One of Ann Arbor’s most irascible contrarians has skipped town with no warning. But don’t worry, we’ll try to keep doing this from Boston. Okay, okay, that was wishful thinking. And Dr. Mandrake did give us some notice before departing. It’s council member Kim Groome who appears to have taken off for the East Coast unexpectedly.
We didn’t always agree with Groome, but we’re going to miss her independent spirit. We were watching the August 2 city council meeting last night, when the council was discussing a proposed ordinance to place a lien on the property of anyone who had failed to pay fines for trash and weed violations. Groome repeatedly asked about how severe the violation would have to be, about whether there was a possibility of a property owner paying far more than the original fine. She asked questions over and over again on anything that seemed vague or unclear until she was satisfied that this ordinance would not place an undue burden on residents, while most of the council, it appeared to us, would have been happy to vote and get it over with. Who’s going to ask those annoying, unpopular questions now?