 PM in City Hall the Municipal Building.
Business, Federal Government, Food
How ‘Big Food’ Dominates the USDA to Dominate Organic Agriculture
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, CDA, City, Development, Green Energy Holdings
Preliminary & General Questions about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a development proposal now pending between the City of Whitewater and Green Energy Holdings for a waste digester. The community’s heard only a bit about the proposal, from one newspaper story, and an item in then-city manager Brunner’s Weekly Report (publicized verbatim thereafter). The proposal’s been described in big terms, but there’s been little…
Agriculture, Business, Food, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
Boosting Big Farms at the Expense of Small Ones
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s about as hard as ever to be a small famer in America. Some difficulties are simply a consequence of competition, by which both farmers (compelled to be more innovative) and consumers (getting better goods at lower prices) benefit. Yet, when government, itself, becomes a burden and hardship for small famers, we have tolerated what…
Business, Laws/Regulations, Poverty
How Occupational Licensing Disproportionately Harms the Poor
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, New Media
Update on Friday Poll: Is Facebook a Fad?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last Friday’s poll asked whether Facebook seemed a fad. Most respondents said no, but almost as many said that it was, or that they weren’t sure. Commenters were, I’d say, skeptical of the company. Well, fad or not, all the world’s talking about the problems FB’s stock is having. (I didn’t think it was a…