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Since 2011 City Administrator Steve Powers Has Cut Spending On Automobile Allowances
While spending increases on meals out, travel, luxury lodging and cell phones, monthly car allowance costs drop significantly from a high in 2010.
UNDER FORMER CITY administrator Roger Fraser in 2009 and 2010, according to information…
Testing Ann Arbor Public Schools On Its Release Of Public Records
In May 2012 former Superintendent Dr. Patricia Green told parents to use the Freedom of Information Act to access public records and information. The new Superintendent urges transparency and minimal reliance FOIA for routine requests. …
A2POLITICO: You Want What? “We Can’t Possibly Fix All The Roads.”
by P.D. Lesko
THE LAST TIME Julie Grand ran for City Council, she told a room full of voters at a Democratic candidate forum: “And I don’t know that we can get every road paved in the neighborhood. I don’t know that we can fix all of the…
Q & A: Italian Slow Food Pioneer Carlo Petrini
by Sarah van Gelder
IN 1986 CARLO Petrini and a group of friends threw a big pasta feed in Rome’s storied Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps). The event was a protest against the opening of the first McDonald’s in Italy. Out of that…
$1.5M Diverted From Public Schools Used For Ann Arbor SPARK Salaries, Marketing & Legal Fees
Using a tax increment financing scheme, since 2006, over $5 million dollars have been diverted from the cash-strapped public schools and given to Ann Arbor SPARK officials.
WHILE ANN ARBOR Public Schools officials, parents and students…
Ward 2 Council Member Petersen Announces She’ll Run For Mayor: Move Mirrors Hieftje’s Path To The Gavel
ANN ARBOR CITY Council member Sally Hart Petersen announced in a press release sent to the media on January 14 that she plans to run for mayor. Petersen, elected to represent Ward 2 in 2012, unseated former state legislator Tony Derezinski…
A2Politico: The Debate Rages: Who Needs More Firefighters? Can You Feel The Heat?
by P.D. Lesko
THE ANN ARBOR OBSERVER, recently published a piece about staffing and standards within Ann Arbor’s fire department. Council members and former Council candidates have alleged that The Observer takes pains to support the…
An Interview With Naomi Klein: “Big Green Groups Can Be More Damaging Than Right-Wing Climate Deniers….”
by Jason Mark
Canadian author Naomi Klein is so well known for her blade-sharp commentary that it’s easy to forget that she is, above all, a first-rate reporter. I got a glimpse into her priorities as I was working on this interview.…
THE ENVIRONMENT: 13 Major Clean Energy Breakthroughs
The rapidly improving technology, declining costs, and increasing accessibility of clean energy is the true bright spot in the march toward a zero-carbon future.
by Kiley Kroh & Jeff Spross
While the news about climate change…
ACLU Supports DOJ Guidance On Discipline Gaps Such As The One In The Ann Arbor Public Schools
THE DISCIPLINE GAP. Put simply, the term describes the gap between the number of minority students (primarily Black and Hispanic) and white students who are formally disciplined and/or expelled from the public schools they attend. Data from…