Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Spotted this week

Posted by Matt Hampel on 22. May 2009

The AADL is adding CD previews to its online catalog — you’ll be able to listen to short snippets (a la Amazon/iTunes) before requesting the item. Still no digital deliveries, though.

Detroit: Murph posted a link to the Great Lakes Urban Exchange’s I Will Stay If… project in the Young Urban Professionals thread.

The Workantile Exchange, a “community of independent workers” on Main Street is accepting applications.

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Happy Memorial Day!

Posted by Patti Smith on 22. May 2009

Schools are closed on Monday, there’s no mail delivery and the library is closed too…but there is still plenty to do on Monday (and this whole weekend!)

Saturday:
City pools open!

Neighborhood parade for children who want to decorate their bikes. Line up at 2609 Yost Dr. at 11am.

Sunday:
Arborcrest Memorial Park Memorial Day ceremony 2pm-3pm at 2521 Glazier Way.

Pancake breakfast (mmmmm, pancakes!) and Memorial Day service at the Yankee Air Force Museum

Ypsilanti Memorial Day parade beginning at 9am at Huron Street and Michigan Avenue.

Glacier Area Homeowners Association
parade.

Parades in Milan (9am), Chelsea, Howell, Dexter, Saline (all at 10am) and Manchester at 1pm.

Ypsilanti Township has its annual memorial service at 1pm at the Civic Center.

Sunday & Monday:
Sing-a-long to Mary Poppins

I’m sure I missed a ton of stuff, so please add in the comments and accept my apologies for the oversight.

Have a great weekend, and as always, thanks to the folks who fought the wars, kept the peace, nursed and doctored the injured and paid the ultimate price for us all while engaged in military service.

Suing about e-mailing about parking?

Posted by Murph on 16. May 2009

The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center may file suit against the City of Ann Arbor to stop construction of the proposed underground parking structure on South Fifth Ave. A letter from Prof. Noah Hall, Ann Arbor resident and executive director of the Center, identifies potential grounds for a challenge:

  1. The proposed parking structure may violate the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) – “The construction and operation of the proposed new parking structure and the additional [vehicle miles traveled] that it will cause are “likely to pollute, impair, or destroy” the environment, and thus are not lawful under the MEPA unless “there is no feasible and prudent alternative.” The City of Ann Arbor has numerous feasible and prudent alternatives to the proposed new parking structure . . . detailed by Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates in the Ann Arbor Downtown Parking Study [2007]”
  2. The City Council may have violated the Open Meetings Act by conducting private e-mail conversation during a meeting in parallel to the open discussion of the issue – “During the City Council meeting on February 17, 2009 at which the proposed new parking structure and bonding was approved, several City Council members exchanged numerous email messages discussing whether they supported postponement and why other City Council members supported or opposed postponement. . . . This electronic discussion was made during the public portion of the City Council’s meeting, potentially violating the Michigan Open Meetings Act.”
  3. These e-mails were not produced during a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center for, “all e-mail communications and other records made by City Council members before, during, and after” the Council meeting. “It was only through a subsequent Freedom of Information Act request for documents not related to the proposed parking structure that the City Council members’ email messages and discussion regarding postponement were discovered.”

Additional information is available via the Ann Arbor News and Ann Arbor Chronicle. The Chronicle additionally has the full text of Hall’s letter (pdf), from which I’ve excerpted above, and notes that Hall has loaned them ~1,000 pages of documents produced in the FOIA requests, which the Chronicle hopes to have scanned and posted soon.

Some discussion has been provided on AU already, on the 2009 City Council Elections thread. On the Chronicle article, AU reader (and attorney) David Cahill provides the opinion that Hall’s letter “is not marred by the citation of any legal cases supporting his claim,” as well as opining that such a suit would be “frivolous”, and lead to a slippery slope allowing any construction whatsoever to be blocked by similar arguments.

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Ann Arbor Book Festival & Weekend Stuff To Do

Posted by Patti Smith on 15. May 2009

Just a reminder that the Ann Arbor Book Festival officially kicks off today and goes through this weekend, culminating with the Antiquarian Fair on Sunday at the Michigan Union.

There are tons of other cool things to do this weekend, too! There is the Hootenanny to benefit Avalon Housing tonight and a fly fishing event for women tomorrow at Gallup Park. I know there are many more great things happening, so please mention them in the comments! Have a super weekend.

