Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Citizens for Community Development to host Candidate Forum

Reblogged from Greg Kowalski's FRANKLIN NOW blog:

Every city election should have a Candidate Forum, and this year should certain be no exception. That's why newly-formed Citizens for Community Development (CCD) will be hosting a Candidate Forum at the Franklin Public Library on Wednesday, March 16th beginning at 6:30pm. This forum will feature the candidates for the 3rd and 4th Aldermanic Districts, and is sure to be informative for all in attendance. This year's moderator will be Author, Plan Commissioner and Community Writer John Michlig, who also is an Advisor to CCD. See additional information in the flyer at the link below:

Read the rest at www.myfranklintoday.com

 

In Wisconsin, killing the economy today and into the future: "Technical schools say they're in a vise grip" - JSOnline

How do you kill a state's vitality and economy? Put your boot on the neck of its educational infrastructure.

If and when Wisconsin Governor Walker's budget is passed -- corporate tax breaks or not -- businesses will trip over themselves abandoning a state that does not bother to develop a valuable workforce. Vocational schools provide opportunities for a wide array of potential taxpayers, and creates a crucial labor/creative resource for business and industry.

Wisconsin is about to shutter its windows and go dark....

State funding for Wisconsin's 16 technical colleges would drop to a dollar level not seen since the late 1980s, despite enrollment growth of 40% over the last decade, if cuts in Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget ultimately gain approval, college officials said last week.

That could lead to longer waiting lists for classes, more limited access to courses and programs, and ultimately, challenges for Wisconsin manufacturers, health care providers and other employers looking for skilled workers as the state's economy struggles to recover, officials said.

"We had to turn away a lot of students last year because we had filled classes," said Lee Rasch, president of Western Technical College in La Crosse. "We easily turned away a couple thousand students. The jobs are here, but we don't have the funding to increase capacity. If the goal (stated by Walker) is to create 250,000 jobs, these are the kinds of jobs we need."

Read the rest at: Technical schools say they're in a vise grip - JSOnline

 

See also The Death of the Covenant:

Radomski says what the state would lose is a unified effort to promote college planning in the state. Most states, he says, have now implemented some kind of “pledge” program for students exchanging state assistance for meeting some academic standard.

Madison, Wisconsin Protests 3/5/11

Madison Protests 3/5/11, originally uploaded by John Michlig.

Awe-inspiring does not begin to describe the atmosphere on a cold day in Madison, Wisconsin.