Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 20. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:34, for 9 hours, 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 24.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1958, Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.
For today, before going further over the next three days about an upcoming proposal before the Whitewater Common Council on Tuesday, a word about reliable measurements for Whitewater. Sound argumentation rests on a trustworthy foundation.
First, and foremost, what are conditions like truly like? How do people live and carry on each day? Not how a few who have wrung profit out of the city claim Whitewater is, but how ordinary residents living each day know Whitewater is? Will you believe what they tell you, or your own experience?
Second, good data and good reasoning carry the day. A few — too many, really — people in this town have traditionally used bad metrics in bad faith to win the day at the expense of general conditions all around us. They’ll mix and match any number of inapplicable measures or standards to prevent change. Those peddling in fear, uncertainty, and doubt use those techniques to their advantage, at the expense of market opportunities for others.
Ferocious opponents of progress, no matter how edgy and agitated, no matter how long-winded, are then and there simply blocking opportunity with a puffed-up display. Even the most furious Tasmanian Devil, it turns out, is no more than a creation of Warner Bros.
Those who stick to sound observation and sound data will serve Whitewater well.
I went through the agenda and saw the housing plans being discussed. It looks like there’s a mix of apartments and houses, which is really good to see. Whitewater needs more housing for everyone—families, students, workers, and people just starting out.
We haven’t had enough new places to live in a long time, and these projects seem like a great step forward. A mix of homes and apartments is exactly what we need to make this a better place to live. I hope the Council moves forward with these plans…they’ll make a big difference for the whole community.
I hope so, too. It’s a sensible, well-considered proposal. I’ve three posts ahead over the next three days addressing the city’s new and better economic development department, the city’s much-improved grasp of tax incremental financing (I’ve been a justified critic of an older approach), and then the upcoming housing plans’ evident benefits for Whitewater.
My best, and stay warm, fellow resident.
Adams