Readers of FREE WHITEWATER know that I have been opposed to a restrictive, anti-market approach to student housing. Whitewater’s leading critic of student-rental housing is dentist-politician Dr. Roy Nosek. Nosek has mentioned, more than once, that student housing is a ‘death-knell’ for a neighborhood. Recently, I offered three posts critiquing Nosek’s understanding of basic market…
Development
City, Development, Free Markets
Planning Commission Meeting for December 10, 2007 (Part 2)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This post is part two of my coverage of the December 10th Planning Commission meeting. I posted Part 1 earlier. Residential Space on the First Floor of a Downtown Building. A prior Planning Commission session debated, and the Commission rejected, two residential units for the first floor of the old Hallmark store building on Main…
City, Development, Free Markets
Planning Commission Meeting for December 10, 2007 (Part 1)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Two items stood out for me from the December 10th meeting: (1) a discussion of a sign for a downtown restaurant, and (2) a request of an owner to rent a first floor apartment in the back of the old Hallmark store location. I’ve mentioned before that while one’s opinions should not change from forum…
City, Development
Planning Commission/Architectural Review Board for November 26, 2007
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ll catch up on my coverage of the Planning Commission with a post on its November 26th meeting. One topic stood out: should the Planning Commission meet once or twice a month? Under the rules of the Planning Commission, the chairman can make that decision, but he sensibly allowed it to be a board decision.…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Press
On Nosek on Student Housing, Part 3 (McCann’s Story in the GazetteXtra)
by JOHN ADAMS •
In this third post, I’ll address the quality of the GazetteXtra story from Carla McCann entitled, “Neighborhoods Oppose Housing for UW-W students.” It’s one of the worst stories on Whitewater I have read in months, and is the same league as the biased and misleading stories from the Whitewater Register. The Register cuts short the…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
On Nosek on Student Housing, Part 2 (Culture)
by JOHN ADAMS •
In this post, I will consider the cultural aspects of Roy Nosek’s opposition to student housing. I am convinced that’s really where his opposition rests; he has no coherent economic theory that describes and addresses student housing demand in Whitewater. He does, however, have a clear cultural opposition, and that’s what I will consider here.…
City, Development
Cousins, Coffee, and the Old KFC Building
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Planning Commission Meeting for November 12, 2007, Part 2
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is Part 2 of my commentary on the Planning Commission meeting for November 12, 2007. (Here’s the link to Part 1.) Apartments at the old Hallmark Location Why are residential tenants worse than vacancies? Empty retail spaces are worse than occasional litter and disturbances from residential tenants. They’re a sign of our lack of…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Planning Commission Meeting for November 12, 2007, Part 1
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s my commentary on the November 12th Planning Commission Meeting, Part 1. Intricacies of Public Meetings Public meetings run the risk of devolving into intricacy, ‘inside baseball’ commentary, and jargon unfamiliar to most residents. When there are a few committees involved, the risk grows greater. The politics of the Community Development Authority, Planning Commission, and…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Common Council Meeting for November 6, 2007
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Common Council cannot tax more, spend more, and hire more, and expect Whitewater to grow more. Whitewater can easily do the first three, but it should not expect the final result. It is, however, what Council must expect now. Time will prove this expectation false. It’s predictable, though, that — initially — competent planning…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
On the City Manager
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ll write this week, and afterward, about the 2008 proposed city budget. Before I begin, I’ll make a few remarks about our City Manager, Kevin Brunner. I’ve been asked if I dislike the City Manager because I’ve teased, occasionally, about his ‘inside-baseball’ manner. I do not dislike him; I have no strong opinion one way…
City, Development, Free Markets
Thoughts on Planning and Plants
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
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…