Well, I originally posted the beginning of a series summarizing Tucker’s Zoning, Rent Control, and Affordable Housing in July. I’m just getting back to it now. Recently, I summarized (and just today re-posted) Chapter 1 (Introduction) from William Tucker’s Zoning, Rent Control, and Affordable Housing. In the first installment, Tucker’s regression analysis of likely causes…

There’s a Planning Commission meeting in Whitewater, Wisconsin tonight. If I could recommend one book to that group, it might be William Tucker’s Zoning, Rent Control and Affordable Housing. In honor of our Planning Commission, I will review the book, chapter by chapter, in the days ahead. I’ll start tomorrow. A blogger’s work is never…

The first City of Whitewater Planning Commission meeting of the year took place last night, 1/19/09.    I did not catch the beginning of the meeting, offering an agenda of ten items, including roll call, future items, and adjournment.  The meeting was a brief one, with uncontroversial items considered quickly, and Gregory Torres presiding for…

On September 20th, I posted on a Planning Commission meeting from five days’ time earlier. In that post, I mentioned of City Manager Brunner that What’s pandering though, both intellectually and practically, is the suggestion that if the Tratt Street neighborhood becomes higher density, then as matter of balance other neighborhoods should be enforced to…

Ask yourself this question: Who is the most well-known and influential member of our Common Council? Some have been community figures for years, others more recent additions to our politics. Only one, though, has a community following — small, but dedicated, committed, assertive: Dr. Roy Nosek. Now, I have been a critic of Nosek, but…

This is the first of a series of posts on the October 20th Planning Commission meeting. In this post, I’ll consider Item 5 from the meeting agenda, Applicant Tom Germundson’s request for a conditional use permit for a home occupation (so that he could make sheet metal duct work for heating and cooling installations). Germundson’s…

Whitewater, Wisconsin’s monthly Planning Commission meeting took place on Monday, September 15th. Part of the meeting — the principal part, I think — involved a discussion of re-zoning a neighborhood near our local college campus. Much of the neighborhood has evolved from single family homes into multi-unit student apartments, and our community faced the question:…

More recent entries will appear near the top of the page… 9:47 PM Meeting adjourns. A rough start ends well, and only two glasses down. Not bad. 9:37 PM Atty. Simon refers to a prior post of mine on meeting frequency. I think, but I am not sure, that this is the post he means.…

There are two answers to this question — (1) the Planning Commission should have a full complement of members, and (2) I will use a new blogging technique as the meeting airs live. In big cities across America, bloggers will sometimes post commentary on an event in real time, as it happens. This is not…