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

Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 1.19.21: 6 Points

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The Whitewater Common Council met last night, 1.19.21. The agenda for the meeting is available. A few remarks, on selected items of the agenda —  1. Public Works Buildings. Whitewater plans to update its public works buildings, now scattered over a multi-acre plot near Starin Road. The total estimated price is high for a small town (about…

City, Elections, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Law, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Counties Backing Fair Maps

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The fight against gerrymandering will be a key political issue statewide (and in Whitewater) over 2021-2022. See Probable Wisconsin Political Issues for 2021. Both of the counties of which Whitewater is a part have supported resolutions in favor of fair maps. For more information, visit the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition to help end gerrymandering in…

City, Elections, Failure, Local Government, Presidential race 2020, Scott Fitzgerald, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trump, Trumpism, Unfit

Johnson & Fitzgerald: Betrayers of Wisconsin

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The Journal Sentinel’s editorial board correctly contends that Ron Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany should resign or be expelled for siding with Trump against our republic: It was one of Scott Fitzgerald’s first votes in Congress — and he voted to give aid and comfort to an insurrection. This is what putting Donald Trump…

Aside, City, Local Government, Planning, School District

Problems of Small-Town Planning

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Problems of small-town planning are not from lack of plans, they’re from lack of judgment and foresight.  Even the smallest towns have plans, regulations, task forces, etc.  Problems come from planners (both professionals and residents on committees) who lack the judgment to distinguish between big and small matters (and so waste time on the small).…

Aside, City, Coronavirus, Culture, Economy

For Whitewater, the Pandemic Reveals What Was Already There

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For Whitewater – and other places – the pandemic hasn’t changed contemporary politics or culture, it has revealed plainly the character of contemporary politics and culture: divided, debilitated. Whitewater’s meaningful changes began years ago, with the Great Recession (2007-2009). For small towns like Whitewater, that recession never ended. It’s as if a man with poor…

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, December 29th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Knives Out

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?? This Tuesday, December 29th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Knives Out @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Crime/Drama/Mystery) Rated PG-13 2 hours, 10 minutes (2019) An unconventional detective investigates the death of the patriarch of an eccentric, dysfunctional, combative family. A real whodunnit with many plot twists,…

Aside

Having descended nationally into a dead-end assemblage of ‘pardoned felon, adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, a White House trade adviser and a Russian agent’s former lover,’ versions of the same yet scheme for local office. As there is nationally, there is also a need to oppose Trumpism down to the local level as it moves – walking, crawling, or slithering – to the detriment of small and beautiful cities. 

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…