Latisha Birkeland, Modernizer

There are few aspects of city life that affect residents more than neighborhood services.  For years, Whitewater struggled with an inefficient and erratic neighborhood services program.  Left, right, center, libertarian: just about anyone saw that there was, to be mild about it, room for improvement.  

Residents not only saw problems, but those problems led many to confuse the boundaries between law enforcement, civil enforcement, and zoning. Meetings about residents’ concerns quickly devolved into frustrated calls for the wrong kind of enforcement, and an over-confidence that zoning could be a substitute for enforcement, of whatever kind.

This was the department and the role into which Latisha Birkeland stepped when she became Neighborhood Services Director.  

She took that department, from that time, into a more modern, more forward-looking, more conventional one.  That’s not meant as a mild compliment – it’s meant to be a robust one.  It was no easy task.

I cannot say that I have supported every decision that Ms. Birkeland has made; it would be unexpected, really, if a libertarian had supported everything a city planner and neighborhood services official had done.

One sees, though, that she has been good for Whitewater, apart from ideology or politics.  

Our municipal administration, and City Manager Clapper, now have an obligation to find someone as capable, someone of a similar, contemporary outlook.  Whitewater will continue to make gains if they do, and will slip backward if they do not.  

The city will feel the consequences, and the administration will bear the responsibility, for the outcome.  

I am sure that we can continue to do well.

Appreciative of her efforts for Whitewater, one wishes Ms. Birkeland the best for her career.