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Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.17.12

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Good morning.

It’s a mostly sunny Saturday for Whitewater, with a high of fifty-three, and winds from the south-southeast at 5 to 10 miles per hour.

On this day in 1973, Pres. Nixon offered his heartfelt reassurances to the American people:

Nixon’s not talking about Watergate here, but accusations of financial impropriety; still, his use of the word crook in any context made the press conference instantly memorable.

Earlier this week, Australians had the chance to watch a solar eclipse. Here’s a video of what they saw (while the link above offers an accompanying photo slideshow):

Google’s daily puzzle asks about geography: “The Canal Street Ferry will take you over to Algiers Point. Since when has this ferry been in service?” more >>

Cats

Friday Catblogging: The Feral Cats of Jerusalem

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BBC correspondent Kevin Connolly writes about cats in Jerusalem, and he’s writing about lots and lots of tough cats:

No animals were hurt during the writing of this article.

A couple of bin bags got ripped open and I got a bit of a shock – but otherwise, everyone is OK.

I felt I had to establish that because this is a story about cats – and the cats around my way are probably tougher than the dogs around your way.

I am not talking about the kind of kittens who play with balls of darning wool and eat chicken pieces simmered in tarragon cream.

Our cats are lairy, wary, rangy creatures. Quick on their feet and short on lovability.

They look as though if they rolled up the fur on their front paws to prepare for a fight you would find the muscles below bulging with tattoos of daggers and anchors.

They are among Israel’s two million or so feral cats – most of whom appear to live in the bin shed outside my apartment building….

The whole article is a funny account of life with so many wild cats nearby, cohabiting within a city.

See, @ BBC News – The lairy, wary cats stalking Jerusalem bins.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.16.12

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Good morning.

Whitewater’s work week ends with mostly sunny skies and a high of forty-seven.

A major film-series opening:

On this day in 2001, the British author J.K. Rowling’s star creation–bespectacled boy wizard Harry Potter–makes his big-screen debut in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which opens in movie theaters across the United States. Based on the mega-best-selling fantasy novel of the same name, the film, which starred Daniel Radcliffe in the title role, went on to become one of the highest-grossing movies in history.

The first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, debuted in Great Britain in 1997 and was released in the United States the following year under the name Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Children and adults alike were captivated by the story of Harry, his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, their adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Harry’s struggles against his main enemy, the evil Lord Voldemort….

The first Harry Potter film was directed by the American filmmaker Chris Columbus, whose previous credits included Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire. Prior to being selected to play Harry, Daniel Radcliffe, who was born July 23, 1989, in London, had appeared in a BBC production of David Copperfield as well as the 2001 film The Tailor of Panama, which starred Pierce Brosnan. British actors Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were chosen for the roles of Harry’s friends Ron and Hermione. A roster of celebrated actors took supporting roles in the film and its various sequels, including Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Richard Harris and Gary Oldman.

In Wisconsin history on this date, from 1896:

1896 – First Rural Free Delivery Route Established
On this date the first Rural Free Delivery route in Wisconsin was established at Sun Prairie. Rural Free Delivery routes were free government mail delivery services in rural areas. [Source: The Wisconsin Mosaic]

From Google’s daily puzzle, a science question: “What lake in Africa is only two kilometers longer than The Schrodinger Basin?”

Business, City, Development

The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: Downtown Whitewater, Inc.

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The last portion of the 11.13.12 council session on the budget concerned funding for Downtown Whitewater, Inc. That organization sought $30,000, and received $20,000, in municipal funding.

I wrote recently about Downtown Whitewater, in support of 2013 funding. See, The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Draft Budget: Downtown Whitewater. In that post, I emphasized the importance of our downtown to the city’s overall success, the futility of marketing the city if her downtown were to collapse, and the need for long-term, private solutions to assure a thriving city center.

Consolidation. There’s nothing wrong with, and much good that might be done, through consolidation of support services between Downtown Whitewater, the local Chamber of Commerce, and our Tourism Council. I’ve mentioned before that proposals for consolidation were under consideration. (There had been talk about possibilities like this in years past, but efforts these last few weeks were more fruitful.)

