Podium sign at Wednesday's Think Local First annual meeting.
A local living economy is about maximizing relationships, not maximizing profits. About a living return, not the highest return. Sharing, not hoarding. Being more, not having more.
Judy Wicks, a leader in the local living economy movement, laid out these and other tenets at Wednesday’s annual meeting of Think Local First, a nonprofit network of local businesses. Though Wicks is from Philadelphia – her 25-year-old White Dog Cafe is how she walks the talk in Philly – the evening’s event was all about how communities can foster and sustain themselves at the local level, regardless of where “local” is on the map. [Full Story]
"You'll need a partner for this one." Bob Schoeni and Gretchen Spreitzer demonstrate a stretch during the group warm-up session.
On Sunday, the northeast corner of Burns Park was already teeming with humanity at 1 p.m. That was the start time that Ann Arbor Active Against ALS [A2A3] had scheduled for its kickoff fundraiser: a family field day. David Lowenschuss, one of the organizers, pointed out Bob Schoeni for us among the crowd waiting for the formal start to the festivities on a crispy overcast day. Schoeni had provided the impetus for the formation of the A2A3 nonprofit, when he was diagnosed with ALS in July.
A few minutes later, when Christopher Taylor took the microphone to help get the field day fun started, the gray skies had gone from spitting a few misty drops of rain to a steady sprinkle. It was hard to escape the conclusion that it was really raining. Added to a breezy day that saw temperatures in the low 50s, the rain meant that Taylor’s declaration, “It’s a beautiful day!” easily drew the chuckles it deserved from the crowd. [Full Story]
Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, but on the occasion of The Ann Arbor Chronicle’s two-month anniversary, I’d like to go ahead and say thanks. Thanks first to everyone for reading. That’s the number one thing anyone can do to help this publication along. [Full Story]
Editor’s note: You’ve seen The Chronicle’s photos of Halloween on Main Street in a previous entry. Now forget that and take a look at the event through the eyes of a professional photographer. Myra Klarman, who was the official photographer for this year’s Ann Arbor Summer Festival, has graciously allowed The Chronicle to publish some of her work documenting today’s festivities. Enjoy.
This little airplane was puttering up and down Main Street, diving into stores to fuel up on candy.
If you happened to be in downtown Ann Arbor today, well, chances are you were either giving out candy, wearing a Halloween costume or walking past any of the dozens of trick-or-treaters who were exponentially increasing the Main Street area’s cuteness quotient.
The Chronicle was there too, capturing on camera a few of the spooks and spiders roaming the streets with their parents on a glorious autumn afternoon. We also stopped by Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pies, usually known as Arcade Barbers, to check out the amazing Sweeney Todd transformation that was previously noted by one of our Stopped.Watched. correspondents. [Full Story]
Final pie chart of proposed DDA board committee structure for 2009. Re-drawn on wall poster by facilitator Fran Alexander from original sketch by Keith Orr.
Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority board held its annual retreat on Tuesday morning, which began with a scrumptious hot breakfast and ended with a giant pie. What the pie offered in size, it lacked in taste: it came in the form of a chart. More on the chart later. Fran Alexander, of Alexander & Associates, acted as the facilitator for the four-hour meeting, which began on time at 8 a.m., and was uninterrupted except for a strictly enforced 10-minute break. It covered three main agenda items: (i) celebrate achievements of 2007-08 (ii) identify priorities for 2009 (iii) establish committee structure for DDA board work. [Full Story]
Aubrey Martinson of the Chelsea Center for the Arts takes her turn answering a question. Looking on are fellow panelists Chuck Kieffer (off camera), Ken Fischer and Jennifer Spitler.
One of the challenges at Tuesday evening’s Creative Conversations event was hearing what the four panelists had to say while listening to competing beer-fueled creative conversations about Ludacris and Bob Seger coming from another section of Ypsilanti’s Corner Brewery.
