Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Council asks DDA for a Two Site Plan

Posted by Murph on 2. August 2005

Last night’s City Council meeting included fiery discussion of a resolution calling on the DDA for a “Two Site Plan”, which ended in a 10-1 vote in favor of the plan, with Council member Kim Groome casting the lone dissent. Under this resolution, 1st/William will remain a surface parking lot for now, in order to serve construction needs and parkers displaced from the other sites during construction, to be revisited after work on those sites is completed.

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Vote Eugene Kang Today!

Posted by Rob Goodspeed on 2. August 2005

U-M undergrad and candidate for City Council in Ward 2 (contains the Hill Dorms and Northeast Ann Arbor) Eugene Kang’s primary election is today. If you are a registered Ward 2 voter, go vote for Eugene!

> See Eugene’s official website
> See results as they are reported

(cross-post)

Update: There is also a primary in Ward 4 today. Candidates include challenger Eric Lipson (who hangs out around these parts) and incumbent Marcia Higgins.

Comment [10]

US House approves $100m for Detroit - Ann Arbor rail

Posted by Murph on 29. July 2005

The US House yesterday approved a transportation bill (expected to win Senate approval today) that includes $1.123b annually for Michigan for the next 3 years, including $100m specified for a rapid rail connection between Ann Arbor/Ypsi and Detroit. The bill also would restore Amtrak’s funding to current levels, rather than cutting it in half, allowing service to Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Port Huron to continue.

UPDATE, 30 July: The Senate has also passed the transportation bill, and President Bush is expected to sign it, despite it being around $3billion more (a whopping 1.05%) than he had said he’d support. The aforementioned $100m for Ann Arbor – Detroit rapid transit is explained by the Ann Arbor News as going towards an “engineering study”:

“This is really good news. The preliminary engineering study is a big part of it,’’ Paul E. Tait, SEMCOG’s executive director and an Ypsilanti resident, said this morning of the infusion of federal money.

He said consultants will present a study on different mass transit modes, ranging from commuter train to express buses, for public discussion in September. SEMCOG next year then could choose a preferred method of rapid transit, Tait said.

The Detroit News discusses other Michigan projects specifically funded in the bill, including $29m for the Detroit waterfront and $43m to improve traffic flow at Port Huron’s Blue Water Bridge.

Comment [4]

Ann Arbor News notices Kang, Goodspeed, Winling

Posted by Murph on 28. July 2005

Today’s A2News surveys some current student issues around town, and provides good press for some student activists citizens (and for Leigh Greden), in Students want their say.

A U-M student is running for council and has outraised his council-backed opponent in campaign funds by more than $5,000. Web page blogs have sprung up, allowing students to air their views on city issues. And students are starting to form neighborhood associations.

They’re still using the t-word, though.

1st Ward Council replacement sought

Posted by Murph on 28. July 2005

With 1st Ward City Council member Kim Groome’s impending resignation (still no official date set, to my knowledge), the Council will have to select a successor to fill the remainder of her term, which expires in December 2006. I’ve received word that former City Council member Susan Greenberg has arranged an August 4 meeting to discuss the process and possible candidates. From a forwarded e-mail,

Greetings, Fellow First Warders
. . .
Thus, the first ward meeting to discuss process and
possible meet folks interested in being appointed as a replacement for Kim Groome will be held on Thursday, August 4th, 7:30 pm, at the Ann Arbor Community Center. Please ask your neighbors or friends to join with you in attending this meeting. The person appointed will undoubtedly wish to run for the office in November, 2006. I don’t anticipate decisions being made at this meeting, but it will initiate the process.

I’ve heard from a few sources (and confirmed with Jennifer) that Planning Commission Chair Jennifer Santi Hall is interested in the Council seat; the other name I’ve heard a few times is Tim Colenback, Assistant Dean of the School of Social Work.

Comment [6]

Red Wings Hockey

Posted by MarkDilley on 27. July 2005

Actually, all hockey. Seems the players and owners settled their long labor dispute .

