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A couple of weeks ago, we asked “non-activist” readers to tell us how they voted on Props A and B, which passed on Aug. 5 and gave the city the greenlight to transfer the air rights of the Library Lot property to the Ann Arbor District Library. AADL, in turn, is expected to build a mixed-use high-rise with a new downtown branch at its base.
Voters passed the proposals 58-42. In our very unscientific survey, however, more of our readers (by a marrow margin) voted no.
Here are edited excerpts of responses from the Yes side:
- “At first, I was very offended by the fact that my vote in 2018 had meant nothing and that the city had not acted upon the voice of the city. However, I later wondered if the idea of another inner city ‘park’ would work given the Liberty Plaza has had a number of issues/concerns. I want an active library. I want to move forward. I want a library that screams, ‘We are forward-thinking.’” – Jane Pettit
- “For anyone paying attention, it was always clear that the 2018 ‘Center of the City’ ballot measure was a protest vote, not a rational plan to build a viable park/town square. The Library Lot parking structure was built explicitly (and expensively) to extend its load-bearing columns and foundation walls to support a building above it. It was never designed for scattered dead loads of earth-filled planters and tree vaults. … Ann Arbor’s library system is a freaking gem, and the services it offers astonish me on a weekly basis. If they have an ambitious plan to do even more, I am all in.” – Ross Orr
- “While I understand that municipalities want the money and housing that mixed-use development promises, I don’t believe it’s the only – or always the best – choice for every development. That being said, I voted in favor of the proposals on the basis that the AADL has worked hard over the years to fill the need for inclusive, community-based spaces across Ann Arbor. Their dedication has earned my trust and I hope they will decide to build this project with the community’s interests in mind as well.” – Dagny Hanner
And here are some “no” replies:
- “Any time we sell public land (or rights) to private interests (hedge fund investors), we have to ask who is making money here.” – Nina Rogow
- “That property is worth over $15 million. The city is giving it away for only $1 to the library, which is a separate entity from the city of Ann Arbor and includes multiple wealthy township areas outside of Ann Arbor. … AADL has stated they would be able to build a new library with many extra floors above whether or not Proposals A and B passed. And whether or not the library received the library lot property for free, it appears there still will be extra dollars needed even after selling many of the floors to a developer.” – Bobby Frank
- “Things change, true, but what have we agreed to change them to? Another high-rise? I’ve heard things like ‘Well, in Colorado, they do such and such.’ I don’t live in Colorado. I don’t live in New York. If I wanted to live in Denver or Manhattan and see high-rises everywhere, then I’d move there. I like it here. I like having a walkable downtown. I don’t want to build wind tunnels and block out the sunlight. … Maybe I’m wrong about what’s going to happen, but I don’t think so. I wanted a park downtown near the library, and I thought we’d secured that when we all decided that the city would keep the land to develop a park. But no, the development-at-any-cost crowd has won this round. It’s a sad day.” – PW
Now, as PW says, we wait and see what happens. I, for one, have been a little obsessed with the question of what they do with the downtown branch for however long it takes to build the new one. The years during which the construction will presumably take place will also see thousands of new downtown residents. I hope they’ll have a nearby public library.
Your news is here. The NCAA wants Michigan to pay through the noseguard for the sign-stealing scandal, former U-M president Santa Ono landed in the employ of new U-M megadonor Larry Ellison, the county is experiencing a record year of Lyme disease infections, nobody seems to want massive server farms near them, and Donald Trump thinks the terms of an Ann Arbor mortgage could force a Federal Reserve board member out.
This was last week’s most-clicked link.
– Steve Friess (editor)
P.S. Just a reminder that the silent auction for the young-adult mental health nonprofit Garrett’s Space is open until Saturday. Check it out here.
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An eastern massasauga rattlesnake gave birth to a brood in a drain pipe in a popular garden area of Matthaei Botanical Gardens this month and, for a time, became a popular attraction for visitors. The family, which are a threatened species and the state’s only native venomous snakes, have since moved into the nearby woods, a2view learned during a visit on Wednesday. Credit: MBGNA.
