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Meetings & Motivations

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WGTB logo PNG 112x89 Post 11 in a series.

This is series about a proposed digester energy project for Whitewater, one that would rely on importing other cities’ unwanted waste into Whitewater for processing.

A series like this is only indirectly about general wastewater upgrades, at whatever price. It’s about waste importation, and officials’ claims that importation would be clean and profitable. It’s necessarily and directly about the consequences of waste importation, fiscally, economically, environmentally, and as an expression of a city’s business and political culture.

Updated 6.9.15 with video.

Planning for a Public Meeting from John Adams on Vimeo.

During a recent Common Council meeting from June 2nd, at item C3, Common Council discussed a public presentation about upgrades to the wastewater facility. Part of that discussion implicates the digester proposal, but much concerns other matters.

During that discussion, at C3 and again later, City Manager Clapper expresses his confidence in the full project, including implicitly a plan to import waste into Whitewater (he’s not alone in that confidence, among those in attendance).

Part of City Manager Clapper’s confidence comes from a mild or positive reception that he’s received from selected stakeholder groups.

This raises two questions, not needing to be enumerated, but implicated in the entire project and this series.

First, why would anyone doubt that the response to city officials, from among selected audiences, would be other than mild or positive?

Second, does anyone at the 6.2.15 meeting actually believe that my questions are designed simply toward a political vote on the project?

Of the first, there are good examples from across America of waste-importation projects like this one, and how local government approves or rejects them. I’ve no idea what Whitewater’s various engineering firms have said about these votes (if anything), but then, it’s always better to do one’s own research. What Mr. Clapper is now seeing is common, almost predictable, in the short-term in these situations.

Of the second, I’m not interested solely in the short-term, of Whitewater getting or rejecting an importation plan. If City Manager Clapper wanted a vote on this project tomorrow, including importing as much waste into Whitewater as he could shovel, he’d receive easy political approval for that idea.

But looking at this project as a matter of approval or rejection isn’t looking at this project, it would be looking at approval or rejection of it.

Looking at an importation plan (and that’s what this series is about) has value far beyond Whitewater, as an examination of how communities consider, approve, and implement these supposedly green and supposedly energy-generating ideas. What matters most happens only after a program like this starts running.

There’s Whitewater’s importation plan, there are the longterm implications of Whitewater’s plan for Whitewater, and there are the implications of Whitewater’s plan generally, for any community, as a supposed digester-energy project.

These three aren’t the same.

I’ve a guess – and it’s just a guess – about why the obvious, long-term motivation of my series doesn’t (at least doesn’t seem) apparent to City Manager Clapper.

I’ll write about that tomorrow, using an observation a longtime resident sent me about marketing efforts for Whitewater.

Original Common Council Discussion, 6.2.15
Agenda: http://www.whitewater-wi.gov/images/stories/agendas/common_council/2015/ccagen_2015-0602.pdf
Video: https://vimeo.com/129697983

WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN: Mondays @ 10 AM, here on FREE WHITEWATER.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.8.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with a high of seventy-nine, and an even chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:31, for 15h 15m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 63.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

 

On this day in 1867, Frank Lloyd Wright is born in Richland Center:

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater (1935), which has been called “the best all-time work of American architecture”.[1] Wright was a leader of the Prairie Schoolmovement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States.

His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. Wright also designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wright wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe. His colorful personal life often made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio. Already well known during his lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as “the greatest American architect of all time”.[1]

Puzzability begins a new series, entitled Disappearing Acts:

This Week’s Game — June 8-12
Disappearing Acts
They’re all trick questions this week. For each day, we started with the name of a magic or mentalist act as it would be billed. We removed all the letters that appear more than once, leaving just the singly occurring letters. Each day’s clue gives the unique letters in order (with any spaces removed), along with the word lengths of the act’s name in parentheses.
Example:
AYOUDN (5,7)
Answer:
Harry Houdini
What to Submit:
Submit the name (as “Harry Houdini” in the example) for your answer.
Monday, June 8
SGFANOY (9,3,3)

CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Gluttony, Government Spending, Local Government, Public Relations, University, WEDC

Another Six-Figure WEDC Loan to an Unworthy Applicant

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Across the state, revelation after revelation shows that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has been a mistake, a wasteful political endeavor contrary to sound economics. Locally, support for the WEDC, from Whitewater’s Community Development Authority, Chancellor Richard Telfer, City Manager Cameron Clapper, etc., shows not only that they’re ignorant of sound economics, but so politically inept that they’d pick the WEDC as the vehicle through which they’d assert their self-professed sophistication.

