FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 2-23-10

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast is for a high of thirty-two degrees, with a chance of flurries or light snow.

The City of Whitewater will hold a public meeting today at 4:30 p.m. to address the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Whiton and Main.

There will be a meeting regarding a Whitewater Unified School District charter schools proposal today from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Cravath Lakefront Center.

On this day in 1945, the U.S. flag was raised on Iwo Jima. Much has been said and written about the battle, and even about the flag-raising, but the image alone was inspiring to millions.

City

Whitewater Community Television

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Whitewater’s public access cable station has a spiffy new website: www.whitewatertv.org. I have a link to it on the left sidebar of FREE WHITEWATER. Recording public meetings is one way to assure an accurate and honest description of meetings and events. A camera or tape recorder tells an honest tale.

There are good newspapers and television stations in Wisconsin, surely. Yet, Whitewater is a small place, and honest newspapers and televison stations haven’t time enough to report on all that happens in town.

Worse still, we are afflicted with more than one newspaper that simply reports officials’ statements unquestioningly. Recordings of public meetings allow residents to see what really happens.

Wisconsin law also allows residents to record meetings themselves, under the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law, Wis. Stat. ss. 19.81-19.98, but that’s a worthy topic for another day.

For today, it’s enough to be happy for anything that advances an accurate account of public proceedings in Whitewater.

City, Police, Press

Whitewater Chief Coan and Mankato, MN Candidacy Update

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There are a few updates on the search for a Public Safety Director in Mankato, MN, a search for which Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan is a candidate.

First, there’s a story in the Mankato Free Press, entitled,
“Public Safety Candidates Go Public,” about the search for the next public safety director for Mankato. The story has two photographs of Coan during his public interview for the position. There’s no particular meaning to the photos, but they are odd. The larger of the two shows Coan walking away from the podium after his presentation, and both can be found on the right side of the story to which I have linked, above. The full — uncropped — photo produces quite an effect. I’ve been asked what I think of it; I have no particular view. Readers are free to make of it what they’d like.

Second, there’s also a video clip with remarks from each of the four candidates, available online at Fox affiliate KEYC TV. Coan’s remarks run from :40 to :55 in the video. (There’s no option to embed the video, but it’s online at the KEYC website.) In his remarks, Coan says that

I would hope to instill pride and enthusiasm in what we stand for and what we can accomplish to build close relationships, partnerships with the community and also to develop a sense of pride for what we stand for and what we could get accomplished.

Third, there’s a companion story at the Mankato Free Press about the Mankato Joint Civil Service Commission, a body that performs some of the functions of Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission. Yet, it reportedly performs them with considerably more diligence than Whitewater’s PFC.

Some months back, in a post entitled, Has Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan already hired a trainer for Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission members? I teased about how the agenda for a PFC meeting allotted a scant twenty minutes to interview two patrol officer candidates. Wisconsin law requires the PFC to approve officer appointments, and I thought it was absurd that the agenda allotted only twenty minutes for two interviews.

Predictably, at the next Whitewater Common Council meeting, defenders of the Whitewater PFC were quick to note that the agenda was obviously, inexplicably in error, that the PFC had actually allotted fifteen minutes or so to each candidate’s interview. This defense was, itself, absurd, because that’s still a paltry amount of time for a task so important. Still, the clueless defenders of Whitewater’s PFC must have thought that they had hit on a compelling explanation of our PFC’s interviewing process.

They were wrong. A look at how Mankato, MN’s Joint Civil Service Commission conducts patrol officer interviews confirms that Whitewater’s practice is shoddy and inadequate. In the Mankato Free Press story on their JSCC, one learns that

Even when the commission is interviewing a pool of potential patrol officers or firefighters, the group of three spends hours questioning candidates. Those interviews are usually in person
and the list of questions is completely different.”

For a slate of candidates in Mankato, hours; for a slate in Whitewater, minutes.

If one waits long enough, one can find refutation of every lie, excuse, and exaggeration behind the shoddy and inadequate practices of the Whitewater Police and Fire Commission.

Those who thought they had an answer for the paltry efforts of the Whitewater PFC were wrong; the defenders’ response reveals only ignorance.

Since Chief Coan, himself, wants to be part of the Mankato force, and presumably thinks it’s a place of which he’d like to be a part, one might ask if he’d acknowledge Mankato has a more thorough process. (One might ask, too, about whether our PFC members have consistently and always conducted their candidate interviews — however speedy — without Coan or a senior police leader watching over them. Independent oversight requires as much; anything else is a sham.)

By the way, in the Mankato Free Press‘s story on their Joint Civil Service Commission, there’s a clue about the prospects for Coan’s candidacy there. In any event, Whitewater will know soon enough. The effort for the quality police leadership that our city deserves will be just as important regardless of events in faraway Mankato.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 2-22-10

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Good morning,

It’s a snowy day for Whitewater, with a predicted high temperature of thirty-three, and little additional accumulation beyond the few inches already on the ground.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The agenda is available online.

