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City CouncilSuing about e-mailing about parking?The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center may file suit against the City of Ann Arbor to stop construction of the proposed underground parking structure on South Fifth Ave. A letter from Prof. Noah Hall, Ann Arbor resident and executive director of the Center, identifies potential grounds for a challenge:
Additional information is available via the Ann Arbor News and Ann Arbor Chronicle. The Chronicle additionally has the full text of Hall’s letter (pdf), from which I’ve excerpted above, and notes that Hall has loaned them ~1,000 pages of documents produced in the FOIA requests, which the Chronicle hopes to have scanned and posted soon. Some discussion has been provided on AU already, on the 2009 City Council Elections thread. On the Chronicle article, AU reader (and attorney) David Cahill provides the opinion that Hall’s letter “is not marred by the citation of any legal cases supporting his claim,” as well as opining that such a suit would be “frivolous”, and lead to a slippery slope allowing any construction whatsoever to be blocked by similar arguments. Comment [14] EnvironmentWhat will you be doing for Earth Hour 2009?For the second year in a row Ann Arbor will be observing Earth Hour. Earth Hour happens on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 between 8:30-9:30pm. More information and a flyer on this international observation are posted here. Started in Australian in 2007 to increase awareness on saving energy by simply turning off lights for an hour, the concept swept around the world. Find out more and take the lights-out pledge at www.earthhour.org. What will you be doing for Earth Hour? Comment [8] EnvironmentNew downtown trashcans let you recycle bottles and cansLast Friday (during Green Fair , of course). The City unveiled some new green trashcans downtown. I’ve seen one in the Kerrytown area and one on the corner of Liberty and Main Street. These trash cans are special because they have two sections: one for trash and one for bottles and cans. This allows for more of those items to be recycled. I couldn’t find out much more about these new “green” green trash cans, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more information surfaces shortly. Comment [6] EnvironmentElectronics Recycling Event, May 10The University and the Ann Arbor Public Schools are sponsoring a free joint home electronics recycling event tomorrow, Saturday, May 10. This is open to the public and everyone is encouraged to bring their old electronic devices. There is a long list of accepted items from TVs to cell phones and even cables. Check your attics, basements, and storage lockers for any out-of-date electronic equipment and bring it on down. The equipment is all shredded and recycled. Nothing is resold or shipped out of the country or dumped, so it is a great opportunity to recycle in an actually environmentally friendly way. Plus it is free! Note: This is only Saturday (May 10) from 9:00am – 2:00pm so don’t be late! Comment [5] LocalAnn Arbor Observes Earth HourThe City of Ann Arbor is going to be observing “Earth Hour” tonight from 8:00pm to 9:00pm. The City of Ann Arbor encourages residents and businesses to voluntarily observe a nation-wide “Earth Hour” and turn off unnecessary lights on Saturday evening, March 29 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Participating residents and businesses may officially sign up for this effort at the www.earthhour.org web site to pledge to turn off lights for one hour between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday evening and to locate additional energy conservation tips. For more information on the City’s Earth Hour effort, see the city’s web site. Comment [2] LocalCITY OF ANN ARBOR ISSUES BOIL WATER NOTICEThe boil water notice issued on March 22, 2008 for certain areas of the City of Ann Arbor is no longer in effect. The test results have shown that the water is safe. The residents in the affected area do not need to boil their water anymore.
Comment [7] LocalUniversity Village Public MeetingsFrom a press release on the city web site and other e-mail: University Village Town Hall Meeting, Wednesday March 5 University Village Brownfield Community Forum, Thursday March 6 Comment [13] LocalAllen’s Creek Stormwater Improvement WorkshopMarch 3, 2008 The fifth in a series of public workshops concerning stormwater management in Allen’s Creek will be this Monday, March 3. During the workshop, five possible projects will be outlined:
For more information, see the following web site. LocalPanel Discussion: From the Farm to Your ForkWhy Local Food Can Make Us Healthier, Happier and More Secure Monday, February 18, 7:00-8:30pm Ann Arbor Downtown Library, Multi-Purpose Room A joint program from Slow Food Huron Valley and the Ann Arbor District Library: Food is powerful! We need to eat every single day and the choices that we make determine how our world is used. Among the most powerful things we can do to create a secure community and a healthy family is to eat and buy locally grown and produced food. Comment [19] LocalSouth U gets highThe Ann Arbor Business Review just posted an article on a new plan to build a 26 story student high rise in South U. Story here: South University Poised for Transformation The U-shaped “University Village” would go over where the Bagel Factory and the Village Corner are (actually, it would go right on top of them—they’d be demolished). Some other notable project features: The buildings would house 850 students and have 380 parking spaces and 302 bicycle spaces (not bad). The City will decide to accept or reject the project this Thursday. The article goes on to discuss the changing nature of South U as more high rise student developments go up, like the in process Zaragon Place. Could South U lead the way in created a dense and resident-heavy downtown? Time will tell. Comment [35] Keep reading: next |
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