I posted Parts 1 and 2 of these sketch-posts previously. One suggestion, here: Embrace the Poor. To be prosperous, a community may have to focus on its poor. Americans aren’t supposed to talk about class, but much of that enduring rule recently fell away with the Occupy movement (as it has in earlier episodes of…
City
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…
Business, City, Economy
How to Make Whitewater Hip and Prosperous (Part 2)
by JOHN ADAMS •
A sketch-post from an ongoing series – I posted Part 1 previously on January 27th.. Emphasize the city’s natural beauty. If one’s interested in drawing tourism or affluent newcomers (and we should be), show them them what we have that bigger cities lack – a fine landscape, with much to do in it. We’re doing…
City, Development, Planning
Sundry Topics about Planning
by JOHN ADAMS •
Remarks on Whitewater’s Planning Commission, and planning generally – Planning for Competion, or Planning against Competition? There’s an easy difference: one sets rules of the road, the other decides which cars get to use the road, or get built. It’s clear that some on Whitewater’s Planning Commission don’t see a distinction, and some others don’t…
Business, City, Free Markets, Planning
Whitewater’s Overpowering Fear of a … Family-style Restaurant with a Liquor License
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update: 2.16.12 – video recording of session embedded below. Whitewater’s taken more than one bad turn in recent years — sadly, it took another one Monday night. Introduction. Following a unanimous January denial of a conditional use permit to operate a sports bar on the main business district in Whitewater, the city’s Planning Commission this…
Business, City
‘Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Larry Downes has a fine — very fine — critique of Best Buy’s many problems online at Forbes. Five solid, well-written and well-reasoned pages in which he takes apart the practices and supposed strategy of a mediocre retailer. As a business critique, it’s top-notch. Yet, Downes’s critique is even more useful: think ‘local government’ instead…
City
US Approves Two New Nuclear Reactors
by JOHN ADAMS •
City
Whitewater’s 2.7.12 Common Council Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update: links fixed. Whitewater’s Common Council met last night, and here are assorted observations on the meeting. Scads of Objectives. Whitewater’s city manager lists 133 major city objectives, of which 85.7% were ‘completed or achieved.’ What should one say? It would have been better to achieve a few meaningful goals, than to list over a…
City, Development, Free Markets, Liberty, Planning
How to Make Whitewater Hip and Prosperous
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some suggestions, in no particular order, of a list that’s only a sketch: Recognize the truth of the city, and all cities. This small town is filled with thousands upon thousands of smart, knowledgeable people. I don’t say this to make others feel good; I say it because it’s true. These many don’t need the…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Local Government, Planning
The Williamsburg Neighborhood in Brooklyn
by JOHN ADAMS •
I mentioned that I would write a bit about the Williamsburg neighborhood. Brooklyn’s huge (millions of residents) and there are many neighborhoods (themselves large) within that borough. One of them is Williamsburg, a diverse and eclectic community, with both Hasidim and hipsters, and a thriving arts scene. These groups within the neighborhood do not always…
Business, City, Laws/Regulations, Planning
The Overpowering Fear of a … Sports Bar
by JOHN ADAMS •
Perhaps some fret all day, dreading the prospect of a sports bar in a business district in a town that has too few businesses of any kind. I am not among them. In small-town Whitewater, the main thoroughfare is called, creatively, Main Street. Along it one finds dozens of commercial businesses. Fast-food restaurants, strip malls,…
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters January 2012 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ January 2012 Newsletter is out, featuring both articles and a calendar of upcoming LWV events. This latest edition is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google. Upcoming events: Whitewater League Website to Launch February 2012 A landmark event in the history of our league will…
City, Laws/Regulations, Politics
For Whitewater, some contested races are better than none
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater will see two contested Council races this year, for a district and an at-large seat. The at-large race will assure the city at least one new Council member from the two candidates; the district race has one incumbent and one challenger. (The school district has no contested races.) If our laws were less burdensome,…
City, Politics
Predictions for 2012
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s my amateur version of the late William Safire’s long-standing tradition of offering annual predictions. The list for 2012: 1. In 2012, UW-Whitewater will win the following number of national sports championships: A. None B. One C. Two D. More than two 2. The Whitewater citywide vote for president will be A. A clear win…