Arbor Update

Local

Larcom, Kestenbaum discuss alternative means of electing City Council

Posted by Murph on 23. November 2005

With the Democratic hegemony of Ann Arbor’s City Council complete, people have started to discuss alternative ways of choosing Councilmembers. Full text is behind a “read more” due to lengthy quoting of the News’ Geoff Larcom’s column and blogger Larry Kestenbaum’s post.

Comment [12] • Read More »

Regional

AATA considering express service to Canton Twp.

Posted by Murph on 23. November 2005

The Detroit News reports,

The township is in preliminary discussions with the Ann Arbor Transit Authority, which normally serves the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas. The authority is looking into the feasibility of running a self-funded park-and-ride service with the township.

Canton Township officials ask commuters who might use the daily service to contact Community Services [(734) 394-5190] by the end of December.

About 100 riders would be required, said Christopher White, manager of service development at AATA. Township officials have no estimate of the number of residents who work in Ann Arbor.

White said that the preliminary cost per rider would be about $120 a month, which may be more economical for commuters than paying for gas and parking in downtown Ann Arbor.
. . .
Once the township completes its study, the AATA will decide whether to implement the service. If started, the service would begin in late spring or early summer.

The buses would be funded through a Federal Highway Administration grant, and rider fees would cover operating costs.

AATA has in the past discussed similar (express/subscription) service to locations such as Chelsea, Milan, and Brighton, but the funding has never been secured.

Comment [12]

Local

Agitated aggregate of angry Ann Arbor landlords loudly lament lease legislation

Posted by David Boyle on 23. November 2005

     In “Lease-signing proposal attacked: Landlords oppose mayor’s ordinance to push back lease signing to December”, today’s Daily unloads on MSA members and associates (read linked article for snarkily-delivered details), but at least the article does show the near-hysteria of landlords, a mess of them talking about their putative violation of personal liberty under the proposed ordinance (re setting later deadlines for signing leases), as if they were so many Thomas Jeffersons of the real-estate world, in battle with the tyrannical couch-lounging students and their neo-Bolshevik minions infesting our City Council. Well.
     I also heard chatter that the landlords at the meeting were denigratory to students. (Surprise!) —I don’t know how this’ll all end up, but is Daily snarkery towards the student side necessarily going to help students’ welfare? The D could have chosen to be a little acerbic to the landlords, too.
     (Though the Daily is right to say that there should be maximum student participation and attendance at these meetings, of course, as opposed to student apathy.)

Comment [16]

Local

American Apparel in Ann Arbor: fleshy treat or urban blight??

Posted by David Boyle on 22. November 2005

I was walking in front of the “American Apparel” clothing store on Liberty tonight and saw that they now have some TV’s in the window, playing mostly G-rated fare but also showing some of their ads, including one with an immense expanse of woman’s thigh etc., as per their “provocative” and scanty-clad ads which plaster the inside of their store. Is this all a good thing, for women or anyone else? There are larger problems in the world, but still. With the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline(-Shar Jackson) mess, and the white phosphorus bombing of Fallujah scandal, it almost seems like the culture is becoming a whorehouse domestically and a slaughterhouse internationally. Hm. Bad combo of ‘houses. Or not. Have some cawfee. Tawk. If you like. Ann Arbor awaits your attitude.

Comment [16]

Campus

New Mott Children's Hospital controversy

Posted by MarkDilley on 21. November 2005

I believe this event is outdated by a couple of days, but not the gist of the information.

Tomorrow at the football game volunteers will be selling bracelets to benefit the new Mott Children’s Hospital at U of M. Hundreds of students and Ann Arbor citizens urge you NOT to buy a bracelet in protest of the polluting building that is being proposed. Our children’s hospital has a special responsibility to provide healthcare without harm. Here are some reasons why:

• The hospital system is the largest consumer of power in Ann Arbor. Emissions from the U of M power plant blow east over low-income Ypsilanti and Detroit neighborhoods where asthma rates are through the roof (and other maladies as well).
• A green building would have cleaner indoor air and natural light to help kids heal when they’re in the Hospital.
• A LEED silver building with certification (mid-level “greenness”)
  would cost about 1.5% more upfront but pay for itself in 5-8 years.
• Mott’s current plan is to build a non-LEED building (also ignoring
  the Green Guide to Healthcare) for $498 per square foot. Mott’s peer institution in Pittsburgh, by contrast, plans a combination of LEED and LEED platinum for $300 per square foot.

  As an alternative we urge you to e-mail Mott leaders Robert Kelch
  (rkelch@umich.edu) and Patricia Warner (patwarn@umich.edu) and tell them that your check will be in the mail as soon as they do right by the children they claim to serve.

> previous article New hospital to replace Mott

Comment [9]

Local

Fire at State and Stimson

Posted by Murph on 21. November 2005

I was wondering what the sirens were last night; from the Detroit News:

Three people jumped for their lives from the third floor of a burning apartment building in Ann Arbor early this morning.

Police officers found a young woman hanging from a third-floor window of the apartment building near the corner of State and Stimson streets when they arrived at 12:50 a.m., according to Ann Arbor Police Department sergeant Tom Hickey.
. . .
He added that most of the residents in the building, which is located near the University of Michigan’s campus, are young people but not affiliated with the university.

The fire started in one of the apartments, but the cause has yet to be determined by fire investigators, according to Hickey.

Sounds like a broken leg from jumping and smoke inhalation are the extent of residents’ injuries.

Edit: Walking around the building, I see relatively light damage – the picture above was the most dramatic view I could get.

