The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team 2253 posts 224 comments

IN JANUARY 2014, Ann Arbor Fire Department Chief Chuck Hubbard will retire. His departure opens the door for the promotion of Assistant Fire Chief Ellen Taylor to the  top spot in the AAFD. Should she be moved into that job, Taylor will…

THE CITY’S 2015-2020 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) focuses on projects that city staff suggest will “provide for large, physical improvements that are permanent in nature that are needed for the functioning of the community, including…

Please note:  Council member Sally Hart Petersen was informed by Mayor Hieftje of U of M's proposal to purchase the Edwards Brothers property on State Street on November 18th. She attended a November 27th meeting with the owners of the…

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT SHOULDN’T be predicated on which of Ann Arbor’s 21 public elementary schools a child attends. The AAPS elementary curriculum is standardized throughout the District, and teachers are uniformly compensated, qualified,…

THE “NEW” ANN ARBOR  News is still churning out the same old “content-for-clicks” journalism that it was criticized for serving up to the community by the Columbia Journalism Review, as well as the American Journalism Review in separate…

THE NATIONAL CENTER for Safe Routes to School released the results of a study that concluded more K-8 students are walking and biking to school. The 43 page study, titled “Trends in Walking and Bicycling to School from 2007 to 2012” was…

by Nick Surgey GOOGLE, THE TECH giant supposedly guided by its “don’t be evil” motto, has been funding a growing list of groups advancing the agenda of the Koch brothers. Organizations that received “substantial” funding from Google…

by Jay Walljasper POWERFUL VOICES AROUNDWashington have singled out programs to improve biking and walking as flagrant examples of wasteful government spending. Since last summer, proposals have flown around the Capitol to strip away…

Please note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board. ON DECEMBER 4th Ann Arbor SPARK CEO and President Paul Krutko sent a letter to local elected officials, as well as the Ann Arbor City Administrator Steve…

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF the Ann Arbor Public Schools, Dr. Jeanice Kerr Swift considers “both organizations, the AAPSEF and the PTO Thrift Shop as tremendous partners in our work on behalf of Ann Arbor children.” Mary Cooperwasser, a former…