This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” features a special segment with Tom Still and Buckley Brinkman discussing Janesville’s referendum results, the post-midterm policy landscape and more.
Still is the past president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, an advisor to Competitive Wisconsin and author of the opinion column, “Inside Wisconsin.” Brinkman is the former executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity, and a frequent opinion contributor to WisBusiness.com.
Voters in Janesville last week approved a referendum granting them more control over development projects at the former GM site there, applying to anything exceeding $450 million. After it passed with about 62% approval, Still says he’s concerned the new restriction “hamstrings them” when it comes to new development.
“They may not be able to get in the kind of big manufacturing or other site that they would like — or should like,” Still said.
Brinkman argues at least some of the local sentiment was “the opacity around the whole deal,” referencing the proposed Veridion data center project that ultimately fell through after residents voiced concerns.
“I think the people who were working on the project really made a misstep when they kept a lot of this hidden until the whole project was ready to go,” he said. “But I share Tom’s concern in that, when you start putting restrictions on … a difficult site to develop, you’re really hamstringing your community. Because they’ll just go somewhere else.”
The conversation goes in-depth on public sentiment around data centers and AI, as well as how coming policy discussions will be shaped by these attitudes under the new Dem control of state government in Wisconsin next year.
Brinkman and Still weigh in on how lawmakers might use the state’s projected $3 billion budget surplus, from supporting manufacturing and other key state industries to putting state support behind emerging fields such as nuclear fusion.
“I think there’s more to be done there,” Still said. “There’s the old joke about commercial fusion’s 20 years away and will always be 20 years away. Well I don’t think that’s true anymore, and with the right investments that can be sped along.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
