by P.D. Lesko The University of Michigan picked up its marbles and is going home. Officials there are now looking to build the U.’s next parking garage anywhere but on a 10 acre parcel of riverside parkland on Fuller Road. While the U walks away having shelled out relatively little money, Ann Arbor taxpayers are [...]
by P.D. Lesko The public speaker, an older woman who rides the bus regularly, recounted a conversation with a friend who lives outside of Ann Arbor: “My friend said to me that she wished the AATA buses would run near her house so she could take them. I said to her, ‘Well then, you should [...]
by P.D. Lesko Third Ward Council member Stephen Kunselman has been a pain in John Hieftje’s butter dish ever since Kunselman knocked off Leigh Greden in the 2009 stunner of a primary election. While Kunselman won by a 6 vote margin, Greden lost big overall in a three-way race that saw the 3-term incumbent manage [...]
by P.D. Lesko In September 2011, former Ann Arbor News reporter Tom Gantert did what he does best: published the truth. In point of fact, writing for Michigan Capitol Confidential, Gantert published information about the pay of staffers at the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. Gantert published his piece after the Board of the AATA had [...]
by P.D. Lesko In 2004, the Ann Arbor News Editorial Board published an endorsement of Hieftje’s mayoral opponent that included this zinger, preserved for posterity by Google: “Hieftje’s largest failure is not one of vision, but leadership. Few are willing to publicly criticize Hieftje because they expect quick retaliation and there is good reason for [...]
by P.D. Lesko On The Atlantic’s web site, writer Micki Maynard quotes David Askins of The AnnArborChronicle.com explaining how the pedestrian crosswalk ordinance mess has gotten so out of hand. Askins, with a straight face one presumes, sums up the political pile up thusly: “The basic idea that ‘I’m smarter than you’ is one that I [...]
by P.D. Lesko Turning down federal money for rail projects has been a point of honor for Republican governors. New Jersey’s governor Chris Christie did it. Scott Walker, who is soon to face a recall vote, did it in Wisconsin. John Kasich turned down money for Ohio. According to a December 2010 piece in the Wall Street Journal, “U.S. [...]
Representative Jeff Irwin, a Democrat, served for a decade as a Washtenaw County Commissioner. In January 2011, he began his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives. In his regular column, House Calls, A2Politico will pose a single question to Representative Irwin and he will answer it. The questions will focus on his work in [...]
A2P Notes: This post is filed under Scoops & Scores, because you read it here first. Ann Arbor’s Transportation Program Manager Eli Cooper, wants you to believe that spending millions to build a 977-space parking garage for the University of Michigan is a giant step in the direction of “encouraging alternative transportation.” Cooper also wants you [...]
For the past several years, John Hieftje (among others, including new 53rd District State Representative Jeff Irwin, and Washtenaw County Commission Conan Smith) have been desperately trying to beg, borrow or steal the money to bring trains to Ann Arbor. Any train. How about $25 million for a train between those two Michigan metropolises Ann Arbor [...]
