Archive for April, 2009

Somedays, one cannot get enough news about a certain event and even though The Chronicle doesn’t have a “sports section,” I was looking for one last tidbit before hitting the sack.

I know for a fact that most of your readers who at one time in their lives traded baseball cards remember the Bird. 1976 is just around the corner in the memories of many of us. [Full Story]

Nicholas Kristof’s column for the New York Times features UM professor Richard Nisbett and his new book, ”Intelligence and How to Get It,” which Kristof describes as offering “terrific advice for addressing poverty and inequality in America.” Says Nisbett: ”Some of the things that work are very cheap. Convincing junior-high kids that intelligence is under their control – you could argue that that should be in the junior-high curriculum right now.” [Source]

A Detroit News article reports on a project by Washtenaw Community College’s Custom Cars & Concepts class: “The Eleanor tribute project will produce a 1967 Ford Mustang GT500 fastback, patterned on the famed Eleanor car that played a starring role in both the original and the remake of the classic car movie ‘Gone in 60 Seconds.’ Only the Bullitt Mustang rivals Eleanor among Mustang movie machines.” [Source]

The Freep reports that Ann Arbor is becoming a hub for entrepreneurs: “Of the 540 companies in Michigan’s biosciences industry, 142 are in the Ann Arbor area, the highest concentration in the state. The city is home to 10 of Michigan’s 17 venture capital firms. And when the state’s economic development agency awarded $30 million in loans to 17 technology companies last fall, 11 of them hailed from Ann Arbor.” [Source]

City administrator Roger Fraser and a CTN cameraman before the town hall meeting began.

In CTN studios on Tuesday night, the rain was  falling audibly on the roof as the city administrator for Ann Arbor, Roger Fraser,  used a town hall meeting format to present to the public his recommended budget for fiscal year 2010.

It included a plan for 2011, as well as the overall economic context for the budget. The presentation was essentially the same one he’d given to city council the previous evening, with the key difference being that he fielded questions from the public, instead of city councilmembers – several of whom were also on hand.

Fraser, accompanied also by Mayor John Hieftje,  responded to a flood of questions ranging from the strictly clarificational (Why is there a significant increase in the city clerk’s budget from 2010 to 2011?), to requests for Fraser to talk about what the city was doing to curb costs in specific areas (Have you considered changing the city’s health care provider?), to criticism of particular cuts (This town can’t support a senior center?). [Full Story]

The Christian Science Monitor reports on President Obama’s tax plan, and quotes UM economist Joel Slemrod: “[Obama's] proposal is to move back to top rates [that] the country had not that long ago, and it’s hard to find evidence that they had a noticeable deleterious effect on the economy. Having those tax rates then and knowing the economy did well doesn’t prove what the role of tax rates was. It could be true that performance would have been even better without them.” [Source]

A recent Tweet by the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW), commenting on Wednesday's Cultural Alliance meeting.

The newly renovated and expanded University of Michigan Museum of Art is a social place: Tuesday night, several hundred people attended a kick-off fête for the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, while Wednesday brought members of the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan together for their annual meeting. The focus of Wednesday’s day-long event was also social, as in social networking – specifically, how nonprofits can use social media like blogs, Twitter and Facebook to fundraise, market and strengthen their organization.

Being social animals ourselves, The Chronicle dropped by both events, but was able to spend a bit more time at the Cultural Alliance forum, which was well represented by Ann Arbor groups, including the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, University Musical Society and Arts Alliance, among others. [Full Story]

A post on Ann Arbor Biz News describes the Tea Party rally today on the Diag, part of a national protest of out-of-control government spending and bailouts. ”Ann Arbor being what it is, I didn’t expect to see all that many protesters in attendance. I was wrong. At its peak, I estimate about 150 people came to the Diag to express their concern about government spending. The crowd was pretty diverse. It included seniors, the middle aged, little kids, whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. There were lots of moms with kids. Actually, I was surprised by the number of moms in attendance. Obviously, this is an issue of great to concern to many mothers.” [Source]

In an article on urban farming, Detroit Metro Times features Peter Thomason and his homestead in Ypsilanti, which includes chickens, rabbits and goats. Says Thomason: ”Things don’t have to be bigger to be better. With cooperation and a collective approach, people everywhere can do this.” [Source]

At Saturday’s budget retreat for Washtenaw County commissioners, a discussion on public safety issues included mention of  the lawsuit that three townships filed against the county in 2006, disputing the cost of sheriff deputy patrols. That prompted us to ask for an update: Just what’s the status of that legal wrangling?

