The Whitewater Common Council last met on 10.6.20. The agenda for the meeting is available, and a recording of the early October session appears above. (As always, the best record is a recording.) Council discussed, among other items, Trick or Treating during the pandemic, a preliminary city budget, whether to return to in-person council meetings,…
Local Government
City, Elections, Law, Local Government
Election Information for Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Please see information from the City of Whitewater about voting in the upcoming election — The City of Whitewater is committed to making sure every voter who is eligible to vote can do so. Citizens are encouraged to choose the voting option that works best for them. Here are some key dates and facts to…
City, Coronavirus, Local Government, Public Health, School District, University
September Arrives: Consequences Will Settle Claims
by JOHN ADAMS •
Posted originally on 9.1.20 — A reminder that, for a thousand discussions, predictions, warnings, or assurances — “what has been predicted about the pandemic & economy will prove true or false as against daily events and their consequences.” Original post follows — September arrives. Small-town Whitewater, like all America, wrestles with a pandemic and a…
City, Culture, Law, Local Government, Open Government, Politics, Wisconsin
In Whitewater, Three Recent Trespasses Against Public Comment
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s public comment periods are lawful rights worth defending, and there has never been a time when respecting public comment – humbly and gratefully – has been more important for the city. Since June, there have been three meetings during which Whitewater’s current council president has deprecated public comment, or wrongly set the order of…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 9.15.20: 4 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Updated 9.16.20 with meeting video. Last night, among other items, Whitewater Common Council’s met and considered municipal actions in response to the pandemic, heard presentations from Downtown Whitewater, Inc. and Discover Whitewater, and appointed a resident to fill a council vacancy in AD 5. A few remarks — 1. Pandemic Responses. Whitewater’s council last week declined, on…
Coronavirus, Local Government, School District
Local Politician Tells District Administrator How to Read District’s Own Approved Documents
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Whitewater, a local charity, the Whitewater Community Foundation, publishes a website in which the city council president poses as something like a reporter. It’s an obvious conflict of interest, from a man who shows no understanding of either proper journalism or conflicts of interest. Where Whitewater departs from the conventional in natural beauty, she…
Blogging, City, Local Government, Music, Politics
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Helpful Advice for Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is rightly celebrated as a masterpiece. It also offers useful political advice, even for small town officials. From that musical’s Washington on Your Side, consider this sage observation on the limits of intra-institutional reform: If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse, You can’t put it out from inside the house. There’s…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 9.9.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Evening of 9.10.20: Updated with full session video. As always, the best record is a recording. Original post follows — Last night, at a special meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, that public body voted 5-1 against consideration of a municipal ordinance to regulate mass gatherings during the pandemic. (The agenda packet, with the ordinance…
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Coronavirus, Culture, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Politics, Public Health
Whitewater’s Local Government: Always Literally, Not as Often Seriously
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was the Trump apologist Salena Zito who, by way of defending Trump, suggested that his words should be taken ‘seriously, not literally.’ (She offered this defense in a deceitful effort to absolve Trump from the plain meaning of what he said, at any moment. Instead of considering his statements, one was supposed to take…
City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Public Health, University
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 9.1.20: Culture & Prohibitions
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, the council discussed and gave direction to the city attorney to draft an ordinance regulating large gatherings of people on private property during the pandemic. (Updated with video. A revised agenda is available here.) The council plans to meet again on 9.9.20, where they will consider a…
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Culture, Ethics, Local Government, Politics
Social Capital and Hardship
by JOHN ADAMS •
What role does social capital play in a community’s health? Adam Gopnik, in The Paradoxical Role of Social Capital in the Coronavirus Pandemic, ponders whether there’s a relationship between communities with high social capital and a community’s public health. Gopnik uses a traditional definition of social capital as the “parts of society that, without being…
City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government, Public Health
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 8.4.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, among other items — the council slightly modified its mask ordinance, discussed (but took no action on) a racial justice initiative that would create an Equal Opportunities Committee, voted unanimously to extend the lake drawdown project for approximately another year, and voted to continue virtual public…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Whitewater & Walworth County’s Working Poor, 2020 ALICE® Report
by JOHN ADAMS •
The 2020 ALICE® report, on those who are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” is now available. These latest data were collected before the recent recession – one can be sadly confident that hardship reaches farther now. For Wisconsin, 11% of households were below the poverty level, and 34% (including those below the poverty level) were…
Local Government, Politics
Engagement and Engagement-Engagement
by JOHN ADAMS •
Sometimes, as a matter of emphasis, people repeat a word – so a big tree becomes a big-big tree, and something sweet becomes sweet-sweet. The repetition of the adjective suggests an exceptional thing – more intense or more significant. In this way, there might be both engagement and engagement-engagement. In this first situation, there’s some…