Arbor Update

Events

Tonight at the Elbow Room: Ypsisongs Release Show

Posted by Brandon on 10. August 2006

Who doesn’t love songs about Ypsilanti? A veritable cavalcade of local/regional acts come together for the Ypsisongs CD-release show, tonight, 8 PM sharp at the Elbow Room.

Local

Primary Results In

Posted by Dale Winling on 9. August 2006

-Election- Primary results are in and the establishment went home happy tonight, with wins in the Ann Arbor mayor’s race, the 3rd ward, and 5th ward, as well as the Ypsilanti mayor’s race. Turnout was weak in many areas of the county, which is typical for summer primaries, though perked up by a few competitive races.

Official results for the scores of contests in Washtenaw County are available at the County Clerk’s Web site, but here follow some of the most talked-about contests:

(Results current as of 3am)
Ann Arbor
Mayor
John Hieftje (67%) over Wendy Woods (32%)
1st Ward
Ron Suarez (56%) over John Roberts (43%)
3rd Ward
Steve Kunselman (36%) over Alice Ralph (34%) and Jeff Meyers (29%)
5th Ward
Chris Easthope (63%) over Sonia Schmerl (32%) and Richard Ankli (4%)

Ypsilanti
Mayor
Paul Schreiber
1st Ward
Trudy Swanson
2nd Ward
William Nickels
3rd Ward
Brian Robb

State Rep. 53rd District
Rebekah Warren

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Local

Get Out and Vote!

Posted by Dale Winling on 8. August 2006

Everybody’s doing it.

Washtenaw County’s Web site has polling locations.

NOTE: Results available here sometime around -11pm.- midnight or so?

Check back tomorrow morning, as Arbor Update will map the results of races and voter turnout.

UPDATE: Countywide voter turnout averages 10-12%, clerk’s office estimates.

UPDATE: Easthope takes the 5th with 63%.

UPDATE: Schreiber wins in Ypsi with 44%, as well as Swanson (50%), Nickels (70%), and Robb (51%).

UPDATE: All three Pittsfield Twp recalls failed.

Comment [22]

Local

Local Campaign Roundup

Posted by Dale Winling on 7. August 2006

Mayoral candidates John Hieftje and Wendy Woods raised 95% and 92% of their campaign funds, respectively, from Ann Arborites. By contrast, Ann Arbor City Council candidates Chris Easthope, Alice Ralph and Ron Suarez each raised at least 30% of their campaign funds from outside Ann Arbor, campaign finance documents show.

In Ypsilanti, Steve Pierce and Paul Schreiber both raised 68% of their funds from donors with Ypsilanti addresses, while Lois Richardson brought in 83% of her war chest from Ypsilanti contributors.

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Local

Todd Leopold for City Council?

Posted by Brandon on 4. August 2006

Local activists have apparently launched a campaign to draft a popular local brewer to run for City Council next year.

Why Todd Leopold? Todd is an environmentally conscious, hard-headed businessman who exhibits the best combination of idealism and pragmatism in government and the civic realm.

Comment [54]

Local

CARD petition against Broadway Village financing fails

Posted by Murph on 3. August 2006

Laura Strowe, Treasurer for “Citizens Advocating Responsible Development”, announced yesterday that the group had fallen short in its effort to collect enough signatures to force a referendum on the financing package for the Broadway Village redevelopment. (See painfully drawn-out discussion here.)

Strowe states the failed petition drive shows that, “It is obvious that the majority of citizens want a public vote on this issue.” Full e-mail behind the cut.

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Regional

Ann Arbor Detroit Transit Study releases "Detailed Alternatives" document

Posted by Murph on 3. August 2006

It’s kind of wonky, but it’s a visible step: the Ann Arbor to Detroit Rapid Transit Study has posted the Detailed Definition of Alternatives segment of their alternatives analysis and draft environmental impact statement study.

The document is a refinement of the options presented for public comment last fall, including a reduction of the number of alternatives from 12 to 5 (a few were eliminated through a “fatal flaw analysis”; others just didn’t measure up), and the remaining alternatives have been fleshed out to the point of including route / station maps and scheduling details. All alternatives would apparently feature every-20-minutes peak hour operation; proposed operating hours appear to be 5am – 12am on weekdays / Saturdays; fares proposed at $1.50 within A2/Ypsi “zone”, $3.00 to the DTW zone, and $6.00 to the Detroit zone.

No word yet on the website of what the next step is, or when.

Comment [39]

Technology

Wikimania and WikiIndex in the local news

Posted by MarkDilley on 2. August 2006

Our own Larry Kestenbaum’s picture graces the pages of the Detroit Freepress. The article is about this weekends Wikimania conference in Boston (which I will be attending, anyone else?).

He compares Wikipedia to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the often-flippant, always-friendly electronic encyclopedia from the Douglas Adams novel of the same name. That too was compiled by correspondents from all over the universe.

What is also really exciting is the mention in the sidebar of a project I work on, WikiIndex. Yea!

>Check out other Michigan wiki

Comment [5]

Local

Cooling Center Open (August 1)

Posted by Juliew on 1. August 2006

The Red Cross has opened the EMU Convocation Center as a Cooling Center. The Convocation Center will be open today (August 1) from 10:00am to 8:00pm. AATA is offering free service to the Center. All you need to do is go to your nearest bus stop and tell the bus driver that your destination is the Cooling Center.

For more information, see http://www.a2gov.org/Emergency/heat_advisory.html

Campus

North Quad Gets New Designer

Posted by Dale Winling on 1. August 2006

The Ann Arbor News reports that the University of Michigan has hired Robert A.M. Stern Architects to develop a new design for the mixed-use North Quad project on the site of the Frieze Building. Stern is the dean of the Yale School of Architecture and has run his renowned practice from New York City for decades.

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