The Eat Close to Home blog puts out a call for volunteers for Avalon Housing’s Edible Avalon project: “Edible Avalon is a great group that’s not only helping to build gardens in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, they are teaching people how to garden and supporting them through their first gardening efforts. They are looking for volunteers to help mentor new gardeners at their garden sites 1-3 hours per week.” [Source]
John U. Bacon
Almost all of the major league baseball’s 30 teams have moved their spring training camps in the past three decades, and fully half of them now play in Arizona. Stay-at-home stalwarts like the Cincinnati Reds trained in Tampa for 52 years before moving to Plant City in 1988, then to Sarasota a decade later, then finally to Goodyear, Arizona, last year.
Even the Los Angeles Dodgers, who created Dodgertown 62 years ago in Vero Beach to provide a safe haven for Jackie Robinson and other black players, also bolted for Arizona last year.
Baseball teams have been city-swapping their spring training sites like swingers in a – well, a bad movie about swingers, I guess.
In this permissive environment, the Detroit Tigers stand as a pillar of fidelity. Except for three years during World War II, the Tigers have trained in Lakeland, Florida every year since 1934. That’s 74 seasons, by far the longest marriage in the major leagues. [Full Story]
Happy crowd licking ice cream outside of the Washtenaw Dairy. Milk crates are stacked to block off new benches with fresh cement footings. Smiles, kids, dogs, nurses, and more.
Ann Arbor City Council meeting (March 15, 2010) Part 1: In its main business of the evening, the city council took the last in a series of steps towards converting the city’s twin-tote curbside recycling program to a single-stream system.
Dominick Lanza is sworn in as the city of Ann Arbor’s new fire chief. (Photos by the writer.)
Part 1 of this report will not include single-stream recycling. Part 2 of the meeting report will focus on that issue, and will be somewhat delayed, in order to increase the possibility that an information request from the city for relevant data can be included in that article. [In this, we thus take a dual-stream approach.]
Aside from the single-stream recycling issue, the council addressed a range of other disparate topics.
The council undertook a wholesale replacement of the housing commission board, a move that will see the return to city service of recently-departed community services area administrator, Jayne Miller. She’s one of the new appointees to the housing commission board.
The council also approved a resolution urging Google to select Ann Arbor as a site for a fiber optic network. Accompanying that resolution was a public hearing during which seven people – two from Ypsilanti – spoke in support of the city’s bid, which also enjoys the support of the University of Michigan.
The city’s new fire chief, Dominick Lanza, was sworn in, though his start date comes a few days in the future – March 22, 2010. [Full Story]
The four Olympic ice dancers from UM just arrived at the regents meeting. [photo]
MDOT workers surveying the intersection for “enhanced” pedestrian crosswalk. One of the workers calls the current crossing “horrible.”
Oddly dressed individuals on steps of grad library. Screaming “crowd” watching [photo].
Packs of green-clad young men walking through intersection, not all in a straight line. Some are wearing hats.
Ann Arbor Planning Commission meeting (March 16, 2010): A proposed residential project that’s been in the works for more than two years got approval on Tuesday night from a majority of planning commissioners, by a 6-2 vote.
Alex de Parry checks messages on his cell phone before the start of the Ann Arbor planning commission meeting on Tuesday. (Photos by the writer.)
Alex de Parry, the developer of Heritage Row – a project on the east side of Fifth Avenue, south of William – will now seek approval from city council, though he still faces opposition from neighbors and others in the community.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the commission continued a broad effort to rezone parcels of city-owned parkland as “public land” – including one known as the “squarest “park in Ann Arbor. Commissioners also addressed concerns raised by residents living near two of the properties being rezoned: Arbor Hills Nature Area and Kilburn Park. Action on those two parcels was postponed.
Also postponed was a proposed site plan for expansion at Glacier Hills retirement community, which plans to construct a new skilled nursing care building within its complex on the city’s east side. Planning staff had some unresolved issue with the proposal, including the need to increase the amount of required bicycle parking. It was noted that residents there might not have a high demand for bike spaces. [Full Story]
Students in a drawing class are focused on the sunny side of the Fleming Administration Building.
Cube plaza: drawing class sketching Fleming Administration Building.
The Detroit Free Press reports on a local woman whose letter to Barack Obama elicited a handwritten note from the president, who writes several such notes each week. The article quotes Michael Traugott, a UM communication studies professor, who said one of the motivations for Obama’s letter-writing is political: “Without casting any aspersions on his campaign, it would be interesting to track where the letters are going by state and congressional district. Are they going to districts with wavering or persuadable members of Congress on health care?” [Source]
Running for mayor as an independent candidate starts pretty easy.
Steve Bean obtains nominating petitions as an independent candidate for mayor of the city of Ann Arbor. Behind the glass in the city clerk's office is Lyn Badalamenti. (Photos by the writer.)
It’s a five-minute session at the city clerk’s office.
