FREE WHITEWATER

City

City, Local Government

Work to Be Done (Updated)

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Updated: Sunday afternoon, 12.20.20. Over these dozen years, many dozens of officials – in city government, in the school district, and at the university – have come and gone from Whitewater. Some who saw themselves, and declared themselves, irreplaceable have long since been replaced. The city has changed much since the Great Recession, and is…

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, December 22nd, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Love Actually

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?? This Tuesday, December 22nd at 1 PM,  there will be a showing of Love Actually @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Romance/Comedy/Holiday) Rated R (Sex/Language) 2 hours, 15 minutes (2003) Back by Popular Demand, our favorite holiday “rom/com”! Romance and relationships in an all-star ensemble comedy that tells 10 separate but intertwining…

Budget, City, Demographics, Government Spending, University, UW System, Wisconsin

UW-Whitewater’s Budgetary Challenges Require a Studied Approach

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Whitewater is a college town. If a college town, then a college: the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I’ve written about the university now and again. A simple summary of my views would be that Whitewater benefits from having a university, but that the school’s leaders (notably Telfer and Kopper) have failed both individuals and the community.…

City, Coronavirus, Economy

What Changes After the Pandemic?

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 Megan McArdle, writing at the Washington Post, speculates about What changes after covid-19? I’m betting on everything.  She’s thinking about the other side of the pandemic, when the worst has subsided, and we are no longer here but instead there. Her forecast focuses on technological changes likely in the wake of the COVID-19: But on closer…

Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Conflicts of Interest, Culture, Ethics, Local Government, Never Trump, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, Trumpism

Before Man & Movement, That Which Paved the Way

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Trump did not spring from the ground; he did not fall from the stars. Neither horticulture nor astrophysics played any role in his rise. Before Trump and Trumpism, there were towns and cities into which he and his movement found receptive audiences. Patients already ill are often susceptible of worse maladies. So it has been…

America, City, Culture, Ethics, Never Trump, Politics, School District, Trump

They’ve Become What They Once Despised

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The greatest tragedies are injuries inflicted on the innocent. There are, however, other sad moments of our time, among them the collapse of responsibile conservatism into Trumpian irresponsibility & dishonesty. So many conservatives have become what they once despised. A local example would be proud conservatives who now insist, nationally or locally, that government is…

City, Holiday

Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2020

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Here’s the fourteenth annual FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater. (The 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions are available for comparison.) The list runs in reverse order, from mildly scary to truly frightening. 10. Radicals and Rhinoceroses. So there’s an idea, having bubbled up over…

Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Culture

Boosterism’s Cousin, Toxic Positivity

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In political life, boosterism is the overzealous promotion of officials or programs while ignoring actual conditions (particularly conditions of the disadvantaged). It’s wrong and repulsive. (An acknowledgement worth making: I have never criticized boosterism because of a personal concern. My life is comfortable; objections to political boosterism are deep-seated in me as a matter of learning.) Civilizations…

CDA, City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, Poverty, WEDC

Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 10.20.20: Basics and Buildings

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The Whitewater Common Council met briefly last night, 10.20.20. The agenda for the meeting is available, and a recording of the session appears above. Two different topics are worth noting (for different reasons): autumn leaf collection and a building rehabilitation project. A few remarks —  1. Leaf collection. The city has many homes & apartments, the homes…

Budget, CDA, City, Government Spending, Local Government, Open Government

Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 10.6.20: 9 Points

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The Whitewater Common Council last met on 10.6.20. The agenda for the meeting is available, and a recording of the early October session appears above. (As always, the best record is a recording.) Council discussed, among other items, Trick or Treating during the pandemic, a preliminary city budget, whether to return to in-person council meetings,…