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U-M to appeal $30M+ fines by NCAA over sign-stealing scheme: In a scathing seventy-four-page report, the league’s investigators ticked off a lengthy and costly list of punishments for the illicit three-year plot in which staffer Connor Stalions arranged for scouts to attend future opponents’ games in order to capture sideline signals. While the NCAA did not vacate U-M’s 2023 national championship, its punishments included a $50,000 fine plus 10 percent of the football program’s budget; a fine equal to “the anticipated loss of all postseason competition revenue sharing from the 2025 and 2026 seasons”; a fine equal to the cost of 10 percent of the scholarships awarded to Michigan’s football program for the coming season; and a 25 percent reduction in football recruiting visits this season. Former head coach Jim Harbaugh, who now coaches in the NFL, got a ten-year suspension from “all athletically related activities” in college sports. Sherrone Moore, his successor and former offensive coach, will be suspended from coaching three games; U-M had already announced his suspension for two games this September, to which the NCAA wants to add the first game of the 2026 season. The university will appeal, ESPN reports.
Santa Ono tapped as president of Oracle founder’s research group: The Ellison Institute of Technology Global announced in a press release that it is hiring the former U-M president, a biomedical researcher before his administrative career, to work from its Oxford, England, offices. Ono will oversee the international expansion of EIT Global, co-founded by tech billionaire Larry Ellison. Last year, Ellison surprised many with a $10 million donation to U-M Athletics, his first known major gift to the school; his wife is an alum. According to its website, EIT “combines cutting-edge research and commercial capability, to drive scientific breakthroughs and create sustainable, ethical companies.” Ono left U-M abruptly in May in a failed bid to become president of the University of Florida.
A2 mortgage at issue in demand for Fed governor’s resignation: Lisa Cook, the first woman of color on the Federal Reserve board, is accused by the Trump administration of improperly obtaining loans for her home in Ann Arbor and Atlanta within weeks of one another despite both having clauses in which she pledged to make each of them her primary residence, Forbes reports. According to Michigan’s real estate database, Cook bought a 1924 Colonial on Jackson Rd. in 2005, the year she began teaching economics at Michigan State. In 2021, according to the administration’s referral for investigation to the Justice Department, she took out a $203,000 fifteen-year mortgage on the Ann Arbor home and, weeks later, bought a $604,000 condo in Atlanta with a $540,000 mortgage. She was appointed to the Fed in 2022 by President Biden and has joined Fed chair Jerome Powell in resisting President Trump’s demands to lower interest rates.
2025 is setting records for Lyme disease: The number of cases of the blood-borne infection spread by ticks in Washtenaw County had already significantly outpaced 2024 when Margaret Leary wrote about it for the Observer’s August issue, and it hasn’t slowed down since. According to the health department’s website, there were 155 cases reported as of the end of July, compared with 143 in all of 2024. And this year already has set a record for the number of infections acquired in the county, with 135. In 2023, when the county saw its all-time high of 192 cases, only 133 were believed to have originated locally. Twenty people had been hospitalized as of July 31, just two shy of 2023’s record number – with five months left in the year. Health officials are urging people to use EPA-approved repellents and to check for ticks after being outside. For more information, click here.
Ann Arbor police drone policy aims to protect privacy: The new rules bars officers from recording or transmitting images of areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as someone’s backyard, absent a warrant or exigent circumstances, Government Tech reports. Jennifer Janetsky, a lawyer for the city, says drones “will not be used for surveillance in the sense of running through Ann Arbor at random.” The policy lists many instances when drones can be used, including to inspect roads, bridges, utility lines, water towers and other infrastructure, or to track down a fugitive, find a missing person, or gain intelligence in a hostage situation.
MDOT seeks public input on US-23 rebuild: The draft five-year plan proposes the replacement of thirteen bridges in Washtenaw County and road reconstructions from M-14 to I-94, according to an MDOT social media post. It also includes “minor widening” of I-94 to add a flex lane between US-23 and Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. To weigh in on any portion of the statewide project, click here. According to MDOT’s interactive map, the work here would begin in 2027.
Sheriff rejects Trump effort to remove unhoused people: Alyshia Dyer wrote in a statement that the president’s executive order making it easier for police to relocate homeless people is “a return to failed policies that criminalize poverty and treat survival as a crime.” The sheriff went on to say that laws “specifically targeting homelessness are also inherently racist and classist. … We will not support using arrest or forced displacement as a substitute for housing, treatment, or dignity.”
Eastern massasauga rattler gives birth in Matthaei drainpipe: The venomous snake is a “threatened” species, so a sight of as many as a dozen writhing babies is a cause for celebration, according to a post from the botanical gardens. Staff noticed the mother snake in early June and named her Gertie and then, earlier this month, spotted the babies after setting up a trail cam.
