Archive for March, 2010

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners working session (March 4, 2010): Budget challenges at Michigan State University are prompting major changes in the MSU Extension program statewide, though many unanswered questions remain about how the changes will impact Washtenaw County.

At left: Nancy Thelen, director of the Washtenaw County MSU Extension program, talks with county commissioner Leah Gunn after the board of commissioners' March 4 working session. (Photo by the writer.)

Nancy Thelen, the long-time director of the Washtenaw County MSU Extension program, gave commissioners an update on the changes at their March 4 working session. One major change is that the county director positions are being eliminated, to be replaced by district coordinators who’ll be responsible for multiple counties.

Several commissioners expressed strong support for Thelen and her staff, but said they weren’t pleased about what’s happening. Said Wes Prater: “Quite frankly, I’m not sold on what’s being done.”

Also at Thursday’s session, commissioners were briefed about plans for the county to join the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office – they’ll be asked to vote on this move at an upcoming meeting.

And Verna McDaniel, who’ll be replacing county administrator Bob Guenzel when he retires in May, gave an update on planning initiatives, focusing on ways that the county is preparing to respond to external trends like the depressed economy. [Full Story]

The Lansing State Journal reports on a proposal by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to replace the Michigan Promise Scholarship with a $4,000 tax credit. The article quotes Susan Dynarski, a UM professor of education and public policy: “If the goal is to ease the sting of college costs or reward students for good academic performance, then the tax credit is a good solution. If the goal is to get more students into college, the evidence indicates a tax credit won’t do the job.” [Source]

[Full Story]

The Infrastructurist has published a photo of a stop sign leading to Washtenaw Avenue with white stenciling under the word “STOP”: “DEFACING STOP SIGNS.” Cross street uncertain. [Update: Now certain that it's Washtenaw & Baldwin: Link] Admonishes the website: “And since March is National Collision Awareness Month (and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is quick to remind us all that around 102 people died in auto crashes per day in 2008 – one every 14 minutes!) we want to formally state that we at The Infrastructurist do not condone the defacing of public street signs, no matter how witty, zingy, or hilarious the results may be.”  [Source]

Joel Goldberg

Man does not live by wine alone.

Indeed, prudence dictates frequent hydration breaks when consuming a significant quantity of any alcoholic beverage.

And George McAtee – “I’m like a water sommelier” – hopes you’ll pour your next chaser from one of the clear Bordeaux bottles he hand-fills with artesian spring water, sourced 150 feet under McAtee Organic Farms, in western Washtenaw County, near Grass Lake.

Supplier of Michigan’s only water sourced and bottled on a registered organic farm, McAtee is critical of both municipal water systems and large, commercial water producers, which he terms “commodity bottling.”

Though his farm’s faucets flow with the same water he bottles, he adamantly tells a visitor, “Don’t call my water tap water!” [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board meeting (March 3, 2010): The DDA board approved its $25 million budget for 2010-11 on Wednesday, but just barely. Four dissenting voices, plus mayor John Hieftje’s absence from the meeting, meant that the budget received the bare minimum seven votes required for approval by the 12-member body.

The DDA board talked about more than just the budget. Who was that map man? As the nameplate says, it's DDA board member Keith Orr, who was introducing a draft of a bicycle map that the DDA is working on. (Photos by the writer).

Deliberations covered a range of issues. First, the budget needs to accommodate two major DDA capital projects: the underground parking garage currently under construction; and the Fifth Avenue and Division Street improvements, which are also underway.

Second, there’s a contingency written into the budget for $2 million. The contingency is there in case renegotiation of the parking agreement between the city and the DDA results in a continuation of the $2 million payments made by the DDA to the city for each of the last five years. Continuation of the payments is not legally required under terms of the current agreement, which assigns responsibility for administration of the city’s parking system to the DDA through 2015.

