Happy first snow! It’ll be gone long before this newsletter reaches you, so enjoy thirty-eight seconds of it through a three-year-old’s eyes.

This weekend, for the first time in at least a decade, I’m going to a U-M football game. A friend’s husband is one of the coaches and isn’t going to use their forty-yard-line seats, and although the Wolverines’ season has been disappointing, it’s a chance to see them play my own alma mater, Northwestern. We’re even getting pre-game field passes. 

I’m looking forward to the game, sure, but also to sampling all the fancy food and alcohol added to the concessions stands since my last game. Plus, a few years ago while in Evanston, I stumbled across a rare Michigan-Northwestern “divided loyalty” hat and now I have the best opportunity ever to show it off.

Something else to show off: The news. The city’s bicentennial year is coming to a close, the police say they won’t help president-elect Donald Trump with his plans for mass deportations, and council is weighing a big request for public funding for a development near Briarwood. Also, there’s a new star on the U-M women’s basketball squad.

– Steve Friess, editor

P.S. Next week’s a2view will arrive on Wednesday afternoon instead of Thursday on account of the holiday. Look out for it!

City asked to spend $104M on three garages: The local real estate firm Oxford Companies and Ohio-based developer Crawford Hoying told council at a Nov. 12 meeting that the twenty-acre Arbor South mixed-use development near Briarwood Mall depends on public investment in parking, MLive reports (paywall). They’re asking the city to issue bonds to build three parking decks with a combined 2,500 spaces. The city would manage them, and the bonds would be repaid over thirty years from the project’s property taxes. Arbor South, at build-out, would offer nearly 1,000 housing units including 215 affordable apartments as well as a hotel, retail and office space. Councilmembers Dharma Akmon and Erica Briggs both expressed concern about spending public funds to support parking garages when the city is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

$8.6M traffic-calming, bike lane plan coming to Miller Ave.: Council approved a $6.4 million construction contract this week that requires Fonson Company Inc. to start the work by April and end by November, according to city records. It includes building a two-way bikeway plus upgrading traffic signals at Maple Rd. and Seventh St., new water mains and stormwater improvements, and resurfacing the road. The schedule and details are available here.

Measure to ban bins in bike lanes: Council approved its first reading of an ordinance amendment to specify that recycling and trash receptacles should not be put in the designated lanes, according to city records. Instead, the bins should be placed on the buffer, lawn extension, or the driveway. A second reading is expected next month.

Council easing law to allow more home-based daycare: Ann Arbor is a “childcare desert” with one slot for every eight children under five in the region, councilmember Lisa Disch said in support of a measure to permit such businesses in single-family residential neighborhoods, MLive reports. It also would allow them in places zoned for two-family dwellings, student housing, research and office/research/limited light industrial spaces. Disch says scarcity of child care facilities could be contributing to news reported by MLive (paywall) last week that the county is losing people in their twenties and thirties.

Bicentennial closing ceremony set for Dec. 14: The public is invited to a reception at Skyline High marking the end of the year-long celebration, the city says. The reception and art exhibit from 6 to 8 p.m. will be followed by a formal program featuring a performance by Skyline High musicians, a stage production of a bicentennial poem, and a showing of CTN’s “Happy Birthday, Ann Arbor” video. Tickets are $10 per person and are available here. In related news, the Ann Arbor District Library and local artists dedicated the Black History Bicentennial Mural last week, the Daily reports. Stretching across the south side of Library Ln., it features eight paintings based on photographs from the AADL archives.

A2 Farmers Market building headed for demolition: Problems were found in the small office and restroom structure’s foundation last year, Eve Silberman reports in this month’s Observer. It closed in May and will be removed in early 2025. That has the city once again reenvisioning the market’s future after rising costs killed previous plans for better shelter during the winter months. The Wednesday market closes next month, but a hardy core of vendors sell on Saturdays all winter long.

U-M enrollment hits record at 52,855: That includes 34,454 undergraduates, a 1.5 percent increase from Fall 2023, the Daily reports. Black students are 6.1 percent of the first-year and transfer class, up from 5.3 percent in 2023; 13.3 percent are Latino, and 17.2 percent Asian-American. In-state students comprise 52.5 percent of the class.

