Bloomberg News writes about the $17.4 billion federal loan approved on Friday for GM and Chrysler. The article quotes Gerald Meyers, a UM professor and former CEO of American Motors Corp.: ”The president has come forward and did the minimum that he could do in order not to get nailed with the failure of the auto companies. Bush has kicked the can, so to speak.” [Source]
Two bagpipers, one wearing a Blimpy Burger hat, playing “Cullen Bay” outside of Sweetwaters.
Got a candy cane from Santa on the corner of Liberty and Division.
Three snowmobiles headed north on Division at a good rate of speed!
Small Jeep plowing sidewalk has a flat tire.
Rebecca McGowan served her last meeting as a UM regent on Thursday, after 16 years in that role.
UM Board of Regents (Dec. 18, 2008) Thursday’s meeting of the University of Michigan regents was overshadowed by news about its purchase of the former Pfizer facility, but before they voted on that item, the board spent an hour dealing with a range of other issues – including a farewell to one of its longest-serving current members.
Early in the meeting, the board paid tribute to Rebecca McGowan, who has served for two terms – a total of 16 years – but did not run for reelection this year. Regent Libby Maynard gave an emotional presentation, calling McGowan a friend and an important colleague. “Becky, you’ve given Michigan your wisdom, your vision, your care – no institution could ask for more.” [Full Story]
Throngs of students waiting in the random wintry precipitation for the airBus to Metro.
The website, Sit or Squat, has global scope, but so far includes only a few bathrooms in Ann Arbor – Starbucks, Potbelly Sandwichworks, and the UM Union. The interface uses GoogleMaps and allows visitors to add bathroom locations and rate them based on a recommendation to sit … or squat. [Source]
News flash: it snowed. A lot. ArborWiki provides useful information on sledding. [Source]
Have you shoveled your bus stop yet? Inbound Packard and Granger done.
On Thursday evening, the second floor of Cottage Inn Pizza on William Street in downtown Ann Arbor was cram-packed with geeks and non-geeks alike. But it seemed like mostly geeks – propeller heads, techies, code-freaks, whatever term of endearment you prefer. They were there for ArbCamp 2008, a gathering meant to stimulate discussions around topics mutually agreed upon, on the fly at the event, and to promote connections in the tech community that might prove constructive. If the breaking news of the day – UM’s purchase of the old Pfizer site to establish a medical research hub – represents a big box approach to economic development, then ArbCamp 2008 is a grass-roots approach. [Full Story]
AATA bus stuck in the snow
Car stuck in snow in the intersection by the railroad tracks. Man jumps out of his car over by Liberty Lofts to help out. Woman shovels snow out from under car. They all push and the car is freed. Glad I could walk to work today.
AATA bus stuck in snow in front of apartment building, rocking forward and back trying to get unstuck.
The Farmer’s Marketer writes about three Michigan tax credits for charitable donations, including ones for homeless shelters, food banks, certain public institutions and community foundations. “So, for each $400 we donate (usually online – it’s so easy) to Food Gatherers, The Arb, and a rotating list of Community Foundations ($1200 in total donations), our actual outlay of cash is around $80 in each category. About $240 total. That’s less than a Nintendo Wii.” [Source]
A caption in our article about UM’s purchase of the Pfizer site misidentified a Crain’s Detroit Business reporter. His name is Ryan Beene. We note the error here, and have corrected it in the original article.
Pfizer's Plymouth Road facility is largely vacated, except for the occasional snow angel.
Word about the University of Michigan’s plans to buy the former Pfizer research site had leaked out much earlier in the day, but UM regents waited until the end of their regular Thursday afternoon meeting before making it formal: The university will spend $108 million to buy the roughly 174-acre Plymouth Road complex, with plans to transform it into a major medical and scientific research hub. In the long term, university officials hope to add 2,000 jobs to the local economy over 10 years. But in the short term, the deal will take millions of dollars off the tax rolls for local governments at a time when they’re already anticipating budget shortfalls. [Full Story]
Eliana Moya-Raggio, a Wall Street resident and former UM faculty member, explains her objections to UM's proposed parking structure. She spoke at a Tuesday evening meeting held at the Kellogg Eye Center.
