Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

This Weekend: Music Festivals for Renter/Student Advocacy

Posted by Brandon on 1. September 2005

29 bands and solo acts from Ann Arbor and beyond come together this weekend to raise funds for the New West Side Association and Ann Arbor Alliance (and just have a good time).

Sunday, September 4
NEW WEST FEST

Monday, September 5
ARBOURFEST

Comment [4]

Your comments can get us in trouble

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 1. September 2005

It seems that a blogger interested in search engines has been sued for comments posted to his site by a third party. See the article for more info—and please don’t get us sued.

Comment [1]

Ann Arbor chapter of "Drinking Liberally" kick-off tomorrow

Posted by Murph on 31. August 2005

Engineering Graduate Student John Redmond has registered an Ann Arbor chapter of Drinking Liberally:

Across the country, local pubs are hosting Drinking Liberally (www.DrinkingLiberally.org) – an informal, Democratic drinking club where socializing and politics mix.

In the weeks following the November 2004 election, liberals needed a drink…and they needed a place were the grassroots energy of the past 18 months could continue. New clubs sprang up all over the country— especially in the Swing States and Red States. Drinking Liberally now has 90 clubs nationwide (including one in Alaska, five in Texas, three in Kansas and six in Florida) and multiple locations continue to start up each week.

What started in a dive bar in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen in May 2003 is now known in the grassroots political world as an easy first step for political involvement because Drinking Liberally’s weekly guests and regulars include local politicians and their staffers, political organizers, activists, would-be volunteers and newly interested chit-chatters – all in a casual, inclusive environment.

The Ann Arbor group will meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, 8pm, at the Arbor Brewing Company, 114 E. Washington St, starting tomorrow, September 1st.

Comment [5]

Detroit now America's poorest city

Posted by Murph on 31. August 2005

As a reprieve from depressing news from down south, here’s some depressing news closer to home:

Detroit has risen to the top of the list of the country’s most impoverished metropolises, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The data released Tuesday shows that 33.6 percent of Detroit residents live in poverty.

Detroit topped El Paso, Texas; Miami; Newark, N.J.; Atlanta and Long Beach, Calif., in the rankings.

In a half-century, Detroit has lost about half its population and is now the country’s 11th largest city with just over 900,000 residents.

Cleveland, which had been the nation’s poorest big city, fell from No. 1 to No. 12 on the list, Census Bureau researchers said. The report said the percentage of Cleveland residents living in poverty fell to 23.2 percent from 31.3 percent in last year’s report.

Detroit is beating out second place El Paso by a safe margin of 5%. Meanwhile, Michigan’s median household income has dropped 3% in the past year, while gasoline prices in the area have hit $3 in a region that doesn’t offer much choice other than driving.

Comment [29]

U-M on Mojo's Campus Round Up

Posted by Ari Paul on 31. August 2005

The latest issue of Mother Jones gives props to U-M activism in its yearly survey of campus do-gooders.

University of Michigan students gave new meaning to their school’s rallying cry, “Go Blue,” by registering 10,000 voters in a monthlong registration drive in the lead-up to the 2004 presidential vote. The effort produced record youth-voter turnout in Ann Arbor, keeping Michigan in Kerry country, even though unprecedented numbers of college-aged voters across the nation failed to turn the crimson tide.

FBI Investigates BAMN and Direct Action for Domestic Terrorism

Posted by Ari Paul on 31. August 2005

From the Raw Story:

The document released today is an FBI report labeled, “Domestic Terrorism Symposium,” and describes a meeting that was intended to “keep the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies apprised of the activities of the various groups and individuals within the state of Michigan who are thought to be involved in terrorist activities.”

Among the groups mentioned are Direct Action, an anti-war group, and BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), a national organization dedicated to defending affirmative action, integration, and other gains of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The FBI acknowledges in the report that the Michigan State Police has information that BAMN has been peaceful in the past.

The Raw Story makes one error, confusing BAMN with the Black Action Movement (BAM) which fought for social justice since the 60s. BAMN is a development of the 1990s and is wholly unrelated.

More info:

No Bamn
Mother Jones post on BAMN

Comment [1]

Jefferson Market’s 5th Anniversary Block Party

Posted by Juliew on 30. August 2005

Wednesday, August 31st from 6pm to 9:30pm
Toy sale, FREE lemonade and cake, and music by FUBAR

Menu after the cut:

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MSA VP resigns

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 29. August 2005

MSA VP Alicia Benavides has resigned her position with an e-mail sent to the body of the student government. Full e-mail contained within.

• Read More »

Construction Equipment/House Collision

Posted by Brandon on 29. August 2005

Preliminary reports are coming-in about a cherry-picker colliding with two houses on 5th between Packard and Madison.

UPDATE (courtesy of Dale):

A utilities vehicle with a telescoping arm appears to have been parked/anchored
at or near the west curb on Fifth just north of Madison, when equipment failure
or operator error allowed it to begin rolling down the hill. The vehicle
appears to have crashed through several garbage bins set at the sidewalk and
rammed into the porch of a two-story house on Fifth. It crashed through the
porch and into the corner of the house, where it came to rest. The telescoping
arm smashed through the exterior siding of the neighboring house. Needless to
say, Fifth is closed off and there are numerous police, fire, and DTE vehicles
at the site, though no ambulances were in evidence. Word at the site was that
the house with the most damage was unoccupied at the time. PHOTOS: 1, 2.

Comment [3]

Interview with Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

Posted by Ari Paul on 28. August 2005

The Ann Arbor based magazine Critical Moment profiles just one aspect of South Eastern Michigan’s religious left.

A long-time peace and social justice activist, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit is not your run-of-the-mill Catholic. When not leading Sunday Mass at St. Leo’s Church on 15th and Grand River, one is likely to run into the Bishop at a rally against the School of the Americas, speaking out against the Church’s position on homosexuality, or traveling the world over to document human rights violations. In this interview with Critical Moment, Bishop Gumbletion reflects on Catholicism as a tool for liberation, the war in Iraq, and the recent decision to close 18 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Detroit.

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