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I haven’t been to Trader Joe’s in so many years that I had forgotten why. This week, you, dear readers, reminded me with a vengeance.
I don’t go to Lamp Post Plaza on E. Stadium Blvd., where Trader Joe’s is located, because the parking lot is impossible. It’s uneven, always packed, and difficult to get out of without growing old or risking life and limb. TJ’s Veggie Sticks are delicious but not worth all of that.
Last week, I asked for your least favorite local parking lots after I had an unpleasant experience in the cul-de-sac outside Starbucks at Arborland. Yes, many of you agreed, that one is awful – but not as awful as Trader Joe’s. ”I will be one of 12,000 people who write to vote for the parking lot at Trader Joe’s,” wrote reader Caryl Flinn, exaggerating only slightly! Apparently, this is not unique to the Ann Arbor TJ’s; some clever Instagrammers lampooned the design of TJ parking lots in this funny clip passed along by Joanna Smith.
OK, so Trader Joe’s is the Hall of Fame worst. I wanted a list, and here are a few more dreaded patches of asphalt mentioned by many:
- Whole Foods on Washtenaw. “Parking spots are so narrow, the lane is so narrow, everything gets so backed up and all of the other cars are sitting and waiting and watching you self-correct if you don’t pull in in one go,” Jon Michael Darga gripes.
- Arbor Hills: “The lanes are too narrow for two cars,” Mary Caesar writes. “The corner in front of Lululemon is the worst of the worst.” Eszter Gombosi agrees: “One has to circle for space sometimes for as long as a half hour. … People are actually willing to kill or damage each other’s cars for a coveted spot.”
- Washington St. parking garage at S. 4th Ave. “Teeny, tiny spaces and you literally can’t see who’s coming at you as you go around and around,” Karen Dec says.
- Westgate Shopping Center. “The exits are extra challenging,” according to Becky Lyons. “With no traffic light, it is dangerous to attempt a left turn.”
- Blank Slate. “Watching cars attempting to get in and out of the lot many evenings would be entertaining if it weren’t so dangerous,” Mark Van Sumeren snarks.
And I’ll add one more: Parker Mill Park. It is always in disrepair – lumpy and bumpy.
That was fun. Now I need another pet peeve question to get you all going! Got one? Write me!
Your news is here. A missing man with dementia was found thanks to a community search effort. There are a couple of new high-rises and a bunch of new roundabouts in the works, Washtenaw is one of Michigan’s few counties with more kids than seniors (barely), a U-M runner breaks an NCAA record, and a recent Pioneer High grad needs your vote for the tux he made out of duct tape.
Oh, most shockingly of all, Santa Ono definitely will not be teaching at U-M in the near future.
– Steve Friess, editor
…with help from Anna McLean
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In this month’s Observer, one-time batboy MIke Sinelli (front row, left) lovingly recalls his time with the semipro Ann Arbor Travelers baseball team in the late 1950s. Owners Russ McCalla (center row, second from left), Dick Hager, and John Dudley (first and third rows, right) were in it for the love of the game, not money: no admission was charged, and all the players had day jobs. If they were short a player, Sinelli might take the field. Courtesy of Mike Sinelli.
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Comprehensive plan supporters denounce “Fake News” flyer: The organizers of A2 Pause the Plan this week circulated a leaflet and sent a memo to city leaders asserting the most recent version of the city’s controversial land-use overhaul deliberately left out 484 acres of green space including Huron Hills and Leslie Park golf courses and several nature areas. “This maneuver allows the city to … justify the conversion of public land without triggering the voter approval required by law,” the group wrote in a press release. When writer John U. Bacon shared the claim on Facebook, councilmember Lisa Disch called it “Fake News,” writing on her own Facebook page that the city “is not seeking development of its golf courses.” Disch also shared a statement by the planning and parks staff that “If any future determination were made to consider such a scenario by the City, it would require a vote of the community” and noting that the “draft of the Comprehensive Plan that is currently under review identifies both courses as parks.”
AADL board president promises 10,000-square-foot plaza: Two referendums on the August 5 ballot would give the library district the ability to build a mixed-use high-rise spanning the current site of its downtown branch and the neighboring Library Lane parking structure. Amid a heated debate over the measures, Molly Kleinman tried to reassure opponents that it would also include a substantial public space, MLive reports (paywall). Rita Mitchell of the Library Green Conservancy attacked the proposals as an attempt to reverse a previous referendum that mandated the entire Library Lane space be preserved as a park.
