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Opinion
EDITORIAL: Council Members’ Decision to Disallow Social Media Use a Wise Move
IN A 7-4 VOTE City Council members decided to disallow the use of social media during meetings: no Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat or Pinterest. Council members’ emails sent during their public meetings are subject to a variety of rules, as…
EDITORIAL: The Listening Tour—Growth
AAPS SUPERINTENDENT DR. Swift is preparing to launch another “listening tour” similar to the successful one she conducted shortly after her hiring. We congratulate her on this effort to get out of Balas and into the community to hear from…
EDITORIAL: The A2(You)FixIt App
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF the A2FixIt program and corresponding app was warmly welcomed in the editorial page of this newspaper. We complimented city staff who worked to design and launch the program which allows people to use a cell phone to…
EDITORIAL: City Employees Cashing Out Unused Vacation Hours Must End
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS fell down on the job between 2011 and 2014. The job performances of City Administrator Steve Powers and City Attorney Stephen Postema went without review. The Charter calls for Council members to evaluate only two city…
EDITORIAL: A Message to Gov. Rick Snyder
MR. SNYDER your “reinvention” of Michigan has left too many behind. We did not hear you acknowledge this during your campaign, and would have more confidence had we heard a frank assessment from you of Michigan’s challenges. The research…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Are Local Governments no Better than the Corporate Form we Have in Washington?
Recent research carried out by two professors supports the following conclusion:
“...policy makers in D.C. respond primarily to economic elites and groups representing organized business interests.” *
Our own city and county officials…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Debbie Dingell Makes History
I’m thankful Mrs. Dingell is ready to hit the ground running, because we need her to get busy immediately and work on global warming solutions. According to the IPCC summary report released this week, we must transition off of fossil fuels…
EDITORIAL: A Message to Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor
MR. TALYOR YOU have a serious credibility problem. In a recent “message” to citizens concerning your vision for Ann Arbor you wrote, “we must address affordability and affordable housing; reduce traffic congestion; do our part to combat and…
EDITORIAL: Once Again Rep. Zemke Shows Poor Judgement
FROM GETTING INVOLVED in local elections through endorsements in Democratic primary elections between Democratic candidates, to “endorsing” a proposed annexation of the Whitmore Lake Public School district, Rep. Adam Zemke continues to…
EDITORIAL: Annexing a Financially and Academically Failing District Does Not Serve Ann Arbor
THE WHITMORE LAKE Public Schools may be a short distance from Ann Arbor just up US-23, but the two school districts are plagued by the same financial woes and the Whitmore Lake district’s student performance as measured by the MEAP, SAT and…