Archive for August, 2010

“I grew up in New York City, Queens, where the world was very different and mass transit was a daily part of everybody’s daily life,” says Roger Kerson. But Kerson opted for personal transit when he biked to the Sweetwaters café on West Washington to discuss with The Chronicle his recent appointment to the board of the  Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA).

Roger Kerson at the AATA board retreat on Aug. 10. (Image links to higher resolution file.)

The AATA, branded on the sides of buses as “The Ride,” aims to be the public transportation provider for Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, as well as all of Washtenaw County. Kerson is one of seven members on the AATA board.

While he may be the newest board member, Kerson does not lack for eagerness in promoting the AATA’s current initiative to develop a countywide transportation plan. “We’re engaged in a planning process,” he says, “for developing mass transportation and we encourage people to go to MovingYouForward.org … We need to engage in a lot of conversation.” The Moving You Forward website seeks community feedback on every aspect of public transportation.

“Where do you live? Where do you work? Where do you shop? Where do you go to the movies? Are there ways in which you could reduce your carbon footprint by using transit, using the bike?” Kerson asks, adding that the AATA welcome views from all Ann Arborites and county residents, whether they use transit or not.

Encouraging that kind of communication is familiar ground to Kerson. He is currently a media consultant at RK Communications, his consulting firm. Kerson’s roots in Ann Arbor stretch from his time at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with distinction in 1980. “I think Woodrow Wilson was president then,” he quipped. Kerson stayed in Ann Arbor after college, soon becoming interested in journalism.

He began writing for a publication called The Alchemist, which he describes as “The Ann Arbor Chronicle in its day, before the Internet.” [Full Story]

Writing on Chelsea Update, Heather Newman notes the recent death of Jeff Flintoft, who owned Chelsea Market and operated its meat/counter deli: “I, like many folks in town, was a regular customer of Jeff’s, and looked forward to seeing his smiling face at least a couple of times a week. He was always willing to lend a hand, took care of special orders with obvious relish, and in general made Chelsea a more pleasant place to live for all of us.” [Source]

When The Chronicle attended last week’s meeting of the Ann Arbor Medical Marijuana Patient Collective – held at the Ann Arbor Senior Center – we were reminded that the last time we’d been to the center was in the context of its potential closing, because of city budget cuts.

A sign at the Ann Arbor Senior Center advertises a new fitness program, one of several efforts by the city to raise revenues for the center, which is located in Burns Park. (Photos by the writer)

Last year, the city administration identified the senior center as one facility that, if closed, could save the city roughly $150,000 – the center’s operating deficit at the time. Residents mobilized, and a task force was formed that developed recommendations for cutting costs and raising revenues.

Recommendations include hiring a consultant to develop a long-term strategic plan, paid for by a $16,949 grant from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. A request for proposals (RFP) was issued earlier this summer for that project, and responses from three companies are now being evaluated, according to Jeff Straw, parks & recreation deputy manager.

Meanwhile, several other efforts are underway, including this coming Saturday’s “Picnic in the Park” fundraiser, which runs from 1-3:30 p.m. at Burns Park, where the center is located. Last year, the event raised about $1,000 for the center. [Full Story]

On a Sunday afternoon, Charlie Dwyer shot two hours worth of video of downtown Ann Arbor pedestrian and automobile traffic from atop some parking structures. He then condensed it into 1 minute and 40 seconds worth of film.  [Watch it]

Michigan Radio reports on a “guerilla gardening” operation led by Lisa Waud, owner of Pot and Box in Ann Arbor. She is usually solicited to do landscaping for people, but on Tuesday, Waud is planning free landscaping. “The idea,” she says, “is to take back neglected or abandoned land.” She and anyone interested will meet Tuesday night – the location will be revealed via Waud’s Facebook and Twitter networks– to plant flowers in patches of plain dirt. “I’ve always really loved the idea of graffiti and street art,” explains Waud, “and [guerrilla gardening] is a more acceptable version of that.” [Source]

NPR reports on the issue of affirmative action, recalling the Supreme Court case of Jennifer Gratz. Gratz applied to UM in 1995 and, after being rejected with a 3.8 GPA, sued the school for unfair affirmative action policies. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the university’s right to pursue affirmative action policies, though not its use of an automatic race-point system. Essayist Tim Wise says most people misunderstand affirmative action: “The idea that colleges have to have a certain number of black students and certain number of Latino students just isn’t true. But the overwhelming majority of white folks in all the research I’ve seen believe those lies — believe those myths.” [Source]

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board meeting (Aug. 10, 2010): The AATA is currently engaged in a public outreach process to gauge the consensus view of what kind of public transportation county residents would like to see in 30 years. The process is due to culminate early next year with the creation of a transportation master plan (TMP).

