Archive for January, 2009

The Around Ann Arbor blog posts a photo of the Fleetwood Diner in subzero temps, with the warning “don’t lick the siding.” [Source]

Damian Farrell, architect for Near North. Farrell rotated and panned across the proposed building from various angles to show neighbors the current state of the design.

The gathering on Wednesday evening at the Ann Arbor Community Center to discuss a proposed affordable housing development had been publicized as a 2-hour long “community design charrette.” But the 35 or more immediate neighbors and other interested parties who attended the meeting filled a bit more than the first hour asking questions that addressed the topic of the developer’s motives, the projects’ consistency with the mission of the non-profit partner on the proposal (Avalon Housing) and the conformance of the project to the city’s various planning documents.

Architect Damian Farrell was eventually given the chance to project live images from his design software onto the wall, and manipulate them to illustrate changes that had been made as a result of the previous two charrettes. But the ensuing conversation on design elements was also interspersed with concerns about topics from the first hour.

Two and a half hours into the meeting, a man stood and said: “I am homeless.” He’d heard people pick at the project, he said, but he hadn’t heard anyone ask this question about it: “What can we do to help?” It was more than three and a half hours after the meeting started when the last of the post-charrette conversational pods headed out the door.

By Jan. 21, the project team hopes to be able to submit responses to any of the city planning staff’s concerns expressed after the project’s initial review, which began after the project was submitted in December. Near North could come before the city’s planning commission as early as Feb. 19. [Full Story]

In his series on traveling to Obama’s inauguration, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Bill Glauber talks with Abdulrahman El-Sayed, a UM medical student and Rhodes scholar, whom Glauber also describes as a member of the “Obama generation.” Says El-Sayed: ”People of my generation, we come with our own bridge. The generation before us didn’t come with a bridge. Real integration happens with us. We were raised in this country.” [Source]

Chelsea resident Danielle was a caller to the Rush Limbaugh show: “As I get older, I’m in my thirties, and I see the hypocrisy, the double standards of our government, particularly the Democrats, and it’s frustrating. I do it right. You know, my husband has a good job. We didn’t borrow too much money and we put 20% down on our house and now I’m told I have to sacrifice; I have to give. Well, wait a minute. My husband works hard. I work hard. We raise our family. We take care of our family. I just want the government to leave me alone. Let me raise my family. Let me keep more of my money, and I don’t need … [Full Story]

On Tuesday of this week, the totter returned to action after a long period of inactivity. We reprised a theme with some previous history on the totter: real-time parking data. This time around, the live-data feed on parking space availability, which is streamed to the web by Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority, has been piped into a telephone system.

The guy who did that: Fred Posner. [Full Story]

Administrative briefing and appointments caucus (Jan. 14, 2009): A staff briefing attended by all but two of the 11 Washtenaw County commissioners on Wednesday evening went quickly, previewing a relatively light agenda for the Jan. 21 meeting – the first full board meeting to be led by the new chair, Rolland Sizemore Jr. Taking up a bit more time was a caucus immediately following the briefing, where commissioners made an initial pass at divvying up committee duties for the year. [Full Story]

The Forest Street Kitchen blog posts a recipe for bean soup to warm you from the inside: “It is basic and unsophisticated, but does justice to the ham, uses good Michigan beans, and may even help us to face the cold weather – 12 degrees and dropping, as I speak. Not only is this good to eat; if you have a ham bone with some meat left on it, it’s as cheap as it gets – just a bag of dried beans and some vegetables.” [Source]

In a letter to the editor published in the Detroit News, South Lyon resident Christopher Blough argues that UM should admit more in-state students: “U-M is an outstanding institution and its scholars’ achievements explain why its endowments are well funded and it continues to receive considerable federal research grant funding. However, the state’s funding formula should be weighted to encourage institutions to educate Michigan residents as state dollars become increasingly scarce. This should be the first priority.” [Source]

On his blog Paper Tiger No More, former Ann Arbor News sports columnist Jim Carty writes about how proposed changes at the University of Michigan will substantially alter the way student athletes get their education. “Detailed analysis later, but – in short – the Michigan faculty has pretty much vindicated the vast majority of the Ann Arbor News series on academics and athletics by attempting to institute a series of changes which will take away almost all power the athletic department has over academic matters.” [Source]

The hand wielding the pen belongs to Amy Kuras, a city of Ann Arbor park planner who was sketching out roughly to-scale plot sizes for potential gardens, in the area south of the tennis courts where they are proposed. The aerial view photo of Hunt Park is oriented in this photograph looking from north to south.

With snow on the ground outside and temperatures around 10° F and headed even lower, a dozen people gathered in the 5th-floor conference room of the Larcom Building to talk about warmer days ahead: a possible new Project Grow garden at Hunt Park, which could be implemented as early as this spring.

Amy Kuras, park planner for the city of Ann Arbor, and Melissa Kesterson, executive director of Project Grow, were joined at the meeting by neighbors of the park, which is located  in the block bounded by Sunset, Spring and Daniel streets. Councilmember Sabra Briere, whose Ward 1 includes the park (it’s right on the boundary between Ward 1 and Ward 5), attended the meeting as well. [Full Story]

The Freep reports that the Michigan Secretary of State has launched a test program in Ann Arbor, allowing drivers to pay their civil-infraction citations and parking tickets at an electronic self-service station at the 353 N. Maple Road branch. The program covers the jurisdiction of the 15th District Court. [Source]

Local artist Margaret Parker was re-elected chair of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission at their Tuesday night meeting. Jan Onder was re-elected vice chair, with Elaine Sims agreeing to fill in while Onder is in L.A. for three months, returning in early April.

