FREE WHITEWATER

City

The Bullet We Dodged

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The long-expected civil suit against Steve Spear made its way to a court docket recently, only shortly after the Common Council rejected Spear’s appointment to the office from which he had weeks-earlier resigned in disgrace. Whitewater dodged a bullet when it took the only rational step available: ignoring Spear’s application.

Perhaps Spear plans to run again next April, rejection to appointment notwithstanding. The litmus test of civility and decency for private citizens is whether you find Spear’s conduct and public ambitions repulsive. If you do, then you’re civilized. The litmus test for public officials is whether, if he runs again, you’ll take a public position on his candidacy. If you do, then you’re at least minimally worthy of the position that you occupy. If you won’t, then you’ve failed our city for the sake of a small clique that imagines itself in possession of the whole city.

There’s an empty line of reasoning that says public officials were limited in what they could have said about Spear earlier. It’s nonsense, and amounts to nothing more a claim to sophistication or managerial insight in the service of self-preservation and timidity. It’s a conceit to contend that hesitation and reticence are actually advanced managerial skills, or refined politeness. More often, they’re just self-interested conflict-avoidance. There are few public officials who won’t rush to trumpet an achievement. If you’re not press shy for the good times, why be press-shy for the challenging ones? Pretending that your silence and hesitation are, in fact, really examples of sophisticated managerial insight or understanding is unpersuasive.

Eight months is a long time, in litigation, and in life. I have no idea if Spear will truly run again. FREE WHITEWATER will be ready, though, to cover an upcoming political campaign, should there be one.

City, Police, Press

Burying the Story: Update on Larry Meyer

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Whitewater Police investigator Larry Meyer, now retired, has been at the center of two controversial investigations: Star Packaging and that of a local landscaping company. The latter investigation has led to a federal civil suit against Meyer. On August 2nd, The Week, under Donna Lenz Wright’s byline, ran a story on the lawsuit, entitled, “Expert Witness: Investigator Led Crusade Against Businessman.”

Here is a key portion of her story:

Meyer “obviously had more than an objective, professional law enforcement interest in the activities of Steve Cvicker,” wrote Dennis Waller, a police expert hired by Cvicker. In his opinion, Waller said Meyer failed to objectively investigate Cvicker’s now ex-wife because he allegedly had a personal interest in her and mounted “what appeared to be a personal crusade against Mr. Cvicker.” “This crusade, which can be likened to a personal vendetta, negatively impacted Mr. Cvicker’s marriage, business and personal freedom,” Waller wrote in a May 14 opinion.

Meyer’s defense team did not list an expert witness to combat Waller’s opinions….Upon reviewing most of the court documents filed in the case, Waller noted that Meyer didn’t answer “a plethora of questions” during depositions, claiming there was still-ongoing investigations into Cvicker’s activities. “Surely it is reasonable to believe such claims have been resolved. Investigator Meyer’s responses to those questions are anticipated,” Waller wrote, noting his opinions could be amended upon reviewing additional information.

(The defense claims that Meyer’s investigation caused no financial harm, because Cvicker’s business was failing, anyway.)

What can we say about this update?

1. Chief Coan has, repeatedly, defended Meyer as professional in his, Meyer’s, investigations. It’s more than a defensive posture to protect the city from litigation; Coan has gone out of his way to praise Meyer, as he did on Police Day this year, and he’s done so in print, too. Coan might have said less as a defensive tactic, but he’s taken a more assertive approach in support of Meyer.

What would Coan say now? It’s a rhetorical question: He’ll say what he has always said.

2. As of the dateline in The Week’s story, Meyer had not even offered an expert, legal justification for his police methods. He’s taken, apparently, the narrow, technical defense that you can’t injure a business that is already (mostly) failing. That’s a predictable technique to defend against a claim for monetary damages. His defense attorney may be scrambling for an expert now, but if Meyer were so clearly professional, why wouldn’t he have that professionalism as the core of his defense strategy?

3. For citizens of Whitewater, the most important question should be the conduct of the officer or investigator. What sort of investigator was this, and how was he coached, supervised, and managed while he wandered about town, dropping in on businesses, and chatting people up?

4. Perhaps Meyer hasn’t offered a justification for his methods because they are hard-to-impossible for rational people to comprehend and support. After all, former Assistant District Attorney Krueger signed an affidavit that Meyer destroyed evidence in the investigation of Cvicker’s business. (Krueger subsequently left for a position with the Attorney General in Madison.)

What else has Meyer done?

