Using Public Money to Run a For Profit Venture Capital Fund? Council members, elected officials and media: SPARK, a NON-PROFIT, is taking taxpayer money and they are managing a FOR-PROFIT fund. Tax-payer money is being…

WARD 1 COUNCIL member Sabra Briere has repeatedly said she (and by extension, the public) cannot be certain that Ann Arbor SPARK is responsible for the jobs the entity’s employees claim their programs and services help create and retain. In…

by P.D. Lesko AT A RECENT mayoral candidate forum, unabashed supporters of “crony capitalism”—what President Obama’s former economic expert Dr. Lawrence Summers called the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s programs—defended Ann…

Economic Development Entities and Public Schools Thank you to The Ann Arbor Independent and Rep. Jeff Irwin for working to expose the damage being done to public schools across Michigan by so-called “economic development” organizations…

SEASONALLY UNADJUSTED unemployment rates in May rose slightly in 12 of the state’s 17 major labor market regions, according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. Total employment and labor force levels increased…

“I THINK THE  metrics we give you are appropriate.” Ann Arbor SPARK CEO Paul Krutko made this statement at the June 16 City Council meeting. Mr. Krutko’s appearance at that meeting was nothing short of shocking. From loudly upbraiding Ward…

by P.D. Lesko Please note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board ANN ARBOR SPARK CEO Paul Krutko was “angry” and “screaming,” according to a City Council member who heard an exchange between Krutko…

Please note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board by P.D. Lesko ANN ARBOR SPARK is once again under fire for discrepancies in its job creation claims. Forbes.com writer Kai Petainen uncovered a…

Using a tax increment financing scheme, since 2006, over $5 million dollars have been diverted from the cash-strapped public schools and given to Ann Arbor SPARK officials. WHILE ANN ARBOR  Public Schools officials, parents and students…

On a path where politics and principles meet.  AT POLITICAL GATHERINGS, Washtenaw County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi is often the tallest man in the room and at 24-years-old, often the youngest. He is serving as the Chair of the BOC, one…