2011 September

Pipe Dream?

“One way or another, dispensaries are going to be short-lived,” predicts Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje.In 2008, a hefty 63 percent of Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal legalizing medical marijuana. Just days...

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Best Practices

Governor Rick Snyder is pushing Michigan municipalities and school districts to adopt what he calls “best practices.” For cities, villages, and townships, that means three things: accountability, consolidation, and...

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Getting and Giving

Ann Arbor’s Downtown Kiwanis Club has been “getting to give” since holding its first thrift sale in 1927. Over the years, the club has raised more than $5.75 million by collecting donations of used clothing,...

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How the MRF Works

When Ann Arbor switched to single-stream recycling in 2010, the single biggest expense was the $3.6 million the city spent gutting its Materials Recycling Facility on Platt Road and completely refitting it with new machinery to...

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Write On

In the summer of 2010, I registered my ten-year-old son for a writing workshop at 826michigan. Trouble was, he didn’t want to go. Writing outside school hours? Not going to happen. Executive director Amanda Uhle says...

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Loft Living

As an intern in Madison, Wisconsin, Grace Hong lived in a windowless campus apartment without air conditioning. When the native of the Philippines moved to Ann Arbor to enroll in the U-M’s Global MBA program, she says, it...

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Leaping Forward

Brandan Montgomery did very well at the public high school he attended in Washtenaw County. Too well for the effort he put into it, he says. He didn’t study, slept through classes, and still received As on tests....

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Horseshoe Delight

The Huron River bisects Ann Arbor with a winding swath of beautiful ponds and flowing water. Its steep bluffs and rich floodplains are protected by a patchwork of parks that comprise more than 1,000 acres of open water, forested...

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Chelsea to Ulaanbaatar?

Michael Kundak-Cowall has a dream: driving a tiny car from London, England, to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, partly to raise money for charity—and partly just for the sheer thrill of participating in the annual Mongol...

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1901 to 2011

Ask Chelsea Mayor Jason Lindauer what’s wrong with the city’s current police station, and he’ll answer with a question: “How much time do you have?”Ask police chief Ed Toth, and he’ll answer...

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Strange Percussion

“Anything you could hit that would make a noise would serve our purpose,” says Lev Gartman.On stage in the Angell Elementary School auditorium, seven U-M students stand behind a pair of folding tables as a group of...

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The Fishtank Ensemble

The Fishtank Ensemble takes its name from a club called the Fishtank in Oakland, California. When they come to the Ark September 1 (see Nightspots), they’ll be bringing a style of music that hasn’t been heard much in...

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