Arbor Update

City Council

City Council, Calthorpe Edition

Posted by Dale Winling on 16. July 2006

After a year of workshops, public input, local wrangling, and council delays, the city’s elected body will vote this Monday on implementation of the Downtown Development Strategies Implementation Work Plan. This vote was postponed from the last session of council.

Also on the agenda are the controversial Dolph Park zoning, a PUD for the Pfizer Research Park, and a reduction of payments in lieu of taxes for non-profit housing agencies.

Note to CTN: please work on the sound for people watching at home. It’s nearly inaudible.

Comment [4]

Politics

MI High Court Favors MCRI

Posted by Ari Paul on 14. July 2006

From the Free Press:

The Michigan Supreme Court closed the door Thursday on a challenge to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, denying a request to rehear a decision to place the issue before voters in November because of alleged irregularities in the collection of petition signatures.

In a five-page order, Justice Stephen Markman said the allegations, even if true, would not justify removing the issue from the ballot.

A citizen “cannot blame others when he signs a petition without knowing what it says,” Markman wrote. “It is not to excuse misrepresentations, when they occur, to recognize nonetheless that is the citizen’s duty to inform himself about the substance of the petition before signing it.”

Opponents of the ballot proposal, which would ban government affirmative action programs that use race or gender preferences in hiring, contracting and university admissions, claimed that petition signers had been lied to about the effect of the amendment.

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Local

Saturday in Ypsilanti: Shadow Art Fair

Posted by Brandon on 13. July 2006

Forget art-on-a-stick (Chapman or otherwise) and suburbanites with strollers:

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University Battens Down Hatches for Art Fair

Posted by MarkDilley on 13. July 2006

via email comes this:

As we all know it is that time of year again in Ann Arbor when the streets around campus get jammed by the exhibitors and crowds of the various Art Fairs. To attempt to minimize the security issues of large numbers of unauthorized folks wandering through our buildings and the sanitary impacts on the building rest rooms we plan to close most entrances to LSA buildings during Art Fair (July 19th through July 22nd). We do, however have classes, events and normal business operations that occur in our buildings that have to continue during Art Fair. Our plan is to keep the below listed autolock doors open for normal business hours. We will also provide the Key Ads a template to use to post on building doors that states that no public restrooms are available in our buildings. Please make sure your instructors, students and potential visitors are notified how to get into the buildings to minimize any negative impact to our daily operations.

• Angell/Haven/Mason/Tisch complex: Haven Hall east (Fishbowl) doors
• Chemistry: North entrance doors (across from Michigan League)
• CC Little: West entrance doors
• Dennison: High rise doors under connector to low rise
• East Hall: Northwest doors by Psych
• Kraus: South entrance door
• Lorch: Northeast entrance doors
• LSA: West lobby entrance doors
• MLB: Southwest entrance doors
• Randall: Southwest entrance doors
• Tappan: West entrance doors
• Thayer: East entrance doors
• USB: Northwest entrance doors (to top of parking lot)
• West Hall: North entrance doors

Comment [6]

Regional

County Non-Motorized Plan: public meetings this week!

Posted by Murph on 12. July 2006

The Washtenaw Area Transportation Study is / has been holding public participation meetings on their Draft Non-Motorized Transportation Plan for Washtenaw County; the final two meetings are tonight (Wednesday, July 12), at the AATA offices at 2700 S. Industrial in Ann Arbor, and tomorrow (Thursday, July 13), at Ypsilanti’s City Hall at 1 S. Huron Street. Both are 6-8pm.

From the introduction of the draft plan, full text of which is available at the link above, the Non-Motorized Plan,

is a countywide plan that can be consulted as local communities, developers and transportation agencies develop non-motorized facilities throughout the county. The Non-Motorized Plan identifies the transportation system’s existing non-motorized facilities, establishes a future conceptual network for non-motorized facilities through a map and list of improvements, and identifies sources to help fund future additions to the non-motorized transportation network. This plan also assists local officials and developers by providing guidelines for the inclusion of non-motorized facilities as part of the land use and plan review process for new development.

A complete non-motorized system will enhance the quality of life in Washtenaw County by providing a resource for improved quality of life and economic vitality.

