City of Ann Arbor vows to crack down on graffitti

They hope to so by cracking down on property owners who don't clean it off within two weeks! That is their ass-backward solution. I shit you not. That is how they treat us property owners around the People's Republic of Ann Arbor. How about if the city also makes a stronger effort to arrest these spray-paint happy little creeps and have the community service portion of their sentences be to remove it maybe?

The NY Times profiles a football Saturday in Ann Arbor

And so what makes the People's Republic of Ann Arbor the Manhattan of the Great Lakes according to the NY Times? "...[It is the] the urban sophistication of this town — with its mix of restaurants, bars, boutiques, art-house movie theaters and world-class art museums — that keeps many University of Michigan alumni from leaving long after they have graduated."

Well yeah, maybe. But having around five thousand or so goofballs residents that permanently retain the outlook of a 19 year-old college sophomore hanging around town is both a joy and a curse. Mainly a curse though in my humble opinion.

The truth about the "revitalizing the cities" hype

From the New Geography blog on the "Let's-move-back-to-the-city!" hype now currently in vogue: "Most [large] cities are either far too expensive or too lousy to even be a option for most middle class families (still the number 1 buyer of houses)."

The author here is talking about the meme being put out by some that posits that because some trustafarians and childless yuppsters are moving back to the urban core cities and are loving it that there must be a major demographic trend at work. But then again with their means they'd love living just about anywhere, no?  So in that sense it really is "all about the Benjamins".

Some aspects of this this phenomenon seem to apply to my hometown of Ann Arbor. A lot of folks who don't actually need to live in the People's Republic of Ann Arbor live or relocate to Ypsilanti or Pittsfield Township for the lower cost of living there or to Dexter or Scio Township if they have higher incomes. On the other hand there are also the old-timer hold outs (like me) and the folks that just like PRAA enough that they'll put up with the high taxes and the closed-off political system or in fact actively benefit from it. (And you guys know who you are.)

Gentrification on a very small scale doesn't prove anything. You can't build a large sized and thriving urban core with such a small albeit prosperous base.
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Ann Arbor city council figures out a way to bolix up traffic worse than it is now.

The council passed a law that makes it a violation to not yield to pedestrians at crosswalks — even if the pedestrian hasn't entered the crosswalk yet. And make the motorists duly nabbed by the AAPD $100 poorer courtesy of our nannies at City Hall. The cited drivers also get two points added to their driving records which will raise their auto insurance premiums as well. Forgive me if I seem utterly unsympathetic here but damn it all we voted for these people on council who implemented this absurdity.

On the brighter side since the police layoffs of last summer there are now fewer cops out there to ticket us. So there's that. I'm also not sure by what authority the council is able to add points to state-issued drivers licenses. And that's what will hurt you. It is the points that will  hurt the average "offender" more than the C-note fine. But I'm no lawyer so what do I know? Well as it happens one thing I do know is how things work in the People's Republic of Ann Arbor  (from sad & bitter experience) is that 15th District Court's traffic division is a joke where no one is ever acquitted, excused, or exonerated for any ticket ever and so you are gonna end up paying the fine plus any court costs that are tacked on for good measure folks.

So welcome to the People's Republic of Ann Arbor mofos! Now get your wallet out. Heh.

Ann Arbor Pioneer High-school sent 20 kids home for delinquent book fines

That'll learn 'em! What they'll learn from it remains to be seen. Probably learn the proper lesson better if do-gooder types don't pay their fines for them though.

Why bookstores don't work in downtown Ann Arbor any more

Short answer: The rents. The rents are high and the margins are too small. So say the current and former  Ann Arbor booksellers who were interviewed by Domenica Trevor for her Ann Arbor Chronicle piece about the economics of the bookstore business in Ann Arbor. Interesting conundrum. But I am sure that somehow or another the market will sort that issue out. It's the larger cultural change that worries me.

The sad reality is that books are becoming an expensive hobby like fine wines, exotic foods, horse racing, classic cars or Cuban cigars. For the class of people with lots of disposable income and intellectual refinement and who also have an interest in browsing around looking for books to read. Like the kind of people who browse estate sales and antique shops looking for just the right armoire for their guest bedroom instead of buying one from an Ikea warehouse outlet. The rest of us can just buy what we want off Amazon for our  Kindles or at the ground floor display at Barnes & Noble if we don't have a Kindle. Because for most of us time is money and money is dear. That's reality and it is indeed sad.