Budget Deadlines. It’s not unreasonable for Common Council to seek a proposed budget during these discussions, but one can see that those expectations not only weren’t set in past years, but they were actually confounded through different expectations of the city’s last municipal manager.

By the end of the meeting, future expectations were plainly stated: the new standard’s clear. However it was, it will be possible next year to meet an earlier budget deadline.

The City’s Role. Whitewater funds more than one civic group, and that’s to those groups’ short-term benefit, but it brings risks.

There are three principal risks: backseat driving from full-time officials, attempts to pressure or influence private businesses’ speech & communication to the liking of public officials, and the risk that organizations receiving funding will become addicted to it (rather than seek a more stable, private footing).

Retail Requires Retail. I enjoy baseball: watching it, talking about it, and writing to friends about it. Yet, for it all, I’m not about to step into a batter’s box and expect to hit away.

The men who manage big league baseball need fans like me, but their teams wouldn’t do well with players like me.

Retail needs to run retail. It’s that simple. Many people can help with our downtown, but it’s merchants who should be taking the lead on business matters. City officials shouldn’t be backseat drivers in this process, on the theory that municipal funding transforms a bureaucrat from a so-called stakeholder to a knowledgeable stakeholder.

Influence does not imply insight: If one gives money to the American Heart Association, the donation doesn’t transform the donor into a cardiologist.

There are many sharp, insightful representatives on Common Council who understand this completely, but there have been leaders in the last municipal administration who patently did not.

A Common Cause. Not all the merchants (and restaurateurs) in this town agree on what they’d like, but success in a still-slow economy will require a greater degree of solidarity than some have yet shown. These business people will have to stick together, and in that solidarity come to see that personal gain will come from the mutual gain of all the business community. A few have trouble seeing this.

Now and Then. We’re in a hard economy, and the community will be significantly injured without thriving merchants and restaurants. For now, support is necessary. But there should be one goal: not just getting by, but growing stronger, and strength of a kind that would no longer make municipal funding necessary.

City, Government Spending, Nature

The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: The Emerald Ash Borer

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Whitewater’s Common Council considered four budget items at length during her 11.13.12 session, of which the Emerald Ash Borer was the third.

I’ll address that discussion in this post. I’m not an arborist. I did once own a bonsai tree, but my use of the past tense tells that tale.

This is, however, a common problem to all the community because a pernicious insect now spreads across Wisconsin, and it’s certain to infest Whitewater. Our city should be prepared for expenses like this, where hundreds of trees will be at risk across the city, destroying many, degrading the greater environment of which those trees are a part, and reducing the natural beauty of the city if we’re not prepared.

Enthusiasm. Many people are excited about what they do, and it’s a pleasure to hear them speak. There’s something uplifting about hearing from someone who so obviously enjoys his work. Prof. Chris Williamson of UW-Madison is obviously among that happy group. That he was enthusiastic about his work does not settle the question of what to do, but it is admirable.

Options. There were three options from which the council had to choose, and they chose a mixed plan in which some trees would be removed, others treated. These three options before the council would not have been possible without significant help from private citizens. Given the choice between a government-only designed solution and one with significant participation from residents and private experts, options like the ones presented are the better course.

Contingencies, Reserves, Rainy Day Funds. One hopes we’ll not have other problems like this, other natural risks, but we’ve no way of being certain. It’s for that reason that the city should prudently budget, as she always has, for the unforeseeable. It’s also a reason, needless to say, that saving for contingencies matters more than subsidizing big, thriving corporations’ particular projects.

I’m sure we all hope this plan proves effective, and so preserves a significant part of our environment and of our city’s natural beauty.

Next: Funding Downtown Whitewater, Inc.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.15.12

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Good morning.

Thursday in town looks to be partly sunny, with a high of forty-nine, and southwest winds at 5 to 10 miles per hour.

Tonight at 6 PM, Whitewater’s Police Commission meets.