For Lakeview School, it’s a 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. PTA Culver’s Night. At Washington School, it’s the beginning of a book fair.

For those wondering how state government’s furlough program — where workers keep their jobs with several unpaid days off — wonder no more. Unlike private sector furloughs, state government has adopted a different approach. A story entitled, State agencies adopt approach to closings shunned by private-sector employers has the details:

ELKHORN — In a grinding recession that continues to affect bottom lines and tax collections, the payroll-slashing furlough — unpaid time off — has become the latest tool for controlling labor costs. The way Wisconsin state government is implementing furloughs, however, has some wondering whether officials bothered to consider how the public would be affected.

To help trim a projected $6.6 billion budget deficit for the 2009-’11 biennium, Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature ordered all state employees to take eight furlough days this year and eight more in 2011. But unlike private sector employers who attempt to spread out furloughs in order to minimize the impact on customers and clients, Doyle opted to shut down government on four furlough days for almost all state employees — Presidents Day (Feb. 15), the Friday before Memorial Day, Columbus Day and the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Jim Haney, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce in Madison, said this approach to managing furloughs is an example of the disconnect between the political class and the public.

“The whole furlough debate as it relates to state or local employees is sort of an indicator of why many of us in the private sector are leery about big-government programs,” Haney said. “Rather than focusing on the ‘business’ — in government’s case, service to the people — bureaucracies tend to focus on the care and comfort of their employees.”

Yes, they do.

On this day in 1980, at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States scored a stunning upset of the Soviet Union in hockey, 4-3. The New York Times reported on the American victory:

Lake Placid, N.Y., Feb. 22 — In one of the most startling and dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog United States hockey team, composed in great part of collegians, defeated the defending champion Soviet squad by 4-3 tonight.

The victory brought a congratulatory phone call to the dressing room from President Carter and set off fireworks over this tiny Adirondack village. The triumph also put the Americans in a commanding position to take the gold medal in the XIII Olympic Winter Games, which will end Sunday.

If on Sunday morning the United States defeats Finland, which ties Sweden, 3-3, tonight, the Americans will win the gold medal regardless of the outcome of the game between Sweden and the Soviet Union later that day. If the United States ties Finland, the Americans are assured of at least a bronze medal.

America went on to defeat Finland, 4 – 2, to win the gold medal in hockey.

Here’s footage from the U.S. – Soviet game:

more >>

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 2-14 to 2-20

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Recent Tweets from FREE WHITEWATER on Twitter

Cartoons & Comics, Libertarians

Reason Online: Dramatic Olbermann vs. Dramatic Chipmunk

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Over at Reason, Nick Gillespie writes about Keith Olbermann,
in a post entitled, Dramatic Olbermann vs. Dramatic Chipmunk.

Gillespie writes of Olbermann:

No one is more self dramatizing on cable news than male
hysteric, unsolicited janitor of Cooperstown, and Countdown host Keith Olbermann, who includes more special effects during his Castro-length “Special Comment” segments than Mikhail Kalatozov did in I Am Cuba (one cinematically exemplary rant remains Commandante O’s multi-camera denouncement of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 campaign).

But, can Olbermann’s histrionics stand up against those of a (talented) chipmunk?

See for yourself:

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNpoJ8W53D8.

It’s all chipmunk, all the way. more >>

City, Planning

Carts Before Horses, and Presentations Before Buildings

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Last Friday, Whitewater, Wisconsin’s City Manager, Kevin Brunner, included mention of an upcoming conference in his weekly report for February 12th. He announced that Whitewater and our local campus would jointly make a presentation to the “Fifth Annual Best Practices in Building University/City Relations
Conference.”

Here’s the full announcement:

City/University to Make Joint Presentation at Fifth Annual Best Practices in Building University/City Relations Conference

I received word this week that the City and UW-Whitewater have been selected to make a presentation at the 5th Annual Best Practices in Building University/City Relations Conference, to be held in Ames, IA, home of Iowa State University. The conference dates are Tuesday, June 1-Thursday, June 3, 2010. The presentation has been titled “Connecting from Scratch: City/University Collaboration on Development of Technology Park and Innovation Center”.

The Building University/City Relations Conference is sponsored by the International Town-Gown Association (ITGA). The ITGA is a membership-based, non-government organization, managed by a Board of Directors with a full-time professional and support staff consisting of a director and administrative assistant. Its purpose is to become the primary information resource point for common issues between institutions of higher learning and the communities in which they reside. The ITGA is the nation’s common link, bringing together practitioners from varying fields to address common issues and be a network of resources — including print and online publications, information databases, and programs, training materials, and consulting services — to help city and university leaders improve the quality of life in their communities.

