In a presentation from September on the state of the city (really meaning the state of Whitewater’s municipal government), City Manager Cameron Clapper tackled again the ‘Same Ten People Problem’ (STPP), where only a few people participate in municipal meetings, etc. One can find the full video presentation below; Clapper’s remarks on the STPP appear…
City
City, Culture, Education, School District
A Brighter Outlook for Whitewater High
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater High School has the advantage of a new principal and assistant principal. I’ve written before that I’ve no particular advice for Messrs. Lovenberg and O’Shaughnessy. See For Your Consideration, Dr. Jonas Salk. (Indeed, in that post I offered only a question, but – to be sure – one that implied how very much their efforts…
Babbittry, Bigotry, City, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Trump
The Somber Trio
by JOHN ADAMS •
Among the most serious harms are those to liberty and physical well-being. One can compensate adequately for many injuries, but damages at law are slight compensation for lost liberties and physical injuries. We’ve a new national environment, in which actions once impermissible are now encouraged, and redress once required is now no longer recognized. If…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 10th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: Wonder Woman
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, October 10th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Wonder Woman @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Wonder Woman (2017) tells of the famed comic book heroine: “Diana is the principled warrior-daughter of the female ruler of Paradise Island, sheltered from men and the outside world’s evils. Then,…
City, Laws/Regulations, Local Government
Amendments, Canaries, Coal Mines
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images I wrote yesterday about two proposed amendments to Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission ordinances (Items O-1 and O-2 on the 10.3.17 Council agenda). See Amendments Concerning the Landmarks Commission. Last night, Council unanimously passed O-1, and amendment O-2 died for lack of a…
City, Local Government, Planning, Politics
The Erosion of Political Norms (Part 2 in a Series)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater, as with other Wisconsin cities and towns, has a Planning Commission. Like some towns (but not others), Whitewater by practice places a member of one commission (let’s say, Parks & Rec) on another commission (let’s say, Planning): a representative of one commission to another. So a person might be appointed to serve on the…
City, Culture
The Shallowness of Local Policymaking (and Some Policymakers)
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, September 26th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: The Shack
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, September 26th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Shack @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. The Shack (2017) tells of a “grieving father who is drawn to an abandoned shack, where he meets and receives counsel from a woman who calls herself Papa — the name…
City, Development, Local Government, Planning
Hotel Preliminaries
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s full-service grocery closed in 2015, and then the UW-Whitewater Foundation bought the property. (Premier Bank, successor to Commercial Bank, has a 5% interest in the property.) A developer from Minnesota, having been unsuccessful in a project near the center of town, now proposes purchasing the former grocery building & lot, and constructing a Fairfield…
America, Art, City, Culture, League of Women Voters, Liberty, Local Government
‘Fortunate’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Norman Rockwell wasn’t the finest painter of the twentieth century (to express the matter gently), but at least when he created a painting capturing the spirit of free speech as one of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, he understood speech as a right, not a privilege, lucky break, or favor from government. So it is with government,…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, September 12th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park: Going in Style
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, September 12th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Going in Style @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building. Going in Style (2017) is a comedic crime caper in which, “desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, three lifelong pals risk it all by…
Books, City, Culture, Film
Advocacy Seldom Reaches Chocoholics
by JOHN ADAMS •
A necessary element of writing or speaking – if it is to be enjoyable and sustained – is to believe what one writes or says, and to express those beliefs as one naturally would. (Even more important, of course, is to hold sound ideas, but here I’m writing about the underlying feeling of expression.) Writing…
City, Local Government
One City, Two Presentations of the Same Regulation (Follow Up)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last week I wrote about the differences between a City of Whitewater announcement and the Whitewater Banner‘s reworking of that same message. See One City, Two Presentations of the Same Regulation. A local reporter shared some thoughts with me about the relationship between the municipal government and the Banner. My main contention was that the…
Alt-Right, America, Babbittry, Bigotry, City, Culture, Liberty, Local Government, Politics
The Existential (Imagined and Real)
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was Michael Anton (writing as Publius Decius Mus) who exactly one year ago famously declared that 2016 was “The Flight 93 Election,” an existential fight for survival for state-loving conservatives: 2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway. You—or the leader of your party—may make it…