5. Meyer has a friend in Coan in Whitewater, and other friends in Elkhorn, too. Coan’s over-the-top loyalty is almost beyond parody. What though, of the city? There are far more than a few people who have met Larry Meyer, and who can tell you a story about how unimpressed they were. (I have no personal connection with Meyer; I’ve just watched his official, public efforts embarrass himself, our city, and anyone who’s shameless enough to defend him. That’s enough for anyone: Meyer should have been censured and later fired long ago, not given retirement recognition. This is a group that will defend its own at the expense of the truth, all the while insisting that their selfish defense is the very model of propriety and professionalism.)

6. Is now-retiree Meyer’s investigation still ongoing? That’s what Meyer seems to have said in his deposition. It’s a predictable answer from him; doubtless Larry Meyer will do what’s best for Larry Meyer. What of the city, and its police force? Are they really still investigating Cvicker, or is it just a way to provide cover for Meyer? I don’t know, but where are the independent, honest publications in this town, beyond FREE WHITEWATER, that have the civic-mindedness even to ask the question?

7. Where’s the Register in all this? That, too, is a rhetorical question. The Register is where real journalism dare not go. I have not noticed a story on Meyer in the pages of Register like the one in The Week. Not anywhere in the Register: not above the fold, below the fold, or even on the back page. There are lots of advertisements for out-of-city businesses in the inaptly-named Whitewater Register, but no stories about a question that goes to the heart of supposed police professionalism in this city. The Register’s great at fawning and flacking for a town clique, but only at the expense of true good government, true professionalism, and ordinary fairness.

Cartoons & Comics

Friday Cartoon Feature

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Here’s this Friday-morning’s cartoon feature from FREE WHITEWATER.

This week’s clip is a Felix the Cat cartoon, originally shown in movie theaters, when Felix was especially popular. Quick Trivia: He was also a comic strip character, but later had only mixed success as a talking character in theatrical cartoons. Felix had something in common with other silent film stars who struggled to maintain their popularity in talking pictures. Later, his career saw a renaissance as a talking television character. In this clip,Woos Whoopee, Felix makes the mistake of spending too much time at a tavern rather than home with his wife. He shows all the ill-effects of a misspent night on the town.

Enjoy.

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City

Common Council Meeting, August 21st: Part 3

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Here’s my “Mood of It All” segment about Tuesday’s Council meeting. I’ll offer observations on the meeting’s atmosphere, etc.

Don’t Get Angry. This was one of my underlying themes from an earlier post, “Tips for Meetings.” Cool often works better than hot, and this is especially true for those watching on cable. For those in the room, an angry person may seem off-putting; on television, that’s truer still. McLuhan was right – television is a cool medium. Print is a medium of wide emotions, from the aggressive and assertive to the soft and persuasive. Radio accepts a narrower range and television narrower still. (Reagan, in the years between 1976 and 1980, in periodic radio commentary, was one of the few people who could deliver a severe critique in a polite way over the airwaves. He might call someone a liar, and use the word itself, but in so matter-of-fact a way that it wasn’t jarring. It takes a certain grace to speak that way. Even when he grew angry during a televised primary debate in 1980, he still managed a level of control most angry people cannot equal.)

On Marilyn Kienbaum. I am sure that I don’t agree with Ms. Kienbaum on everything, but is there any doubt that her role in this community should be a source of respect and admiration? She has the well-earned support of many, and seeming to quibble with her is graceless and ineffective. She’s hard-working, and states her views plainly. Unmistakable, too, is that she’s sincere, sympathetic, and endearing. Anyone asking her exasperated questions, or repeating the same point more than once, is guaranteed to harm himself, not her. For goodness’ sake, how could one watch her and not be charmed? I have criticized some in town strenuously (and I think deservedly), but only a foolish person would direct frustrated complaints during a meeting toward Ms. Kienbaum. One looks at her and thinks, “There’s a sweet, kind woman.” (I would feel precisely the same regardless of any disapproving opinion that she might have of what I write.) She looks as though she might have come from central casting, and she’s an excellent public spokesperson for the town. She conveys naturally the impression of a friendly, dedicated, well-meaning person. Squabbling with her publicly – rather than disagreeing with her on dispassionate principle — is a silly idea.

On Procedures. When others interpret a procedure one way, and you interpret it another way, a choice presents itself. You could say nothing, if the matter is small, for the sake of harmony. There’s no loss in cooperating with others on minor matters, where the point isn’t vital; on the contrary, there’s gain to be had in that cooperative approach.

Suppose, however, that you think it’s a vital matter. If that’s your position, you’ll have to explain yourself carefully, thoughtfully, and without condescension. After all, no one else agrees with you. It will do you only harm to sigh, repeat the same statements over again, or convey the impression that you think everyone else is a dope. They’re not dopes; they’re probably at least as smart as you are. (I have clear disagreements with several people’s positions, but it’s not because I think that they’re stupid; it’s because I think that they’re wrong, often far wrong.) A person who displays a belief that he’s smarter than others almost never is, in the ways that count in life, anyway.

