Public Meetings
Urban Forestry Commission
by JOHN ADAMS •
Public Meetings
Downtown Whitewater Design Committee
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.20.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-one. Sunrise was at 5:35 a.m. this morning, and sunset will be at 8:28 p.m. The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase with 94% of its visible disk illuminated.
And of the moon, on this day in 1969, man first walks on its surface:
At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.
No less astonishing, these forty-four years later:
On this day in 1976, a baseball record:
1976 – Hank Aaron Hits Record Home Run
On this date Hank Aaron hit his 755th and last home run at Milwaukee County Stadium against the California Angels. [Source: Milwaukee Brewers]
Cats
Friday Catblogging: Cat Rescue
by JOHN ADAMS •
Poll
Friday Poll: Civet Coffee
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Huffington Post, there’s a story about a taste test of civet-poop coffee. Civets eat coffee beans, but digest them only imperfectly:
It comes from a bean that’s been swallowed and partially digested by a civet, a mammal native to parts of Asia and Africa that looks a bit like a cat but is more closely related to the mongoose.
The civet has a reputation for climbing trees to eat the best, hardest to reach coffee berries. At some magical, undocumented point in history, a truly disturbed person picked out the partially digested beans from the animal’s poo, and found that it was fermented to perfection in the varmint’s alimentary canal.
Now, farmers are harvesting these beans for big bucks. And, of course, we use the word “harvesting” to be polite.
But is it worth $55 or more for roughly two servings? Editors at The Huffington Post tested Doi Chaang Coffee Company’s civet coffee, and pitted it against Starbucks and 7-Eleven to see which hot drink is the crappiest (video above).
Taste-testers at the Huffington Post found the coffee delicious.
Would you try it?
I’ll say yes, I would. How about you?
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.19.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
One last day of consecutive temperatures in the nineties for Whitewater: a high of ninety-one with a one-third chance of early afternoon thunderstorms.
The European Space’s Agency’s satellite, Mars Express, offers sharp and stunning pictures of that planet’s surface:
On 7.19.1799, a profound discovery:
On this day in 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria. The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. The ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone told archaeologists that it was inscribed by priests honoring the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V, in the second century B.C. More startlingly, the Greek passage announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning. The artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been “dead” for nearly 2,000 years.
Puzzability‘s current series, Switch Hitters, concludes today.
Switch Hitters
There are some changes in this week’s lineup. For each day, change a letter in each of the two words given and move the space to get the name of a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Example:
TOSS WAVER
Answer:
Tom Seaver
Here’s the puzzle for Friday:
ASK ALICE
Anderson, Cartoons & Comics
Heat
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.18.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny and hot, with a high of ninety-two.
There are comets, and then there are sungrazing comets:
In Wisconsin history, on 7.18.1865, some Wisconsin soldiers end their service to the Union:
1865 – (Civil War) Four Wisconsin regiments muster out
The 3rd and 18th Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 1st and 6th Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries mustered out. For details on their service, see the Civil War Regiments page.
Puzzability‘s current series, Switch Hitters, continues its July 15-19 run.
Switch Hitters
There are some changes in this week’s lineup. For each day, change a letter in each of the two words given and move the space to get the name of a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Example:
TOSS WAVER
Answer:
Tom Seaver
Here’s the puzzle for Thursday:
CRY SUNG
City, Local Government
Common Council Session of 7.16.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few items from a long Common Council session —
Council chose an appointee to fill the open Aldermanic District 1 seat. After an initial 3-3 vote between Philip Frawley and Tiiu Gray-Fow, Council selected Philip Frawley. The process – as with the one used last December – was a good one. Applications, speaking in open session, a vote: that’s open and informative, both. Best wishes to Mr. Frawley in the term ahead.
The East Gate Project. It’s lovely, and (sure enough) it will cost millions. It’s like a homeowner’s too-pricey remodel (only with public money): one can spend what one wants, but the expense will not be recouped.
The CDA’s proposed purchase of hundreds of acres of Whitewater’s public land for a dollar. There are two aspects to this proposal: those of policy and those of law. So far, there’s been principal discussion of it twice in Council (6.4.13 and last night, 7.16.13) and once at the CDA (6.27.13).
The proposal will go back to the CDA after last night’s review and direction session.
My take after a first review of what’s now transpired, including the discussion from last night: the policy claims in favor of the sale are diverse but sometimes contradictory (depending on which member of the CDA is advocating for it) but more significantly the legal due diligence required for the sale seems incomplete.
There’s time enough to organize all of the public videos and memoranda on the proposal (including last night’s video), and post on both aspects of it. It’s not that it can’t be done, but rather how it can be done, that matters (even if setting aside the policy question of whether it should be done).
