Ann Arbor

Stop the presses forever: Ann Arbor News’ demise still drawing headlines

By Newsroom

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August 26, 2009

The demise of the Ann Arbor continues to garner attention across the nation.Excerpt:ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- As she prepared informational packets for school board members 10 days ago, secretary Amy Osinski yelled a question to her boss that probably wouldn't be asked in a city with a daily newspaper."Hey Liz, what should we do about clipping articles now?"Liz Margolis, director of communications for the 16,500-student Ann Arbor school district, was preoccupied with other effects from the local paper ceasing daily publication three weeks earlier. Two of her three teenage sons were competing in the city's annual junior golf tournament, and she could find nary a story or photo anywhere."The Ann Arbor News covered the heck out of it," Margolis said, lamenting the loss of a companion for her boys."Even though they're online all day, not having that sports page at night is a tragedy. My middle son took the sports pages to bed every night and studied the box scores."Across this city of 114,000, residents are coming to grips with the loss of their venerable daily newspaper, replaced by a Web version. Declining ad revenue and a prolonged recession are ravaging the newspaper industry, last year killing such iconic mastheads as Denver's 149-year-old Rocky Mountain News and the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer.Read the rest of the story here.

Mass transit round-up in Ann Arbor area

By Newsroom

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Development News

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August 26, 2009

Mass transit advocates won one and lost one in Ann Arbor this month. Welcome the Canton Express commuter bus. Say goodbye to The Link bus loop through downtown.The Canton Express began operation earlier this week, connecting commuters from the Plymouth/Canton area to downtown Ann Arbor. The bus makes two trips from Canton's Independence Park in the morning and returns twice in the afternoon. It makes stops at the University of Michigan, U-M Hospital and downtown.The Canton Express is run on the same concept as an identical line between Chelsea and Ann Arbor. The Chelsea line started last year and has built a steady ridership. The idea is to help downtown and U-M workers make their daily commute more efficiently, allowing more people to use downtown without having to find homes for their cars.Gone is The Link downtown bus. The little purple busses connected downtown and far reaches of U-M's campus with a number of stops in between, similar to how The People Mover works in downtown Detroit. The Link, which has been around for most of this decade, never lived up to ridership expectations and was cut so the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority could maintain other bus services.Source: Ann Arbor Transportation AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke

Small talk: Ann Arbor chef Aronoff

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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August 26, 2009

One of Ann Arbor's top chefs dishes about the new show she was on – Top Chef.Excerpt:Chef, cookbook author and restaurant owner Eve Aronoff, 40, of Ann Arbor made her television debut last week as a contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef." Aronoff grew up in East Lansing and attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She's the chef/owner of Eve in Ann Arbor and author of her own cookbook, "Eve: Contemporary Cuisine, Methode Traditionelle."This is the sixth season for the popular reality show, which this year takes place in Las Vegas. It airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Bravo. While Aronoff is not able to reveal anything about what happens on the show (she nearly missed being eliminated on the first episode), she was forthcoming about her career and passion for cooking. Read the rest of the story here.

U-M Zipcar fleets adds 2 cars, expands fleet to 15

By Newsroom

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Development News

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August 26, 2009

The University of Michigan's Zipcar fleet has grown beyond a baker's dozen and can now barely be counted on three hands.The university just received two new vehicles, rounding out the Zipcar fleet to a total of 15 automobiles. Those cars range from Ford Focuses to Honda hybrids to Mini Coopers."We have a wide variety of fuel efficient vehicles," says Grant Winston, an associate director with the university's Parking & Transportation Services Dept, which oversees the Zipcar fleet.Zipcar is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm that specializes in providing European-style car sharing in urban centers. Users pay a small annual fee to be able to rent a car on an hourly basis, which is often cheaper than renting a car for a day from car-rental company. About 1,400 students, faculty and staff at the university utilize its Zipcar fleet. The fleet has a 45 percentage utilization rate over a 24-7 basis, which is considered ideal because it makes sure a car is always available. Downtown Ann Arbor also started its own Zipcar fleet, which now consists of four vehicles."We have a growing portion of our membership among students," Winston says. "Undergraduate students aren't allowed to have a car on campus so this gives them wheels when they need them."Source: Grant Winston, associate director at the University of Michigan's Parking & Transportation Services DeptWriter: Jon Zemke

filterD Event Of The Week: Great Lakes Swimmers

By Jeff Meyers

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Arts & Culture

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August 26, 2009

Toronto's Great Lakes Swimmers run the emotional spectrum from heartache to heartbreak. Drenched in reverb and boasting luminous melodies that evoke such artists as Nick Drake, Emmy Lou Harris, and Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), this new-to-you band is only one of six scintillating events we spotlight in this week's filterD, your local guide to what's worth checking out.

