The blog Yupp-ish gives a not-so-favorable review of the Ann Arbor Palm Palace, formerly La Shish: “The bread was hard, crispy, and well, terrible. There were four pieces of bread. Four pieces! … These aren’t huge twelve inch pieces of pita goodness. These are five inch pieces of used-to-be-earth-shattering pita goodness. I wasn’t pleased.” [Source]
The sign on the new pedestrian island stating local law requires yielding to pedestrians, has been run over.
The only trapezoidal (as opposed to rectangular) shape of the underground parking garage construction signs makes them look bowed when viewed from an angle. (To my eye, anyway, which I confirmed with a random passerby). [photo]
Film crew spotted at Fleetwood Diner.
Out of the blue today, I got an automated call at my Ann Arbor home regarding ballot proposals A and B. The call came with “unknown caller” CallerID, and there was no introduction. The female-voiced call just started in saying that the city council might be trying to put “a chemical factory in our neighborhoods” without telling us about it. There was some explanation about ballot proposals would move official notices from local newspapers on to the City’s web site.
The recording insisted that residents should “vote no on proposals A and B,” with a tag line “sacrificing our right to know is just too high a cost.” There was no explanation of who created or paid for the calls.
[Chronicle coverage with partial explanation of the issue, if not the calls: "A Charter Change on Publishing?"]
In its “Off the Beaten Path” series, the Michigan Daily publishes a video interview with Ketta Meads, supervisor for UM’s laundry services, who notes that the university – including its health system – produces between 25,000 to 30,000 pounds of linen a day. Says Meads: “The importance of linen is only noticed when it’s not available.” [Source]
A small-scale model of the water sculpture by German artist Herman Dreiseitl, proposed for the new municipal center, is displayed on a table outside of council chambers on the second floor of city hall. (Photo by the writer.)
Ann Arbor Public Art Commission (Oct. 13, 2009): In a move that came as a surprise to some commissioners, the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission was asked at its Tuesday meeting to schedule a special session this Friday to vote on the Herbert Dreiseitl art project. The project is a three-piece installation planned for the new municipal center, which includes a large waterscape sculpture in the building’s outdoor plaza.
However, the city still doesn’t have a final budget or final designs from the German artist – those will likely be provided by Thursday afternoon, according to Katherine Talcott, the city’s public art administrator. It’s also possible that the Friday meeting will be postponed, if information isn’t provided in time. The meeting, which is open to the public, is tentatively set for noon at the City Center’s 7th floor conference room, 220 E. Huron St. [Editor's note: At around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, the city clerk's office contacted The Chronicle with the news that the Friday meeting would be rescheduled. UPDATE, Oct. 16, 2 p.m.: A special meeting of the municipal center task force has been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 19 from 1-2:30 p.m. at the City Center's 7th floor conference room, 220 E. Huron St. Also on Monday, a special meeting of the Public Art Commission is set for 5:30 p.m. at the same location.] [Full Story]
The Michigan Daily reports on how shoppers can still buy locally produced food, even in the dead of winter. The article includes interviews with Brandon Johns, owner and chef of Grange Kitchen and Bar, Richard Andres, co-owner of Tantré Farm, and Molly Notorianni, manager of the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. Says Johns: “I just always wanted to cook with the season. As the season changes, your body changes what it needs.” [Source]
The Washington Post publishes a column by Nicholas Delbanco, a UM professor of English and director of the Hopwood Awards Program. In it, he reminisces about Hans and Margret Rey, authors and illustrators of the Curious George series, and uses a description of Hans Rey’s bad ventriloquism to segue into a discussion of voice in writing. [Source]
Cooks at Kosmo wearing plastic mouth guards on their faces as a precaution against flu. Not required by health deptartment.
On her blog Ann Arbor Theater Vixen, local theater critic Jenn McKee writes about struggling with the review of a show directed by Jim Posante, who died just a few days before the play opened in early 2008: “But when the realization that I didn’t care for the show slowly crept over me while watching on opening night, I found myself facing a lose-lose situation: I could either sugar-coat my review out of respect for a wonderful man and his lifetime of work, and then feel lousy about being gutless and dishonest; or I would be respectfully candid about my feelings and face some serious backlash from people already, and justifiably, feeling hurt and angry and shocked by Jim’s death.” … [Full Story]
Forbes magazine has named UM business professor C.K. Prahalad as its “most influential management thinker in the world,” topping the Thinkers 50 ranking of business gurus. Des Dearlove, co-creator of the ranking, calls Prahalad’s influence on the business world “immense,” noting that he coined the term “core competencies.” [Source]
Editor’s Note: After the break begins the next installment of the Washtenaw Jail Diary, written by a former inmate in Washtenaw County’s jail facility on Hogback Road. The piece originated as a Twitter feed in early 2009, which the author subsequently abandoned and deleted. See previous Chronicle coverage “Twittering Time at the Washtenaw County Jail.“
In now working with the author to publish the Washtenaw Jail Diary, The Ann Arbor Chronicle acknowledges that this is only one side of a multi-faceted tale.
We also would like to acknowledge that the author’s incarceration predates the administration of the current sheriff, Jerry Clayton.
This narrative, which we expect will run over a series of several installments, provides an insight into a tax-funded facility that most readers of The Chronicle will not experience first-hand in the same way as the author.
The language and topics introduced below reflect the environment of a jail. We have not sanitized it for Chronicle readers. It is not gratuitously graphic, but it is graphic just the same. It contains language and descriptions that some readers will find offensive. [Full Story]
On the northeast corner, the old gas station site is fenced off and environmental clean-up crews are on site. I wonder if they’ll take down the building, and what might go there next.