AATA board chair Jesse Bernstein at the board's four-hour retreat held on Aug. 10 at Weber's Inn. He was, at the time, stressing the importance of setting some kind of time frame for progress on the WALLY north-south commuter rail project. (Photos by the writer.)

But at a special board meeting and retreat held on Tuesday at Weber’s Inn on Jackson Road, the board discussed a variety of specific strategic initiatives that have a somewhat shorter time frame for implementation.

In a four-hour session stretching from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the board discussed and passed resolutions aimed to improve transportation between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, to the University of Michigan East Medical Center, and between the Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Ann Arbor.

In addition, the board authorized a lowering of the fare for the express commuter service between Canton and Ann Arbor. That fare change includes a decision to move the service in-house, instead of contracting the service out to Indian Trails. A similar change was made earlier this year for the Chelsea-Ann Arbor express bus service. [Chronicle coverage: "AATA on Chelsea Bus: Cut Fares, Add Wifi"]

Two resolutions that were not moved or voted on by the board – but which received animated discussion – involved the possible provision of vanpool services in the county by the AATA and the future of the Washtenaw-Livingston Line (WALLY) rail project.

In the area of capital improvements, the board also authorized a contract with DLZ Michigan to address a variety of infrastructure projects at the AATA headquarters on South Industrial Highway: installation and in-ground bus hoist; re-landscaping of the detention pond; expansion of the bus storage area; upgrades to the training room. The RFP for the contract also covered a potential park-and-ride lot at Glencoe Crossing Shopping Center on Washtenaw Avenue.

Board chair Jesse Bernstein also announced a Blake Transit Center advisory committee – which will include other community members – to provide input on the redesign and reconstruction of the downtown Ann Arbor transit center, located on Fourth Avenue south of Liberty. Bernstein will represent the board on the committee.

The various strategic initiatives will need to be explored in the context of the next budget year, which begins Oct. 1. So the board also received a budget overview at Tuesday’s meeting. They’ll sign off on the budget in September. [Full Story]

Last September, the start of the Ann Arbor Public Schools academic year was marred by news of a fight described as an attack on an Arab-American girl.

An incident last year at Hollywood and North Maple in Ann Arbor was originally described by some as a hate crime against an Arab-American girl. Instead, the girl was charged with disorderly conduct, and recently found guilty by a jury.

The episode prompted a media blitz by the advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations and calls for investigations by state and federal civil rights agencies.

The tenor changed little when the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office charged the alleged victim, signaling that authorities believed the then-16-year-old shared culpability in the incident.

At the time, Nabih Ayad, a lawyer representing the girl, called the charge “outrageous.”

A jury has disagreed, and later this month the teen will be sentenced on two counts of disorderly conduct.

In all, four young people – then all students at Skyline High School – were charged with crimes related to the incident that began as a school bus dropped students off near their homes on Maple Avenue.

However, Ann Arbor police were unpersuaded by claims that Arab-American teens were the victims of crime motivated by bias. In fact, investigators found evidence that contradicted much of what the 16-year-old Arab-American girl had said about the altercation that left her with an injury reportedly requiring half a dozen sutures. [Full Story]

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Borders headquarters in Ann Arbor has dismissed an unknown number of employees. The company had similarly laid off over 160 workers in January, 124 of which were corporate jobs. Due to competition with Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and the growing world of digital books, Borders has been forced to reduce its corporate staff by almost half in the past two years, according to the report. Says turnaround expert Ken Dalto: “[CEO Bennett LeBow] is trying to right the ship. He has put money up and has a good reputation (for) doing the right things but I think the problem is mammoth, the timing is bad, and the market remains soft.” [Source]

When Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent Todd Roberts made public his resignation on Friday, one person who was not surprised was AAPS school board president Deb Mexicotte. She had been contacted three weeks ago to be a reference for Roberts as he moved through the hiring process to become the newest chancellor of the North Carolina School for Science and Math (NCSSM).

Todd Roberts, superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, at a budget forum in 2009.