Bryce Underwood seems to spurn U-M football offer: The Belleville High phenom, ranked the No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2025, posted on Instagram an image of himself in an LSU jersey with the words: “#1 QB Likely to Decline Michigan’s $10.5M Offer,” Yahoo! Sports reports. He’s been committed to LSU since January, but recent efforts to get him to flip to U-M were said to include the promise of an eight-figure package of name, image, and likeness deals. Carter Smith, another top quarterback prospect, decommitted from U-M last month. Michigan did flip another top Belleville High prospect, safety Elijah Dotson, who had agreed to play for Pitt until yesterday, according to his X post.

Football players mentor kids through Best Buddies: The connection started in January 2023, when then-quarterback Jack Tuttle and center Drake Nugent were in a class with Lydia Goff, who volunteered in the program that pairs up adults with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Davi Napoleon writes in this month’s Observer. Mentors give the kids one-on-one time as well as attending monthly events organized by the nonprofit. Goff recruited Hail! Impact, which raises “name, image, and likeness” payments to compensate student athletes for charitable work, to include Best Buddies as an option. In August, Tuttle arranged a visit to the Big House and an opportunity for Buddies to meet the team.

U-M women’s basketball has a new star: Eighteen-year-old freshman Syla Swords, the highest-rated recruit in program history, scored twenty-seven points and twelve rebounds against defending champions and No. 1-ranked South Carolina in her Wolverine debut earlier this month, the Michigan Daily reports. Swords, who hails from Sudbury, Ontario, was the youngest-ever player on Canada’s women’s team at last summer’s Olympics. The Wolverines fell to South Carolina in that opening matchup, but it’s their only loss so far: they’re 4-1 going into Sunday’s home game.

AAPD, city won’t help Trump with deportation plans: Both elected officials and police chief Andre Anderson reiterated that the department will continue to follow the local law preventing cops from asking about immigration status, MLive reports (paywall). “We will be keeping an eye on this, of course, but the current ordinance prohibits AAPD from soliciting information on immigration status to determine compliance with federal immigration law,” Anderson wrote. The president-elect has threatened to withhold federal funding from cities that don’t assist his immigration crackdown.

Police searching for gun-brandishing man: Students on a porch in the 600 block of Oxford Rd. said they were menaced by four “college-aged males” who “attempted to provoke a fight” early on Sunday, according to a U-M security bulletin. One of the men displayed a firearm before the group left. Anyone with information can call (734) 794-6939 or email [email protected]. 

Main St. shut down by gas leak: The road was closed from William to Liberty streets on Sunday afternoon after the fire department responded to a report of a natural gas odor in the Blue LLama Jazz Club, MLive reports (paywall). A significant accumulation of natural gas was found in the basement where the Azalea restaurant is a tenant, AAFD chief Mike Kennedy said. DTE performed an emergency dig and had the leak fixed by 6:30 p.m. Nobody was injured.

Woman pleads guilty to PPP loan fraud: Fifty-six-year-old Yulonda Eckel of Ann Arbor agreed to pay more than $73,000 to resolve counts of lying on applications for two Covid-era Paycheck Protection Program loans and filing a false tax return, according to a press release from the office of Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel. Eckel falsely claimed that she owned a business with $104,900 in gross income to obtain $41,000 in federal funds. She faces sentencing in January.

Sheriff-elect hosts public swearing-in: The ceremony for Alyshia Dyer, the first woman and youngest person to hold the office, is Dec. 3 at WCC’s Morris Lawrence Building. It starts at 5:30 p.m. and RSVPs are encouraged. Dyer officially takes office in January. The public also can sign up here to volunteer for teams Dyer is assembling to plan her office’s strategic direction.

Free birth control, morning-after pills available: As part of the state’s Take Control of Your Birth Control campaign, the Washtenaw County Health Department is giving away emergency contraceptives and up to a six-month supply of Opill, an over-the-counter birth control medication, while supplies last, according to a press release. WCHD says free condoms and lube also are “always available” at the same site, the reception desk at 555 Towner St. in Ypsilanti, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. 

Most of Michigan’s biggest venture capital firms call A2 home: Crain’s Detroit reports fourteen of Michigan’s twenty-five largest VC firms are based here, including second-place Mercury Fund and third-place Arboretum Ventures. Mercury, with $750 million under management, focuses on software start-ups, while Arboretum, with $454 million, funds projects related to health care. Farmington Hills-based Beringea, with $850 million, is the state’s largest VC firm.

