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Janesville Focuses on Two City Manager Candidates

According to this morning’s Janesville Gazette Xtra, with a byline from Steve Benton, Janesville will look more closely at candidates David Hales and Donald Carlsen. Thereafter, the Janesville Common Council may either visit one of their communities, or ask the search consultant to begin again.

Spanish Translations on the City of Whitewater Website

There is now a Spanish language translation tool on the City of Whitewater website. It’s a new and welcome development for our city – there is a link on the City of Whitewater main page that translates English into Spanish. It’s a welcome development. Last year, on August 16, 2007, I called for a translation…

Whitewater City Manager’s Janesville Interview

Those interested in listening to the interview of Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner before a community panel in Janesville for the Janesville city manager’s position can do so. The audio file is posted on the website of the Janesville Gazette. You may find from the recording insight into how Brunner views his role, and his…

What Whitewater Needs Now…

This morning, I asked a single – but perhaps puzzling – question: What did Burt Bacharach and Jackie DeShannon know in 1965 that Whitewater’s city manager, officials, politicians, so-called ‘people of influence,’ and press do not understand even now? Here’s the answer. In 1965, singer Jackie DeShannon had a pop hit with Burt Bacharach’s “What…

Join the Downtown Clean Sweep on Thursday, July 3rd

There’s another opportunity to help Whitewater get ready for our July 4th Parade and Holiday. The 14th (!) Downtown Clean Sweep will take place this Thursday, July 3rd from 7 AM to 10 AM. (Volunteers are free to join for just an hour or two if that’s all the time they have.) Here are the…

Support Whitewater’s Make a Difference Day: October 3, 2008

Here’s an announcement that I received that I’m happy to post — it’s a request for projects for the UW-W’s Make a Difference Day. Here are the particulars — Who: UW-Whitewater Campus and Whitewater Community Members When: Friday, October 3, 2008 Where: Whitewater, Wisconsin On Friday, October 3, 2008 volunteers from the UW-Whitewater students and…

Join the Downtown Clean Sweep on Thursday, June 26th

Whitewater will conduct its 13th Downtown Clean Sweep this Thursday, June 26, from 8 AM to 1 PM. Here are the details: What: Downtown Clean Sweep Where: Meet behind Randix at 8 AM, or any time between 8 and 1 for information on what to do. When: Thursday, June 26, from 8 AM to 1…

Planning Commission Meeting from 6/16 (Part 1)

In some respects, this is a new Planning Commission, with a new chair (Kristine Zaballos) now in that role, and a new term, beginning after the latest round of nominations from the Common Council. This is still true even though many others on the Commission are incumbents. Staff reports now appear earlier on the agenda,…

Whitewater Police Department Re-Accreditation

Update: 6/17, 6:58 p.m. At our Common Council meeting tonight, Chief Coan predictably lauded his department’s position (and implicitly his leadership) as one of only 16 accredited departments in the state, out of over 600. He didn’t say how many even bothered to apply for accreditation. (See Point 1, below.) One more point, not minor…

Our Low Expectations

Wisconsin has been a high tax state for years, stretching well back from the Doyle administration through Tommy Thompson’s many years in office (Gov. McCallum having served only briefly in between). The Wisconsin State Journal recently noted positively a study contending that Wisconsin was out of the rankings of the ten highest taxed states for…

Update: Go Nuclear!

This morning, I proposed a bold new future of clean, efficient, safe nuclear power for Whitewater. Ordinarily, a proposal so visionary, so groundbreaking, might have to wait years for vindication and acceptance. Not this time – only a few hours after I posted my proposal for an atomic age in Whitewater, the Reuters news agency…

Go Nuclear!

America finds herself beset with two fossil fuel concerns. We worry that we are damaging the environment by using too much fossil fuel; we worry that there is not enough fossil fuel to use. There are alternatives, including one we have foolishly ignored. America began the atomic age, but she has since abandoned a committed…

From the Department of Platitudes, “Are You Kidding?” Division

Here are a few of the empty and inapplicable phrases that politicians in Whitewater often use to describe and justify their actions. They’ve used far more expressions than these, but we can consider this post the first in an occasional series. Bring solutions, not problems. I’ve teased about this before, yet this expression is as…