Archive for September, 2009

The Lansing State Journal reports that Ann Arbor is among the towns where route sales employees of Aunt Millie’s Bakeries have gone on strike in a labor dispute. The employees belong to the Teamsters union and have been working without a contract since March, according to the article. [Source]

Joel Goldberg

Feel like celebrating a special occasion with dinner out and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne?

If you decide to clink your flutes at Gratzi, get ready to pay $105 for the privilege. But walk around the corner to West End Grill and you can raise a toast with the identical bubbly – for just $70.

Maybe you prefer a rich California red, like Duckhorn’s 2006 Napa Valley Merlot. At Mediterrano, a bottle will add $77 to your dinner tab. But you’ll save a sawbuck if you pair it with Pacific Rim’s Asian cuisine, where it’s only $55.

These oddities popped up from a dig into Ann Arbor restaurants – specifically, which ones offer customers the best value for their wine dollar. After riffing through a stack of wine lists, here’s the bottom line: some places in town soak you for 50% higher markups than others. [Full Story]

The Advance Ypsilanti blog writes about the current funding crisis for AATA’s service to Ypsilanti: “The citizens of Ypsilanti were promised that a vote against the proposed income tax [in 2007] would not impact public transportation options and services. Regardless of that issue, many city council members stated that public transportation was not at risk. Now they are stating otherwise. The needs of the city to maintain these important services remain constant whether or not our elected officials keep their promises.” [Source]

The Economist features UM’s Paul Courant in an article about Google’s book digitization project: “Paul Courant, the dean of libraries at the University of Michigan, jokes that he also runs ‘an orphanage’. Among the books on his shelves are such seminal texts as ‘Blunder Out of China’ and ‘The Appalachian Frontier: America’s First Surge Westward’, which are protected by copyrights belonging to people who cannot be found. Known as ‘orphan’ books, such titles are one element of a controversial plan by Google, the world’s biggest internet company, to create a vast online library.” [Source]

John U. Bacon

Last Sunday, the Detroit Free Press ran a front-page story on the Michigan football team that created a national stir. The newspaper said Michigan football players exceed the NCAA rules on the amount of time student-athletes can work at their sport. It prompted Michigan to launch an internal investigation, but it leaves some important questions unanswered.

But before I try to answer those questions, I want to tell you in the interest of full disclosure that I teach at the University of Michigan, and I write books about their teams. I’m not involved in this story, but I’m close to the people who are.

The story quotes 10 players, most of them former, and most of them anonymous. They all agree that Michigan football players put in a lot of time and effort. Some boast about it, others complain. But the important thing to understand is what constitutes an NCAA violation, and what doesn’t. [Full Story]

The new wayfinding signs have poles that are perfect for locking bikes. In all fairness to this cyclist, he's unlocking his bike – the bike hoop just to the right was fully subscribed at the time he locked up. (Photo by the writer.)

Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (Sept. 2, 2009): In the last year, Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority has moved three major projects from planning and approval phases towards actual start of construction.

For starters, visitors to downtown Ann Arbor will likely have noticed some of the new wayfinding signs that have already been installed over the last couple of weeks.  They’ll also have encountered the lane closures along Division Street, that has Eastlund Concrete pouring bumpouts as part of the Fifth and Division streetscape improvement project. And in mid-October, The Christman Company expects to start digging the massive hole at the Library Lot for the Fifth Avenue underground parking garage.

The DDA board meeting on Wednesday reflected this shift from planning to execution and monitoring: It was heavy on updates on how projects were faring in the field.

But in addition to the project updates, there was still room for planning ahead. For example, the board received a preliminary briefing on the impact of a possible city income tax on the DDA’s revenue – a $700,000 hit. The board also put a bit of time into discussion of its role in transportation. Plus, the board completed some unfinished business from its annual meeting in July by selecting a treasurer (Russ Collins) and confirming its selection of a chair (John Splitt). [Full Story]

The Washtenaw Wanderers Volkssporting Club’s blog announces its next outing: Colorwalk 2009, on Oct. 25. The walking excursion begins at Sasha Farm in Manchester. [Source]

The Detroit Free Press reviews Grange Kitchen & Bar, a new restaurant on West Liberty focused on locally sourced food. One of its more unusual offerings is poutine: “The weird combo – french fries and cheese curds drizzled with a broth-based brown gravy – is seldom seen here. But poutine fans will be excited to learn Grange Kitchen in Ann Arbor … is serving a version in its upstairs bar. Its dish is made with cheese curds, duck confit and duck gravy for $11. It’s the favorite after-work order for about half the waitstaff now, says chef Brandon Johns.” [Source]

