Here’s a quick post on the Planning Commission meeting from earlier this month. Weeks ago, someone sent me an email to remind me that not all members of the Planning Commission see things the same way, and that I should not lump them all into the same, small, well-planned and regulated box. Fair enough: as…
Development
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Challenges of the Community Development Authority
by JOHN ADAMS •
What’s a group’s underlying philosophy? On the City of Whitewater’s new website, there’s a link to a page for Community Development Authority. That page describes the CDA, and touts its accomplishments. Here’s part of what it says, as of October 1st: The Whitewater Community Development Authority is the economic development organization for the City of…
Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Poverty in Whitewater, Part 4: (If we keep building new shopping centers, why does Whitewater’s poverty rate not decrease?)
by JOHN ADAMS •
[This is the fourth in a series on poverty in Whitewater. Part 1 showed that we have a family poverty rate far higher than surrounding communities. Part 2 showed that the poverty rate of our families is increasing. Part 3 showed that the problems of poverty cannot be understood through residents’ ancestries.] We are fortunate…
Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Poverty in Whitewater, Part 3 (Whitewater and Delavan)
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Poverty in Whitewater, Part 2 (How many of our families have been in poverty recently, since the last census data? )
by JOHN ADAMS •
[This is the second of a series on poverty in Whitewater. Part 1 showed that we have a family poverty rate far higher than surrounding communities.] Previously, in Part 1, I used the same census data that the City of Whitewater posted on its website to show that we have a family poverty rate roughly…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Poverty in Whitewater, Part 1 (Introduction)
by JOHN ADAMS •
We are, without the slightest reasonable doubt, a beautiful but troubled city. It’s unmistakable that our economy falls short for many, and I will support this contention more conclusively than any happy, but deceptive, pictures from another website, or city publication, could suggest otherwise. We have become a proud, arrogant place, willing to trumpet chimerical…
Development, Economy, Free Markets
Planning and Architectural Review Board Meeting for Monday, 9/10
by JOHN ADAMS •
Hayek thought that a well-ordered society planned to compete, but for a person who spends a lifetime as a bureaucrat, it’s more like planning to plan. He also thought that a well-ordered society was one with a vibrant spontaneous order, but after listening to the September 10th meeting of the Whitewater Planning Board, I’d say…
Development, Free Markets
Coffee Shop and Cousins Subs
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve heard that a local developer is planning to turn the vacant space where KFC was located into a combination Cousins sub franchise and a coffee shop. I’ve never seen that combination before, but then I’m not sure anyone has seen that combination before. If the ambiance of a traditional coffee shop can be combined…
City, Development, Free Markets
Planning and Architectural Review Commission Meeting for Monday, 8/27
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few, quick observations on Monday night’s planning and architectural review commission meeting. Where we are weaker than nearby cities, we should be less restrictive than they are; where we are stronger, we should be no more restrictive. We live well, as beneficiaries of a free market, but we quickly forget how dynamic and innovative…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Tax Incremental Financing, Part 3: The Mood of It All
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was, last night, a quiet and somnolent setting in which our Common Council recommended to the Joint Review Board five new TIDs. I’ll give the atmosphere of the meeting some attention. Often, a public meeting takes place in early evening, so that citizen-representatives can attend without missing work. They’ve worked all day, under conditions…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Tax Incremental Financing, Part 2
by JOHN ADAMS •
What are the challenges of a TID, or sometimes of planning generally? Retail cannibalization. It’s a big problem in many communities, with or without a TID. There’s no retail gain, under this scenario, just businesses – the same or new – locating in newer areas while others fold or move. Oshkosh, for example, is a…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Tax Incremental Financing, Part 1
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last night, Whitewater’s Common Council recommended to a Joint Review Board five new Tax Incremental Districts for the city. There is common agreement that Whitewater faces significant economic challenges, and that an increase in private economic activity, and development, would be welcome. (There are, in our town, few if any ‘no growth’ advocates of the…
City, Development, Inbox Reader Mail
Inbox: Reader Mail — Downtown
by JOHN ADAMS •
From a reader in town: Your observations about entering Whitewater from the east or west on highway 12 focus on some true, although unpleasant, facts that suggest inadequate planning may have been a factor. Equally disturbing is the short glimpse of the UWW without a hint of the huge and sprawling Campus north of Highway…