The panelists were undaunted, however, as they discussed their own challenges and strategies as nonprofit leaders in the arts and human services, giving tips on everything from how to survive in a tough economy to the best place to wear your nametag (the right side – more on that later). [Full Story]
HealthMedia got a boost in its nascent stages from a handshake understanding.
If you’ve just described your company as “the coolest damn company in the world,” how do you announce to your 150 employees – 95% of whom are shareholders – that the company has been acquired by Johnson & Johnson? If you’re Ted Dacko, president of HealthMedia, you take advantage of the venue you’ve selected for the mid-afternoon announcement. You’re at a nightclub with an excellent AV system (Live at PJ’s), so you cue up the company movie.
T-shirted HealthMedia employees walking back to offices from P. J.’s where they just learned they’d been acquired by Johnson & Johnson. To stay in Ann Arbor, though. [Details to follow]
The Blue Tractor's new sign hanging at 205-207 E. Washington St. Operating Partner Dan Glazer told The Chronicle that additional design work will be done on the sign to give it a more weathered look.
Stopped. Watched. correspondent Bill Merrill filed a report on Wednesday alerting readers that the Blue Tractor Brewery sign was about to be lifted into place by the Huron Sign Company. By the time The Chronicle arrived on the scene on Washington Street just east of Fourth Avenue, the sign had been affixed firmly to the front of the former home of Jewel Heart, just down from Cafe Habana. Blue Tractor partners Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell also partnered on Cafe Habana, which will be physically connected to the Blue Tractor’s dance area on the lower level. [Full Story]
Jillian Downey and Ari Weinzweig meet with The Chronicle at Zingerman's Deli Next Door.
Elizabeth Kostova often sits in Booth 104 at Zingerman’s Roadhouse – it’s a detail that Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig mentions in passing, a little insight into a much deeper connection between the best-selling novelist and the popular family of food businesses.
It’s a connection that plays a role in yet another enterprise that could be added to the mix: Zingerman’s Press. [Full Story]
Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber was interviewed for the PRI program “To the Point” on an episode called “The Road to Recovery and American Cars.” Schreiber’s segment begins at time code 29:45. [Source]
Susan Pollay, right, introduces Amanda Uhle of 826michigan at Wednesday's Morning Edition breakfast.
If you went to Wednesday’s Morning Edition breakfast, here’s what you’d know now: A shop on East Liberty sells bouncing eyeballs; there’s a chance you could get a cupcake named after you; wind turbines are expensive but not that noisy; it’s not too far-fetched to link Nepal with UM’s business outreach; and Washtenaw Community College doesn’t really want a football team.
The monthly event was emceed by Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, who revealed that she views cupcakes as diet food “because, of course, it’s portion control.” Here’s what other speakers had to say: [Full Story]
Christopher Ilitch and Doug Rothwell speak to the Entrepreneurship Club at UM's Stamps Auditorium. Some things never change – no one likes to sit in front.
It’s hard to know how many of the 200 or so students who attended Friday’s Entrepreneurship Hour lecture will become entrepreneurs. Maybe not the ones playing video games on their laptops or texting on their cellphones – but you never know.
Those who were listening to Christopher Ilitch and Doug Rothwell gleaned a fair bit of advice on what it takes to succeed, and on what some community leaders are doing to support entrepreneurs in southeast Michigan. [Full Story]
At the Project Grow annual meeting of membership, held Thursday evening at the Nature House at Leslie Science Center, news of a possible organizational arrangement with Matthaei Botanical Gardens led to an impromptu expansion of the board of directors to include two additional members. In addition to Catherine Riseng and Dustin Underwood, who were already on the slate for election, Royer Held and Kirk Jones were elected to the board. Project Grow’s mission is to make organic gardening accessible through the community and it does so most visibly through garden plots available at 14 different sites located throughout the city.
