ann arbor is overrated.

That water rate increase that’s been the subject of heated debate? Turns out that it’s based on erroneous calculations. The consultants hired by the city added the “debt service coverage ratio” twice, resulting in a rate scheme that would raise $1.2 million more than the old rates, instead of a planned $350,000. This error, which the city’s utilities director claimed was “not obvious,” was not discovered for weeks.

“The city paid Carter and Burgess of Dallas $112,718 to handle the rate proposal,” the News article reports. With the money the revised proposal generates, they could hire the consultants twice more.

Remember what we said about the brilliant ideas of “creative class” theorist Richard Florida? Well, we take it all back. In response to inquiries about the governor’s “cool cities” campaign, Florida called A2 “Michigan’s only truly cool city,” according to a Lansing State Journal article.

“Michigan isn’t a complete wasteland for the young,” the piece insists plaintively.

To-Do List (culled from Arborweb):

1. Watch as instructors prepare “M-Fit’s Summer Salads” at Kitchenport.
2. Catch “Shamanic Journeys” at the Magical Education Center.
3. Join the “West Side Ride” to the Dexter Dairy Queen.

There’s a hip college town in southeastern Michigan, a place where art and creativity are encouraged, a place - okay, that was obvious. Yes, it’s Ypsi. Says the owner of independent boutique Henrietta Fahrenheit, “There are a lot of towns that on the outside have this P.R. thing that they’re cool and hip but if you look deeper, it’s a cloak. They are not supportive of underground artists and creativity. Ypsilanti doesn’t wear the cloak.” We’re sure she was just speaking in generalities about those other towns.

Goodspeed Update pointed out this article about a new development proposal at the intersection of Kingsley and Ashley a few days ago, but it bears re-posting here. “The project would add 20 residential units north of downtown, likely priced below the Ann Arbor luxury market. A target price zone could be in the high $300,000s,” one passage runs.

Who says that the Ann Arbor Police Department doesn’t have time to investigate real crime? The Special Investigations Unit is out in full force in the case of some 20-year-olds making fake IDs in their apartments. “Detectives took computers from the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti apartments of the two 20-year-old suspects in the fake-ID operation. They plan to turn those over to the department’s computer expert to look on the hard drive for evidence of the fake IDs and names of the people who had them made.”

“An increased police presence in the South University Avenue area also helps to deter people from trying to pass fake IDs,” says the owner of Rick’s. Said presence has not deterred people from committing armed robberies on South U. in the middle of the afternoon.

We just love these best-of lists here at Ann Arbor is Overrated. Look who didn’t make it on to American Style’s Top 25 Arts Destinations. But when A2 has to compete with such chic spots as Buffalo, Milwaukee and Cleveland, it’s bound to be a tough decision. College towns that did make it: Columbus, Ohio and Athens, Georgia.

Another letter on the Police Department’s new revenue-generating plan. “Ann Arbor citizens should demand more than just a traffic ticket mill from their police department,” writes the author, who points out that the department issues 11 tickets an hour, 24 hours a day.

The Ann Arbor News police log misstated the name of the Sunday festival where a man was attacked by a panhandler to whom he refused to give money. They referred to it as “Taste of Ann Arbor.” Its actual name is “Taste of Ann Arbor and the Rest of the World.”

We’re sure the News regrets the error. We’re less sure that the Main Street Area Association regrets the name.

Ann Arbor cleaned up in the Freep’s Best of Detroit awards. Well, in the “Home” section anyway. Taking top honors in the “Kitchen Store” category is Kitchenport, which is “the only local store that carries Look Cookware, a well-respected brand from Iceland.” And the “Best Place to Buy Kitchen and Garden Accessories You Didn’t Know You Needed” is Downtown Home and Garden, whose offerings include “wonderful planters, seeds, bulbs, birdfood and a surprising collection of kitchen items, including bowls, utensils and brooms handmade by students at Berea College in Kentucky.” Ann Arbor also boasts Detroit’s “Best Comfortable Clothes.” Copper garden frogs, nonreactive saucepans, flowy linen separates - everything a college student could want - can be found right here in Tree Town.

Also making the list is the Blind Pig - it’s the “Best Ann Arbor Music Bar,” the only area-restricted category on the “Bars and Clubs” list.

Today’s Ann Arbor news letters page carries an intriguing missive from an Ypsilanti woman. “I find it difficult to accept the fact that while the Ann Arbor Police Department somehow has found the time to write 30 percent more traffic tickets this year than last, they no longer have time to investigate burglaries,” she writes. We don’t remember reading that the police department has given up all pretense of trying to prevent burglaries, but it’s not much of a stretch. “As a homeowner,” she says, she would like the police to concentrate on actual crime.

But it doesn’t appear to be homeowners that the city is targeting with their new budget, under which “the city already is committed to increasing its collection of parking tickets and to handing out more tickets to speeders.” Two housing inspector positions have been cut, even though it is the job of housing inspectors to hand out tickets as well.

“City’s budget reflects spirit of cooperation,” runs the headline of the News editorial. It’s a beautiful thing when Ann Arborites from all walks of life can get together and agree on how best to screw over students.