Developer pitches high-rise adjacent to band practice field: The apartment complex would top out at fourteen stories and replace eight properties along the north side of Madison St. between Fourth and Fifth avenues, MLive reports (paywall). Pennsylvania-based GMH holds a ninety-minute community meeting at 6:30 tonight at Union Rec, 545 S. Main St., to field questions about the project.
Ten-story high-rise proposed to replace Live nightclub: The city will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. on July 8 at Zingerman’s Greyline Event Space at 100 N. Ashley St. for the public to ask questions about the plan by Talbot Development to demolish the buildings at the corner of First and W. Huron streets and an adjacent property to the west, according to a public notice. In their place, the company wants to build an all-electric mixed-use development with 280 residential units, retail, and a coffee shop. The proposal envisions 15 percent of the units being affordable for people under 60 percent of the area median income. Presently, the site is home to Live, Last Word bar, HanJan Pocha House, and the Arbor Atrium office building.
Broadway Park West opening set for Sept. 12: The city will celebrate the transformation of the once-blighted and polluted industrial site north of downtown Ann Arbor with a weekend of music and community events put on by the Lower Town Riverfront Conservancy, MLive reports. The park, funding for which was kicked off by a mysterious $20 million state grant, is just the start of what is planned for the former DTE coal gasification site; Detroit-based developer Roxbury Group is developing a series of buildings next to the park, including condos, retail spaces, a nine-story hotel, and a riverfront restaurant.
Self-driving truck company expands to A2 with $3M state grant: Virginia-based Torc Robotics says it will create 500 jobs by 2030 as it establishes a 32,000-square-foot engineering center off US-23 and Plymouth Rd., according to a press release. According to Crain’s Detroit Business (paywall), the Daimler Truck subsidiary will get $1.5 million once the company spends its expected $5.6 million on its facilities, with the rest coming “once the job creation promise is achieved.” The average expected salary for positions related to this project is $177,000 per year, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation says.
County plans three new roundabouts: Scheduled for construction next year, they will appear at the intersections of Zeeb and Scio Church roads in Scio Twp., Whittaker and Martz roads in Ypsi Twp., and Dixboro Rd. and Pontiac Tr. in Superior Twp., WEMU reports. The Washtenaw County Road Commission will hold public information sessions in the fall to explain the design plans.
Santa Ono says he won’t return to U-M as faculty: The former president, whose bid to become the president of University of Florida went spectacularly awry, formally resigned his faculty post this week, the Detroit News reports. Ono was a biology professor in LSA in addition to his leadership role, but his contract did not provide tenure so it was unclear whether he could expect to return to Ann Arbor to teach. “This is to confirm that I informed UM that I have no intention of returning to the University of Michigan,” Ono told the newspaper in a statement. “But I wish all members of that great institution all the best moving forward. I have great affection for the university. Forever Go Blue!”
One-time batboy recalls history of Ann Arbor Travelers: The semi-professional team, part of the National Baseball Congress, practiced at West Park in the 1950s, Mike Sinelli writes in this month’s Observer. The players included former minor-league players and some youngsters hoping to get noticed. “It was a great mix: farmers, factory workers, business executives, college kids, even a doctor,” according to Sinelli. “In the fifties and sixties, the Travelers were the best baseball team in town, including the University of Michigan.” The team traveled – hence the name – around the state, even playing the Jackson Prison team, and Sinelli recalls playing a team in Wyandotte with “a high school kid in left field named Willie Horton. He hit two 400-foot home runs to beat us.”
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U-M and Olympic runner Savannah Sutherland set an NCAA record in the 400 meter hurdles race this month en route to her second national title in three years. This week, she and gymnast Fred Richard, also an Olympian, were named U-M athletes of the year. Courtesy: MGoBlue.
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Missing man with Parkinson’s, dementia found: Eighty-two-year-old retired U-M chemistry professor Ralph Yang, who went for a walk near Pin Oak and White Oak drives on Monday evening and never returned home, was found alive Wednesday night by a creek, according to an AAPD social media post. Yang was taken to U-M Hospital for evaluation. AAPD credits search-party volunteer Ben Osenbaugh and his dog, Dolly, with locating him by a creek in Bird Hills Nature Area in the 2500 block of Newport Rd. less than a mile from his home. Osenbaugh told ClickOnDetroit he saw Yang’s shirt from a steep cliff and went down to find him. “He was not responsive, but he was moving,” Osenbaugh says. “I could see him moving his mouth and moving his hand a little bit, so I knew he was alive.” Police chief Andre Anderson says more than 200 volunteers were out looking for Yang last night, “a true testament to how strong our community is and how we look after each other.”
