We are a city of fourteen thousand, with a public school district, and a college campus, and so have grown used to the idea that almost everything costs a million dollars or more. People in the know say that these large sums are just the cost of doing business, as though government were really in…
City
City
The Tea Parties and a Small Town
by JOHN ADAMS •
Two hundred-thirty six years ago, a group of patriots dumped tea into Boston Harbor as a protest against British taxation, and really, British rule, generally. America was born as an independent nation, spread across a continent, and built the most prosperous society in the world in the years since. While we have grown in so…
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park
Measuring Progress in a Small Town (or any other place)
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, University
Snowball Throwing…There’s a Regulation Against That
by JOHN ADAMS •
On our local college campus, as about a foot of snow fell in town, there was a snowball fight. Regrettably, a few windows were broken. Snowballs, baseballs, and footballs sometimes break windows. Accidental damage is unfortunate; deliberate vandalism is wrong. A regulation against snowball throwing, on the theory that someone might get hurt, or property…
City
The Morris Pratt Institute in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Immediately below, in the preceding post, I cite the Wisconsin Historical Society on the Pratt Institute, a center for spiritualism, formerly of Whitewater. Here I refer to the Morris Pratt Institute, not the noted graduate school in New York. The Morris Pratt Institute is now located elsewhere in Wisconsin, but occasionally someone will tell me…
City, Press, University
Real Risks in a Real Town
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a view – almost a wish – that in a small town, life will prove less regulated, and the only regulations the community issues are the most important, truly concerning health and safety. Sometimes, after paying for another permit, or sitting in a traffic jam caused by another urban plan gone awry, someone in…
City, Police
Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Police and Fire Commission Cancelled for Tonight
by JOHN ADAMS •
Oh cruel Nature, harsh force that she is! How is it that she acts to deprive our small city of a gathering by its most extraordinary public commission? I can think of no better example of misused and unused oversight in all Wisconsin. The many serious and dedicated officers of our town have been ill-served…
City, Holiday
Live-Blogging the Whitewater, Wisconsin Holiday Christmas Parade
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve only live-blogged an event once before, a Planning Commission meeting. Tonight, I have a happier subject — the 2009 Whitewater Christmas Parade. Happier yet still, as I will be drinking Spotted Cow during the event. I am remiss not to be marching in the parade, but – and this will surely surprise you –…
City
Misunderstanding Litigation
by JOHN ADAMS •
In yesterday’s post, The Unfortunate Choice of Words, I mentioned a lawsuit against the City of Whitewater, and a now-former police investigator, among others. There’s much that’s interesting in Whitewater’s reaction to a lawsuit. There are a few simple goals in a small town like ours: (1) avoid litigation at nearly all costs, (2) dispose…
City, Police
The Unfortunate Choice of Words
by JOHN ADAMS •
I have contended that a community benefits from a vigorous press, one that is willing to question incumbent politicians and bureaucrats. It’s one of the ways that the press in Whitewater, Wisconsin fails the community: asking hard questions of officials seems like treason. To someone in Chicago or Atlanta, that’s absurd; newspapers, television, and radio…
City
The (New) Prisoner: Episode Six, Checkmate
by JOHN ADAMS •
Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. The Prisoner, in the form of AMC’s new series, ends with epispde six, Checkmate. Much of what one might have suspected is confirmed: The Village is a place in one’s mind, we learn that Number 6 has the chance to run The Village,…
City
The (New) Prisoner: Episode 5, Schizoid Man
by JOHN ADAMS •
Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. In this episode, the Prisoner meets a version of himself, a version of The Village Administrator, and learns that The Village is a a created place. By the end of the episode, he has enough information to how The Village is artificial in…
City
The (New) Prisoner: Episode Four, Darling
by JOHN ADAMS •
Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. The fourth episode of the remake involves the effort of The Village’s administrator to sign Number 6 up with a dating service. The theory, one supposes, is that it will help to learn more about 6. Fortunately, I know of no analogous program…
City
The (New) Prisoner: Episode 3, Anvil
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s commentary on the third episode of AMC’s The Prisoner. Spoiler Alert – this review will reveal sundry details of the episode. A man called Number 6, rather than a name, finds himself in a community called The Village, wondering where he is, how he got there, and trying to return to a place called…