On this day in 1867, the first stock ticker made its debut in New York City:

…the first stock ticker is unveiled in New York City. The advent of the ticker ultimately revolutionized the stock market by making up-to-the-minute prices available to investors around the country. Prior to this development, information from the New York Stock Exchange, which has been around since 1792, traveled by mail or messenger.

The ticker was the brainchild of Edward Calahan, who configured a telegraph machine to print stock quotes on streams of paper tape (the same paper tape later used in ticker-tape parades). The ticker, which caught on quickly with investors, got its name from the sound its type wheel made.

Calahan worked for the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, which rented its tickers to brokerage houses and regional exchanges for a fee and then transmitted the latest gold and stock prices to all its machines at the same time. In 1869, Thomas Edison, a former telegraph operator, patented an improved, easier-to-use version of Calahan’s ticker. Edison’s ticker was his first lucrative invention and, through the manufacture and sale of stock tickers and other telegraphic devices, he made enough money to open his own lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he developed the light bulb and phonograph, among other transformative inventions.

The last mechanical stock ticker debuted in 1960 and was eventually replaced by computerized tickers with electronic displays. A ticker shows a stock’s symbol, how many shares have traded that day and the price per share. It also tells how much the price has changed from the previous day’s closing price and whether it’s an up or down change. A common misconception is that there is one ticker used by everyone. In fact, private data companies run a variety of tickers; each provides information about a select mix of stocks.

In Wisconsin history, on this day in 1887,

1887 – Georgia O’Keeffe [Was] Born
On this date Georgia O’Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie. She studied at the Chicago Art Institute from 1904 to 1905. In 1907 she relocated to New York to study at the Arts Students League with William Chase. In 1926 she unveiled her now famous flower paintings. She received much of her artistic inspiration from her surroundings in New Mexico, where she settled permanently in 1946. O’Keeffe was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. Georgia O’Keeffe died in 1986 in Santa Fe. [Source: Wisconsin Women: A Gifted Heritage]

Blue and Green Music by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1921.

Google’s daily puzzle asks about the very small: “What elusive subatomic particle is too small to have size, is so simple that it has no internal structure, and is thought to travel in groups of three?”

CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending

The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Budget: CDA & Bus

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Whitewater’s Common Council considered four budget items at length during her 11.13.12 session.

I’ll address now the first two of those four, immediately below.

The Community Development Authority Budget.

Someday, one hopes, Whitewater’s Community Development Authority won’t require tens of thousands from the City of Whitewater’s general fund, as it does now, since the CDA no longer has funds available after the Tax Incremental District 4 debacle that the last municipal administration brought on.

Whitewater’s general fund now has to commit over $60,000 toward the Community Development Authority that it wouldn’t have had to commit had TID 4 not slipped into distressed status.

A burden is imposed against our fellow residents’ more pressing needs. This inescapable truth puts lie to the former city manager’s insistence that TID 4’s distressed status would make no difference to our city.

How to fix this? Adhere to open government requirements of law and good policy to assure that all the community is aware of CDA proposals and commitments. Only this adherence will make certain that the CDA undertakes due diligence in evaluating projects and concurrently allow for the beneficial input of the many talented residents of our city.

A closed, rushed process tends only toward mediocrity.

The So-Called Innovation Center Express.

I’ve written about this exercise in crony capitalism for a single large, cash-flush corporation before. See, along these lines, A Local Flavor of Crony Capitalism, A little consistency would be in order, A Generac bus by any other name, The Generac Bus and Bottom-Shelf Messaging, The Innovation Express Generac Bus: ‘Public Transit Is Not Expected to Make Money’ and The City of Whitewater’s 2013 Draft Budget: Crony Capitalism.

The discussion during the 11.13.12 meeting only confirmed what a mistake continued funding for multi-billion-dollar Generac’s bus would be. That’s Generac, a company with a market cap as of this post of over $2,300,000,000, that is, two billion, three-hundred million dollars.

