Monica Bortz works on giving the middle window at Champion House a festive holiday theme.
Rory Fleck learned to paint holiday themes on store windows from his uncle. Now he’s dabbing greens, reds and whites of acrylic latex on store windows himself. And he gets to spend the time working together with his girlfriend, Monica Bortz, who says this is her first year painting. [Full Story]
The construction fence around the Museum of Art has been removed.
Yellow: new law school building to be constructed in place of surface parking. Blue: student commons to be renovated. Monroe Street is the road just north of the new law school building. (Click image for larger view.)
Glimpsing through the door of room 116 of Hutchins Hall at UM Law School on Tuesday evening, The Chronicle could see what seemed like a late-evening class in session. Not sure of the room number we wanted, it was with some caution that we nosed further into the room. Ah. The familiar faces of Tony Derezinski, newly elected Ann Arbor city council representative of Ward 2, and Dave … [Full Story]
A Christian Science Monitor article about the auto industry and its impact on the Michigan economy quotes UM economist Don Grimes: “The Detroit Three are 12 times as concentrated in the state of Michigan as in the rest of the country, so whatever happens to them is going to have roughly 12 times the impact on Michigan as on the rest of the country.” [Source]
The UM School of Art & Design’s website notes that the school’s PLAY Gallery Animation Station will be at the Dec. 6 Shadow Art Fair, from noon to midnight at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti. [Source]
Bus poem by Stacia Wallace of Allen Elementary: “Look at yellow, follow these rules/Two red-faced people kissing on the sidewalk/Orange babies crying/Green grass, play fast/Blue shoes walk magically/Birds-white. I wonder if they fly/On a bus where people play”
The city’s website reflects a change in the Dec. 3 A2D2 Steering Committee meeting. The meeting start time has been moved from 6 pm to 6:30 pm. It will be held in the 6th floor conference room of the Larcom Building. The meeting will focus on synthesis of community feedback.[Source]
Susan Selasky, the Freep’s test kitchen director, writes about Durham’s Tracklements and Smokery in Ann Arbor, noting that owner T.R. Durham had his first cookbook published last month - ”The Smoked Seafood Cookbook”: “What’s worth the price is the explainer on how to cold- or hot-smoke fish, descriptions of different woods and other fine points such as how to properly slice smoked salmon.” [Source]
For the past several months I have been attending the city of Ann Arbor’s pension board meetings. At the last meeting on Nov. 20, the atmosphere in the room was a little quieter than it had been in previous months. The city of Ann Arbor Employees’ Retirement System board of trustees was preparing to receive the latest report on the monthly performance of the city’s Pension Fund.
Willie Powell, the executive director of the retirement system, needed a couple of tries to get the grim news out: plan assets had dropped $30 million (preliminary) in October, and combined with a $50 million drop in September, the asset value was now just below $300 million – down 33% year to date. I noticed a definite groan coming from the vicinity of Tom Crawford, chief financial officer for the city of Ann Arbor. [Full Story]
Piles of snow-covered leaves waiting for grace along Brooks and Vesper, while a homeowner vigorously forked her pile onto the busy lane of Miller near Seventh today. Last pickup was November 10.
eating lunch at the Old Town I saw another bug and license plate: ‘bug jar’
Blue bug with license plate BLUEBUG covered with stickers parked on Liberty just east of Main
City Council’s meeting Monday evening yielded few surprises, with council giving final approval to the City Apartments PUD and its site plan, and moving the City Place PUD along to a second reading (with some reluctance). And after hearing a progress report on the police-courts project, council approved an amendment to the architect’s agreement in the amount of $411,003. Also, with no discussion of what the fund agreement is, council passed a memorandum of intent and fund agreement for development of a skatepark at Veterans Memorial Park. [Full Story]
Books are flying off the shelf at the Library’s Used Book Sale.
In an Old Media Watch item about the auto industry, we gave the figure for financial assistance to the industry as $250 billion. The correct figure is $25 billion. We acknowledge the mistake here and have corrected it in the original item.
A Reuters article looks at the restructuring plans that GM, Ford and Chrysler are developing for Congress, in hopes of getting a $250 $25 billion bailout package. The article quotes Dennis Virag of the Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor: “Going in it was pretty clear that the powers that be in Washington were interested in seeing the automakers come back with plans with more concessions. I think they will get the funding.” [Source]
Today marks the third month of publication of The Ann Arbor Chronicle. As we have on the previous monthly milestones, we take this opportunity to touch base directly with readers.
We’ve made a couple of minor changes to the layout. The left sidebar is now a bit cleaner, partly because we’ve consolidated some material into the top shaded box.
In response to reader suggestions, we’ve also made the the link to the Tip Jar as prominent as we know how. It’s sitting in the masthead where the news stand price is typically displayed for a printed publication (upper right).
Also based partly on reader input, the frame for the advertisements now contains a link (at the bottom) to a … [Full Story]
The MVictors blog reports on a bit of a dust-up regarding the birthplace of UM football coach Rich Rodriguez – a topic of some discussion, apparently, among Wikipedia administrators. [Source]
The Touched by a Monkey blog gives details about the 8th annual Poetry Night in Ann Arbor, held on Dec. 11 at UM’s Rackham Auditorium. [Source]
The Associated Press reports on two studies by UM researchers that show a gap between what vaccines cost and what private insurers reimburse – causing doctors to lose money. This loss is causing about one in 10 doctors to consider dropping that service. Says Dr. Gary Freed, who co-authored articles about the studies for the December issue of Pediatrics: “Many physicians really weren’t aware and that they were getting reimbursed so little.” [Source]
Six councilmembers braved the frozen slurry coating the streets and still falling from the sky on Sunday to hear a preview of two planning-related agenda items from interested parties: City Apartments site plan, and City Place PUD rezoning petition. They also heard commentary from the public on a third agenda item: the $411,003 amendment to the contract with the architect for the new police-courts facility. In addition, they received a request for recognition of an upcoming vigil for human rights. Among themselves, councilmembers also discussed the protocol for proclamations, and the need to give due attention to the funding of an animal control officer as budget discussions begin in the new year. [Full Story]
Brian Mackie, Washtenaw County prosecutor, with his dogs in the Political Pets of Washtenaw County 2009 calendar. The calendar raises funds for the Community Action Network and Humane Society of Huron Valley.
Throughout the month of December, The Chronicle is highlighting Ann Arbor area businesses and nonprofits to help feed your local shopping habit – or to give you reasons to start one. Our lists are meant as a sampling, and we encourage readers and business owners to add their own favorite finds in the comments section.
We know many of you didn’t totally satisfy your fix during the past election season, so here are some ways to keep you or your favorite political junkies happy for the holidays. [Full Story]
David Menefee serenades shoppers at Sunday's Art in the Barn.
Off of West Huron, just west of the railroad tracks, is a compound of buildings that houses an eclectic mix of businesses. And on one day for each of the past eight years, a building within this compound known as The Yellow Barn transforms into a venue for local artists and holiday shoppers.
On Sunday, 17 artists gathered for this year’s show, many of them regulars from previous years, plus some first-timers. Despite the crappy economy and threat of this season’s first major snowstorm, there were a steady stream of customers when The Chronicle dropped by around noon. [Full Story]