All in all, a long summer evening that went about how one might have expected.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.17.13
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Wednesday brings a high of eighty-nine with a heat index of ninety-six. We’ve a one-in-ten chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm.
If people have been teasing you because you’ve never seen a video of foxes on a trampoline, then a single mouse click should improve that unfortunate situation:
On this day in 1955, a California theme park opens:
Disneyland, Walt Disney’s metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy, and futurism, opens on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits. Today, Disneyland hosts more than 14 million visitors a year, who spend close to $3 billion.
In Wisconsin history on 7.17.1995, a huge merger:
1995 – Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark Merge
On this date, after months of negotiations, the merger of Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark companies was announced. The $9.4 billion merger created a Fortune 100 global consumer products company with annual revenue of more than $13 billion. [Source: KimberlyClark.com]
Puzzability‘s current series, Switch Hitters, is at the middle of its July 15-19 run.
Switch Hitters
There are some changes in this week’s lineup. For each day, change a letter in each of the two words given and move the space to get the name of a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Example:
TOSS WAVER
Answer:
Tom Seaver
Here’s the puzzle for Wednesday:
HONK SWAGGER
Film, History, Military
Film: Free Showing of Honor Flight, Sunday, July 21st at 2:30 p.m.
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Sunday, July 21st, there will be a showing of the film Honor Flight at 2:30 p.m. at Mulberry Glen, 1255 W. Main Street, Whitewater. It is being shown courtesy of Mulberry Glen and Capri Senior Communities.
The showing is free and open to the public.
Information regarding this film is available at the Internet Movie Data Base @ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2329758/.
Many of our local veterans that went on the Honor Flight would be interested in this film.
The viewing of this film last summer at Miller Park broke the Guiness World Book record for a movie premiere attendance!
CDA, City, Law, Local Government
The CDA’s Possible Purchase of Hundreds of Acres of Whitewater’s Public Land for a Dollar
by JOHN ADAMS •
Council’s scheduled to address the possibility of selling hundreds of acres of public land to the Community Development Authority for a dollar ($1.00). (It’s Item C-9 on tonight’s agenda.)
The proposal’s been kicked around for months, but I’m curious if there’s been any positive headway since an April memo from the CDA’s Patrick Cannon, and discussions at Common Council and the CDA in June.
It’s an understatement to say that what’s been discussed so far presents questions both of policy and of permissible transfers under law.
Well worth hearing more about what’s being proposed.
City, Government Spending, Local Government, Planning
On the East Gate Project
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s administration proposes renovating the area on the east side of the city, through which commuters and visitors arrive in Whitewater. I’ve posted on the project before. (See, About that story on Whitewater’s East Gateway Proposal: What’s Missing?)
A few remarks:
1. The design is undeniably beautiful.
2. It would have been better to include the price prominently and initially in documents about the project. As for anyone outside the city, publicizing the project without asking and publishing an answer about the price is grossly negligent. Why bother reporting about municipal government if one simply acts as an agent of that government? (I well understand that’s the effectual truth, sadly.)
3. I’ve estimated the cost, based on the design, as well above a million dollars, and likely an appreciable multiple of a million. I’m confident that I’m right.
4. Whitewater will never get a measurable return on the East Gate investment. One may simply declare that the beautifcation was worth the cost of millions, but no one – no one in all the city – can show that millions for beautifcation paid for itself.
“If you build it, they will come” is a fine line from a baseball fantasy, but it has failed this city each time it’s been tried: Tax Incremental Districts, an Innovation Center, a Generac Bus, or WEDC grants.
They’ve all been gross wastes of money, and not one of them has performed as touted.
In fact, the actual fiscal condition of both our Tax Incremental Districts and Innovation Center is far worse than anyone in the city administration or among their reflexive boosters cares to admit. Concealing the truth is bad policy, and treats the public as trespassers to their own government.
5. If big projects have failed us (and they have), there’s still a better approach available to Whitewater: an improvement of relations between government and residents and government and businesses.
Latisha Birkeland, Director of Neighborhood Services, is the contact for the East Gate project. Someone was bound to have that role, and this project has been kicked around for years, long before Ms. Birkeland’s arrival.
We’ve not met, and it’s probably an understatement to say that she’s lost nothing by not having met me. (Truly, the substitution of personality for independent policy critiques of Whitewater’s municipal affairs has done us enormous harm.)
This city’s big-ticket investments have failed because they’ve been too big, ill-considered, and often simply grant grabs with the only real produce from them being grand headlines.
But I’d venture this claim: the modernization of Neighborhood Services that Ms. Birkeland’s achieved since her arrival has been genuine, and of more value to this city than the big-ticket items I’ve listed above.
Our success depends not on more of the same, but on something different: a change in the city government’s relation to others.
East Gate’s an attractive proposal, but we’ll not gain meaningfully from it, and certainly not at the price.