I’ve long held that Whitewater’s Major Public Institutions Produce a Net Loss (And Why It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way). This contention is true for several reasons, all leading to this result: “Whitewater’s major public institutions – her city government, school district, and local university – produce this unexpected result: although members of the government are…
Culture
City, Culture, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Limits of Cultural Shelter
by JOHN ADAMS •
In difficult times, some will retreat to apolitical, cultural matters. An apolitical approach is not one that I would take, but for others perhaps it seems the best that one can do. Indeed, in Whitewater, I’ve advocated that approach for those who would not take an overt stand on the principal political question of our…
City, Culture
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 13: That Which Paved the Way)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the thirteenth and final post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Some months ago, I wrote a post that described my thinking about Whitewater’s current situation: her weak, superficial, conflict-riddled politics, and that of so many other places, was that which paved the way for…
City, Culture
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 12: Messaging)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the twelfth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. There are several news (or news-release dependent) publications in Whitewater: the Daily Union, Gazette, and Banner. Add to that over a dozen Facebook pages, and a few local government websites (city, school district, university in particular),…
City, Culture, Economy
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 11: ‘Fiestas and Apple Orchards’)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the eleventh post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. In the Wall Street Journal, Pennsylvanian Crispin Sartwell writes of Fiestas and Apple Orchards: Small-Town Life Before Trump (“My corner of Pennsylvania was thriving again—until immigration agents began carting people away”): I live in York Springs,…
City, Culture
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 10: Mailers)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the tenth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Worried over a large-scale party in 2016, Whitewater’s local government set about looking for a plan for 2017. College-aged adults are a plurality of the city’s population; they are a majority of the city’s adult population.…
City, Culture, Economy, University
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 9: Small-Town Harvards)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the ninth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Alana Semuels asks Could Small-Town Harvards Revive Rural Economies? Her contention, as she succinctly describes it: College campuses and educational institutions can bolster the economies of small towns that otherwise would be struggling like many…
City, Culture, Demographics, Local Government, Politics
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 8: Nearby)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the eighth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Just beyond the Whitewater proper lie several towns that form the rest of the Whitewater Unified School District. They play a key role in life within Whitewater, far beyond school policies. A few observations: The New…
City, Culture, University
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 7: How It Was Supposed to Be)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the seventh post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Consider the contemporary town-gown conditions in Whitewater. Here I am referring to present-day conditions, over the last ten or fifteen years. Part of the solution to this, surely, was meant to come from university-connected residents serving…
City, Culture, Demographics
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 6: Divided)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the sixth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Years ago (in 2010), I wrote of a red-blue divide within the city, where some elections favored red-leaning voters, and some blue-leaning voters. See, Why Whitewater Isn’t a Progressive City; Why Whitewater’s ‘Conservatives’ Hold the City…
City, Culture, Demographics
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 5: Working Age)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the fifth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. To love something truly is to see it clearly, with dry eyes. So if federal census data show that the largest group in the city – by far – is college-age residents 20-24 (5,300), and that…
City, Culture, Demographics
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 4: Demographics)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the fourth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Take a look at impartial census data for Whitewater, from the federal government (using American Community Survey population estimates for 2016 now available, and otherwise 2015 measurements). Whitewater’s is a population that’s relatively young (where student-aged…
City, Culture, Local Government
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 3: Oasis)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the third post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. So a blogger points out that the city’s population is mostly stagnant (with short-term decline), that the mean household income in the city is in decline, and that the city is beset with above-average child poverty…
City, Culture, Economy, Local Government
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 2: Population)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the second post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. U.S. Census data show that Whitewater proper (the city) has stopped growing, and is, in fact, experiencing a population decline. From 2015-2016, the city lost about 1.1% of her population (168 people). Even over a longer…