A man returns from a fishing tournament, and his acquaintances ask him how he did. “Great! Phenomenal! Spectacular! Amazingly, astoundingly well!” he declares. “I caught three fish,” he says. Someone standing nearby is familiar with the tournament, and asks a question. “Weren’t you that one contestant who had help to catch his fish, and besides,…
Development
City, Development, Planning
Walworth County Today: Whitewater developer pays $1 million for Delavan Industrial Park properties
by JOHN ADAMS •
D R Plastics Inc., a waste material recycling company, and Wild Impact Marketing, a marketing and merchandising firm, are expected to begin operations March 2011, once the build-outs are completed. Premier Real Estate Development, a Whitewater, Wisconsin-based real estate specialist company, purchased the two industrial buildings for $1.1 million, or about $21.26 per square foot,…
City, Development, Planning
When Foolishness Passes for Wisdom, All Explained Via PowerPoint
by JOHN ADAMS •
A man, living in an ordinary wooden house, has a preference for candlelight. He chooses against electric lighting, and places dozens of candles in each room of his house. Much of his time is spent lighting candles, with the rest spent telling his neighbors about the benefits of life-by-candlelight. So happy is he with this…
City, Development, Planning, Poverty
Blight and Blighted
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s Common Council meets twice monthly, and was in session Tuesday evening. I follow the proceedings. Fortunately, politics doesn’t begin or end in a day, and few sessions are decisive. (If they were, our condition would be worse than it is.) Part of Tuesday’s session concerned blight, and blighted properties. The two are not the…
Development, Law
Eminent domain controversy prompts Greenfield to rethink development plan – GreenfieldNOW
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s simply wrong and a misuse of the definition of ‘blight’ to use eminent domain law for supposed blight when all a municipal government would do would be to replace one ongoing private business with another one. State Sen. Mary Lazich entered the fray in the redevelopment discussions on Tuesday, saying she will introduce legislation…
Development, Economy, Planning
Richard Florida Discusses the Great Reset of Urban Development in Economic Downturns
by JOHN ADAMS •
Richard Florida, author of The Great Reset, discusses how this recession may change American life as did the depression of the 1870 and the Great Depression. Florida is interested in national trends, and especially the great cities of America. He contends that transportation infrastructure was, and may yet, be a good investment. Nonetheless, he acknowledges…
Development, Elkhorn, Planning
WCEDA tabs executive director — GazetteXtra
by JOHN ADAMS •
Development, Free Markets, Planning
The Wall Street Journal on Private Campaigns Against Walmart
by JOHN ADAMS •
In prior posts, I’ve made clear the difference between competition between private merchants and local government’s endorsement of a campaign that expressly favors one kind of merchant over another. That’s not the place for government, either on principle (government should be limited) or prudently (government has a poor record of picking winners in the marketplace).…
City, Development, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Planning
Local Merchants and Whitewater’s Walmart, Co-Existing
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve contended before that many local businesses can do very well alongside Walmart, and will weather an expansion of our current Walmart, store number 1274 of that retail chain. I can safely say this, because in towns across America with Walmarts, there are other businesses, too. They co-exist. Consumers should be able to make choices…
City, Development, Planning
Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting from 5/10/10: Walmart
by JOHN ADAMS •
After a few preliminary items, Whitewater’s 5/10/10 Planning Commission meeting considered Walmart’s proposal for a significant expansion at its present location. A video recording of the meeting is available at http://blip.tv/file/3624624. The agenda with a memo from Vandewalle & Associates about the Walmart expansion is available at Planning Commission Agenda & Attached Documents. The documents…
City, Development, Planning, Press
Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting from 5/10/10: Overview
by JOHN ADAMS •
On May 10th, Whitewater’s Planning Commission held a meeting at 6 p.m., with principal the topics being a possible expansion of our local Walmart, and an overlay to an existing residential zoning ordinance for the Starin Park neighborhood. Recording of the meeting — Here’s the video of the meeting, which I will be using for…
City, Development, University
Update: How Long Does It Take a Whitewater, Wisconsin Bureaucrat to Screw in a Traffic Light?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update to the update: I’m getting reader suggestions for limiting traffic from the university side of this intersection via signage or a permanent end to travel as an alternative to junking the gateway. As you can see below, I’d forget about the gateway before I’d delay a pedestrian solution. I’m not concerned about that proposal…
Charity, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Planning, Poverty, Press
Madison’s Isthmus: Janesville on the Brink
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Madison’s Isthmus, one reads a story about hardship in nearby Janesville, hardship that should be of concern to those in Whitewater, too. No matter how dire the conditions for Janesville now, I believe that an abandonment of virtually every aspect of commercial and business regulation, along with drastic reductions in government spending except principally…
City, Development, Free Markets, Planning
Visalia, California’s Sensible Choice in Favor of a Free Market
by JOHN ADAMS •
Visalia, California is far from Whitewater, Wisconsin. (It’s about 2100 miles by car, according to Google Maps.) Despite the distance, they recently confronted a question like one we in Whitewater once faced. In Whitewater, we once foolishly imposed a moratorium on residential apartments in our downtown; in Visalia, they considered and rejected a moratorium on…