by P.D. Lesko The Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council (CAC). Sounds official, right? It is supposed to be a group of no more than 15 mayoral appointees who, by Council resolution, live within the downtown area and “advise the DDA and City Council with regard to implementation of the Downtown Development Plan and Tax Increment [...]
by P.D. Lesko There are five solid votes on City Council to bring to heel the members of the Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors. Those are the votes of Sumi Kailsapathy, Jane Lumm, Sally Hart-Petersen, Stephen Kunselman and Mike Anglin. The resolution needs six votes to pass, however. The DDA Board, comprised of a bushel [...]
by P.D. Lesko Dan Rainey, the City of Ann Arbor’s IT Director, raked in a six-figure salary as one of the highest paid employees in the city. Now, he’s off to work for former Ann Arbor Director of Public Services, Sue McCormick. Shortly after former City Administrator Roger Fraser took his pension and decamped for [...]
Under former city administrator Roger Fraser, the amounts paid out in tax dollars for cell phone allowances increased almost 95 percent between 2009 and 2012. By 2012, 196 of the city’s 693 full-time employees had been given cell phone allowances. Likewise, between 2009 and 2012, according to information from city officials released in response to [...]
In Ann Arbor, despite repeated cuts to services, cuts to police and fire, and hikes in fees for parking, parking fines, water, sewer, solid waste and city programs, cell phone allowances for city staffers, many of whom have desk jobs, continue to be paid out like clockwork. In fact, between 2009 and 2012, the amount paid annually for cell phone allowances almost doubled.
by P.D. Lesko Bernie Madoff sold a “sure thing.” He went to prison for life. Single-stream recycling was sold as a “sure thing” by Ann Arbor city staffers, politicos and their cronies. It would double collections and save taxpayers millions. Since its launch in July of 2010, it has, in fact, done neither. According to a draft [...]
by P.D. Lesko If the down-sizing and attrition continue apace at AnnArbor.com, Laurel Champion, former publisher of the Ann Arbor News, will be left to head the organization as Executive Vice President in Charge of, Well, Everything. Steve Pepple (pictured below, right), former Print Director for AnnArbor.com, has decamped to the Detroit Free Press. You didn’t hear? [...]
by P.D. Lesko The history of the telescope is fascinating. This piece is not about that. However, it is about The Ann magazine’s futile and ultimately disappointing attempt to give readers insight into AnnArbor.com using what amounts to a journalistic telescope. Don’t get me wrong. Writing about AnnArbor.com and getting the Big Brush Off from [...]
by P.D. Lesko Michael Woodyard is either Gandalf or Saruman, it just depends on whom you ask. He is challenging Judge Timothy Connors for his seat on the 22nd Circuit Court, a seat Connors has either warmed, or filled admirably, depending on whom you ask. In Washtenaw County, local lawyers simply don’t run against judicial [...]
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 husband at their kitchen table, staring at an envelope. Why, he wanted to know, [...]
