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Open Government

Waste Digesters and the Ledge Guardians

Nearly one-hundred fifty miles from Whitewater, in Maribel, Wisconsin and surrounding communities, hundreds of residents are organized and committed against a large, commercial waste digester in their area. They’ve an impressive website on behalf of their dedicated efforts: Ledge Guardians, www.ledgeguardians.com. There are sound arguments against waste digesters, against how they really work, what they bring into a community, what they spew out into a community, against their…

Internal and External in Government Matters

Every so often, there’ll be a discussion within city government about what’s an internal or external matter. The more important question is whether internal means confidential. It seldom does. Three quick observations: Generally, public employees, engaged in public tasks, at public expense, are doing work that should be open to residents’ review. A government that…

What Whitewater’s Officials Don’t Know (or Don’t Want You to Know) about that “Green Energy” Deal

I’m not sure what would be worse – (1) an airy proposal for an energy deal for the City of Whitewater in which city officials don’t even know simple implications of the proposal, or (2) a deal in which city officials actually know how this proposal has been received elsewhere, but don’t want the residents…

Part 2: Questions for the Press about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings

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…

Then and Now

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…

An Open Letter to the Interim City Manager on a Proposal between Whitewater and Green Energy Holdings

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…

The Collapse of Serious Local News

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…

Questions for the Press about a Proposal with Green Energy Holdings

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,…

The CDA and GEH

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…

The Long and Good Meeting

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…

Whitewater’s Online Commitment to Budget Transparency

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…