The plan is near the end of a 2 year long process; these meetings are intended to present the draft of the plan for final public input. Comments may also be submitted to WATS by mail, fax, or e-mail.

By bus, AATA’s Offices can be reached on the #6 line; Ypsi City Hall is one block south and one block east of the Ypsi Transit Center, served by the #3-6, 10, 11, 20, and 33.

Campus

Daily Editor Joins "Michigamua"

Posted by Ari Paul on 12. July 2006

In a rare “Daily in the Daily” story:

Donn Fresard, The Michigan Daily’s fall/winter editor in chief, recently announced plans to join the campus society formerly known as Michigamua.

His decision has sparked a blaze of controversy at the Daily and prompted the second highest-ranking fall/winter editor to resign her post.

Ashley Dinges, who was the paper’s managing editor, resigned July 2 on the grounds that Fresard’s membership in the group – which is composed of some of the campus’s most influential student leaders – will be a conflict of interest.

The Daily often covers those leaders’ organizations and teams and also covers the group itself.

Comment [1]

Local

Google comes to Ann Arbor

Posted by Dale Winling on 11. July 2006

The lack of all-night doughnut shops be darned, the Associated Press is reporting that Google and Gov. Granholm will announce at 11am that the internet behemoth will open a facility in Ann Arbor that will employ 1,000.

While Michigan Radio reported that jobs may be available as early as today, Google Jobs still lists book scanners for its partnership with U-M libraries.

UPDATE: More thorough artlcle from the Free Press.

At an 11 a.m. news conference in Lansing today, Google will unveil plans to create a headquarters facility for its Google AdWords unit. AdWords offers “pay-per-click” ads that are triggered when Google users search for certain words. It is the company’s bread-and-butter advertising product and its primary source of revenue.

Google officials said they will start posting openings as early as today for jobs at the Ann Arbor facility at www.google.com/jobs.
[...]

Before this morning’s news conference, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority is expected to approve $38 million in Single Business Tax credits over 20 years for Google, whose development is expected to generate $165 million in tax revenue over that time.

As Google evaluates specific sites, it will work with local communities on other possible incentives to complement the MEGA tax credits.
[...]

The MEDC has been wooing Google ardently for about a year, ever since reports surfaced that the company was looking at Ann Arbor, Boston, Boulder, Colo., and the Phoenix area as possible sites for expansion.

Comment [165]

Local

Democratic Party Candidate Forum, July 8

Posted by Juliew on 7. July 2006

10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Courthouse Square (corner of Huron St. and Fourth Ave.)

This is the regular July meeting of the City Democrats, but the agenda is of particular interest to all Ann Arbor voters as this may be one of the few times you will be able to see many of these candidates.

Come hear the views of candidates in contested August Democratic Party primaries for city council, mayor, county commission (Ann Arbor seats), and state representative ( 52nd 53rd District). The forum will be moderated by former US Rep. Lynn Rivers. Parking is available for free 3 blocks from Courthouse Square at the Ann/Ashley structure or for a fee next door at the Washington St. structure.

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Regional

Register to Vote by Monday, 10 July 2006

Posted by Murph on 6. July 2006

The deadline to vote in Michigan’s primaries on 8 August 2006 is this coming Monday, 10 July 2006. Since we all know that everything interesting in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti is determined in August, make sure you can vote then.

Use Publius.org to check your current registration address. To register or change your registration address,

• Visit a Secretary of State branch office – in Maple Village on A2’s west side, on Washtenaw between Golfside and Hewitt, or in the scenic strip malls of Chelsea or Belleville’s south sides.
  
• Visit your friendly local City Clerk at City Hall, if you live in the Cities of Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti.
  
• If you are moving within the City of Ann Arbor, you can even change your voter registration address by phone – (734)-994-2725.

Just remember: by Monday.

Comment [1]

Culture

A2 on the music map, again

Posted by MarkDilley on 6. July 2006

Thanks to a friend for passing this along. I have listened to the samples and I like them.

The freshest, most thrilling hip-hop album so far this year has come from the most unexpected of sources. Dabrye is just one of the many aliases of Tadd Mullinix, a 27-year-old electronic producer from the university town of Ann Arbor.

via BBC:Collective

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