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Suspect arrested in Parkway Meadows homicide: Sekou Conde, twenty-two, faces charges of open murder and first-degree home invasion among other counts in the shooting death of Donrell Canda, twenty-four, according to an AAPD post on Facebook. Police say Conde ambushed Canda as the victim entered his home in the complex off Plymouth Rd., chasing him inside and shooting at him as the victim’s three-year-old son slept in a bedroom. Conde is being held in jail without bond.
Shooting on S. University leaves victim with non-life-threatening injury: The shooter pulled out a handgun amid a late-night altercation with three men walking the opposite direction near the intersection with Church St., according to a U-M police post. One of the men was struck and the suspect fled on foot. Anyone with information about the incident should call AAPD at (734) 794-6920.
Woman sought in shooting on North Campus: Campus police say she forced her way inside an apartment in Northwood II on Monday night after asking for a glass of water and directions and instigated a brief scuffle. Moments after she left, the resident says, two gunshots were fired through his window. Nobody was struck. She was described as between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-6, 120 pounds and having red hair in long braids. Anyone with information should call U-M police at (734) 763-1131.
Poor air quality sparks unusual warnings: The county fell under a “red” unhealthy zone today and most likely Friday as well, according to AirNow.gov, the EPA’s monitoring site. The culprit is particulate from forest fires in northern Michigan and Canada that is circulating across the region. As recently as Sunday, the local air quality was in the “yellow” range, the second-best classification. AAPS has circulated advice to “take more breaks and do less intense activities” when outdoors, per the EPA’s guidance.
Dry spell envelops county, state: Making matters worse for air quality, the dearth of rain is raising the risk of fires, too. The county has see less than an inch of precipitation over the past month, at least two inches less than usual, according to the National Weather Service. The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office this morning issued a warning to be extremely cautious about campfires and burn piles, among other concerns. In Saline, the city is asking residents to limit watering to off-peak hours on alternate days.
U-M’s land acquisition speeds ahead: In addition to its planned 2,300-bed complex on Elbel Field, the university is moving swiftly to take full ownership of the blocks between Fifth and Division from Madison to Hill streets for a second new dorm. James Chen, who owns two S. Division homes, told MLive he has agreed to sell them for more than $1 million each, but owners of three other parcels are still holding out, so the university may use its power of eminent domain to seize the properties.
A2 to launch guaranteed monthly income pilot plan: One hundred families will be chosen to receive about $530 a month for two years starting in January using $1.6 million in American Rescue Plan funds, per an agreement approved this week by council. The recipients in the project, a partnership with U-M’s Poverty Solutions initiative, are expected to be low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs and the money is not expected to impact the families’ eligibility for other public assistance.
Council moves to ban sale of pets in stores: Would-be pet owners would still be able to buy dogs, cats, rabbits, long-lived birds, and other companion animals through reputable breeders and rescue organizations, according to the ordinance which passed unanimously on first reading this week. The second and final reading is expected on June 20. The goal is to remove incentives for stores to sell animals born in large-scale commercial breeding facilities, also known as mills.
Marriott Springhill Suites planned for S. State: Bacall Group, which is building a Home2 Suites by Hilton on W. Eisenhower Pkwy. and oversees some forty hotels in Metro Detroit, released a site plan and held an informational meeting this week, MLive reports. The site across from the U-M tennis center, most recently a beauty salon and spa, was sold in December for $1.5 million. Bacall, which also recently bought a half-built hotel in Saline with plans to finish it, says the Marriott could break ground in spring 2024.
$3.9M plan to repair, add bike lanes to north side roads moves forward: Work on Pontiac Tr. between Moore and Swift streets as well as Swift from Wright to Broadway streets and the intersection of Broadway and Swift are scheduled to start in July, MLive reports (paywall). Two more phases involving the same streets follow into the fall. Council approved $2.8 million this week to get the project underway.
Amtrak temporarily suspends some Michigan to Chicago runs: Wolverine trains 350 and 353 won’t run from Monday to Thursday for eight weeks starting July 31 due to construction along the tracks, MLive reports. The route includes stops in Ann Arbor.
