Here’s the format I will be using for live blogging tonight’s Planning Commission meeting. I wouldn’t expect anyone to read my comments live; instead, I’m interested in experimenting with live blogging to produce commentary more quickly. (My comments will remain after the meeting for later viewing.) The window will become live just before 6 PM,…
Planning
Free Markets, Libertarians, Planning
Reason.tv: Lessons From LeBron – What Clevelanders Should Really Be Pissed About
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve posted before about libertarian Drew Carey’s series for Reason.tv on ways to revitalize Cleveland (“the mistake on the lake.”) Those ways did not, and never will, include demonizing LeBron James for taking a job in Miami. Here’s a follow-up to the Reason Saves Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey series, entitled, Lessons From LeBron: Link:…
City, Economy, Planning
Meeting with Confidence the Challenge of the Hard Economic Times Likely Ahead
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s seems ever clearer that there is no “Recovery Summer” in store this year for America’s economy. The problems of the last few years haven’t been solved. What will happen next is disputed, between those who see a second recession, those who see growth so weak it will feel like a recession, and those who…
Law, Planning
The Institute for Justice on Five Years Since Kelo: Considering One of the Supreme Court’s Most-Despised Decisions
by JOHN ADAMS •
Five years ago, the United States Supreme Court handed down a poor, and consequently notorious, decision in Kelo v. City of New London. Here’s a brief summary of the case, as described in the preceding link: The case arose from the condemnation by New London, Connecticut, of privately owned real property so that it could…
Economy, Free Markets, Planning
N. Korea Lifts Ban on Private Markets to Prevent Famine
by JOHN ADAMS •
From one of the most oppressive regimes on earth, having brought the people it rules to the brink of death, a belated, desperate effort to save itself through private markets: Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets — a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its…
City, Planning
Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting for 6-14-10 (Live Blogging)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a format I will be using for live blogging tonight’s Planning Commission meeting. I wouldn’t expect anyone to read my comments live; instead, I’m interested in experimenting with live blogging to produce commentary more quickly, and to test the format, a format that might be useful for other events. (The comments will remain after…
City, Planning
Whitewater Municipal Staff: Where’s the Packet?
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Whitewater, there’s a one-monthly Planning Commission meeting. Those meetings have an agenda that’s posted online. The agenda for the June 14th meeting is available online now. It’s common in Whitewater for city officials to refer to employees collectively as “city staff, so I’ll do the same by way of a question. Whitewater municipal staff:…
Development, Free Markets, Planning
The Wall Street Journal on Private Campaigns Against Walmart
by JOHN ADAMS •
In prior posts, I’ve made clear the difference between competition between private merchants and local government’s endorsement of a campaign that expressly favors one kind of merchant over another. That’s not the place for government, either on principle (government should be limited) or prudently (government has a poor record of picking winners in the marketplace).…
City, Economy, Free Markets, Government Spending, Planning, Uncategorized
America’s War Between Free Enterprise and Government Control
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s an essay in the Washington Post, that wonders if we face America’s new culture war: Free enterprise vs. government control. Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, considers the topic and concludes that we do face such a cultural clash. First, Brooks considers the irreconcilable systems of free enterprise and state control: This…
City, Free Markets, Planning, Politics
Whitewater Local Government’s Favoritism of Some Local Businesses Over Others
by JOHN ADAMS •
In towns across America, private businesses and groups compete for support. This is to be expected and defended in a free society. That competition for support need not — and should not — receive a preferential boost from local government. It’s only in a community where bureaucrats are confused about the limits of government that…
Planning
Chimp vs. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
by JOHN ADAMS •
The National Center for Public Policy Research, a think tank, believes that a trained chimpanzee has a greater likelihood of predicting hurricanes than the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Dr. James Hansimian, a chimpanzee, predicts that there will be between 6 and 8 name-worthy storms in the Atlantic this season. The NOAA has been wrong,…
City, Development, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Planning
Local Merchants and Whitewater’s Walmart, Co-Existing
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve contended before that many local businesses can do very well alongside Walmart, and will weather an expansion of our current Walmart, store number 1274 of that retail chain. I can safely say this, because in towns across America with Walmarts, there are other businesses, too. They co-exist. Consumers should be able to make choices…
City, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Planning
Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting: Residential Overlay Miscellany
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a bit more on the proposed overlay — there are arguments that I’ve made before, but did not repeat in my 5/16/10 post about the May 10th Planning Commission meeting. The proposed overlay has a grandfather clause for existing rental properties, but that hardly solves the long-term problem of restrictions on buying and selling…
City, Law, Laws/Regulations, Planning
Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting from 5/10/10: Residential Overlay
by JOHN ADAMS •
At Item 10 of the May 10th Planning Commission meeting, the Planning Commission considered a residential overlay ordinance, that would place greater restrictions than there would be, for example, in a conventional R-1 zoning district. (Two or fewer unrelated persons living in the single residence, rather than three or fewer persons.) The item stated that…