The impact to so many young athletes as well as paddlers such as myself, who deeply enjoy Argo Pond leads me to find a better candidate.

Sincerely,

Boatman

Bean presents a pleasant contrast to the strident and confrontational tone set by other political activists in Ann Arbor, such as Patricia Lesko and Dr. Aimee Smith.

Bean, a former activist in the Huron Valley Greens, has retained Pete Schermerhorn as his campaign treasurer. Pete is a member of the People’s Food Coop board of directors and a former City Council candidate on the Green Party ticket. Pete is also a current member of the Michigan Green Party, and is also a current albeit inactive member of the Huron Valley Greens.

The heart and soul of Ann Arbor is the Green Party. Dr. Smith received over 2,000 votes in her quest for a congressional seat in 2008. The Greens goal of promoting environmentalism and grass roots citizen involvement and empowerment at the local levels of government is something that most Ann Arborites can agree upon as well as its commitment to social justice.

The Ann Arbor Democratic Party in recent years has been reduced to being contolled by Chicago-style bosses who act as business agents for developers and other pro-business benefactors who donate thousands to their candidates to protect their vested interests. Pro-business appointments are made to city boards and commissions and these politcal hacks act as rubber stamps for the agenda of thier benefactors. This bathos has disgusted most AADP members including several City Council members.

Steve Bean will have the support of many Ann Arborites this fall, but does he have any chance of defeating the powerful and well-connected Hieftje? I have my doubts.

My recommendation to Steve is to run against Hohnke in the Fifth Ward as a Democrat; he would likely win as Fifth Warders want Hohnke out in the worst way.

The underground parking garage has had a long history of working through the DDA, but council only approved it in early 2009. I was no longer a candidate for office but wrote and lobbied against that too. Both the history and my arguments are here: [link].

@7: Yes, you will. Thanks for understanding that there’s plenty of time for us to get to know each other better. I’m planning on offering some opportunities to discuss issues throughout the summer, and, as many of you know, I’m not shy about online discussion.

@1: First, to state the obvious, I’m a candidate for mayor because I’d like to serve Ann Arbor residents in that role. Simply put, I think I would enjoy it. I love public policy analysis and discussing it with others. I’ve learned that doing what I love is good for me and everyone around me. And that’s not naivete speaking — I appreciate the work that goes into service. I’ve spent my whole adult life in Ann Arbor in the city government/community interface. Ask me (any of you, not just David) sometime about what I’ve participated in. We probably have some activities in common.

As for my platform, I’m in no hurry to refine that or limit it in any way. My intention is to build on my work with the Environmental Commission to establish sustainability goals for the city so that our policies and decision-making are guided by the application of environmental quality, economic vitality, and social equity filters. Also, it’s safe to say that clarity of thought (questioning thoughts and assumptions against reality — which, as you may have heard, I love — and challenging generalizations, characterizations and misrepresentations) and communication will be subjects that I give regular attention. My approach to issues is more about examining, questioning, and exploring alternatives than only making a case for a particular perspective, though I do that in some cases, even to the point of representing one that I don’t necessarily agree with if I think it will further the discussion.

@2: I plan to have a web site, FaceBook page, and a campaign email address, minimally. It remains to be seen whether or not the site will include a blog.

@4: When I told the mayor Monday night after the council meeting that I was going to be a candidate, it was news to him. I’ll be on the November general election ballot.

@5: Obviously, I’m not okay with waste, of tax revenues or otherwise. I imagine that the members of the Greenbelt Advisory Commission will address the matter of unanticipated land value changes very soon. PDR is a tool that was brought into use later than it might have been most useful to (and that’s just the reality), and is now deserving of review for its value in the future.

@6: I’ll respond later.

@9-11: I would love to see more candidates, affiliated or not, male or female, of any complexion, age, ableness, or orientation — sexual or otherwise. I’ll be offering a perspective that expands the scope of our discourse, but by no means does a tall, white man bring a first-person take that’s outside the already — if not over — represented.

Getting the paperwork was interesting, and not at all difficult. Maybe Dave would be interested in reporting on the back-story at some point.

Also, one thing Dave didn’t catch is that Lyn first assumed that I wanted petitions for partisan, and then that I wanted them for city council. She sincerely apologized for both assumptions, after recognizing them as such without comment from me.

