This Tuesday, September 22th at 10 AM or 1 PM, there will be a showing of Little Women @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Drama/Romance) Rated PG 2 hours, 15 minutes (2019) Based on the classic Louisa May Alcott novel, this is the sixth film version of the beloved story of the…
City
City, Culture, Law, Local Government, Open Government, Politics, Wisconsin
In Whitewater, Three Recent Trespasses Against Public Comment
by JOHN ADAMS • • 6 Comments
Whitewater’s public comment periods are lawful rights worth defending, and there has never been a time when respecting public comment – humbly and gratefully – has been more important for the city. Since June, there have been three meetings during which Whitewater’s current council president has deprecated public comment, or wrongly set the order of…
Charity and Mercy, City, Poverty
Waiting for Whitewater’s Dorothy Day
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Whitewater has many needs, but fulfilling them requires setting aside the city’s longstanding addiction to press releases, public relations, ‘messaging,’ etc. That approach is both ineffectual and proud (where pride is a sin). Worse still is the irreparably conflicted role of politician and reporter, a government intrusion into civil society, a bad habit of Old…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 9.15.20: 4 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 0 Comments
Updated 9.16.20 with meeting video. Last night, among other items, Whitewater Common Council’s met and considered municipal actions in response to the pandemic, heard presentations from Downtown Whitewater, Inc. and Discover Whitewater, and appointed a resident to fill a council vacancy in AD 5. A few remarks — 1. Pandemic Responses. Whitewater’s council last week declined, on…
Blogging, City, Local Government, Music, Politics
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Helpful Advice for Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is rightly celebrated as a masterpiece. It also offers useful political advice, even for small town officials. From that musical’s Washington on Your Side, consider this sage observation on the limits of intra-institutional reform: If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse, You can’t put it out from inside the house. There’s…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 9.9.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Evening of 9.10.20: Updated with full session video. As always, the best record is a recording. Original post follows — Last night, at a special meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, that public body voted 5-1 against consideration of a municipal ordinance to regulate mass gatherings during the pandemic. (The agenda packet, with the ordinance…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, September 8th, 10 AM or 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Parasite
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, September 8th at 10 AM or 1 PM, there will be a showing of Parasite @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Comedy/Drama/Thriller) Rated R (Sex/Violence/Profanity) 2 hours; 12 minutes (2019) In South Korea, a poor family, the Kims, con their way into becoming the servants of a rich family, the…
City, University, UW System
UW-Whitewater’s Chancellor on Paid Administrative Leave
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update, afternoon of 9.3.20 — there is no chance – none whatever – that I will write in any detail about this matter without a careful review of published, substantial claims or documents. (I have never written about a matter like this without a review of published claims or documents, and never will.) Original post…
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Coronavirus, Culture, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Politics, Public Health
Whitewater’s Local Government: Always Literally, Not as Often Seriously
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was the Trump apologist Salena Zito who, by way of defending Trump, suggested that his words should be taken ‘seriously, not literally.’ (She offered this defense in a deceitful effort to absolve Trump from the plain meaning of what he said, at any moment. Instead of considering his statements, one was supposed to take…
City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Public Health, University
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 9.1.20: Culture & Prohibitions
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, the council discussed and gave direction to the city attorney to draft an ordinance regulating large gatherings of people on private property during the pandemic. (Updated with video. A revised agenda is available here.) The council plans to meet again on 9.9.20, where they will consider a…
City, Coronavirus, Local Government, Public Health, School District, University
September Arrives: Consequences Will Settle Claims
by JOHN ADAMS •
September arrives. Small-town Whitewater, like all America, wrestles with a pandemic and a recession. In the spring and summer, one often heard that we would know more about the coronavirus and the economy in the fall. Fall now arrives. There have been, and will continue to be, officials’ claims about how the city, university, and…
America, Authoritarianism, Books, City, Liberty, Trump, Trumpism, Tyranny
Snyder’s On Tyranny
by JOHN ADAMS •
Prof. Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: ‘Lesssons from the Twentieth Century’ (2017) recently came my way. By design, it’s a brief presentation of twenty lessons that Snyder has discerned after a long career as a historian, with significant study and research on twentieth-century European history. It’s a small, inviting pamphlet addressing a big, unwelcome subject. We’ve…
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Culture, Ethics, Local Government, Politics
Social Capital and Hardship
by JOHN ADAMS •
What role does social capital play in a community’s health? Adam Gopnik, in The Paradoxical Role of Social Capital in the Coronavirus Pandemic, ponders whether there’s a relationship between communities with high social capital and a community’s public health. Gopnik uses a traditional definition of social capital as the “parts of society that, without being…
City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government, Public Health
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 8.4.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, among other items — the council slightly modified its mask ordinance, discussed (but took no action on) a racial justice initiative that would create an Equal Opportunities Committee, voted unanimously to extend the lake drawdown project for approximately another year, and voted to continue virtual public…