ADA Access at the State
Q. The State Theater doesn’t have an elevator, or handrails in the center aisle. Why don’t they have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act?A. The State Theater is “grandfathered” and has not...
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Unsticking the left
Ann Arbor’s academics, political progressives, and people of faith talk a lot–just not necessarily to each other. That’s why the Reverend Joe Summers of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation helped organize...
Read MoreLocal Boy Makes Good
Of the ten years Stephen Postema’s been Ann Arbor’s city attorney, the past one’s been his best yet for big wins in court.The blond-going-gray lawyer hasn’t lost a lawsuit since he got the job. But...
Read MoreThe Corruption of Sid Gilman
Turning eighty last year, neurologist Sid Gilman proudly displayed all the hallmarks of a distinguished career: An endowed chair at the U-M med school. National acclaim as an expert in Alzheimer’s disease. The...
Read MoreArsenic is Everywhere
“It’s all over,” says Allison Dondzila of Cribley Drilling & Champion Water in Dexter. She figures the company finds dangerous levels of arsenic in the water of one out of twenty wells it drills, and it...
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Mocking jay
The Bird Center of Washtenaw County took in 1,002 injured or orphaned birds last year. Most died or had to be euthanized, 324 recovered and were returned to the wild, and as winter set in, the volunteers were still caring for...
Read MoreTom Foley vs. JCI
Between 1944 and 1984, the Universal Die Casting factory occupied twelve acres of property on Monroe Street just south of downtown Saline. Built around the former Saline Creamery, it manufactured and electroplated die-cast zinc...
Read MoreNot So Green
Ann Arbor’s decision to cancel its Christmas tree collection two years ago left a lot of folks unhappy. But as disappointments go, it’s nothing compared to the switch to single-stream recycling.The city rolled out...
Read MoreWhose Library Is It Anyway?
Despite a tenacious campaign, Ann Arborites voted not to build a new downtown library. The decline of print media, an increasingly suspicious electorate, and a woman haunted by a dream all played a role. —On election...
Read MoreBurton Hoey vs. Everyone
It’s a beautiful fall day at Jenny’s Farm Market on the corner of Island Lake and Dexter-Pinckney roads, with sunlight shining on the straw maze outside and streaming through the jars of pickles and preserves...
Read MoreNeon revival
For years people walking by the Ann Arbor Bus Depot on West Huron shook their heads at its sad state of decay. Out-of-towners often thought it was no longer in use, while many townies assumed that the owner, Bill Martin, was too...
Read MoreMichigan migration
An interactive map on Forbes magazine’s website provides a fascinating picture of American migration over the past five years–including some encouraging trends for Ann Arbor. Clicking on a county will display every...
Read MorePhil Power’s Second Act
“The governor grabbed both of us by the arm and said, ‘Tell me what I don’t know.'”That’s John Bebow, president of the Center for Michigan, recalling an encounter he and center founder Phil Power...
Read MoreReturn of the GOP
Once all this was Republican.For all but fourteen of the seventy years before 2000, Ann Arbor’s mayors were Republicans, and so were its city councils. But Republican Ingrid Sheldon saw the demographic ground shift beneath...
Read MoreBottlenecked!
“I have no authority here at all,” the Rev. Yolanda Whiten announced to the line of voters that snaked throughout the basement of the Ann Arbor Community Center and out the door. “But does anybody here object...
Read MoreBlue vs. Red
The Fifty-Second District turned from blue to red two years ago when Republican Mark Ouimet won the state house seat previously held by Democrat Pam Byrnes. Now Gretchen Driskell wants to change its color again.Ouimet, a past...
Read MoreJudging the Judges
The four candidates for two seats on the Twenty-Second Circuit Court are strikingly different in appearance.In one race, there’s incumbent judge Tim Connors with his bolo tie and scuffed cowboy boots versus Wayne County...
Read MoreTwo boards and two millages
Paying for Public ArtOf all the possible city millages discussed in the last few years, from human services to safety services, an arts millage seemed the least likely–until August, that is, when a proposal to put one on...
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