Archive for March, 2009

The Arbor Market blog posts photos of daffodils and “puzzy willows” that were for sale last Saturday at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. “A little warmer March weather and they will be joined by many others.” [Source]

In a New Media Watch item about an upcoming meeting to discuss Prospect Park, we misspelled the last name of Ypsilanti city councilmember Pete Murdock. We note the error here, and have corrected the original item.

In our article about the Feb. 25 Washtenaw County administrative briefing for the board of commissioners, we reported an incorrect amount for a proposed brownfield application fee. To apply for brownfield projects under $1 million, the new fee is $3,000. Also, fees in the county have previously been below state benchmarks, not national ones as we reported. We note the errors here, and have corrected the original article.

The Daily, in a report on the upcoming increase in tobacco taxes meant to help finance health care for children in low-income homes, interviews Ann Arbor business owners about their fears for the future. Owner of Maison-Edwards Tobacconist, Chuck Ghawi says, “I can’t see how it wouldn’t have an impact, especially during a recession.” In agreement, Smokah Hookah employee, Amal Awar agrees, “It will definitely drop sales significantly, no question about it.” [Source]

The Chicago tribune reports on a new trend of unemployed alumni turning to their alma maters looking for aid – a trend also attested at the University of Michigan.  Vice President for marketing and communications for the alumni association at UM, Cat Serrin Niekro, is working to revamp a webpage for alumni, “We want a new landing page so that when alumni come to our Web site, they immediately see something that addresses their economic concerns.” [Source]

It’s Wiki Wednesday again, an occasional series in which The Chronicle reminds readers of the online encyclopedia, ArborWiki, to which they can contribute their knowledge of the community. In the inaugural edition of our Wiki Wednesday series, we suggested adding to some ArborWiki entries consisting of name lists. One of those name lists was a historical record of people who have served on Ann Arbor city council.

Following that link reveals a whole host of additions, since last week, some dating back to the 1950s. Other additions are more recent. [Full Story]

Ethel Potts raises her hand in opposition on the final vote to recommend the A2D2 zoning to city council .

Just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening, Ann Arbor’s planning commission, on an 8-1 vote, passed a recommendation on to city council to enact a series of zoning changes as a part of the A2D2 package. The set of proposed new zoning regulations had undergone some revision in response to additional community feedback on the first version that had been recommended by the commission. That feedback had been collected through the fall of 2008 in a series of public workshops.

Our goal in this article is not to lay out the complete set of revisions to the zoning recommendations. So the discussion of why there will be no adult entertainment district in downtown Ann Arbor will be put off until another day. Instead, we write for an audience of one – a South University area resident who we imagine will read the headline of this article with a disbelieving sense of déjà vu. She’s a resident who attended city council’s most recent Sunday night caucus, and who also attended planning commission’s meeting last night, leaving “early” when she likely believed a vote of particular interest to her was done. [Full Story]

On his East-Cross.com blog, Ypsilanti city councilmember Brian Robb writes about a meeting that he and fellow councilmember Pete Murdock are hosting Wednesday evening (March 4) to discuss “Prospect Park and what we all can do maintain and improve our Eastside treasure while facing declining resources.” The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Adams School. [Source]

The Detroit News reports that all three presidents of the University Research Corridor, including UM’s Mary Sue Coleman, testified Tuesday before the state’s House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education, urging the state legislature to invest more in higher education. The testimony “comes amid the backdrop of Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s call for a tuition freeze at the state’s 15 public universities and her recommendation for a 3 percent appropriations decrease to the institutions.” [Source]

Yes, that's a line outside the Dairy Queen on West Stadium Boulevard. The store opened for the season on Tuesday, when temps hovered below 30 degrees.

Every year, the staff at the Dairy Queen on West Stadium Boulevard looks forward to seeing their regulars: Medium Twist Man, Moolatte Lady (a postal worker who stops buy every weekday and buys the same frozen coffee drink each time), Hot Dad (who makes the college-age staff swoon) and the Cocoa Fudge Family.

On a bitter cold Tuesday afternoon – opening day of the season – the regulars hadn’t shown up yet, but about 30 other customers had. Owner Diane Kerr wasn’t surprised by the turnout, despite temps in the 20s. “It doesn’t matter what the temperature is,” she says, “as long as the sun is shining.”