Initial public-relations efforts on behalf of the WEDC (whether flashy from the state or dull from local officials) now look like nothing so much as a coat of paint on a brothel.

Months after Gov. Scott Walker’s flagship job-creation agency was formed in 2011, it gave a forgivable $686,000 taxpayer loan to a Sheboygan company planning to build a combination helicopter and corporate jet — even though the company had no experience in aircraft manufacturing and underwriters hadn’t reviewed the company’s finances in years.

But Morgan Aircraft hasn’t created the 340 jobs it promised by the end of 2015, did not make the promised $105 million investment and is not expected to repay the loan….

See, $700,000 WEDC loan to aviation company unpaid @ State Journal.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.7.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will bring scattered thunderstorms and a high of eighty-three. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:31, for 15h 14m 34s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 72.95 of its visible disk illuminated.

In Friday’s FW poll, respondents could decide whether a Maryland house allegedly filled with snakes, unbeknownst to the buyers at the time of purchase, was a lost investment or a bonus herpetarium. A large majority (90.91%) thought that it was a lost investment. So little love, it seems, for black rat snakes…

On this day in 1776, Richard Henry Lee from Virginia introduces a resolution before the Second Continental Congress:

In August 1774, Lee was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In Lee’s Resolution on the 7th of June 1776 during the Second Continental Congress, Lee put forth the motion to the Continental Congress to declare Independence from Great Britain, which read (in part):

Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

Lee had returned to Virginia by the time Congress voted on and adopted the Declaration of Independence, but he signed the document when he returned to Congress.

Lee later served as a president of Congress under the Articles of Confederation.

On this day in 1864, Union soldiers from Wisconsin enjoy a brief respite from the intense fighting of the Wilderness Campaign:

From May 31-June 12, 1864, more than 160,000 men clashed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, during the Wilderness Campaign. The 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 36th Wisconsin Infantry regiments took part. On June 7, the Iron Brigade regiments were moved to a position on the Union line where they were less exposed to enemy fire. “Our spirits rise wonderfully,” reported Col. Rufus Dawes. “It is impossible for one who has not undergone it, to fully understand the depression of spirits caused by such long, continued, and bloody fighting and work… We are having the first quiet day for more than a month.”

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.6.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Saturday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:30, for 15h 13m 41s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 82.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, Allied forces landed at Normandy, and the New York Times reported the news to its readers the following morning:

By Drew Middleton By Cable to The New York Times

Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, Wednesday, June 7–The German Atlantic Wall has been breached.

Thousands of American, Canadian and British soldiers, under cover of the greatest air and sea bombardment of history, have broken through the “impregnable” perimeter of Germany’s “European fortress” in the first phase of the invasion and liberation of the Continent.

Comminiqué, issued at the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, before last midnight, reported that all initial landings, which had earlier been located on the coast of Normandy, in northern France, had “succeeded.” The Germans told of heavy fighting with Allied air-bone troops in Caen, road and railroad junction eight and one-half miles inland from the Seine Bay coast, and the enemy said there was heavy fighting at several points in a crescent-shaped front reaching from St. Vaast-la-Hougue, on the west, to Havre, on the east.

[The German Transocean News Agency said early Wednesday that the Allies had made “further landings at the mouth of the Orne under cover of naval artillery,” according to The Associated Press. The agency said “heavy fighting” was raging. [A British broadcast, recorded by Blue Network monitors, said Wednesday that “another air-borne landing south of Cherbourg has been reported.” Another British broadcast said that Allied bulldozers were busy “carving out the first RAF airfield on the coast of France.”]

At last midnight, just over twenty-four hours after the beginning of the operation, these were the salient points in the military situation:

1. Despite underwater obstacles and beach defenses, which in some areas extended for more than 1,000 yards inland, the Atlantic Wall has been breached by Allied infantry.

2. The largest air-borne force ever launched by the Allies has been successfully dropped behind the Atlantic Wall and has attacked by second echelon of German defenses vigorously. The Germans estimate this force at not less than four divisions, two American and two British, of paratroops and air-borne infantry.

