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Ann Arbor Government
“Scary to think of the effect if the public knew there was heroin dealing in the building.”—January 2011 Trustee Email To AADL Director
ON MARCH 17 Ms. Josie Parker, Director of the Ann Arbor District Library, spoke before Ann Arbor City Council and confessed that “over the past 36 months” there have been “five heroin overdoses” at the main branch of the public library. In…
Ward 5 Council Member Faces Questions From Public & Council Members About His Ethics
WARD 5 COUNCIL member Chuck Warpehoski is facing questions from both the public, as well as his Council colleagues concerning his open support of the AAATA’s May 6 transit millage ballot proposal. The Council member’s wife, Nancy Shore, is…
A2POLITICO: Trustees & Director Keep Mum On Library’s Drug Crime Problem
by P.D. Lesko
THE DIRECTOR OF the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) has a heroin problem. It’s not only her heroin problem, exactly, except that it is. On March 17, AADL Executive Director Josie Parker went before City Council to tell…
Survey: Colleges Want More Guidance On How To Best Handle Cases Of Student Sexual Misconduct
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES across the nation would welcome additional support and assistance in creating appropriate sanctions or interventions with students who are found responsible for sexual misconduct.
That was one of the main…
Q & A: Washtenaw Watch Dogs Founder Dr. Douglas Smith
DR. DOUG SMITH, a pathologist, isn’t a guy who rolls over and plays dead in the face of injustice. Prior to July 2011, the University of Michigan’s campus trespass policy permitted lifetime bans. Between 2001 and 2011, 2,050 individuals…
Better Transit Now Group Launches In Opposition To AAATA Request For Tax Hike
Please note: Kathy Griswold is the Chair of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board.
SUPPORTERS OF LOCAL transit argue that Mayor John Hieftje has pushed everything but local transit—trains to Howell, park and rides and bus service…
Between 2009 and 2013, Cell Phone Allowance Costs For City Employees Rose 46 Percent
It appears that not only is Ann Arbor paying employees the total cost of their cell phone plans, but in some instances pays employees almost 2.5 times more than the monthly cost of popular cell phone/texting plans.
CELL PHONE COSTS paid…
Critics Allege Secondhand Drug Money Helped Finance Sabra Briere’s Reelection To City Council In November 2013
IN HER 2013 City Council race, almost half of Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere’s 2013 campaign funds came from money donated by the owners of medical marijuana dispensaries. The owner of a local dispensary held a fundraiser for Briere…
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…
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…