State your reasoning simply, and by analogy, not merely by a reference to the rules. Others know the rules, too; they’re just willing to make exceptions. If you want them to adopt your position, you’ll have to persuade them with something more than “we need to follow the rules.” Why do you need to do so, in this case? Just give a few, brief arguments in favor of your view: One, two, three…a sentence for each point will suffice. If others are receptive, then you can elaborate. If not, you’ll not likely turn them around (and certainly not by displays of exasperation). Don’t waste time.

On “Okay.” If you’re really exasperated, you may have occasion to a state a contrary position. Do so calmly, without evident annoyance: “That’s not really what the document says.” Never, ever, append the word “okay” to the sentence, especially as a question: “That’s not really what the document says, okay?”

Why not? Because people translate “That’s not really what the document says, okay?” into “That’s not really what the document says, idiot!” Linguists would be able to explain the underlying theory of all this; it’s enough for now that one sees that this is how people comprehend the use of an exasperated question ending in “okay.” Avoid this unfortunate turn of phrase.

City

Common Council Meeting, August 21st: Part 2

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If most parts of the meeting were comfortably conventional, the same cannot be said for the discussion about infractions of residential zoning requirements, and the putative violations of landlords and tenants. It’s an understatement to say that it’s a hot-button issue.

The problem is serious for a few residents, whose property has been damaged, and enjoyment impaired, because they have disruptive, thoughtless neighbors. Home ownership is justifiably part of the American dream, and is one of the expressions of our high standard of living. A single family home is both evidence of well-being and a source of enjoyment. After working so hard to own a home, property owners have every reason to feel angry and frustrated when neighbors – tenants or thoughtless owners – damage the peace and property of the neighborhood.

That’s why it’s easy to be sympathetic to a council member who advocates respect for property rights. What’s unfortunate, though, is that a political defense of those rights may seem, to those not committed to the cause, a bit overwrought and, candidly, a bit odd. That’s why I think the use of a slide show of homes that were supposedly in violation of city living requirements was counter-productive. First, some of the alleged violations were likely temporary (parking on grass), or speculative (how many people might be unrelated family members in a house).

Second, many people otherwise supporting more thorough enforcement will find the idea of someone walking around taking pictures of supposed violators odd, and a bit unsettling. To someone committed to enforcement, it all makes sense. To someone on the fence, it’s probably a net wash, or a losing technique. You many gain some supporters, but others just feel that it’s strange for a citizen to photograph neighbors’ alleged violations and show them to the public. (When someone says that he takes these pictures on the way to church on Sunday, it’s hard to know what to say. It sounds like a peculiar fixation on the way to a more important moment. The remark is intended, I suppose, to show that some violations – placement of trash cans — have persisted for days. It’s no doubt sincere, but it sounds unusual, too.)

Third, the expressed worry about having more than two cars in a driveway is ill-advised. I understand that’s a current regulation. Unfortunately, it’s a regulation that’s no longer suitable to our times. Many families have more than two cars, one for each spouse, and a third for recreation or as a teenager’s car. As soon as you start complaining that only two cars should be outside on the driveway, you’re losing potential supporters. Not just affluent ones – middle class ones, too. When you tell them that they should keep their remaining cars garaged, you’re just irritating people who might otherwise support you concerning more significant violations. When you tell someone that his boat should not be in the garage, and that his cars should go in instead, you’ve strayed too far from the key problems. Now you sound like a pushy neighbor.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but that wasn’t true of Tuesday’s slide show. A few words from homeowners who had damage and vandalism inflicted on their homes was far, far more powerful than the slide show of supposed violations. Ordinary people can relate to others like themselves, who worked hard to get a home, and want to have something secure and pleasant for themselves. When it’s wrecked by a thoughtless tenant next door, everyone is sympathetic. That’s a winning presentation, built upon unfortunate loss. No one wants to be in that position, but by speaking calmly about what happened to him, a person can make a difference to persuade others to take action. Slides work nowhere near so well.

Finally, the complaint that the university should have notified the Common Council, as well as landlords, of upcoming university housing policies is well-taken, but again, peripheral to the core message: that more thorough enforcement, and community participation, can protect property, property values, and make the community generally better-looking. (No need to call for more ‘rigid’ enforcement. In fact, ‘rigid’ should not be used when describing ordinary enforcement measures. More ‘thorough,’ comprehensive,’ or ‘attentive,’ etc., convey that message without seeming harsh.)

This is a good cause, sadly susceptible of drift into anti-student rhetoric, or a seeming anti-university bias. Presentations that appear too prying make adherents of better enforcement into versions of Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched. A smooth-talking spokesperson for the landlords’ lobby could make considerable gains in a debate where advocates of greater enforcement relied on some of the techniques used last night. That’s too bad, because some homeowners have been injured, and wronged. To make the homeowners’ case, however, requires a more persuasive tactic. Ordinary homeowners expressing their concerns are the best spokespeople for this cause, and they were the most compelling part of last night’s discussion.