Yet, for it all, private Generac still wants public money from the City of Whitewater (as well as the state or federal government), at the same time our small city is struggling to juggle line-item expenditures to fund pressing local needs.

Let’s be clear:

Changing the Description at the Last Minute. First, this was supposed to be a bus (as it still really is) to support Generac’s workforce. Then it became an Innovation Center Express, in a transparent, but futile, attempt to boost another public project and conceal a particular private benefit. Now, at the last minute, it’s called the Janesville-Milton-Whitewater transit bus.

Oh, brother. Let me ask: does anyone foolishly believe that mere renaming changes the true nature and purpose of this project, or does someone think instead that others will foolishly believe it does?

The Existing Service is Specifically Tailored to Generac’s Needs. By its own admission, the municipal administration concedes that all three daily bus trips are scheduled based on Generac’s schedule. That’s not been a community bus, for goodness’ sake. It’s a public benefit extended to Generac and her private employees.

How is it possible — or even remotely believable – that one heard that this bus began as a broad-based community effort, and then only minutes later that all the three shifts “correspond directly with shift changes at Generac?” One would have to have an attention span of less than four minutes, three seconds to believe this.

A Real Problem Describing Costs. There’s a problem with how the municipal administration has described the costs for this bus. Repeatedly, throughout the introductory presentation, one heard that this bus would cost $61,000 for a year, all the while this cost was described after a “grant” or “strap [Supplemental Transit Rural Assistance Program] grant” from the Department of Transportation.

Describing the transportation cost this way hides the true public cost of the project, and inflates the actual, fractionally-small contribution Generac makes.

Federal and state grants are ‘public money’ toward the total cost. They’re not separate from the total cost. City of Whitewater funds are public money toward the total cost. Other municipalities’ contributions (although Milton has yet to make any contribution!) are public money toward the total cost. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater funds are public money toward the total cost.

The much smaller remainder is what Generac gives toward the large total cost.

As I’ve described before, here’s the truth about 2012 funding:

The total cost is $128,310. The actual public cost to support Generac is $68,005 in state and federal money, and $15,000 in funding from the City of Whitewater and UW-Whitewater. That’s a total of $83,005.

It’s simply not true that Generac’s portion of $26,058 is a majority of the cost — it’s not even a match for the public portion of the cost. Reporting the ‘local sponsorship cost’ (Generac, Whitewater, UW-Whitewater) conceals the true burden on taxpayers to support Generac.

One can argue whether this is a worthwhile or necessary project, but describing the total cost deceptively, by couching the (federal/state) ‘grant’ as something separate from the stated cost is wholly unpersuasive, and a bad practice.

Cagey descriptions like these were a hallmark of the last municipal administration. Whitewater should pursue a better standard.

Generac Didn’t Send a Representative. Everyone else who wants public money from the taxpayers of this community has to come forward, but there must be an exception for really big businesses. The city manager admits Generac has benefitted greatly from this service, but not so much it seems that they’re willing to attend the meeting that would extend a public benefit for a single big company.

It’s surprising to hear that Generac, with a plant in our very city, can’t bring itself to send a single representative, because they’ve been ‘busy with Hurricane Sandy.’ It’s not a believable excuse.

Dave Mumma, from Janesville Transportation. It’s more than funny that a representative of Janesville Transit did make an appearance. A big business won’t bother, but the bureaucrat from another public entity is happy to stop by and hit up Whitewater for his agency‘s public project.

So there he stood, a man who previously acknowledged that ‘public transit is not expected to make money,’ asking Whitewater to fund the money-losing project he’s hawking.

One notes that Mumma’s account directly contradicts the current city manager’s description (from this same 11.13.12 meeting) of this bus as a general community effort. Mumma openly declared that this project came about after express interest from Generac, and after a meeting with Generac and the former city manager, Kevin Brunner. So much, again, for trying to re-frame the project at the last minute.

Chance after Chance after Chance. It’s risible that Janesville’s Mumma asks Whitewater for more funding, to keep the Generac project going, to give the project just one more chance. What does he think the last eight months were?