The last time we checked in, the state Court of Appeals had just handed the county a victory, and it appeared that the years-long courtroom battle might be ending. Not so. The three townships – Augusta, Salem and Ypsilanti – have appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, and just last week the county filed its response, according to Curtis Hedger, the county’s corporate counsel. Now, the groups will have to wait until the court decides whether or not to hear the appeal. Hedger said the process could take several more months. [Full Story]

The Great Lakes IT Report has an article about a study by Ann Arbor-based Michigan Future Inc. and UM economist Don Grimes. The study found that job growth is concentrated in the “knowledge” economy, and that higher education is crucial. Says Grimes: “What most distinguishes successful areas from Michigan is their concentrations of talent, where talent is defined as a combination of knowledge, creativity and entrepreneurship. Quite simply, in a flattening world, the places with the greatest concentrations of talent win. Michigan has lagged in its support of the assets necessary to develop a knowledge economy at the needed scale. Building that economy is going to take a long time and require fundamental change. But we believe it is the … [Full Story]

Yes, we know it’s not quite Wednesday yet, but here at The Chronicle it’s already Wiki Wednesday, an occasional series in which we remind readers of the online encyclopedia, ArborWiki, to which they can contribute their knowledge of the community. On Wiki Wednesdays we try to offer a clear path for contribution to ArborWiki.

Most links contained in this article lead to ArborWiki entries that can be edited or created from scratch.

This week we focus on How-To articles. ArborWiki isn’t really intended for general interest How-To articles – how to plant a garden, how to arrange an attractive flower bouquet, how to organize an effective political campaign. But each of those general interest categories could be Ann-Arbor-ized. For example, a garden in a particular place – like a lawn extension (the space between the sidewalk and the street) might require special permissions in Ann Arbor or need to comply with certain rules. Or one could imagine a flower bouquet made of wildflowers collected from locations in Ann Arbor where specific types are known to thrive.

Or one could imagine a nice nuts-and-bolts rundown of the mechanics of an Ann Arbor city council campaign. [Full Story]

Freep columnist Tom Walsh interviews Bob Kennedy, head of UM’s William Davidson Institute, which focuses on international initiatives. Walsh reports that Kennedy’s new book, “The Services Shift: Seizing the Ultimate Offshore Opportunity,” looks at the offshoring of information technology and other services to India and elsewhere. Says Kennedy: ”It’s an emotional topic, and the economic meltdown only heightens that aspect. People tend to think of it from two extremes – it’s the end of the world, or it’s the greatest thing ever.” [Source]

At Monday night’s city council working session, city administrator Roger Fraser introduced a recommended budget for fiscal year 2010 (beginning July 2009)  of about $85 million, down from the almost $91 million budget in FY 2009. Declining revenues from property taxes, together with increasing contributions to the pension fund means that for FY 2010, the equivalent of 34 full-time positions at the city  would be eliminated, followed by 22 full-time positions in FY 2011. If implemented, the cuts would reduce the city workforce from 800 to 746 by 2011 – a number that has declined from a peak of 1,005 city workers in 2001.

A range of other recommendations include closing Mack pool for the summer, eliminating funding for the civic band and Project Grow, and increasing the water utility’s safety services fee by 4%.

The timeline for the budget’s adoption will include an April 14 town hall meeting at 7 p.m. at the CTN studios on South Industrial. That will be followed by public hearings on May 4, with council adopting a budget with any amendments on May 18. If council fails to act on the budget or to amend it by its second meeting in May, then per the city charter, the budget as submitted by the city administrator is automatically adopted.

The park advisory commission will hold a public hearing next Tuesday, April 21, on the recommendations related to parks, before voting on its recommendation. [Full Story]

Bloomberg.com reports that the Obama administration is considering taking an equity stake in GM. The article quotes Gerald Meyers, a UM business professor and former chairman of American Motors Corp.: “The problem is it’s political. On the other hand, it’s a cheap way for the good GM to keep going and probably solidify its strengths.” [Source]

An article in USA Today about modern Boston Tea Parties as a means to protest federal spending quotes Reuven Avi-Yonah, a tax historian at UM: ”I don’t know how much this represents popular sentiment. I’m not sure that the majority of the middle class agrees or that this is going to be politically effective.” [Source]

In his blog The Westerman Way, Scott Westerman III writes about the role of his father, Scott Westerman Jr., in Ann Arbor education during the transformative era of the late 1960s and early ’70s, when he served as superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools. ”Blessed with good health and a still sharp intellect, he’s still an active Ann Arborite, fully engaged in the present and thinking often about the future. But we’ve encouraged him to document his memories of that incredible time when we were all first hand witnesses to a tectonic cultural shift. A shift from grey flannel suits to tie-die t-shirts. From crew cuts to Beatle cuts. From exclusion to inclusion. All the while trying to educate children as … [Full Story]

Erik Kauppi rolls the red electric motorcycle around for a better view.

