it's like being there
At its Feb. 3 meeting, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority passed a resolution to amend its bylaws, which is its second attempt in the last two years to make the change. Last time around, the city council – which must approve the changes – refused to take action. At its meeting, the board spent the majority of its time talking financial numbers of one kind of another. [Full Story]
In Part II of the report from the Feb. 1 Ann Arbor City Council meeting, we focus on land use issues, which included a resolution to chart the future for the 415 W. Washington lot. The council also postponed consideration of a greenbelt acquisition, pending clarification about the appraisal of the land. [Full Story]
In Part I of the report from the Feb. 1 Ann Arbor city council meeting, we focus on the transportation and budget-related material. Transportation topics included trains, taxicabs, buses, and planes. The planes came up with consideration of the capital improvements plan, which included an item for extending the runway at the Ann Arbor municipal airport. [Full Story]
Chronicle editor Dave Askins highlights some noteworthy comments left on The Chronicle’s website over the last two months. He also explains what he means when he says he’s out to crush people’s childhood dreams. [Full Story]
At its regular Sunday night caucus on Jan. 31, four councilmembers heard residents express their thoughts on a variety of topics, with much of the conversation centered around the city-owned 415 W. Washington parcel and plans to restart a process for developing open space there. It’s seen by some as a diversion from interest in developing open space at the Library Lot. [Full Story]
Chronicle editor Dave Askins lays out a fundamental problem with the way Ann Arbor’s city attorney runs his office – his opinions are not getting filed with the city clerk, which would make them public. [Full Story]
At the Jan. 27 joint meeting of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board’s transportation and operations committees, DDA executive director Susan Pollay suggested a concept for creating a possible “transit mall” between William and Liberty, along Fourth Avenue. [Full Story]
On Jan. 25, Ann Arbor’s city council began a series of budget meetings with a look at the community services area, which includes parks, planning and development, human services, and public housing. [Full Story]
At its Jan. 21 meeting, the city’s committee charged with reviewing proposals for the Library Lot chose to advance only two of the five proposals to the next phase of consideration. Both of those proposals call for a hotel/conference center. [Full Story]
Students are sitting outside, studying, at Espresso Royale. Is it really going to snow? Doesn’t seem like it.
The Catholic News Agency reports that the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor will be featured on the Feb. 9 Oprah Winfrey Show. Says Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz: “We agreed (to be on the show) because it will further understanding of religious life. The Catholic Church is alive, well, and thriving as is authentic religious life.” [Source]
Writing on the Basil and Spice blog, David M. Kinchen reviews “The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies Are Remaking the American Dream,” a book by Ann Arbor resident and New York Times senior business correspondent Micheline Maynard: “Maynard’s book came out late in October, well before the latest revelations of problems with many models of Toyotas, and – to be fair to her, much of the book deals with three other foreign companies in the U.S. … Also to be fair to her, she discusses the quality control problems of Toyota that antedated the latest ones. Still, Maynard, who calls her book the continuation of a previous book on the American auto industry, “The End of Detroit,” comes across all too often as a cheerleader for Toyota. She drives a Prius and lives in Ann Arbor, the Berkeley of Michigan, an upscale community home to the University of Michigan and a far cry from the gritty streets of Detroit.” [Source]
In a recent city council meeting report, we misidentified Sol Castell. He is a member of the citizens advisory committee to the environmental assessment currently being conducted regarding the possible runway extension at Ann Arbor’s municipal airport. We note the error here and have corrected it in the original story.
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