This is the second post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. U.S. Census data show that Whitewater proper (the city) has stopped growing, and is, in fact, experiencing a population decline. From 2015-2016, the city lost about 1.1% of her population (168 people). Even over a longer…
Local Government
City, Culture, Economy, Local Government
Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 1: Introduction)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the first post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. I’ll start with an introductory series of assumptions, some I’ll flesh out in greater detail in the series, but all of which state plainly my views. 1. In America’s current political climate, it’s national politics that necessarily…
Development, Environment, Local Government, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN
Waste Hauling Into Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Post 75 in a series. When Green Turns Brown is an examination of a small town’s digester-energy project, in which Whitewater, Wisconsin would import other cities’ waste, claiming that the result would be both profitable and green. A few years (and seventy-five posts) ago, I began consideration of a local proposal to haul waste into Whitewater.…
City, Local Government
Term Limits, Briefly Considered
by JOHN ADAMS •
There was a discussion last night at the Whitewater Common Council about term limits (if any) for appointees to city boards and commissions. The discussion followed a briefer one on 4.18.17. I mentioned yesterday that this would be an interesting agenda topic, and it was. It’s worth noting that although I thought there should have…
Babbittry, Conflicts of Interest, Culture, Local Government, Newspapers, Politics
Margaret Sullivan on Great Local Reporting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post’s media columnist observes that Great local reporting stands between you and wrongdoing. (Sullivan was formerly The New York Times public editor, and the chief editor of her hometown paper, The Buffalo News.) Sullivan explains what great local reporting means: “In only 15 years, American newspaper companies slashed their workforces by…
America, Charity, City, Development, Economics, Economy, Holiday, Local Government, Planning, Politics
Reading and Reviewing
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are two books I’m eager to review here at FW: Katherine Cramer’s Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker (2016) and Amy Goldstein’s Janesville: An American Story (4.18.17). Like many others, I’ve been awaiting Goldstein’s book for some time, knowing that significant works take time. For both books,…
America, Babbittry, City, Local Government, Trump
‘The Closest Thing We Have to State TV’
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the clip above, Seth Meyers considers the relationship between Fox News and the Trump Administration, concluding that Fox News is ‘the closest thing we have to state TV,’ represents ‘sycophantic coverage,’ and that ‘instead of a Bible, Trump should have been sworn in on a TV Guide.’ (H/t to Raw Story for the pointer.)…
City, Culture, Local Government
What an Invitation Says (and Doesn’t Say)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images Over at the City of Whitewater’s website, there’s a notice about a public meeting at which candidates for a city job will available to the public. Although the notice is formally correct (to meet the requirements of Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, Wis. Stats. §§ 19.81-19.98), as a community matter there’s something sad…
City, Immigration, Local Government, Police
On Rumors
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater is a small town, with a population under fifteen thousand, approximately half of whom are college students. One of the advantages of being far smaller than Los Angeles or Atlanta should be the ease with which municipal leaders and law enforcement can meet and talk to residents. A person of average health and energy…
Federal Government, Local Government, Politics
The National-Local Mix (Part 2)
by JOHN ADAMS •
On November 18th, I posted on a National-Local Mix, that combination of topics that a blogger might consider under Trump. The need to think about a national-local mix was obvious enough: “Trump is a fundamentally different candidate from those who have come before him. Not grasping this would be obtuse. Writing only about sewing circles or local…
Federal Government, Local Government, Politics
Early Days
by JOHN ADAMS •
We’re in the early days of Trump, and we’ve likely a long and difficult way to go. (My daily count runs from 11.9, so it’s not as early from my vantage.) Even now, however, a solid resistance is forming across the country, including in red states that Trump supporters might otherwise consider unshakably Trump’s. (There is…
City, Local Government
Where Reaction Leads
by JOHN ADAMS •
What happens when the municipal officials of a small college town repeatedly malign – in print and on camera – a private business and college residents for the conduct of unrelated third-parties? This is what happens: The City of Whitewater Clarifies Recent Comments Regarding Spring Splash, Encourages Residents to Celebrate Responsibly Whitewater, Wis., February 11th, 2017…
City, Local Government, Planning
At Whitewater’s Planning Commission: ‘Have you heard any rumors about..?”
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a brief discussion about a rumor that a new convenience store might come to small-town Whitewater that illustrates not only the problem of rumors, but others’ unwillingness to point out the problem of rumors. It’s the latter problem that is, in fact, the more serious one for Whitewater. First, I’ve transcribed the exchange from…
America, Local Government, Newspapers, Press, Trump
Trump Will Force Choices the Local Press is Too Weak to Make
by JOHN ADAMS •
A sound critique of the national print press says that it has a limited time left. See, concerning the work of Clay Shirky, A Prediction of Print’s ‘Fast, Slow, Fast’ Decline. Market forces will also take their toll on the local print press, and even now local papers are useful only for The Last Inside Accounts (rather than…