The City of Whitewater Common Council met to discuss numerous items on its’ agenda at the Whitewater Municipal building on Tuesday, Oct. 3. Specifically, the highly anticipated University of Wisconsin-Whitewater parking situation, presentation of the city budget and a debate with the Landmarks Commission filled the docket.

The parking issue for the University has been a hot-bed topic since the commencement of the fall semester of 2017. Chancellor Beverly Kopper, Vice Chancellor Grace Crickette and Chief of Police Services at UW-Whitewater, Matthew Kiederien, all spoke on behalf of the University.

“Parking is an integral part of the University that needs to be self-sustaining” Crickette explained. “If we can achieve this, we can direct resources to student success and other resources other than parking.”

Prince and Prairie are the two streets that have the most cause for concern when it comes to on-campus parking. Residents are having trouble parking on these streets, which may be attributed to permits being sold only to students, faculty and staff of the University.

Changes to parking have been discussed with the University student government. With the upcoming construction of a new residence hall, metered parking will become obsolete and will switch to permit-only parking.

The elimination of metered parking on these streets has caused a spike in prices as well. “UW-W permits went up $20, reserved parking went up $50, and daily permits rose from $3 to $5” Kiederien explained to the Council.

Concerned citizen Pam Zarinnia believes that the University should be “embarrassed” at the way this “outrageous” situation has been handled, “this needs very careful examination.”

Because of the need for increased student parking on campus, the University has opened additional parking in adjacent areas, specifically the University Center and the Center of the Arts building as a way to combat the lack of space.

City Budget

Cameron Clapper, City of Whitewater Manager, presented an oversight of the 2018 city budget on Tuesday.

The city of Whitewater is planning to spend $9,174,846 in 2018, which is a $30,000 decrease from the previous year.

As it pertains to the University, UW-Whitewater has the lowest government spending per capita in the area with approximately $3,100 suspected spending in 2018.

An important feature of this budget cycle was the addition of more long-term financial planning, which Clapper says has been missing in recent years. “We need to plan for how we address shortages in the future,” Clapper added.

Clapper suggested alternatives that could address the growing problem of reduction of future revenue. These include economic growth, replacing and updating equipment as well as a possible referendum.

While these numbers and alternatives have yet to be approved by the council, Clapper says that a “final decision is on the horizon and [he expects] the finance team will discuss city budget next week.” The next time the budget would return to the council would be Nov. 7.

On Nov. 21, a public hearing will take place to determine if the proposed plan will be approved.

Landmarks Commission

The Municipal Building was a busy place on Tuesday, with protestors congregated out front the entry doors.

Two separate ordinances were being voted on at the council meeting. The first read that the “Landmarks Commission must notify the city manager with notice of intent while exploring a city-owned potential landmark.”

The ordinance passed with ease, 6-0. Councilperson Carol McCormick was not in attendance.

The second ordinance stated that the “common council of the City of Whitewater may, by a majority vote, rescind any city-owned landmark.”

Councilman Chris Grady was the sole member of the council to vote in motion of the second proposed amendment.

Former Landmarks Commission member Kori Oberle explained why she was participating in the protest.

“This has no citizen input involved. This is not a representative democracy. [Chris] Grady is not doing his job and everyone I spoke with is asking his motivation?”

Grady would respond explaining that if a “city-owned landmark was hit with some type of natural disaster, such as a tornado, the city would have no choice but to repair it at full cost.”

The Council believes it is good to have “clarity on who owns city property,” but believe the people may have been misinformed. “The goal of this change was to treat a city-owned landmark the same as a privately-owned landmark” Grady said.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Women’s Golf team finished in a tie for second at the Mad Dawg Invitational at Stevens Point Country Club in Stevens Point, Wis. on Oct. 1.

The Warhawks finished the weekend with a two-day score of 660 (337-323), tying UW-Oshkosh for second place while only three strokes behind the tournament champion UW-Stout (657).

A major bright spot for the Warhawks was Sophomore Ashley Hofmeister, who turned in another solid scorecard yet again. Hofmeister (New Berlin, Wis.) finished the tournament with a total score of 155 (76-79), good enough for her third tournament victory of the season.

“Stevens Point isn’t a particularly long course” Hofmeister said, attributing her success to her short game and accuracy. “I hit a most of the greens in regulation and made putts when I needed to.”