Right On Schedule – Some didn’t think this day would come. But believe it, there is an NHL schedule. For the first time, all 30 teams will be on the ice when the regular season begins Oct. 5.

via ESPN

Comment [1]

Calthorpe Events this Week

Posted by Juliew on 27. July 2005

Today, Wednesday, July 27
“Regionalism and Urbanism,” a lecture by Peter Calthorpe.
7:00-8:30 pm at the Courthouse Square Senior Apartments Ballroom, 100 S. Fourth Ave.

Thursday, July 28
Interactive Public Workshop
This is the first of three public workshops with Calthorpe Associates. Calthorpe is known for their workshops involving the community and they are supposed to be quite fun and very interesting.
6:00-9:00 pm also at the Courthouse Square Senior Apartments Ballroom, 100 S. Fourth Ave.

More information is available here. Also, ironically, there is free parking for the events at the Fourth and Washington or Fourth and William parking structures if you bring your parking receipt to the workshop for validation.

Comment [44]

This week in student journalism

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 25. July 2005

Are the quote marks too much? Oh well, here goes:

Coverage of the City Council’s NoBuPa (I love typing that) street parking ordinance, news of a giant tuition increase and an editorial on Granholm’s part in neccessitating the increase, notes on a student fee increase, and finally another editorial on opposing the MCRI.

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American Apparel's "progressive" claims under fire

Posted by Murph on 24. July 2005

With Sam’s and The Planet having demonstrated a market, “sweatshop free” manufacturer American Apparel opened their own store in Ann Arbor last week just in time for Art Fair. One reader objects, sending a selection of links challenging AA’s reputation.

Not only has the company been accused of union busting – apparently considering themselves too worker-friendly to “need” a union, a la Whole Foods – but the company has faced several sexual harassment lawsuits recently, based on some interesting behavior by founder and CEO Dov Charney. (Charney writes off the lawsuits as “exploitative” attempts by disgruntled employees to capitalize on his “openness” about sex.)

From Business Week, 27 June 2005, Living on the Edge at American Apparel:

In his marketing, Charney has been adept at weaving his libertarian sexual attitude with his progressive labor practices. But it’s another matter to make that attitude a bedrock principle of the workplace. In their sexual harassment suits, two of the women accuse Charney of exposing himself to them. One claims he invited her to masturbate with him and that he ran business meetings at his Los Angeles home wearing close to nothing. Another says he asked her to hire young women with whom he could have sex, Asians preferred. All describe him using foul language in their presence, much of it demeaning to women. Says Keith A. Fink, an attorney for one of the women suing: “The work environment there makes Animal House look like choir practice.”

Also see,
> New York Times, 10 July 2005, His Way Meets a Highway Called Court
> Washington Square News (NYU), 27 January 2005, American Apparel not progressive, just perverse

Comment [6]

DetNews uncritically examines life "beyond the suburbs"

Posted by Murph on 24. July 2005

The Detroit News today runs two stories on life “Beyond the Suburbs”, entitled Paradise found beyond sprawl and Detroit: Out of sight, mind. The News seems to mean the first headline unironically, and presents statements like the following with no analysis:

Today, as the conveniences she once longed for—a 24-hour grocery and a sit-down chain restaurant—come to Hartland, Donna Rogers is apprehensive. She left suburbia. She doesn’t want it following her.
“I was trying to get away from this” development, Rogers said. “Enough is enough.”
. . .
From the pasture, past their grazing horses, past the kidney-shaped pool, past their imposing home, Lisa and Howard Glazer see trouble brewing. Five years ago, there was nothing but trees and grass around them. Now, a half-dozen homes are within eyesight.
“We didn’t move far enough out,” Lisa Glazer said. “You can see the suburbs lurking.”
“If someone were smart,” Howard Glazer said, “they’d buy 100 acres in Fowlerville.”

The News even manages to quote UM history professor Matt Lassiter and make it sound bland.

Comment [8]

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