Ann Arbor fights to keep its business attraction advantage amid falling building prices

By Newsroom

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General

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August 26, 2009

A skilled workforce and high quality of life aren’t the only things Ann Arbor needs to compete when it comes to business attraction.Excerpt:When Mercedes announced in March that it would open a 60,000-square-foot R&D facility in Ann Arbor, the company accelerated its search for local real estate - and everyone involved believed this region could reasonably accommodate the need.The search, I’m told, started to focus on vacant land in the South State corridor.But then Mercedes pulled out of talks, and now appears bound for Redford Township, near Detroit.The obvious question is: Why Redford?The company told local officials it couldn’t ignore the economic benefits of using excess capacity that it already has in another building. That building, in this case, is the Detroit Diesel facility.But the situation also raises questions about the drivers of corporate siting decisions in 2009 - and how Ann Arbor could be further impacted.Ann Arbor, it appears, is now competing on a much larger regional playing field, with price taking the lead.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor’s underground parking deck moves forward

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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August 26, 2009

The underground parking structure next to the Ann Arbor Library's Main Branch continues its steady slog toward becoming a reality.The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority approved upgrading the 6-inch water mains along Fifth Avenue to 12-inch water mains and hired Lansing-based Christman to handle the pre-construction planning. It all means shovels will go in the ground for the water mains by October and the main hole for the parking deck will start going down by early winter."I think we may start excavating in November," says Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.The DDA is spending $38 million to build a 3-story underground parking garage under Fifth Avenue and the surface parking lot adjacent to the downtown library branch. The new structure, set to open by the 2011 Art Fair, will feature 677 parking spaces, replacing the 200 spaces on the surface lot.The parking deck will feature a number of green features, including plentiful natural light, dimmers on the parking light and LED to save electricity. It will also feature power outlets for electric cars. The DDA is also looking into utilizing geothermal heating systems, solar panels and reusing gravel from the excavation in the cement for the structure."It's going to be as green as we can make it," Pollay says.Happening separately but impacting the same project is the newly released request for proposals for a development above it. The city issued the RFP to solicit development projects for the space above the parking garage.The perimeter of the large site could reach as high as 4-6 stories. The interior of the block could go as high as 18 stories and facilitate office, residential or hotel space or even a combination of those. Ideas bandied about for the space include an office tower and convention center.Source: Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke

A Tale Of Two Cities

By Terry Parris Jr.

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Arts & Culture

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August 26, 2009

As Brooklyn is to Manhattan. Or Oakland is to San Francisco. Or just plain Ypsitucky. Over the years Ypsilanti has been endlessly compared to Ann Arbor. But now, with the elbow grease of its growing creative class, the former factory town is creating an identity all its own. Terry Parris looks at the community's emerging DIY arts identity and how it squares with Ann Arbor's more established institutions.

Ann Arbor’s venture capital leaders envision vibrant recovery

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 26, 2009

Not even the recent financial tsunami can wash away the venture capital groundwork that has been laid in Ann Arbor.Excerpt:More than $200 million in government funds allocated to Michigan-based venture capital investors in recent years will enable Ann Arbor’s VC sector to prevent the financial crisis from becoming a crippling blow, local experts said.National observers have notably predicted that the financial crisis would liquidate one out of every three venture capitalists. But local VC proponents say many Michigan investors have positioned themselves to survive the crisis.“We have just as much of a chance to survive as other states,” said LeAnn Auer, executive director of the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Venture Capital Association. “That’s because we have a lot of the infrastructure built - we have a great entrepreneurial economy that’s been plugging along and improving within the last few years.”Read the rest of the story here.

U-M, Ann Arbor chip in for new rail station near U-M hospital

By Newsroom

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Development News

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August 26, 2009

Half a million dollars from the city of Ann Arbor and University of Michigan has been invested to create conceptual plans for a new railroad-centric mass transit center on Fuller Road near University of Michigan Hospital."This enables us to take the next steps," says Eli Cooper, transportation manager for the city of Ann Arbor.The next steps include figuring out how many bike racks such a station would need, what the traffic projects would be and how best to connect the various modes of mass transit there. The city and university are working with Ann Arbor-based JJR, which is bringing in out-of-town experts in mass transit to make it work.The Fuller Road transit station would replace surface parking lots at the intersection of Fuller and Maiden Lane. It would connect the Border-to-Border Trail, AATA buses, the proposed Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line, Chicago-Detroit high-speed rail line and bus rapid transit/streetcar line to downtown."This facility is conceived to create that gateway that would replace the Amtrak station," Cooper says.This project is part of the Ann Arbor Connector Feasibility Study - a study that would call for creating a crescent moon-shaped line for either streetcars or bus rapid transit system or enhance bus service.Source: Eli Cooper, transportation manager for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke