Our Common Council has before it, at the next scheduled meeting of 12.18.12, applications to fill a vacancy on that body. Four residents have applied; the appointment will run until April. Council will appoint as they see fit; they have broad discretion for an appointment like this. They and we, however, would do well by…
City
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Holiday
Whitewater’s Happy Holly Days Parade
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a video of the Downtown Whitewater-sponsored Christmas parade. The route stretched from Whiton down Main and then back along Whitewater to the Cravath lakefront. I was among the many onlookers that night, but if you’ve not had the chance to see it, this embeddable video from Whitewater Community TV makes enjoying the parade still…
City, New Media, New Whitewater, Press Release
City Announcements
by JOHN ADAMS •
Let’s assume, as with Whitewater’s 12.4.12 Common Council meeting, the city adopts sensible guidelines for filling vacancies by appointment. The vacancy process adopted at the meeting was the work of Councilmember Binnie and City Attorney McDonell, and one can find the draft of their work online in the 12.4.12 council packet. As with a school…
City, Politics
Whitewater’s Common Council Vacancy
by JOHN ADAMS •
Following discussion at last night’s Common Council meeting, the City of Whitewater has posted a notice about a vacancy on our Common Council. The notice, and a link to an application for those interested in applying for consideration, appears immediately below: A Councilmember Seat for Member-at-Large is currently vacant, and the Common Council of the…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Holiday, Press Release
Whitewater’s Annual Holly Days Events
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tonight’s Whitewater’s annual Christmas parade, at 6 PM, beginning at Main & Whiton, traveling down Main, and turning on Whitewater Street toward the Cravath lakefront. Downtown Whitewater is the parade’s sponsor. There’s a parade, of course, yet even more awaiting: live storytelling, hot chocolate for sale, gingerbread house decorating, roasted chestnuts, the Whitewater Chamber’s open…
Business, City, Food, Liberty, Local Government
The Game of Thrones Food Trucks
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Institute of Justice, the nation’s leading libertarian public interest law firm, asks a question about Chicago that would be as fitting of other cities’ regulators: Should the city of Chicago be in the business of protecting a few politically connected restaurateurs from competition? That is the question to be answered by a major lawsuit…
City, Government Spending, Local Government, Planning
Starting Backwards
by JOHN ADAMS •
Local governments find themselves, time and again, surprised when projects don’t go to plan. They’re often surprised when the politics of a project don’t go to plan. That surprise may have a hundred causes, but I’d guess one is among the most common: that plans advance not on their merits, but through ill-considered deals between…
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
Whitewater Uses Public Money for Big Corporation While Big Corporation Invests in Whitewater Mexico
by JOHN ADAMS •
On Tuesday while Whitewater’s City Manager, the Janesville City Manager, and the Janesville Transportation Director were advocating for Whitewater to spend public money for a bus route that primarily benefits $2.3 billion-dollar Generac, Generac was investing forty-six million dollars in Mexico. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story: Generac Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire…
Business, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Planning
Whitewater’s Common Council Session of 11.20.12: 25 Questions about the Generac Bus
by JOHN ADAMS •
Most of Tuesday’s 11.20.12 Common Council session concerned the 2013 municipal budget, and of that, a half hour’s discussion addressed whether to give Generac Power Systems, a thriving corporation, ten-thousand dollars to bus its workers to and from other cities. That’s not all, of course: one heard the company-specific program touted as the hope for…
City
Whitewater’s Common Council Session of 11.20.12: Remembrance and Swearing-In
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last evening, 11.20.12, Whitewater’s Common Council session began with a moment of silence in memory of longtime Council member Marilyn Kienbaum. It was a fitting tribute to someone who represented and cared for this community for so very long. Not long thereafter, Council saw the swearing in Whitewater City Manager Clapper. The evening’s specific agenda…
City
On Marilyn Kienbaum
by JOHN ADAMS •
Marilyn Kienbaum, known throughout our small city for her tireless charitable works, and long tenure of political representation, passed away Saturday evening in the company of her family. She was aged eighty-six. Words of remembrance, sincerely expressed, are fitting. One could not say we shared the same politics; one should and must say that those…
Business, City, Development
The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: Downtown Whitewater, Inc.
by JOHN ADAMS •
The last portion of the 11.13.12 council session on the budget concerned funding for Downtown Whitewater, Inc. That organization sought $30,000, and received $20,000, in municipal funding. I wrote recently about Downtown Whitewater, in support of 2013 funding. See, The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Draft Budget: Downtown Whitewater. In that post, I emphasized the importance…
City, Government Spending, Nature
The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: The Emerald Ash Borer
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s Common Council considered four budget items at length during her 11.13.12 session, of which the Emerald Ash Borer was the third. I’ll address that discussion in this post. I’m not an arborist. I did once own a bonsai tree, but my use of the past tense tells that tale. This is, however, a common…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: CDA & Bus
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s Common Council considered four budget items at length during her 11.13.12 session. I’ll address now the first two of those four, immediately below. The Community Development Authority Budget. Someday, one hopes, Whitewater’s Community Development Authority won’t require tens of thousands from the City of Whitewater’s general fund, as it does now, since the CDA…