Ward 4 Council Member Claim “Residents Don’t Shop Downtown” Draws Sharp Criticism
AT THE NOVEMBER 7th City Council meeting, Ward 4 City Council member Margie Teall made an observation: She said that Ann Arbor locals shop at big box stores and that downtown is supported by “tourists.” It should be noted that Teall did not say her comment was based on any data collected by merchants. Rather, she was offering up an opinion.
What Teall didn’t know was that her comment ignited vociferous criticism from some of the city’s residents who follow local politics very closely. She was also challenged by the government reporter for the Ann Arbor News, Ryan Stanton, who was sitting in the Council Chambers. The irony is that all of the criticism of Teall’s comment took place online, in electronic notes passed between a group of residents who watch City Council meetings at home and Live Tweet their comments to each other. It was Teall, in 2009, who defended her own use of electronic communications during open meetings to rig votes, criticize her colleagues and mock the public. While she eventually apologized to the public, in a 2009 piece published by the former Ann Arbor News, Teall likened her use of email during open meetings as “passing notes” during tedious meetings.
The Council member did not participate in the Twitter discussions and does not have a Twitter account.
At 11:22 p.m. Stanton Tweeted to his 1,674 followers: “Margie Teall just said Ann Arbor residents seldom shop downtown and it’s the visitors who keep businesses going. I shop downtown!”
Stanton’s Tweet drew a response from Julie Weatherbee. Weatherbee, who was appointed to Chair the Ann Arbor Planning Commission’s R4C/R2A advisory committee, has been harshly critical of Council members Anglin, Lumm, Kailasapathy and Kunselman in her Live Tweeting of City Council meetings.
Weatherbee responded to Stanton: “CM Teall just said local citizens shop at big box stores and only visitors shop locally. Speak for yourself, Ms. Teall! #a2council”
Peter Honeyman, Director, Center for Information Technology Integration at the University of Michigan, and Weatherbee’s husband, chimed in “CM Whatshername gives a s/o to all those downtown shops that we all love but we seldom shop there. groan. #A2Council.”
Rich Reyti, the Social Media Director at Fluency Media, and a freelance writer called Teall’s assertion “horseshit.” He went on to say, “Downtown has a bunch of great stores.”
Stanton Tweeted back: “@juliewbee @RichRetyi If you took away what I get from downtown businesses, for starters I’d starve. So there’s that.”
Another local chimed in: “@ryanjstanton @juliewbee @RichRetyi screw that. I walked downtown to the coop with a half broken foot.” The “coop” refers to the People’s Food Co-op, located on Fourth Avenue, near Kerrytown.
Ingrid Ault heads the small nonprofit Think Local First. In response to Teall’s assertion, that only “tourists” shop downtown, Ault had nothing but praise for the Pure Michigan Ann Arbor marketing campaign.
“The Pure Michigan ads bring people from surrounding states to Ann Arbor’s downtown. The ads are also encouraging locals to take ‘staycations.’ It’s been a great campaign.”
Ault also said “Many of our locally-owned businesses are struggling to compete with online shopping. But even so there is still great support for locally-owned businesses. While shoppers are being tighter with local dollars, I think the Think Local First message does reverberate in Ann Arbor. For instance, local food and locally-owned bookstores are finding tremendous community support. I think that’s a little known fact that deserves more attention.”
When asked about membership numbers in her organization, Ault said, “Our membership is flat. Last year members said, ‘We’re only supporting your organization.’ This year they’re saying, ‘We can’t support you. We’re barely supporting ourselves.’ ”