Taylor man killed when gravel truck tipped: Forty-eight-year-old David Reminder was working on a construction site at Miller Ave. and Red Oak Rd. on June 19 when the vehicle fell over as it was unloading, MLive reports. He was found unresponsive inside the cab of the truck and declared dead on the scene. The $8.6 million project involves replacing a water main pipe, upgrading traffic signals, and installing additional infrastructure for bikers. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support his two daughters and fiancée.
Five rescued, one injured from Huron River over weekend: Firefighters were called Saturday to help a group of kayakers in distress, including one who fell overboard near Bandemer Park, according to an AAFD post on social media. On Sunday, AAFD responded to a call of a man injured jumping into the water from Gallup Bridge. He sustained minor injuries. AAFD warns in the post never to jump off bridges because “the depth of the river is constantly changing and the river is full of debris. … The Huron River is NOT a controlled ‘lazy river’ like you would find at an amusement park.”
Baby delivered on the side of Ypsi road: Jade Ortiz and Deondrick McLilly barely made it fifteen minutes in the car en route to Trinity Ann Arbor Hospital before she delivered her fourth child on Leforge Rd., MLive reports (paywall). McLilly says he’s “just happy that everything’s OK and we are healthy enough to do it.” The parents incorporated the name of the street where the delivery happened into their son’s name, Kyson Leforge McLilly.
Ex-EMU cop charged with allegedly hiding camera in hotel, locker room: Twenty-seven-year-old Alex Colarossi has resigned from the police department amid an investigation by the state police, Fox 2 Detroit reports. Police say they’ve identified three female victims so far. Colarossi is accused of planting cameras in the hotel room of a co-worker as well as in the hotel locker room during a police union conference in Grand Rapids in January. Police chief Matthew Lige said in a statement that, so far, “there is no indication of similar actions of this nature against anyone else on our campus.”
Deaths by suicide fall for third straight year: Thirty-four people in Washtenaw County took their lives in 2024, down from thirty-eight in 2023 and 32 percent fewer than the fifty in the peak year of 2019, according to the Health Department’s annual suicide report. Overall, the suicide completion rate was 9.1 per 100,000 residents, significantly lower than the federal government’s target of getting the rate nationally below 12.8 per 100,000 residents by 2030. Dexter had the highest rate in the county, 16.2 per 100,000 residents. Two-thirds of those who died by suicide were male and firearms were used in more than half of the deaths. The overall rate of suicide attempts fell slightly as well to 15.5 per 100,000 residents, down from 16.7. If you are considering self-harm, call or text the national Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988.
County among few in Michigan with more kids than seniors: An analysis of recent Census data by MLive found there are 120 people under 18 for every 100 people over 65 in Washtenaw, but even that ratio is a huge drop from 1970, when there were 517 youngsters for every 100 seniors. Across the state, most counties now have more seniors than kids, a result of the aging Baby Boomer population and lower birth rates. Ontonagon County in the far west U.P. had the fewest kids, just thirty-one per 100 seniors; Kent County had the most with 163 kids per 100 seniors. The demographic shift has significant public policy implications because it’s driving falling school enrollment and growing demand for senior citizen housing and services.
YCS hits record high for school of choice students: Nearly 500 students from outside the school district’s boundaries enrolled in Ypsilanti Community Schools in the last school year, the most since the entity was formed through the merger of the financially troubled Ypsilanti and Willow Run districts, Chalkbeat Detroit writes. Still, more than half the students who live in the district don’t attend the public school system; YCS is trying to change that with “innovative programming, such as the K-12 International Baccalaureate, an elementary Spanish immersion program, and STEAM programs in every school.”
Wolverine drafted by Brooklyn Nets in first round: Forward Danny Wolf was the twenty-seventh player selected to go to the NBA last night, MGoBlue writes. That was a bit lower than predicted, the Detroit Free Press says (paywall), noting he was one of twenty-four players selected to sit in a special area at New York’s Barclays Center in anticipation of being an earlier pick. Wolf, a junior who transferred from Yale last year and helped rookie coach Dusty May take the team to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament, is U-M’s thirty-second first-round draft pick.
U-M runner sets NCAA record, takes national title: In her final race as a collegiate athlete, Savannah Sutherland zoomed through the 400-meter hurdles in 52.46 seconds, MGoBlue writes. The win, which can be seen here, came along with setting the NCAA record and the Canadian national record: Sutherland hails from Saskatchewan. Sutherland ran for Canada in the Paris Olympics last year, finishing seventh. She and Olympic gymnast Fred Richard this week were named U-M athletes of the year for 2024-25.
New Pioneer High grad makes racing suit-turned-tux out of duct tape: Calder Westerman, eighteen, spent eighty-five hours and fifteen rolls of tape to have a chance at winning the Duck Brand Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest and $15,000 for college, WNEM reports. Last week, judges ruled his design one of five finalists; the contest’s public voting period runs through July 9. Westerman, who heads to Ferris State this fall, adorned the green suit with the school’s mascot, Brutus the Bulldog, while also paying tribute to his favorite racecar driver, Keiichi Tsuchiya. Westerman’s older brother was also a finalist for this competition in 2021. Westerman says that, “It was a lot of painstakingly detailed work, but also a lot of fun.” To vote for him, click here.
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JD Sports opens at Briarwood: The British sportswear and sneaker retailer, which entered the U.S. market by acquiring Finish Line in 2018, has taken a 8,500-square-foot location on the center court, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. District manager Greg Gambrell says the store will offer a mix of major brands like Nike and Adidas, along with JD’s own lines such as Sonneti and Hoodrich.
Pancheros, Carter’s close: The Mexican restaurant inside the Galleria Mall on South University, which celebrated thirty years in 2024, shut down last month in advance of the building being replaced with high-rise apartments, Algase writes in this month’s Observer. It was the third store in the chain when it opened; there are now more than seventy locations in thirteen states. Meanwhile, Carter’s/OshKosh B’gosh shut down at Maple Village. A pediatric medical practice will soon open in the spot near Plum Market.
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John Kinzinger (left) founded Warriors and Caregivers United after learning about post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide rates among returning veterans. Combat vet Terry Hall (right) tells Antonio Cooper in this month’s Observer that he’s one of those Kinzinger saved. Credit: J. Adrian Wylie.
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A2 Area Community Foundation invests in gaps: The foundation’s Impact Investing program is funding projects traditional lenders won’t touch, like child care expansions, workforce housing, and BIPOC-owned small businesses, Concentrate reports. So far, it’s created fifty new child care slots, helped launch housing in Ypsi, and supported transitional housing for previously incarcerated people. President and CEO Shannon Polk says, “AAACF has long been committed to addressing economic inequities across the county, and impact investing is about building long-term infrastructure with tangible impacts.”
Warriors and Caregivers United offers support for veterans, families: Founder John Kinzinger, a Vietnam veteran and Ford Motor Co. retiree, has been helping other veterans for thirty-five years, Antonio Cooper writes in this month’s Observer. After learning about post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide rates among returning soldiers, he created WACU to offer one-on-one mentorship, community engagement, and events like recovery retreats for veterans and their caregivers. WACU board president Terry Hall says that by “creating venues where we can bring people together, we can create relationships that provide hope.”
Volunteers uncover sixty graves at abandoned Black cemetery: The restoration of Woodlawn Cemetery in Ypsilanti Twp. is being led by preservationist Kat Slocum using a $30,000 grant from the county’s Historic District Commission, Bridge Detroit writes. There are believed to be about 150 graves in the cemetery, which was a final resting place for Black people at a time when most cemeteries refused them. So far, eighteen of the graves uncovered belong to military veterans. The cemetery opened in 1946 and was abandoned in 1965. To sign up to help clean up the cemetery, click here.
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By Jennifer Taylor
Friday: Catch the Purple Rose premiere of actor-playwright Matt Letscher’s “Bert and Trixie Visit the Vet,” a comedy about four pets plotting an escape from a veterinarian’s waiting room. Adult language and subject matter. Wed. to Sun., through Aug. 31. 8 p.m. (Fri. and Sat.), 3 p.m. (Sat., Wed., and Thurs.), and 2 p.m. (Sun.). Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park St., Chelsea. Tickets $45.15 in advance online or at (734) 433–7673, and (if available) at the door.
Saturday: Take a quarter-mile “Wall Crawl” mural tour with an Ann Arbor Art Center guide who discusses the artist’s process and concept behind many of the murals in the Ann Arbor Social District. Age twenty-one and up only; participants will have an opportunity to order a drink from The Grotto to enjoy on the walk. 5 to 6 p.m., Ann Arbor Art Center, 117 W. Liberty. $10 per person. Preregistration required at here (space limited).
Sunday: At Top of the Park’s Rackham Stage, groove along with Lady Sunshine & the X Band (7 p.m.) the local gospel-flavored blues band led by the fiery, rich-voiced singer. The festival’s live music concludes, as it has for decades, with a set by George Bedard and the Kingpins (8:30 p.m.), the popular local rockabilly, blues, rock ’n’ roll, and honky-tonk band fronted by guitar genius Bedard. 7 p.m., Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Ingalls Mall at Washington. Free, but donations accepted.
See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events.
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