The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team 2253 posts 224 comments

SENATE MAJORITY leader Randy Richardville introduced a bill last week, about three weeks before the deadline for backers of the higher wage hike to file signatures to put their initiated law before the GOP-led Legislature. Assuming…

DURING THE RECENT Ann Arbor mayoral race there have already been questions about the part “temperament” plays in a candidate’s fitness to hold office. At a mayoral candidate forum held in April, one of the first questions asked of the four…

THE AAATA MILLAGE vote was costly. Ted Annis, former treasurer of the AAATA Board of Directors placed the amount spent on the special election, staff time, surveys, consultants, marketing and materials by AAATA at around $1.5 million.…

by Cliff Weathers MICHIGANDERS WHO raise chickens, goats and honey bees on their residential property have had their right to keep livestock stripped away by the state’s Agriculture and Rural Development Commission, which says they are…

by P.D. Lesko IT’S USUALLY DEATH and taxes that define the inevitable. However, in the city’s 2013 National Citizen Survey, comments about roads and taxes dominated the open-ended question responses. Respondents were asked to record…

ANN ARBOR NATURAL Area Preservation (NAP) works to protect and restore Ann Arbor’s natural areas and to foster an environmental ethic among its citizens. This involves conducting plant and animal inventories, ecological monitoring, and…

THE HEADLINE IN The Michigan Daily says it all: “University won’t take action at this time on faculty letter to Regents.” By not taking action, U-M officials are, of course, choosing to continue with a multi-million dollar bonus and…

by Donna Iadipaolo ALMOST EVERY SCHOOL year in Ann Arbor, Haisley Elementary School Teacher Cedric York instructs students in his fifth-grade class to write to prominent leaders from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Mr. York…

IN 2000 THERE were eight miles of bike lanes in Ann Arbor. City officials recently began touting the number of “lane miles” of bike lanes: 71.8 (a lane mile is a mile on one side of a two-land road). The mayor often tells media that Ann…

by Melissa Walker WHILE I’M NOT a full-makeup girl most days of the week (or really ever), I’d be hard-pressed to abandon my daily lipstick and mascara habit—it really does brighten my face so that I can avoid the dreaded “You look…