At their Nov. 6 working session, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners heard from leaders of the Detroit Region Aerotropolis initiative, the Ann Arbor Community Success project and Ann Arbor Spark, who all gave reports about their efforts to bring jobs to this area and who laid the groundwork to ask for funding and resources from the county. [Full Story]
WWJ reports that Bar Louie is offering veterans free lunch or dinner up to $20 all day today in honor of Veterans Day. You’ll need to show your military I.D. Bar Louie in Ann Arbor is at the corner of Liberty & Division. [Source]
Scientific American reports on how UM physics professor Mark Newman has devised a new way to look at the political makeup of America: “His ‘cartograms’ take state- and county-level election returns as well as data about population and electoral college representation and churn out a vision of the U.S. that is novel, yet still recognizable.” [Source]
Stephen Kunselman
Editor’s note: We asked the four members of Ann Arbor city council whose terms are ending – Chris Easthope, Stephen Kunselman, Joan Lowenstein, Ron Suarez – to share their thoughts about their experiences in that elected position. Yesterday, we published the observations of Joan Lowenstein.
Today, Stephen Kunselman, a Democrat elected in 2006 to represent Ward 3, reflects on his accomplishments and gives some insights into what it’s like to serve on council. He works for the University of Michigan’s Energy Management Office.
1. What was the best advice you received (or the worst) before starting service on council? What advice do you have for incoming councilmembers? [Full Story]
Mark Maynard reports on the opening of Beezy’s Cafe in Ypsilanti: “I’ve heard two reports so far, and both have been glowing. The sign out front promises ‘Simple, Honest Food,’ and I’m told that’s just what Bee, the recently liberated Zingerman’s employ behind the enterprise, delivers.” [Source]
heard on the loading dock P.A. “Holly Jolly Christmas” from Burl Ives, … or whoever sings that. Whoever it is, it’s too soon.
"Butter," in a red shirt, is the driver of the cement mixer truck that spilled a bit of its load. He's assisted in his cleanup effort by two workers who were radioed to come lend a hand.
When Amy Whitesall filed a Stopped. Watched. item about a concrete spill downtown, The Chronicle wondered if it would still be there by the time we hoofed it over to Huron and Fifth where the spill had occurred.
Yep, still there, but three guys from Superior Materials were attacking the pile of wet cement in the pedestrian walkway with shovels and a broom. (Superior Materials of Farmington Hills bought out Killins Concrete on the west side of Ann Arbor at Liberty and Wagoner about a year ago, but the three-man crew work out of the old Killins location). [Full Story]
A UM student at Monday's rally urging Barack Obama to end the Iraq war.
On any given day, you’ll likely find an eclectic collection of people on the Diag – even on a frigid November day like today, when the disparate groups included war protesters, an iPod promotion and several Men’s Glee Club members dressed in tuxes.
At noon, about three dozen people gathered in front of the Hatcher Graduate Library, as several speakers urged president-elect Barack Obama to push for a quick conclusion to the war in Iraq.
The protest was organized primarily by Michigan Progressives, a coalition of student groups. Speakers included Lars Ekstrom of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje and Laura Russello, executive director of Michigan Peaceworks.
Russello told the group that as of 10 a.m. this morning, the war had cost American taxpayers $569 billion – $15 billion of that coming from Michigan. “We don’t want any more of our money to go toward this war,” she said. [Full Story]
On its library website, UM announces the full slate of panelists for a discussion of the social protests of 1968. The discussions will be moderated by Paul Courant, university librarian and dean of libraries, and Roger Lowenstein, founder and director of the Los Angeles Leadership Academy. The discussions will take place in the Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery (first floor) where a similarly themed exhibit from the Labadie Collection is currently on display. The panel takes place on Nov. 13 starting at 4 p.m. with a concert in the same venue by Country Joe McDonald to start at 8 p.m. [Source] [Source]
SuperGeek deals at the library's equipment sale. The sign was crafted by Eli Neiburger, the library's technology manager.
When the library opened its lower level doors Sunday at noon for a rare equipment sale, a few dozen people were already there, waiting to get first pick. Some actually ran into the room.
“It was crazy,” says Ken Nieman, associate director for the Ann Arbor District Library. [Full Story]
Big sloppy puddle of wet concrete in the righthand eastbound lane of Huron, at Fifth.
Still-covered sign on Ann Street apparently explains how to park.
As The Chronicle reported previously, Ann Street between Fifth and Division streets was scheduled to convert to one-way eastbound on Sunday, Nov. 9. The conversion, which is in part motivated by an effort to increase on-street parking by using angled spaces, had originally been scheduled for the previous Sunday. That date was adjusted at the suggestion of councilmember Marcia Higgins, who figured there would be enough confusion on Election Day, without adding a new one-way block to the equation.
We checked yesterday (Nov. 9) to see if the one-way restriction had been implemented, and returned this morning … [Full Story]
A Freep article reports on a promising new procedure used to treat pain, but that isn’t covered by some health insurers. The article quotes Louis Bojrab, an Ann Arbor and Brighton interventional anesthesiologist with Michigan Pain Specialists: ”I tell my patients this is brand new and they should feel free to say no.” [Source]
Joan Lowenstein
Editor’s note: Four members of the Ann Arbor city council – Chris Easthope, Stephen Kunselman, Joan Lowenstein and Ron Suarez – are leaving office. Their final meeting was Nov. 6.