City

Common Council, August 21st: Part 1

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Tuesday’s Common Council meeting was a good representation of a typical city meeting, with several matters before the Council, but nothing out of the ordinary. Here’s the first part of a recap, with (of course) commentary.

From the City Manager’s report. The most important part of the report, and maybe the most important part of the meeting, came early in the evening, in a reference to a university and city liaison committee. City Manager Brunner announced the names of several people to the committee, and the university will select its own representatives.

If any town has ever needed a better relationship with its university, it’s our town. I often write that we’re a town of fourteen thousand, and a part of that number includes students in town. Take that number away, and we’d be noticeably smaller, and in economic distress. The university may be our most distinguishing characteristic as a town. Still, as I’ll highlight later, in a subsequent post on the August 21st meeting, our town has a love-hate relationship with its university, and it’s a shame.

Quickly, there are two ways to approach a better relationship: (1) with small, concrete, structural actions to change community attitudes, or (2) with a preliminary change in community attitudes to produce small, concrete, structural actions. (This choice is present in many efforts to produce a better relationship, of whatever kind.) The best effort here probably involves small, concrete actions, as the other approach is just too challenging as a place to begin. If our town makes progress here — and we need progress here — we will have made good use of the opportunity of hosting a college campus. It’s distinctive to us, and only several other towns of our size, and we should seize the possibilities our campus offers.

Recreational Burning. The council considered those times of day when recreational fires may be allowed within the city. Small outdoor fire places, more than bonfires, are common to many homeowners. I don’t have one, but I am not opposed to them, and it’s enjoyable to many people to have a small fire in the evening, several times a season. I would favor fewer restrictions on a homeowner’s use of his or her property, and so this would be a sensible idea in my eyes. It was clear from the discussion that neither the police nor most council members wanted the police involved in prior approval of this recreational burning.

For the most part, that’s just a waste of police time and effort, so the idea of only limited police involvement, in response to direct complaints, is a good idea. It’s really a good idea, though, for reasons other than use of police time: use of complaints to the police about small matters (rather than true dangers or emergencies) causes more animosity between neighbors than it resolves. I’ll write more about this in a bit. For now, it’s enough that the inclination to police action is not present. (The only remaining question is whether police action in response to complaints might prove selective.)

Liquor Store at the Westsider. It’s an empty space now, but the area of the Westsider now vacant could become a liquor store. Council approved the surrender (from a current holder) and re-issuance of a liquor license to Frawley Oil for sale of liquor at the area formerly occupied by a Wendy’s restaurant. A drive-though window for liquor met with some skepticism, however. I think part of the reason is that it seems a new idea, and almost unexpected, somehow. I see no harm that would come to it, though, any more than someone who drives to a liquor store, and makes a purchase that way. I would support the idea, in full, as a good business strategy that will produce no measurable, incremental risk over current methods of alcohol purchase.

Beautiful Whitewater

Beautiful Whitewater: The Old Armory

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We are far from Europe and Asia. The wars of the century past might easily have swept by, and around, us. Our many pastures, and the cities, states, and oceans beyond them might have sheltered us from the suffering, conquest, and cruel ambitions that swept those distant continents. A different, lesser people would have remained crouched and silent while tyrants in Berlin and Tokyo drew plans against millions upon millions.

We were not (and I am convinced that we are not) that different, lesser people. We were first the arsenal, and thereafter the armies, navies, and squadrons, upon which all the civilized world relied.

Berlin is more than four-thousand miles away; Tokyo is more than six-thousand miles distant. We put aside farms, factories, homes, and schools, to travel toward those aggressive, malevolent cities. We were committed only to the defense and preservation of our free, better way of life, and the liberation of others who sought a similar freedom.

Our dairy would never taste as sweet, our machines would never run so well, in a world dominated by Führer and Emperor. To preserve the beauty of our way of life, it was necessary to scrape those malign enemies from the very face of the earth.

The Old Armory (then, just the Armory) was a concrete, practical commitment in support of that noble war effort. It is as beautiful today as it was on its first day. If calamity should befall this small town, we should commit to the rebuilding of the Old Armory just as soon as we have restored our homes and churches.

It is right that we should vote in that building, a sturdy redoubt that played a small role in a great effort to defeat the world’s most pernicious tyrannies. I never pass the Old Armory without feeling its uplifting influence. I am certain, as one can be of any worldly thing, that many of my fellow residents feel the same.

Uncategorized

Quotations, Rights, and Hope

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People often add short, pithy quotations to memoranda and email messages. Sometimes they’re inspirational, or thought-provoking. Sometimes they’re not. Consider, for example, two quotations that I ran across recently. They’re interesting, but puzzling, too.

