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Government Spending

Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Politics, Religion, Science/Nature, State Government, Wisconsin

Budget First

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Last week, Gov. Walker declined to answer Englishman’s question about whether he, Scott Waker, believed in evolution. Today, in the Journal Sentinel, one learns that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos does believe in evolution.  (I’ll bite: I was raised in a liturgical, high-church tradition that taught that the theory of evolution was consistent with faith.  I…

Education, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Presidential race 2016, University

Gov. Walker, In-State and Out-of-State

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Two posts about Gov. Walker this week, one on how he’s come to propose a budget with so many education cuts, and the other on his considerable fundraising potential as a national candidate, are especially informative.  Over at Urban Milwaukee, Bruce Murphy write about Waker’s budget proposal, in Why Walker Had to Cut UW Funding:…

Corporate Welfare, Education, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Labor, Liberty, Local Government, School District, University, WEDC, Wisconsin

Education: Substance & Spending

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Following comments to yesterday’s post on proposed cuts to the UW System schools (Caution arrives late, doesn’t recognize its surroundings), here are nine quick comments about education. 1.  Act 10 as a budgetary tool.  This centrally-planned idea didn’t work.  Reductions in public-union bargaining powers in exchange for the ‘tools’ to balance school and other public…

City, Good Ideas, Government Spending, Health, Hip & Prosperous, Planning

Arguments on Cost & Flexibility Under a Complete Streets Ordinance

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There are two questions that I promised yesterday that I would take up today about the Complete Streets ordinance recently passed at Council on 1.20.15. The first is whether the draft ordinance was flexible enough, and the second about the costs of new roads or reconstruction that would include sidewalks or bike paths. I read…

Business, City, Cycling, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Health, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, Planning

The Common Council Session for 1.20.15: Complete Streets

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I posted briefly yesterday on Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, and in that post mentioned that I would look a bit more at some of the remarks for, or against, the Complete Streets ordinance that passed Tuesday night.  (I supported the ordinance.) Council discussed this issue previously, on December 16th.  See, Common Council 12/16/2014. I’ve included…

City, Government Spending, Health, Waste Digesters

The Wastewater Facility Upgrades and a Digester

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On Tuesday night, Common Council heard the proposed cost of wastewater upgrades ($18.7 million) and the separate possibility of large digester. Let’s be clear about what a big digester’s “solids treatment” truly is: a process of importing other cities’ unwanted manure, human excrement, and industrial filth into Whitewater.  A few quick comments, as there is…

Business, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, State Government

WEDC: Those Who Can’t Do, Lobby

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One of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s many incompetent leaders, Ryan Murray, is leaving behind his controversial, failed role at the WEDC to become a lobbyist.  Jobs agency official becomes lobbyist @ JS All Politics Blog reports on Murray’s shabby move: The No. 2 official at the state’s jobs agency has left the agency to…

City, Development, Government Spending

The Peddler’s Egg

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A peddler visits a local town, and announces that he has a Fabergé egg to sell. Townspeople gather near his freshly-painted cart to see the shiny jewel.  The seller contends his merchandise is the Rose Trellis Fabergé egg.  He extols the beauty of the object, tells listeners that he recently purchased it from a museum,…

Corporate Welfare, Development, Government Spending, WEDC

Clap Your Hands, It’s Galactic Marmoset Week

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So one reads that a few of Whitewater’s town fathers, toadying to the WEDC’s public-relations machine, are crowing that the Innovation Center is part of GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK. Global? That’s not so much. One can easily show these striving WEDC public-relations men how to take something small and make it look really big. Behold, I…

Corporate Welfare, Development, Government Spending, WEDC

Another Holiday on the Calendar

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Oh dearie me, having been thinking these months about Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, somehow GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK slipped my mind. How, truly, could one forget a week-long celebration of white-collar tech startups? Perhaps a lifetime of celebrating both religious and national holidays, and the actual accomplishments of ordinary people who have overcome harrowing obstacles, has…

CDA, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Infrastructure, Local Government

Is Whitewater’s Public Infrastructure Undeveloped? No.

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I wrote on Friday that I would consider a bit more about Whitewater’s 2015 proposed budget today. This post’s title frames how to think about the budget: the city’s fiscal condition is only a small part of the local economy’s condition. Important, to be sure, but also small.  Many city services are ordinary and commonplace…