Arbor Update

City Council

City Council and Planning Commission, Patriotic Edition

Posted by Juliew on 3. July 2006

City Council Meeting Monday, July 3, 7:00pm

Highlights of the Council’s agenda include:

• Crime Statistics presentation
• Update to the political signs ordinance
• Rezoning of “Bristol Ridge” sprawl development from township to multi-family
• Approval of Calthorpe work plans
• Approval of an addition to the Fourth and Washington William parking structure

Planning Commission Meeting Thursday, July 6, 7:00pm
Note: The Planning Commission meeting has been moved to Thursday, July 6 at 7:00 due to the holiday.

Highlights of the Commission’s agenda include:

• Election of new officers and Commission housekeeping.
• Public hearing regarding the addition of the definition of “High-Water Mark, Ordinary” to the zoning ordinance.

Comment [12]

Regional

Regional transit extravaganza

Posted by Murph on 23. June 2006

It seems to be a heady time for transit enthusiasts, with a number of noteworthy announcements released recently.

AATA has approved a market research contract to study the feasibility of becoming a regional transit authority and passing a transit millage across much or all of Washtenaw County. Neither a specific service plan nor a specific funding level have been set – the study is intended to measure interest. The Ann Arbor News cites AATA’s Greg Cook as estimating the regional millage at less than half a mill. (Ann Arbor voters currently pay about 2 mills for AATA.)

Mayor Hieftje hosted a tour of the rails north of Ann Arbor, pictured, for a group of politicians, businesspeople, and transportation experts last Thursday, in support of his vision for commuter transit service running parallel to US-23. While the Ann Arbor Railroad’s cooperation has not been secured for the rail segment within the city, the rails from Ann Arbor north are owned by MDOT and licensed to the Great Lakes Central Railroad, which controls rail running all the way to Traverse City, and has expressed, beyond a willingness, a dream of running passenger service along that entire route.

Meanwhile, SEMCOG is expected to provide an update on its Ann Arbor to Detroit rapid transit study process at their General Assembly meeting, underway as I write; expect a link to appear as soon as one is available.

EDIT 27 JUNE: MDOT has posted an online survey asking for feedback on transportation spending priorities, including several questions which ask about mode choice between driving, transit, walking, etc.

Comment [88]

Local

Organizing for Peace in Ypsi

Posted by Dumi Lewis on 22. June 2006

In the past two weeks I’ve received two emails from current U of M student Krisilyn Frazier about the death of Clifton Lee Jr at the hands of the Washtenaw County Sheriffs. Issues of police violence can brew uprisings, distrust, and organizing for progressive change.

Krisilyn has stepped up and wants any help she can get in organizing a Peace March later this summer. She says it best, so I’ll quote her here,

As I stated before, the purpose of the Peace March is to promote peace and unity within the community. It will give the community an opportunity to speak out against black on black violence, police brutality, and racism. This is not an attack on ALL blacks or ALL police, just against those who commit the crimes and those who demonstrate insensitivity toward minorities as individuals who deserve equal respect and protection under the law.

You can contact her at frazierk@umich.edu for more information.

Comment [33]

City Council

City Council, Storm and Sewer Edition

Posted by Dale Winling on 18. June 2006

This week, City Council REALLY addresses citywide rates for water, sewer, and stormwater service and invites discussion with public hearings. (Unfortunately, links from the agenda packet on those items are broken and previous meetings’ minutes are not on the web yet.)

Comment [25] • Read More »

Local

First & Washington Redevelopment Proposals

Posted by Murph on 16. June 2006

The proposals received for the corner of First and Washington Streets, formerly the site of a decrepit parking garage, were mentioned briefly ; the DDA was kind enough to provide me with copies to scan. PDFs linked:

• Washington Commons is a homegrown proposal by Patrick O’Neill, of NSI Consulting & Development , with Ann Arbor lawyer Scott Munzel, designed by Carl Luckenbach . The proposal features street-level commercial space, 276 parking spaces, 24 units of market-rate housing, and 48 units of deed-restricted permanently affordable (“workforce”) housing, priced from $84,000 to $195,000.

• Ann Arbor City Apartments , from the Village Green Companies in Farmington Hills, offers 205 parking spaces and 114 flexible-term apartments / residential hotel units, including 11 affordable units, and “resort-class amenities”, identifying the corporate/research consultant or contract employee as the target audience.