Here’s quotation Number 1:

These disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of infinitely more use to them.

Benjamin Franklin

Adams: When you read this quotation, what’s your first thought? If you’re like me, it’s something along the lines of, “Which people does Franklin have in mind? Who’s he talking about?” The quotation is from Franklin’s excellent, instructive Autobiography, and I have a copy here in my office. How fortuitous. Let’s take a look at the context of the quotation. Here’s the full passage:

In my journey to Boston this year, I met at New York with our new governor, Mr. Morris, just arriv’d there from England, with whom I had been before intimately acquainted. He brought a commission to supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tir’d with the disputes his proprietary instructions subjected him to, had resign’d. Mr. Morris ask’d me if I thought he must expect as uncomfortable an administration. I said, “No; you may, on the contrary, have a very comfortable one, if you will only take care not to enter into any dispute with the Assembly.” “My dear friend,” says he, pleasantly, “how can you advise my avoiding disputes? You know I love disputing; it is one of my greatest pleasures; however, to show the regard I have for your counsel, I promise you I will, if possible, avoid them.” He had some reason for loving to dispute, being eloquent, an acute sophister, and, therefore, generally successful in argumentative conversation. He had been brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I have heard, accustoming his children to dispute with one another for his diversion, while sitting at table after dinner; but I think the practice was not wise; for, in the course of my observation, these disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of [infinitely] more use to them. We parted, he going to Philadelphia, and I to Boston.

The context reveals what Franklin means. He’s criticizing the appointed governor for being too combative with the citizen-representatives of the Assembly, by highlighting the disputatious techniques the unelected governor received from his elitist father. Franklin – understandably – sides with the Assembly, and the common citizens it represents. The governor to whom Franklin refers is disputatious as an aristocratic reflex – he bristles at, and ignores, the will of the people, and was raised that way by his aristocratic family.

This seems a quotation best directed toward an appointed public official who finds his constituents’ exercise of their natural liberties of free expression and opinion hard to take.

Here’s quotation Number 2:

Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.

Joseph Sugarman

Adams: Call me a Philistine, but I have to admit that I had no idea who Joseph Sugarman was when I read this second quotation. I thought that he might be a Nobel laureate, symphony conductor, or obscure beatnik poet. As far as I can tell, he’s actually a salesman, motivational speaker, and promoter of a line of sunglasses called BluBlockers®, sold at Walgreens drugstores across America. (We do not have a Walgreens here in Whitewater, but it’s not for lack of available retail space. See, for example, my earlier post entitled, “Vacant Whitewater.”)

No matter — does what Sugarman says make sense? I don’t think so. There is no ‘success force.’ (There are force fields, force plays, gravitational forces, even an action film, “Force 10 from Navarone” – there’s just no ‘success force.’) If what Sugarman says were true, then we could all complacently sit by while wrong-doers met their own, self-inflicted ends, presumably at the hands of that (figmentary) force. Life would all work out in the end. There are people who feel that everything will take care of itself, without effort on our part, but they’re sometimes naïve, sometimes lazy, and often disappointed.

For the religious, one encounters this same lesson, over and over again — so that we stubborn faithful will not forget. In the here-and-now, misfortune befalls the good and bad, deserving and undeserving, right and wrong. History is replete with examples of how people trusted for the best, but doing nothing but trust, experienced only disappointment or tragedy. We might even have a few more people living in this town if we had been more watchful of the power we have imprudently conferred upon some.

We are not without recourse; we can do something, building on the legacy of our forefathers. Pick up a pen (or as a reader suggested, join a committee). Why squander our legacy of rights and free expression because overly-tender officials fret that it’s just too much to bear?

It’s not too much to bear. America’s a robust, energetic, creative place – more so than any place on earth. We’ve been this way for all of our history – a nation of citizen-authors, writers and pamphleteers, from our earliest days on this continent. Our forefathers wrote incisively, with zeal, on politics, literature, religion, philosophy, and natural science. They debated, discussed, and enjoyed exchanges with each other. It wasn’t for them – as it might have been for an appointed colonial official – a disagreeable thing to be endured for an imagined higher good. The very discussion was a vital part of a better life, a continual pursuit of happiness.

Have we become so standoffish and squeamish now, these centuries later? No — we are not a stuffy people. We are the writers of articles and essays, the builders of cities, the cultivators of land, the champions of representative government, even the explorers of other worlds. We are all these things, and many more.

Cartoons & Comics

Friday Cartoon Feature

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Here’s a new, Friday-morning feature from FREE WHITEWATER. It’s not specific to Whitewater, but I think that it will be enjoyable nonetheless. There are many funny, captivating public domain cartoons from America’s early animators. I thought that I might include a weekly clip to a cartoon or comic strip from one of them, to end the week.