“We need more data, let’s go launch something!” George Albercook of Rocks and Robots was talking about a reconfigured trebuchet beam. He and his colleague Katie Tilton had reinforced a PVC pipe with Kevlar thread, after a failed first attempt at the A2 Mech Shop open house Saturday afternoon.

But Albercook’s enthusiasm for the empirical applies equally well to any number of the enterprises grouped under the umbrella of A2 Mech Shop, LLC, which is housed in around 3,500 square feet of space on Parkland Plaza, just south of Jackson Road. They’ve had the keys since November 2008, and set up in January.

One example of an A2 Mech Shop enterprise is REVolution Electric Vehicles, a subsidiary of Electric Vehicle Manufacturing, which expects to begin producing electric maxi-scooters as soon as July 2009 at a not-yet-finalized Scio Township location. That location will also serve as a retail storefront, explained EVM’s chief engineer, Erik Kauppi, while the A2 Mech Shop space will continue to serve as a research and development facility.

The A2 Mech Shop can be loosely described as a co-working space with shop tools. It encompasses more than just research and development on electric scooters, but that’s where we’ll start. [Full Story]

Saline schools superintendent Scot Graden, standing, served as facilitator during Saturday's retreat at Rolling Hills County Park. County commissioners, from left: Jeff Irwin, Ken Schwartz, Wes Prater.

No decisions about budget cuts were made at Saturday’s retreat of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners – since organizing it a few weeks ago, they’ve said all along that wasn’t the purpose. Rather, the group of 11 commissioners spent three hours talking through their priorities for the county, a discussion that some commissioners hope will lay a foundation for where to cut expenses as the county deals with a projected $26 million deficit in 2010-11.

The half-day retreat at Rolling Hills County Park was also attended by other elected officials – including sheriff Jerry Clayton, water resources commissioner Janis Bobrin and county prosecutor Brian Mackie – as well as leaders of a few of the 17 unions representing county employees, some county staff and the media. Though some of these people commented during the meeting, for the most part the event was focused on commissioners sharing their thoughts about refining county priorities. The discussion was led by Scot Graden, superintendent of Saline Area Schools and a lifelong Washtenaw County resident.

One piece of news did emerge: county administrator Bob Guenzel, in response to a query from commissioner Wes Prater, said the 2009 equalization report had just been completed and showed that the county’s taxable value was down less than expected. They’d projected a drop of 3%, but the decline in taxable value came in at 2.29%. Though they’d make some adjustments, Guenzel said, “2009 is not our problem.”

Board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. kicked off the retreat with, “Let’s get it on so I can go home and wash windows.” [Full Story]

Writing on the U.S. Chess Federation website, Jonathan Hilton describes some recent matches, including one with an Ann Arbor connection: “My opponent was seventh-grader Atulya Shetty from Ann Arbor, Michigan – a bright student of the game whose rating has skyrocketed from ‘Class C’ to Expert level in just a few years. The game began with me taking the Black side of an Exchange Lopez, an opening which sometimes gives me fits when I’m trying to play for the win. As I watched the queens being swapped before my very eyes, I wondered why I still haven’t taken up the Sicilian Defense after all these years.” [Source]

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang (photo courtesy of Mark Bialek)

“I’m not your ‘Mom!’” my girlfriend finally exploded at her kids.

The teenagers looked puzzled, “Then, whose mom are you?”

I know what she means, though. She does not want her children to call her the English word, “Mom,” but to call her by the Chinese term, “Ma Ma.” The dictionary may give the same meaning for both terms, but “Mom” does not have the same feel, the same nuance, as “Ma Ma.” My children are not allowed to call me “Mom,” either.

The question of how to address people often comes up in our family. I teach my children to always address adults as “Mr.” or “Mrs.,” “Auntie” or “Uncle” – never by their first names. In our local Asian American communities and in Hawaii, it is common to address one’s elders as “Auntie” or “Uncle,” even “Grandma” or “Grandpa.” It creates instant familiarity, instant respect, an instant family-style relationship where adults look out for children and children look up to adults. [Full Story]