Stories indexed with the term ‘city council elections’

Two special education teachers originally from Brooklyn, New York, participated in a forum for Ann Arbor city council Democratic primary candidates held on Saturday, June 11. The New Yorkers – incumbent Mike Anglin and Neal Elyakin – are both candidates for the Ward 5 city council seat.

The forum was hosted by the Ann Arbor Democratic Party for all city council candidates in contested wards for the Aug. 2 primary election. The event was held in the context of the Democratic Party’s regular monthly meeting at its usual location in the Ann Arbor Community Center on North Main Street.

The winner of the Ward 5 primary will face Republican Stuart Berry in the general election on Nov. 8. Currently, only Democrats serve on Ann Arbor’s city council.

Republicans have also filed in Ward 4 (Eric Scheie) and Ward 3 (David Parker). In Ward 2, the lack of a Republican challenger means that spot is almost sure to be decided in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary. For the open Ward 1 seat, currently held by Sabra Briere, no partisan challenger filed. Independent candidates have until Aug. 15, 2011 at 5 p.m. to file petitions to run in November.

The last day to register to vote for the Aug. 2, 2011 primary is July 5, 2011.

In this report, we give paraphrased summaries of responses from the Ward 5 candidates. Summarized remarks made by candidates for seats in Ward 2 and Ward 3 are presented in separate articles. [Full Story]

Contesting the Ward 2 Ann Arbor city council Democratic primary this year are incumbent Stephen Rapundalo and Tim Hull. Both candidates participated in the Ann Arbor Democratic Party forum on Saturday morning, June 11.

The event was a combined forum for all Ann Arbor city council candidates in contested wards for the Aug. 2 primary election. The forum was held in the context of the Democratic Party’s regular monthly meeting at its usual location in the Ann Arbor Community Center on North Main Street.

The winner of the Ward 2 Democratic primary will almost certainly be the winner of the general election on Nov. 8. No Republican filed nominating petitions, and no independent candidate has yet filed. Independent candidates have until Aug. 15, 2011 at 5 p.m. to file petitions to run in November.

Currently, only Democrats serve on Ann Arbor’s city council. Republicans have filed in Ward 3 (David Parker), Ward 4 (Eric Scheie) and Ward 5 (Stuart Berry). For the open Ward 1 seat, currently held by Sabra Briere, no partisan challenger filed.

The last day to register to vote for the Aug. 2, 2011 primary is July 5, 2011.

After the break, we report in paraphrase form what the Ward 2 candidates had to say. Summaries of remarks made by candidates for seats in Ward 3 and Ward 5 are presented in separate articles. [Full Story]

On Saturday morning, June 11, the Ann Arbor Democratic Party hosted a forum for Ann Arbor city council candidates in contested wards for the Aug. 2 primary election. The forum was held in the context of the Democratic Party’s regular monthly meeting at its usual location in the Ann Arbor Community Center on North Main Street.

Candidates for Ward 3 could not exactly square off – there are three of them. Plus, the linear seating configuration (determined by drawing playing cards) separated Ward 3 incumbent Stephen Kunselman from challengers Ingrid Ault and Marwan Issa with a buffer zone consisting of the two Ward 5 candidates.

The winner of the Ward 3 primary will face Republican David Parker on Nov. 8 in the general election. Currently, only Democrats serve on Ann Arbor’s city council. Republicans have also filed in Ward 4 (Eric Scheie) and Ward 5 (Stuart Berry). But in Ward 2, the lack of a Republican challenger means that spot is almost sure to be decided in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary. For the open Ward 1 seat, currently held by Sabra Briere, no partisan challenger filed. Independent candidates have until Aug. 15, 2011 at 5 p.m. to file petitions to run in November. The last day to register to vote for the Aug. 2, 2011 primary is July 5, 2011.

After the break, we lay out in paraphrase form what the Ward 3 candidates had to say. Summaries of remarks made by candidates for seats in Ward 2 and Ward 5 are presented in separate articles. [Full Story]

As of today’s deadline (4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10, 2011), nominating petitions for a total of 12 candidates for 5 seats on the 11-member Ann Arbor city council had been filed. But only 10 of them have clearly achieved the required 100 signatures from registered voters in their ward.

In Ward 1, incumbent Democrat Sabra Briere submitted 106 valid signatures, and will not face a challenger in the Democratic primary. No Republican filed in Ward 1.

In Ward 2, the Democratic primary will feature incumbent Democrat Stephen Rapundalo (107 signatures) and Tim Hull (120 signatures).

In Ward 3, incumbent Democrat Stephen Kunselman (108 signatures) will contest the Democratic primary with Ingrid Ault (110 signatures) and possibly Marwan Issa. As of 4 p.m. … [Full Story]

A quick election summary:

• the countywide school millage was soundly defeated, though supported by a majority of Ann Arbor voters; [detail on WISD millage results]
• in the two contested Ann Arbor city council races, incumbent Democrats Sabra Briere in Ward 1 and Marcia Higgins in Ward 4 were re-elected by wide margins; [detail on Ward 1 council results; detail on Ward 4 council results]
• both Ann Arbor city charter amendments were approved by voters, changing publication requirements for the city’s ordinances. [detail on Proposal A results; detail on Proposal B results]

Complete election results from across the county are available on the Washtenaw County elections website. Later today we’ll have a behind-the-scenes report on election night at the … [Full Story]

For one hour on Friday evening at Dicken Elementary School, candidates for the Ward 4 city council seat – Marcia Higgins and Hatim Elhady – answered questions read aloud by Ann Arbor resident Jack Eaton. Higgins is seeking re-election on Nov. 3 as the Democratic nominee, while Elhady is challenging her, and is unaffiliated with any party.

The Chronicle arrived just after the ground rules were explained – questions read by Eaton were submitted to him by attendees of the event. There would be opening statements from each candidate, announced Eaton. At that, Higgins suggested that they dispense with the opening statements and dive right into the questions – the event was about letting Ward 4 residents get their questions asked and answered, she said. Elhady quipped that he’d had his “heart set on an opening statement,” but agreed to Higgins’ suggestion.

The event was organized by Elhady’s campaign. Eaton, who is pictured on Elhady’s campaign website and has contributed to the Elhady campaign, administered the questions and kept time in a way that could fairly be characterized as impartial. When Elhady concluded one of his responses, Eaton self-reported that he had not timed Elhady and would thus not time Higgins, either. In general, adherence to the two-minute time limit was not a problem for the candidates, good pace was maintained between questions, and they covered a lot of ground in the hour.

Below we give the questions and answers in summary form – no attempt has been made to render a verbatim account. Higgins and Elhady took turns taking first crack at the questions. So in every case, the candidates’ responses are summarized in the order they were given. The order of the questions is also presented in the order they were asked. [Full Story]