Nearby Janesville is considering a downtown revitalization, and at the most-recent meeting for the large & expensive proposal, only fifteen-people attended.
The Gazette wrote about the plan with this headline: Last meeting for Janesville’s downtown plan doesn’t reflect ‘widespread championship’ (subscription req’d).
Well, no, it doesn’t.
(The online version of the Gazette had a more terse, mainpage description: ‘Last downtown meeting draws 15’.)
When a city government and local newspaper flack for any number of manipulative special interests styling themselves as development agencies (Forward Janesville, Rock County 5.0), ordinary residents lose confidence in both their government and their press.
When the next big project comes along, having seen that previous projects were cash-grabs for contractors and connected big businesses, ordinary residents sensibly stay away.