Consider an invitation-only meeting, before a public one, in which appointed officials and perhaps a few corporate executives meet to discuss public financing of a deal mostly benefiting a few. One can say two things, with reasonable confidence, about a meeting like that. First, no one attends a meeting of that kind to dissuade others…
Government Spending
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
Janesville & Generac’s Bus: Requesting Reductions
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
At Whitewater’s mid-November council meeting, Generac declared it would pay considerably less for a transit bus than Janesville Transit had projected (seventy-two percent less), and the city and university agreed to pay fifty percent less than Janesville Transit requested of them. Note to the city administration: multi-billion-dollar Generac easily got the better of those figures.…
Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Local Government, Press
The Gazette‘s Laughable, Damage-Control Editorial
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
There’s an editorial at the Gazette today (http://gazettextra.com/article/20131122/ARTICLES/131129885/1034) predictably praising continued funding for Janesville’s transit bus to Whitewater. That there’s a bit of crowing in the editorial is unsurprising, but it’s more telling that it’s an error-prone essay that makes basic mistakes about Whitewater’s politics, and omits – perhaps intentionally – a description of the…
Business, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
The New Address
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
One reads a press release at Walworth County Today (http://walworthcountytoday.com/article/20131122/WC/131129921) about the relocation of an existing private business, iButtonLink, to the Innovation Center. Here’s where they were: Here’s where they’ll be: That’s a nice upgrade, to taxpayer-funded accommodations. It’s also a different definition of private accomplishment, I’d say.
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Local Government, Planning
The Bus Discussion @ Council Last Night: A Fiasco by Any Definition
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Update, 2 PM: A reader wrote today, asking why I seem relatively unconcerned about this vote (as a practical matter). That’s my omission: in the discussion last night, it’s clear that Generac plans to reduce funding in the future. Advocates of this project will have to find other corporate sponsors and make it work with…
Business, City, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Government Spending
The Bus: Bad for Whitewater Now, Far Worse for Whitewater Later
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
As I write – these last eighteen months now offering ample evidence – Janesville Transit’s bus to Whitewater has been a failure. It’s been used too seldom, at considerable public expense, mostly for a vast corporation that could easily pay its own way. And yet, and yet, conditions might be even worse were the bus…
City, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Government Spending, Planning
Discussion about the Bus, 3.20.12 to 11.5.13
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I promised earlier a summary of principal arguments made about a (mostly) publicly-funded transit bus that benefits (mostly) one multi-billion-dollar corporation. Here’s that post, with a summary of points about the project at Whitewater’s Common Council sessions of 3.20.12, 11.20.12, and 11.5.13. For each date, I’ve included a link to a Vimeo page with a…
City, Economy, Elkhorn, Government Spending
The Martians Beset Elkhorn
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In many ways, Whitewater’s present fiscal and economic success depends on getting as far past the last administration’s outlook as possible. Our former city manager from 2004-2012 mastered a reverse Midas touch: turning what he grasped not into gold, but lead. We can – and I am confident will – get beyond those ill effects,…
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
Common Council for 11.5.13 (Bus & Budget)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Update, 2 PM: Earlier today, in response to my email inquiry, I received kind messages in reply from City Manager Clapper and City Clerk Michele Smith, about posting online the documents I mentioned below. They’ve acted quickly and thoroughly to provide materials that others gave to them only at the last minute. It’s right to…
Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
The Empty Bus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
The Empty Bus from John Adams on Vimeo. Whitewater’s Common Council will tonight consider the performance of an often-empty Janesville Transit Bus that mostly benefits one multi-billion-dollar corporation. At the end of this post, readers will find links to prior posts about this failed project. I’ve also embedded the relevant documents from tonight’s meeting –…
City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Taxes/Taxation
What’s Whitewater’s Economy?
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Like many others, I read the news each day, about our city, online and in print. When one reads about Whitewater, of its local government, one likely reads about one of two topics: (1) the city or public schools budgets, or (2) municipal development projects. They’re both important, sometimes very much so, but they’re only…
City, Government Spending, Local Government, Taxes/Taxation
Proposed 2014 Whitewater City Budget and Accompanying Budget Memo
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Government Spending, Local Government, Politics
Whitewater’s Common Council Meeting for 10.15.13 (City Manager, Budget Perspective)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s budget season for local governments across Wisconsin, including Whitewater. Presentations beginning in October will conclude with a vote in November. A few introductory remarks on that process follow. City Manager, Cameron Clapper. City Manager Clapper has two tasks, not one: daily management the city’s local government, and normalizing the way his administration describes local government’s functions. In…
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
Janesville Transit’s Ghost Bus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 8 Comments
It’s the month for Halloween, and just in time, Janesville Transit brings Whitewater a trick, but certainly no treat: a Ghost Bus. One may safely call it this, as it’s almost entirely empty after dropping riders off at multi-billion-dollar Generac, with those few passengers remaining being about as rare and difficult to see as the…