In Whitewater, by press release (twice), one can read about the supposed benefits of the Trump tax plan. The Whitewater Community Development Authority’s executive director, Dave Carlson, was quick to push a portion of the plan as good for Whitewater. In doing so, he conceded what anyone observing Whitewater with care and concern already knew:…
Poverty
Babbittry, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Local Government, Marketing, Mendacity, Negligence, Poverty, Public Relations, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
Whitewater Listed as the Poorest City in Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Samuel Stebbins and Michael B. Sauter, from 24/7 Wall Street, report Which town in your state is the poorest? Here is the list @ Gannett’s USA Today. For Wisconsin, they contend it’s Whitewater: Town median household income: $30,934 State median household income: $54,610 Town poverty rate: 38.2% Town population: 14,840 Whitewater has both the lowest median household income and the…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Marketing, Planning, Poverty, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
A Candid Admission from the Whitewater CDA
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Sometimes, however rarely, even in places with the most stubborn boosterism, an official admits – wittingly or unwittingly – the failure of longstanding policy. Dave Carlson, executive director of the Whitewater Community Development Authority, is such an official. In a press release from March 27th, lauding a provision of the Trump tax bill, Carlson quotes…
Business, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Local Government, Poverty
A National Study on Big-City Economic Development
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
What’s the relationship, if any, between economic development and inclusion? A study from the Brookings Institution (Metro Monitor 2018) suggests that for large metropolitan areas, there may be one. (I’ll not try to fit these data into a local container. That’s why there’s no ‘The Scene from Whitewater Wisconsin’ logo attached to this post.) Here’s…
City, Culture, Demographics, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Good Ideas, Local Government, Planning, Politics, Poverty
Dane, Not the WOW Counties
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For many years, Republicans have railed against Madison, and against Dane County, as bastions of dysfunctional liberalism. Indeed, this impulse has been strong even after the GOP gained control of both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office. Funny, though, that it’s Dane County – not the WOW counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee, or Washington – that’s…
Babbittry, Development, Economy, Local Government, Newspapers, Poverty
Care at the Point of Injury
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A post from early December – ‘Don’t worry about them – the rest of us feel great!’ – outlined the problem of boosterism & babbittry: it urges people to look away from real injuries and to gaze instead on delightful distractions. First the problem summarized, then the better, ethical response – The problem: A doctor…
Babbittry, Culture, Development, Economy, Janesville, Local Government, Newspapers, Poverty, Press
‘Don’t worry about them – the rest of us feel great!‘
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A doctor walks into a town of one-hundred people, and finds that half of them are pale, feverish, and vomiting blood. The physician calls out to a community leader, “Send for help, you have an epidemic on your hands.” The community leader replies, “Oh no, don’t worry about them – the rest of us feel…
Babbittry, City, Demographics, Economy, Poverty
Contrast
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Consider the contrast between how the Janesville Gazette‘s publisher want his city to be seen, and how an economics reporter describes the Janesville area: Janesville Gazette editorial, A question for Janesville to consider: [James] Fallows and his wife learned the differences between success and failure during a 54,000-mile journey across the United States in a single-engine…
Demographics, Economy, Government Spending, Poverty
Three Demographic Findings on the White Working Class
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
So much has been made about white working class voters since the last election, but some of the common notions about that group are wrong. Three quick points are worth making: 1. Most members of the white working class live in cities & suburbs, not rural areas. Max Ehrenfreund and Jeff Guo explain that While…
Economy, Government Spending, Poverty
Ineffectual, Wasteful Infrastructure Ambitions
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Randal O’Toole takes a look at a key part of the incoming administration’s economic policy, and sees the Trouble with Trump’s Infrastructure Ambitions. There are, simply expressed, four problems: Not all spending of this kind is equally valuable: “Many advocates of infrastructure spending assume that all infrastructure contributes equally to economic vitality, but this is far…
City, Economy, Poverty, Walworth County
Inequality in the ‘Whitewater-Elkhorn’ Area
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over at the Economic Policy Institute, there’s a newly-published study of income inequality in America, and it ranks Walworth County as one of the most income-unequal places in the nation. The study refers to the ‘Whitewater-Elkhorn’ metropolitan area, but with a population of 102,000, it’s clear that the reference is to Walworth County, using the…
Education, Poverty, School District
Whitewater’s True and Worthy Success
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Post 6 in a weekly series. I posted last week about a State of the Schools presentation, and planned to follow this week with an assessment of that presentation, but there’s a more recent development that should – and so does – take precedence. On February 10th, one of Whitewater’s schools, Washington School, was named a Title…
CDA, Development, Economy, Gluttony, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Newspapers, Poverty, Press
Theranos as a Cautionary Tale
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Theranos is a much-hyped biomedical start-up that’s fallen in valuation and reputation (not always the same thing) following published doubts (e.g., @ Wall Street Journal, Fortune) about its supposedly revolutionary technology. Here’s the meaning of this story for Whitewater: Theranos had the participation (and attention) of some of the most gifted men and women in America,…