Nonpartisan Elections Ahead?
The Second Ward Democrat says that’s why he plans to propose changes to city elections this month. “We started talking about election reform leading into the mayor’s race last summer,” recalls Ward...
Read MoreNews
The Building Official Vanishes
Jun 11, 2015 | News |
“I’m very concerned about the city going back to the way it was,” says Geoff Perkins, a board member of the Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Ann Arbor. He and other members complain that before...
Read MoreSnyder’s Way
When the Observer interviewed Rick Snyder in December 2010, the newly elected governor figured he had six months–from his inauguration on January 1 until the legislature’s summer break on July 1–to reinvent...
Read MoreInsider trading 2.0
May 19, 2015 | News |
That’s what New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman called a recently discontinued practice by the U-M’s Institute for Social Research. For the last five years, Thomson Reuters Corporation paid the ISR up to $1.2...
Read MoreThe Missing $900,000
May 3, 2015 | News |
When Marios Demetriou does the math for the governor’s proposed 2015-2016 school budget, it sounds good–at first.”All Michigan schools would see an increase in their [per-pupil] foundation allowance of...
Read MoreFrom Crisis to Opportunity
When James Woolliscroft heard the news in January 2007 that Pfizer was closing its drug research campus on Plymouth Rd., he thought, Wow, what an opportunity.This was far from the majority sentiment in Ann Arbor. The city faced...
Read MoreSales Tax on My Water Bill?
Apr 24, 2015 | News |
Q. When reviewing my water bill I noted that there was no sales tax included. If there is no need for a sales tax on water usage, why is one needed for telephone, electricity, and natural gas usage? A. That’s the law;...
Read MoreFlood Plain Reprieve
Apr 19, 2015 | News |
Recent changes in national flood insurance policy outraged many homeowners who found properties moved into a floodplain for the first time–but in Ann Arbor the effect has been largely reversed, if only temporarily.The...
Read MoreSeeing Red in Webster
“It was love at first sight,” gushes Nichole Nilsson. She’s speaking of her first visit to Nixon Farms while planning her September 2013 wedding. “The minute we walked into the barn, we thought this was...
Read MoreAn Elected Executive?
Apr 11, 2015 | News |
When county administrator Verna McDaniel announced her retirement in February, her bosses on the county commission asked her to stay while they searched for a successor. But they also played a wild card: “We’re...
Read MoreAnnexation on Hold
Apr 7, 2015 | News |
Will Dexter’s schools annex Whitmore Lake’s schools? Not anytime soon.”The discussion was put on hold,” says Dexter Community Schools superintendent Chris Timmis. “The cost model really...
Read MoreChanging Buses
Apr 5, 2015 | News |
For the past five years, the Ann Arbor Public Schools have contracted with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District to operate their school buses. But in January, the school board notified WISD that it wouldn’t be...
Read MoreThe New Northside
Mar 9, 2015 | News |
Last fall, Northside Elementary reopened with a new name–Ann Arbor STEAM @ Northside–a new principal, almost all new teachers, and an enrollment of 407 students–more than double last year’s 185.The new...
Read MoreScam Alert!
Mar 3, 2015 | News |
We’ve been alerted to a scam ad in the March 2015 Observer classifieds. A reader who responded to the ad above–for a free 1987 Honda 1200 motorcycle–thought the explanation sounded “fishy,” googled,...
Read More“Our Deer Are Mostly Ann Arborites”
Maurita Holland says the last straw was when the deer ate her rain garden. The retired School of Information prof replaced a patch of turf with a sunken garden of native plants–only to discover that the deer that roam her...
Read MoreExit John Hieftje. Enter Christopher Taylor.
“I was very open in 2012 about why I ran for another term,” says John Hieftje the day after the November election confirmed Christopher Taylor will succeed him as mayor. “I wanted to make sure the city got...
Read MoreAnnexation Failure
Dec 16, 2014 | News |
“We have work to do with our community,” AAPS superintendent Jeanice Swift says, “to see what they want in their schools.”In November, Ann Arbor voters decisively rejected a ballot proposal to annex the...
Read MoreFast Trains Coming
Dec 6, 2014 | News |
The prospect of seeing trains fly by at 110 miles an hour has been a hot topic of conversation along the Detroit-Chicago railroad line for several years. In Chelsea, train talk heated up again in October, when crews went to work...
Read MoreUpcoming Events
- April 5, 2026 “Walking with Whales Tour”: U-M Museum of Natural History 1:30 pm
- April 5, 2026 Social Tango Dances: Michigan Argentine Tango Club 2:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 Sunday Drop-in Tour: U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology 2:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 “Murder on the Links”: Purple Rose Theatre Company 2:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 “The JonBenét Game”: Theatre Nova 2:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 “Uncle Vanya”: U-M Theatre Department 2:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 “All About Owls”: U-M Museum of Natural History Discovery Demos 2:30 pm
- April 5, 2026 International Folk Dancing: Ann Arbor Folkdancers/Ann Arbor Community for Traditional Music and Dance 3:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 Phil Ogilvie's Rhythm Kings 5:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 Ann Arbor Morris 6:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 “Extra Credit”: Hear.Say Brewing + Theater 6:30 pm
- April 5, 2026 Ballroom Dance Club at the U-M 7:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 Traditional Irish Session: Conor O’Neill’s 7:00 pm
- April 5, 2026 Danielle Belen: U-M Music School Faculty Recital 8:00 pm