Here’s a quick post on the Planning Commission meeting from earlier this month. Weeks ago, someone sent me an email to remind me that not all members of the Planning Commission see things the same way, and that I should not lump them all into the same, small, well-planned and regulated box. Fair enough: as…
City
City
The October 16th Common Council Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a Common Council meeting tonight, focused on Whitewater’s 2008 budget. I’ll offer an observation about last week’s council meeting. Many businesses and firms have ‘on boarding’ or team-building sessions for new management teams, to increase cooperation and congeniality between co-workers. If anything, this sort of session is a staple of contemporary American white collar…
City
Citizens, Fully and Completely
by JOHN ADAMS •
Readers may have noticed that I did not review the October 2nd Common Council meeting. I’ll offer remarks, instead, on a single topic from that meeting. Perhaps I should not be surprised that one council member, ill-disposed to student housing, is ill-disposed to a voting station on campus, too. I am sure that citizen-students on…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Challenges of the Community Development Authority
by JOHN ADAMS •
What’s a group’s underlying philosophy? On the City of Whitewater’s new website, there’s a link to a page for Community Development Authority. That page describes the CDA, and touts its accomplishments. Here’s part of what it says, as of October 1st: The Whitewater Community Development Authority is the economic development organization for the City of…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Poverty in Whitewater, Part 2 (How many of our families have been in poverty recently, since the last census data? )
by JOHN ADAMS •
[This is the second of a series on poverty in Whitewater. Part 1 showed that we have a family poverty rate far higher than surrounding communities.] Previously, in Part 1, I used the same census data that the City of Whitewater posted on its website to show that we have a family poverty rate roughly…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Poverty in Whitewater, Part 1 (Introduction)
by JOHN ADAMS •
We are, without the slightest reasonable doubt, a beautiful but troubled city. It’s unmistakable that our economy falls short for many, and I will support this contention more conclusively than any happy, but deceptive, pictures from another website, or city publication, could suggest otherwise. We have become a proud, arrogant place, willing to trumpet chimerical…
City
Common Council Meeting for September 18, 2007
by JOHN ADAMS •
This was a meeting where the interesting remarks, like the devil, were subtle and in the details. ‘Death-Knell for the District.’ A councilman didn’t waste time explaining (again) that student housing is bad for the community. He described it as the “death-knell” for his district. Presumably, he feels that it would be the death-knell for…
City
Update on ‘Open Letter: Race and Ethnicity?’
by JOHN ADAMS •
City
Open Letter: Race & Ethnicity?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update — 9/18/2007 — I see that the City of Whitewater has updated its demographics information, with a link entitled, “VIEW WHITEWATER’S DEMOGRAPHICS” to a U.S. Census document on Whitewater in 2000. It’s a predictable response: post to a U.S. government document, with the implication that nothing in a federal document could be unsuitable. It’s…
City, Free Markets, University
Common Council Meeting for September 4, 2007
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s my commentary on the Common Council meeting for September 4th. It was quite an evening. Drive-Through. The lively topic Tuesday was Council’s review of a Planning Commission endorsement (4-2) of a drive-through window for liquor sales at the Westsider. (I posted previously on the Planning Commission meeting where this recommendation was issued.) After a…
City
Observing Living Conditions
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s the first numbered topic from a weekly city report: 1. Targeted Housing and Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Program to Begin Next Week The City will begin a targeted housing and property maintenance enforcement program next week that will focus on the neighborhoods throughout the City but with particular emphasis on those surrounding the UW-Whitewater…
City, Development, Free Markets
Planning and Architectural Review Commission Meeting for Monday, 8/27
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few, quick observations on Monday night’s planning and architectural review commission meeting. Where we are weaker than nearby cities, we should be less restrictive than they are; where we are stronger, we should be no more restrictive. We live well, as beneficiaries of a free market, but we quickly forget how dynamic and innovative…
City
The Bullet We Dodged
by JOHN ADAMS •
The long-expected civil suit against Steve Spear made its way to a court docket recently, only shortly after the Common Council rejected Spear’s appointment to the office from which he had weeks-earlier resigned in disgrace. Whitewater dodged a bullet when it took the only rational step available: ignoring Spear’s application. Perhaps Spear plans to run…
City, Police, Press
Burying the Story: Update on Larry Meyer
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater Police investigator Larry Meyer, now retired, has been at the center of two controversial investigations: Star Packaging and that of a local landscaping company. The latter investigation has led to a federal civil suit against Meyer. On August 2nd, The Week, under Donna Lenz Wright’s byline, ran a story on the lawsuit, entitled, “Expert…