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A2Politico
A2POLITICO: If I Eat At Your Restaurant and You Donate My Money To Rick Snyder. Should I Care?
by P.D. Lesko
BY NOW, MIDDLE-CLASS Democrats and independents all over the state of Michigan are reeling from the consequences of voting (or not) for a gubernatorial candidate who ran a campaign that, in essence, was short on substance…
A2Politico: County Treasurer—“There Was Too Much Possibility For Fraud Or Abuse.”
by P.D. Lesko
THIS NEWSPAPER, UNLIKE many in the United States, has a regular column that deals with the issues of hunger, homelessness and poverty in our city, state and nation. “Urban Exile” is not fluffy feel-good journalism. The…
A2Politico: The Ann Arbor Observer—“As you know, we made a serious error in reporting…”
by P.D. Lesko
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I opened the February 2014 issue of The Ann Arbor Observer and discovered my photo. The title of the piece? “A $250,000 Election: This Year’s City Council Race Is Shaping Up As The Most Expensive…
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…
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…
A2Politico: Winter Classic Glitches. A2 Officials: “We See Nothing.We Know Nothing.”
by P.D. Lesko
THE WINTER CLASSIC hockey game that drew over 109,000 people to Michigan Stadium for a match-up between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs showed off the best of Ann Arbor and the worst of Ann Arbor. Having…
A2Politico: Voting In Support Of “Sloppy Government”
POLITICAL INSIDERS are playing a game called: “Pin the Campaign Button on the Ann Arbor Mayoral Candidate.” They suggest that the person next elected mayor will serve a long time, thanks to voter apathy and an incurious media (present…
COLUMN: Members Of City Council Can’t Seem To Get Along. What’s The Problem?
MIDWESTERNERS HATE conflict more than we hate freezing rain, haughty vegans and screaming kids/ineffectual parents in the grocery store. We smile. We’re solicitous. We want to get along. We want other people to get along. The truth of the…
A2Politico: The New Jim Crow
by P.D. Lesko
MY TWO SONS have been, at various times, advanced in social studies, reading, mathematics and science, according to their scores on the MEAP tests. During the past two years, their overall proficiency scores dropped…
A2Politico: AADL Bond Proposal #2?
Please Note: Katherine Griswold is the Chair of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board.
by P.D. Lesko
THE ANN ARBOR District Library Board members have clearly not given up on the idea of razing the main library on Fifth Avenue…