He got the job offer on Tuesday, Mexicotte said in a phone interview with The Chronicle, and then spoke to each board trustee individually throughout Wednesday and Thursday, most of them in person, to share his decision and reasons for leaving. Tuesday was also the filing deadline for candidates to run for school board. Only incumbents – including Mexicotte – filed for re-election, so the seats will be uncontested.

Joni Worthington, vice president for communications for the University of North Carolina, confirmed that Roberts was originally tapped for the position by the NCSSM’s chancellor search committee, which hired a consulting firm to aid them in the process. Once making it through the rounds of school-level interviews in May and June, Worthington said, Roberts was interviewed directly by the president of UNC, Erskine Bowles, who then recommended Roberts to the UNC board of governors at their regular meeting yesterday.

Located in Roberts’ hometown of Durham, NCSSM is a public boarding school for 11th and 12th grade students gifted in math or science, and is ultimately governed by UNC, as one of its 17 campuses. Roberts will be the school’s fourth chancellor since its founding in 1980, and is succeeding Gerald Boarman, who resigned at the end of July. An interim chancellor, Thomas J. Williams, will serve NCSSM until Roberts arrives, no later than Dec. 1. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Public Art Commission meeting (Aug. 10, 2010): Ten minutes past the starting time of Tuesday’s art commission meeting, a fourth commissioner walked in – and a quorum was reached. “So this is the jolly crew!” AAPAC chair Margaret Parker declared.

The Ann Arbor municipal center, under construction at the northeast corner of Huron and Fifth, will house the city's police department and 15th District Court. It will not include interior artwork by Herbert Dreiseitl. (Photos by the writer)

“It’s August,” commissioner Cathy Gendron noted. “August is always like this.”

The four commissioners were joined by Ken Clein of Quinn Evans Architects, who came to give an update on the large water sculpture commissioned from German artist Herbert Dreiseitl, to be located outside the city’s new municipal center. Clein also provided a revised, lower budget for a proposed interior piece by Dreiseitl – a work that commissioners ultimately voted to reject. At last month’s meeting, they had voted against another interior Dreiseitl piece as well.

Instead, AAPAC is directing its task force for the municipal center to revisit other public art options, with a proposed budget of $250,000. That’s in addition to the cost for Dreiseitl’s water sculpture and related expenses, which are approaching $1 million. [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor Derby Dimes unveiled the new league’s logo, selected among contest entries – the winning logo was designed by Chelsea Lewis, a freelance graphic designer and photographer based in Ypsilanti: “As a designer, her main areas of expertise are typography, branding, and web design. Taking influence from WWII pin-up girls and traditional tattoo culture, as well as from her background photographing in Europe, she creates simple, bold designs that many can relate to.” [Source]

On Friday afternoon, Aug. 13, at 3 p.m. the city of Ann Arbor issued a code red alert to residents in the neighborhood south of West William, north of Pauline, west of South Main and east of South 7th Street. “Ann Arbor Police Department is still looking for the following items which may or may not be in your neighborhood: two handguns, any type of suspicious bags (duffle bag, backpack, fanny pack), and expensive watches. The Ann Arbor Police are asking for your help to look around your yards, in the bushes and around your trees. … If you find anything suspicious, please DO NOT touch it, but call 911 and let an officer gather the evidence appropriately.” [Source: ... [Full Story]

USA Today reports on two psychological studies co-authored by UM research assistant professor Kira Birditt and presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting. The first study found that adult children’s problems adversely affect their parents’ mental health. “If you think your kid is a problem, it’s going to make you unhappy,” Birditt said. The other study compared the levels of stress in engaging in an argument versus avoiding an argument. “Avoidance basically has a lingering effect and arguments don’t,” Birditt said. [Source]

The Detroit News reports that the Michigan Reads! literacy program is using sports to motivate summer reading. Incentives for kids who read 10 books by Aug. 22 include tickets to a Tigers game or an all-day pass to HockeyFest. Ann Arbor sixth-grader Cooper Vettorello was honored at a Piston’s game, having read his tenth book, which coincided with the milestone 10,000th book of the program. UM education professor Elizabeth Birr Moje says of the program, “It would be nice if all kids, all people, were intrinsically motivated to read, and we didn’t have to provide some sort of incentive, but that’s not realistic.” [Source]

Todd Roberts, who has served as superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools for four years, announced his resignation today in an email sent to school staff. He cited personal reasons, and is returning to North Carolina to take a job as chancellor of the North Carolina School of Science and Math, based in Durham.

