Sandi Smith

Stephen Lange Ranzini is a local banker who has been involved in Ann Arbor politics for several years. He lives downtown with his wife, Lisa, and their three young children. While he has never run for local office, his advocacy on behalf…

by Patricia Lesko Erica Briggs, Jennifer Eyer and Lisa Disch all announced their respective candidacies for City Council and the 2020 primary election well over a year in advance. The trio, on their websites, talk about progressive…

We can't even comprehend having to write the headline that tops this editorial. Ann Arbor City Council members should never be playing on social media during open meetings or public hearings. But they are. Again. The Ann Arbor…

by P.D. Lesko WARD 1 COUNCIL candidate Don Adams, Jr. doesn’t have any endorsers listed on his website, but when asked offered up an impressive list: Mayor John Hieftje, former Ward 1 Council member Sandi Smith, Ward 3 Council member…

DURING THE RECENT Ann Arbor mayoral race there have already been questions about the part “temperament” plays in a candidate’s fitness to hold office. At a mayoral candidate forum held in April, one of the first questions asked of the four…

John Hieftje and his political pals have a reputation of ignoring public opinion. Perhaps the most egregious example was a 2008 Council meeting at which petitions with 6,000 signatures were presented to Council to urge them to put the…

In July 2012 Deb Polich (pronounced Polick) was named the new executive director of the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance. In August, says Polich, "We—the Arts Alliance Board and myself—had a meeting with Mayor Hieftje and Council members Taylor…

We begin with a fairytale: Once Upon A Time there were five Ann Arbor City Council members named Sandi Smith, Carsten Hohnke, Leigh Greden, Stephen Rapundalo and Tony Derezinski. They all unquestioningly supported Ann Arbor's Percent for…

By P.D. Lesko In 2007, Ann Arbor City Council passed the Public Art Ordinance that sets aside one percent of funds from all public construction budgets for art projects — to a maximum of $250,000 per project. On the City of Ann Arbor web…

by P.D. Lesko When I taught college, one writing assignment I most enjoyed was having my students compose letters to their elected officials. One woman chose to write a letter to the President. A couple of weeks later, she found her…