Whitewater has a new municipal website, available at http://www.ci.whitewater.wi.us/. There are both strengths and weaknesses to the site, as with any site, but I’ll start with what’s appealing about the site, and offer a few suggestions thereafter. The new website displays a clean, attractive look. It’s a more polished, business-standard website than the previous version.…
City
City, Review
Review: Wal-Mart No. 1274
by JOHN ADAMS •
City
Tips for Meetings
by JOHN ADAMS •
Beautiful Whitewater, City
Build a Good Building — Wednesday, August 15th
by JOHN ADAMS •
City
Goldfinches, Private Life, and Public Office
by JOHN ADAMS •
Suppose that someone had a job working in an aviary, taking care of goldfinches. Let’s assume that he was the best goldfinch keeper in America – no one fed and cared for goldfinches like our imaginary worker. After work, he’d go home each evening. After drinking a six-pack, and discarding each can on the floor,…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Tax Incremental Financing, Part 3: The Mood of It All
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was, last night, a quiet and somnolent setting in which our Common Council recommended to the Joint Review Board five new TIDs. I’ll give the atmosphere of the meeting some attention. Often, a public meeting takes place in early evening, so that citizen-representatives can attend without missing work. They’ve worked all day, under conditions…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Tax Incremental Financing, Part 2
by JOHN ADAMS •
What are the challenges of a TID, or sometimes of planning generally? Retail cannibalization. It’s a big problem in many communities, with or without a TID. There’s no retail gain, under this scenario, just businesses – the same or new – locating in newer areas while others fold or move. Oshkosh, for example, is a…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Tax Incremental Financing, Part 1
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last night, Whitewater’s Common Council recommended to a Joint Review Board five new Tax Incremental Districts for the city. There is common agreement that Whitewater faces significant economic challenges, and that an increase in private economic activity, and development, would be welcome. (There are, in our town, few if any ‘no growth’ advocates of the…
City, Police, Press
Star Packaging — One Year On
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Development, Inbox Reader Mail
Inbox: Reader Mail — Downtown
by JOHN ADAMS •
From a reader in town: Your observations about entering Whitewater from the east or west on highway 12 focus on some true, although unpleasant, facts that suggest inadequate planning may have been a factor. Equally disturbing is the short glimpse of the UWW without a hint of the huge and sprawling Campus north of Highway…
City, Inbox Reader Mail, Press
Inbox: Reader Mail — On the Banner
by JOHN ADAMS •
From a reader who identified himself as ‘Aaron Burr’ — his remarks in black, my replies thereafter in blue. John, I couldn’t agree with you more concerning Steve Spear. If you are correct that he has applied to get his old job as municipal judge back, that is appalling. Under no circumstances should he be…
City
Who Can Stop Steve Spear? Only One Man!
by JOHN ADAMS •
Steve Spear, perpetual vulgarian, disgraced, former municipal judge, still persists in the notion that his former office belongs to him — he’s submitted an application to be appointed to the office from which he resigned in July. (That’s this July.) Perhaps you’ve seen Spear walking around town these past few weeks, plotting his comeback: Who…
City, Press
On the Whitewater Banner
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written about the Whitewater Banner before, and I thought that I’d post more about that website. The Banner’s greatest strength is that it posts more Whitewater information online, more quickly, than any other website. Some newspapers post less (e.g., Daily Union, Janesville Gazette, The Week), or nothing at all (Whitewater Register). I’ve called the…
City, Police
Parsing Jim Coan’s interview with The Week on the Star Packaging Raid
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at The Week, Mike Heine has an interview with Jim Coan, Whitewater Police Chief, about the Star Packaging Raid, and the plea of Star Packaging’s owner, Alan Petrie. I’ll leave Coan’s comments, and Heine’s text, in black, and my replies in blue, for easy distinction. Pending a sentencing hearing, a dark chapter in Whitewater’s…