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 [...]
On Sunday July 31, 2011, Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones and Mayor John Hieftje hauled out the dog and pony show for AnnArbor.com. In a lengthy piece meant to calm citizen concerns about a the sharp increase in violent crime in Ann Arbor—stabbings, shootings, armed robberies, assaults and, rapes—the two men talked about the [...]
By Chris Savage The Peter Principle: In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. In February of this year, Roger Fraser resigned after nine years as Ann Arbor City Administrator to assume the role of Deputy State Treasurer for Local Government Services working under State Treasurer Andy Dillon (though, as [...]
On February 3, 2011 A2Politico posted an entry that explained why Ann Arbor streets were being plowed so much more slowly than those tended to by the county and surrounding cities. In short, Ann Arbor’s Director of Operations, Sue McCormick, who directly oversees the plowing operations, had allowed the first five snow plows sent out [...]
My friend Greg McMillin—one of the few lucky guys in the city with a full size farm tractor—drove over to our house and plowed out our long driveway. Then, he plowed out our neighbor’s long, sloping driveway—not because they asked, but because he had been going around all day helping people out. Our City Council [...]
At the recent City Council Budget Retreat, City Administrator Roger Fraser thrilled the standing room only crowd (the retreat was held in a largish, brightly lit closet to keep Council members on task and focused) with his rendition of the Blondie classic “Call Me.” For a quick refresher on the lyrics of the song, watch [...]
Have you ever wondered about the slow pace of removing dead trees and replanting new ones, poorly plowed streets or huge potholes that are never filled? Wonder no longer! The City’s Diva in charge of SHOPerations, Sue McCormick, has told City Council the problem is that no one knows where City trucks are. Well, they sort [...]
This piece, below my comments, comes from Salon. I thought Alyssa Battistoni’s perspective was refreshing, and her look at backdoor privatization captures exactly what is going on in Ann Arbor. Here, in Lake Woebegone-on-the-Huron, where all the men have Ph.D.s, all the woman have Ph.D.s, but are doing “research” on their books at home while raising [...]
On May 30, 2010, AnnArbor.com’s Ryan Stanton sent me a private email telling me that I should let him know what I thought my opponent should be “called out on.” It would be patently unethical for me to email back and forth privately with Stanton concerning what I think the Mayor needs to be called [...]
In the 2010-2011 proposed budget, the General Fund is projected to bring in $76.3 million in taxes and state profit sharing, and spend $77.9 million dollars, with a $1.5 million dollar deficit (provided all of the City Administrator’s proposed cuts are adopted). Over the past three years, the city’s General Fund has been pushed, pulled [...]
