Scaling Up 2015
Tom Fitzsimmons just finished eighteen condos at the former site of St. Nicolas Greek Orthodox Church. A block away, his company, Huron Contracting, is demolishing two rental houses that he’ll replace with four condos...
Read MoreNews
A New Train Station At Last?
Does Ann Arbor need a new train station to replace the thirty-two-year-old Amtrak station on Depot St.? Informed opinion runs the gamut.”There isn’t an immediate need,” says Fourth Ward councilmember Jack...
Read MoreRemaking Miller Manor
Before he moved into Miller Manor four and a half years ago, Matt V. had at least seven bouts of homelessness. Suffering from schizoaffective and substance abuse disorders, he moved in and out of the Delonis Center homeless...
Read MoreA Raise and a Request
Angry at a breakdown in communication, Washtenaw Community College’s faculty union voted “no confidence” in WCC president Rose Bellanca last year. The union also filed a complaint with the commission that...
Read MoreVacant Village
Developer Peter Allen assembled the property in 2000. He sold it to East Lansing-based Strathmore Development Company, which after years of negotiations with the city, county, and state won approval to build a grandiose retail,...
Read More
Taylor’s Win
In fourteen years as mayor, John Hieftje never publicly opposed the reelection of a fellow councilmember. His successor, Christopher Taylor, took that risk in his first term. In August’s Democratic primary, Taylor backed...
Read MoreWhat’s in a Name?
When MSU crushed Michigan’s football team last fall, many students drowned their sorrow in beer. Then-juniors Zach Bruch and Ryan Luck didn’t just vent. They started throwing names around–not just of...
Read MoreA Serious Man
Ann Arbor’s first police chief was also its longest serving. Thomas O’Brien started as chief in 1916 when the town went from mayor-appointed marshals to commission-appointed chiefs and ended seventeen years later,...
Read MoreWhat’s New
With iPhone poised I frame the scene. Standing on the east bank of the Huron River near Argo Canoe Livery, I see three yellow kayaks head off downriver. It’s a pretty summer riverscape. With a touch to the phone’s...
Read MoreCreating an Experience
How important is it for you to watch the game?” Raul Perdomo, supervisor of guest services for U-M athletics events, poses this question at interviews, and it’s surprising. How could someone not watch the game while...
Read MoreHidden Sights 1
Storm sewers come up a lot when sustainability is discussed: they take every bit of poison we put on the ground, concentrate it, and put it into our waterways. There has to be a better way, and Ann Arbor is trying one along the...
Read MoreHidden Sights
Those of us raised in the suburbs with perfectly manicured lawns may easily misconstrue a rain garden as a patch of unruly weeds and flowers. Rain gardens are popping up all over our community. They’re functional, but many...
Read MoreHidden Sights:
“When I was a student at the University of Michigan, I made it a habit of visiting almost every park of any size in the City of Ann Arbor,” writes Monroe blogger The Erie Hiker. “The amazing thing is that even...
Read MoreThe Performance Network
The Performance Network Theatre is a hub of artistic activity. A full season of professional productions is supplemented by children’s theater, classes in theater arts for adults and kids, and free play readings. The...
Read MoreVegetarian-Friendly
My husband and I got awfully sick of grilled cheese sandwiches a couple summers ago while vacationing for six days in the Upper Peninsula. Breakfast wasn’t usually a problem, but finding vegetarian options on lunch and...
Read MoreHealed by Nature
The Elsifor family, one branch or another, has lived in Ann Arbor for four or more generations, but I have lived here for only eight years. When I moved here there was a lot going on in my life that wasn’t good so I...
Read MoreFeeding Crows
The things I’ve done to get birds to eat.I’ve donned a hand puppet resembling a crow to offer chunks of raw meat to a real fledgling American Crow.Using tweezers, I’ve fed wriggling mealworms to a nestling...
Read MoreWho’ll Control Council?
The eight candidates running for four seats in the city’s August 4 Democratic primary don’t agree on much, but they do agree elections are getting more interesting.This one is interesting. Three of the incumbents are...
Read More