Weblog

Pittsfield Township PD officer cleared in February shooting
Suburban Ann Arbor officer blasts a guy. And now that guy is suing.
David E. Davis Jr., auto writer and founder of Ann Arbor-based Automobile Magazine, dies at 80
I really enjoyed his writing first at Car & Driver and later at Automobile. His stuff wasn't all wrenches and grease stuff either. It was more about the experience of the drive rather than strictly the technology of the vehicle.

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Homeless in Ann Arbor: The street view of a professional beggar
"'If you want to have any kind of spending money for tobacco, coffee, extra food, whatever, then you've got two choices,'  says Storm, who is homeless. 'You can either collect cans, which is really time consuming and doesn't pay off that well … so panhandling is kind of the way I make my money. And I don't really consider myself a panhandler. I'm a professional beggar.' "
Bomb undiscovered for weeks at Detroit federal building says union chief
The whistle-blower here is a union official for the unionized security officers employed there, so keep that in mind. Still though...

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Thayrone X buys long-time Ann Arbor radio station WAAM-AM
It will be interesting to see what format changes he makes. More blues and less politics would be nice.
Owsley Stanley - '60s SF Bay-area counterculture icon - dies in Australia 
Made and sold LSD (when it was legal to) and managed the Grateful Dead, amongst other accomplishments. He emigrated to Australia in the 1990s thinking it would be an easier place to survive the global climate catastrophe  he thought was coming.
ABC may close case on 'Detroit 1-8-7' tv show
Good cast, but the writing sucks.

Weblog

Bloomy's bubble bursts: New York City voters finally realize -- there's no there there 
NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg that is.
Officials sympathetic to Ann Arbor residents' concerns about noise on Division Street
Comments on this story show absolutely no sympathy either.
Rick Haglund: History doesn't prove that lower business taxes create jobs
A Michigan based business columnist claims to debunk that little bit of neo-liberal ideology.
When test scores don't add up: 32 metro Detroit schools show improvements too good to be true
Cheating, gaming the system, and lies probably account for it.
Ann Arbor Board of Ed picks new superintendent: Patricia Green
To be paid around $300K with benefits included. Nice work if you can get it.
Judge rules Wal-Mart can fire medical marijuana patient formerly employed at Battle Creek store
Sad what federal judges can do.
The Enigma of American Fascism in the 1930s
Interesting.
Why is the human brain so hard to copy?
Good question. A better question is "why do we want to"?
A view of war from main street America: Burying a 19 year-old Afghan war casualty
"Likewise, Brandon’s father and grandfather were expendable. They followed the rules and the system had sent their jobs overseas and left them in the lurch, to fend for themselves. They were expendable, too. No one cared that their lives had been wrecked, their hopes and plans destroyed. They were all three, son, father and grandfather, refugees from the American Dream; stunned wanderers in a world they never made. And their government didn’t seem to care. No one did. Brandon was in the coffin, but all three of them were casualties."

Sign of the times...cont'd.

Ann Arbor area homeless seeks "private sponsor" for permanent tent city location: So they don't have to squat on Michigan DOT's property. Sheesh. A permanent tent city of homeless people? This is what passes for social welfare these days. Kinder, gentler shanty-towns. They even  have a Facebook page.

Ann Arbor school children played for suckers by Pepsi Co fundraising scheme: "

"...[T]hey put out flyers, talked to businesses, e-mailed, Facebooked, and Tweeted. They even partnered in recruiting online votes with the Saline school district, which was seeking a $25,000 grant for a greenhouse. Their efforts brought in enough votes to finish in twentieth place in December's balloting--but not enough to win any cash."

But the "good news" is that Pepsi automatically re-entered them into it's January contest. Sheesh. Hey kids! The bottom line on this kinda scam to is to always (always!) ask: "Who benefits?" If, after careful consideration, you conclude it ain't you, politely decline such dubious offers and move on to something more realistic.