This week’s clip is a 1945 Looney Tunes cartoon, Hare Conditioned, starring Bugs Bunny as a department store employee. I’ve seen it several times, and it holds up for me. (I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing cartoons like this in a movie theater, as Americans did when the cartoon was first released.) It’s directed by Chuck Jones, story by Tedd Pierce, with Mel Blanc providing the voice of Bugs. Quick Trivia: Tedd — who was both a writer and voice artist — added an extra ‘d’ to his name in response to a colleague who spelled his own name ‘Bil’ using only one ‘l.’

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYb9el12YZQ more >>

City, Inbox Reader Mail, Review

City of Whitewater Website Review: Reply and Thoughts

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I arrived home late last night to the city, but wanted to post quickly this morning excerpts from an email that I received from Tim Nobling, Whitewater’s Information Technology Administrator. The use of excerpts is intended solely to convey the meaning of the email, while making this post manageable to read. The email in black, my remarks in blue.

Good evening. I am the Information Technology Administrator for the City of Whitewater. I was forwarded an email with a link to your suggestions in regards to our City’s redesigned website. You offer some very good suggestions in regards to the website. Please note that I am not a web designer by trade, it just happens to fall under the responsibilities of my title (I believe it is the ever popular “other” category that is very prevalent in many job descriptions). That being said, I am encouraged with the feedback I have received from the community (good and bad) and look forward to input from everyone on making the City’s website better….I have listed your suggestions, and my responses follow.

Calendar….[where I suggested a calendar for the city website]….Meetings used to be on the first page at the bottom on the old site, and were moved to the Public Service announcements of the new one. I have received a few emails asking that they be moved back, and have done so. I have also added a quick link to the appropriate agenda next to the individual meeting (if I have had the agenda sent to me). There is no reason I cannot have the meetings for the entire month listed, so I will have to look into getting a listing of the monthly confirmed meetings. Agendas will be a bit trickier to post so far in advance as they tend to evolve quite a bit up until a week before the meeting….

Calendars are probably a matter of personal taste. While you have a nicely formatted calendar on your site, you can see that only three out of 30 days are actually linked to something currently. I know this will fill up as your calendar expands…. If you visit the Special Events page, (For Residents/Special Events) you will see a calendar of events by month beginning to populate as I receive the event ….

Disclaimers….[on the idea that disclaimers were displayed too prominently on the city’s splash page]….This has been changed (it was on the original site as a PDF as well). While I haven’t had anyone mention this specifically, this was done because of the complete site overhaul. For a visitor that was used to the look of the old site, the new site was probably so drastically different, he/she might wonder if they went to the correct site. I wanted to make sure for the first couple of weeks the disclaimer was in plain text and the Adobe Acrobat Reader was not needed to read it. It may seem like silly logic to some, but you may be surprised how many bases I need to cover when maintaining information for a government agency. Needless to say, it is indeed a nice small disclaimer once again.

Translations…. [on the suggestion of adding a translation tool to the city website]….This is something I am researching but have not had the opportunity to spend a lot of time on. It is a great idea, and one that will be acted upon (no time frame given yet). Google is a very simple solution and seems to be fairly effective. As you have stated on your site though, it is a “loose translation”. I feel it is fairly accurate, but not accurate enough to use as a tool on our website. Websites can be viewed as official documents, and I would hate to see Google translate something into an un-intended meaning. (That wouldn’t be good for anyone) I may be able to write a disclaimer about the accuracy and utilize a tool like Google or Babelfish, but I would prefer it be an accurate translation.

I appreciate your feedback on the new website, in fact I appreciate everyone’s feedback on the website. I appreciate the time you took to review the new site, and encourage others to do the same. The one thing I would ask though, (for you and for everyone) is that you email me with revisions, errors, suggestions, etc. directly. I am not saying “don’t place suggestions on your site”, but if I wasn’t forwarded the link to the suggestions, I probably wouldn’t have seen them to review them. You can always email directly at tnobling@ci.whitewater.wi.us or use the webmaster@ci.whitewater.us. Both of them come directly to me, and I try respond to website emails within 24 hours upon receipt. Customer service is a very important process and one that I take very seriously….

Just some more number facts about the website currently- There are 4,299 total links on our website (internal, external, etc.). There are 177 pages….

Regards,

Tim Nobling MCP, MCSA, Security +
Information Technology Administrator
City Of Whitewater

Adams: I appreciate your email reply to my review. Thanks for looking into my small suggestions, and the likely far better suggestions of others. As I noted in my review, the new city site is significantly more attractive than the previous one, with features that the old one never had.

