Wisconsin’s spring primary in Whitewater saw three candidates vie for two spots on the April ballot for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Statewide in preliminary numbers, conservative Michael Screnock had a plurality, followed by liberals Rebecca Dallet and Tim Burns. (It’s Screnock v. Dallet in April.) Look, however, at how different the statewide, Jefferson County & Walworth…
City
City, Local Government, Police
A Job in a College Town
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s looking for a new police chief, and our small city has two candidates from which to choose. There’s a time to consider all this in greater detail; for today, two simple observations are enough. 1. Competency, Not Ideology, Has Always Been Key. Whitewater’s policing challenges have not been between left and right, or between…
City, Local Government, Politics, School District
The Limits of Community Surveys
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s expensive to survey opinion, scientifically, using standard statistical principles. Whitewater, like many small places, understandably relies on community surveys (for the city proper, for her school district). Surveys of this kind are an approximation of overall sentiment. One wouldn’t expect an end to these surveys, but they have obvious, significant limitations. (This is true of…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Local Government, Press, That Which Paved the Way
Before Devin Nunes, in Whitewater & Small Towns Across America…
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that GOP Congressman Devin Nunes of California has launched his own news site: LOS ANGELES — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a relentless critic of the media, has found a way around the often unflattering coverage of his role in the Trump-Russia investigation — by operating his own partisan news outlet. Resembling…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, February 13th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Big Sick
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, February 13th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Big Sick @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Michael Showalter directs the two-hour film. The Big Sick recounts how “Pakistani-born stand-up comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash.…
City, Culture, Demographics, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Good Ideas, Local Government, Planning, Politics, Poverty
Dane, Not the WOW Counties
by JOHN ADAMS •
For many years, Republicans have railed against Madison, and against Dane County, as bastions of dysfunctional liberalism. Indeed, this impulse has been strong even after the GOP gained control of both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office. Funny, though, that it’s Dane County – not the WOW counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee, or Washington – that’s…
City, Development, Economy, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Planning
What a Print Advertiser Means (and Doesn’t Mean)
by JOHN ADAMS •
So, if one lives in Whitewater, he or she may find a shopper-advertiser in the mailbox, with ads from (mostly) out-of-city advertisers. Even if one omits the publisher’s own ads, and public service announcements, the ratio of out-of-city to Whitewater ads is something like 3 to 1. Indeed, the largest ad, on the front page,…
Architecture, City, Laws/Regulations, Planning
A Second Empire Bed & Breakfast
by JOHN ADAMS •
Near the middle of college-town Whitewater, there’s a large Second Empire bed & breakfast that the owners are looking to sell. Whitewater’s Planning Commission, on 1.8.18 in the video clip above, had numerous questions for the prospective buyers. The request afterward met with rejection as a change in zoning & conditional use at Whitewater’s Planning…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, January 30th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Battle of the Sexes
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, January 30th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Battle of the Sexes @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Simon Beaufoy directs the two-hour, one-minute film. Battle of the Sexes is a historical comedy-drama: “The true story of the 1973 tennis match between women’s world champion Billie Jean…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, January 23rd, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Fort McCoy
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, January 23rd at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Fort McCoy @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Kate Connor and Michael Worth co-direct the one hour, forty-minute film. Fort McCoy is a drama based on the true story of the Stirn family, who lived next to Fort McCoy…
City, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Planning, School District, Uncategorized
A Sign for Whitewater High School
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater Planning Commission – A High School Sign from John Adams on Vimeo. Anyone who thinks that small town politics is simple hasn’t watched small town politics. In the video above, the Whitewater Planning Commission took 28 minutes to approve conditions for the local high school to place an electronic sign on school property. (Whitewater…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, January 9th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: Dunkirk
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, January 9th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Dunkirk @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Christopher Nolan directs the one hour, forty-six minute film. Dunkirk recounts ‘the dramatic and true evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, England and France, who were cutoff and surrounded by the German Army,…
Bad Ideas, City, Culture, Local Government
Thanks, City of Jefferson!
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s something funny, and something sad, about the City of Jefferson’s decision to host for five more years a Harry Potter festival with the same mediocre promotional leadership the festival’s had while in Edgerton and (more recently) in Jefferson. See Attack of the Dirty Dogs (“If vast numbers are disappointed, it matters not at all…
City, Local Government, Open Government, Politics, School District
Candidates and Candidacies
by JOHN ADAMS •
Small towns have reputations for being plain-speaking places, but the less so, in fact, than reputation suggests. One will hear much about who’s running, who’s in, who’s out, but not as much – if anything – about what candidates believe. Longtime readers know that I comment on politics, but know also that I’m opposed to…