Public Art Commission (Jan. 13, 2009): Tuesday night’s meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission covered a lot of territory, from updates on specific projects to concerns over a contract delay for the newly hired administrator, and the as yet non-appointment of Cheryl Zuellig to the commission. But commissioners spent a small portion of their meeting deciding to hold two parties – and who doesn’t need a little party planning to heat things up on a cold winter night? And if you stick with this article, you’ll also find out which artist is a direct descendant of Ann Allen. [Full Story]

At Ann Arbor city council’s recent budget retreat, during a priority-setting exercise in which councilmembers went around the table naming a top priority for them in the coming year, Leigh Greden said he wanted to see a thorough assessment of the possibility of a city income tax. Councilmember Stephen Rapundalo had made a request at the Jan. 5 city council meeting that staff dust off the 2004 income tax study and begin to update it with current information.  Tom Crawford, chief financial officer for the city of Ann Arbor, has now disseminated the 2004 Ann Arbor city income tax study [2.5 MB .pdf]. [Full Story]

FestiFools is holding an open house and volunteer thank-you breakfast on Saturday, Jan. 24 from 10 a.m.-noon at its studio next to Crisler Arena: “Let’s thumb our noses at winter and get into the spirit of Foolishness! Members of the FestiFools steering committee will be manning the griddle and deftly wielding razor-sharp spatulae. If the maple syrup doesn’t get your hands all gooey, then working with papier-machê most certainly will.” [Source]

Elevator buttons in the new UM Ross School of Business building were among the areas treated during the disinfection protocol.

Overnight from Monday to Tuesday at the new UM Ross School of Business building, plant and custodial staff, along with employees of Aramark, which provides food services in the building, implemented a disinfection protocol for norovirus.

As of early Tuesday afternoon, there were no cases of norovirus yet confirmed among the 20-30 people who had become ill over the past week since the newly constructed building first opened on Jan. 5.  Further, according the Jennifer Nord, of UM Occupational Safety and Environmental Health (OSEH), the last date of onset for a new case of illness was on Jan. 10. People who have become sick have been requested to provide stool samples for analysis by the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing. As yet no samples have been provided for testing.

Nord and David Peters of OSEH, in a conference call (arranged by Pamela Koczman, manager in occupational safety and community health at UM), confirmed that the decision to act aggressively by starting the cleaning protocol last night was made based on: (i) the symptoms shown in cases reported, (ii) the quick spread, and (iii) the commonness of norovirus as the cause of such cases. [Full Story]

Natural Area Preservation blog calls attention to the parks map now available on the city’s website. The choice of color for the placemarks is green. [Source]

The Freep looks at the phenomenon of live-in grandparents helping out working couples with young children. Ypsilanti residents Paul and Adrian Leek are featured in the article – Adrian’s mother, Justner Graham, moved in four years ago. Says Paul Leek: ”My friends at work tease me because when I get to work, I have breakfast and lunch and coffee that she has prepared for me. They smell all that aroma and they say, ‘Oh, your mother-in-law did it again, huh?’ And sometimes she sends goodies for my coworkers.” [Source]

Local graffiti, a homeless encampment and a bird’s eye view of the Blake Transit Center are part of this 3-minute YouTube video. [Source]

The physiological analogy of the bus system described by Jesse Bernstein at council’s budget retreat as an alternative to the spoke-and-hub system was not a spine-and-rib model, but rather a spine-and-nerve model. We note the mistake here and have corrected it in the original story.

The New York Times reports more management changes at Ann Arbor’s Borders Group. After installing a new CEO and other top executives last week, the company is expected to name hedge fund executive Richard “Mick” McGuire as its new chairman today. McGuire is an executive with Pershing Square Capital Management, the bookstore chain’s largest shareholder and one that’s been calling for change at the company. [Source]

Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri String Quartet received a bouquet from Emily Hsiao, a Huron High School student whose email invitation led to his spending two hours working with the school's student musicians on Monday.

He’d performed on stage at Rackham Auditorium the previous night, but on Monday afternoon Arnold Steinhardt sat quietly in the audience, this time at Huron High School, listening to the school’s symphony orchestra rehearse Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Opus 78.

“Sounds great!” he said when the last note fell silent – and then he asked to hear more.

For two hours, Steinhardt – lead violinist for the renowned Guarneri String Quartet – shared his insights, gave advice and even played a bit on a violin borrowed from one of the students. It was an up-close exchange that came about simply because one of his fans in the orchestra asked him to come. [Full Story]

Graffiti stenciled in a downtown Ann Arbor alley. (Image links to higher resolution file.)

Although the punishments for those who apply graffiti would remain intact, the impact of a proposed new anti-graffiti ordinance on property owners would be lessened under a revised version of the law. The original version of the proposed anti-graffiti ordinance was approved by council at its first reading at the Dec. 15 city council meeting, which advanced it along in the usual process to a public hearing and second reading, scheduled for council’s Jan. 20 meeting.

Since that December meeting, sponsors of the new ordinance (which include councilmembers Margie Teall, Carsten Hohnke, Leigh Greden, and Christopher Taylor) have met with various business owners, the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Development Authority, and city staff, which resulted  in changes to the proposed ordinance. [Full Story]