Arbor Update

Local

Main Street Moonlight Delight Tonight, May 2

Posted by Juliew on 2. May 2008

Yeah, OK, the name is dorky (whatever happened to Midnight Madness?). The idea is great though. Head down to the Main Street Area tonight and shop to your heart’s content. Most stores are having big sales and many are offering refreshments and other specials. The Main Street Area Association has more information on their web site. Don’t forget the stores just off Main Street. Places on Fourth, Liberty, and Ashley will be open late too.

So make plans for dinner and drinks downtown and then walk off your meal by doing some shopping. This would be a good time to buy any Mom in your life a special Mother’s Day gift!

Don’t let a little rain forecast stop you, all the stores and restaurants will be nice and dry and lots of them sell umbrellas and other rain gear.

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Leopold's Farewell Event

Posted by Dale Winling on 1. May 2008

For those of you who have quaffed beer, shot pool, flipped through the jukebox, and sipped the spirits at Leopold Brothers over the last decade, there’s a chance for an awesome farewell, headlined by the Great Lakes Myth Society, before the city’s best brewery, pub, and distillery closes.

If you’re not there, you better be in jail. If you’re in jail, break out.

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(Urban) Planning

Downtown Zoning & Design Public Open Houses

Posted by Juliew on 30. April 2008

Thursday, May 1
3:30 to 5:00pm and 6:30-8:00pm
Kerrytown Concert House (415 North Fourth Avenue)

Two public open houses on proposed amendments to the Downtown Plan and city ordinances will be held on Thursday, May 1 at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Avenue. The first session will be from 3:30 to 5:00pm and the second from 6:30 to 8:00pm (the sessions are the same so you only need to attend one).

Each session will start with a short presentation on the proposed zoning map and ordinance changes, followed by informal meetings with staff on elements of the proposal, including: Downtown Plan amendments, new downtown zoning districts, rezoning of downtown properties, proposed design review process, and draft design guidelines.

Opportunities for comment will be provided at these meetings. See the Ann Arbor Discovering Downtown (A2D2) website for details of the proposals and other commend opportunities. For questions, contact Wendy Rampson at 734.994.2802, email wrampson at a2gov org.

Local

Public Forum: Proposed Court-Police Facility

Posted by Juliew on 28. April 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 6:30pm – 8pm
City Hall, second floor City Council Chambers

Project architects and designers will review the revised design, discuss the project status, and answer questions.

For more information, see the project update page.

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Events

UM Commencement, Saturday April 26

Posted by Juliew on 24. April 2008

The University’s 2008 Commencement will be this Saturday, April 26 in front of the Graduate Library on the Diag on central campus. Normally, the graduation ceremony is in the Stadium and really doesn’t present much of a logistical challenge because the venue is already set up. Not so this year. Extensive work has been done on the Diag and Central Campus to make it ready for the influx of 30,000 attendees. Flooring was laid across the whole Diag, 30,000 chairs have been set up, stages are in place, and huge audio and video setups are going up. It is something to see.

There will be shuttles from outlying parking lots and hotels, but be aware that parking downtown on Saturday will be extremely tight. All University parking structures will be open to graduation attendees and City structures will have a $5 up-front fee rather than hourly rate. The procession of graduates begins at 9:00am followed by the formal program at 10:00am. Admission to the Diag and nearby University buildings will be controlled to a large extent so don’t expect to be able to just saunter on by to see how it is going Saturday morning. If you have a ticket, I recommend getting there early or you will end up sitting behind a tree.

For more information, see the University Record article.

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Local

The Bells are Ringing

Posted by Juliew on 23. April 2008

From the Ann Arbor News:

Bells will ring across Ann Arbor at noon today (April 23) to commemorate the signing of the city’s charter in 1833.

Ten bell towers in the city are participating, and the bells will ring for 10 minutes, organizer Steven Ball said. The Ann Arbor Guild of Bell Ringers says eight bell-ringing events are planned this year, and Ann Arbor is one of the only places in the world where most towers ring their bells manually.

Participating towers are at the Bethlehem United Church of Christ, Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum, Community of Christ Church, Forest Hill Cemetery, Kerrytown Market, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church, St. Thomas the Apostle, Burton Memorial Tower and Lurie Tower on the University of Michigan’s North Campus.

The Ann Arbor Guild of Bell Ringers was formed to try to recapture the role that public bells and bell-ringing played in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Ann Arbor Transportation Authority

Google Transit does the AATA

Posted by Bruce Fields on 23. April 2008

Google maps will now give you local bus directions between any two points (example). Neat-o. (Thanks to YpsiNews, via Phillip Farber and Ed Vielmetti.)

Ed notes that they’ve also done Detroit, and points out that there are now a couple ways to get between Ann Arbor and Detroit on transit. Google maps doesn’t seem to know about them, though.

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Site Announcements

Arbor Update Housekeeping

Posted by Bruce Fields on 22. April 2008

Regulars may have noticed that lately we’ve gotten a little less tolerant of abuse of the comments section.

The reason’s probably obvious to anyone who’s been around for certain extended threads: a small number of people posting the same arguments repeatedly, often under multiple pseudonyms.

With those few exceptions, the comments here are great, so we don’t need to give you an etiquette lesson! What you do need to know, however, is that:

• Spam and abuse have gotten aggressive enough to require some automated filters, which will (apologies!) occasionally misfire. Please contact us (at arborupdate at umich.edu), if this happens to you—we’ll try to find the bug, and add your post for you if necessary.
  
• People have occasionally had fun with screen names, without meaning any ill, but recent abuse has made this problematic. If you aren’t comfortable using your real name, that’s OK, as long as you pick a screen name and stick to it. (Alternatively, feel free to ask us or any other regular you trust to pass on your thoughts under their name.)
  
• Please leave a working email address; we won’t give it out to anyone, but we might like to contact you to make sure you’re a real person or to resolve a technical problem.
  

There’s a rough comment policy on our about page. Be considerate and you should be fine.

Also, feel free to take this thread as an opportunity for any comments or gripes about Arbor Update in general.

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City Council

City Council: Cluck Prevention

Posted by Juliew on 21. April 2008

Monday, April 21 at 7:00 pm.
City Council Agenda

Highlights:

• Broadway Historic District
• HUD housing and human services needs one-year action plan
• Lots of chicken-related ordinances
• Recommendation to approve 2009-2014 Capital Improvements Plan
• Vacating of Boulevard Heights Alley
• Yield to pedestrian in crosswalk ordinance

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Ann Arbor needs a convention center like it needs a ...

Posted by Chuck Warpehoski on 20. April 2008

Today’s Ann Arbor News article about the chatter about an Ann Arbor Convention Center inspires an Arbor Update contest.

Fill in the blank: Ann Arbor Needs a Convention Center like it needs a ________.

Do we need it as much as we need a greenway? A new courts building? A solar-powered brain scrambler that prevents developers from even thinking of building here?

No prizes for this contest. Just the appreciation of other ArborUpdate readers for your amazing wit and creativity.

Comment [13]