3. Most of the German coastal batteries in the invasion area have been silenced by 10,000 tons of bombs and by shelling from 640 naval ships. The shelling was so intense that H M S Tanatside, a British destroyer, had exhausted all her ammunition by 8 o’ clock yesterday morning.

4. Against 7,500 sorties flown from Monday midnight to 8 A.M., Tuesday, by the Allied Air Forces during the first day of the invasion the Luftwaffe has flown fifty, and the main weight of the enemy air force in the west, estimated at 1,750 aircraft, has not entered the battle.

5. The first enemy naval assault on the Allied invasion armada was beaten off with the loss of one enemy trawler and severe damage to another.

There is reasonable optimism at this headquarters now, but there is no effort to disguise concern over several factors, among them weather and the shape of the first major German counter-blow.

What is for us, now, a matter of seemingly inevitable triumph was, for Americans then, a matter of uncertainty and personal worry, for the war effort and for the well-being their loved ones serving in it.

On this day in 1996, Congress authorizes Wisconsin to proceed with welfare reform:

On this date the U.S. House of Representatives voted 289-136 to approve H.R. 3562, the Wisconsin Only bill. This bill authorized the state of Wisconsin to implement its statewide welfare reform demonstration project, Wisconsin Works, or W-2. [Source: Library of Congress]

Animals, Poll

Friday Poll: Maryland Snake House

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Jeff and Jody Brooks contend that the home they bought in Maryland is infested with snakes, and so they’re suing a real estate agent for four times the sale price:

Jeff, with his machete, leads two lawyers to the basement.

“Let him go first,” says his wife, Jody Brooks, from the doorway.

Because their Annapolis-area home, the couple says, is infested with snakes.

Black rat snakes wintered in the walls and tunneled through the insulation. Snake paths ran from the basement to the roof.

Jeff and Jody Brooks bought the house on the Broadneck Peninsula in December. They filed a lawsuit two weeks ago seeking $2 million and claiming the real estate agent hid her knowledge of the snakes.

Here’s today’s question: assuming the home is infested with snakes, and that the Brooks family was unaware of that fact, have they suffered a loss? Is this a lost investment, or, by getting a house full of snakes, have they instead gained a bonus herpetarium, a small snake-filled zoo for the delight of the community?

(Quick note: I’m not contending that this house, as a bonus herpetarium, would be a reasonable legal defense for the realtor; it certainly wouldn’t be. This poll is simply a general measure of what the Brooks family received if they’ve a house full of black rat snakes.)

Would that snake house, in your estimation, be a good or bad thing?

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.5.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be sunny with a high of seventy-three. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:29 for 15h 12m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 90.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1723, Adam Smith is born:

Adam Smith (16 June 1723 NS (5 June 1723 OS) – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher, pioneer of political economy, and key Scottish Enlightenment figure.[1]

Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is cited as the “father of modern economics” and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today.[2]

Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by fellow Scot, John Snell. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures atEdinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day.

Smith laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, he expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirised by Tory writers in the moralising tradition of William Hogarth and Jonathan Swift. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time.[3]

It’s worth noting that those who criticize Smith without having read his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) simply do not understand the thinking of the man they’re criticizing.

On this day in 1883, William Horlick receives a patent for powdered milk:

On this date William Horlick patented the first powdered milk in the world. He named his new product, intended to be used as a health food for infants, “Malted Milk.” Horlick’s product went on to be used as a staple in fountain drinks as well as survival provisions. Malted milk was even included in explorations undertaken by Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen and Richard Byrd. [Source: Racine History]

Here’s the final game in Puzzability‘s Six-Packs series:

This Week’s Game — June 1-5
Six-Packs
We’ve got a splinter group of trivia every day this week. For each day, we’ll give you a category and a list of all the members of that category with six letters in their names—except one.
Example:
Current Supreme Court justices: Breyer, Thomas
Answer:
Scalia
What to Submit:
Submit the missing category member (as “Scalia” in the example) for your answer.
Friday, June 5
Summer Olympics sites: Athens, Berlin, London, Moscow, Munich

Food, Restaurant, Review

Restaurant Review: Taco Fresco (Revisited)

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I reviewed Taco Fresco previously, years ago, when the establishment was under different ownership.

This is an easy recommendation. The food’s delicious, the atmosphere pleasant.

