Comments on: Ann Arbor City Admin Finalists Announced

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:53:00 +0000

Formerly being from Marquette and knowing Steve I can honestly say that he’s done a lot of good work up there and I wouldn’t ever associate his career with “crony politics.” He’s a solid candidate.

By: Rick Cronn

Rick Cronn — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:41:43 +0000

From my perspective professional employment consultants prefer and tend to promote the same bunch of corporate hacks parading as public servants.

I wish council would exercise their due diligence by not accepting only what’s presented to them. Dig a little deeper, ask questions and listen to what the applicants home constituents are saying. We should seriously question the current paradigm of former employers saying nothing or only good things about former employees.

We should be in no hurry to get past the previous nine years of corporate city hall rule and find someone who really has Ann Arbor’s interests at heart (and head) instead of advancing their own career thru crony politics.

By: Jack Eaton

Jack Eaton — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:43:33 +0000

A City official is reporting that Mr. Black has withdrawn his name from consideration. If true, I wonder what impact that will have on the selection process.

Perhaps the selection committee should go back to the list of 60 applicants and try to find three who are better suited to running our City.

By: Dr Data

Dr Data — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 22:14:24 +0000

Or the article about Jennifer Granholm tweeting about her Volt rather than the deaths in Grand Rapids. However, that article was a real success as it got lots of page views/comments, which is how articles are judged there.

By: Ala Goldsmith

Ala Goldsmith — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:40:26 +0000

Amazing…like the new head of SPARK, we have to find out these these background facts from random folks posting in the comments section of news stories. Amazing. At least Ann Arbor Chronicle is posting a link to the an issue of interest dealing with one of the candidates while AnnArbor.com, once again, is asleep in the wheel. Too busy with their articles on one of the major issues of our times–private ownership of goldfish.

By: Chris Drake

Chris Drake — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:16:58 +0000

As a resident of Reno, I warn you not to select Ellen Oppenheim.

By: Mary Morgan

Mary Morgan — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Re. #1: Here's a link to a Jan. 27, 2011 report by the NBC affiliate in Reno regarding the American International Choral Festival: "Possible RSCVA Miscalculation Could Cost Local Economy Millions" [link] Oppenheim resigned as CEO of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA) in February. According to a report in the Reno Gazette-Journal, she said she needed more time to take care of her mother in Texas, who was ill. The Gazette-Journal reports that under terms of her contract, she remains on the RSCVA payroll until Aug. 10. Her salary in that position is $234,000.

By: Jane Smith

Jane Smith — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:32:37 +0000

I am amazed that Ellen Oppenheim has been shortlisted for this important position. Regardless of what is said about her the community of Reno is ashamed that she was ever a part of government here. Her work at the RSCVA was incompetent at best but what she excelled at was promoting her own power. One of her last legacies was embellishing numbers for a choral festival that completely bombed leaving our hotels with thousands of unfilled rooms. She agreed with a contract that gave the choral festival organizers hundreds of thousands of dollars for several hundred sleeping rooms only. You are fools should you hire this woman. Run away from her. From Reno’s perspective at least we would be rid of her.