The only way to make an ill person truly and permanently better is to see her condition for what it is; genuine recovery requires an honest diagnosis. Despite my doubts about their program, I respect Roosevelt’s New Dealers’ for their willingness to call a problem a problem. If they had lived to see contemporary Whitewater,…
City
City, Freedom of Speech, Politics, Recall, University, Wisconsin
On Occupy Whitewater, 11.17.11
by JOHN ADAMS •
There was an Occupy Whitewater protest and rally on November 17 through this morning. Some attended a protest yesterday, a GOP counter-demonstration, a talk with three Democratic politicians, or camped over. The photograph above is from the morning of the eighteenth, with tents from those sleeping overnight occupying Whitewater. As one could tell, from the…
City, Economy, Government Spending
On Whitewater, Wisconsin’s 2012 Municipal Budget
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s mid-November, and on schedule, Whitewater (pop. 14,622) has a budget for 2012. There’s some good in this year’s result, but other challenges lie ahead. (A pdf copy of the budget is available online. For my remarks on the 2011 budget, see Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Next Municipal Budget.) A few remarks on the ‘12 budget: With…
City, Economy, Free Markets, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Wisconsin
The War on Immigrants
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at Reason’s blog, libertarian Shikha Dalmia writes on Alabama’s War on Immigrants. The essay is solid from beginning to end. I’d recommend readers to consider her full essay, but I’ll quote now from a few key passages. Overview: Conservatives are resorting to ever more draconian measures to take back the country from “illegal immigrants.”…
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters November 2011 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ November 2011 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 January 2012 Thanks to a commitment made by…
City
Residency and the Decline of a Small-town Elite
by JOHN ADAMS •
Small-town Whitewater has a residency requirement for public leadership positions in city government. It’s a sign of the decline of Whitewater’s town squires that they cannot consistently enforce a rule of their own making Ironically, although I don’t support Whitewater’s mostly narrow and short-sighted town fathers, I’ve supported the residency requirement for two reasons. First,…
City, Holiday
Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2011
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s the FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater for 2011. The 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 editions are available for comparison. The list runs in reverse order, from mildly frightening to super scary. 10. Snow. Is every snowflake Armageddon? No. It’s Wisconsin – we’ve had snow before — and here’s a guess…
City, Development
On the Search for a Community Development Authority Director
by JOHN ADAMS •
Small-town Whitewater, like so many small towns, has a community development authority. For several years, Whitewater’s city manager has overseen and directed that authority in the absence of a director responsible to the CDA alone. One can leave aside a detailed critique of the CDA’s past performance (performance that I consider often misguided), and still…
City
A Debilitating, Lower Standard Needn’t Be Ours
by JOHN ADAMS •
America is a place of countless success stories, some the product of luck, but most of talent, insight, and skill. Those talents, insights, and skills require (and also create) high standards in art, science, technology, etc. They’re not standards of – or for – only a few, but ones that a person from any place…
City, Crime, Police
Meet the New Press Release, Same as the Old Press Release
by JOHN ADAMS •
Just about a year ago, Whitewater’s former police chief authorized a raid on a drinking party; this year, almost to the day, the city’s new police chief did the same. Scores were cited a year ago; scores were cited this year. Needless to say, last year’s raid did nothing to stop the underage drinking in…
Business, City, Economy, Government Spending
The Housing Market and Public Budgets
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story in the Washington Post about Pres. Obama’s latest initiative to help underwater homeowners (Government announces new program to help ‘underwater’ homeowners), following an earlier story — anticipating today’s announcement — about failed, past efforts (Obama’s efforts to aid homeowners, boost housing market fall far short of goals). The former story pours cold…
City, Government Spending, Planning, Wisconsin
Whitewater’s Municipal Administration Reports that North Street Will Be Closed Through Winter
by JOHN ADAMS •
Of course it will be; if it takes years to install an adequate traffic signal near campus, one could not expect quick headway on the North Street Bridge. They’ll resume in the spring. The delay itself is not the biggest problem here. Note, instead, how odd is the delay when considered after reading the Walker…
City, New Media, Press
Lots of links and embedding? I’m not a bit surprised.
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve read that Whitewater’s switch to Vimeo for posting videos affords the city more information about how many times a video is viewed, and whether viewers linked, embedded, or downloaded the program. Some of the Whitewater videos recently uploaded have been viewed, linked, embedded, or downloaded many times. (I’ve posted a few videos to YouTube,…
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters October 2011 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ October 2011 Newsletter is out, with articles and a calendar of upcoming LWV events. The latest copy of the LWV newsletter is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google. Upcoming events: Date: November 1st (Tuesday) Event: LWV on-campus program “Impact of…