Dingell retains key party post: The Ann Arbor congresswoman, elected this month to her sixth term, will remain in charge of the House Democrats’ messaging efforts as chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, Michigan Advance reports. She fended off a challenge from Texas representative Jasmine Crockett in a 152-59 vote.

Ken Burns reflects on A2 upbringing: The legendary documentarian, whose latest two-part film “Leonardo Da Vinci” began airing this week on PBS stations, tells Current about how his family relocated to Ann Arbor in 1963 so his dying mother could be treated at U-M Hospital. He attended Burns Park Elementary, Tappan Middle School, and Pioneer High School, and worked at Discount Records. His first camera was a gift from his father, a U-M anthropology professor.

A reprise for the Songs: The mother-and-daughter duo, Yuon and Jenny, have opened Two Songs Bakery & Mart at 1958 S. Industrial to sell their increasingly gluten-free and vegan pastry, dessert, and confectionary preparations, Dave Algase writes in this month’s Observer. The family sold the Songbird Cafe last year while continuing to use its kitchen for their wholesale bakery operation. “I’m really excited, because it’s such a central location in Ann Arbor, but there’s not that much around here, which is interesting,” Jenny Song says.

Gora’s Grill closes abruptly: The vegan and vegetarian diner in Ypsilanti gave customers just two days’ notice via social media that their last day would be Nov. 16. Owner Deva O’Rourke told MLive that the closure came about because the restaurant’s general manager quit and that he would open it again if “we can find someone else to take it up and take it over.”

One Wing Snob opens, another coming: The fast-growing Detroit-based chain opened its first Ann Arbor site in August in the dining pavilion of the Michigan Union, Algase writes this month. The company expects to open another next year in a new building fronting the Meijer at Jackson and Zeeb.

Facebook group offers guide to free Thanksgiving meals: Its post lists nonprofits and businesses across the county that are giving away food or other support for the holiday. They include food baskets available to veteran families at the VFW Post on S. Wagner Rd. tomorrow from 9 to 11 a.m. and a similar offering from Hope Clinic on Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m. Thanksgiving meals are free on the holiday at Ann Arbor Vineyard Church on Platt Rd., the Food Gatherers Community Kitchen on W. Huron, and other locations. Some require sign-ups; see the Facebook post for further details.

Shelter Association collecting food, clothes tomorrow at Kroger: The annual Fill The Truck event runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the store on Plymouth Rd. Items sought include non-perishable foods like ramen noodles, pretzels, juice boxes, and canned soup as well as new men’s and women’s coats, socks, hats, and other clothing.

Up With the Sun breakfast to benefit Sparrow’s Place: The event, which is 7 to 10 a.m. tomorrow at Wolverine Pickeball, supports the Saline-based nonprofit that provides living arrangements for adults with developmental disabilities. To buy tickets, which cost $10, register here.

By Jennifer Taylor

Friday: Drop by the U-M Museum of Natural History for a Coral Reef Tank Visit, a free half-hour tour of U-M biology professor Jim Bardwell’s large tank featuring many species of coral, anemone, and fish. Age six and up. 12:30 p.m., every Fri. and Wed., U-M MNH, 1105 North University. Free. Limited capacity. Same-day sign-up at the welcome desk. (734) 764–0478. 

Saturday: See local singer-actors in a Penny Seats Theatre Company production of Michigan playwright Joseph Zettelmaier’s “The Men of Sherwood,” a drama-comedy-adventure about the reunion of the last of Robin Hood’s band of men, now middle-aged, who think their battles are far behind them. Age twelve and up. Through Dec. 8. 8 p.m. (Thurs. to Sat.) and 7 p.m. (Sun.). Cahoots, 206 E. Huron St. Tickets $20 (students, $15; kids twelve and under, $14; seniors, $18), in advance at pennyseats.org and (if available) at the door. (612) 210–7329.

Sunday: Hear the popular U-M Gamelan Ensemble perform traditional Indonesian music. The assembly of fifty gongs and metallophones, drums, strings, flutes, xylophone, and singers performs a concatenation of nonharmonic melodies built on cycles marked by the largest gong and subdivided by the other instruments. Founded in 1966, the U-M’s ensemble is one of the oldest in the U.S. 7:30 p.m., U-M Moore Bldg. McIntosh Theatre, 1100 Baits. Free. (734) 615–3204. 

See the Observer’s online calendar for many more local events. 

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