Council of the Commons disbanded: The advisory group, which spent two years studying options for creating a downtown central park and a civic commons area, had run its course, councilwoman Jen Cornell said. She and her colleagues voted unanimously to disband the group, MLive reports (paywall). The move was opposed by advisory group member Alan Haber, who has spent more than a decade advocating for the city to transform the city-owned Fifth Ave. parking lot next to the downtown library into a park.
Council hopes tax tweak jumpstarts private affordable housing: Councilmembers raised the income limit for eligible projects from 60 to 80 percent of the county’s area median income and then approved a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) for a west-side project that forgoes taxes if residents’ income average no more than 60 percent, Trilby MacDonald reports in this month’s Observer. With affordable construction falling far short of the city’s goal of 140 new units a year – just 195 have been built since 2015 – “It is going to be multiple entities, both for profit and nonprofit, that will end up building all of the affordable housing that’s needed,” says Jennifer Hall, executive director of the Ann Arbor Housing Commission.
Downtown Ypsi property even more contaminated than previously known: The soil on the thirty-eight-acre Water Street site is so saturated with toxic chemicals left behind by 150 years of foundries, petroleum storage and other uses that residential development is impossible for some areas, MLive reports. Council approved a $1.5 million contract this week for further study of what would be necessary to mitigate the land.
Developer pitches 107-home spread in bucolic Lodi Twp: Arbor Preserve is a significantly less dense plan than the withdrawn 400-unit multi-family project the same company, Red Equities LLC, proposed in 2020, but it’s still raising alarms for current residents fearful of environmental impact and the loss of natural beauty, MLive reports (paywall). The township southwest of A2 has long been in a hyper-slow-growth mode, as Julie Halpert wrote in the June 2021 Observer. At that time, the township had issued just forty permits for single-family homes in the prior five years. The planning commission didn’t decide last week on the new pitch, which would involve two unconnected subdivisions of estate lots, instead asking for additional information about a proposed wastewater system and other aspects.
County, Webster Twp. cracking down on tiny homes: Little houses on the Firesign raw milk farm about 12 miles north of A2 are in peril because it violates a list of zoning, building, and health codes, MLive reports (paywall). They provide affordable housing with a low impact on the environment for residents and additional income for the farmers, but concerns about safety and sewage disposal have authorities issuing notices. Later this month, Firesign’s owners are expected to appear before the township’s planning commission to urge the board to amend the law.
Tenured nursing prof placed on leave amid sexual misconduct allegations: Robert Stephenson, who was director of the U-M Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities, was relieved of his duties last month and instructed to have no contact with students, the Michigan Daily reports. Two former students filed complaints in February 2022 with the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office. Stephenson’s attorney denied the allegations, insisted the professor is being targeted because he is gay, and vowed to sue.
Sparrow Health to become U-M Health-Sparrow: The name shift takes effect in April 2024, according to a press release. Michigan Medicine completed its $800 million purchase of the Lansing-based health system in April. The combined entity is now the state’s second-largest.
Skyline crew coach makes waves: Kit Bennett, hired in 2009 to start the high school’s team, has grown the sport there from twenty-five athletes to an average of seventy while leading his kids to seven national titles, James Leonard writes in this month’s Observer. The British-born rowing enthusiast also founded the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championships, the Washtenaw Rowing Center, and this month debuts the USRowing Women’s Selection Development Camp where rowers train for a national competition later this summer. “My hope is I stay here forever,” Bennett says of A2.
U-M students launch twenty-three-foot rocket in U.S. first: Members of the Michigan Aeronautical Science Association live-streamed from Randsberg, California, last month as they sent Clementine into space. It’s the nation’s largest liquid student-built rocket, the Daily reports. As the Observer reported in 2021, earlier tests took place at a facility near North Campus, around the corner from Plum Market and Zamaan Cafe.
Student-built underwater robot takes maiden swim in Huron: The device, constructed by members of a club at A2 STEAM school, plunged into the river last week to culminate multiple school years of efforts, MLive reports (paywall). The students had created several prototypes in learning how to control it remotely and use 3D printers for parts. Next up will be finding ways to use the robot to collect microplastics from public waterways.
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