• Dearborn Village Partners, LLC provides a rather mystifying entry for a “first-class Luxury Hotel propety with retail and residential diversity.” Mystifying because their submission appears to be a printout of PowerPoint rather than the 50-page documents the others provide.

The prices offered by the various proposals for the land were not included in the materials I received, though it’s worth noting that Washington Commons proposes to not actually buy the land, but to develop the land for a set fee, and have the retail and residential units transferred directly from the City to the end-user.

In addition to the previously linked Ann Arbor News story on the proposals, the June Ann Arbor Observer has a brief piece, dead tree only, as is the Observer way.

Comment [23]

Local

Friday Night Downtown

Posted by Juliew on 16. June 2006

The Mayor’s Green Fair and Bike Fest are downtown from 6:00-9:00pm on Main Street between Huron and William.

An Inconvenient Truth begins at the Michigan Theater. Showtimes at 5:45, 8:00 & 10:15pm.

Opening night at Top of the Park in their new spot in front of Rackham Auditorium. The Jeremy Kittel Acoustic Trio plays from 7:00-7:45pm and Bugs Beddow Band from 8:15-10:45pm. People-watching throughout the evening.

Comment [1]

National

Community Gardening

Posted by MarkDilley on 13. June 2006

Just a snapshot outside of our little bubble here in Ann Arbor:

South Central Farm in L.A. is a huge community garden, providing for 350 families.

It is being threatened with being bulldozed right now. There are people putting their bodies in the way, others are sitting in at the Mayor’s office. Please take a moment to give calls to: Mayor Villaraigosa (213.978.0600) and Councilwoman Jan Perry (213.978.0600) to encourage them to do what they can to halt the evictions.

Comment [22]

Local

A2's violent crimes up 35% in 2005

Posted by Murph on 13. June 2006

The Ann Arbor News reports that the City saw a 35% increase in violent crimes (assault, robbery, rape, murder, burglary, motor vehicle theft) in 2005 relative to 2004; 2004’s total had been down 10% from the previous year.

Police attributed a 28 percent spike in robberies and a 32 percent increase in aggravated assaults to a four-month crime spree in which a loosely-knit gang was targeting men on downtown streets. The department formed a crisis response unit to address the problem, and the robbery numbers have decreased.

Detective Sgt. Richard Kinsey said police identified a group of men believed to be responsible for more than 30 robberies and assaults.

“It created quite a spike in those numbers and was alarming,’’ Kinsey said. “I believe last year was an anomaly because the numbers are going back down again.’’

The forcible rape numbers jumped from 18 in 2004 to 38 last year. Police were unable to explain what caused those numbers to rise but said the vast majority of reported rapes involve acquaintances.

Relatedly, the DDA’s downtown benchmarking report (pdf), released in January, shows a roughly 50% increase in major crimes in the downtown area from 2004 to 2005, but an increase of only around 15% from 2003 to 2005. Detroit, meanwhile, experienced fewer murders in 2005 than any year since 1967.

Comment [33]

Local

UMCU - Identity Theft Problem

Posted by MarkDilley on 9. June 2006

ypsi~dixit:U-M Credit Union Data Stolen: Fake Credit Cards Opened

WHOA. The U-M Credit Union confirmed on Thursday that a data theft last summer that is said to have not been discovered till this past March may have resulted in thousands of Credit Union customers becoming the victims of identity theft.

As one of the folks enrolled in an identity theft program because of this problem, I wonder how Jim Mattson, president and CEO, knows that less than 100 credit union members have had problems when 5000 were stolen?

Thanks to George, for the alert and his links: the Fedral Trade Commission has instructions about getting your free credit report and AnnualCreditReport (15-30 minutes)

Comment [2]

Local

Farmblogging: Down on the Farm with Shannon Brines of Brines Farm

Posted by Ed Vielmetti, Guest Contributor on 4. June 2006

Down on the Farm is the weblog from Shannon Brines, a Dexter, MI farmer who is a regular at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market . He writes about what’s he’s about to bring to market (snow peas and tomatoes are on the way), the eat local challenge to limit your food consumption to things grown within 100 miles of you, and the local harvest guide to regional producers.

The blog tagline is
Blog of Brines Farm, so you can “know your farmer.” Sustainability, green, and eco news related to agriculture, local food, and other interests as well.

If you see him at market, say hi, and say Arbor Update sent you.

Comment [23]