The Nadir of A2 Signage
You’re probably familiar with the hardware store on Packard whose sign bears an ever-changing array of cutesy aphorisms - in September, it might read “Hello students, goodbye parking spots,” or that sort of thing. Right now (and presumably all last week), it says, “Vote your heart. Vote Nader.” Now, admittedly, we don’t have much to go on, but we’ve never had the impression that the writer of these slogans is a hard-core leftist who believes that there’s no difference between Bush and Kerry.
I always got kind of a libertarian flavor from that sign, myself.
posted by c-loh on November 6th, 2004 at 11:13 pmI’d also like to jump on the bandway
whoa–I can’t control my trackpad. I meant to say that I would like to jump on the bandwagon and congratulate Larry on his win. But perhaps people like me shouldn’t have laptops.
posted by c-loh on November 6th, 2004 at 11:15 pmI wonder how much that hurt business for him, or help it. Though if you actually need hardware stuff the only place to go is Stadium!
posted by Just a Voice on November 7th, 2004 at 1:22 amI’ve gotta say that I’m glad Jack’s is there… it’s the only hardware store actually in central Ann Arbor. Stadium is bigger, but you sure as heck can’t walk there from here.
posted by Brandon on November 7th, 2004 at 9:36 amActually, he’s a Republican. With a slightly twisted sense of humor.
posted by Anonymous on November 7th, 2004 at 12:41 pmyep, that’s what I figured.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on November 7th, 2004 at 1:52 pmW/E! This whole site is bogus. I am going to take this time to vouch for Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is one of the coolest cities in the States. I have also traveled, and lived in various places. There are few cities (of it’s size) that have so much culture, diversity, and heart. A2 is one of my favorite cities for several reasons. Here’s a few off the top of my head:
posted by Chels on November 7th, 2004 at 6:01 pm1) There is always something going on downtown
2) The residents of A2 never know what is going on downtown
3) The restaurant Sabor Latino
4) It’s the hometown of BORDERS!! Who doesn’t love Borders?
5) Conor O’ Neills
6) The one-way streets that you always go the wrong way on, and people *helpfully* tell you that you’re going the wrong way
7) The pedestrians who believe they are immortal
8) It’s way better than Ypsi
In my opinion, Ann Arbor is UNDERRATED. And besides, I am sure there is more than one college that supports your graduate program. If you hate Ann Arbor so much, MOVE or TRANSFER. If you go to U of M, you could always transfer to Dearborn. (*devilish grin*)
~Chels, a hardcore leftist who voted for Nader and thinks Bush and Kerry are exactly the same
9. It has people like Chels in it.
posted by Murph on November 7th, 2004 at 7:17 pmOh right, like we haven’t seen *that* list before! But I do have one question: what is the official threshold for being considered a city? I just have a hard time thinking of Ann Arbor as anything more than a town. Isn’t there some kind of international airport or population 250,000 requirement or something?
ps–a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush
posted by Alex(andra) on November 7th, 2004 at 10:09 pmConor O’Neil’s??? I mean, really.
posted by Brandon on November 7th, 2004 at 10:09 pmAlex(andra), legally, Ann Arbor is a city, Ypsi is a city, and yes, even Chelsea is now a city. It’s a legal definition that comes with some certain powers… I think in Michigan the threshold is 1,000 or so. The word “town” has no real meaning in Michigan… I consider Ann Arbor a small-medium city, with my hometown of Holland (37,000 or so in the city limits) as a small city, and real small town I’d say has under 10,000. It’s all relative. I differentiate a city like Ann Arbor from somewhere like Detroit or Chicago by calling them “major cities.” Grand Rapids is probably a “mid-size city.” Legally, suburbs are technically cities, but as adjacent satellites of central cities, they function a bit differently. Then there’s townships, which are a whole other ball of wax… typically (but not lately) rural, they are subivisions of counties with varying legal powers depending on whether they are chartered or not.
In any case, as far as Ann Arbor goes, we could do worse (look at 95% of other Michigan cities/suburbs/towns), but we could certainly do a lot better. Yeah, I can walk to stuff, there’s a lot going on, and there’s a lot of intelligent and interesting people on. On the other hand, there’s a lot of obnoxious undergrads, yuppies, overpriced housing, and dog boutiques. And yeah, of course Ann Arbor has some advantages compared to Ypsi, but it also come with a lot of drawbacks.
Beating a dead horse,
posted by Brandon on November 7th, 2004 at 10:18 pmWhen East Lansing was first incorporated as a city, its population was a lot less than 1,000.
I don’t know of a population threshold in Michigan. City incorporation is one of various legal options for a local government. East Lansing, like Chelsea, was situated on top of a boundary between two townships; at the time, it seemed like a good idea to break away from township rule.
Villages, by contrast, exist as subsets of one or more townships. Village residents pay township taxes, receive township services, and vote in township elections.
