On Main St, Liberty, Washington, State, zero setback makes perfect sense. On Huron east of Division (the subject of my remarks), I see it as a detriment (see @12 Rod J., directly above). I did not make a statement about setbacks in general, but rather about E. Huron, the 500 block in particular.

My point on Huron is that there is a several-blocks long stretch of monument-style buildings (from the Power Center to Division), with setbacks, grass/shrubs/plantings and trees on the south side. The one exception to this is the U’s new North Quad, which has no setback at all on Huron, and presents a 10-story vertical wall with little street-level presence. Most of that property is controlled by the U; the 500 block contains two churches, two historic houses, and the site of soon-to-be The Varsity. No doubt tastes differ, but I’m not seeing much contribution from North Quad to the pedestrian experience (much like the Michigan Bell building, although, to its credit, North Quad is in other ways a more-elegant monument-type building).

The current Professional Building (The Varsity site) is butt-ugly at present, as is most of the other side of Huron on that block. .We had a chance to zone the 500 block of E. Huron (both sides!) to encourage reflection of the elegant, green, monument style of the rest of Huron. This would have made this stretch a true gateway to downtown – but instead, council put us on a one-way ticket to palookaville.

The Varsity is built with Huron St. as its “Servants Entrance”, with no consideration of its surroundings and how it interacts with them. Even as a “Modernist” structure, unconscious of its own context, it’s not an attractive building. With its sea-to-shining-sea massing, 4 stories taller than North Quad, and back-door presence, I don’t see how it will enhance the pedestrian experience much.

It was obvious that the current building there was obsolete, and that something bigger/taller was likely to be/needed to be built there. It’s just that we had the chance to encourage something that did not block the sun, dwarf and ignore its surroundings, and did not detract from, rather than add to, the “Gateway” look of the street. Mindless, robotic application of one idea (“density”) over all other considerations will not serve us well over time. This is what I meant by “civic vandalism”.

I am still working to articulate the idea of Church Desecration in a manner that speaks to a largely unchurched readership.

Oddly, the police said I should file a criminal littering complaint, but whatever, it stopped. Did the same with the A2 JOURNAL, they stopped too.

Just bitch a lot, collect evidence, and bug the police over and over again. The litter will stop.

There’s actually a provision in the city code that doesn’t require analysis of a publication as inherently “litter” in order to make it illegal to toss it just any-old-where. You can’t deliver a newspaper by throwing it onto a sidewalk, for example.

From Chapter 82 of the code of the city of Ann Arbor:

7:97. – Distributing handbills or newspapers.
No person shall throw or deposit any handbill or newspaper upon any sidewalk, street, park or other public place except for drop-off distribution points for newspapers to be delivered the same day as distributed. However, it shall not be unlawful for a person to hand out or distribute a handbill or newspaper to any person willing to accept it.
(Ord. No. 14-64, 3-30-64; Ord. No. 63-78, 11-6-78; Ord. No. 15-02, § 4, 4-15-02)

If Taylor can make AnnArbor.com go away…oh never mind. Lol

“Kunselman then alluded to the fact that Rapundalo enjoys dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, and told him to “go have some fun, eh.”

i may have disagreed on issues… but i think it was cool to see a canadian at city hall.