@13: Since Dave Cahill hasn’t asked any questions yet, I’ll respond before waiting for others. (Are you related to David Cahill, by chance? Maybe his son? ;-) )

Regarding Heritage Row, The Moravian, or any other development proposals, I can’t give an honest answer to a hypothetical voting question, in part because they’re complex and difficult to evaluate without having followed them closely. (I’ve read some of the online coverage and discussions, but not enough.) I have questions that I would want to pose, too. That said, I wonder when I see or hear comments about dilapidated houses in areas where students rent that are described as being deserving of demolition. I’ve seen individual houses (one on Hill near Green comes to mind), but not rows of them. The embodied energy of any existing structure is worthy of consideration, as are zoning, the character of surrounding buildings and uses, among others. Stepping back a bit, what I think we have an opportunity for is to clearly identify the gaps in our policies that result in the recurrence of contentious proposals, especially near the downtown, and clarify the bounds for both developers and decision-makers.

Regarding the police/courts building, if (we’re already entering a second level of hypotheticalness) no other alternative had been identified — which I imagine I would have actively explored — I imagine that I would have voted for it, or a scaled down version (but now I’m getting into hindsight-advantage territory.) Whereas I think Vivienne Armentrout was raising concerns about the cost several years ago, IIRC, relative to the budget reserves, I thought that solidly identifying a feasible alternative was the first step. I had my own concerns at the time about the potential for some level of economic collapse in the near future, which came to pass, but I was devoting time to the proposed underground parking structure while Vivienne and others focused more on the p/c building.

Regarding differences on issues, I imagine that I agree with John on the relative importance of many issues and differ from him on aspects of all of them. (Details, details.) John and I have actually had very few opportunities to discuss any matters. We had lunch once at which I presented an idea I had for setting up a revolving loan fund for residential and business energy efficiency improvements. I like to think that pieces of that concept are now being implemented by various entities in town. One issue that I’ll be presenting my thoughts on in more detail at some point is the underground parking structure at the library lot and its impact on several interrelated systems.

Which brings us back to the inaccurate assumption in #1. All that “happened” is that I found myself in a point in my life where I was prepared to step forward for your consideration. I could wait two years, and I’m not doing that.

Regarding “big” buildings, I favor the community deciding such matters, as I believe we have (with some possible gaps as noted above.) I have more thoughts and some questions on that topic, but I’d like to wrap this up.

Regarding running as an independent, I disagree with your premise, first of all. The “road to power” doesn’t exist, in my mind. If it did, that would mean I was confused, and I don’t think we want that in a community leader. I have a fair understanding of democracy and politics, as well as hubris and humility. I want to represent every Ann Arborite to the extent that they want me to. Years ago I worked at building a political party, until I decided that building community is more important. I’m an independent (thinker) and I won’t pretend otherwise. I’ll pose this one question back to you: Would you want me to?

@14: (A late addition) I appreciate the compliment and the attempt to put my candidacy into familiar context. That gets into a discussion of political considerations that I’m happy to participate in privately, and about which I wonder the value of it to voters, given that I won’t be changing my filing status.

Finally, I don’t consider myself to be running for mayor (with acknowledgment of my semantic tendencies.) I’m a candidate. I don’t feel a need to convince anyone. You’re all very capable of weighing your choices for yourself. I’m here to answer questions to the extent that I can (or at least respond.) If elected, and in my own engaged citizenship, I’ll continue asking them as well. If anything, I’m walking for election, at whatever pace is comfortable for everyone. If you see me on the sidewalk, please introduce yourself. I’ll slow down, stop, or even change directions, as you like so that we can chat.

Look what happened to Hatim Elhady last year. Running as an indepedent ruined his chances at victory.

I would classify Mr. Bean as a “Green Democrat”.

He is probably one of the most knowledgeable appointees of the Mayor.

If you were mayor, would you vote in favor of the Heritage Row project?

If you were mayor, would you vote in favor of the Moravian project?

If you had been on the City Council for the past several years, would you have voted for the Courts/Police Facility?

Name three issues on which you differ with Mayor Hieftje.

Do you favor or oppose the construction of big buildings downtown?

Do you favor or oppose the construction of big buildings in the near-downtown neighborhoods?

The road to power in Ann Arbor runs through the August Democratic primary. Bearing this in mind, would you consider running for mayor in this primary instead of as an independent?

Thanks for you clarification and I agree 100% with what you wrote on arborupdate on 10/31/06:

“I wonder what’s happened to the idea of cities being run by people who a) have experience in the community (for real, not just on public boards) and b) know what they’re talking about?”

Lol.