This brief background piece covers some of the nuts and bolts of that process, based on Steve Bean’s Tuesday afternoon appearance on the second floor of city hall at the city clerk’s office. As a bonus, there’s a bit of city history thrown in.
After Bean told Lyn Badalamenti in the city clerk’s office that he was there to pick up nominating petitions, she set to work assembling a sheaf of papers. The spelling of Bean’s family name was the first order of business: “Like the vegetable,” he offered. Next up: A choice between “Steve” versus “Steven.”
The name that potential signatories of Bean’s petitions will see – as well as voters looking at November’s ballot – is “Steve.”
His name will be recognizable to some readers from his service on the city’s environmental commission. He now chairs that body. Before that, he served for nine years on the city’s energy commission. Some city records, especially older documents like city council minutes from April 9, 1992 – which contain the record of his appointment to the energy commission – show Bean’s name as “Steven.”
But the choice for the shortened variant was one he’d thought through before Badalamenti asked him: “That’s how people know me,” Bean explained to The Chronicle. [Full Story]
Washtenaw County Economic Development Corporation board meeting (March 15, 2010): On Monday, the EDC board met for just the second time since 2005. On the agenda: A discussion about the availability of federal bonds that have been allocated to Washtenaw County, but not used, for projects by private firms.
Though federal legislation expanded the types of businesses that can use the bonds, a national credit crunch has essentially slowed potential deals to a halt. “We await the projects,” said John Axe, the EDC’s bond counsel. Unless extended by Congress, the program expires at the end of 2010. [Full Story]
Ashley’s is gearing up for St. Patrick’s Day. [photo]
Happy group of about 25 third-graders, some holding hands, crossing the street in the sunshine.
In a recent report on an AAPS board meeting, we paraphrased remarks of participants, and we employed the informal nomenclature of the speakers for “Ann Arbor Open School @ Mack.” Those variants were departures from the accepted standard shortening to “Ann Arbor Open.” We acknowledge the name of the school here, and have cleaned up references to it in the original piece.
Ann Arbor’s Huron Hills Golf Course has opened for the season, and Leslie Park Golf Course could open as early as March 22, according to the city’s website. [Source]
Large circle of people around The Cube. No idea why.
The Detroit Free Press reports on plans to reform Detroit’s public schools, as laid out by Robert Bobb, the system’s emergency financial manager. The article quotes UM education professor Susan Neumann, who described Bobb’s goals are too ambitious and who said the plan lacks specifics regarding changes to curriculum, instruction and professional development: “These are very generalized goals.” [Source]
Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education meeting (March 10, 2010): Christine Stead, a business management consultant in the health care industry, was sworn in as a member of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) board of education Wednesday after receiving a four-vote majority in the first and only round of consideration.
Christine Stead is sworn in after being appointed to fill the opening on the Ann Arbor Public Schools board of trustees left by Adam Hollier's resignation. (Photos by the writer.)
Her first vote as a board member was to support the meeting’s consent agenda, including a bid to outsource $135,000 in low-voltage electrical work to a local company.
Also at the meeting, the board heard a recommendation from AAPS superintendent Todd Roberts to open the district to students from all of Washtenaw County. If approved at the next board meeting, this “Schools of Choice” program could result in 170 new students being added to AAPS kindergarten, first, and sixth grade classes, bringing with them an additional $1.1 million in revenue for the upcoming school year.
Bus drivers and custodial/maintenance workers again held signs outside the meeting at the downtown Ann Arbor library, as they have for the last few months. They collected signatures to petition the board not to privatize any AAPS services. They were joined during public commentary by a University of Michigan research scientist, who likened the district’s contention that outsourcing has saved AAPS money to “a rooster getting credit for the sunrise.” Public commentary also included representatives of opposing positions in the local debate over school funding, and both sides called on the board to make fully transparent the decision-making process used to set the upcoming budget.
And, as numerous educators were commended for their service to public education at the meeting, both the board and PTO Council took steps to increase their advocacy efforts at the state level to ensure that funding that level of service can continue. [Full Story]
Ann Arbor City Council Sunday caucus (March 14, 2010): On the Ann Arbor city council agenda for Monday is the final vote on a proposed city ordinance banning cell phone use while driving. At a sparsely attended Sunday night caucus, Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and mayor John Hieftje indicated that a vote on the proposed cell phone ban would likely be postponed.
Other agenda items receiving some discussion were the public hearing scheduled on the Google Fiber initiative, plus a contract revision for Recycle Ann Arbor to perform single-stream curbside recycling using automated carts. [Full Story]
On his blog The Connective Lens, photographer Burrill Strong documents the recent Chelsea Music Boosters concert, which raised money for the Chelsea schools music program. The event featured performances by the Chelsea High School Chamber Choir, North Creek Fiddlers, the Chelsea Band Faculty Trio and many others. [Source]
In a case study of how the nationwide lending crisis is affecting small businesses, the Wall Street Journal looks at the complex relationship between Michigan Ladder in Ypsilanti, home builder James Haeussler and the Bank of Ann Arbor. The bank’s president, Tim Marshall, describes how even healthy banks like his are being cautious lenders: “It’s kind of a vicious cycle. Anytime you’re in an economic environment like we are, bankers are going to be more conservative.” [Source]
Editor’s note: Leslie Science and Nature Center is soon launching its frog and toad survey after holding a kick-off orientation meeting on Feb. 24. Other Leslie frog-related events include Frog Fest on May 15, 2010. Partly in that context, local history columnist Laura Bien takes a froggy look back.
