Here’s the Friday open comments post, following reader responses to a recent poll.
The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings will be fine.
Although the template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.
I’ll keep the post open through Sunday afternoon.
For this week, some suggestions for topics — Whitewater’s possible residential overlay, and a newer, larger Walmart. I’ll post on both topics throughout the weekend.
Quick summaries of my views:
Walmart — fine, and a competitive benefit to the city, so long as neither unusual concessions nor unusual burdens on them. So far, so good.
Overlay for the Starin Park neighborhood — I’m opposed.
Hi Mr. Adams,
We need a cheaper place for groceries in town. Going to Janesville or Jefferson is cheaper, but that burns gas. By the time I make a round trip, gas prices have already eaten into savings from groceries. A bigger Walmart for Whitewater would be a big help to shoppers. I’m tired of paying too much at Sentry and I bet 90% of people feel the same way. We need a bigger walmart in Whitewater.
It would be nice to have a place that believes in price rollbacks, not higher prices for people in town.
I’ll be looking forward to your latest attempt to ignore homeowners and pander to landlords. No one in town works harder to help landlordsget their way than you do. People buy a home and hope to have something nice, but one student renter squeals about his “rights” and that’s what you write about. Let’s all watch you do it again.
Nothing like competition to drive down prices. Nice to see that super expensive Sentry will no longer be the only grocer in town. We’ve shopped the Super Wal Marts in Jefferson and Janesville, and wow! what a major difference in prices! Bring On the Rollbacks!!!
To all the people who think that lower prices are such a good thing, be careful what you wish for. The last time I checked, Walmart was not from Whitewater, it was from Arkansas. They don’t care about us. They care about their profits. They will sell what they want to sell and we will have no choice or alternative once genuine local businesses go under. That’s what they would like to happen and they will be nice and friendly until it does. After that, watch out. We will have no say and will have to buy whatever they sell.
Umm, “they will sell what they want to sell and we will have no choice or alternative.” You mean, like Sentry does now—we absolutely have no choices nor alternatives, at present. Umm, “we will have no say and will have to buy whatever they sell.” You mean, like right now, with Sentry as the sole choice in town? If you do not like what WalMart Super Center has to offer, you can continue to shop at Sentry. Competition is good, and the American Way. The Whitewater WalMart is as philanthropic to the Whitewater community as is Daniels Sentry.
Some quick replies —
On Walmart. More choices don’t prevent residents from shopping at existing retailers; they give residents more than one option.
I’d say that Walmart is local to us, and I don’t believe that Walmart does or will ignore local consumers’ tastes. Our Walmart has moved incrementally to increase the amount of food it sells, even before this proposed expansion. Those prior, space-limited offerings, and this proposed expansion, are a response to local consumer demand. Walmart has not ignored this community; it’s acting to fulfill residents’ wishes for more offerings at lower prices.
Walmart has not pushed Whitewater, so much as Whitewater’s needs pull Walmart toward an expansion.
On landlords and their defense. Well, if I’m a landord‘s advocate, I’m not doing so well: They’ve been vilified and restricted time and again in this town. I’ll surely write much more this weekend about the proposed residential overlay. There’s much to cover on that score, and I’ll plunge in. I don’t write expecting an outcome; I write because it’s what I believe. I’d write the same way if I thought all the city had a contrary opinion.
You said that you thought that voting for Bob Barr was a good idea in 2008. Well, now he’s getting sued in 2010 by the guy who actually wrote his book. Do you still think that it was a good idea to vote for Barr?
RON PAUL!!!! (just like last week, heh)
On Barr and Ron Paul — It’s certainly embarrassing that Barr is being sued by his ghostwriter, for the book Lessons in Liberty. Twice over — Barr should have paid the author (a spokesman seems to acknowledge the debt is genuine), and he shouldn’t have used or needed a ghostwriter. It would have been better if he wrote his own Lesson plans.
If you’re a Paul supporter, and you’re worried about someone else writing for Barr, you’re throwing stones from a glass house. It was Paul, after all, who contended that anti-Semitic screed in his eponymous newsletter was really not of his writing, but of others.
On voting for Barr over Obama or McCain — very easy decision for me. Barr’s positions were sound, and he’s a smart man (who easily could have written his own work). That he didn’t is too bad, but hardly disqualifying. Looking at how both ’08 major party candidates have turned out, nationally or in a reelection bid in Arizona, Barr’s positions look better than ever.
As long as people continue to shop at Walmart and fill their carts with products from China, Indonesia, India, the Philippines and others Walmart will continue to expand. I understand the need for inexpensive groceries but at what price? I urge people to buy produce and meat locally at farmer’s markets and butchers. Support your local sellers and they will support you. Buy only what’s not available elsewhere at Sentry and Walmart.
Reuse and recycle, buying clothing and household items at tag sales and thrift stores keeps it out of landfills and makes good financial sense.
John Adams deserves a huge Thank you for his site, alot of work goes into his site, you may agree or disagree with the stories but it is nice to have real information. A very nice alternative to the social rag on sale everywhere.
Thanks much for the kind words about this website. There’s a satisfying aspect to being a ‘happy warrior,’ like former Gov. Al Smith of New York.
There are choices every shopper will have to make about a larger Walmart. I recall a time, not so long ago, when Walmart emphasized made-in-America goods. Those days seem long ago, as so many of Walmart’s offered goods are made in China. Whether to purchase them is a decision that each shopper can make for himself or herself. I’d guess that people will prefer many items from a larger Walmart, but other grown or made locally. A larger Walmart will thrive, and so will many specialized retailers offering goods or services that Walmart doesn’t.