Enviro

Editor’s Note: Kathy Griswold is the Chair of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board. THE WASHTENAW BIKING and Walking Coalition, a small local alternative transportation advocacy group, recently launched an online petition drive to…

THE BOARD MEMBERS of the AAATA (formerly the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority) include individuals who live outside Ann Arbor. Most Board members have little experience in transportation policy. This is because rather than appoint members…

Editor’s Note: Katherine Griswold is the Chair of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board. WARD 1 COUNCIL member Sumi Kailasapathy conducted an email exchange this Fall with city staff, including the city’s transportation project…

SINCE DECEMBER 2012, there have been seven raw sewage spills into the Huron River. On August 29, 2013 there was sewage spill into the river at the spot where it runs through the Nichols Arboretum. The spill was not reported by the media…

GROUNDWATER BENEATH  a swath of the city of Ann Arbor is currently contaminated by the suspected carcinogen 1,4 dioxane. The City of Ann Arbor website has a FAQ page dedicated to answering questions about the contamination. Likewise, the…

Long-time Ann Arbor Transportation Authority Board members Jesse Bernstein and David Nacht will be "retiring." The public story is that the two have served their terms and are happily busing off into the sunset. Political insiders, however,…

BETWEEN 2010 AND 2012, Berkeley, California, Walpole, Massachusetts, Auburn, Maine, and Concord, New Hampshire, among other U.S. cities voted not to adopt single-stream recycling, or abandoned single-stream recycling, according to a 2012…

by P.D. Lesko Freedom of Information Act requests are governed by the notion that public government has the obligation to err on the side of transparency. It is also governed by the principle that if public records released would benefit…

by P.D. Lesko Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje doesn't have a good track record of getting other politicos to jump on board his transit schemes. The WALLY commuter train was supposed to run between Washtenaw and Livingston counties and be…

P.D. Lesko This is not satire. Those who support alternative transportation and expanded transit should read it and weep. Elected officials in East Lansing, Michigan—along with officials at Michigan State University—recently showed how…