FREE WHITEWATER

Common Council, Council Leadership, Daily Bread, Local Government, Responsibility

Daily Bread for 11.22.23: Puzzling, Ongoing Irresponsibility

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 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:56 and sunset 4:26 for 9h 29m 52s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 75.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1963, President Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald, who also kills Dallas Police officer J. D. Tippit after fleeing the scene. Vice President Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States afterward.

Yesterday, I linked to the agenda of the Whitewater Common Council session for 11.21.23. In that Tuesday post, this libertarian blogger listed several agenda items that drew my particular interest. Today’s post will consider one of those items, No. 27. Embedded above is a video recording of the session, with the discussion of Item 27 beginning on the video at 2:14:30. 

Here is Item 27: 

Item 27. Discussion and possible action regarding the formation of a council action plan to address Common Council self-governance- Common Council/HR

At the 11.7.23 session of the Whitewater Common Council — only two weeks earlier — the performance of the council majority had fallen so far that after returning from closed session the council issued the following statement: 

At this time, the Council wishes to make the following statement: 

The Council is respectful that each individual councilmember has distinct, competing, and divergent viewpoints designed to promote the best interests of the city and representation of the community.

The Council intends to work on a plan to enhance the effectiveness of the Council as a body and as that body works with the employees of the city. The Council is committed to Robert’s Rules as a guideline and the city’s Transparency Ordinance.

The Council will explore and conduct training as to governance, conduct of meetings, and open meeting compliance, and encourage appointed office holders to participate in such opportunities.

The Council will explore standards of decorum and civility for its meetings.

The Council will work with the City Manager for the development of an onboarding process for newly elected and appointed office holders. The Council will set expectations for self-accountability, individual commitment to one another. 

The Council will consider whether the use of outside resources is of benefit to this process including resources from CVMIC, and the executive branch of the city, facilitators, or other resources. 

The Council’s commitment to this plan is ongoing, which the Council will address at subsequent meetings. 

See The Complaint Against (Some) on the Whitewater Common Council.

In all recent memory, over decades, no common council in the City of Whitewater has had to admit to performance so inadequate. (Council President Allen did not read the statement; he left it to another councilmember while he sat saying nothing on behalf of the council he leads.) 

A few remarks about the discussion of Item 27 from last night’s session: 

1. His “Bad.” One would imagine that having listened to the early November statement, Allen would remember its significance only two weeks later. One would imagine that an agenda item on 11.21 that plainly reads “Discussion and possible action” would cause Allen to prepare for discussion and possible action. Apparently not. 

Instead, Allen tried to push on without discussion to Item 28. When he was reminded that he was skipping an item that directly addresses this council’s self-governance, Allen replied “My bad.” See video at 2:15:46. 

Yes, his bad. A responsible leader would have remembered this item, prepared for it, and made it a key part of this meeting. 

2. The Handouts on Robert’s Rules.  It’s a commendable service to this city that HR Manager Sara Marquardt ordered and distributed laminated handouts with key points from Robert’s Rules. She was right to do so. These councilmembers should have made this purchase on their own when they first joined the Whitewater Common Council. (It’s obvious that some of the council members understand these procedural rules quite well, indeed. It’s equally obvious that the majority does not.) 

3. “We Could Probably.”  When considering the necessary and fundamental work of self-governance, Allen expressed a few qualms:

We could probably do some of them over the winter break, but you know, we all have other jobs too.

See video at 2:19:53. 

Councilmembership is a volunteer position; no one is drafted. If the crucial responsibility of self-governance is too hard for Allen or others, then they should resign from the Whitewater Common Council.

Allen has a habit of looking for the easy road for himself and his majority. In August, when Allen learned that he, along with others, would have to meet a proper deadline for submitting his agenda items before a meeting, his first reflex was to make it easier on himself: “Oh, well, then I guess we’ll have to change that because that’s we’ve never enforced it before.” See Scenes from a Council Meeting (Responsibility).