I try to confine most — if not all — of my writing to this website itself, to avoid side conversations via email of which readers would be unaware. In my eyes, every post is a small, simple public message: some posts are like editorials, and some are reviews, as is true for many blogs. Your suggestion of both posting here and sending an email simultaneously for a specific suggestion is a good one, as it preserves the public nature of a blog while assuring the suggestion/message gets to the right person. (For many posts, that are commentary only, there’s no single recipient implied; the post is just a public message, like an editorial.)

The listing of the disclaimers through a single hyperlink, and the listing of events on the main page, are easier — as you write — than a formatted calendar. My calendar will probably never have more than several events each month, as I will select only what I wish to write about as the focus of the FREE WHITEWATER site. A listing works just as well, if not better, than a calendar for the city’s more exhaustive schedule.

Translations, as you note, are the hardest of all. Our city’s demographic will not fundamentally change, and we will find many of our fellow residents will need some sort of language translation. The suggestion is easier than the effort, but as you mention, the effort is a worthy one.

Again, thanks for your comments, and reply.

Adams

City, Review

Review: The City of Whitewater’s New Website

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Whitewater has a new municipal website, available at http://www.ci.whitewater.wi.us/. There are both strengths and weaknesses to the site, as with any site, but I’ll start with what’s appealing about the site, and offer a few suggestions thereafter.

The new website displays a clean, attractive look. It’s a more polished, business-standard website than the previous version. Surfers who visit lots of sites will find this website appealing; it looks like the websites of many major corporations and organizations. (Gone, thankfully, is the Comic Sans font used on the old website, a font unsuitable for a city website, but great for a child’s party invitation.)

There is a good deal of information available – contacts, department organizational charts, publications, etc. It takes time to put up that much information, but it now seems to be linked through the new website. The site has links to departments, government meetings, a citizen request center, and the local municipal code, among other features.

I have three quick, easy suggestions:

Disclaimers. One of the most unusual aspects of the new website is the overly-prominent use of disclaimers on the main page. I am not opposed to disclaimers, but their presence on so much of the main page is unexpected, unnecessary, and unfriendly.

Of the words on the main page of the city’s website, 382 involve disclaimers, terms, conditions, etc. By contrast, the city manager’s message of introduction is only 216 words long.

I wrote that this was unexpected. It certainly is. Consider the links, immediately below, to other municipal websites, in Wisconsin, and across the nation. Not one of them has as prominent — as obtrusive — a disclaimer as we do.

City of Fort Atkinson
City of Jefferson
City of Elkhorn
City of Janesville
City of Milwaukeee
City of Madison
City of La Crosse
City of Chicago
City of Minneapolis
City of Houston
City of Boston

It’s unnecessary that our city’s disclaimers should take up so much space; not one of the other municipalities’ sites to which I have linked feels a similar need. Those other cities place the disclaimers, terms, etc. under a single hyperlink (typically “Terms and Conditions, etc.”) to a secondary page. We are at no greater risk than the clever and serious people who run all these other cities. There’s no reason to believe that they are all wrong about their understated display of disclaimers, and that we are right about our obtrusive display.

The overly-prominent disclaimers on our website are unfriendly, and reveal a skittish, defensive, standoffish view of the world. We should be more open and welcoming to visitors to our site. Our first words should not include so many words of caution.

Consider a man on a date with an attractive woman. Having talked with her many times, and after taking her out for dinner and a movie, he takes her back to her apartment. There, on her front steps, he has the occasion to kiss her goodnight. He surmises, correctly, that she would welcome a kiss. What should he do? He might, of course, reach out, tilt her chin ever so slightly, and kiss her as the end of a wonderful evening.

What if, by contrast, as she waited for his touch, he instead produced a detailed document for her review, enumerating the terms, conditions, and disclaimers to govern any future affection between them?

We will not turn visitors into residents by an overly-prominent use of disclaimers, conditions of use, and terms and conditions. Let’s be friendly and welcoming, and place those full passages on another page, accessible through a hyperlink.

Translations. We have a fair number of Spanish speaking residents in our community. Some municipal websites place a link on their pages, where English can be translated into Spanish automatically. Among those city webpages is the one for the City of Minneapolis. (Using a different translation program from Google’s.)

I have a link like this on FREE WHITEWATER, too. You’ll find it in the right hand sidebar, with links to Spanish (and French!), for automatic translations of pages that I have written in English. The link uses the translation tools from the fine people at Google, Inc. Anyone can use a tool like that, so why shouldn’t Whitewater? The city’s webpages would be in English, but could be translated by the click of a button into other languages for those who wanted vital city information in another language. Only the people who wanted another language would see the page in that other language. (I know – and you know – that it won’t always be a completely accurate translation. The best is the enemy of the good; if you’re waiting cautiously for perfection, afraid of any venture that’s not sanitized and wholly antiseptic, you’ll accomplish nothing.)

