Archive for March, 2009

Several Chronicle readers who live in the neighborhood surrounding Michigan Stadium alerted us to emails they received today about sound tests planned for Friday afternoon and early evening. In his email, Jim Kosteva, director of community relations for the University of Michigan, states that from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. on March 13, approximately five tests will be conducted that will sound like a “cannon shot.”

Reached by phone this afternoon, Kosteva said the tests will generate about 140 decibels of sound from a device positioned at the north end of the stadium in front of the scoreboard, facing into the stadium. [Full Story]

A Michigan Daily article looks at the prospects for university students to find summer jobs in Ann Arbor, and reports that local employers will be hiring. Says Kerstin Woodside, assistant manager of the clothing retailer Orchid Lane: ”Trends haven’t changed because of the economy. Right about now in the summer we are starting to hire again. We always hire more people in the summer.” [Source]

A display of Steve Amick's new book at Nicola's Books in the Westgate Shopping Center. Amick held a book-signing there on Tuesday.

Don’ t avoid the obvious: there is a half-naked woman on the cover of Steve Amick’s new book – wearing “nothing but a smile,” which appropriately is the title of the book (wink-wink). She made quite the impression on you when you walked into Nicola’s Books, where Amick was doing a book signing Tuesday night.

How she got there is quite an innocent story. The book, “Wearing Nothing But a Smile,” deftly balances the innocence of WWII pin-up girls with the harsh realities of the war back home.

Amick admits to stumbling on the idea of a book with the pin-up industry central to the plot. [Full Story]

On the Doc Life section of The Doctor’s Channel.com, a video shows the Ann Arbor casual dining preferences of physician Bill Engelman, who recommends Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger and Zingerman’s Deli. [Source]

This sticker will soon be removed from a metal coin collection bin that's due for a paint job.

A couple of weeks ago, The Chronicle ran into Cheryl Clifton and Jim Musser walking along Liberty Street near Ashley. They work for Republic Parking as meter collectors – you’ve probably  seen them making the rounds as they transfer coins from the city’s 1,900 or so parking meters into portable metal collection bins.

What they also transfer, it turns out, are stickers. Namely, stickers that people affix to parking meters. Rather than throwing them away, Clifton and Musser (and others who’ve done this job previously) have slapped them onto the 21 collection bins. The day we chatted, the bin they were using had stencil-style stickers of a smiling Ronald Reagan. Apparently, it’s one of the tamer ones they’ve come across. [Full Story]

Sketch of the proposed Monroe Street closure. About this sketch, planning commissioner Eppie Potts remarked that it showed only university property and that it appeared that nothing else existed around it. She said that when the proposal came formally before the commission, it would need to include surrounding properties.

At planning commission’s working session on Tuesday night, held in the 6th floor conference room of the Larcom Building, representatives of the University of Michigan described a request for permanent closure of Monroe Street, between Oakland and State streets. Previously, The Chronicle covered the proposed Monroe Street closure as part of UM’s early December 2008 meeting with neighbors, which is now required under the city of Ann Arbor’s citizen participation ordinance.

Sue Gott, university planner, and Jim Kosteva, director of community relations, made the presentation to the commission’s working session for the permanent street closure, which would not come before the commission as a formal request until April 21 at the soonest, according to Connie Pulcipher, senior planner with the city of Ann Arbor, who attended the working session. [Full Story]

The Detroit Metro Times highlights St. Patrick’s Day offerings at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op: “For those seeking a taste of Ireland, but wishing it meant more than corned beef and cabbage, Ypsilanti’s Food Co-op might be worth a St. Patty’s Day visit. On March 17, the co-op will have Bailey’s coffee cupcakes, Irish soda bread, and caraway rye from River Street Bakery, as well as organic cabbage, Scottish and Irish cheddar cheeses, and Irish beer.” [Source]

Watching the Huron Rise with realtime data from USGS. Now at 3,220 cubic feet per second.  Record in 1974 was 3,470.

Washtenaw County’s weatherization program, which typically serves about 100 homes annually out of a $350,000 budget, is getting $4.1 million over the next 18 months from the 2009 federal stimulus package. That amount will allow the program to weatherize 600 homes – and lower utility bills – for low- to moderate-income families during that period.

To ramp up for this influx of federal funding, the program will be hiring staff for the duration of the grant, which runs from April 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010. Aaron Kraft, program coordinator, said there are two full-time employees now (including him), plus a private contractor who does inspections. Kraft expects they’ll need seven full-time staff in the office to handle outreach and applications, four more inspectors and double the number of general contractors that they use to work on these projects.

