Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

A2 Greenbelt and Washtenaw Land Trust receive $1.9 from Feds

Posted by Murph on 13. May 2005

Somebody in Washington thinks the Ann Arbor Greenbelt is a good idea; of $3.1 million in federal farmland preservation money allocated to Michigan, the Greenbelt program scored nearly $1.7 million, and the Washtenaw Land Trust received another $200,000 for development rights in York Township.

The federal grant money is for farmland preservation; the targeted land will remain in active farming, selling only the development rights. The development value of the four properties targeted by the Greenbelt are appraised at a total of $6.8 million; one of the landowners has apparently offered to donate 10% of the development value, and Ann Arbor Township will be sharing the cost of one of the parcels

Comment [30]

Bike impoundment and a speed trap

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 13. May 2005

According to an EECS Facilities email, DPS will be impounding bicycles that haven’t been registered with the City and are left unattended for more than 48 hours. They’ll also be enforcing speed limits on North Campus, so watch your speed.

Comment [1] • Read More »

Final Reel

Posted by Josh Steichmann on 13. May 2005

The Village Seven theaters closed today, with no outside notice (they’re still listed as on Yahoo’s Movie page).
Though the “official” website makes no mention (their phone number was disconnected), their showtimes website confirms this Ann Arbor/Ypsi livejournal post reporting their demise. (And if anyone knows where to get the kid a job, he’d probably appreciate it).
The fine folks who ran the Village Four out at Fox Village, formerly the only discount movie theater around (and home to Washtenaw County’s biggest screen), seem to have fled in the night. Even after a bit of digging, no contact has been made. Reportedly, when they took on the Briarwood Village Seven theater (formerly Madstone), they simply stopped paying rent at their old location, and continued operating until the landlords evicted them. The Village Four is currently slated for demolition, after which it will be just another strip mall. Did their creditors finally catch up with them? No one knows for sure. If I was Drudge, I’d say “developing…”

Comment [10]

Win the War raffling a pound of pot

Posted by Murph on 12. May 2005

Yesterday I was handed a slip of paper at the corner of State and Liberty that reads as follows:

Win a pound of pot!

You read that right. Win the war is raffling a pound of pot to finance their petition to legalize and regulate marijuana the same as alcohol in Michigan. Not to worry, in the event the initiative is unsuccessful (heaven forbid), they will substitute 2 round trip flight tickets to Amsterdam.

To purchase a raffle ticket, go to www.win-the-war.com/dbae.htm

The Win the War site also has the text of the proposed Michigan Constitutional Amendment and a printable version of the petition to circulate.

Comment [5]

The Salamander Brief

Posted by Josh Steichmann on 11. May 2005

Judge Donald Shelton will rule by the end of the day today on an injunction sought by “Protect Our Northwest Diverse ecoSystems� (or PONDS) to prevent construction of the proposed high school until further environmental study can be done.
Scott Howard, arguing for the plantiffs, contended that the proposed construction would eliminate three habitats for the small-mouthed salamander, an endangered species in Michigan (the salamander is plentiful in Ohio). He held that wetlands mitigation has âan 80% failure rateâ in Michigan, and that mitigation would not be an adequate replacement of the habitat.
Martin Landau, arguing for the Ann Arbor Public Schools, said that there would be a net increase in the amount of habitat, as the mitigations would improve existing wetlands and result in a net increase in total wetland acreage.

Comment [22] • Read More »

Greenway and Three Site Plan public meeting updates

Posted by Murph on 10. May 2005

The Ann Arbor Planning Commission and City Council have both scheduled public hearings on the various greenway conceptions, but some conflict has emerged over which is the proper forum for these discussions.

Mayor Hieftje has apparently asked the Planning Commission to cancel its hearing to avoid duplication of effort on the part of staff presenters and public participants, and Planning Commissioner Braxton Blake has objected,

“I believe the public should have open access to city government,” Blake said. “The more meetings we have regarding the issues facing the city, this greenway idea, for example, the better.”

The Planning Commission will be discussing the issue of whether to hold a hearing at their work session tonight. If the Planning Commission does hold their hearing, it will take place on May 24. The City Council will be holding its hearing on June 13.

A related community meeting that Todd Leopold has been trying to organize to discuss greenway ideas has fallen through – Todd notes that he couldn’t find a date that enough of the speakers he wanted could agree to.

Comment [5]

State and Michigan Ave. to be Assimilated?

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 9. May 2005

Local protestors say “No way, no how,” while the Pittsfield planning commission sez “Lordy, our hands are tied. Let’s jus’ make it pretty!”

As the grey and blue giant wants to roll into another exurban sprawl (median income $20-30,000), some locals are fighting back. While the usual litany of complaints seem to have been cited, the planning commission holds that there is no legal reason to deny the Wal-Mart, because apparently public sentiment isn’t a legal justification. Ah, property rights.

Comment [11] • Read More »

Sheriff Minzey plays populist

Posted by Murph on 6. May 2005

At the third of eight scheduled public forums to discuss Washtenaw’s public safety needs and funding, Sheriff Dan Minzey vowed to fight against the County Commission to “protect” road patrols to the Townships. His dramatized speech stated his commitment to continuing to provide a, “blanket of security to everyone in this county,” conveniently overlooking the fact that the Sheriff’s Department does not, at present, cover everyone in the County.

The County has posted a special section to their website, New Information and Ways to Join the Process, with minutes from the past forums, schedules for the future one, and an online question form promising an answer from County officials within one business day.

Comment [59] • Read More »

New Site Design

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 6. May 2005

Holy Crap! We have a new site design, folks. This is really an interim version of a larger work-in-progress. Hopefully you all find this one slightly more appealing. The monochrome is a bit of an homage to Rob’s old site. The header graphic is from Flickr. Feedback, as always, is welcome. And while we’re at in, please leave any other suggestions you might have for us.

Comment [54]

New hospital to replace Mott

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 5. May 2005

From the Michigan Daily article:

“The Mott facilities are 35 years old and virtually the whole world of pediatric medicine has changed during that time,” Coleman said. “The Mott team has coped with insufficient and outdated spaces as patient demand has skyrocketed.”

• Read More »

Keep reading: next previous