Business, CDA, City, Local Government, Open Government, Public Records 2

Public Records Request of 6.26.18 (Grocery)

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/03/2018 • 6 Comments

Yesterday’s post addressed open government aspects of an unrecorded council meeting. See Public Records Request of 6.26.18 (Open Government). This post will consider a slide presentation from the unrecorded Whitewater Community Development Authority presentation of 6.19.18 on grocery store recruitment. Embedded immediately below is that slide presentation, and a link to the 5.19.16 Perkins supermarket…

Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Marketing, Planning, Poverty, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC

A Candid Admission from the Whitewater CDA

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/10/2018 • Comments

Sometimes, however rarely, even in places with the most stubborn boosterism, an official admits – wittingly or unwittingly – the failure of longstanding policy. Dave Carlson, executive director of the Whitewater Community Development Authority, is such an official. In a press release from March 27th, lauding a provision of the Trump tax bill, Carlson quotes…

Conflicts of Interest, Local Government, Politics, School District, That Which Paved the Way

First Serving

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/27/2017 • Comments

Whitewater’s longtime politician, current school board member, and ersatz newsman Jim Stewart has published an update on candidacies for upcoming school board, city council, and county board races. A few quick comments: 1. Stewart’s Update on Compensation. Stewart has an update to his post, or rather UPDATED, on the compensation for each office. Why he…

City, Economy, Politics

The Winnowing Transition

by JOHN ADAMS • 11/15/2017 • 2 Comments

Today’s a good day to post about the transition through which Whitewater is now going. It’s a winnowing transition, in which many political and economic positions formerly popular are slowly being swept away. (There are, in fact, few leading public officials even from a decade ago still around. Those who are operate in conditions of…

City, Culture

The Shallowness of Local Policymaking (and Some Policymakers)

by JOHN ADAMS • 09/25/2017 • Comments

Consider a woman who walks into an auto dealer to buy a new car. She asks him about the price of one of his cars, and he tells her that it’s a great bargain. She asks the dealer why it’s a great bargain, and he tells her he can prove it, handing her a piece…

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.18.17

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/18/2017 • Comments

Good morning. Father’s Day in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-four. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 20m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 39.4% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}two hundred twenty-second day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as…

City, Culture, Economy, University

Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 9: Small-Town Harvards)

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/15/2017 • 3 Comments

This is the ninth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Alana Semuels asks Could Small-Town Harvards Revive Rural Economies? Her contention, as she succinctly describes it: College campuses and educational institutions can bolster the economies of small towns that otherwise would be struggling like many…

Education, School District

It’s What’s Inside That Truly Matters

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/25/2017 • 4 Comments

For years, Whitewater has seen construction project after construction project: a new high school, remodeled buildings, a Bridge to Nowhere, a roundabout, an Innovation Center, a Starin Road extension, an East Gate project, etc. And yet, and yet…it’s what’s inside that truly matters. While many a formerly-fine church has come to ruin for…

Books, Culture, Economy, Janesville, Politics

Considering Janesville: An American Story (Part 13 of 14)

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/15/2017 • Comments

This is the thirteenth in a series of posts considering Amy Goldstein’s Janesville: An American Story. In this post, I’ll cover one chapter of Part Six (2013) of Janesville (Chapter 54, A Glass More Than Half Full). Goldstein’s 54th chapter describes a 2013 dinner of Forward Janesville (a local “business alliance hell-bent on reviving the city’s economy”). Someone at…

Books, Culture, Economy, Janesville

Considering Janesville: An American Story (Part 2 of 14)

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/02/2017 • 4 Comments

This is the second in a series of posts considering Amy Goldstein’s Janesville: An American Story. In this post, I’ll write about the prologue and the first four chapters of Janesville (Prologue, A Ringing Phone, The Carp Swimming on Main Street, Craig, and A Retirement Party). Janesville, Wisconsin’s manufacturing story reaches back far before General Motors produced its…

City, Culture, Local Government

What an Invitation Says (and Doesn’t Say)

by JOHN ADAMS • 03/28/2017 • 2 Comments

Embed from Getty Images Over at the City of Whitewater’s website, there’s a notice about a public meeting at which candidates for a city job will available to the public. Although the notice is formally correct (to meet the requirements of Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, Wis. Stats. §§ 19.81-19.98), as a community matter there’s something sad…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, University

Marnocha’s Return

by JOHN ADAMS • 10/17/2016 • 1 Comment

I posted last week that Randy Marnocha, formerly a UW-Whitewater administrator, is back as interim athletic director following the demotion of Amy Edmonds. See, from this website on 10.14.16, UW-Whitewater’s Interim Athletic Director. The issue on campus is not simply whether this or that person will hold office, but whether the school will produce an administration…

School District, Sports, University

The Value of Sports

by JOHN ADAMS • 01/15/2016 • 5 Comments

Whitewater has had athletic successes in our district and on campus. Our high school and local university have witnessed impressive state & national accomplishments. Few cities have done so well. It’s been my pleasure to attend and cheer for Whitewater’s high school and college teams. I was graduated from another school, but like so many…

University

The Former Chancellor’s Only Weakness

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/15/2015 • Comments

Months ago, as then-Chancellor Richard Telfer was preparing for retirement, then-Provost Beverly Kopper thought about his career, and spotted only one weakness: Chancellor Richard Telfer has only one weakness, according to Beverly Kopper, provost at UW-Whitewater. This weakness isn’t being a bad listener or not being able to do his job. His weakness is only…