After a long day, I thought that I’d revisit to see how Taco Fresco was was faring. (This was a visit for a review, not a causal visit otherwise. In any event, all my visits are those of an ordinary patron without special consideration, etc. It’s an understatement to say that I’ve no respect for glad-handing one’s way into an establishment.)

A preliminary question: what’s Mexican fare? Justice Potter Stewart famously declared, about a far less savory subject, that “I know it when I see it.” That’s true here – I don’t know what it means to other establishments to say that they serve ‘authentic’ Mexican food, but Taco Fresco’s servings of quesadillas, tacos, beer-ritas, etc., with an ambiance that’s Mexican, but also modern American, are well worth the visit.

Put aside others’ claims, and enjoy Taco Fresco’s mix of Mexican and American influences. I’d say this is the best Mexican that I have had in town.

Taco Fresco has seating inside (seven tables by my count), and outside (a long, high table and perhaps three other tables). They also deliver.

My visit —

I decide to eat inside, to see what it would be like at any time of year (our warm weather is short-lived).

A young and friendly waitress, about the age of one of my nieces, greets me and asks if I’ll be dining inside. I tell her that I will be, and she offers me the table of my choice. I choose a spot farther back, to see more of the dining room. Without my asking, she adjusts the lighting for my meal.

I order a soda and beer, of a less popular brew. (Beer and soda – with something bottled, I’ll often drift back and forth between one and the other; it’s not something that I’d do with anything on tap.)

The waitress offers a bottle, opened, no glass. I’m momentarily surprised, having expected a glass. But as I look around, at the hip and eclectic decor, and hear the mix of rock and indie playing in the background, I realize she’s absolutely right. A glass would be superfluous, almost wrong. She knows her establishment, and as I settle in, I see how comfortable it is.

The beer is surprisingly fresh, as though it were only recently bottled. Just right.

My server takes my order, and soon arrives a plate of quesadillas, with two small stainless containers, for sour cream and guacamole. The kitchen’s nearby; I could hear the order being prepared.

The serving is ample, but simply presented: just three items on the oval plate. I’m not sure what to make of the plain presentation at first, but the quesadillas look inviting, and the aroma is enticing.

From my first taste, I’m happy – honest to goodness, it’s delicious. Steak’s tender, and the quesadilla is lightly browned, as it should be.

A test – what will I think of the guacamole and sour cream? Bad guac is all-too-common. I sample some, and like the quesadilla, it’s tasty. So much so, that I’d have it from the small container, alone, if I didn’t have a dish to adorn.

As I’m eating, I notice the waitress opens the door for another party, then leaving. She thanks them for coming, and they depart – after meal and scene – visibly happy. She’s equally attentive to all the patrons during my visit, moving gracefully from inside to outside.

When I’m nearly finished, she brings me my check – a paper check, handwritten, with her entries for my meal. I seldom see a slip that’s not computer-generated. As much as I’m online, on this website and its sister sites, still I find the paper guest check welcome, almost quaint.

I stand to leave; she asks me if I’d like change, but I tell her it’s not necessary. She thanks me, for the tip and my visiting. I tell her that she’s welcome. There’s a part of me, though, just for a moment, that wants to thank her, and her cook, more fully for a pleasant visit. But they’ve work ahead, and so do I, so I smile and walk outside.

I can say that I enjoyed Taco Fresco, and will be back again.

Easily recommended.

ONLINE:
https://www.facebook.com/tacofresco2013

LOCATION: 175 West Main Street, Whitewater, WI 53190. (262) 473-1287.

OPEN: Dining hours are daily from 11 AM to 9:00 PM.

PRICES: Dish & beer for about $10-12.

RESERVATIONS: Accepted.

DELIVERY: Yes.

DRINKS: Beers, beer-ritas, sodas, water.

SOUND: Moderate to high, with an eclectic, mix of rock, indie.

SERVICE: Friendly, attentive, considerate.

VISITS: One (supper).

RATING: 3.5 of 4.

GoldStarGoldStarGoldStarGoldStar1

RATING SCALE: From one to four stars, representing the full experience of food, atmosphere, service, and pricing.

INDEPENDENCE: This review is delivered without financial or other connection to the establishment or its owner. The dining experience was that of an ordinary patron, without notice to the staff or requests for special consideration.