About four months ago, a councilman in Whitewater (intelligent, educated) expressed concern that a municipal meeting was poorly attended (it was). His solution was to post notice of the next meeting on the Banner. They city posted a notice there, and the next meeting was still poorly attended (with only a few more people than…
Culture
Culture, History, Science/Nature
Time as Length
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Culture, Local Government, Politics, School District, University
A, B, and Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Most choices for government, such as an option between Policy Choice A or Policy Choice B, involve choices of ordinary outcomes. One option may be more efficient than the other, or one more aesthetically pleasing than an alternative, but either would be considered a normal, reasonable policy outcome. Preferences of the Right or Left, of…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Government Spending, Local Government, University, Waste Digesters, WEDC, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN
Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2015
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Here’s the ninth annual FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater for 2015. The 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions are available for comparison. The list runs in reverse order, from mildly frightening to truly scary. 10. The Coming Ferret Invasion. Alternative title: The Unprepared Will Be Doomed. Earlier this year,…
Culture, Newspapers, Politics, Press
Sadly, Milwaukee Will Catch Up to Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
In our small and beautiful city, what passes for professionally-produced news is poorly written, poorly reasoned, and fawning of authority. That’s been true for years in Whitewater, much to the delight of local officials, who’d prefer a good headline at the Gazette, Daily Union, Register (or even the Banner) to actually doing a good job.…
Culture, University
The University Gateway Near Whiton & Main
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Five years ago, this community considered whether there should be changes at the intersection of Main and Whiton, where there was then a stone gateway to the university. One now sees that the gateway is being moved back from near Main, farther up the hill from the street. Moving the gateway assures greater visibility nearer the road. It’s good…
City, Culture, Local Government, Politics
Small Groups Don’t All Fare the Same
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I’m not sure if it should be true everywhere, but in Whitewater it seems as though small (apolitical) community groups fare better than small political groups. I’ve not made a study of this; the observation rests on impressions, here or there, only. There’s not enough to say as much with confidence. Many would note –…
Culture, Politics
How a Perimeter Fence Dooms Elites Within to Impossible Tasks, Exhaustion
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Consider a society that erects a figurative, narrow perimeter fence, one that is meant to keep unwanted influences & people out, and desirable influences & people safely within. The key characteristic of that barrier is that all that exists outside is presumed hostile: the fence sets the boundary between what’s acceptable and what’s not. That’s…
City, Culture, Education, Local Government, Politics
The Desiccator
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Over at National Review, conservative Peter Spiliakos writes in reply to conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin on Scott Walker’s campaign. (Rubin thinks Walker has gone too far to the right, but Spiliakos thinks that Walker – and many Republicans leaders – have lost touch with huge parts of their own electorate.) For Rubin the matter…
City, Culture, Local Government, Politics
Language is Often a Necessary, But Seldom a Sufficient, Condition of Inclusion
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The City of Whitewater hopes to improve communications with Spanish-language residents. That goal is, of itself, a good one. It’s a practical, worthy ambition. Language, however, is not the cause of local government’s self-acknowledged problem of attracting plentiful participation on public boards and committees. Greater facility with language, however admirable, is not the solution to government’s low participation…
City, Culture, Politics
On a Clear Day, One Can See Far Ahead (and Far Back)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Culture, Local Government
The Solution to the ‘Same Ten People Problem’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
What happens when, as is sometimes true in Whitewater, the same several people keep showing up on municipal committees? That’s a question city officials considered at a July 21st strategic planning meeting. The goal, of course, isn’t to discourage ten people; the goal should be to attract twenty, thirty, etc. One proposal would be simply…
City, Culture, Politics
The Perimeter Fence
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Historian Francis Bremer’s study of Puritanism, First Founders: American Puritans and Puritanism in an Atlantic World, offers insights for our own time, apart from early American history. (I know that Whitewater’s founding had a Puritan influence, but that’s not my point, today. Bremer’s observations on Puritanism are useful far from his particular study, and apart…
City, Culture, Liberty, Local Government, New Whitewater, Politics
The (Welcome) End of ‘Big’ in a Small Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I don’t think much of the term ‘movers and shakers’ (that a nearby newspaper used to describe supposedly influential people) or ‘big’ people, etc. The terms almost always exaggerate actual influence. I am sure, though, that a combination of diverse social media, the decline of print, the shifting demographics within Whitewater, and the next generation’s…