EDITORIAL: Perks For City Employees
SEWAGE IS FLOWING into the streets and Huron River more frequently. Water mains are rupturing. Ward 4 basements, backyards and neighborhoods flood with alarming regularity. Just a small percentage of residents rate important services as…
OP-ED: Legislature Gives Big Oil More Tax Breaks
By David Schaeffer
AS YOU READ this op-ed, a package of bills aimed at giving big oil further tax breaks and expanding eminent domain rights has already passed through the Michigan House with barely even a glimmer of resistance. This…
URBAN HUNTER: Buy It New? Five Things You Should Never Buy New
by Cliff Weathers
WHILE YOU MAY already be purchasing new products that are deemed environmentally friendly, you can actually contribute to a by buying used items, especially those that take a lot of energy and resources to produce. Of…
The Foodist: Wood-Fired Pizza—Mani Osteria Versus Bigalora Cucina
by Eleanor Shelton
PIZZA IS LIKE a favorite pair of jeans—you can dress them up and look great, but they are still jeans. Wood-fired pizza, takes the Levis and adds a glamorous top and kickass shoes to create an outfit pretty enough to…
OP-ED: Comcast’s Takeover of Time Warner Is A Horrible Deal For Consumers
By Dan Gillmore
AS COMCAST PUSHES regulators to approve its just-announced deal to buy out Time Warner Cable, it’ll make one essential point: the acquisition won’t visibly change the competitive landscape for TV and internetcustomers.…
THE PARENT TRAP: Child-Centric Parents: What to Do About Them
By Jason Hill
I LOVE KIDS. Honestly. For years I dreamed of adopting one, but my partner has no interest in being a parent and, truth be told, the happier I became with my own life the less I wanted a child. We have a lot of friends with…
HOUSE CALLS: Ann Arbor’s State Representative Discusses Lowering The Income Tax Rate Versus Entitlements
Representative Jeff Irwin, a Democrat, served for a decade as a Washtenaw County Commissioner. In January 2013, he began his second term in the Michigan House of Representatives. In his column, “House Calls,” The Ann Arbor Independent poses…
Deliverance: I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke
by Warren Liverance
IN THE FIRST few days following The Superbowl, the narrative consisted of the demonization of the people who were offended by “the Coke ad.” The one in which America the Beautiful was sung in several languages…
Ann Arbor District Library Surveys Patrons As Part Of Beefed Up Communications Plan
IN FEBRUARY 2014, Lansing-based EPIC-MRA began contacting 500-600 Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) residents about their satisfaction with the library. EPIC-MRA will be paid $25,000 to conduct the survey.
According to Nancy Kaplan, who…
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…
