Whitewater’s in transition. Part of this is a shift – slow but inexorable – in the political culture of the city. (See, along these lines, New Whitewater’s Inevitability and Horses and Automobiles, Contemporaneously.) There’s more than one way to wage a local race, and our city is getting a taste of the difference between a…
Local Government
Local Government
Getting the Word Out
by JOHN ADAMS •
Every so often, one hears that local government – the city, our public school district, the university – needs to get the word out. There’s a message to be sent. That’s good and right, of course, as the alternative would be concealment of policies or other public acts. Government should communicate more, not less, often.…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, Good Ideas, Local Government, Weather
Walk the City
by JOHN ADAMS •
Spring will arrive soon. Whitewater, Wisconsin is a small town. Even more conveniently, it’s a small town with an easily-walked, accessible downtown, west-side business district, and compact neighborhoods. In a time of warmer weather, there will be fitting opportunities to explore the city on foot. Whitewater’s full-time leaders – and especially her city manager —…
City, Local Government, Politics
The Candidates’ Forum
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some of Whitewater’s political candidates – running for Common Council – attended a Saturday, 3.16.13 forum at city hall. It ran from ten to a bit after eleven. (Readers wishing statements from the candidates may visit lwvwhitewater.org.) Below are overall impressions from the event. I’ll write more later about topics raised between now and the…
City, Local Government, Politics
City Leaders’ Residency
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s 2.21.13 Common Council meeting included a discussion – and change – to the city’s standing requirement that key leaders of the city live within the city limits. After consideration, Common Council voted to establish the area of the Whitewater Unified School District as the area in which principal municipal leaders must live. Quick thoughts:…
City, Gov. Walker, Local Government, Politics, State Government, Wisconsin
The Failure of Inside-Out (Thanks in Part to Governor Walker)
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s never been sensible to believe that the center of civilization is 312 W. Whitewater Street, with people and events beyond shrinking markedly in significance as one gets farther from that supposed center. Under that theory, by the time one reaches Palmyra, one might as well be in the unexplored Amazon. Exaggerating the significance of…
CDA, City, Economy, Gov. Walker, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Technology
The New Whitewater Start Up Grants (in Proper Perspective)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority has been working on a seed capital fund (working on this fund for some time), and today the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has announced a $150,000 matching contribution to the CDA, and two grants – each in the amount of $10,000 – for entrepreneurs from that fund. The matching grant from…
City, Development, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, New Whitewater
Which Homeowners for Whitewater?
by JOHN ADAMS •
The preceding post, Who Should Live in Whitewater?, was about immigration. Here’s a second question, a bit more specific: which homeowners for Whitewater? One hears repeatedly that out city could use more families with children. I don’t disagree: it would help our public schools to have a stable, or growing, school-age population. Here’s where I…
City, Haiku, Local Government
Winter Haiku
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Local Government, Politics
The Martians’ Next Campaign
by JOHN ADAMS •
Stories, even short, science-fiction stories, offer lessons beyond their pages. Near the final pages of Wells’s War of the Worlds, the narrator ponders his future, months after the Martians succumbed on our world. He considers the possibility of another invasion: A question of graver and universal interest is the possibility of another attack from the…
City, Local Government, Politics
The Political Risk of Appointment (and How to Avoid It)
by JOHN ADAMS •
About a month ago, Whitewater’s common council filled an at-large vacancy left after Marilyn Kienbaum’s passing. I thought the process – applicants speaking on behalf of their possible appointment – was a good one. See, Common Council Session of 12.18.12: A New Councilmember. My remarks here aren’t about those four initial applicants, but about applicants,…
Crime, Government Spending, Local Government, Planning
Is This What Janesville’s Leaders Really Meant by ‘Regionalization’?
by JOHN ADAMS •
About two months ago, Janesville’s City Manager, Eric Levitt, came to Whitewater asking for money to support a public transit bus to benefit Generac (and anyone else Janesville’s transportation director will undoubtedly throw into the mix to justify ten thousand from Whitewater and hundreds of thousands from taxpayers in total). During his appearance before Whitewater’s…
City, Local Government
About those performance evaluations…
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Whitewater and communities far beyond, cities and public bodies are evaluating their administrators’ annual performance. That’s true for Whitewater’s municipal manager, and for the Innovation Center director, among others. These evaluations are closed-session reviews, but (as I write) I have no particular interest in how they’re conducted or the substance of the evaluations, in…
City, Good Ideas, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government
Model practices are the new exceptional
by JOHN ADAMS •
The signs that welcome visitors to Whitewater assure newcomers that we are an exceptional community. It’s an odd slogan for a city: exceptional needn’t mean better. One can be exceptionally talented, for example, but exceptionally narrow and stodgy, too. The slogan was meant, no doubt, to imply good qualities, but it’s a measure of our…