Hofmeister edged out UW-Oshkosh’s Micayla Richards and UW-Stout’s Rachel Hernandez by just two strokes.

Junior Kaitlin Bowe (Franklin, Wis.) finished in a tie for 10^th place with fellow teammate, Sophomore Kristin Bowe (Franklin, Wis.) also claiming 10^th place with a total score of 168 (+22), leading the Warhawk ‘B’ team to a sixth-place tournament finish.

Junior Maddie McCue (Milton, Wis.) also turned in a solid score of 169 (89-80), which landed her in a tie for 15^th place and Sophomore CheyAnne Knudsen (Milton, Wisc.) finished 19^th with a total score of 171 (87-84).

Sophomore Kelly Storti (Deerfield, Ill.) shot a 175 (86-89), good enough for a share of 25^th overall.

The Warhawks ‘B’ team also participated in the tournament this weekend, posting strong scores.

Junior Sabrina Schreck (Franklin, Wis.) posted a 175 (86-89), finishing in a tie for 25^th. Senior Hayley Jefferson (Carol Stream, Ill.) finished tied for 43^rd place with a score of 182 (95-87) and Sophomore Bella Barbiere (Mequon, Wis.) totaled a 187 (91-96), finishing in a four-way tie for 47^th. Junior Breanna Bertschinger (Waterford, Wis.) added a 60^th place finish, with a total score of 199 (86-113).

Coach Andrea Weiland believes her team has built some momentum heading into next weekend’s showdown in Reedsburg, Ill. “We just have to keep getting better,” Weiland explains, “we may have started the season off better than we had expected, and we expect to finish the year strong this weekend.”

Up next for the Warhawks is the WIAC Championship, a three-round affair that starts at noon (shotgun start) on Friday, Oct. 6 at Reedsburg Country Club in Reedsburg, Ill.

Written: Sept. 15, 2017

Posted: Oct. 6, 2017

Throughout my experience in the digital world, I have shaped my own way of newsgathering through multiple media outlets. News today has become accessible through virtually all forms of media devices. Personally, I use my cell phone to gather news for my interest in sports and entertainment, while I use the web to gather other news topics, such as politics and other world news. I would say that I gather news at the national level most frequently, with state level news coming in second. I do research events happening around the world on the web, but it’s usually tailored to politics. I do stay current with what is happening around the Whitewater campus, but news at a local level isn’t a priority for me. I occasionally read the sports section in the Waukesha Freeman during the summer to monitor the high school baseball teams in the area because I coach varsity baseball at Waukesha West.

When I am on the Web, the sites I use the most are usually for sports information. For this, I use CBSSportsline.com and ESPN.com which are the only two news sites that I physically type into the address bar. There isn’t much bias in sports reporting so I am not worried about objectivity. I utilize social media to find other world news, such as Twitter and Facebook. I believe these are valuable tools for gathering news because you can tailor them to what specifically interests you. For example, my ‘timeline’ on Facebook is filled with websites, links, and posts from political sites and leaders that I associate with. I use twitter in the same way, however news breaks faster on twitter than it does on Facebook. As it pertains to Google, I usually only use Google to search specific questions or information. I don’t usually roam throughout Google searching random topics.  I am a frequent user of a couple of podcasts that are on Spotify, ‘Starting 9’ and ‘Pardon My Take’. They are both produced by the same company, Barstool Sports, and are raunchy, satirical podcasts that are specific to sports talk.

I don’t have much desire in being interactive with my news sites. For the most part, I read articles and watch videos pertaining to the topics I am interested in. I will occasionally interact with polls in sports or other hot-button issues, but that is about the extent of my interactivity. I also rarely post any direct comments to news programs, or post any comments for that matter. However, I have called in to sports talk radio in the past.

I realize that when I am searching for news, it is important to ensure credibility in my sources. I try to stay away from sources such as CNN, MSNBC or FOX News that are so heavily favored to one side of the political spectrum due to their bias. With ‘fake news’ being thrown around so commonly today, I feel that staying away from the mainstream sites is the most effective way to receive as unbiased information as possible. While the extent of my newsgathering may be simplistic, I am constantly receiving information that is important to me quickly and efficiently.