Third, the fund balances of the DDA – which reflect the DDA’s reserves – face a dramatic reduction. That’s an issue that city of Ann Arbor CFO Tom Crawford flagged back in the spring of 2009 during discussions about the construction of the underground parking garage. The concern caused the city council to scale back the size of the garage by 100 parking spaces.

And finally, decisions made by the DDA board over the last year have resulted in re-direction of revenues from two surface parking lots – 415 W. Washington and the old YMCA lot at Fifth and William – to the city of Ann Arbor. That has resulted in the elimination of line items for DDA programs for next year that were in this year’s budget.

Besides the budget, the board also discussed a number of other topics, including development of the Library Lot and results from two parking surveys. [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor Main Street Business Improvement Zone  (BIZ) Initiative website relays the news from the Ann Arbor city clerk that the self-assessment taxing district on Main Street has been approved. The vote among property owners in the district was in favor of the measure by a better than 95% margin [Source]. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor Main Street BIZ Clears Hurdle"]

On his last day as UM’s athletic director, the Detroit Free Press profiles Bill Martin, who talks about what he might do when he retires: “Do I have a bucket list? Yeah. There are a lot of places in the world I’d like to visit by water or land. I haven’t been back to Sweden since I graduated (from a 1960s business program at the University of Stockholm). Have you ever driven coast-to-coast? I’d like to do that and see some of our country. And I’d like to do some nonprofit work.” [Source]

John U. Bacon

It was the best of Olympics, it was the worst of Olympics. For some, it was the season of hope; for others, the winter of their discontent. But to heck with all that. I’m just here to give you Coach Bacon’s Winners and Losers of the Winter Olympics. So, here we go.

WINNER: Vancouver

Great city, great people, great Olympics. Well done, my Canadian friends.

LOSER: Vancouver

In the opening ceremonies, the flame apparatus failed to rise, launching a thousand Viagra jokes. But the real joke was the speed skating oval, where the Canadians failed to manufacture decent ice. That’s like Jamaicans failing to manufacture decent sand. What’s up with that? [Full Story]

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting (March 3, 2010): A light agenda, coupled with virtually no discussion on any of the items under consideration, resulted in a brief meeting for county commissioners on Wednesday.

This T-shirt was among several promotional items given to commissioners on Wednesday by local representatives of the 2010 Census.

Agenda items that were discussed in more detail at last week’s administrative briefing – including health screenings for refugees, funding for services to low-income families, and a bond refunding for Sylvan Township – were approved with no comment on Wednesday.

Also during the meeting, commissioners got an update on Census 2010 efforts from two representatives who are helping oversee the local count. Commissioner Conan Smith issued a statement of disclosure related to a potential conflict of interest, an advocate for the homeless urged the county to support a rotating outdoor shelter, and commissioners went into executive session to discuss a lawsuit settlement – possibly related to a recent Supreme Court action in the legal battle with the townships of Augusta, Salem and Ypsilanti.

And ending several months of speculation, board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. told The Chronicle that he plans to run for re-election as a commissioner – not as a candidate for state representative. [Full Story]

The Detroit News reports on actions by state regulators aiming to expose what one regulator called “a multi-headed Ponzi hydra.” From the report: “During a 14-month investigation of an alleged multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme run by Michael Winans Jr., as well as his father, Michael Winans Sr., that targeted members of the Genesis New Beginnings Church in Detroit and others, investigators said they have uncovered $5 million in new Ann Arbor-based scams run by one of the Winans victims. Now officials of the state Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation are warning investors to stay away from Ann Arbor’s Mark Carpenter and his company, TGBG Financial. Investigators also are asking people and others who dealt with Carpenter, TGBG or the Winans’ … [Full Story]

The UM Museum of Art is looking for volunteers to serve on its Student Programming and Advisory Board. Among the board’s tasks: Produce a student performance series on the third Thursday of each month in the UMMA Commons, and plan one large-scale event for UM students each semester. Applications for the fall semester are due April 6. [Source]

A March 1 article on local candidates for state legislative races incorrectly stated that candidates file their petitions to be on the ballot with the Secretary of State. For state House Districts 52, 53 and 54 and Senate District 18, those filings are made at the Washtenaw County clerk’s office. Campaign finance reports for all state races are made with the Secretary of State. We note the error here, and have corrected it in the original article.

