Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 36. Sunrise is 7:20 AM and sunset 4:50 PM for 9h 30m 28s of daytime. The moon is waning gibbous with 99.7% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1977, scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’…
Poverty
Boosterism, CDA, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Poverty, Toxic Positivity
Daily Bread for 1.17.22: Which ‘Middle Time’ Proved True for Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 27. Sunrise is 7:20 AM and sunset 4:49 PM for 9h 28m 37s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.8% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets today at 5 PM. On this day in 1945, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg…
Authoritarianism, Daily Bread, Economy, Politics, Poverty, Recession, That Which Paved the Way
Daily Bread for 12.2.21: Kasparov on How Foreign Dissidents Can Help Renew U.S. Democracy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 49. Sunrise is 7:07 AM and sunset 4:21 PM for 9h 13m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 4.8% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater Fire Department, Inc. holds a business meeting at 5:30 PM and the Landmarks Commission meets…
Business, City, Daily Bread, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Poverty
Daily Bread for 10.1.21: The Truth About ‘Dollar’ Stores
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 88. Sunrise is 6:53 AM and sunset 6:34 PM for 11h 41m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 27.2% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1941, Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida. Whitewater may one…
City, Daily Bread, Economy, Poverty, School District, Technology
Daily Bread for 8.16.21: Broadband Gaps, Right Here in Whippet City
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 84. Sunrise is 6:03 AM and sunset 7:54 PM, for 13h 50m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 59.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM, the Community Development Authority at 5:30 PM,…
Charity, City, Culture, Local Government, Newspapers, Police, Politics, Poverty
‘Communicate, Communicate, Communicate’ Isn’t So Easy in a Fractured Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Some years ago, an administrator (no longer with the school district) told others that a good practice for leaders was to ‘communicate, communicate, communicate’ with the community. The concept makes sense: craft a message and then make sure it’s heard by repeating it. In a small town, how hard could that be? As it turns…
City, Disinformation, Economy, Employment, Poverty
Unemployment Imagined and Real
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
National unemployment figures have been undercounting the true number of those unemployed. Rachel Siegel reports Fed chair: Unemployment rate was closer to 10 percent, not 6.3 percent, in January: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said Wednesday that the unemployment rate in January was “close to 10 percent,” significantly higher than the 6.3 percent rate…
CDA, City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, Poverty, WEDC
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 1.19.21: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
The Whitewater Common Council met last night, 1.19.21. The agenda for the meeting is available. A few remarks, on selected items of the agenda — 1. Public Works Buildings. Whitewater plans to update its public works buildings, now scattered over a multi-acre plot near Starin Road. The total estimated price is high for a small town (about…
Business, CDA, Charity, Development, Economics, Economy, Failure, Free Markets, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Poverty, Press Release
Markets and Markets
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
One reads that Whitewater now has an option, for most of the city, of grocery delivery from nearby cities. As it is, Whitewater has a Walmart, but no stand-alone, full-service grocery. Private delivery service is a benefit to the community. It’s better to have more grocery options than fewer. These are private enterprises providing private delivery…
CDA, City, Development, Government Spending, Local Government, Poverty, WEDC
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 10.20.20: Basics and Buildings
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Whitewater Common Council met briefly last night, 10.20.20. The agenda for the meeting is available, and a recording of the session appears above. Two different topics are worth noting (for different reasons): autumn leaf collection and a building rehabilitation project. A few remarks — 1. Leaf collection. The city has many homes & apartments, the homes…
Federal Government, Housing, Poverty
Frontline: Poverty, Politics and Profit (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the billions spent on affordable housing, and why so few get the help they need. In a nine-month investigation that takes FRONTLINE and NPR from Dallas to Miami, NPR’s Laura Sullivan and FRONTLINE’s Rick Young find that just one in four households eligible for Section 8 assistance are getting it, and…
Economy, Employment, Poverty, Recession
That’s Not a Recovery: Millions Slip into Poverty & Unemployment Claims Rise
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
That a rush to re-open would lead to an economic rebound was always doubtful (no economic fix without a pandemic fix), but the data are clear that America is experiencing no national ‘recovery.’ Jason DeParle reports 8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up: After an ambitious expansion of…
Charity, City, Poverty
Waiting for Whitewater’s Dorothy Day
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
Whitewater has many needs, but fulfilling them requires setting aside the city’s longstanding addiction to press releases, public relations, ‘messaging,’ etc. That approach is both ineffectual and proud (where pride is a sin). Worse still is the irreparably conflicted role of politician and reporter, a government intrusion into civil society, a bad habit of Old…
Coronavirus, Documentary, Poverty
Frontline: Growing Up Poor in America (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? The documentary, “Growing Up Poor in America,” follows three children and their families in the battleground state of Ohio as the COVID-19 pandemic amplifies their struggle to stay afloat. In early 2020, it was estimated that almost 12 million children in America were living in poverty — a burden disproportionately borne by Black and…