In addition to the increased number of houses they’ll be able to serve, the amount that can be spent per house has roughly doubled, Kraft said. Not including administrative costs, about $4,500 will be available for each home. The program covers houses, mobile homes, townhomes and condominiums, but not usually apartments in large complexes, Kraft said. [Full Story]

At Monday night’s city council work session councilmember Leigh Greden said that he wanted to see growth. Growth is what he could see (even if not the kind he was looking for) by turning his gaze to his immediate left at the council table to look at his colleague, Christopher Taylor’s upper lip, which is sprouting a mustache for charity. That kind of growth is no longer visible on city administrator Roger Fraser’s chin. Before the work session began, Fraser joked with the Ward 3 council contingent that he’d shorn his whiskers in order to appear as youthful as Greden.

Illustration of the concept of a … [Full Story]

The Freep publishes a long list of earmarks requested by U.S. lawmakers from Michigan. Local projects include $1.9 million to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences in Ann Arbor to develop lightweight materials to increase vehicle fuel efficiency; $1 million to the Michigan Research Institute in Ann Arbor for aerospace research; $950,000 for the Ann Arbor-Detroit regional rail project; and $381,000 for the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor for facilities and equipment. [Source]

The Monroe Street Journal, a student publication of UM’s Ross School of Business, reports on a fundraiser to raise money for “The Michigan House,” built by UM students for the Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley: “This year’s live auction will be held at Score Keepers (during that RSA happy hour) on Thursday, March 12th at 7pm. Auction items include Sony PSP, local restaurant gift certificates, and faculty donated events – a rumored auction item is ‘a tour of Detroit, Brittney Spears style.’ This item features the best of the past that Detroit had to offer with the theme of once a rock star, now a disaster.” [Source]

Sign at the entrance to the parking lot off of Thompson, between Madison and Packard.

We’ve been talking about getting rid of our car for a long time, and I’ll admit I’m the one who’s been dragging my feet. For me, having a car is a habit – an addiction, really – and unable to go cold turkey, I’ve been edging toward carlessness in nicotine patch-like phases.

Zipcar has driven me into the final phase. We joined in February, and last week I took my first Zipcar excursion to the Ann Arbor Public Schools budget forum at Scarlett Middle School. What a sweet, unremarkable ride it was.

But before we go there, let’s talk a bit about freedom. [Full Story]

On the blog “the imponderabilia of actual life,” Sandy D. of Saline gives some advice about Girl Scout cookies: “Forget about the new Dulce de Leche flavor – they sound much better than they are. The sugar-free chocolate chip isn’t bad, though, and I think the lemon cremes are sadly unappreciated.” [Source]

Bloomberg reports on President Obama’s auto task force and their visit to the Detroit area this week to meet with executives from GM and Chrysler. The article quotes UM professor Martin Zimmerman, commenting on the prospect of the automakers’ bankruptcy: ”With jobs falling all over the economy, the economy very weak, you risk in a bankruptcy, I think, much more cascading job losses. I don’t think at this juncture in the economy we want to take that risk.” [Source]

UM student Andy Kroll is writing a series for UWire about how he’s reducing his carbon footprint. (FoxNews.com is also posting Kroll’s blog entries here.) In this post, Kroll describes his efforts to reduce water consumption: ”A bad habit of mine is leaving the sink faucet running when I’m brushing my teeth or shaving (on the few days I actually do it). It may seem like an innocuous mistake, but all that wasted water adds up day after day … after day. It’s simple: I’m just paying more attention anytime I’m at the bathroom sink, making sure to use water only when I absolutely need it and not leaving it on so much. This takes barely any time at all – … [Full Story]

Several media outlets, including the Associated Press, report news that UM is launching a major embryonic stem cell research program. “The university’s A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute said it’s forming the Consortium for Stem Cell Therapy to create new embryonic stem cell lines as researchers seek treatments and cures for numerous diseases. The consortium, which will be based in the university’s medical school, is expected to begin this spring. University officials say $2 million has been secured for hiring new scientists and technicians and other startup costs, and additional fundraising is under way.” [Source]

The Freep looks at how UM researchers will benefit from the lifting of both federal and state restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. President Obama signed an order Monday morning to reverse a Bush administration ban on federal funding. The article quotes Al Taubman, who has donated millions of dollars to UM for medical research: “Fortunately, we were able to convince the citizens of Michigan to vote for Proposal 2. I’m proud of our state for taking away this archaic law.” [Source]

A Detroit News article about the condition of Cobo Hall in Detroit quotes Rick Selover, business development manager at Painters Supply & Equipment Co. in Ann Arbor and one of 900 exhibitors at Autorama: “This is Detroit  – this is Autorama – we should have a better showcase. It doesn’t do us any good if you’re walking through here and all of a sudden you see water dripping down.” [Source]