Opinion

by Joel Elconin LAST WEEK THE national media poured into Ann Arbor, Michigan to cover a protest over the recent events surrounding the school’s football team. The mainstream media portrayed the protest as some isolated event based on…

UNDER STATE ACT 283 of 1909, a local road millage may be levied by the county board without voter approval. The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has scheduled an Oct. 1 public meeting to hear from voters before the BOC imposes yet…

AAATA is using the whole of the 3 block faces (5th, William, 4th) as de-facto loading zones, and creating a dangerous situation for traffic and pedestrians alike.  It is impossible to turn northbound on 4th off William much of time, and…

DR. ROSE BELLANCA, in following popular president Dr. Larry Whitworth, had no easy way to blaze her own presidential path. She had two strikes against her. First, she is one of a minority of community college presidents in Michigan and the…

An Open Letter to City Council, DDA and AAATA Boards  In the photo below is the view of the boarding location (de facto bus bay) for AirRide on Fifth Street across from the Library. Note the new $8.1M Blake Terminal in the background and…

The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board is pleased to announce that it has added two new members. Ms. Natalie Wright, an Ann Arbor resident, is currently a second-year student at Washtenaw Community College and the editor of the…

IN THE T.V.  advertisement released by the Snyder campaign last week, Gov. Snyder assures voters that Michigan is on the “road to recovery.” Those who have not felt the recovery will feel it soon, he says. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s…

by Melissa Sklar OUR BEES ARE in trouble. Widespread reports claim that we have lost a third of our global bee population and other pollinators like the Monarch are rapidly disappearing. When I started my awareness raising group in April…

Michigan is known as the Great Lakes State for a reason. However, if we continue to allow deep drilling endeavors there will be little reason to claim this namesake. Hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking,” places the resources of…

AT ITS MOST recent meeting, the Ann Arbor City Council once again showed a deplorable lack of respect for transparency, process and the public, as did City Administrator Steve Powers. At the September 2 meeting, an item to approve $75,000…