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…
Development
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…
City, Development, Free Markets, Inbox Reader Mail
Public Art, John Adams Replies
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Development
CDA Website, Revisited
by JOHN ADAMS •
Faithful readers will recall that I published on May 31st a post entitled, “White, Non-Minority” in which I wrote of the Community Development Authority’s website more than a bit troubling is how they describe our potential workforce, on the Community Development page entitled, “Work Force.” Here’s what it says, as of this evening, May 31st:…
City, Development, Free Markets
The (False) Theory of Central Relativity.
by JOHN ADAMS •
In many cities, of disparate sizes, there is a strong theory that if one fixes the downtown – makes it look nicer, improves streets, lighting, and building facades, etc., then the town will undergo a more thorough renaissance. If you build it, or rehabilitate it, they will come… In measures small and moderate, Whitewater has…
Development, Economy, Fire Dept, Free Markets
Vacant Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Homecoming is over, and this small city did all it could to emphasize progress and success. Along Main Street, during Homecoming, there was, if I recall correctly, a white banner that read, “How Does Whitewater Look to You?” I may not have the question just right, but the essence is clear enough. Not everyone who…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
What Does Driving into Whitewater from Highway 12 Suggest about the City?
by JOHN ADAMS •
If a person saw what I described yesterday – a small sign, a ramshackle cluster of dull yellow motel buildings, a small cluster of private, single family homes, etc. – what should he reasonably conclude? First, he might see all of this as a failure of public development, a lack of sidewalks, street lights, directional…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Arriving into the Whitewater from the West.
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s bracing to enter Whitewater from Highway 12: the initial sights are non-descript, with little to distinguish Whitewater from a smaller town. We are a city of fourteen thousand, with a university campus, but our problems become apparent when entering the city from the west. Here’s what a traveler would find, as conditions are now:…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Community Prosperity: Introduction
by JOHN ADAMS •
We hear much about community development in Whitewater, now more than ever. We depend on our fellow residents; their success or failure affects us greatly. It was Aristotle who famously remarked that one who freely lives outside a city is either a beast or a god. Americans are not so convinced of town, let alone…
City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Whitewater’s Economy
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ll write over the next few posts about the state of the economy in Whitewater. I mentioned economic problems as one of the challenges facing Whitewater when I wrote that Our municipal government is narrow-minded, with a poor grasp of economics, and clings to burdensome regulations that make Whitewater unattractive to businesses. We gain housing,…