Believe me, we’ve no aversions to nit picking here at The Chronicle.
I’ve made the correction in situ without putting it through the standard Missed Tick cycle. Thanks.
]]>“An update, for the record:
The DDA parking data is back online, available and current and in real time. Two of the DDA lots are full at 10pm on a snowy Saturday night, and one is close to full:
First and Huron ………………………. 3
Ashley and 1st ………………………. 11
4th and Washington ………………………. 32
and just minutes away, there are acres of open space:
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I understand Matt’s comment [4] to be about the need to self-produce in-house as opposed to the pricing the DDA got on the equipment, or whether the room could have been outfitted with fewer than four cameras.
In reports to the full board from the committee over the last four months, it’s clear that the option of moving the meeting to another space that’s already equipped was weighed.
The most likely candidate would be council chambers. It’s actually an awful space for public meetings for a variety of reasons.
All other things being equal, though, if council chambers are available, it’s reasonable to weigh the room’s deficits as a meeting space against spending $40,000 of tax-payer money.
But in the short term, council chambers are getting less, not more available. On Monday the city announced the following:
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Due to City Hall construction activities expected to begin in
March, several City of Ann Arbor Board and Commission monthly meetings will be relocated from January 2009 through December 2011.
• Energy Commission
• Greenbelt Advisory Commission
• Parks Advisory Commission
New Location: County Administration Building, 220 N. Main Street, County Board of Commission Public Meeting Room
• Building Board of Appeals
• Housing Board of Appeals
• Public Market Advisory Commission
• Sign Board of Appeals
New Location: County Building, 200 N. Main, Lower Level Conference Room
• Commission on Disability Issues.
New Location: Community Television Network, 2805 S. Industrial, Ste. 200, Studio
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So council chambers is not a short-term option. That leaves the county building, or else CTN studios. Perhaps there’s other options I’m not thinking of.
]]>I want to commend the DDA, both the board and staff, for the work they accomplished last year. I think they’re doing excellent work. I don’t always agree with the allocations, but the quality of the process and the level of commitment on the part of the people would be hard to improve.
Even the proposed underground parking structure, which I believe to be worse than the unexplored options for addressing the issues that are driving it, has been handled well by the DDA, who have been acting on direction from city council to develop that specific plan. In fact, two board members voted against the structure plan recommendation to council, including Hall, who I think is demonstrating commendable leadership.
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