Embed from Getty Images A man walks into a party, and sees a woman universally acknowledged as intelligent, knowledgeable, and beautiful. He’s instantly smitten, and decides that he must – simply must! – declare his admiration that very evening. The man approaches, introduces himself, and tells her that he’s wholly captivated. He proclaims a commitment…
City
Bad Ideas, City, Crime, Local Government, Misconduct, Police
On Public Urination in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Well, here we are: after all these years of hearing that the town fathers were descended from Olympus, to a city of their unsurpassable design, one hears the Whitewater Common Council discussing the sometime problem of public urination. Needless to say, I don’t support this foul habit, and have not met anyone who does. Confronted…
CDA, City, Development, Economics, Foxconn, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
Another Pig at the Trough
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jason Stein and Rick Romell report Foxconn: Glass maker could want hundreds of millions of dollars to locate alongside massive Wisconsin factory: To locate in Wisconsin, a key glass supplier to Foxconn wants financial help from the Taiwanese electronics giant or state taxpayers that could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. … Corning…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, April 24th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Greatest Showman
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, April 24th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Greatest Showman @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Michael Gracey directs the one-hour, forty-five minute film that “celebrates the birth of show business, and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became…
City, Congress, Politics
A Better Alternative for Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Local readers may have heard, as I have, that Whitewater’s Community Development Authority chairman recently thanked Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner for federal legislation. Sensenbrenner, for those unfamiliar, is a career office-holding septuagenarian multi-millionaire situated far from the city, serving in a gerrymandered district. (Sensenbrenner, whose only time is behind-the-times, once responded to concerns about online…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Ethics, Gov. Walker, Local Government, Mendacity, Paul Ryan, Politics, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The Price of Trumpism is Ruin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Craig Gilbert looks at the careers of Priebus, Ryan, and Walker: They led the “Cheesehead Revolution,” the GOP’s audacious conquest of Wisconsin. They offered a model for bridging Republican frictions between establishment and base. They became national figures. They ran into Donald Trump. They suffered. They bent to his rise. Now one (Priebus) has left…
Bad Ideas, City, Culture, Local Government
Jefferson’s Dirty Dogs Turn Mangy
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve been critical of the so-called ‘Harry Potter Festival’ that last year migrated from Edgerton to Jefferson, Wisconsin. It’s left so many people disappointed, taxpayer-salaried city officials have only doubled-down on their support for the shabby event, and (predictably) the Daily Union‘s initial stories about problems quickly gave way to laughable boosterism. See Attack of the…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, April 10th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Shape of Water
by JOHN ADAMS •
( This Tuesday, April 10th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Shape of Water @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Guillermo del Toro directs the two-hour, three-minute film, “an otherworldly fable set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory…
City, Elections, Local Government, Politics, State Government, Wisconsin
Local Results from the Spring General Election 2018
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin’s spring general election’s now over, and in the paragraphs below I’ll consider the local results for state, district, and city-wide races. These results are unofficial; online detail may be found for the counties of Walworth, Jefferson, and Rock (where Rock County’s detail applies only to the WUSD race). Contest/Question Candidates/Preference City Vote % WI Supreme Court…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way
‘Crony Capitalism and Social Engineering: The Case Against Tax-Increment Financing’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s residents may have heard, as I have, ignorant and false boasting about the benefits of tax incremental financing. It’s variously described as increment or incremental financing, but either way, it’s a plan to entice developers with taxpayer funds by segregating from the general fund, if any, the revenue generated from a development to pay…
CDA, City, Development, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
A Sham News Story on Foxconn
by JOHN ADAMS •
About a month ago, a local business lobbying group in Whitewater invited an operative of the Walker Administration to the city to talk about Foxconn. The nearby Jefferson County Daily Union sent a stringer to cover the presentation. See Foxconn impact outlined in Whitewater. In the 38-paragraph story, the paper simply reproduces – without the…
Business, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Local Government, Poverty
A National Study on Big-City Economic Development
by JOHN ADAMS •
What’s the relationship, if any, between economic development and inclusion? A study from the Brookings Institution (Metro Monitor 2018) suggests that for large metropolitan areas, there may be one. (I’ll not try to fit these data into a local container. That’s why there’s no ‘The Scene from Whitewater Wisconsin’ logo attached to this post.) Here’s…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, March 27th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Darkest Hour
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, March 27th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Darkest Hour @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Joe Wright directs the two-hour, five-minute film. The Darkest Hour recounts the early days of World War II, as the fate of Western Europe hangs on the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston…
City, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, Open Government, Politics, School District
‘Stable and yet it cannot stand still’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jurist Roscoe Pound once famously observed that “the law must remain stable yet it cannot stand still.” What is true of the law is true of communities – including Whitewater. Among some (but not all) of the few who have held sway in this town for the last generation, changes are unwelcome, and change itself…