Archive for May, 2009

In an interview published on Dark Horizons, Ewan McGregor talks about an upcoming movie, “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” and the role he plays:  “Well, I play a journalist … whose wife, who’s also a journalist in this small newspaper in Ann Arbor – The Ann Arbor Daily Telegram – cheats on him with her one-armed editor, Dave. And I see her flirting with him. But then she comes clean, and she’s going to leave me for this one-armed man, Dave.” [Source]

Susan Martin, president of Eastern Michigan University.

It turns out that at least two high-profile women in this area  got their educational start in a one-room schoolhouse – both were at Tuesday’s Washtenaw Community College Foundation Women’s Council Lunch. One we’ve written about before, and one – Susan Martin, president of Eastern Michigan University – gave the luncheon’s keynote speech.

As we summarize below, that speech ranged from slaughtering chickens to kicking down doors.

But before that, three women – Lisa Hesse, Ann Mattson and Ellie Serras – were honored for their leadership roles in the community. Hesse is founder of the nonprofit Girls on the Run of Southeastern Michigan, which works with preteen girls to develop healthy lifestyles through running. Mattson recently retired as 15th District Court Judge, a position she held for 15 years. Serras serves on several nonprofit boards, and was the longtime executive director of the Main Street Area Association. [Full Story]

Monahan’s Seafood Market in Kerrytown is holding a haiku contest, or “Monahaiku.” Winners will be selected once a month from submissions via Twitter (#monahaiku) or Facebook. If you haven’t yet surrendered to technology, you can put your entry in a large fishbowl on the shop’s counter. Sample entry: “Lunch at Monahan’s./A little table for two./Salmon served just right.” [Source]

The Freep reports on a trial taking place in federal court in Ann Arbor against former Kmart CEO Charles Conaway. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission alleges that Conaway and former CFO John McDonald violated securities regulations by misleading investors. McDonald settled the lawsuit last month. SEC attorney Alan Lieberman told the jury that the case is about ”deception, misrepresentation, half-truths and omissions made to the public.” [Source]

The Freep reports that Kolan McConiughey, a Special Olympics bowler from Ann Arbor who got national media attention in the wake of a gaffe by President Obama, hasn’t been able to bowl against the president yet (though a local PR firm is working on that), but he was invited to a Tigers game recently where he got to hang out with players. [Source]

The Ann Arbor chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation is meeting on May 20 to view the first part of “The Oiling of America,” which focuses on the vegetable oil industry. The event runs from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Center for Natural Healing, 2433 Oak Valley Drive, Suite 100B, Ann Arbor. [Source]

The Boston Globe reports that a team of UM MBA students has won the MIT Clean Energy Prize, a national student competition “to accelerate the pace of clean energy entrepreneurship.” According to the report, “the students plan to launch a company called Husk Insulation that will convert plant-based agricultural waste into thin, high-grade insulation that is far more efficient than conventional petroleum-based insulation.” [Source]

At its work session Tuesday night, the city of Ann Arbor’s planning commission got a preview of a new floodplain zoning ordinance that Jerry Hancock has been working on with other staff. Hancock is the stormwater and floodplain programs coordinator for the city.

For over an hour, planning commissioners discussed the floodplain ordinance with Hancock before tackling the issue that could result in a near-term flood of communication between city council and planning commission: revisions to the downtown plan. At planning commission’s next meeting on May 19, 2009, commissioners will likely focus on possible revisions to that planning document.

At that May 19 meeting, planning commission will weigh the downtown plan it adopted on Feb. 19, 2009 against the changes that city council made to the commission’s recommended zoning package at council’s April 6, 2009 meeting. And based on the discussion at the commission’s Tuesday work session, it’s not a forgone conclusion that planning commission will revise the downtown plan to accommodate the council’s ordinance changes.

So what’s  the big deal, if the downtown plan doesn’t match up with the zoning ordinances? And why doesn’t the city council just amend the downtown plan the same way it amended the proposed zoning ordinances and just “overrule” the planning commission?  Otherwise put, why is that planning commission meeting on May 19 going to be worth watching on CTN’s Channel 16 starting at 7 p.m.? [Full Story]

On Michigan Liberal.com, Washtenaw County clerk Larry Kestenbaum posts an exchange he had with Lisa McGraw, PR manager of the Michigan Press Association. McGraw had issued a memo stating that newspapers were “alive and well” – the MPA is lobbying to hold onto lucrative legal notices in its members’ newspapers, as currently required by law. Kestenbaum responds to her, noting that even a market as strong as Ann Arbor can’t keep its daily paper. “And even those communities which still have papers have seen the local reporters and writers disappear from the scene. When your papers don’t contain any local news, don’t expect us to be happy about shelling out taxpayer dollars to publish costly legal notices in them.” [... [Full Story]