Comment [15]

Business

GM to cut 30,000 American jobs by 2008

Posted by Murph on 21. November 2005

Happy Thanksgiving, Michigan! GM has just announced plans to close nine plants in the next two years, including,

• Lansing, Mich., Craft Centre will cease production in mid-2006.
• Lansing, Mich., Metal Center will cease production in 2006.
• Parts Processing Center in Ypsilanti, Mich., will cease operations in 2007.
• Flint, Mich., North 3800 engine facility (“Factory 36”) will cease production in 2008.

“The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work,” Wagoner said. “But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible.”

And the very best way to make North American operations profitable is to have none!

Comment [15]

Business

Arbor Brewing seeks support for Ypsi operation

Posted by Murph on 19. November 2005

Arbor Brewing Company hopes to open their Ypsilanti wing, a microbrewery and beer garden, by April of next year, and is seeking small investments to help with start-up operating expenses. Investors will be repaid when the microbrewery opens…in beer.

Investments come at $100, $500, and $1000, with investor benefits including free beer and other merchandise, and a personal stein to be kept at the brewery for when you come by, and occasionally filled with free samples of new beers.

Download details and the registration form, and support your local businesses.

Comment [3]

Campus

Is it legal/proper for Vagina Monologues to "discriminate"?

Posted by David Boyle on 18. November 2005

     Not to stir up the pot, but the pot is already stirred; folks, apparently including the publishers, are complaining about this year’s UM “Vagina Monologues” show possibly discriminating against white women by trying to get an all women-of-color cast. (As per the Michigan Daily, etc.)
     I have no problem (nor should anyone?) with a mostly women-of-color cast for a change. Artistic latitude, or artistic integrity, allows directors to cast an African-American woman as Rosa Parks, after all, rather than having to cast a 400-pound white man as Parks for the sake of “diversity”! Still, if NO white women are cast at all…
     I am concerned how this could look vis-a-vis the affirmative action struggle, which is supposed to be about integration, not exclusion. (I support affirmative action, of course.) Racial exclusion could even, say, constitute violation of MSA bylaws (and city, county, state, or national laws), not to mention the problem found at http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-siu11.html#, the Chicago Sun-Times article “U.S. accuses SIU of anti-white bias” from a week ago, which shows that the U.S. Justice Department is suing Southern Illinois University for programs that supposedly discriminate against whites. (I’m not saying the Bushies SHOULD do this, but they’re doing it.)
     The directors could always practice “affirmative action” and be willing to cast at least a few white women (maybe in the roles traditionally taken by women of color…), for the sake of keeping the cast diverse, and avoiding charges of illegal racial exclusion, perhaps? (I’m not even suggesting at the moment, that transgender people be included too, though transgendered folks can always make their case if they like…) Would such inclusion and diversity really destroy this year’s production of the Monologues? Just wondering.

Comment [12]

Campus

Official (?) MSA Fall '05 election results

Posted by David Boyle on 18. November 2005

Though the caption on the results below sez “unofficial”, I have it on good authority that these results for the Fall 2005 MSA elections are actually official. Thanks Rese Fox for heads-up. (Someone else on MSA sent me some results, but the computer wouldn’t open the attachment…) – - – 2005 MSA Fall Election Results

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

10-Nov-05

Submitted by Election Director Collin McGlashen

(winners in bold)

BUSINESS (2) VOTES POINTS

Addessi, Anthony Students 4 Michigan 74 128

Block, Adam Students 4 Michigan 64 94

ENGINEERING (3) VOTES POINTS

Paich, Kellie Students 4 Michigan 149 321

Ngobi, Lilian Students 4 Michigan 132 279

Moza, Rohin Independent 125 268

Coatta, Brian Independent 116 239

LS&A (9) VOTES POINTS

Ramos, Andy Students 4 Michigan 796 4967

Borock, Peter Students 4 Michigan 785 4929

Linsky, Arielle Students 4 Michigan 732 4692

Flood, Tyler Students 4 Michigan 763 4621

Kuhn, Alana Students 4 Michigan 690 4035

Van Hyfte, Laura Students 4 Michigan 693 4006

Dar, Mohammad Students 4 Michigan 701 3896

Segura, Xavier Students 4 Michigan 681 3740

Moses, Michael Independent 581 3270

Smith, Monica Defend Affirmative Action Party 309 1823

Lopez, Maricruz Defend Affirmative Action Party 246 1250

Barnard, Sarah Defend Affirmative Action Party 216 994

Lynn, Anastasia Defend Affirmative Action Party 189 865

Wu, Alan Defend Affirmative Action Party 193 859

Lattany, Dana Defend Affirmative Action Party 187 836

Jackson, Kevin Defend Affirmative Action Party 185 816

Frohman, Roland Defend Affirmative Action Party 176 798

Steding, Andrew Defend Affirmative Action Party 165 681

MUSIC (1) VOTES POINTS

Leibovich, Jeff Students 4 Michigan 67 67

Smith, Matthew Independent 35 35

NURSING (1) VOTES POINTS

Greenberg, Alan Students 4 Michigan 54 54

PHARMACY VOTES POINTS

Klein, James Students 4 Michigan 25 25

Johnson, David Defend Affirmative Action Party 3 3

PUBLIC HEALTH (1) VOTES POINTS

Taylor, Katie Defend Affirmative Action Party 28 28

RACKHAM (4) VOTES POINTS

Walsh, Kat Independent 142 486

Stenvig, Kate Defend Affirmative Action Party 138 373

Thomas, Ebony Defend Affirmative Action Party 135 337

Fox, Rese Students 4 Michigan 108 329

Royal, Ben Defend Affirmative Action Party 125 298

Lynch, Benjamin Defend Affirmative Action Party 117 253

SOCIAL WORK (1) VOTES POINTS

Lea, Charles Defend Affirmative Action Party 25 25

MEDICINE (1) VOTES POINTS

Ads, Yasser 3 3 – - -

Comment [1]