We are, without the slightest reasonable doubt, a beautiful but troubled city. It’s unmistakable that our economy falls short for many, and I will support this contention more conclusively than any happy, but deceptive, pictures from another website, or city publication, could suggest otherwise. We have become a proud, arrogant place, willing to trumpet chimerical economic gains while many would not eat sufficiently each night without our food pantry and local churches for support.
That’s the truth that few want to address. In the richest, most productive, vibrant nation on earth, the envy of the world, Whitewater should be thriving. Instead the over-regulated and over-managed economy in this small town is so anemic that we cannot even generate growth to keep everyone fed through their own means.
We cannot honestly be boastful and fair at the same time. During July’s Homecoming, I saw a banner stretched across Main Street, that said something to the effect of, “How Does Whitewater Look to You?” The answer was supposed to be, I suppose, “great,” or wonderful,” etc. I’d say that the parts of the town where the Homecoming trolley did not go look impoverished and hungry. That’s Whitewater, too; it’s just not the part of Whitewater that suits a boastful town faction.
I could follow the city’s lead, and rush out as a cheerleader for the status quo, but I have no inclination to pad my resume with tissue-paper accomplishments while nearly adamantine problems face us.
The City of Whitewater has helpfully linked to a U.S. Census document measuring basic conditions in Whitewater as of the last census. Thanks much, city officials: I’ll use this document as the starting point for my discussion.
At the time of the last census, the document lists our resident population as 13,437. Of that number, we are 6,569 of men, 6,868 of women, 1,656 under age 18, and 11,781 over age 18. The document lets visitors know that we are 1,207 of Norwegian ancestry, 5,620 of German ancestry, and 458 of Italian descent, as though it should matter.
So how are all those Norwegians, Germans, and Italians doing? The document tells us that 10.6 percent of Whitewater families are in poverty. Sadly and inexcusably, that’s over one in ten. We couldn’t field a football team without likely having one impoverished player on the roster. In your church, look no farther than the next pew, and you’ll find someone in poverty. When he leaves afterward, he’ll go home to a different situation from ours. (I would guess, though, that he’ll not feel the same way others might about the self-congratulatory approach that is the standard at the Whitewater Municipal Building, or in a local website.)
Let’s use the same year’s census figures, available at www.census.gov, and see how other nearby towns were faring:
Fort Atkinson: population, 3.9% of families in poverty
Jefferson: population, 5.4% of families in poverty
Delavan: population, 5.7% of families in poverty
Palmyra: population, 3.4% of families in poverty
Whitewater shows — by far — the highest rate of poverty in the area, using the same census data that the city website uses for Whitewater.
Next: Poverty in Whitewater, Part 2: How many of our families have been in poverty more recently, since the last census data?