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Ann Arbor Government
Keeping Tabs—Local To Watch In 2014: Ward 4 Council Member Jack Eaton
Friends say: He’s measured. Collegial. A leader. Detractors say: He’s a DINO. Anti-everything. Bad for Ann Arbor.
Jack Eaton speaks slowly, so slowly that sometimes you wonder how he doesn’t nod off in the middle of a sentence.…
Keeping Tabs—Local To Watch In 2014: Ward 2 Council Member Sally Hart Petersen
Over the past 190 years, only two women have served as mayor of Ann Arbor. Can Sally P. be #3?
Sally Hart Petersen ran a clever campaign to defeat two-term incumbent Tony Derezinski, a former state legislator. Mostly though, Sally…
EDITORIAL: More Money For Traffic Enforcement
AT THE DECEMBER 16th Ann Arbor City Council meeting, Council members Eaton, Lumm and Kunselman introduced a resolution to allocate $125,000 to Police Chief John Seto’s department. The money will fund enhanced traffic enforcement in order to…
76 Percent Of Citizen Survey Open-Ended Response Answers Focused On Roads & Taxes
IT’S USUALLY DEATH and taxes that define the inevitable. However, in the city’s 2013 National Citizen Survey, comments about roads and taxes dominated the open-ended question responses. Respondents were asked to record their opinions about…
Jane Lumm Pushes Mayor For “Timely” And “Equitable” Sharing Of Info With City Council Members
WARD 2 COUNCIL member Jane Lumm ran for re-election in 2013 on a a platform that included improving the transparency of city government. She was not only talking about the need for city government to do a better job of sharing information…
Could Assistant Chief Ellen Taylor Bring Needed Stability To The AAFD As Ann Arbor’s First Female Fire Chief?
IN JANUARY 2014, Ann Arbor Fire Department Chief Chuck Hubbard will retire. His departure opens the door for the promotion of Assistant Fire Chief Ellen Taylor to the top spot in the AAFD. Should she be moved into that job, Taylor will…
Mayor & Council Member Petersen “Filtering” Info About Important Land Deal?
Please note: Council member Sally Hart Petersen was informed by Mayor Hieftje of U of M's proposal to purchase the Edwards Brothers property on State Street on November 18th. She attended a November 27th meeting with the owners of the…
Op-Ed: The Bicycling Community Is Becoming a Political Force to Be Reckoned With — And That’s Great News
by Jay Walljasper
POWERFUL VOICES AROUNDWashington have singled out programs to improve biking and walking as flagrant examples of wasteful government spending.
Since last summer, proposals have flown around the Capitol to strip away…
AAATA Fiscal Year Begins With Service Hour Costs Trending Up & Ridership Trending Down
WEMU AS WELL AS The Ann Arbor News recently reported on data contained in a Peer Comparison Report released by Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority officials which focuses on a comparison of per passenger costs with “peer public transit…
EDITORIAL: The City’s Five Year Capital Improvement Plan
FROM A TRAIN STATION to sidewalks, the city’s 2015-2020 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) is jam-packed with projects that city staff suggest will “provide for large, physical improvements that are permanent in nature that are needed for the…