Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will see scattered showers this morning with a later mix of sun and clouds and a high of 71. Sunrise is 6:35 and sunset is 7:02 for 12 hours 27 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waxing crescent with 28.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Parks and Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1959, Xerox introduces the first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, in a demonstration on live television from New York City.
Last evening, as part of its agenda, the Whitewater Common Council voted unanimously to preserve in full its existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater that ensures two polling places in the city for all elections except in August. For previous posts on this topic see Preliminary Remarks Against the Proposed Discontinuation of the UW–Whitewater Polling Place in Odd-Numbered Years, Council Discussion of the Proposed Discontinuation of the UW–Whitewater Polling Place in Odd-Numbered Years, and City of Whitewater’s September Polling Place Memo Changes the Question (from ‘Consolidation’ to Relocation).
This was easily the right decision. Even-numbered years and odd-numbered years are sensibly treated the same way under that agreement. The MOU from 2024 has worked well, and provides polling access across our city. Ready access to polling places advances voting rights, and from those rights, representative government derives its legitimacy.
And yet, it advances something more: the harmony in the community that comes from inclusion and equal access, and makes possible progress in so many other areas.
Last night’s unanimous vote of the Whitewater Common Council was a good vote on an important community issue, and so, more broadly, yesterday was a good day.
Embedded below is the council discussion and public comment from last evening:
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Forthcoming topics (in no particular order): A New Ethics Ordinance, Development in Downtown Whitewater (Follow-Up), and Steps for a Public Interest Campaign.
Watch Costa’s and Anna’s Hummingbirds Hover and Sparkle: