Browsing Category
Economic Development
City Administrator Defends Refusal of SPARK Board, On Which He Sits, To Release Audit Statements To The Public
Please Note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board.
ANN ARBOR CITY Administrator Steve Powers (below) sits on the Executive Committee of Ann Arbor SPARK. SPARK is funded with public money from both state…
Audit Statements Raise Questions: Is Ann Arbor SPARK A Private Venture Capital Firm or A Public Nonprofit Organization?
Please note: Kai Petainen sits on The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board.
SINCE 2009 ANN Arbor’s elected officials have given Ann Arbor SPARK over $5.1 million dollars in public money. In addition, a Washtenaw County tax has…
EDITORIAL: Time To End Public Money For Ann Arbor SPARK
ANN ARBOR SPARK officials have refused to provide audited financial statements to the public and elected officials. When Governor Rick Snyder and MEDC CEO Michael Finney headed the organization, the Annual Report claimed that over 12,000…
Citizen Complains To Michigan Attorney General to Get Ann Arbor SPARK’s Audited Statements
Editor’s Note: Kai Petainen serves on the Editorial Board of The Ann Arbor Independent.
THESE ARE THE facts:
1. Between June 2009 and November 2013, the City of Ann Arbor gave Ann Arbor SPARK $5.1 million dollars from its General…
Ann Arbor SPARK Refuses To Release Audit
WARD 1 CITY Council member Sumi Kailasapathy is a CPA. It was Kailasapathy who pushed the Council’s Audit Committee to investigate further after it was revealed City Attorney Stephen Postema had allegedly “double-dipped,” in accepting a car…
Groupon Belly Flops Into Michigan’s Social/Tech Start-Up Pool
by P.D. Lesko
Groupon was founded and is headed by graduates from the University of Michigan. In January 2012, former AnnArbor.con business reporter Nathan Bomey wrote a glowing piece about Groupon, its founders and their connection to the…
Still Stealing You Blind: Ann Arbor SPARK Spends $7.7M & Creates 79 Jobs
by Rob Smith
The 1 percent here in Ann Arbor are just different than us. They look at out-of-work folks and hungry children, homeless men and women tossed out of Camp Take Notice, struggling small businesses and cash-strapped school…
House Calls: Rep. Jeff Irwin — “Snake Oil Salesman” Republicans Have Slowed Michigan’s Recovery
Representative Jeff Irwin, a Democrat, served for a decade as a Washtenaw County Commissioner. In January 2011, he began his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives. In his regular column, House Calls, A2Politico will pose a…
On European Trade Trip, Gov. Snyder Promotes Failing Mich. Tech Firm That Has Lost $412.3M Dollars Since ’09
A2P Notes: In Fall 2010, A123 Systems opened what the company touted as the "world's largest lithium ion automotive battery manufacturing plant in North America" in Livonia, Michigan. According to a September 13, 2010 piece in the New York…
Photos Reveal Michigan “Trade Delegation” to Europe “Exploring Growth Opportunities”—At Italian Art Museums
by Rob Smith
In the March 13th issue of the New York Times there is an article about the severe economic problems that face Italy. That country, like Michigan, has been in one of the deepest recessions on record. Unemployment in Italy last…