By contrast, Whitewater’s residents fortunately show an admirable commitment to self-discipline and hard work that this council majority lacks. 

How to Make Simple Mashed Potatoes | Thanksgiving Recipes | The New York Times:

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City, Common Council, Council Leadership, Daily Bread, Local Government

Daily Bread for 11.21.23: The Second Council Session in November

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 41. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset 4:26 for 9h 31m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 63.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM. 

  On this day in 1959, American disc jockey Alan Freed, who had popularized the term “rock and roll” and music of that style, is fired from WABC radio over allegations he had participated in the payola scandal.

Linked above is the Whitewater Common Council agenda for the second council meeting of November. Embedded below is the full agenda packet for the session. (Although I have begun embedding the council or CDA agendas on the day of the respective meetings, this post offers both the full council packet and mention of items of notable interest to this libertarian blogger. Usually, I’ve not highlighted a meeting in advance, but the decline in quality representation from this council makes careful attention to the agenda and proceedings necessary.)

At the last council meeting, some of the listed items tonight were presented, but not decided. A few items from tonight’s agenda seem notable to this libertarian blogger. (Other residents will have their own particulars; their mileage may vary.)

STAFF REPORTS

Item 10. Lakes Update – Park and Rec.

Item 11. Aquatic Center Update – Park and Rec

Item 12. Immigration Roundtable Update – Police

Item 13. Police Staffing 2024 – Police

Item 15. von Briesen & Roper Resumes for 3 Labor and Employment Specialty Attorneys – HR

RESOLUTIONS

Item 16. Resolution adopting 2024-2025 City of Whitewater Municipal Budget – Finance

Item 25. Discussion and possible action regarding Virtual Meeting Policy – Allen/HR

Item 27. Discussion and possible action regarding the formation of a council action plan to address Common Council self-governance- Common Council/HR

CLOSED SESSION

Item 35. Adjourn to closed session, to reconvene in open session, Chapter 19.85(1)(f) “Considering financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons except where par. (b) applies which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data, or involved in such problems or investigations.” Item to be discussed: 1) Discussion regarding complaints received by the Human Resources Department

CONSIDERATIONS

Item 36. Discussion and possible action regarding matters addressed in closed session in response to a complaint received by the Human Resources Department. – HR/Employment Attorney

This is a long list of significant items. In the list at FREE WHITEWATER for the 11.7 session, posts here addressed many of the listed items discussed. Still, other listed items were only briefly discussed by the council, postponed for discussion, or due to be presented again (e.g., the municipal budget). For posts addressing key topics at the 11.7 session see The Complaint Against (Some) on the Whitewater Common Council, The Council’s Own, Extra Law Firm, The Local Press Conference that Was Neither Local Nor a Press Conference (at which councilmembers were present but the local press was not), Managing Pronunciations as Generational Independence, and Micromanaging the City of Whitewater’s Human Resources Work.

One key point: this council majority has lost any benefit of the doubt from its community. The solution is plain: if the council majority doesn’t want to be criticized as foolish and irresponsible, then it shouldn’t act foolishly and irresponsibly.

In all of this, Whitewater is a beautiful city, a delightful place to live, and a community far more capable than its council majority. 

Fresh Pumpkin Pie | Melissa Clark Recipes | The New York Times:

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Animals, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.20.23: Wisconsin Life | Amazing Grace

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 Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:53 and sunset 4:27 for 9h 33m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 51.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM. 

  On this day in 1945, Nuremberg trials begin against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.

Wisconsin Life | Amazing Grace:

US Soybean Farmers Enjoy Export Windfall:

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Music

Monday Music: NEA Jazz Masters: Regina Carter (2023)

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Regina Carter is renowned for her mastery of the violin and exploring the instrument’s possibilities in jazz, as well as taking journeys in other genres of music. A recipient of a MacArthur grant and a Doris Duke Artist Award (as well as an individual NEA jazz grant in 1990), Carter also shares her knowledge and talent through teaching and workshops.

