If one runs a business, and has a sale scheduled, advertising the time and place of the sale is vital: people won’t attend events of which they’ve no knowledge. Some news stories are like this: reporting on an approaching storm requires quick publication of the weather. It’s not true, however, that every story requires quick…
Local Government
Federal Government, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Open Government, Public Records, State Government, Wisconsin
The Public Records Law Still Stands
by JOHN ADAMS •
After a push to alter Wisconsin’s Public Records Law (Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31-19.39), we’re now secure with the original law intact. Below one will find a recording of Wisconsin A.G. Brad Schimel’s Open Government Summit, held earlier this week at the Concourse in Madison. J.B. Hollen, Schimel’s immediate predecessor, started strongly in favor of the…
Economics, Government Spending, Local Government
Retrospective and Prospective Costs
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are few more useful ways of looking at expenditures made and expenditures contemplated than as retrospective (sunk) or prospective (future) costs. Consider the example of a man building a boat to catch one-hundred pounds of fish per day. The fisherman spends seventy-five thousand building his own boat, and is partly done. If he spends…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Gluttony, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, WEDC, Wisconsin
The State’s WEDC and Whitewater’s Facsimiles
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ongoing revelations about the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation are a double concern: they’re stories of statewide malfeasance, and those revelations beg the question of how local officials in Whitewater are managing their own pools of public money. First, the latest stories (it’s a steady stream) of state-level error, waste, and negligence: Madison— Failing to run…
CDA, City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, Planning
Demand
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a follow-on to yesterday’s post, Business Dependency in Whitewater. There’s a huge effort locally, from the Community Development Authority in particular, to spur growth through large, publicly-funded incentives. These addled few are like men who’ve heard the expression, ‘if you build it, he will come,’ but don’t understand when it applies and when it…
Business, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, WEDC
Business Dependency in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
For residents facing poverty, one would hope for, and understand, a combination of private and public relief. Churches and other private organizations do much in this effort; government expenditures for the genuinely needy amount to a small portion of all government spending. Support of this kind is a worthy effort. Whitewater also has two large…
Culture, Local Government, Politics, University
The Remains of the Day
by JOHN ADAMS •
If one would like to see the present condition and future prospects of Whitewater’s insiders, there are no better accounts (truly) than two stories from the Daily Union: UW-Whitewater chancellor session held @ http://www.dailyunion.com/news/article_f042575e-a63a-11e4-bcd8-939679ffcc09.html Whitewater bids fond farewell to Telfer @ http://www.dailyunion.com/news/article_68cb8454-1c18-11e5-8e44-a3bfa315d78f.html. Each story is purportedly about UW-Whitewater’s chancellor (the search for a new one,…
City, Enforcement, Food, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, Marketing, Regulations, Restaurant
Vulnerability of a Restaurant Culture
by JOHN ADAMS •
View image | gettyimages.com Whitewater’s publicly-driven marketing may not have amounted to much, these last ten years, but there are few better advertisements for Whitewater than thriving restaurants and taverns. Good restaurants, doing well, are a sign of a successful community. Some of Whitewater’s newest restaurants also reflect a sensibility that’s significantly more contemporary than…
City, Culture, Local Government, Marketing, Politics
Marketing Whitewater Over the Last Decade
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, I mentioned that I would share observations from a longtime resident about marketing efforts on behalf of Whitewater. First the observations, then my remarks. ….Ten years ago I think all the rhetoric about a perfect Whitewater was meant to set the tone for those already living in and around the town. They wanted to…
Business, City, Development, Economics, Economy, Health, Local Government, Planning, Politics, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN
Meetings & Motivations
by JOHN ADAMS •
Post 11 in a series. This is series about a proposed digester energy project for Whitewater, one that would rely on importing other cities’ unwanted waste into Whitewater for processing. A series like this is only indirectly about general wastewater upgrades, at whatever price. It’s about waste importation, and officials’ claims that importation would be clean…
CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Gluttony, Government Spending, Local Government, Public Relations, University, WEDC
Another Six-Figure WEDC Loan to an Unworthy Applicant
by JOHN ADAMS •
View image | gettyimages.com Across the state, revelation after revelation shows that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has been a mistake, a wasteful political endeavor contrary to sound economics. Locally, support for the WEDC, from Whitewater’s Community Development Authority, Chancellor Richard Telfer, City Manager Cameron Clapper, etc., shows not only that they’re ignorant of sound…
City, Local Government, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN
Trane Presents an Energy-Savings Contract
by JOHN ADAMS •
Post 10 in a series. Trane Presents an Energy-Savings Contract from John Adams on Vimeo. Recap: On 11.5.13, city officials in Whitewater met privately with three construction or engineering vendors (Trane, Black & Veatch, Donohue) and at least one major waste-hauler to discuss importing waste from other cities into Whitewater for a digester energy project.…
Blogging, City, Local Government, Politics
Measuring the Strength of a Position
by JOHN ADAMS •
A good way to measure the strength of a position (considering its quality of being strong, its merit, and its desirability) is to ask: would one trade that position for another one? If the answer is that one would trade, then there’s something better in an alternative by way of greater heft, reason, or enjoyability. …
Business, City, Government Spending, Health, Local Government, Marketing, Planning, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN
First Vendor Presentation of 1.21.14 to Whitewater’s Common Council
by JOHN ADAMS •
Post 8 in a series. First Vendor Presentation of 1.21.14 to Whitewater Common Council from John Adams on Vimeo. In this post, I’ll look at the first vendor presentation on the digester proposal to Whitewater’s Common Council. (Every question in this series has a unique number, assigned chronologically based on when it was asked. All…