Keeping Tabs—Locals To Watch In 2014: Dr. Jeanice Kerr Swift
Listening her way across the city. Budgeting her way to perdition.
Dr. Jeanice K. Swift was not the Ann Arbor Board of Education’s first choice to lead the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The search for Dr. Patricia Green’s replacement began…
Ann Arbor State Senator Warren Introduced 27 Bills, 8 Resolutions and 18 Amendments in 2013
ANN ARBOR’S 18th District State Senator Rebekah Warren introduced 27 bills between January and December 2013. All of Representative’s bills were referred to committees. Senate Bill 674: Establish statutory right to breastfeed in public was…
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…
EDITORIAL: Fewer Residents Rate Major City Services “Excellent”
THE CITY’S 2013 National Citizen Survey revealed that 92 percent of Ann Arbor residents rated the city as an “excellent” or “good” place to live based on overall quality of life. That figure is unchanged from the National Citizen Survey…
Ann Arbor State Representative Jeff Irwin Introduced 16 Bills, 5 Resolutions & 7 Amendments During 2013
ANN ARBOR’S 53RD District Representative Jeff Irwin introduced 16 bills between January and December 2013. All of the Irwin’s bills were referred to committees, where they remain. Those bills included one to legalize marijuana, a bill to…
Deliverance: The “Chickification” of the National Football League
OVER THE LAST five or six years, I have noticed a trend among the “football cognoscenti.” During the lead up to the season, excitement and interest in examining schedules, prognosticating, evaluating rookie performances, and drafting…
Op-Ed: Edward Snowden Is the Whistleblower of the Year
by Dan Sirota
FOR MONTHS A debate over Edward Snowden’s status has raged. In the back and forth, one question about this icon who disclosed NSA abuses has dominated: Is he or is he not a whistleblower with all the attendant protections…
Op-Ed: Natural Gas and Fracking Debate In Michigan Must Consider Environmental Justice
by David Sheaffer
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE as defined by the EPA is the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people……with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and…
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…
City Officials Spend Heavily On Advertising In Monthly Tabloid & Rely Less On Advertising In Twice Weekly Newspapers
THE ANN ARBOR Indepdendent accepts no advertising from local, county or state government, local universities or the Ann Arbor Public Schools. It is a policy that takes direct aim at bolstering the newspaper’s editorial independence. The…