Art, Daily Bread, Mining, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.19.23: Wisconsin Life | Mine Museum

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 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:52 and sunset 4:28 for 9h 35m 36s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 40% of its visible disk illuminated.

Abraham Lincoln (in the center) at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863. To Lincoln’s left is bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon. To his far left is Governor Andrew G. Curtin of Pennsylvania. The photograph is estimated to have been taken at about noontime, just after Lincoln arrived, before Edward Everett’s arrival and about three hours before Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. Josephine Cobb first found Lincoln’s face while working with a glass plate negative at the National Archives in 1952. (Source: NARA, Rare Photo of Lincoln at Gettysburg, http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?p=2564)

  On this day in 1863, President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication ceremony for the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin Life | Mine Museum:

Bug farms are becoming big business: 

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Birds, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.18.23: Wisconsin Life | Crane Count

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 Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 51. Sunrise is 6:51 and sunset 4:28 for 9h 37m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 29.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

By Jonathan Mauer – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50534668 The Western Electric No. 2500, a typical American 12-button phone of the 1970s and early 80s.

  On this day in 1963, the first push-button telephone goes into service.

Wisconsin Life | Crane Count: 

100-pound baby southern white rhinoceros born at zoo in Virginia: 

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City, Council Leadership, Daily Bread, Local Government

Daily Bread for 11.17.23: Micromanaging the City of Whitewater’s Human Resources Work

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 Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:50 and sunset 4:29 for 9h 39m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1869, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.

Embedded above is a video recording of the Whitewater Common Council’s 11.7.23 session.  

At that session on 11.7.23, the council in Items 28 considered “Discussion and possible action regarding the compensation survey – Gerber/HR.” The discussion, such as it was, begins at 1:28:41 on the video. The city’s HR Manager Sara Marquardt and Councilmember Jill Gerber are the principal interlocutors. 

A few remarks: 

Assignments. Many years ago, a conservative councilmember rebuked a colleague for expecting that individual members have the authority to assign work or projects to city staff. That conservative councilmember was right — it’s a collective body, and individual members aren’t empowered that way.  

This Council Majority. In this case —on a council with a majority that has admitted on the record that it requires significant improvement — individual councilmembers would do best to avoid calling around. There is no public verification possible of questions or answers received on phone calls. To whom a councilmember spoke, the precise questions asked, how those questions might have been framed, the complete answers received: none of that is available for public review. 

Note well: this is the only council majority in memory that has had to admit it requires outside guidance on basic functioning that other councils have managed competently. See The Complaint Against (Some) on the Whitewater Common Council. 

Unlike trained full-time employees of the administration, councilmembers are asking questions without that same training and background. As with Allen calling the League of Municipalities, the actual and important conversation is unknown to the public. See Scenes from a Council Meeting (Representations).

This small-town council’s majority acts as though it’s a Congressional committee, wanting its own lawyer, crusading from the dais, etc. Whitewater is a small town, not a large federal district. 

Questioning. There’s a simple set of tactical rules for questioning someone in a public setting. When the person to be questioned has a hard manner, one may effectively question with a hard or soft manner. When the person to be questioned has a soft manner, one can only effectively question in a soft manner. 

In this discussion, there is no circumstance in which one would sensibly approach this HR manager except in a relaxed, affable manner: no accusations, nothing on the spot, no critical implications, etc. Instead, a skillful questioner would approach in a matter-of-fact, indeed, conciliatory way. Almost playful, truly. Any other approach would redound to the questioner’s disadvantage (as it did here).

A Reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. No one should feel bad about Whitewater because of these few. We are a beautiful city, and our people can do much more than this majority. 

No injuries reported after large rockslide closes hiking trail in Zion National Park:

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City, Culture, Daily Bread, Local Government

Daily Bread for 11.16.23: Managing Pronunciations as Generational Independence

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 Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 62. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset 4:30 for 9h 41m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 11.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM. 