Some want to trumpet outreach efforts – here’s an easy way to make good on those promises.

Calendar. How about a calendar on the main page with a listing of upcoming public meetings? It’s easy to do – there’s one on this website. A reader could select a day, and on that day, could see what public meetings are taking place, when and where. (I have listed ones that interest me on my site, but someone could add a comprehensive listing on the city’s website.)

Over at the FREE WHITEWATER Design Labs™, these features have already been deployed. (The Design Labs are, by way of description, located in my office, and have a staff of one: yours truly.) This site has permanent links, photos, a reader mail feature, ‘email-this-post’ links, an archive, translation tools, and an events calendar.

I’m not – of course — really the designer of any of these tools; they’re freely available as open source programs for use on websites anywhere. All that I have done is add them to the FREE WHITEWATER site, and tweaked a bit of code to make them work. The City of Whitewater, and lots of people in town, could easily do far better than I have done.

Why not try some of these suggestions?

City, Review

Review: Wal-Mart No. 1274

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Why not branch out a bit, and review places and events in town? I have no experience as a critic, but I am a consumer, and consumers make market choices all the time, so why not?

We have a Discount City Wal-Mart in town, and for many of us, it’s a great convenience. The increase in store hours a few months ago has made the Wal-Mart even more convenient. It carries many of the ordinary items that a person might need, at prices that are usually low. Wal-Mart – nationally – is controversial, I know, but I’ve no interest in wading into that nationwide battle. There are plenty of sites on the web that present the benefits and detriments of Wal-Mart, Inc. My review is of Wal-Mart 1274 only.

Our Wal-Mart is a smaller sized Discount City, with less floor space than the Super Wal-Mart now in Janesvillle, and the one to be built near Jefferson. Wal-Mart does not expand the size of an existing store to make it a Super Wal-Mart; they leave the old property, and build a new, larger store nearby (as they have done in both Lake Geneva and Janesville.) I see no reason to think that we will get a larger Wal-Mart in Whitewater anytime soon.

Store 1274:

A retail store’s not just a place for selling goods; it’s a place where people work selling goods. Starting with the workforce is as good a place to begin a review as any other. Wal-Mart doesn’t pretend that it’s a full-service retail store, where obliging associates rush to meet your every need. It’s Discount City, not Tiffany’s. Still, the combination of college students, middle-aged workers, and retirees does a good job when asked, with a few exceptions. The only disappointing experiences that I have had at Wal-Mart 1274 have been with two cranky senior citizen workers.

There’s a Dennis Miller joke that people who work, and shop, at Wal-Mart are disproportionately overweight. I don’t find that true of our Wal-Mart, but that sort of jibe must be galling to Wal-Mart, and they have over the years tried to become more trendy, to attract the style-conscious customers that Target attracts.

Staffing’s not always the best, however, at Wal-Mart 1274. Sometimes the registers seem understaffed. That’s not an associate’s problem, but a management problem.

What’s most interesting to me about our Wal-Mart is how it affects nearby businesses. (In neighboring Jefferson, residents fought a years-long battle over a Super Wal-Mart, with those in favor finally prevailing. Much of the concern addresses whether Wal-Mart would harm small, independent businesses.)

One of the readers of this site, wrote in recently about our downtown area that, “Experience establishes that an enterprise most likely to succeed in a decaying downtown environment is a “niche” business provided, of course, that the costs of purchase or tenancy are reasonable.”

That seems right. A coffee shop, hot dog vendor, or restaurant is beyond Wal-Mart’s competition. Even two local pharmacists have survived, although almost certainly with supplemental sources of income (likely from rental property). A conventional five-and-dime, however, wouldn’t likely long survive.

What of the grocery business? It’s an area where local Wal-Mart 1274 has expanded, with nearly double the shelf space for foodstuffs of a year ago. Without the floor space of a Super Wal-Mart, I am not sure how much space Wal-Mart can devote to groceries, but if Store 1274 could add more, it could sell more.

Wal-Mart must place considerable market pressure on our Sentry. The addition of beer at the Wal-Mart will be another point of competition with Sentry and local liquor stores. For consumers, it’s a recipe for lower prices, or better selection (as competitors of Wal-Mart move to distinguish themselves, for example, with more exotic brands).

Are the soon-to-open Red Onion, and the Malone meat market, selling perishables because the want to, need to, or both? Both, I’d say. There’s room to walk around Wal-Mart, and our city can support many specialized retailers that can operate in that space past Wal-Mart’s reach.

There’s nothing elegant about Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart wouldn’t expect there to be. Without this general merchandising retailer, however, our small town would likely have fewer items for sale, stocked less frequently, and priced above Wal-Mart’s prices. A few cranky senior citizen workers are not enough to disturb the benefits of Wal-Mart’s ready stock at low prices.