Michigan’s inaugural 1996 Frog and Toad Survey started strong. “I have talked with coordinators in other states,” wrote state frog and toad survey coordinator Lori Sargent in the survey report, “and most are finding it difficult to find enough people to volunteer. Perhaps that says a lot about Michiganians – we care about our natural resources.”
Ypsilanti's Frog Island, seen here looking north along the present-day eastern side of the running track, was the site in 1895 of Henry Scovill's lumber yard.
So much so that Ypsilantians have been surveying frogs and toads for over a century … off and on.
“Five years ago as we sat on our porch one summer evening a toad hopped out from around the corner to the concrete walk,” was the way one resident was quoted in the July 9, 1907 Ypsilanti Daily Press. “We watched it ‘walk’ down to the street sidewalk and within half an hour or so back it came.”
The Normal Park resident continued, “The next night as we were again sitting on the porch, one said, ‘I wonder whether our toad will be out tonight?’ It was but a few minutes when out it hopped and started down the walk. Within the hour it came back.” [Full Story]
Employees at Zingerman’s Deli – or any of the Zingerman’s family of businesses – are trained to handle complaints from customers with a five-step process. The third step: Make it right.
Plans to build an addition behind the brick Zingerman’s Deli building will ultimately require approval from the city’s historic district commission. (Photos by the writer.)
Zingerman’s itself is “handling a complaint” from the city’s Historic District Commission (HDC) – one that can be traced back to a June 2008 Zingerman’s request to demolish two houses, which are located in the city’s Old Fourth Ward historic district.
Now Zingerman’s is bringing back another proposal, but this time they’re not starting formally with the HDC. Instead, they’ll begin by seeking approvals from the city’s planning commission and the city council.
The site plan calls for a two-story, 9,500-square-foot structure to be added to the rear of the deli building, which will carry a price tag of around $4 million. The new building would replace the house at 322 E. Kingsley St. and extend lengthwise towards Community High School.
Zingerman’s started satisfying the formal steps for getting approval of their expansion project this week, on Monday, March 8, by holding a citizens participation meeting.
But Zingerman’s has also met informally with the HDC at two separate work sessions since the start of the year – one in January and the other on Thursday, March 11. Based on a significant change in design between those two meetings, which integrates “the orange house” into the project instead of demolishing it, Zingerman’s is trying to “make it right” for the HDC.
Still, at Thursday’s HDC work session, the Zingerman’s team stressed how great the challenges were – financial and logistical – to preserving the orange house as part of the project design. It seemed apparent that Zingerman’s was making an implicit pitch for members of the HDC to give a green light for the previously proposed project – the one minus both houses. [Full Story]
Less than a year after the county authorized the formation of a land bank, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners will consider dissolving the entity at its March 17 meeting.
At their administrative briefing on Wednesday, commissioners discussed the move with county treasurer Catherine McClary, who also attended the meeting. McClary had originally proposed the land bank as a mechanism allowing the county to take temporary ownership of tax- or mortgage-foreclosed land. The intent would be to give the county options for dealing with blighted property, other than selling it off at auction.
But anticipated federal funding didn’t come through, and a dispute among some commissioners about who would serve on the land bank authority board stalled the project. “It’s fair to say that the county was not sold on it,” McClary said at Wednesday’s meeting. [Full Story]
Spelling-challenged graffiti on the wall of the former Ann Arbor News building. [Photo]
Bloomberg reports on a UM study that found students who regularly eat school-provided lunches are more likely to be overweight and have higher cholesterol levels than those who eat meals from home. The article quotes UM medical professor Elizabeth Jackson, one of the study’s authors: “We need to partner with schools to help kids in a prevention way, so we don’t have to wait until they’re patients in the cardiologist’s office as adults.” [Source]
Marianne Rzepka
Friends don’t ask me how I feel about February. They’ve already heard me say that there’s a reason why the worst month in the year – cold, icy, gray – is the shortest month. And when it’s over, it’s still winter.
So when the first of March rolled around this year – coming in like a lamb, instead of a lion – I was left blinking in the sun and looking like I just crawled out of hibernation. There was sun and steadily rising temperatures, so sue me if I think spring is already here.
But though the temperatures are already in the 50s, these weeks can be the winter of a gardener’s discontent.
We want to get out there, we want to start digging, but we know it’s just too darn early. It’s even too early to set up the grow lights to start my tomato plants from seed. Some stoics will tell you it’s even too early to walk on your lawn! [Full Story]
