The federal government gave millions in tax dollars to Whitewater, the Whitewater Community Development Authority, and UW-Whitewater for a reason. Here’s that reason: September 7-September 11, 2009 …$4,740,809 to the Whitewater Community Development Authority, the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, and the City of Whitewater, Wisconsin, to fund construction of the new Innovation Center and infrastructure…
Planning
Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Poverty
The Biotech Park That Never Was – Reason Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jesse Walker writes about a large-scale Biotech Park project in Baltimore that’s an utter waste and wreck. Whitewater’s own experience with a so-called tech park, although far smaller, will prove no better. A projects like these depend on (1) dishonesty, and (2) flacking and covering for dishonesty. The story doubles as a tour through some…
City, Development, Planning
Spoken and Unspoken
by JOHN ADAMS •
A man returns from a fishing tournament, and his acquaintances ask him how he did. “Great! Phenomenal! Spectacular! Amazingly, astoundingly well!” he declares. “I caught three fish,” he says. Someone standing nearby is familiar with the tournament, and asks a question. “Weren’t you that one contestant who had help to catch his fish, and besides,…
City, Development, Planning
Walworth County Today: Whitewater developer pays $1 million for Delavan Industrial Park properties
by JOHN ADAMS •
D R Plastics Inc., a waste material recycling company, and Wild Impact Marketing, a marketing and merchandising firm, are expected to begin operations March 2011, once the build-outs are completed. Premier Real Estate Development, a Whitewater, Wisconsin-based real estate specialist company, purchased the two industrial buildings for $1.1 million, or about $21.26 per square foot,…
City, Planning, Science/Nature
Whitewater’s Emerald Ash Borer Plan
by JOHN ADAMS •
The City of Whitewater’s municipal administration has offered a plan to combat a small, invasive insect that threatens ash trees. See, Whitewater’s Emerald Ash Borer Plan. Whitewater, Wisconsin proudly bears a designation as a Tree City USA. Having sought the designation, it’s predictable that residents would be proud and concerned over trees in the community.…
City, Laws/Regulations, Planning
How Whitewater’s Municipal Administration Made a Mess of Housing in the City
by JOHN ADAMS •
Live by a regulatory environment, perish by a regulatory environment. What might have been solved through free forces of supply and demand is now a political and economic mess. There are two stories at Walworth County Today that nicely describe, respectively, the defeat of a builder’s request for a zoning change to build student housing,…
City, Development, Planning
When Foolishness Passes for Wisdom, All Explained Via PowerPoint
by JOHN ADAMS •
A man, living in an ordinary wooden house, has a preference for candlelight. He chooses against electric lighting, and places dozens of candles in each room of his house. Much of his time is spent lighting candles, with the rest spent telling his neighbors about the benefits of life-by-candlelight. So happy is he with this…
Planning
Proposed student complex halted in Whitewater — Walworth County Today
by JOHN ADAMS •
A solid description of a recent Planning Commission decision in Whitewater. Planners for a proposed four-story student complex near UW-Whitewater’s campus would have to downsize the project to move forward after the plan commission rejected a zoning change…. The full story nicely explains the status of the proposed project. See, Proposed student complex halted in…
Planning
Man Accidentally Carries Loaded Gun Onto Plane; TSA Failure Rate May Approach 70% — Discover Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
The failure of a nationalized, cumbersome bureaucracy — It seems like terrorists don’t even need to think of crazy new shoe, underwear, or pancake bombs to get around the TSA, since airport security seems to have forgotten what normal weapons look like. Though they still won’t let me bring four ounces of conditioner onto the…
Planning
Is China the Next Bubble? – The New Editor
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are many reasons to take account of China, but also a few reasons cautioning against exaggerating the importance of supposed Chinese economic accomplishments. (Just as worries in the ’80s about supposed Japanese ascendancy now look, to say the least, overwrought.) One should note also that for at nearly a decade, there’s been good research…
Planning
Reason.tv: Great Moments in Unintended Consequences
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Development, Planning, Poverty
Blight and Blighted
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s Common Council meets twice monthly, and was in session Tuesday evening. I follow the proceedings. Fortunately, politics doesn’t begin or end in a day, and few sessions are decisive. (If they were, our condition would be worse than it is.) Part of Tuesday’s session concerned blight, and blighted properties. The two are not the…
City, Planning
Public meeting planned to discuss busy Whitewater intersection — Walworth County Today
by JOHN ADAMS •
One can be sure that Whitewater could use improvements to an intersection at Highway 59 and Milwaukee Streets. A press release issued today describes a public meeting about the intersection to be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 9 in the Whitewater City Council chambers. The release mentions that the “purpose…
Planning, Walworth County
WCEDA Tabs Another Executive Director
by JOHN ADAMS •
Well, that didn’t last long — as the post headline from July needs updating already. They’ve made another change at the top, with Mike Van Den Bosch replacing Doug Wheaton. Then: WCEDA tabs executive director. There was much official boasting this summer about finding someone credentialed, but that wasn’t the problem. Planning like this, that’s…