The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ September 2012 Newsletter has arrived, featuring articles and a calendar of upcoming events. This latest edition is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below. Upcoming events: Date: September 20th (Thursday) Event: Public Program, Civil Discourse Where: 7 PM, Auditorium 275A, University Center, UWW Campus Date:…
City
City
Whitewater’s 9.4.12 Common Council Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tuesday night was common council night in Whitewater, and below are sundry remarks about the session. City Budget Process. Our public budget process is surely a deliberative one: it stretches over October and November. Whitewater’s interim city manager plans to deliver a proposed 2013 budget to council on 10.9 (Tue), with specific portions considered on…
City, Open Government
Internal and External in Government Matters
by JOHN ADAMS •
Every so often, there’ll be a discussion within city government about what’s an internal or external matter. The more important question is whether internal means confidential. It seldom does. Three quick observations: Generally, public employees, engaged in public tasks, at public expense, are doing work that should be open to residents’ review. A government that…
City, Police
Alert Alert!
by JOHN ADAMS •
People shouldn’t steal, and that includes stealing from stores. Virtually everyone believes this. It’s harmful to merchants, and infuriating to honest customers. That some will, on occasion, commit these crimes doesn’t lessen the obligation of government to publicize that information both effectively and cleverly. It may be effective initially to post a shoplifting notice, with…
City
The Advantage of a Pressed Shirt
by JOHN ADAMS •
Friends of mine and I had a conservation over the weekend about how a pressed shirt made a capable professional (a doctor) seem more skilled at his profession than someone with wrinkled clothes. One might readily acknowledge that the doctor was as intelligent, as educated, and as insightful regardless of application of starch to his…
City, Press Release
Seniors in the Park and The Ruby Project team up to offer regular Gay and Gray group
by JOHN ADAMS •
Please see the following press release about a support and social program for Whitewater’s LGBT seniors, from Seniors in the Park and The Ruby Project. Here is the text of the release, accompanied by the original version as an embedded document that may be printed or downloaded — SUPPORT AND SOCIAL PROGRAM FOR SENIOR LGBT…
City, Economy, Local Government
Differing Accounts
by JOHN ADAMS •
From the Janesville Gazette, June 5, 2012: Brunner credits team effort for successes at Whitewater. From the Daily Union, August 22, 2012: Whitewater council mulls dismal budget assumptions. One might try to reconcile these accounts, of course, but the effort would be pointless. The former’s just an odd history, an ill-timed goodbye gift to Whitewater’s…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Food, Hip & Prosperous
September 22 @ Cravath Lakefront: Food and Craft Vendors for Pig in the Park BBQ
by JOHN ADAMS •
Downtown Whitewater is looking for Food and Craft Vendors on September 22nd for its Pig in the Park BBQ: Downtown Whitewater. Inc. is looking for Food and Craft Vendors for our BBQ Pig in the Park State Championship Cook-off Sanctioned by Kansas City Barbeque Society Downtown Whitewater, Inc. will host the area’s first BBQ Pig…
City, Police
Whitewater’s 8.16.12 Police Commission Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embedded below is the 8.16.12 Whitewater Police Commission meeting. Recording and publishing these meeting videos online is a positive development for the city. It’s a requirement imposed on our local government as part of Whitewater’s Transparency Enhancement Ordinance, at Municipal Code Section 2.62.030. Police Commission Meeting 08/16/2012 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo.
City, Green Energy Holdings, Planning
The Misdirected Focus
by JOHN ADAMS •
Watching Whitewater’s recent Planning Commission, one saw an attention to detail about a factory building’s wall color, general style, and lighting that lasted for 13:28 minutes, from approximately 11:30 to 24:58 during the session. It’s not the particular focus on an applicant’s building, but what it says about ordinary due diligence in reviewing bigger projects,…
City
On Excuses for Big Problems and Poor Policies
by JOHN ADAMS •
In local politics, one sometimes hears flimsy excuses for big mistakes, just as one hears implausible explanations for serious problems. These sort of explanations are the stock in trade of officials who simply don’t want to accept responsibility for mistakes, or who simply don’t want to do the hard work their positions require. Whenever I…
City, Green Energy Holdings, Open Government
How to Keep a Public Deal from Common-Sense Evaluation
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s not that hard, really. One just needs a shameless disregard for open government and an equal disregard for diligent environmental and fiscal evaluation. 1. Keep discussion of the deal within a closed session of the Community Development Authority. That would be item 12 from the 6.6.12 CDA meeting. See, at 1:14:56 in the video,…
Animals, City, Weird Tales
Whitewater, this snake would have been a real problem…
by JOHN ADAMS •
Scientists at the University of Florida say the 160-pound, 17-foot-long Burmese python found in the Everglades last week is the largest one ever seen in the state, and more evidence that the “monstrous” snakes are taking over the park. Even more disturbing than the snake’s size is the fact that it was carrying 87 eggs, also a…