A post on the Eat Close to Home blog describes the Preserving Traditions event at the Pittsfield Grange on Sunday, where seven people gathered to learn to make yogurt and granola. “We made half a gallon of plain yogurt and three batches of granola: pineapple/ coconut, sesame/currant, and ‘the kitchen sink’ with wonderful crispy walnuts, sesame seeds, and several kinds of dried fruit. Even after our yogurt parfait buffet, there was plenty for each person to take home.” Recipes follow. [Source]

The Associated Press reports on how universities, including UM, work with film and TV productions. The article quotes Lee Doyle, head of UM’s film office, who described her reaction to seeing Michigan play a role in the plot of ABC’s “Lost”: “I was sitting in the living room with my husband and said ‘Oh my goodness!’ I won’t quote exactly what I said. (It was) more colorful than that.” [Source]

At Monday night’s city council work session, councilmembers heard news from their Lansing lobbying team that had a $260,000 negative impact on the Ann Arbor city budget for FY 2010, which they are expected to adopt next Monday, May 18. The quarter-million dollar shortfall against the city’s own budget planning estimates for state shared revenue led to discussion of the possibility of accelerating an already-planned reduction in the number of Ann Arbor firefighters. A reduction of 14 positions in the fire department could be implemented in early 2010, instead of sometime during FY 2011, which was originally planned.

At the work session, city administrator Roger Fraser and the city’s chief financial officer, Tom Crawford, indicated that their preferred strategy was not to build any firefighter layoffs into the FY 2010 budget – they wanted to see if they could squeeze the $260,000 out of the budget in the course the first part of the FY 2010, which for the city begins July 2009. There’s uncertainty still, said Fraser, about how many police officers will take advantage of the early retirement offer – a move the city is making to avoid laying off 27 officers for FY 2010. Officers have until mid-June to make a decision. That uncertainty factors into decisions on the FY 2010 budget that council will make on  May 18.

Councilmembers took turns calling city staff to the podium to clarify questions on other topics of interest. That included parking meters – their possible installation in residential areas, as well as the feasibility of maintaining current levels of ticket revenues without as many community standards enforcement officers dedicated specifically to ticketing. Other topics included the Local Development Finance Authority (questions about angels), historic district consultant (likely to be cut in FY 2010, instead of waiting until FY 2011), Project Grow (fund balance seen as too high) and the civic band (has not requested funding). The East Stadium bridges question came up, too (no money from state, but possibly from feds).

No formal decisions were made at the work session. [Full Story]

Maria Thompson, general manager of the advanced research and government solutions group for A123Systems in Ann Arbor. She was one of several panelists from the local business community at Monday's UM economic development forum.

More than 250 people from academia, business, government and nonprofits packed the auditorium Monday afternoon at the Partnership for an Innovation Economy forum, hosted by the University of Michigan at its newly renovated art museum.

Throughout the two-hour event, The Chronicle learned, among other things: 1) which former Pfizer executive is a rugby referee, 2) which local power couples have relied on each other for advice, 3) who hosts one of the best holiday parties in Ann Arbor.

Of course, there was also much talk of UM’s role in economic development. [Full Story]

An article in the Los Angeles Times considers possible choices to replace retiring Supreme Court justice David Souter. The piece quotes UM law professor David Uhlmann, commenting on the possible selection of Jennifer Granholm: “She’s a tour de force. She has an admirable intellect, clearly a very sophisticated legal mind, and the personal quality and the empathy the president has spoken about having in a Supreme Court candidate.” [Source]

The Michigan Daily previews this weekend’s Ann Arbor Book Festival, which runs May 15-17. Says Kathy Robenalt, the festival’s executive director: ”Ann Arbor is a culture of ideas where people want to come and hear what others have to say about different issues, and then interact with those people and have Q&A and share their thoughts. It’s a hotbed of literary activity.” [Source]

At the May 4 city council meeting, amongst all the public commentary on Mack pool, the Leslie Science and Nature Center, the Ann Arbor Senior Center, Project Grow, the transportation plan, and the airport runway extension were some remarks about the Community Television Network.

In the context of the current budget discussions and the closing of the Ann Arbor News, Paul Bancel went to the podium and asked city council to think about ways to make CTN relevant. One concrete suggestion he had was to make sure some public bodies who do not currently meet in front of CTN cameras have their meetings recorded: Downtown Development Authority board (they’re working on it), the library board, and the public art commission. The board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority could be added to the list.

But part of making community television relevant entails an understanding by the community of what it offers. If council has a role to play in making CTN relevant, then so does the community. [Full Story]

James Tobin, in an essay published on The Cutting Edge, describes the memoirs of Edmund G. Love, who wrote about his years in Ann Arbor attending UM during the 1930s, and the impact of the Great Depression: “By today’s standards his expenses look paltry – $49 for a semester’s tuition; $30 for books and fees; $80 for room rent; two meals a day at his fraternity for $10 a week; breakfasts at a diner totalling $1 a week – yet there was never enough to be sure of getting through the term. In the fall of 1932 ‘the Ann Arbor that I went back to was like a ghost town.’ Of 28 members of his fraternity’s pledge class, only six … [Full Story]