Browsing Tag
Mike Anglin
by P.D. Lesko
Ward 5 City Council candidate Chuck Warpehoski lists his job as the Executive Director of the tiny Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice on his City Council campaign web site as "community service." It's obvious that he's…
The Hatchet Job: Why's Sabra Briere Trying to Make Jane Lumm Look Bad?
by P.D. Lesko
Ann Arbor's fire department is under-staffed, fire-related deaths have tripled, citizens routinely wait for an hour for police to show up to non-emergency calls, fees for water, sewer and solid waste have risen sharply.…
How Much “Fire, Ready, Aim” Leadership Cost Taxpayers This Time
by P.D. Lesko
The University of Michigan picked up its marbles and is going home. Officials there are now looking to build the U.'s next parking garage anywhere but on a 10 acre parcel of riverside parkland on Fuller Road. While the U…
Six Candidates Now Poised to Run For Mayor & City Council
by P.D. Lesko
It's February, and in another 60 days or so those in the mood to run for mayor and City Council as Democrats or Republicans will have gone to the City Clerk's office and taken out petitions. Those running as Independents have…
Residents Say “No Go” to Mayor’s Plan To Pay For County-Wide & Regional Transit With City Millage
by P.D. Lesko
The public speaker, an older woman who rides the bus regularly, recounted a conversation with a friend who lives outside of Ann Arbor: "My friend said to me that she wished the AATA buses would run near her house so she could…
Politico Who Understated City Debt By $215,000,000 In Open Letter To Newspaper Complains About “Misinformation”
by P.D. Lesko
Fifth Ward Council member Mike Anglin sent out an email on January 15, 2012 in which he urged Ann Arbor residents to vocally oppose John Hieftje's proposal that Ann Arbor enter into a regional transportation agreement under…
Via Email Blast Local Politicos Urge Public To Rise Up & Stop Mayor’s Anti-Democratic Scheming
by P.D. Lesko
In 2004, the Ann Arbor News Editorial Board published an endorsement of Hieftje's mayoral opponent that included this zinger, preserved for posterity by Google:
“Hieftje’s largest failure is not one of vision, but leadership.…
A Local Political Machine Gets Sabotaged From Within — Again
by P.D. Lesko
How many direct hits from within can the Hieftje-Hive-Mind-Collective Cube withstand?
In summer 2009, the Cube took its first hit from within: Ann Arbor residents woke up to a front page piece in the Ann Arbor News that was…
Corporation Named As One Of Nation’s Worst “Corporate Tax Dodgers” Donates Regularly To Local Politicos
by P.D. Lesko
The headline at Salon.com says it all: "America's Corporate Tax Obscenity: A new report about companies' finances won't just enrage you it'll make you run to the nearest protest."
Salon writer Andrew Leonard writes:…
Will Ann Arbor Voters Press Delete and Dump Another Politico Because of An Email Scandal?
by P.D. Lesko
In June of 2009, the now defunct Ann Arbor News broke a story that revealed Ann Arbor City Council members were abusing email during open meetings to mock and make fun of constituents, to script debates and to rig votes, such…