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Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Education, Elections, Law, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Waste Digesters
Policy Topics for the Spring
by JOHN ADAMS •
In October 2014, I wrote about Four Public Topics for the Fall. They seemed to be the city’s prominent public policy questions, looking ahead from 10.20.14. Those topics were (1) the 2015 City of Whitewater budget, (2) Whitewater Schools referendum, (3) UW-Whitewater’s social relations, and the (4) City of Whitewater’s waste digester proposal. Now, as…
City, Culture, Local Government, New Whitewater, Politics, School District, University
Whitewater’s Near Future Depends on What Year It Is Now
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Culture, New Whitewater, Politics
The Absence of Equilibrium
by JOHN ADAMS •
Later this week, I’ll check to see how I did on my predictions for 2014, and make some new ones for 2015. The week of January 6th, I’ll elaborate on themes from the predictions for 2015. Here’s an observation, however, that I think describes Whitewater’s politics and culture, generally: there is an absence of equilibrium,…
Culture, Film, Food
Film: Ethiopia
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ethiopia! from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo. We travelled to Ethiopia for two weeks and filmed the making of injera, false banana and coffee as well as everything else we saw. Please watch, enjoy and visit this amazing country! Created by: www.theperennialplate.com In Partnership with Intrepid Travel: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/foood/ Filmed & edited by: Daniel Klein (…
Culture, Development, Marketing, Politics
The Bad Bet Placed on an Eternal 2004
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some local proposals, in Whitewater or nearby places, look like they were designed by someone from 2004. Some in that year assumed that local residents would support public funding for any designated purpose, that claims of job-creation would be swallowed whole, that the press would support those claims relentlessly, that press support would make a…
City, Culture
The Fragmented Audience
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s a small town, but it has more than one culture within its nine square miles. (There’s a separate issue, suitable for another time, about whether it’s legitimate to have more than one culture or method from Whitewater’scity government. It’s not; unlike diverse private life, a representative government cannot legitimately allow its officials and employees…
Culture
Three Kinds of Public Officials
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are more than three kinds of officials, but consider these three broad types: 1. The Mediocre. In almost all cases, people are more than intelligent enough to complete the tasks before them – it’s usually ignorance or laziness that inhibits successful work. These are the so-called public servants who mostly seem to be serving…
Culture, Sports
Becoming Sumo
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Culture
What Would It Take for Someone to Believe Nothing’s Changed in Whitewater in a Generation?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Look around, and you’ll see both physical and social change in our small city. What, then, might lead someone to insist that nothing in Whitewater seems to have changed in a generation? Well, perhaps if someone spent a really long time living underground in a bomb shelter. Even then, though, one would expect that…
City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Economy, Local Government
Is this the city that you had in mind?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Consider this working definition of crony capitalism: Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of state interventionism. Crony capitalism…