Our signs say that Whitewater, the city proper, has a population of around fifteen thousand. We do. What they don’t say, and what we know but don’t always mention, is that a significant portion of that population is attending the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. So much, when looking at data from the ACS Demographic and Housing…
122 search results for ""WEDC""
Education, Government Spending, Libertarians, Liberty, Public Relations, School District
On the Whitewater Schools
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Today is the first of a series of posts about the upcoming, contested WUSD board elections. Three candidates are running for two seats: Kelly Davis, Dan McCrea, and Jim Stewart. In today’s post, I’ll summarize some of my own views. (I’ve been direct these last several years; it makes sense to state one’s convictions plainly,…
Corporate Welfare, Education, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Labor, Liberty, Local Government, School District, University, WEDC, Wisconsin
Education: Substance & Spending
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Following comments to yesterday’s post on proposed cuts to the UW System schools (Caution arrives late, doesn’t recognize its surroundings), here are nine quick comments about education. 1. Act 10 as a budgetary tool. This centrally-planned idea didn’t work. Reductions in public-union bargaining powers in exchange for the ‘tools’ to balance school and other public…
Government Spending, State Government, University
Caution arrives late, doesn’t recognize its surroundings
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Over these last several days, Wisconsin has begun a debate about the size of possible cuts to the UW System, to public school districts, and other parts of the state budget. Some of the discussion stems from a 2.3.15 analysis from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Fiscal Analyst Emily Pope, in reply to State Sen.…
City, Good Ideas, Government Spending, Health, Hip & Prosperous, Planning
Arguments on Cost & Flexibility Under a Complete Streets Ordinance
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are two questions that I promised yesterday that I would take up today about the Complete Streets ordinance recently passed at Council on 1.20.15. The first is whether the draft ordinance was flexible enough, and the second about the costs of new roads or reconstruction that would include sidewalks or bike paths. I read…
City
Review: Predictions for 2014
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s a review of my amateur version of the late William Safire’s long-standing tradition of offering annual predictions. This was my list for 2014, the seventh-annual FW edition. Let’s see how I did: 1. In the governor’s race, Scott Walker will: A. Win the city and the state B. Lose the city but win the…
Corporate Welfare, Development, Government Spending, WEDC
Clap Your Hands, It’s Galactic Marmoset Week
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
So one reads that a few of Whitewater’s town fathers, toadying to the WEDC’s public-relations machine, are crowing that the Innovation Center is part of GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK. Global? That’s not so much. One can easily show these striving WEDC public-relations men how to take something small and make it look really big. Behold, I…
Corporate Welfare, Development, Government Spending, WEDC
Another Holiday on the Calendar
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Oh dearie me, having been thinking these months about Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, somehow GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK slipped my mind. How, truly, could one forget a week-long celebration of white-collar tech startups? Perhaps a lifetime of celebrating both religious and national holidays, and the actual accomplishments of ordinary people who have overcome harrowing obstacles, has…
Corporate Welfare, WEDC
Unqualified, Callow Political Hack Resigns from Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over at the WEDC, the deputy secretary of that troubled agency has resigned: [Ryan] Murray’s departure comes three months after he was criticized in a resignation letter written by Lee Swindall, WEDC’s vice president of business and industry development, that was made public in September. Saying that Murray confused “rigid control with stability and sound…
City, Local Government, School District
The Bigger the Project, the Greater the Need for Substantive Justifications
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It seems – to most people, I’d guess – that to say ‘the bigger the project, the greater the need for substantive justifications’ is simply reasonable and practical. In almost all public efforts, municipalities, school districts, and other public bodies should Lead Substantively, and Support Fiscally. The best way to win big is usually a…
Local Government, Press
Anger and Exhaustion Stalk Local Elites
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Years of asking for money for big-ticket projects for big-talking cronies, and insisting on imaginary successes and fabricated accomplishments, have left local insiders facing community anger and exhaustion. Of the two, exhaustion is – by far – the more debilitating to town squires’ plans. Anger flares over a project, here and there, and sometimes prevails…
Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Misconduct, State Government
The Truth About the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are those times when small-government conservatives, Democrats, and libertarians agree. Acknowledging the misconduct, failures, and cronyism of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation would be one of those occasions. It is, among other things, the state’s biggest white-collar welfare scheme, both mismanaged and mendacious. Here’s the effectual motto of the WEDC: Corruption, Cronyism, and Incompetence…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 12.9.13
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. We’ll have gradually clearing skies this Monday, with a high of seventeen (wind chill values being between five and five below). There are three municipal meetings scheduled for today. At 5:00 PM, there’s a special meeting of the Community Development Authority. At 6 PM, the Planning Commission meets, and at the same time…
Development, Economy, Film
What a Film About Janesville Really Says
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Much has been said about Brad Lichtenstein’s As Goes Janesville, and it’s usually about how the film depicts Gov. Walker. There’s much more to the film, though, and particularly interesting to me is how Janesville tries to entice a startup to locate in that city by offering millions in public incentives. The startup, Shine, promises a new…