This post follows a recent story (from 7.17.12) about a waste digester proposed for Whitewater, Wisconsin (see, Waste-to-energy project coming to Whitewater“). For an earlier post along these lines, see Questions for the Press about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings. 1. Does anyone think, as the 7.17.12 story states, that the City of Whitewater…
Open Government
History, Open Government, Politics, Wisconsin
Then and Now
by JOHN ADAMS •
Consider these remarks, from a Wisconsin politician: What is it that is swelling the ranks of the dissatisfied? Is it a growing conviction in state after state, that we are fast being dominated by forces that thwart the will of the people and menace representative government? Do you not know people who feel, as perhaps…
Law, Liberty, Local Government, Open Government
Chetek, WI bans open public comments from council meetings
by JOHN ADAMS •
The elected representatives of Chetek, WI would rather their constituents ask permission to speak openly to those they’ve elected: Mum is the word in a local community after the mayor removes people’s ability to come into city council meetings and openly speak their minds. If residents of Chetek have something to say at city council…
Banking & Finance, Economy, Federal Government, Open Government
Why audit the Fed?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Transparency, better understanding of policy, and administrative accountability: no federal agency, including the Federal Reserve, should be free from thorough review. The better question, to which there isn’t a persuasive objection: Why not audit the Fed? Posted originally on 7.26.12 at Daily Adams.
City, Development, Green Energy Holdings, Local Government, Open Government
An Open Letter to the Interim City Manager on a Proposal between Whitewater and Green Energy Holdings
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good afternoon. Here’s a post to follow previous ones on this website, and a story today in the Janesville Gazette, about a proposal between the City of Whitewater and Green Energy Holdings for a waste digester. The project has been touted as a large one, but large claims for municipal projects require substantial justification. In…
Local Government, New Media, Open Government, Press
The Collapse of Serious Local News
by JOHN ADAMS •
When even a news outsourcing firm’s criticism of local journalism has a sad ring of truth, one can see how far newspapers have fallen. It’s also why bloggers and other citizen journalists now fill a role that some newspapers have abandoned. Journatic is a company that provides supposedly local stories to the American media, and…
City, Development, Government Spending, Green Energy Holdings, Local Government, Open Government, Press
Questions for the Press about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings
by JOHN ADAMS •
This week, I’ve posted a series of general questions about a proposed deal with Green Energy Holdings for a waste digester. See, Preliminary & General Questions about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings and Questions for the CDA about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings. (For a comprehensive list of all posts about this proposal,…
CDA, City, Green Energy Holdings, Open Government
The CDA and GEH
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a meeting of the Community Development Authority today, and of the topics on the agenda, there’s an item (number 7) to “Discuss Development Agreement with Green Energy Holdings LLC.” (The agenda and packet appear below.) This item is a reference to approval, from last Thursday’s Common Council meeting, of an agreement with Green Energy…
City, Law, Open Government, Planning
The Long and Good Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last Monday, June 11th, Whitewater’s Common Council and Planning Commission met jointly, to receive a sixty-two-page .pdf presentation from Graef Consulting as part of a zoning rewrite project. The meeting lasted about three hours, during which members of Council and the Planning Commission heard residents’ views on the presentation. The easiest description would be to…
City, Good Ideas, Open Government
Whitewater’s Online Commitment to Budget Transparency
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s very good news for Whitewater, as the City of Whitewater’s budget information from 2000 to 2012 is now available online. Not only are the data available, but they’re easily accessible by department or particular item, interactively, and are also available for download. An initiative like this is an unalloyed good for Whitewater. First, it’s…
City, Local Government, Open Government
Top-Secret, Ultra Hush-Hush Quadruped Directive No. 17
by JOHN ADAMS •
The best approach for announcements in public policy & administration is a simple memo to the community. Open government is not only better in principle, it’s better in practice. Consider two ways to discuss an event. Let’s suppose the City of Whitewater’s municipal administration decides to erect a statue near Cravath Lake in honor of…
Federal Government, Government Spending, Open Government
Feds get low marks for online spending transparency
by JOHN ADAMS •
Open Government, Police
The Predictable, Dead-End Response
by JOHN ADAMS •
Writing about the feud between Milwaukee’s Chief Flynn and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bruce Murphy writes that Experts on police departments will tell you that criticism from outside inevitably results in everyone on the force circling the wagons. That’s very true. So true and predictable, that it’s more predictable and regular than Old Faithful has…
Official Misconduct, Open Government
Racine Journal Times Investigation Uncovers Municipal Abuses in Mount Pleasant
by JOHN ADAMS •
For those who obstinately contend that bureaucrats and politicians are always and forever public servants, selfless, giving of themselves, exist for a better community, etc., a compelling refutation will be found in a series from the Racine Journal Times, entitled, “JT investigates: Climate of fear in Mount Pleasant.” The JT describes the series: The abrupt…