A copy of Roberts’ email is published after the jump. [Full Story]

John U. Bacon

When I read that the Spanish province of Catalonia voted to outlaw bullfighting, I was not surprised. A few years ago I traveled through Spain to write about bullfighting. Along the way, I met Barcelona’s director of tourism, and asked her why bullfighting was much less popular in Barcelona than the rest of Spain. She replied, “It is because we are civilized.”

Bullfighting’s biggest opponents, in fact, have always been Spaniards. Even bullfighting’s fans don’t brag about the 13,000 bulls killed every year in the ring, or claim they deserve to be killed.

But I’m not sure we’re in a position to judge bullfighting too harshly. We kill more than 35 million cows every year, and 100 million pigs and eight billion chickens. Not even Birkenstocks grow on trees. [Full Story]

Accomplishments of the Ann Arbor District Library – and challenges the system faces in the coming years – were among the topics discussed at an informational session on Wednesday evening for library board candidates who’ll be on the ballot in November.

Ann Arbor District Library staff members talk with board candidates about their roles at an information session for candidates on Wednesday. (Photos by the writer.)

Four of the seven candidates attended: incumbents Ed Surovell and Jan Barney Newman, as well as former Washtenaw County commissioner Vivienne Armentrout and Nancy Kaplan, who hosts a local talk show on community issues called Other Perspectives.

Kaplan, Lyn Powrie Davidge and incumbent Carola Stearns are running for one two-year term. Armentrout and incumbents Surovell, Newman and Barbara Murphy are vying for three four-year terms.

Terms for the three other current board members – Rebecca Head, Margaret Leary and Prue Rosenthal – expire in 2012.

The session on Wednesday was informal, following the format of a similar meeting held on July 27 for people interested in running. Head, the current board president, and AADL director Josie Parker were on hand to answer questions, as were associate directors Celeste Choate, Eli Neiburger and Ken Nieman. [Full Story]

The Detroit News reports on the potential choice of Pete Hoekstra as the running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder, an Ann Arbor businessman. Snyder’s open support for stem cell research has some GOP experts questioning his appeal to conservative voters. Hoekstra, a long-time U.S. House member, could draw more conservative voters to the polls, especially from western Michigan. While Hoekstra says he is eager to help, Snyder has yet to define his role in the general election, according to the report. [Source]

Editor’s note: The new University of Michigan North Quad residential hall, which is opening this fall at the corner of State and Huron, will house the Global Scholars Program among various other initiatives. The goal of the program is reflected in a quote from a participant: “I learned to understand differences as diversity, not strangeness.” Historically, that attitude did not always serve as this country’s educational approach to other cultures – as this edition of Laura Bien’s bi-weekly history column shows.

Navajo student Tom Torlino at his arrival to Carlisle Indian School and three years later.

Eighteen-year-old George Moore boarded the eastbound train on a chill November day in 1898. Several of his schoolmates climbed on. The boys sat near Mrs. Lizzie McDonald, their guardian.

It would be a long journey.

Four days and three nights over the clacketing steel rails lay between his Idaho birthplace and a Pennsylvania boarding school.

Built in 1879, the Carlisle school was led by its founder Richard Henry Pratt, a former Civil War volunteer who after the war served as an officer in the 10th Cavalry. Its members included Buffalo Soldiers and Native American scouts. In western Indian Territory, Pratt’s group was in charge of enforcing reservation borders to protect settlers’ lands; Indians left the reservation to seek food.

Pratt was also put in charge of a group of Native American prisoners whom he treated humanely, comparatively speaking, even giving them sketch pads in which to draw their experiences. Years later in his book “Battlefield and Classroom,” Pratt wrote, “Talking with the Indians, I learned that most had received English education in home schools conducted by their tribal government. Their intelligence, civilization, and common sense was a revelation because I had concluded that as an Army officer I was there to deal with atrocious aborigines.”

However, in his later role as schoolmaster, he also said, “In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked.” Pratt had firm beliefs about how and why to educate his Carlisle students. In his era, Pratt’s assimilationist ideas were progressive.

George Moore, who had taken the train and attended the Carlisle School, eventually returned part-way back west – to Ypsilanti. [Full Story]