Brown Recommended for N. Main Group
At its May 23, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor public art commission (AAPAC) unanimously recommended that Connie Rizzolo Brown be nominated for a position on a task force to study the corridor along North Main Street and the Huron River. That recommendation will be forwarded to mayor John Hieftje.
The task force was established by the city council at its May 7, 2012 meeting, with membership to include the following: one member of the park advisory commission, one member of the planning commission, one resident representing the Water Hill neighborhood, one resident representing the North Central neighborhood, one resident from the Old Fourth Ward, one resident representing the Broadway/Pontiac neighborhood, two business and property owners from the affected area, and one member of the Huron River Watershed Council.
At its May 21 meeting, the two sponsors of the resolution that created the task force – Ward 1 councilmembers Sabra Briere and Sandi Smith – proposed adding three additional representatives: a member of the city council, someone from the boating/fishing community of river users, a representative from the Huron River Citizens Association. Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), who also serves on AAPAC, then proposed an amendment to add an AAPAC member to the task force. The AAPAC addition was passed by council on a 6-5 vote. [See Chronicle coverage: "Positions Added to North Main Task Force"] Appointments are expected to be made at the council’s June 4 meeting.
At AAPAC’s May 23 meeting, Derezinski told commissioners that “basically, we need someone at the table.”
The task force is charged with delivering a report to the city council more than a year from now – by July 31, 2013 – that describes “a vision to create/complete/enhance pedestrian and bike connection from downtown to Bandemer and Huron River Drive, increase public access to the river-side amenities of existing parks in the North Main-Huron River corridor, ease traffic congestion at Main and Depot at certain times of a day and recommend use of MichCon property at Broadway; …”
Earlier than that – by the end of 2012 – the task force is to make recommendations on the use of the city-owned 721 N. Main parcel.
Brown has served on AAPAC since early 2009, and has chaired the commission’s projects committee. She is a principal of Rizzolo Brown Studio, an Ann Arbor architecture firm.
This brief was filed from the basement conference room of city hall at 301 E. Huron, where AAPAC held its meeting. A more detailed report will follow.
Yes, I was on the 12A trying to get up the hill and helped it back down safely, while warning off drivers with little sense, not to crowd the bus. One attempted the hill by passing the bus (as it was attempting to power up the hill) only to founder and cause the bus to stop short. Another driver, coming east on William, decided to go the wrong way down first st. which also wasn’t exactly a smart move. Doesn’t anyone think when driving anymore? Especially during adverse weather? Both buses finally made it up the hill. No thanks to courtesy by any other driver around. As a former truck driver in the Army, I always advocate using a ground guide when backing up a large vehicle with limited sight behind it. Otherwise you are at the mercy of other drivers, who apparently have no consideration of their or anyone else’s safety. Was a crazy 5 minutes. Bummer was, I missed my connecting bus. :^)
Re: [1] “As a former truck driver in the Army, …”
When we moved to Ann Arbor from Rochester, New York, we pulled our old Chevette on a trailer behind the U-Haul. Our strategy for keeping straight while backing up was: Don’t ever back up, keep moving forward. This strategy was thwarted when the driveway around the hotel where we stopped in the middle of the night was blocked. After a day of loading a truck, driving a couple hundred miles, even using one of us as a ground guide, we were not blessed by luck or the intuition to discover the basic rule of thumb for backing trailered rigs, a piece of knowledge which they apparently dispense freely in truck driving school in the U.S. Army: Turn the wheel towards the mirror with the trailer in it. This rule was conveyed to us by a guy who noticed our difficulty and offered it as advice. I was not eager to see if I could apply it successfully myself. So the guy volunteered to back the trailer the roughy 100 yards required, which he accomplished in less than a minute. I ventured that he appeared to have done this kind of thing before, which he confirmed he had, as a truck driver in the U.S. Army — that’s where he’d learned that simple rule. Thanks, Bear, for setting a good example of another simple rule, that probably can’t really be taught, but that makes the world go round smoother: Help people out when you know how to help, even if it means you miss your bus.
So it was Bear himself that I saw on that icy William Street hill, making sure that those crazy auto drivers did not continue to crowd the bus that was trying to gain a little traction and momentum. (I thought perhaps that it was an alternate AATA bus driver.) Those bus riders were lucky you were aboard. Thanks for both your thoughtfulness and your prompt action, Bear!
I often drive a lawn tractor with a little trailer on it, and after hundreds of attempts at backing it up, I finally settled on this strategy: unhook the trailer from the tractor and walk it where I need it to be, then drive the tractor there. But I’ll try yours now, Dave! Thanks for the tip.