  On this day in 1990, Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It’s True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

This post about pronunciation isn’t about pronunciation. This post about zoning isn’t about zoning.

It’s about generational independence.

Here’s the background. Some years ago, in 2016, the City of Whitewater adopted a new zoning designation, R-O. It was an overlay designation, and its effect wherever imposed was to reduce by one the number of unrelated adults who could live together in a single family residence. See City of Whitewater Municipal Code Section 19.25.030.  (“In all nonfamily residential overlay districts, the nonfamily household limitation set forth in Whitewater Municipal Ordinance Section 19.15.010 is reduced from three to two. Therefore, in any nonfamily residential overlay district, a nonfamily household shall be limited to two unrelated persons.”)

The zoning changes of the mid-teens in Whitewater came with, as one can imagine, all sorts of particular preoccupations. City officials at the time made much (way too much) of reminding everyone how to pronounce the R-O district (‘overlay, overlay, overlay’). They said this as though repeating the ‘proper’ pronunciation of the designation R-O (as Ō , the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet) meant as much as the limitations on residency themselves. 

How fortunate that better times have now arrived. 

At the 11.7.23 session of the Whitewater Common Council, beginning at 6:12 on the recording of the meeting, there was a general informational update about the designation that alternated between use of R-O (oh) and R-0 (as zero). Whitewater’s Zoning and Code Enforcement Administrator shifted between the two pronunciations in response to a question, without breaking her stride.

Good for her. Smoothly and well done. 

The brief presentation was useful twice over: it was both informative and free of any particular obsession on trivial particulars that once gripped too many in this government. 

And now, and now, one arrives at the deeper meaning of this brief discussion. Residents have doubtless heard a few aged men insist that there is a certain ‘way we talk around here’ and a certain ‘way we do business around here.’ 

No, and no again. 

It’s a city of 14,889, not a half-dozen. It’s a city of many, not a few. 

No small number, enveloped in self-regard, decides for these many. New officials, new residents, a new generation: they’re free to call all of this what they want.

Tomato, tomahto, and all that. 

This libertarian blogger, happily residing in the House of Dissenting Opinion, finds new variations from new leaders welcome. Sometimes (as in this case), it’s simply delightful. One looks away but for a moment only to see something new upon restoring one’s gaze. 

My late father would sometimes remind: a house is not a museum. Neither is a city: this community is meant to change, to evolve, in spontaneous and dynamic ways. 

Whitewater’s extends beyond a tired few. The city is much more than that, and those who think otherwise are risibly wrong. 

We’re all — fortunately, blessedly, happily — ordinary people in a beautiful town of thousands. Variations, alterations, and improvisations from among those many are most welcome.  

Could a robot chemist create oxygen on Mars using AI?:

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Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.15.23: Wisconsin Life | Hike it Baby

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 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 61. Sunrise is 6:47 and sunset 4:31 for 9h 43m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 5.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Park & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.  

  On this day in 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins his March to the Sea.

Wisconsin Life | Hike it Baby: 

Dini Dowd is a social media influencer and in her words “a stay-outside mom.” She travels the state with her husband and their daughter exploring Wisconsin’s lakes, parks and trails. She shares their trips on social media, helping other families plan their own expeditions and encouraging everyone to get outdoors.

Skaters glide across rare Alaska ‘ice window’:

Alaskan outdoor educator and ice rescue instructor Luc Mehl says an unusually cold and dry transition to winter created a rare ‘ice window’ in October on Rabbit Lake in Alaska.
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America, City, Daily Bread, Development, Economy

Daily Bread for 11.14.23: National Inflation Cools

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:46 and sunset 4:32 for 9h 46m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM. 

  On this day in 1851, Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA.

  Jeanna Smialek reports Consumer prices slowed in October:

Inflation eased in October and price increases showed encouraging signs of slowing under the surface, according to fresh data released on Tuesday. The report provides the Federal Reserve with evidence that its battle against rapid inflation is working.

