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
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…
Business, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
The Generac Bus and Bottom-Shelf Messaging
by JOHN ADAMS •
More on a bad deal for taxpayers, but a bargain at their expense for one big corporation. I posted recently on addled messaging about the Generac bus from a weekly report of Whitewater’s city manager dated 5.11.12. Last Friday, 5.18.12, there was another announcement about the bus. That new announcement is really an admission of…
Business, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation
A little consistency would be in order
by JOHN ADAMS •
Around two years ago, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue changed the method by which municipalities valued private properties. The state concluded — correctly — that municipalities were often over-valuing and thus over-taxing private properties. For businesses, a correct, lower assessment meant less in taxes; for municipalities, an over-valuation was useful to extract as much in…
Business, City, Corporate Welfare
A Local Flavor of Crony Capitalism
by JOHN ADAMS •
Multi-city Generac, a large industrial concern, wants government money — federal, state, local — for a bus line to bring workers from the Janesville-Beloit area to its plant in Whitewater. The bus line’s really good for no one but Generac’s employees. The times for the proposed line are tailored not to community needs, but to…
Business, Charity, City
Whitewater Farm Donates 151,000 Eggs to Needy
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, City, Development, Government Spending
Meet the New Public-Loan Applicant, Same as the Old Public-Loan Applicant
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Whitewater’s city manager and acting Community Development Association director comes word of a second public loan for DR Plastics. To follow the agendas, proceedings, and minutes of the CDA was to see this a mile away — CDA Approves Business Development Loan to DR Plastics The Community Development Authority (CDA) this week approved a…