by P.D. Lesko “We keep seeing the same names.” “It’s like there is some ‘professional class’ of board appointees.” “We need to draw from a larger group of citizens.” “I want to open the door for a closer examination of the appointment and confirmation process.” So the debate went on at Ann Arbor City Council’s [...]
by P.D. Lesko John Hieftje is proposing to reappoint 10 people to the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Commission (CAC) at City Council’s May 13th meeting. By law the CAC Board is charged with advising the Board of the Downtown Development Authority, on downtown development and TIF plans. The CAC has openings for 15 people, but between October 2009 and [...]
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 At the moment, Ann Arbor City Council members are trying to assert their Charter-mandated authority over the Board of the Downtown Development Authority like a parent trying to discipline a hopelessly out-of-control toddler in the midst of an epic temper tantrum. John Hieftje stars in this drama as the ineffectual parent, the [...]
The Ann Arbor chapter of the League of Women Voters sponsors candidate debates each election cycle for City Council races. On October 5, 2011, the League gave Third Ward Democrat Stephen Kunselman the chance to strut his political stuff against Republican opponent David Parker. Parker and Kunselman tackled questions about the proposed street millage renewal, the [...]
To hear the various members of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (BOC) tell it, various commissioners have at various times over the past four months: 1. Tried desperately to get rid of per diems (and failed). 2. Voted against getting rid of per diems because, well, there are “financial controls” in place now to [...]
Ann Arbor city staff are always sniffing around for grant money. It’s part of the job for many of them, and we benefit from their hard work. However, it matters where money comes from just as much as it matters where we spend our money. The 2006 film “Blood Diamond” showed quite clearly the connections [...]
I was at the chiropractor not too long ago, and when she walked into the room and groaned I thought she needed an adjustment more than I did. As it turns out, she had just received her letter of renewal from her company’s health insurance provider (Blue Care Network) and learned that insurance rates for [...]
Someone on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (BOC) tried to garrote Commissioner Kristin Judge. I wrote about the sloppy attempt to off the Pittsfield Democrat here. Since one of the emails leaked to Judge’s Republican opponent was sent to Commissioner Barbara Levin Bergman alone, it appears as if Democrat Bergman is a suspect in [...]