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Someone stole this massive headstone-cum-planter from its plot at Forest Hill Cemetery this summer, much to the distress of the descendants of the former AAFD chief buried there. Three other cast iron grave markers also have been reported missing around the cemetery in recent weeks. Courtesy: Laurie Cassell.
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Chinese student pleads no contest in biological materials smuggling case: Chengxuan Han, a doctoral student from Wuhan coming to U-M to complete research for her Ph.D., was arrested upon her arrival in Detroit in June on charges she had improperly shipped roundworms to two people in the U.S. This week, Han pleaded no contest to three smuggling charges and to making false statements to border officials, ClickonDetroit writes. She’s due to be sentenced on Sept. 10.
Doctor charged in $7M opioid distribution scheme: Fifty-three-year-old Sunil Manjila-Varghese of Ann Arbor was indicted by a federal grand jury, the Department of Justice said in a press release. He is accused of conspiring with a Bloomfield Hills doctor and two other men to prescribe more than 400,000 doses of opioids to people without legitimate medical needs between November 2023 and this June.
Century-old grave marker stolen from Forest Hill Cemetery: Descendants of one-time AAFD chief Frank Pardon discovered the raised stone and the gigantic planter atop it missing when they went to water its flowers, MLive reports. Pardon died in 1916; his great-grandson and his wife routinely tend to the geraniums in the planter, which makes the whole apparatus four feet tall. Ann Arbor police say that three cast iron markers also were reported missing this month. Anyone with information can call (734) 294-6920 or email [email protected].
Ypsi Twp. asks U-M to relocate planned $1.2B data center: Trustees this week asked the university to consider placing the massive server farm at the former GM Hydramatic property that is currently leased by the American Center for Mobility, Data Center Dynamics writes. U-M bought 124 acres off Textile Rd. last year in anticipation of building the facility, a joint venture with Los Alamos National Laboratory, but now faces strident community opposition over environmental, traffic, and safety concerns. A university spokesman says they had previously assessed the ACM space to not meet the project’s needs but the university will look again. U-M does not need the township’s OK to build the project.
Saline Twp. postpones decision on proposed server farm: Related Digital wants to build a 525-acre server farm north of US-12 and east of Braun Rd., but the planning commission voted 5-2 against the rezoning request earlier this month, the Sun Times News reports. The township board had the matter on its Aug. 13 agenda but tabled it until September amid concerns about potential environmental damage and increased traffic and noise.
Five local leaders endorse Mike Duggan’s independent run for governor: U-M regents Mark Bernstein and Denise Illitch, Milan mayor Edward Kolar III, Ypsilanti Twp. supervisor Brenda Stumbo, and Saline city councilmember Jenn Harmount are among the dozens of new names appearing this week as supporters in an update on the Detroit mayor’s campaign site. Former U-M regent Andrea Fischer Newman, former state rep and U-M communications director Jim Kosteva, and ex-Ann Arbor city councilmember Tom Richardson are also on the list touted by Duggan at a campaign event at Michigan Central Station on Tuesday. Bernstein, Stumbo, and Illitch are elected Democrats, as was Kosteva, while Fischer and Richardson served as Republicans. Kolar and Harmount have never run in partisan races but both cities voted for Harris in the 2024 election.
Saline asks residents to halt irrigation amid well repairs: The well, the “main source of drawing water from the city’s aquifer,” was taken offline for “critical repairs,” according to a press release. While the well is down, the city is asking people not to water their yards, fill pools, or wash cars, among other outdoor uses. The city won’t know until tomorrow how long the work will take.
Group opposes wastewater plants in Lodi: Toll Bros. wants to put two of them along Wagner Rd. to support new housing, but residents worry about deforestation and water pollution, WEMU reports. Susan Miller of Livable Lodi says that deforestation and water pollution are the top concerns. Lodi’s planning board is expected to vote on its recommendation next month.
ATP Flight School expands to Ann Arbor: The company, which operates at Willow Run Airport, added the municipal airport off S. State St. as well as Oakland County International Airport in Pontiac, General Aviation News reports. ATP has more than eighty training schools around the nation.
Actors help train AAPD on mental health interventions: The new interactive crisis prevention program featuring EMU theater students performing in simulated encounters is a “a first-of-its-kind interactive training program,” EMU Today writes. EMU social work professor Barbara Walters worked with AAPD community engagement officer Kasey Whitford on the program. “I thought it would be cool to use theatre students instead of other officers, because with trained actors, the scenarios feel more real,” said Whitford.