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People's Food CoOp Elections

Posted by Patti Smith on 13. May 2009

I grew up in a suburb north of Detroit in the 70s/80s. If you know the area, it perhaps goes without saying that I never heard of things called “quinoa” or “kale” or “stinging nettle”. It was all about Shake’n‘Bake, Hamburger Helper and iceberg lettuce with Garden Goddess dressing in the Smith household.

When I moved to Ann Arbor (a lifelong goal…at least since the age of 9, when I first visited the UM Hospital and saw someone with blue hair and knew I had to live here), one of the first things that I did was join the People’s Food Co-Op. Thanks to the friendly folks there, I have tried quinoa and kale and stinging nettle (and a host of other things, some that I loved and some not). For these and many other reasons, I take the co-op elections really seriously. The Board of Directors election is coming up soon. Ballots are due by 4pm on Saturday, May 30 or you can bring them with you to the annual meeting on May 31 from 3:00-5:00 at the Leslie Science Center.

Four candidates are seeking to join the other cool folks on the Board. Please find their candidate statements in the newsletter

If you are a member, please remember to vote!! Thanks to the candidates for running—and good luck!!

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Transportation Town Hall Meeting May 11, 7pm, WCC

Posted by Nancy Shore on 12. May 2009

There is going to be a Town Hall Meeting tonight (May 11) at 7m at Washtenaw Community College to focus on transportation projects.

According to an email on the event:

Pam Byrnes will host a town hall meeting with U.S. Reps. John Dingell (D-Michigan) and Mark Schauer (D-Michigan) to provide an update on local, state and federal transportation projects aimed at improving roads in Washtenaw County. The town hall will take place on Monday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at the Washtenaw Community College Morris Lawrence Building, located at 4800 E. Huron River Drive in Ann Arbor.

In addition to the speakers above, Ron DeCook the Legislative Liaison for MDot will be talking about funding possibilities and Terri Blackmore of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study will be discussion transportation needs in the county.

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AADL offers a class on how to get online news

Posted by Matt Hampel on 9. May 2009

The AADL is hosting a class on finding online news this coming Wednesday. Hopefully it’s the first of many. If you’re here, you probably don’t need it — but maybe you know someone who’s interested, or want to pick up some more skills. Registration is required.

Are you sad that your traditional newspaper may no longer be delivered to your doorstep? Do you want to learn how to make that news come to you electronically, but don’t know how?

Join us for the Online News Delivered class this upcoming Wednesday, and learn all about it! We’ll explain how you can get your local, national, and world news from your favorite media sources delivered to your RSS Reader or E-mail automatically, and help you set everything up. Register today by phone or online!

Recap: Online News Delivered class, Wed., May 13, 10am-12pm, Malletts Creek Branch, Registration Required.

They have a whole program of interesting classes coming up. It’s more than basic Microsoft Word.

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Huge automated calendar of upcoming events in Ann Arbor

Posted by Matt Hampel on 8. May 2009

John Udell has built an automated script for pulling Ann-Arbor related events into a huge calendar list. It’s similar to Arbor Update’s calendar, but much larger and unfiltered. Potentially a source of information for local event information curators or your personal information overload needs.

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Young Professionals in MI: Why we want to leave, why we want to stay

Posted by Nancy Shore on 7. May 2009

If you haven’t already heard, Michigan is having a bit of a challenging time lately. One of the issues that continues to surface is how to retain and attract talented knowledge workers to our state.

Last night, the Center for Michigan hosted a dinner for Young Professionals (some from Ann Arbor) so these citizens could talk with lawmakers and provide their suggestions for how to attract and retain young talent.

Jack Lessenberry was there, and wrote up this report.

Among his observations:
—Older lawmakers seemed disconnected to the concerns of young professionals that currently live in Michigan, such as the need to retain funding for arts and culture.
—Young people want to stay in this state, but see the current government leadership as failing them (and the rest of Michigan).

While Ann Arbor is better off that the rest of the state when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, our City also just got ranked at one of the worst Cities for finding jobs.

So what’s the answer? How can we attract and retain young talent? Does it even matter?

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2009 School Board Elections

Posted by Bruce Fields on 6. May 2009

Larry says

Can we have a new item to discuss yesterday’s election?

Larry’s wish is our command.

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