I’ve written a bit about the search for a grocery in Whitewater, but admittedly it has not been a principal topic for me. That’s not because I don’t think a grocery or co-op would be nice to have; it’s because I know it’s hard to sustain one. Retail grocers (independent ones most notably) operate under…
Business
Business, City, Development, Press Release
City Press Release on Grocery Store Recruitment, 7.21.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update: the press release was changed during the day from its original wording, as indicated below. Posted immediately below is the full and unaltered text of a City of Whitewater press release on recruitment of a grocery store. Needless to say, I don’t represent the city, but it’s fair to pass along the complete municipal…
Business, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Open Government, University
Grocery Preliminaries (Part 2)
by JOHN ADAMS •
I wrote yesterday about a grocery in town, in a post entitled, Grocery Preliminaries. The post’s subject line used the word ‘preliminaries’ because it seems likely that Whitewater will get a new grocery, whatever one thinks of a public subsidy to entice one. In this way, that post presumed a deal, and so was meant…
Business, Government Spending
Grocery Preliminaries
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written about the possibility of a government-subsidized grocery before, but only from an open-government perspective concerning Council’s last meeting in joint session with the Community Development Authority. There have been a few press accounts of previous public meetings about a grocery, but not one of the accounts shows the challenges involved in maintaining a subsidized…
Art, Business
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Art Fairs
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Art Fairs from Artsy on Vimeo. In 2015, art fairs generated an estimated $12.7 billion in profits for exhibiting galleries. But why do collectors attend fairs in droves? And what’s behind their rapid international proliferation? The fourth installment of “The Art Market (in Four Parts)” tracks how the art…
Art, Business, Culture
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Patrons
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Patrons from Artsy on Vimeo. What motivates patrons to fund artists’ wildest dreams? How has the concept of art patronage changed over time? And what’s behind the dramatic rise of private art museums? In the third installment of “The Art Market (in Four Parts),” we explore how and why…
Art, Business
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Galleries
by JOHN ADAMS •
What does an art gallery do for an artist? What fuels the global expansion of galleries like Gagosian and White Cube? And how has the internet affected the way galleries do business? In the second installment of “The Art Market Series (in Four Parts),” we look at the complex ecosystem of commercial galleries to probe…
Business, City, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Government Spending, Politics
The Growth That Uplifts
by JOHN ADAMS •
In a recent interview, Ana Revenga, senior director of the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Group, talks about ending extreme poverty. See, Ending Extreme Poverty: World Bank Economist Ana Revenga @ The Christian Century. (The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per person per day, and the article describes how…
Art, Business, Free Markets
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Auctions
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Auctions from Artsy on Vimeo. How did the art auctions business become a multi-billion-dollar industry? The first film in a series about the art market explores this question, leading viewers through the complex history of auctions, with specific attention to the last 20 years. The film unpacks record-breaking sales,…
Business, Technology
Building Apple’s New Campus
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, City, Environment, Hip & Prosperous, Lifestyle, Local Government
Places Trying to Cope
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Food
McDonald’s Risks
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, City, Development
A Man, His Bad Monkey, and the Rest of Us
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images A man walks through town with a small monkey on his shoulder. (A white-headed capuchin, Cebus capucinus, let’s say.) He walks with it about town, into meetings, focus groups, and visits with various officials of the local government. On many occasions, the monkey scratches, bites, or throws its feces at someone.…
Business, CDA, City, Development
About that Development Deal Near the Roundabout in Whitewater…
by JOHN ADAMS •
These last few months, I’ve watched the efforts of out-of-town developers to build a multi-use facility (by their account, a hotel, sports complex, and senior housing) near Whitewater’s east side roundabout. Two quick, easy points. First, this proposal was, in virtually every aspect, suspect and disreputable. Review of notes, recordings, and research into the developers’…