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Yemeni cafe opens near Kerrytown: Bayt Almocha, which translates to Mocha House, is now the area’s fifth coffee shop in the style of the small Arabian Peninsula nation to open in recent years, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. Its owners, Abdulla Alysofi and Rafed Al-Serri grew up near Mocha, a Red Sea port whose coffee exports gave mocha its name. The Catherine St. site is the chain’s second in Michigan following Dearborn; there’s also one in Louisville, KY, and the website lists nine more that are “coming soon.”
Wurst Bar to close Sunday: The Depot Town tavern announced on Instagram last week that it will shut its doors this weekend. “This location will be going through renovations, and while we’re sad to say goodbye to The Wurst Bar, we’re excited to share that something new is brewing,” the owners teased in the post.
LaFontaine adds Mitsubishi: The statewide chain added the Japanese brand to the parcel at Wagner and Jackson that’s already home to an Infiniti dealership, Algase writes in this month’s Observer. LaFontaine Mitsubishi Ann Arbor is just the company’s second Mitsubishi dealership in the state, but a company spokesman tells Algase that LaFontaine plans to add more as part of a strategy to target college students with more affordable cars.
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Starting punter Hudson Hollenbeck is raising money for U-M’s Rogel Cancer Center by pledging $50 for each fifty-yard punt or kicks that pin an opponent inside the 20 yard line. His mother died of lung cancer when he was in high school. Courtesy: MGoBlue.
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U-M’s starting punter launches fundraiser to battle lung cancer: Hudson Hollenbeck, whose mother succumbed to the disease in 2022, is pledging $50 for each of his fifty-yard punts or kicks that pins an opponent inside the 20 yard line this season to Michigan’s Rogel Cancer Center. Hollenbeck, who hails from Collierville, TN, is beginning his third season as a Wolverine. His goal is to raise more than $36,000 – the amount he raised for the same cause in high school after his mother’s diagnosis. To help, click here.
NTG tenth anniversary fundraiser set for Sept. 5: Neighborhood Theatre Group invites supporters to celebrate with the music of local rockers Levona and DJ That Harpy from 7 to 11 p.m. at Ziggy’s in Ypsi. Tickets range from $20 to $100 per person; the event also will feature a costume contest, prize drawings, and a cash bar. NTG, which puts on shows at The Back Office Studio, was founded in 2015 by Kristin Anne Danko and Aaron Dean to “make theatre an accessible home for the collaboration of people, artistic challenges, and new ideas,” according to their website.
Ann Arbor SPARK launches weekly start-up support program in Ypsi: The Entrepreneur Resource Studio launches tomorrow from noon to 5 p.m. with an open house and free financial consulting provided by Fifth Third Bank at SPARK’s East Innovation Center on W. Michigan Ave., Concentrate reports. “Ypsilanti has an amazing range of both storefront and home-based small businesses, including entrepreneurship in food, arts, business services, technology, health care, and more,” SPARK’s Kristine Nash-Wong says. “We would love to continue to work with partners like Fifth Third Bank to steadily increase the number of businesses we reach with the services they need to start, grow, and thrive.”
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By Jennifer Taylor
Friday: Have a laugh courtesy of comic Kristen Toomey, a raw, razor-sharp Chicago stand-up whose act delivers an unapologetic take on modern womanhood. Alcohol served. 7:15 p.m. (Fri. and Sat.) and 9:45 p.m. (Sat.), Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, 212 S. Fourth Ave. $21 online and (if available) at the door. (734) 996–9080.
Saturday: Catch two Ann Arbor Roller Derby matches against Naptown Roller Derby of Indianapolis. Food trucks, concessions, and merchandise available. 5:30 p.m. (doors open at 4:30 p.m.), Buhr Park Ice Rink, 2751 Packard. Tickets $18 online or at the door. Kids age twelve and under are free with paying adult (limit three kids per adult).
Sunday: At Project Grow Community Gardens’ Annual Tomato Tasting, experience the differences between heirloom tomatoes of all colors, shapes, and sizes, including oxhearts, saladettes, beefsteaks, cherries, and dwarfs. Bring your own beverage. 1 to 3 p.m., County Farm Park Pavilion, 2230 Platt Rd. Free. Parking is limited.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events.
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