A small town in middle America receives an award from a group, of whom no normal person has ever heard, declaring a town project internationally prestigious. The project relies on millions in public grants, millions in subsidized public bonds, will use a third of its space for a publicly-funded tenant, has no clear private purpose,…
City
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters November 2010 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ November 2010 Newsletter is now available, 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. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events for the Whitewater-Area League —…
City
What, then?
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Libertarians, Politics
The Return of the Status Quo, Twice as Loud as Last Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are two trends I think well possible for my part of the world, one of which matters, the other not at all. The first, the one that matters, is that Whitewater, Wisconsin is heading toward conditions in which she has a permanent underclass. That’s tragic, for everyone in the city, and a large topic…
City, Crime, Police
Repetitive Failures from the Wrong Approach
by JOHN ADAMS •
Following a house party at which over one-hundred people were cited for underage drinking, Whitewater’s long-tenured police chief, James Coan, announced that two people hosting the party would be cited for violations amounting to six-thousand dollars apiece. (What they’ll actually pay may be a different matter.) See, Residents fined $12,000 from party bust. (I’ve written…
City, Wisconsin
Slashdot News Story: Researchers Race To Recover Radioactive Rabbits
by JOHN ADAMS •
The rabbits are from Washington State, near the decommissioned Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Admittedly, this may suggest a drawback to my longstanding proposal to build a nuclear reactor at 312 W. Whitewater Street, in Whitewater, Wisconsin. (See, Go Nuclear!) There’s no reason residents, and animals, of the Whippet City couldn’t be issued protective apparel. For more…
City
On Recent Job Losses in Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m not sure what to make of a local job loss amounting to over one hundred people, of which a local politician reports that there are no bumping rights. (That is, the right of more senior workers to take the jobs of lower-level associates whose positions are not otherwise subject to termination.) Bumping rights don’t…
City, Police, University
The Weak Reasoning of Prohibitionism
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few weeks ago, Whitewater police cited one-hundred thirty-two underage drinkers at a house party in Whitewater. Thereafter, Whitewater’s police chief acknowledged that information about the party came from ‘undercover students,’ an acknowledgment that’s just foolish and tone-deaf. (Yes, Coan’s actually quoted calling them ‘undercover students,’ by the way.) I wrote about Coan’s remarks, in…
City
Whitewater’s Job Gains and Losses
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater has had an announcement of layoffs at Trostel, hiring at Husco, and now more layoffs at Sallie Mae (formerly Arrow Financial). The numbers, favorable and unfavorable, mean a net employment loss for Whitewater. (A question is why the State of Wisconsin had time before the election to announce job gains at Husco, but didn’t…
City, Politics
Why Whitewater Isn’t a Progressive City; Why Whitewater’s ‘Conservatives’ Hold the City Tenuously
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, I posted on the election in Wisconsin’s 43rd Assembly district, of which [the City of] Whitewater is only a part. The race wasn’t decided in Whitewater; the winning margin came from other parts of the district. My remarks below are not about that race, but are general, apart from those candidates. Whitewater’s politics are…
City, Politics
On the Wisconsin 43rd District Assembly Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ll offer a few remarks on the 43rd Wisconsin Assembly race, a contest in which Evan Wynn defeated incumbent Kim Hixson. At the bottom of the post, I’ve listed results of prior races, from the Wisconsin Blue Book. (The major candidates’ percentages don’t always add to 100 because of write-ins, etc.) The results of last…
City, Police
The Utter Foolishness of Jim Coan’s Prohibition
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story at the Gazette that’s both fine in its information, and revealing in how predictable Whitewater’s police chief, Jim Coan, is. He’s as unthinking and foolish as ever. Recently, Whitewater’s police broke up a drinking party at a house in Whitewater, and cited over one-hundred partygoers for underage drinking. As I’ve mentioned, I’m…
City, Holiday
Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2010
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s the FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater for 2010. The 2007, 2008, and 2009 editions are available for comparison. The list runs in reverse order, from mildly frightening to super scary. (Before I begin, I’ll note that I think this last year was the worst in recent memory, a time of…