The overall Consumer Price Index slowed to 3.2 percent last month on a year-over-year basis, lower than the 3.7 percent reading in September and the coolest since July. That deceleration owed partly to more moderate energy prices.

Even with volatile fuel and food prices stripped out, a closely watched “core” price measure climbed 4 percent in the year through October, slower than the previous reading and weaker than what economists had expected.

Inflation has come down meaningfully over the past year after peaking in the summer of 2022, and the fresh report showed evidence of continued progress. Fed officials are trying to wrestle price increases back to roughly the 2 percent pace that was normal before the pandemic by raising interest rates, which they hope will slow consumer and business demand.

These are national figures; local prices changes will vary from the national average.

A question, however, presents itself in every community, big or small: in which local officials will residents place their trust to seize the opportunities of improved conditions? Will Whitewater and other cities turn yet again to those who have produced press releases instead of genuine progress in residents’ individual and household incomes?

Will residents in these communities take the measure of the difference between past positioning and current professional performance? 

Massive cracks and fissures in a road following hundreds of small earthquakes in Iceland:

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City, Culture

Daily Bread for 11.13.23: More on Messaging in Whitewater

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 Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:43 and sunset 4:33 for 9h 48m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

  Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6 PM. 

  On this day in 1940,Walt Disney’s animated musical film Fantasia is first released at New York’s Broadway Theatre, on the first night of a roadshow.

  Yesterday, I posted about a Johnson-Steil political event in Whitewater on Friday. See The Local Press Conference that Was Neither Local Nor a Press Conference. 

That political event raises a question: what kind of local message works in Whitewater, and how does it work?

Another effort, the Save the Pool Committee, is illustrative of the limits of some messaging in Whitewater. 

(I’ve supported funding for the pool, and have argued that the dispute should have been resolved before the start of the school year. This post, however, isn’t about funding; it’s about messaging.)

At a council meeting about a month ago, a resident pointed out that the City of Whitewater’s success in moving toward a resolution of the funding dispute for the pool rested with Whitewater’s city manager, John Weidl. You know, although I’m not in the habit of touting the public sector, the resident’s observation is spot on. 

There was a ‘Save the Pool Committee’ formed in the winter or late spring of this year, not long before the April spring elections. That committee held a few of its own meetings, and leading members of that group attended a few public meetings, but it contributed next to nothing to the work that moved pool negotiations along.

One knows this because the negotiations required a level of detail that the pool group’s mere ire did not involve. Whining at a joint meeting that district officials were selfish accomplished nothing. In fact, it showed how mono-dimensional and overly emotional a public relations man and a few others can be. (In the same futile way, Councilmember Jim Allen’s request to bring a few tables together at one public meeting did nothing to bring a resolution closer but did bring both city and district into a questionable change from an open Wisconsin meeting to a semi-private one.)

Over the months that followed, it was point by point, item by item negotiations that moved the dispute closer to resolution.

By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129777403

In the summer, I attended the joint meeting of the Whitewater Common Council and the Whitewater School Board, in Whitewater’s council chambers. The scene was revealing.

In the back of the room sat two of the Save the Pool Committee leaders, with another supporter in the row in front of them. They listened to the discussion only intermittently, using the rest of the time to talk to each other while elected officials were speaking, to fidget with a pencil, or to praise a different meeting they had recently attended. (From my point of view, being so close was like a hike where a flock of birds settled nearby. Nature always yields insights.)  

In that same meeting, sitting a few rows forward to my right was Whitewater’s superintendent, Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty. I could see her left side, and she was attentive to the discussion, with her expression changing as the discussion shifted, reflecting her responses to various points raised. Her right hand was also visible, and she occasionally gestured intensely  with that hand, the way someone attending a competition might react to successes or failures of a team on a playing field.  She occasionally looked down at notes on her lap during the meeting.

I thought to myself: The gap in focus and commitment between this superintendent and these pool committee leaders is Grand Canyon wide.