I wrote a long post over on Ypsi~Dixit not long ago about townships. Most of Michigan is divided into townships six miles square, and most of these are rural-area local governments. In urban or suburban areas, some whole townships have incorporated as cities, or (like Ann Arbor Township) been largely wiped out by city annexations.
Every square inch of Michigan is either in a city or a township; never both.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on November 8th, 2004 at 5:46 amDoesn’t the city thing come from a vote by the local residents? Wasn’t there one of those in Manchester and Chelsea not too long ago?
Yes, Ann Arbor is better than Ypsi in some ways and not better in other ways. But it all boils down to whatever floats your boat.
And if Ypsi is the yardstick for comparison, then well I guess Ann Arbor is overrated…:)
That’s like a professional football team saying, “We’re bad, but we’re not the Lions…”
posted by Kozzie on November 8th, 2004 at 12:32 pmRight, city incorporation requires a vote. But it didn’t always. East Lansing was incorporated in 1907 by the Legislature — there was no local vote.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on November 8th, 2004 at 1:09 pmJack’s had a sign on caucus day in February reading “A vote for Dean is a vote for America.”
Pretty cool, we thought, as we were out doing the caucus day canvass.
PS - Don’t rise to Chels’ flamebait. It’s like letting the terrorists win.
posted by Dan on November 8th, 2004 at 4:16 pmHoly H. Crap, why did I not know about this site for the four agonizing, mind-meltingly boring years I spent eating terrible food and talking to cardboard cutouts in Ann Arbor?
Anyway, Jack had a sign saying “a vote for Nader is a vote for America” in 2000 as well, and I myself am very glad he stuck to his guns this year, since the drearily AA-esque dem strategy was obviously doomed to consign us all to dream of Canadian annexation. And they did have some good hardware there, if perhaps a bit overpriced and next to lousy hot dogs.
Ahh, cynicism… I’m gonna have to have a look around here. Does anybody know if there’s a www.londonenglandisoverrated.com?
The Jizza forever,
M
posted by Sheriff Mongo on November 8th, 2004 at 4:53 pmwelcome, mongo
posted by Anonymous on November 8th, 2004 at 7:55 pmI’ll try not to rise to Chels’ flamebait, with the exception of Conor O’Neil’s. My God… overpriced, touristy, and airless are the least of its problems. Sometimes I think the only people who still like Conor O’Neil’s are the ones who still send money to the IRA…
posted by Lazaro on November 9th, 2004 at 8:28 amI don’t think Chels was flamebaiting–I think she was in 18 year old earnestness. And Mongo, London England is SO not overrated. Damn you.
posted by Alex(andra) on November 9th, 2004 at 8:52 amThose Jack’s signs bother me every time I drive past them. They hit a perfect pitch of sentiment that I not only disagree with, but also find deeply annoying in their un-funniness. However, I do find their ability to get on my nerves every time impressive- especially that Nader message.
The other sign that consistently annoys me is the church marquis on Stadium approaching 7th from the east. Always a kitchy message about hot peppers and Jesus or something along those lines.
When I lived in Kalamazoo, each Sunday walking to the breakfast diner downtown a friend of mine and I would decide who “won” the church marquis contest. There were many churches downtown, and they seemed to have a long-standing, vigorous competetion to see who could out-pun the others- great stuff like “3 nails + 1 savior = 4given”
posted by Alexandra S. on November 9th, 2004 at 10:47 amThere are many folks (locals) who love Conner’s for their Trivia Night. It was way more fun when it first started, the questions where much harder and you would yell out the answer. As it grew and grew, they went to a format where you write the answers down and they ‘grade them’. The questions have been dumbed down for this, but what can you do.
Conners also has/had some great regulars if you know when to go. Former NYT writer Jim (can’t remember his last name) used to come to trivia night, a chance to hang with him quickly got me over any of my dislike of the big Fri/Sat crowd they get in there (and the atmosphere that most visitors to this site think of when they think Conners).
Now, that being said, I wouldn’t call Conners one of the things that makes ann arbor great, or anything like that, but I do think most people who poo-poo it never gave it a chance or took the time to meet the staff and regulars there who can be very interesting. Also a great place to go if you love football (soccer) as the staff know exactly whats going on with all the action over in europe and can update you to all that stuff (oh and many of them are really good soccer players too).
posted by Just a Voice on November 9th, 2004 at 12:26 pmMy friend and i always describe Conners as an Epcot Center Irish Bar. A place with painted ceiling murals proclaiming its niche bar status = theme restaurant Planet ModelRock Cafe. Of course, this is also the same place where a Real Life Irishman almost punched my friend in the face after explaining our theory, so at least they’ve got the Drunk Racial Stereotype thing down.
posted by Mark on November 10th, 2004 at 12:37 pm