Bill Harmer Looks Ahead
When voters passed the Chelsea District Library’s proposed millage increase by a 59-41 percent margin in August, CDL director Bill Harmer was thrilled. “I would consider that almost a landslide, really, given the...
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Real Estate Ripple
The market for low- to mid-priced homes has heated up in Saline, Dexter, and Chelsea, according to three local Realtors. Although the feeding frenzy was most intense in spring 2013–snow delayed the start of this...
Read MoreConsultants of Mid-Michigan
Only 37 clever Fake Adders found the Fake Ad for Consultants of Mid-Michigan on page 29 of the Summer Community Observer.”You were pretty tricky this time separating the word community into ‘COMM. Unity...
Read MoreWhat a Ride!
Anne Irvine doesn’t step into a roller coaster–she leaps. She grabs the handle and swings her legs into the car like a vaulting gymnast. “Woo-hoo!” she shouts as she lands in the backseat of the...
Read MoreBackstage Drama
In May, Erin Sabo, executive director of the Performance Network Theatre, arrived at a meeting of the theater’s board of directors. They wanted an accounting: what does PNT owe? Sabo’s response wasn’t...
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Looking Out for Monarchs
“The Monarch is undoubtedly the most familiar and widely recognized butterfly in North America.” So wrote the author of the Butterflies of Michigan Field Guide, published in 2005. But we saw not a single monarch last...
Read MoreSave or spend?
When Washtenaw County closed the books on 2013, it recorded a $3.9 million surplus. Now the question is what to do with it.From her perspective, “it needs to go into reserves,” says county administrator Verna...
Read MoreHelping hands
When Priya Khangura went to work for Food Gatherers two years ago, she developed a pilot program delivering fresh produce to needy families at their kids’ schools. And she didn’t stop at handing out fresh fruits and...
Read MoreLearning Curve 2014
Since 2007, seven “roundabouts” have opened around the periphery of Ann Arbor, mostly at intersections previously controlled by stoplights. Planners promised they’d yield less congestion and fewer accidents....
Read MoreRestored Habitats
The local affiliate of the global affordable housing group began building single-family houses in 1989. Habitat sells the houses to qualified families: those with sufficient income to pay their bills, mortgage, taxes, insurance,...
Read MoreBounties of Spring
Jesse Shepherd is an expert woodsman. In season he hunts wild turkey and deer, traps muskrats, and hunts small game. In summer he enjoys fishing the lakes in the Waterloo State Recreation Area between Jackson and Chelsea. And...
Read MoreClassy Consignment
Chelsea gained two new consignment shops this year. In May, Diana Rodgers relocated The Sewing Shoppe, her three-year-old alterations, repairs, and tailoring business, from a tiny 300-square-foot space near the Parts Peddler to...
Read MoreChelsea’s Compassionate Conservative
When Republican Mark Ouimet announced last winter that he was giving up his seat on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to run for the state house, Democrats hoped first-time candidate Adam Zemke might take the...
Read MoreThe Land of Preservation
Land preservation has its own contradiction: to keep a treasured piece of property safe in a natural state so that the public can enjoy it forever, you have to keep the public out—lest its ardent enjoyment trample the...
Read More1901 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...
Read MoreChelsea 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...
Read More“We’ve Got to Grow the Business Environment.”
Mark Ouimet looked as if he couldn’t lose in the election for state representative from the 52nd District in northwest Washtenaw County. Not only was he well known as a three-term county commissioner, but he’d also...
Read MoreAuctions for Education
Spring is fundraising season at local educational foundations: in March and April, volunteers will hold events to benefit the public schools in Chelsea, Dexter, and Saline (see list below). With sharper marketing and more...
Read MoreEllie’s Opens in the Clocktower
When Jolly’s restaurant owners were ready to sell their business after a brief go at serving sandwiches and salads at the Clocktower Commons, it was the right time for Judy Radant and her family to buy. Radant—a lifelong...
Read MoreThe Chelsea Antique Mall Rolls In
Ed GreenLeaf Jr. says he never imagined he would be selling antiques in the space adjacent to Chelsea Lanes bowling center—a community fixture GreenLeaf opened in 1962. But when Aberdeen Bike & Fitness moved to a new...
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