A bit of catching up — Register Watch™ for the April 23rd issue of the paper.
The Register lede is a story entitled, “Local business owners give input to state job taskforce.” More input’s better than less, and local’s better than distant, I’d suppose.
Too bad, though, that the whole story seems to be written from a local view of Elkhorn, not Whitewater. A more cosmopolitan outlook is preferable; I’m not sure those seeking that outlook have Elkhorn in mind.
A better story, one that’s truly local, but has greater implications, is the story on Topper’s Pizza — “Toppers eyes national growth from new Whitewater locale.” The story continues onto the backpage of the first section of the paper, with a view inside the new location, at 325 West Center Street.
Toppers is a success story, and one that’s a business success story. In the end, Toppers will suceeed or fail through free exchange — will you voluntarily and freely patronize Toppers? Success like that is the best kind — success through persuasion, through good products, alone.
Below the fold, a story on a different kind of transaction — our Common Council appoints new board and commission members from among its ranks. It’s common in Whitewater, and other communities, for Council members to sit on citizen boards and commissions. It was a more orderly distribution than normal, as representative Lynn Binnie had suggested a different method of considering available spots.
(Whitewater has traditionally had the unseemly habit of assigning posts in an awkward way, in which there’s a figurative rush to a favored spot along the trough.)
In the end, one should be careful of what one wants, and gets — positions on Police and Fire, and the Community Development Authority, aren’t beanbag. We’re a community that had above-average poverty before the recession; one wonders where we’ll find ourselves six months’ time from now.
I’m not sure if this community needs ‘development,’ but it does need growth. Being part of a successful Community Development Authority — and success is hard when one tries to develop for others rather than oneself — is no easy accomplishment.
It was, I think, Cliff Robertson in Spiderman who observed that “with great power comes great responsibility.” True enough. One hears that some are the voice of the people, or tribunes of the downtrodden, defenders of the town faith, etc. So be it — now let’s see if your participation on the CDA does anything for Whitewater.
Will we be better off a year from now, for these selections to the Community Development Authority, or Police and Fire Commission? I have no idea; I’ll be sure to write along the way, though.
I also see that on the agenda for tonight’s [May 5] Common Council meeting, there’s an item (R1) adopting the Whitewater Register as the city’s official newspaper. Each time the matter arises, the practical value of the designation mocks its legal significance — the Register‘s fading away.
I’ll keep Register Watch™, but a broader review of local papers and their websites is probably overdue. There was a time when I heard that the Register would be around forever; no one sober and rational says that anymore.
Next up — the Local-o-meter for April 23rd issue of the Register.