Word clouds are a way of representing the relative frequency of words in a chunk of text (in this case the transcript of words spoken by each candidate) by giving higher-frequency words greater visual prominence. These clouds were generated using Wordle.net, which offers various options for choice of font, color and layout. Wordle.net offers some very limited flexibility for the analysis itself, like excluding naturally occurring high-frequency words from the analysis (e.g., a, the, he, it, …) and setting the limit on the number of words used to make the cloud. I chose to exclude high-frequency words and to use just the 100 most frequent words for the cloud.

It would be ideal, for example, to be able to demand that the analysis treat phrases as words. As a specific example, it would be nice to have “Ann Arbor” or “city council” grouped as a single “word” for this purpose. It’d also be nice to group all forms of a single word into one (go, going, gone, gonna). But that’s not a feature offered by Wordle.net.

Why do this? As I listened to the candidates, Neal Elyakin opened with a series of “I believe …” statements. It made me wonder how frequently “believe” showed up in his talk, and I wanted to have something more objective than simply my impression. Two years ago, when Michael Ford was interviewing for the job as CEO of the AATA, it struck me that he said “people” an awful lot, so we generated a cloud for coverage of his interview.

The facts are the the title of the resolution was changed and memo attached written to obviascate, no hide, the fact that this is a vote to start the garage. Even the Goalonggang can’t keep on script when it leaked out in a statement by Mr. Derizenski before the vote that ‘this was a backdoor attempt to stop the [garage in a city park]‘.

This is just one example of a multitude.

Mike was doing the right, and difficult thing, in go against this hiding of the real intent of the resolution and the garage. Very disappointed in Sabra’s obviously uninformed comments.

I was told by a council member at a Fuller Park Garage meeting that the mayor was told by federal elected officials that day not to call this a garage or no federal funds would be available.

Clearly a shell game.

Work with the facts, Mr. Askins, not with innuendo and off hand comments. This seems more of an editorial then a chronicle.

Vote August 2nd, and vote for MIKE, he’s watching out for the rest of us.

Jocelyn Benson is admired by many and her defeat in 2010 could easily be explained by the general Democratic rout. She is again very active in statewide politics. I’m sure that she was prevailed upon by a supporter to endorse Elyakin without any particular knowledge of the local issues. I would support her in a future statewide race.

A large number of Elyakin supporters (e.g. Joan Lowenstein and Larry Kestenbaum) do not only not live in his ward and, ergo, cannot vote for him, but many like Florine Mark actually live outside Washtenaw County.

Thanks for the correction, which is a good reminder that
progress-for-progress’ sake is not a good way forward. I’m not sure how the process could be revised, but I’m sure that there is a compromise between a large public park, which costs the city money, and a revenue-generating highrise monolith.

-Gustav

Gustav, it’s true that the two finalist proposals were for hotel/conference centers. But the city received a total of six responses, one of which was a community commons and another of which was essentially a park-like amenity. Also included in the mix was a proposal for senior housing. Here’s some coverage from early 2010 that includes a description of the review committee’s assessment of the six proposals: [link]

I am saddened by the assumption that to be an independent voice on City Council, an official must not be on the “Mayor’s Team.” I do not understand why politics in a city of a little over 100,000 must be reduced to the same simplistic terms that often characterize the national debate.

Why does supporting reasonable development make someone a sell-out? Why does suggesting that someone build something where the library lot provoke so much ire? When the RFP went out for the library lot, I believe that the only offers were for hotel/conference centers.

The City Council agrees on over 95% of the things they decide on. Prudent city government has kept Ann Arbor from the worst throes of nationwide recession. Let’s keep things in perspective and realize that city council members do not have the time, energy, or self interest to be involved in the sinister cabals that so many people imagine.