FREE WHITEWATER

276 search results for "innovation center"

Update: Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Good for Producing Innovative, ‘International’ Fairy Tales

Over at a nearby paper, there’s yet another announcement, entitled Innovation Center saluted for economic development, about how Whitewater’s multi-million dollar, publicly-financed Innovation Center supposedly won a significant ‘international’ award. For a critique of a previous announcement of this kind, see Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Good for Producing Innovative, ‘International’ Fairy tales. There are three points…

The Dodgy Statement About Violations of a Federal Grant for the Whitewater Innovation Center

There’s a Whitewater Community Development Authority and Tech Park Board meeting today. Before the CDA meets again, one should consider how principal players in Whitewater’s multi-million dollar Innovation Center project have rationalized explained violations of federal competition in bidding requirements. Explanations offered at the October 13th Tech Park Board meeting and the October 25th Community…

Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Good for Producing Innovative, ‘International’ Fairy tales

A small town in middle America receives an award from a group, of whom no normal person has ever heard, declaring a town project internationally prestigious. The project relies on millions in public grants, millions in subsidized public bonds, will use a third of its space for a publicly-funded tenant, has no clear private purpose,…

The City Manager’s Dodgy Tale About Violations of a Federal Grant for the Whitewater Innovation Center

It was sadly predictable that only a few days after a story about how the City of Whitewater violated federal law in awarding a contract under a multi-million dollar federal grant, City Manager Kevin Brunner would attempt to distort & minimize the nature of the violation, with a tale that’s simply incredible. Sure enough, he’s…

Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Economic Development Administration Sends ‘Cease and Desist’ Letter Over Alleged Violation of Competition in Construction Requirements

The City of Whitewater, together with UW-Whitewater and the Whitewater Community Development Authority, is undertaking an eleven-million dollar, publicly-funded technology park project. The centerpiece of that project is an Innovation Center building. (I have written about the project before; for information on the relationship between the three organizations involved in the project, see the Memorandum…

Whitewater’s Innovation Center from the Perspective of the New Deal

I posted yesterday about Whitewater’s Innovation Center, in a post entitled, Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Grants and Bonds. The more one looks at the project, the emptier it seems. Attempts to justify the multi-million dollar public expenditure — on their own, apart from any other consideration — are exercises in embarrassing hyperbole. Attempts to answer objections…

Whitewater’s Innovation Center: Grants and Bonds

Whitewater’s planned Innovation Center and Tech Park rest on a multi-million dollar federal grant and millions in federally-subsidized bonds. The grant is for $4.7 million, and here is how a page from the Economic Development Administration described the purpose for those millions: September 7-September 11, 2009 ….$4,740,809 to the Whitewater Community Development Authority, the University…

Whitewater’s Innovation Center Groundbreaking

I’ve written before about Whitewater’s tech park and Innovation Center, and some of the coverage it’s received. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Innovation Center, held this Tuesday, is another opportunity to review officials’ flimsy claims. Statements at the event were sadly, but predictably, empty. Prior Posts. I’ve written about the Tech Park and Innovation Center…

On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant, Part 2

An official’s weak arguments don’t become better or more convincing on repetition. On the contrary, stubborn repetition only reveals additional errors and mistakes, offering more opportunities for a robust critique. Last week, I wrote about the selection of CESA 2, a taxpayer-funded agency, as the anchor tenant for Whitewater’s upcoming Innovation Center, a taxpayer-funded and…