We asked each of them to share their thoughts about their time on council. These are the observations of Joan Lowenstein, a Democrat who represented Ward 2. She is a local attorney who also serves on the Downtown Development Authority board.
1. What was the best advice you received (or the worst) before starting service on council? What advice do you have for incoming councilmembers? [Full Story]
On the Running Into the Sun blog, Sarah from Chelsea gives a report of Sunday’s Ann Arbor Turkey Trot 5K: “I inserted myself into the pack close to the front because this was one of those races with a chip mat only at the end so the closer I was to the starting line, the more accurate my time would be. It was astoundingly cold so I bounced up and down in place to keep limber.” [Source]
McGovern for Truth is now Obama for Truth. How cool.
Snow!
Edwards Brothers, a fourth-generation Ann Arbor publishing and printing firm, is profiled in the Freep. The company employs 450 people locally. Says CEO John Edwards: “We’re not auto, we’re not part of the ‘U,’ so we are sort of this invisible thing. That’s OK. I’m not complaining – it’s just kind of the nature of the business.” [Source]
The Freep takes a look at forces that prompted TherOx, a company started in Michigan, to move to California. Ann Arbor-based EDF Ventures was its first investor. The article quotes David Brophy, director of UM’s Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance: ”In some sense, we start the deal here and eventually it gravitates to other places. We’re not exactly flooded with money in this state.” [Source]
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the introduction to “A Golden Age of Jazz Revisited: 1939-1942″ by Hazen Schumacher and John Stevens, published by NPP Books to be released on Nov. 14. It includes two CDs of music discussed in the book, and will be available online after Nov. 14. Schumacher is an Ann Arbor resident and jazz historian whom most readers will know from his long-time NPR show, “Jazz Revisited.”
Almost everyone has a connection to a favorite type of music, and many can trace that connection to their years as a teen or a young adult. Music critic Whitney Balliett put it this way in The New Yorker: “The music that teenagers like penetrates their bones.” It’s as if we stop discovering new music at some point in our lives and continue to explore the music we already love. [Full Story]
Shana on the Gastronomical Three blog reviews Logan: “For an appetizer, we ordered the night’s special, braised pork belly, which displayed pleasing autumnal flavors of pork, carrot, turnip, and parsley. It evoked pot roast – in a good way. Why the vegetables were sculpted into little orange and white polka dots with a melon baller, I’m still not sure.” [Source]
Banner from the Obama campaign hung in the Downtown Home & Garden courtyard Thursday night.
By Thursday night, the imperative “Make History” on the Obama campaign banner could have well been changed to the past tense “Made.” But along with a second banner reading “Hope,” it made a nice backdrop for a party pitched for the folks who worked on the Obama campaign at the First and Liberty headquarters.
The post-election celebration was held just down the block from Obama headquarters in the courtyard area of Downtown Home & Garden, which owner Mark Hodesh had made available.
One take-away from the event for The Chronicle … [Full Story]
Beer is brewing at Original Gravity. It’s a wonderful aroma
The United Asian American Organizations blog posts an essay about UM’s space use policy as it relates to minorities: “The University housing administration has recently decided to enforce its policy of limiting the number of times per academic term and year for which an individual or organization can conduct an activity. While this policy applies to all residence hall lounges, it has the greatest impact on minority-cultural and multicultural lounges and the student organizations that have historic ties to those rooms.” [Source]
Cast members of "Miss Saigon" in the makeup room before Friday night's dress rehearsal. The show opens tonight at 7:30 p.m., with performances Sunday and Nov. 14-16.
A cast member dressed in Army fatigues is doing a mic check. Above him, a cloud of theatrical smoke wafts from the stage into the auditorium. He sings a few lines then says, “Am I good?”
“You’re the best!” someone calls out from the group of students clustered around the orchestra pit, as they laugh and hoot and applaud.
[Full Story]
Our write-up of the last city council meeting indicated the incorrect date for the next meeting. The correct date of the next meeting is Monday, Nov. 17 starting at 7:00 p.m. We note the error here as well as in the original item.
Also worth noting: preceding that meeting, from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. there will be an informal open house with light refreshments to meet the four new councilmembers, who will be formally sworn in at the meeting, after having been legally sworn in a week prior.
Two Ann Arbor business owners are quoted in a Detroit News article about using Facebook as a marketing tool. Jenn Cornell, co-owner of Joust Fitness, sees it as “digital word of mouth.” Linda Girard, co-founder of the digital marketing agency Pure Visibility, says: ”I’m not just going to connect with every Tom, Dick and Harry out there…We’re in the business where personality and relationships are really important.” [Source]
A Toronto Globe & Mail article compares tailgate parties at UM and…the University of Guelph: “Open kegs in Ann Arbor, camouflage red cups in Guelph: It’s a tale of two countries.” [Source]
Obama headquarters free automatic coffeemaker set out by the curb has now disappeared. Metal office desk still there.