Redhead/blonde graffiti in alley between Liberty and Washington, east of Ashley. [Photo]
Huron Valley Ambulance medic prepping a flu vaccination shot for administration as part of Saturday's immunization clinic. (Photo by the writer.)
Last Saturday morning, The Chronicle rolled south down State Street just past I-94, turned right at the Citgo gas station and headed for Huron Valley Ambulance headquarters on State Circle. At 9 a.m. HVA medics and staff had started delivering seasonal flu shots “pit crew style” to motorists who waited in their vehicles at one of four stations in two open garage bays.
The early rush already put two dozen cars ahead of us.
Around 15 minutes later, The Chronicle was immunized against the regular, seasonal flu – but not the H1N1 variant known as “swine flu.”
The drive-through clinic was scheduled to go through 3 p.m., but around 1 p.m. Joyce Williams, HVA’s public affairs manager, began explaining to motorists that the 400 doses they’d started with were gone.
Williams started giving directions to other locations where flu shots were available: Concentra (3131 S. State St. in Ann Arbor – 734.213.6285) as well as a series of clinics through St. Joseph Mercy that are staffed by Michigan Visiting Nurses Association nurses. [Link to .PDF]
For a list of additional seasonal flu shot clinics, the American Lung Association has created a flu shot clinic locator. [Results of ALA locator for 48103 zipcode]
After the jump, more on the HVA clinic, as well as the local arrival of the vaccine against the current H1N1 variant of the flu, which was announced today. [Link to .PDF] [Full Story]
The Detroit Free Press reports on details of a tentative agreement announced today between Ford Motor Co. and the UAW. According to the article, part of the deal includes bringing the production of interior consoles in-house for the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT large crossovers, making them at Ford’s plant in Saline. [Source]
The October edition of the Ann Arbor Farmers Market newsletter states that on Wednesdays and Saturdays this month, a “mobile apple museum” will be at the market: “This museum is a space for storytelling and exploring Ann Arbor’s heritage in relation to its agricultural past as told through its apple trees…Apple-centric presentations, ranging from making applesauce to apple pie, will accompany the museum space each week.” [Source/.PDF file]
The proposed business improvement zone would include Ann Arbor's Main Street from William Street in the south to Huron Street in the north.
Ann Arbor City Council work session (Oct. 12, 2009): It’s a world where you can throw your newspapers, glass bottles and plastic tubs into one single recyclables cart and set it out for morning collection.
It’s a world where you can then board a bus that drops you off at the train station for your morning commute to Detroit.
It’s a world where during the work day you watch a foot of snow fall, but on your return home to Ann Arbor, you see that the snow hasn’t just been plowed on Main Street – it’s been completely removed – along with those handbills you’d noticed plastered on the lightpost.
It’s a world where later at home, you roll your empty recycling cart back to its place. Then you log on to the internet and see you’ve earned $250 worth of points tallied by the weight of the recyclables that the truck has been recording and crediting for the last year.
At its Monday night work session, Ann Arbor’s city council heard presentations on all the discrete elements of that world, which Ann Arbor could start to resemble in a couple of years. [Full Story]
The Detroit News reports on research efforts in Michigan to develop alternative fuel technologies. The article quotes Bruce Belzowski, assistant research scientist at UM’s Transportation Research Institute: “Right now, the attempt to find the best battery pack for vehicles is the equivalent in the automotive industry of the moon shot in the ’60s or ’70s.” [Source]
10 a.m. People gathering in front of the Delonis shelter, making signs to protest last month’s arrest of Caleb Poirier at the homeless tent community “Camp Take Notice.” They planned to march to the county courthouse, where Poirier will have a pre-trial hearing this afternoon. [Photo] [Photo]
Street bike rack near Arbor Brewing Company roped off with a sign saying “No bike parking after 10/14/09,” even though today is 10/13. [photo].
Noon. Ann Arbor Railroad track parallel to Ashley, near Catherine Street. Heard the distinctive whistle of a steam locomotive, saw motion between the trees and great white clouds of steam puffing along the track. Is Ann Arbor Railroad running again?
The Michigan Daily reports that actor/director Jeff Daniels will be the speaker at UM’s winter commencement, and will receive an honorary degree. [Source]
4:15p.m. Working in a crane bucket downtown. Banner: “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Gallup Park, Saturday, Oct. 17, 8:00 a.m.” [photo]
No Columbus Day holiday for construction workers on the South Division streetscape project – lots of digging today.
The distinctive red barn at Frederick Farm on Wagner Road. (Photo by the writer.)
Not many people attended the September meeting of the Ann Arbor Greenbelt Advisory Commission, so it was easy to figure out who was there, and why. Scott Rosencrans, for example, came to introduce himself to the commission – he’s the new chair of the city’s Park Advisory Commission. He said he hoped the two groups could find ways to work together, given their common interests.
Others attending had a more specific goal in mind: To see whether GAC would approve the purchase of development rights to the Frederick Farm.
The commission did approve the PDR, sending it on to Ann Arbor’s city council for a vote to authorize the deal – it might be on the council’s agenda as early as November. If approved, it would be the first time the city’s greenbelt program has undertaken an agricultural project without federal funding, and the first time they’ve made a purchase in Lodi Township. If the Legacy Land Conservancy joins in on the deal as expected, it also would mark that nonprofit’s first participation in the city’s greenbelt initiative. [Full Story]
The Main Street Business Improvement Zone Initiative has extended its online survey until Oct. 31. The group is gathering information about how shoppers, property owners, businesses and others feel about the downtown Main Street area. [Source]
The Detroit Free Press reports that UM is banning bags from all remaining home football games this season, with exceptions for medical equipment and medicine with written permission from a medical professional. [Source]