USA Today columnist Christine Brennan comes to Ann Arbor for an interview with the beleaguered Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez: “To say Rodriguez wears his heart on his sleeve is a bit like saying Bo Schembechler didn’t like the forward pass. He is a blunt, engaging, storytelling kind of guy, which probably doesn’t sit all that well with some of Michigan’s Chardonnay alumni, who prefer their coaches to be the strong, silent type — or Bo reincarnated.” [Source]

Dave Barkman, the newest member of the Ann Arbor Public Market Advisory Commission, sitting on the back of his truck at Wednesday's farmers market. Barkman is the owner of TJ Farms in Chelsea. (Photo by the writer.)

Ann Arbor Public Market Advisory Commission (Sept. 1, 2009): Tuesday marked the start of Local Food Month in Ann Arbor. Tuesday also was the start of a three-year term for the newest member of the city’s Public Market Advisory Commission, who’s also a vendor at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market: Dave Barkman, of TJ Farms in Chelsea.

By way of introduction, Barkman noted that he’s been selling at the farmers market for 28 years. He said he knows a lot of stories, though he didn’t tell any at Tuesday’s meeting. Others did have stories to tell, however – about weddings at the market, medicinal sweet buns, “enthusiastic support” for the Sept. 12 Homegrown Festival and more. [Full Story]

On her University Diaries blog, Margaret Soltan dissects a column by Yahoo sports writer Dan Wetzel, who opines about the recent woes of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez. Soltan writes that Wetzel “demonstrates again and again in this column how hard it is to write sympathetically about university sports without sounding like an idiot.” [Source]

An apple tree near the park-and-ride lot at I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road. (Photo by the writer.)

Every school child learns that Newton “discovered” gravity when an apple fell out of a tree and bonked him on the head.

Near the park-and-ride lot at I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road stands an apple tree. Most, but not all, of the tree’s fruit this season has already succumbed to Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation.

About 50 yards northwest of that apple tree is the new – and likely very temporary – location of “Camp Take Notice” – a tent camp where maybe a dozen homeless people spent the first night in September. Standing under the apple tree Tuesday afternoon, The Chronicle spoke by phone to Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County.

Schulmeister characterized the “bottom line” for the homeless: “It’s simple physics,” she said. “People have to be some place, and if people don’t have a place to be, they will find a place to be.”

If it’s a matter of physics, then it’s perhaps perfectly natural that the guy who drove the U-Haul truck to move the camp from its previous location – behind Toys R Us at Arborland – is a University of Michigan doctoral student in physics, Brian Nord.

This is a story that does not yet have an end, nor will it likely ever have one. But we can write down the part we know so far, which began with a Chronicle visit to the camp behind Arborland earlier this summer, and goes through a visit from a Michigan State Trooper to the new camp location early Tuesday evening. [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor Chronicle pocket watch in a totally staged attempt at an arty photograph just for this column.

About a year ago, Dave Askins gave me a pocket watch. It’s a lovely device: simple in design, functional, evocative of a different era. The pocket watch holds all sorts of meaning for me, and it wasn’t a random gift – you might have noticed that here at The Ann Arbor Chronicle, we have an affection for watches and clocks.

Exactly a year ago today, Dave and I launched The Chronicle – with a watch in its masthead – intending to provide in-depth coverage of issues we felt were important or intriguing to the community. We believe that a critical part of the media’s watchdog role can be played by sticking to a simple premise: Just show up and watch. Observe, listen, notice, revel in seemingly unimportant detail – that’s how you discover what decisions are being made, and why. That’s how you learn about relationships, and how you notice the small things that sometimes turn out to be really important. [Full Story]

Maitelates dulce de leche cookies, made locally by Maite Zubia, are featured in a People magazine column about celebrity food finds. “Harper’s Island” actor Chris Gorman was in Ann Arbor and discovered these treats, which Zubia sells at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market and Everyday Wines in Kerrytown. Writes Gorman: “It’s one of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten.” [Source] [Link to January 2009 Chronicle article on Maitelates]

A posting on Craigslist is looking for people to promote Clancy’s Fancy hot sauce to tailgaters at UM home football games. Though the ad doesn’t specify gender, its qualifications would presumably exclude most men: “EPS is looking for attractive, exciting staff for an series of football events. You will be sampling a hot sauce product to tail gaters prior to University of Michigan football games. You must be comfortable in a dress and be willing to show up on site with make up and hair done.” [Source]