At the meeting, Project Grow board president, Devon Akmon, announced that Karen Sikkenga, associate director of Matthaei Botanical Gardens, had … [Full Story]
Conan Smith tottered with me the day after Christmas in 2005 and at the time he was the County Board of Commissioners’ representative to the Washtenaw Development Council, which was then merging with SPARK, another economic development entity. Because I figured Conan might have some clout on this issue, I suggested to him on the totter that the name SPARK could be changed to SPARQ. I think pretty much anything with a “K” or a “C” sound could be improved by replacement with a “Q”. [Full Story]
The Denver Post publishes a feature on Todd and Scott Leopold of Leopold Bros., who moved there from Ann Arbor earlier this year. “Both, for now, live in their parents’ Littleton house (which embarrasses them quite a bit) although they spend most of their time in the distillery, a 6,000-square-foot purchase in an industrial park a few miles east of downtown Denver.” [Source]
People that receive federal food aid will soon be able to make purchases at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, using these wooden tokens.
If you’re getting government aid to put food on the table, you know all about the Electronic Benefits Transfer, known in Michigan as the Bridge Card. You already know that this debit card – which replaced paper food stamps and other assistance – looks pretty much like any other debit or credit card. And you also know you can’t use it at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.
Yet.
Molly Notarianni, the city’s market manager, has a box of 1,000 wooden tokens and a new system that will allow people to use their Bridge Cards to shop at the market. While some logistics still need to be worked out, Notarianni hopes to launch the program within a month or two. [Full Story]
Chris Buhalis played the Old Town Tavern‘s regular show this past Sunday night, and I caught the second half of his set, which started at 8 p.m. I arrived during the break just as a crowd of little kids, maybe eight or nine strong, burst into the Old Town handing out cards announcing Bruce Springsteen’s Change Rocks concert on the EMU campus, Monday, Oct. 6. (Gates to Oestrike Baseball Stadium open at 3 p.m. with the show, which is free to all students and residents, scheduled to start at 4 p.m.) [Full Story]
A dozen distinguished alumni from the University of Michigan Department of Economics gathered for a panel discussion yesterday at Lorch Hall to discuss the current financial crisis. The focus of the panelists’ remarks as well as the questions from the audience mostly reflected the title of the event, “Upheaval in Financial Markets.” That is, the emphasis was on “markets” in the biggest sense: the home market, the capital markets, the credit market, the global market. All of the markets that are now in crisis as a result of questionable mortgage lending practices that gave many people access to buying a house, who would have otherwise not been able to contemplate such a purchase.
But one audience question came from a voice for the “local market,” specifically the “ordinary folks who have one of these mortgages who are suffering.” “What are the techniques,” wondered that voice, “that are available to keep people in their houses? … Or do you believe that they should be out of these houses? This is a social disaster in our community.” The voice posing the question would be familiar to observers of local Ann Arbor affairs.
Among the highlights of Thursday night’s Ann Arbor Ad Club meeting was the revelation that the group’s president, Tracy Lindsay, looks like Sarah Palin/Tina Fey. Especially when she pulls her hair up – as she was exhorted to do by several attendees.
But the club’s main event was a presentation by consultant Colette Chandler, who spoke about how to “green” your business. Here’s a summary of her remarks: [Full Story]
If you’re looking for any random excuse to uncork champagne, here’s one: Today marks the 1-month anniversary of The Ann Arbor Chronicle.
It’s been a wild, gratifying, exhausting month. A shout-out to those of you who’ve generously helped us spread the word about our publication, who’ve offered words of support and encouragement … or who’ve made a financial sign of support by buying ads. There’s no guarantee that we can make this a financially viable business, but if we can, it will be thanks to individuals at local companies and organizations who think we’ve got something worth paying for, and who are willing to take a chance on a new venture like this.
For me, the experience of leaving an institution like … [Full Story]
The DDA board met at its regularly scheduled time on the first Wednesday of the month. Topics of discussion ranged from new developments to the DDA on TV. [Full Story]
Members of the UM men's gymnastics team on the Diag Thursday. Head Coach Kurt Golder (wearing a white polo shirt) watched the action.