Clearly, there’s anticipation: The Chronicle was alerted by two Stopped.Watched items about the opening of this West Stadium store, as well as the DQ on Packard. As one Stopped.Watcher said: “Spring is coming!” [Full Story]

In an article about music therapy –  a possible new treatment for autism patients – the Washington Post quotes Catherine Lord, a UM professor of psychology who’s familiar with the novel approach: “We know that music therapy treatment is associated with improvement, but we don’t know what the cause of that improvement is.” [Source]

Greg Dooley of MVictors.com writes about his experience on Tuesday’s The Big Show, hosted by John U. Bacon on WTKA 1050-AM. He includes audio clips of their hour-long conversation, which covered Dooley’s eBay Watch series, some history and myths surrounding Michigan sports, and more. [Source]

In a Freep column about the Blowout music festival in Hamtramck, Erin Podolski asks Ann Arbor musician Misty Lyn for her top picks. Not surprisingly, several were area favorites, including the Great Lakes Myth Society, Matt Jones and Charlie Slick, among others. The Blowout starts Wednesday, March 4 and runs through Saturday, March 7 at venues throughout Hamtramck. [Source]

(Ann Arbor City Council March 2, 1896) Council’s meeting over a century ago apparently began with a departure from the usual form to which The Chronicle has become accustomed over the last few months. The mayor of  Ann Arbor began with an address, of which we publish here the first two paragraphs.  [Full Story]

It would be good to be more like Kevin.

I only talked with him a few times before he got sick. He seemed far too quiet and too young to have had so many successes. Plus, he was always skinny despite devouring at each Michigan Historical Society meeting what seemed to me to be an inordinate number of raisin oatmeal cookies.     

“The world is run by those who show up” was the motto he adopted in dedicating his life to improving health care for the people of Michigan. He worked tirelessly to ban smoking in the workplace, increasing childhood immunization rates, advocating for AIDS education and better end-of-life care. Although a Michigan State graduate, his adage seems particularly applicable to Ann Arbor. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor City Council Sunday caucus (March 1, 2009): At Sunday’s caucus, Mayor John Hieftje assessed the Ann Arbor city council agenda for Monday as “fairly light.” That’s also an accurate description of the kind of loads the Stadium Boulevard bridge over State Street can currently bear – with deterioration of the structure leading to two weight limit reductions in the last year, and a reduction of traffic to two lanes last week.

Stadium Boulevard bridge at State Street: Seven pre-stressing strands exposed on beam 5. The strands run east-west – that is, in the direction of the bridge's span.

Even though it is not yet reflected on the agenda for Monday, it’s expected that Sue McCormick, public services director of the city of Ann Arbor, will brief council on the bridge at the start of its meeting.

Some of the handful of residents at caucus were there to inquire about the bridge (and city finances in general), while others were there to weigh in on the A2D2 (Ann Arbor Discovering Downtown) rezoning process, which the planning commission is literally in the midst of deliberating. [Full Story]

Carsten Hohnke, one of two representatives to city council from Ward 5, has sent around an email invitation to opt in for a monthly roundup of issues that city council will be facing.  Identified in the first edition of the roundup as future issues with links to more information are (i)  new zoning ordinances for our downtown (ii) a management plan for the Huron River (iii) the budgets for the next two fiscal years. Not on the first invite list, but would like to receive the roundup? Here’s the signup form: [Source]

UM announced today that Ora Hirsch Pescovitz has been tapped as the new executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of the UM Health System, replacing Robert Kelch, who is retiring later this year. Her hire is contingent on approval by UM regents at their March 19 board meeting. She is currently executive associate dean for research affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine and president and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children. [Source]

Crain’s Detroit Business, in a report about longtime dinner clubs, interviews Joel Goldberg, editor of michwine.com (and a monthly wine columnist for The Ann Arbor Chronicle). Goldberg and his wife Sally started a dinner club in Ann Arbor 18 years ago, and more than 40 people take part. Says Goldberg: “People like to get together. They put a lot of effort into whatever they bring. Some people aren’t particularly good cooks, so we assign them to bring bread or dessert.” [Source]

Scot Graden, superintendent of Saline Area Schools, writes on his blog about a millage proposal that the board voted last week to put on the May 5 ballot: “With the uncertainty of the future, we will be unable to count on Lansing for the funding to keep Saline one of the premier school districts in the State of Michigan. Fortunately, as a community we will have the opportunity to decide if we want to help stabilize the uncertainty we are currently facing.” [Source]