The city manager got the title right. It certainly is connecting from scratch, and it’s still from scratch — the construction of the building has not yet begin, and will not be done until months after the conference. I suppose if someone wanted preliminary remarks on a project yet uncompleted, relying on public money, for a publicly-funded anchor tenant, this would be the presentation to
attend. Perhaps other communities will find useful tips for snatching federal grant money, and issuing municipal debt, while flacking it all in an unquestioning press.

A more sensible approach would surely be to wait until the building’s done being built, and the talk about what the whole effort was like.

Still, if there’s a nearby seminar on Using Federal Dollars for Resume-Padding, perhaps the two sessions could be combined for maximum synergy. Best-practice tips all-around, I’m sure.

There’s something silly and absurd about all this, for anyone not in a small circle of politicians, planners, bureaucrats.

There’s also something pathetic about needing to justify explain the importance of the International Town-Gown Association by writing that the “ITGA is a membership-based, non-government organization, managed by a Board of Directors with a full-time
professional and support staff consisting of a director and administrative assistant.”

The ITGA must be worthy, if it has two full-time employees. That’s actually admirable — it shows a high level of worker productivity. Ordinarily, businesses and associations with only two full-time employees are called mom and pop operations, and are found in small towns, in out-of-the-way places. The ITGA, on the other hand, is an international organization: the International Town-Gown Association. Two workers for an entire planet — impressive. So impressive, I’m surprised one doesn’t hear about the association every night on CNN and Fox. If they’d take even a single day off from working on the Ames, Iowa conference, I’m sure they could come up with a cure for swine flu, rickets, or some other terrible disorder.

Still, a worthy project should speak for itself, when it’s actually finished.

Uncategorized

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Sheridan’s Sham Apology: It’s Your Fault!

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There’s an Associated Press story about Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Sherdian, available online. See, Wis. lawmaker says Relationship With Lobbyist Over. I’ve written about Sheridan before, but I’d like to consider only his apology today, for his conduct over the last several months. It’s a heel’s apology, and example of how a shifty person apologies for misconduct.

Here’s what Sheridan said:

Striking a contrite tone, Sheridan apologized for inconsistent earlier statements about the nature of his relationship with the lobbyist, Shanna Wycoff. He said he was uncomfortable talking about his personal life.

“I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to mislead you,” Sheridan, a Janesville Democrat, told reporters late Tuesday. “That wasn’t my intent, but I understand that was the perception.”

There one has it — Sheridan’s sorry for what you thought; he’s understanding about others’ misperceptions! By this way of thinking, it’s really not a problem he caused — it’s a problem of the thoughts and misperceptions of others. He’s sorry that you just weren’t perceptive enough to understand him.

As you could expect, it’s all about ‘intent.’ He didn’t intend something, so he should be blameless.

I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but I would like to ask a question. Democrats, for goodness’ sake, can you not find someone better than Sheridan? You’ve a proud Progressive tradition, and you can do no better than this guy? Of course you can, if only your party would honor its legacy by finding someone other than a shifty embarrassment.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 2-19-10

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Good morning,

It’s a mostly sunny day in store for Whitewater, with a predicted high temperature of thirty-four degrees.

In our schools today, it’s Coffee with the Principal(s) of each school in the district, beginning at 8:30 a.m. That’s coffee with the real principals, I’d guess (the for-a-day program lasting, expectedly, only for a day). At Washington School, beginning in the afternoon, there will be a ?Soup-er Family Art Night.? This, from a district press release:

Whitewater School Hosts ?Soup-er Family Art Night ?

Whitewater, Wisconsin ? February 9, 2010. The Washington Elementary P.A.T.T. will be hosting a Soup-er Family Art Night on Friday, February 19. The event kicks off with a $5 ?all you can eat? soup dinner. The variety of delicious homemade soups is once again being generously provided by the Don Engling family. There will also be a bake sale and live music from students and local musicians throughout the evening. Dinner is served from 4:30-7:00 p.m. in the school?s cafeteria. From 6:00-7:30 p.m. the fun continues when Washington students and local artists showcase their talents….

There’s a story over at Wired entitled, Green Avenger: Botanical Guardian Assaults Alien Flora, about the work of the Nature Conservancy, an environmental conservation group committed to private solutions to preserve natural habitats. It describes how much can be done through a private solution:

The Kauai watershed is the world?s most extreme botanical garden, a 144,000-acre cloud forest along jagged cliffs that can spike 3,000 feet in elevation over just a quarter of a mile. So when Nature Conservancy of Hawaii project director Trae Menard observed that the area had been invaded by millions of water- sucking, plant-strangling Australian tree ferns, he knew he couldn?t exactly stroll around and yank them out. The terrain would make manual removal prohibitively expensive. The solution: aerial warfare with hoses and paintball guns. This spring, Menard….will take to the sky in a helicopter to pinpoint nonnative species and pick them off with targeted blasts of herbicide.