Development gets no votes from council
Scott Munzel, attorney for Alex de Parry on the City Place PUD application, discusses the signatures on the petition with Jayne Miller, director of community services with city of Ann Arbor.
The City Place PUD application failed on an 0-10 vote (councilmember Sandi Smith was unable to attend the meeting due to family illness).
This, after neighbors had successfully petitioned to force the PUD proposal to achieve an 8-vote majority (instead of a simple 6-vote majority).
The late-hour petition resulted in a motion by coucilmember Stephen Rapundalo to postpone for two weeks, but that motion was supported only by the two councilmembers seated to Rapundalo’s left – Leigh Greden and Christopher Taylor. [Full Story]
Caucus hears from public on City Place, 415 W. Washington
City council caucus (Sunday, Jan. 4. 2008): Sunday night’s regular caucus focused on development issues: (i) a proposed PUD, City Place, to be built along Fifth Avenue, and (ii) redevelopment proposals for the city-owned property at 415 W. Washington. The caucus was bookended by remarks from representatives from two of the design teams for the 415 W. Washington, Peter Allen and Peter Pollack. [Full Story]
The Earth Times posts a press release from Borders Group that announces a new CEO and other management changes at the beleaguered Ann Arbor-based bookstore chain. Ron Marshall, founder of the private equity firm Wildridge Capital Management, has replaced George Jones as president and CEO. Jones had been in that job since July 2006. In a statement, Borders board chairman Larry Pollock says: “Progress has been made by Borders Group over recent quarters within the challenging economy to reduce debt, improve cash flow, cut expenses, enhance inventory productivity and improve margins, but it is imperative that the company more aggressively attack these initiatives to address its long-term future.” Borders also reported a double-digit sales decline for the holiday period ending … [Full Story]
Chronicle comments clarified
Spam is still spam, even when it's wrapped with a bow.
We take this occasion to address some technical issues related to commenting on Chronicle articles, prompted by a bad outcome this past weekend. In general, everyone’s very first comment is held in a moderation queue – this helps cut down on spam. Time lag for approval of a first comment ranges from instantaneous (if it’s seen “live” as it comes through) to a few hours. After logging one successful comment, subsequent comments should appear with no editorial intervention. [Full Story]