There were two distinctly different agendas on view at Tuesday’s Wall Street neighborhood meeting, hosted by University of Michigan staff. University representatives, led by Jim Kosteva, were there to deliver information about environmental and safety issues related to the proposed UM expansion in that area. The neighbors wanted answers to questions they’d been asking for many months – and their frustration was palpable.
the snow bears are back at Krazy Jim’s.
The Detroit News reports on a slide in Michigan’s unemployment rate, which hit a 16-year high in November, at 9.6 percent. The article quotes UM economist George Fulton: “These are doubtless the most uncertain times we have faced in the state since we started forecasting the Michigan economy 36 years ago. What seems clear is that the hard times are here to stay for a while longer.” [Source]
AATA Board (Dec. 17, 2008) Although the Ann Arbor Transportation Area board last month transitioned to a meeting format in which “there will not be discussion surrounding committee reports,” board member Ted Annis still gave the public what he calls the “headline news” from the planning and development committee, which he chairs. That included study of possible base fare increases over the next two years, first from $1 to $1.25 and then from $1.25 to $1.50. The possibility of completely eliminating fares for people with disabilities and for those over 65 years old is also being considered. Any changes will be preceded by public hearings with a board decision expected in April 2009.
In other board business, a bylaws change was passed to allow for public comment at the beginning of board meetings on any of the board’s agenda items. Board chair David Nacht described it as “an opportunity to make a pitch in advance of our actions,” and said that he thought it was “a really good idea.” A time limit of two minutes per individual will apply to the commentary at the beginning of the meetings. A time for public comment on any topic will still be available at the end of meetings. [Full Story]
In summarizing public commentary on the Germantown study committee, we spelled the name of one of the speakers incorrectly. The correct spelling is Claudius Vincenz. We acknowledge the mistake here and have corrected it in the original piece.
Details are scant, but UM has scheduled a major announcement to be made at this afternoon’s regents meeting: UM will purchase the former Pfizer site.
Reaction to the news from Ward 5 councilmember Carsten Hohnke was unambiguous: “The impact of removing $1.5 million from our tax rolls can not be overstated. I’m extremely disappointed that the University could not find a way to be a more creative and equitable partner with the city in this.”
MVictors reports on the Wednesday night gift-wrapping session for the Ann Arbor Adopt-A-Family program, held at the UM Golf Course clubhouse, and includes a few photos from the evening. [Source]
The Freep reports that UM’s endowment may lose more than $2 billion by year’s end, or about 30 percent of its value. The endowment stood at $7.6 billion as of June 30, 2008. The regents will receive an update at their monthly meeting today. [Source]
Rob Goodspeed, writing on The Goodspeed Update, analyzes real-time parking data from the Ann Arbor DDA and examines the Maynard Street Structure in detail. He suggests tweaks to pricing and opens the question of whether there’s really a need to add to the parking inventory. [Source]
Roof over drive-thru of old bank torn down. [Photo]
A podcast of UM economist Richard Curtin focuses on results from the Reuters/UM Survey of Consumers. Curtin says most consumers reported that their financial situation has worsened in the past year. “This is the worst assessment we’ve ever recorded for more than 60 years of the survey.” [Source]
Donovan Reeve of Ypsilanti is one of three finalists in The New Yorker cartoon caption contest #171 for the week of Dec. 15. Reeve’s entry – “I did the choreography myself” – is included in the print edition only, but you can find the accompanying cartoon #171 online. The winner will be announced on Dec. 29. [Source]
Ann Arbor City Council (Dec. 15, 2008) City council heard extensive public commentary and suspended its own rules to allow for more deliberation on the topic of appointing a study committee for a new historic district possibly to be called Germantown. But in the end, the proposal garnered only one vote in addition to those of its two sponsors. In other business, council moved an anti-graffiti ordinance to a second reading (the next step for any amendment to the city code), and approved an intent to issue $9 million in bonds to fund the parking structure portion of Village Green’s City Apartments project. [Full Story]
