These last few months, beginning in September, Whitewater’s Planning Commission has heard, and subsequently considered, a proposal for an urban (backyard) chicken ordinance. The proposal is not mine; I have been a mere observer of this effort. One may write about a topic, but only after months of careful observation, as in this case. I…
Laws/Regulations
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Nanny of the Month: Texas Schools Track Students with RFID Chips
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Business, City, Laws/Regulations, New Whitewater, Planning
The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Draft Budget: Downtown Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Under the 2013 draft budget, there’s the possibility of the City of Whitewater increasing the contribution for Downtown Whitewater, Inc., to compensate for the loss of funding via Tax Incremental District 4. While I’d surely rather the city didn’t prop up businesses, and I’d rather it didn’t fund just one area at that, I candidly…
City, Food, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Whitewater’s ‘Transient Merchant’ Ordinance is Only Half That
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater has a Transient Merchant Ordinance, at Chapter 5.28, et seq., of her Municipal Code, but the ordinance’s title is only half right. It’s not merely an ordinance that restricts food trucks’ sales, but also and necessarily consumers’ purchases. It’s part Transient Merchant Ordinance and part Consumer Restriction Ordinance. Each and every time a city…
Business, City, Laws/Regulations
The Transient Merchant Ordinance
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a discussion at Common Council tonight of our “transient merchant ordinance.” The text under discussion is part of the agenda packet, at numbered pages 33 – 42. This current provisions of our municipal code are online as well. Council’s session begins at 6:30 PM in City Hall the Municipal Building.
Laws/Regulations, Presidential race 2012
Reason’s Interactive Nanny of the Month: Obama v. Romney
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Agriculture, Animals, Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations
How Ag Gag Laws Suppress Free Speech
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Utah and Iowa, among other states, have passed ‘ag gag’ laws to prevent the recording of videos that reveal animal abuse at slaughterhouses. These private recordings are a consequence of regulatory failure, just as laws to prevent them are proof of political hypocrisy. If states regulated properly the videos wouldn’t be necessary; likewise, proper regulation…
Government Spending, Laws/Regulations
Reason’s Nanny of the Month for August 2012
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
The Criminalization of Sidewalk Art: ‘Chalk a Sidewalk, Go to Jail’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Where anything and everything becomes a crime: Over the past five years, at least 49 people in 13 American cities have run afoul of authorities for coloring things with chalk. The vast majority were arrested in connection with drawing designs or messages on public streets or sidewalks Via Mother Jones. Originally published at Daily Adams…
Animals, Laws/Regulations
Nanny of the Month July 2012: New Jersey’s Seatbelt Law For Your Dog!
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Agriculture, Business, Food, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
Boosting Big Farms at the Expense of Small Ones
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
It’s about as hard as ever to be a small famer in America. Some difficulties are simply a consequence of competition, by which both farmers (compelled to be more innovative) and consumers (getting better goods at lower prices) benefit. Yet, when government, itself, becomes a burden and hardship for small famers, we have tolerated what…
Drink, Food, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
The War on Really Big Cups of Cola
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Development, Economy, Laws/Regulations, Planning
The 6.11.12 Joint City Council and Plan Commission Zoning Rewrite Workshop
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a combined meeting of Whitewater’s City Council and her Planning Commission scheduled for Monday, June 11th at 6 PM. The agenda for the meeting includes a packet describing the work of the Zoning Rewrite members, proposals they are considering, and a timeline for the zoning rewrite effort (extending from this year into next). I…