Comments on: AATA Plans for Countywide System http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aata-plans-for-countywide-system it's like being there Tue, 16 Sep 2014 04:56:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 By: Barb Fuller http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-33118 Barb Fuller Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:41:52 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-33118 Has there been consideration given to having the boundary of this proposed authority follow the Washtenaw County Road Commission’s Urban Services Boundary?

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By: EOS http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32807 EOS Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:17:20 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32807 John -

It’s because county-wide funding would primarily benefit Ann Arbor, where all routes would lead. There certainly won’t be buses on every corner, running at 15 minute intervals in the outlying areas of the county. AATA is leading the effort because it seeks to expand its bureaucracy and grow the salaries of its executives. It would be in the best interests of Ann Arbor residents to not spend the money up front for a system that is very unlikely to be bought into by the rest of the county, especially in these tough economic times. The residents of Ypsilanti Township turned down the millage for police yesterday. Do you think it is likely that they would vote to support expanding the expensive bus service provided by AATA? AATA has already priced itself beyond the financial capabilities of the City of Ypsilanti.

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By: John Floyd http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32756 John Floyd Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:20:21 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32756 Why are Ann Arbor taxpayers funding the development – consultants, lawyers, staff time & resources – for a “countywide” system?

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By: Rod Johnson http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32724 Rod Johnson Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:27:51 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32724 Dave: You may already know about standards but what the heck.

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By: EOS http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32717 EOS Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:37:41 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32717 Anyone can make up a mission statement and hire a consultant, but there’s a significant problem with your vision seeing that the rest of the county doesn’t want and can’t afford AATA.

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By: Dave Askins http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32712 Dave Askins Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:35:02 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32712 Re: [4] “(But to do that [denoted corrections] in a truly semantic (or geeky) way, you should use the INS and DEL tags, and let the CSS do the coloring.)”

There’s actually a specific archival benefit to that approach that becomes clearer when one considers other uses of red-lining and blue-facing in The Chronicle’s material. E.g., We sometimes use the same technique to make clear contrasts between original versions of public documents and revised versions.

If we coded our corrections differently from other uses, and let CSS color them (presumably still the same), it would still be possible to search the corpus of Chronicle material and find all instances of corrections, without having to manually filter out other uses of red and blue text.

It’s something that’s not exactly a top priority to implement, but is in the mix of “things to eventually attend to.”

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By: Rod Johnson http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32709 Rod Johnson Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:12:54 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32709 (But to do that in a truly semantic (or geeky) way, you should use the INS and DEL tags, and let the CSS do the coloring.)

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By: Vivienne Armentrout http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32702 Vivienne Armentrout Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:08:28 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32702 At the citizen journalism workshop Mary mentioned, the presenter, Kelly McBride, made special (positive) mention of the Chronicle’s habit of showing corrections as strike-throughs with color codes for new insertions. I agree with her – this gives your articles continuity so that we know when you have made changes, substantial or otherwise. With electronic reporting, you never know how much water has flowed beneath your feet. She mentioned the Missed Ticks, too.

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By: Dave Askins http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32699 Dave Askins Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:44:50 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32699 Re: [1] and the question about Act 51. That’s a typo, sorry. It should read “Act 55.” I’ve corrected it.

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By: Vivienne Armentrout http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/03/aata-plans-for-countywide-system/comment-page-1/#comment-32694 Vivienne Armentrout Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:52:55 +0000 http://annarborchronicle.com/?p=31081#comment-32694 Thank you once more for this comprehensive and understandable discussion of a complex subject.

In the 8th paragraph (beginning “Annis”) under the subhead “Form an Act 196 organization”, you say, “The Act 51 organization of AA would not disappear as soon as an Act 196 organization was established.” I know that P.A. 51 is part of the legislation that makes public transportation possible, but did you mean Act 55 here?

The agenda provided before the meeting contained this statement: “Reorganization under Act 196 requires no change in the City’s ownership of the transit system, the make-up of the Board of Directors, or in the current method of providing transit services inside or outside of the City.” You mention board makeup as an unresolved question. I found this agenda statement confusing because what I heard when interviewing for a story about this last year was that each jurisdiction that joined the new authority would naturally expect to have representation. The picture that was emerging at that time was that the county BOC would establish seats for each jurisdiction and Ann Arbor’s mayor would no longer appoint a majority of members.

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