There’ll be request after request, for funding year after year, beacuse it’s just ‘not had a chance,’ etc.

Who Rides? All this money, for several Generac employees and a few others, per day. Mumma can’t even offer a projection about how many additional riders would take advantage of 2013’s ‘enhanced services.’

If an ordinary applicant in Whitewater couldn’t produce this information, he’d likely be sent away empty-handed. Does the leader of Janesville Transit think he’s different?

Mumma’s Anecdotes About University Student Support. It’s presumptuous – and just talking out of one’s hat – to say that there’s student support for this project. Not really: university students voted against funding this program in a proper representative vote.

So take your pick: middle-aged Mumma’s theories and anecdotes about what students want, or how the students actually voted.

The Alternatives. What’s the price of funding this bus for Generac? It’s the cost of alternative local projects that might have been funded, or more robustly funded, but were not.

The price of subsidizing multi-billion-dollar Generac’s bus would mean less money available for small local businesses.

The price of subsidizing multi-billion-dollar Generac’s bus would mean less money available for our food pantry.

The price of subsidizing multi-billion-dollar Generac’s bus would mean less money available for public safety.

One could list dozens of greater needs, that will not be met so that Generac gets what it wants, but does not need, in public money.

Throughout the coming year, when others’ needs go unmet, and they’re told there’s no money, one may in consolation recall that at least a company with hundreds of millions in net annual income got what it wanted.

How to fix this? Describe costs fully and accurately, consider all alternative needs in response to an expenditure (rather than simply rationalizing additional support a failing effort).

There’s an unfortunate set of priorities at work here. Just about any other local spending would be better than this.

Next: The Emerald Ash Borer.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.14.12

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Good morning.

Wednesday brings mostly cloudy skies, a high of forty-four, and south winds of five to ten miles per hour.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets today at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1972, a milestone for the Dow Jones – it closed above 1,000 for the first time:

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1,000 mark yesterday for the first time in history.

It finished at 1,003.16 for a gain of 6.09 points in what many Wall Streeters consider the equivalent of the initial breaking of the four-minute mile.

“This thing has an obvious psychological effect,” declared one brokerage-house partner. “It’s a hell of a news item. As for the permanence of it — well, I just don’t know.”

Last Friday, the Dow surpassed 1,000 during the course of a day’s trading, but it fell back below the landmark figure by thew end of the session.

But yesterday the marker was not to be denied. The Dow finally put it all together, the peace rally, the re-election of President Nixon, the surging economy, booming corporate profits and lessening fears about inflation and taxes and controls and other uncertainties of 1973.

On this day in 1861, famed historian Frederick Jackson Turner was born in Portage:

1861 – Frederick Jackson Turner Born
On this date Frederick Jackson Turner was born in Portage. Turner spent most of his academic career at the University of Wisconsin. He published his first article in 1883, received his B.A. in 1884, then his M.A. in History in 1888. After a year of study at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1890), he returned to join the History faculty at Wisconsin, where he taught for the next 21 years. He later taught at Harvard from 1910 to 1924 before retiring. In 1893, Turner presented his famous address, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” at the Chicago World’s Fair. Turner died in 1932. [Source: Bowling Green State University]

From Google’s daily puzzle, a question about film: “Who met for months with director Ridley Scott about taking on the role of Deckard in “Blade Runner”?

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.13.12

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Good morning.

Today in Whitewater will be sunny, with a high of thirty-eight.

Common Council meets this evening at 6:30 PM, to consider three possible budget items: funding for the ‘Innovation Express,’ for the fight against the Emerald Ash Borer, and for Downtown Whitewater. The agenda to which I have linked includes information on options to combat the Emerald Ash Borer, and information from Downtown Whitewater, Inc. on a proposal it has offered, and past investments of that organization.

On this day in 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. The underlying case was Browder v Gayle.

Google’s daily puzzle is a question about pop culture: “Apple Blythe Alison’s godfather makes music for a living. Of what band is he a member?”