(I’ve no interest in a conflict with our superintendent, especially as I find myself busy elsewhere in the city. Indeed, the community surely knows that I’ve nothing but love in my bleeding libertarian heart for Dr. Pate-Hefty and all my fellow creatures.) Yet, if a dispute should one day arise between that superintendent and this libertarian blogger, I’d not underestimate her. One begins all challenges and campaigns from the perspective of a dark horse underdog.

Although I support funding to sustain the pool, it’s clear that the Save the Pool Committee advanced the pool only slightly. They overestimated their own skill in messaging, underestimated the work required to achieve a result, underestimated the district superintendent’s diligence, and have had success only through the efforts of Whitewater’s city manager. 

Successful campaigns are hard. Self-promotion and self-congratulation devolve into self-delusion. 

Moment whale body-slams wingfoiler at Sydney beach:

James Breen was wingfoiling at Mona Vale beach in Australia when a humpback whale soared out of the water and landed on top of him, dragging him about 20 to 30 feet below the surface. His GoPro captured the dramatic moment on camera. As he wrestled underwater, he said he could feel the smooth skin of the whale, leading him to believe it was a juvenile. After his leg rope snapped, he clawed his way back to the surface and made his way to the shore safely.
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City, Open Government, Police, Press, Press Release, Public Meetings

Daily Bread for 11.12.23: The Local Press Conference that Was Neither Local Nor a Press Conference

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 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:43 and sunset 4:34 for 9h 50m 25s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1948, in Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.

  On Friday, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil found their way to Whitewater for a closed press conference. (A closed event like that is a sham event, and simply a glorified press release with a few local people sitting around as window dressing, non-playing characters, tailor’s dummies, etc.) 

But Johnson and Steil, who’ve never carried the City of Whitewater and never will, had a message for a statewide audience. The few, selected, non-local reporters they carefully situated gave Johnson and Steil the headline they wanted:

Wisconsin lawmakers hold roundtable on crime cartels in Whitewater; call on stricter border policies from Biden Administration.

People will not want to visit, shop, send their children to school, or live in a city that is identified, as this state story does, with a crime cartel. 

People who live here now will not want that either. A more level-headed look at Whitewater would have required a thoughtful set of stories, not a television station’s clickbait. 

For insightful local reporting, the kind that Johnson and Steil did not include in their political event, one should look instead to WhitewaterWise:

Johnson, Steil meet in Whitewater with law enforcement officials; policing challenges discussed and Johnson, Steil hold press conference in Whitewater, discuss immigration, border security initiatives.

That brings residents to the question of policing challenges in Whitewater. At the 11.7.23 meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, one councilmember mentioned the need for at least three more officers for Whitewater’s department.

It’s an understatement to say that the way to build consensus in Whitewater for an expanded force will not come from what officials in county, state, or federal offices think. Some in Whitewater will, surely, support the Johnson-Steil approach. The challenge that Whitewater’s department and council face is that a significant number here find Johnson & Steil objectionable (so much so that neither has ever carried the city vote). It’s not simply that Johnson & Steil are unpopular among Latinos here; they’re unpopular generally. 

An enduring consensus here will be the opposite of their approach: not turning up the dial to eleven, but turning it down to four, and then beginning the discussion. This approach will seem counter-intuitive, if not an invitation to trickery, to many who are addicted to the notion that raising the temperature is a sure-fire winner on this issue. (In some places, on some issues, it is; in Whitewater, on this issue, it won’t be.)

This libertarian blogger doesn’t, and never will, represent the government. Whitewater’s officials will have to sort out the local implications in Whitewater if they want incremental gains in both headcount and community relations for Whitewater. People choose freely, sometimes well, sometimes poorly.  

Much will depend here on how insightful local officials will be about their own local politics and community culture.

We’ll see.

Oops! Lion wanders through Italian town after escaping circus:

A lion prowled the streets of an Italian seaside town for several hours after escaping from a local circus, before being sedated and captured.

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