A Detroit Free Press article looks at the departure of auto industry “icon” Bob Lutz, who is retiring as GM’s vice chairman on May 1. The article quotes Gerald Meyers, a UM business professor and former CEO of American Motors: “I think he felt underappreciated. He’s a freewheeling guy in a highly disciplined situation.” [Source]

The Ann Arbor Chronicle has rolled out a beta version of its website specifically for mobile devices. Readers who use Blackbery, Palm Pre, or Android, are encouraged to have a look and test it out. The mobile version is automatically provided to mobile devices. [Source]

Ann Arbor Public Market Advisory Commission meeting (March 2, 2010): In her market manager report during Tuesday’s meeting, Molly Notarianni gave a recap of the Homegrown Local Food Summit, where she’d spent most of the day.

Scott Robertello of Kapnick Orchards spoke during public commentary, criticizing proposed changes to the vendor application and inspection forms, among other things. (Photo by the writer.)

She noted that one of the market commissioners, Shannon Brines, was absent because he also had spent the day at the summit, as one of its organizers, and was wrapping up loose ends there. Though both the commission meeting and the summit have similar themes – both focused on locally grown food – The Chronicle will report on the summit in a separate article.

Tuesday’s commission meeting touched on several topics, including a proposed transfer of seniority between two market vendors, and an upcoming annual meeting with vendors on March 8. At that meeting, the commission will be getting feedback on proposed changes to the city’s vendor application and inspection forms.

The annual meeting and revisions to the forms were the focus of two speakers during public commentary. Market vendors Scott Robertello of Kapnick Orchards and Bruce Upston of Wasem Fruit Farm criticized aspects of the proposed changes, saying that too much information was being required. [Full Story]

A report in the Michigan Messenger handicaps the Democratic candidates in the governor’s race, giving a roundup of their rankings in recent polls. In a Capital Caucus poll of political insiders, state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, who now represents the 54th District in Washtenaw County, “barely registered, coming in with less than ‘someone not listed.’” The article quotes Smith: “I am as viable as any Democrat out there and probably more so. I am the most knowledgeable and experienced on the issues.” [Source]

Cody Walker of Ann Arbor won the most recent New Yorker cartoon caption contest with this caption: “There’s a cure – but it’s light-years away.” [Source]

Writing on MuniWireless, Esme Vos sounds a cautionary note about the Google initiative to build broadband networks in local communities. Ann Arbor is competing to be named as one of the communities in that effort. Writes Vos: “Many of us still think (unconsciously) of Google as this scrappy little startup who needs all the help it can get to go up against the Big Guys. But it isn’t. Google has become a large, highly profitable company; it has money and an army of lobbyists to fight the cable/DSL guys. In the end, here we are again, with a critical piece of infrastructure completely owned by one company – a private enterprise beholden only to its shareholders.” [Source]

Ann Arbor’s Natural Area Preservation is training volunteers for its controlled burn program. A photo posted via Twitter shows what it looks like to do this kind of training in the snow – at the Leslie Science and Nature Center. [Source]

The Detroit Free Press reports that the U.S. Dept. of Justice is suing the owner and property manager of Ivanhoe House apartments in Ann Arbor, alleging that they discriminated against prospective black renters. From the report: “The allegations came after a series of housing tests by the Fair Housing Center of Southeastern Michigan, a private nonprofit organization in Ann Arbor. Testers pose as applicants for housing and report on their results.” [Source]

Photographer Liz Brauer of Ann Arbor has won first place in the youth category for the People Powered Movement Photo Contest, sponsored by the Alliance for Biking & Walking, a Washington D.C.-based group. Brauer’s entry is titled “Keeping It Going.” [Source]