There’s a story in the Gazette about a Janesville resident who’s looking for a litigation fund to support lawsuits against the City of Janesville. See, subscription req’d, Citizens group wants to mount legal offensive against City Hall. The story’s too funny – it’s part overwrought idea, and (I would guess) part effort of the Gazette…
City
City, Local Government, School District
The Bigger the Project, the Greater the Need for Substantive Justifications
by JOHN ADAMS •
It seems – to most people, I’d guess – that to say ‘the bigger the project, the greater the need for substantive justifications’ is simply reasonable and practical. In almost all public efforts, municipalities, school districts, and other public bodies should Lead Substantively, and Support Fiscally. The best way to win big is usually a…
City, Politics
How Conservatives Ruined Conservatism in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are plenty of conservatives in the City of Whitewater, a small rural town, that’s home to a medium-sized campus within the city limits, and is principally located in conservative Walworth County. In many ways, this rural town should be mostly conservative, mostly Republican, campus notwithstanding. After all, Walworth County is hardly a liberal place.…
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Local Government, Politics, WEDC
WEDC Update
by JOHN ADAMS •
Anyone betting locally on the supposed prestige and success of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has placed a bad bet. That corrupt and incompetent agency is in the news yet again for its failures and lies: WEDC award recipients outsourced Wisconsin jobs to foreign countries — WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports…
City, Local Government
Administration, Council, and the ‘Tenth Man Rule’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Prompted from a recent written exchange, here’s a post on the relative suitability of the ‘Tenth Man Rule’ for different parts of a local government. The Tenth Man Rule is simply the idea that “if nine in authority agree on a course of action, it’s the duty of the tenth to adopt a contrary approach,…
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Kon-Tiki
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, Planning
Local Government’s Vendor Problem
by JOHN ADAMS •
The risk of reliance on a big outside vendor for a big project in a small town is easily described: The vendor will be everywhere initially, will purr contentedly during work, but disappear quickly after the final check clears. It will want the money, will say anything to get it, but without any respect for…
City, Development, Open Government
Show Your Work
by JOHN ADAMS •
#172284535 / gettyimages.com We’re in a new round of big-project proposals for Whitewater. Here’s a suggestion, that this municipal administration would do well to follow, for any large-scale proposal: (1) Release any feasibility study, analysis, or performance contract on the city’s website a month (thirty calendar days) before Council consideration. (2) Hold a public hearing…
City
Feasting on Wholly Unjustified Insecurities
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government
Why Not Build Another Los Angeles (by the Bridge to Nowhere)?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Typical Los Angeles Resident Los Angeles is America’s second-largest city, and is world-renowned for her diverse economy and global role in commerce, entertainment, and art. All its people are reputed to be exceptionally beautiful, talented, and clever (at least by their own, uniform accounts). If Los Angeles should be so valuable – and it is…
City, Politics
Looking to Rehabilitate Someone Politically? You’re Going to Need a Better Patient
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written previously of one of my favorite political quotes, from Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt was asked if, somehow, Herbert Hoover might play a role after Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt accurately assessed the impossibility of political rehabilitation: Not even the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor could bring Hoover back into the mainstream of official Washington, D.C. Within…
City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government
Public Spending on Infrastructure
by JOHN ADAMS •
A simple rule about public spending on infrastructure, that some forget, and others would prefer remained that way: adding infrastructure is only beneficial if a resulting economic gain (should there be one) is greater than the cost of its acquisition (capital, labor, etc.). There is no way around this. Just about everything one hears about…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Local Government, Marketing, Politics
‘The Future Writes the History of the Present’
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s an oft-repeated truism that the future writes the history of the present. That’s true in Whitewater as much as anywhere. It is a truth (like the most important truths) apart from both independent present-day commentary and contrasting, mendacious marketing and press-flacking. All the marketing in the world cannot shield against this simple question from…
Business, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, University
Local Crony Capitalism via the WEDC (and similar schemes)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s had a decades-long problem of a few town insiders manipulating government and public resources for their own private ends. That time is drawing to a close, but there are yet some years ahead in which aging, mediocre town figures will push their self-promoting lies. As their chief motivation is personal vanity and pride, they’ll…