Juxtaposition can be an oddly wonderful thing. That was the case Wednesday as The Chronicle swung between two disparate events on the University of Michigan campus: a demo on the Diag by the men’s gymnastics team, and a reception at the Michigan League to celebrate UM inventors.
First, the physical tumbling. Each fall about this time, the men’s gymnastics team hauls out some of its equipment and sets up on the Diag, where team members jump, flip, work the pummel horse and otherwise wow passersby with feats of strength and flexibility. It’s a way to promote their season – their first meet isn’t until Dec. 13, but their daily practices at the UM sports coliseum from 2:45-5:45 p.m. are open to the public.
Historic Marker at Ashley and Washington: "Germans in Ann Arbor"
Just a brief note to alert Chronicle readers to two events on the western edge of downtown tomorrow (Oct. 2). At the DDA Board meeting today, Ray Detter, of the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council, announced that there would be a dedication ceremony at 5 p.m. of the new wall displays at Ashley and Washington streets, which is a part of the Downtown Ann Arbor Historic Street Exhibit Program. “At lunchtime workmen bought beer by the bucket from nearby saloons,” reads part of the text from one of the installations.
The second event is not an “event” per … [Full Story]
Notice of public hearing on Oct. 7 held by the planning commission. In the background, fans of State Radio with Bongo Love in line at the Blind Pig
Here at The Chronicle, we enjoy gleaning information off ratty telephone poles, whether it’s a flyer about an upcoming show played by Tokyo Sex Whale or something a bit more staid – like an announcement of a planning commission public hearing. The planning commission’s notices are easy to spot: bright orange poster board strapped to a nearby vertical object with gray duct tape. This public hearing concerns the Ann Arbor City Apartments project, which is coming before planning commission proposed as a Planned Unit Development (PUD). [Full Story]
Sign in West Hall promoting Tuesday's School of Information videotaping for the 1000 Pitches contest.
Here at The Chronicle, about the only thing we pitch on a regular basis is a hissy fit. So we were intrigued by the concept of 1,000 Pitches, a contest for UM students, faculty and staff to come up with ideas for new businesses, nonprofits or inventions.
The university-wide contest is sponsored by the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship, but UM’s School of Information took it one step further. Administrators wanted to make it easier for SI students to participate, so on Tuesday, they set up a room in West Hall for videotaping, and invited people to drop by anytime between 1-5 p.m. to make their three-minute pitch. No muss, no fuss – plus snacks! (Cookies, apples and pop, specifically.)
Some signs at the Sept. 28 Artisan Market, promoting the Oct. 5 Etsy show.
Kate Kehoe has lots of energy, creative and otherwise. You get a sense of that if you visit her booth at the Sunday Artisan Market, where she sells notebooks made out of vintage album covers and video boxes, LPs formed into bowls, a variety of cards and pins – all made by her, by hand.
It’s the Etsy way.
She’s also funneling a good bit of energy into organizing the Oct. 5 Etsy show, where about 30 vendors – mostly from the Ann Arbor area – will be selling their wares in this second annual event, held in the Ann Arbor Farmers Market area in Kerrytown.
If you’re asking, “What the heck is Etsy?” well, you’re forgiven for not having hipster cred. Read on. [Full Story]
A customer buys flowers from the Pleasant Lane Farm stand at Thursday's West Side Farmers Market.
A customer lingers indecisively over the collection of honey jars, then picks up the smaller one for $3.
“You’re gonna like it so much you’ll wish you bought the $6 one,” jokes Mike Smith, handing her some change.
Smith is one of about a dozen vendors at Thursday afternoon’s West Side Farmers Market, set up in the parking lot next to Zingerman’s Roadhouse at the corner of Jackson and Maple. They’re selling pumpkins and potatoes, mums in all shades of autumn, eggs, garlic, tomatoes – the harvest is bountiful.
But though it’s hot and feels like summer, it’s the final day of the season for this market. [Full Story]
