ann arbor is overrated.

Urban Oasis offers his acerbic account of “Is Ann Arbor Overrated?” day in Mayor Hieftje’s class in the department of Public Policy. Among the highlights:

First he offered a plaque with the outline of Michigan’s peninsulae, adorned with a white wine glass (which he “dinged” with his finger for effect), an award Ann Arbor won for the region’s best tasting water. He followed that with one won for bikability, one for his own good work, and, in his estimation, the most complete, objective, scientific evaluation of cities ever done, a Froemmer’s guide that rated Ann Arbor as one of the top ten places in America to live.

The conclusion? No matter “‘what a couple people on a web site might say,’ Ann Arbor was not overrated.”

“The staff at Kitchen Port has informally declared this the Year of the Salt Pig,” reports the Observer. “What’s a salt pig? A ceramic pig, made in France, whose belly is a bowl for serving sea and kosher salt.” Also suggested as a gift: a “clever finial” from Top of the Lamp. That is, that thing that you screw on top of a lamp to hold the shade on. Living in Ann Arbor is quite the vocabulary builder.

Anti-student news roundup: On the News letters page Peter Davis compares porch couches to weeds on a lawn that would also be out of place in a nice suburban town like A2. “Why must Ann Arbor have the ugliest off-campus student housing area in the country?” he asks.

And the Old Fourth Ward again raises concerns about the new dorm and its potential to bring student cars into their area. The News surveyed 36 students and found one who both lived in a dorm on central campus and owned a car.

Area landlords don’t come out in favor of the proposed ordinance that would prohibit early lease-signing pressure. Well, color us shocked. Some of them pointed out that they could easily violate the spirit of the law: “[W]hile they would not be able to enter into a formal agreement under the proposed ordinance until one-fourth of the lease period had expired, they could accept formal applications whenever they wanted and assign housing for the next year on a first-come, first-serve basis.” They were so unconcerned about the impact of this legislation, in fact, that they appeared at MSA chambers in numbers quadruple those of students to oppose it.

A Campus Management representative drew a bogus comparison between the lease-signing postponement and the couch ban. “Maybe students will rethink their stance on that next time it comes around,” he said. If you’re keeping track, this isn’t the first student-hostile remark made by that company.

Ann Arbor as poetic inspiration: “I went to Ann Arbor, helped my mother put on a yard sale, came home and wrote a poem called ‘Yard Sale.’ Boredom!” the poet Jane Kenyon wrote. Wait until you hear our latest effort, “Farmers’ and Artisans’ Market.”

“Beneath that cultured veneer, is Ann Arbor still fighting a frumpy Midwest image?” asks Talk About Town, in reference to Dwell magazine’s article about a local solar home whose neighbors don’t all approve of its metal facade. The Dwell article calls the home “one of the most urbane in the suburban town.'’

ArborWiki is a neat idea, but it may need some work before it’s ready for prime time. The “community portal” section provides the following overview of Ann Arbor life:

The Ann ARbor community consists of two factions, the people who live here and the college students. Thie dualism leads to some very interesting interactions and developments of the city; usually stores end up thriving from the throngs of the spoiled rich kids who inhabit the town evry school year, while business declines when the stench of polo blue and armani rip-offs finally retreat from Ann Arbor’s peacfull street.

Where to begin? For starters, we’d bet dollars to Zingerman’s doughnuts-that-are-good-but-not-really-like-doughnuts that monism is actually more common than dualism here.

$12 to see the Found tour? At that point, isn’t it more like Purchased? (And are we the only one who wants to steal a car with a Found sticker and tell everyone about the great found object we spotted just sitting on the street?)

Although it would be worth it if we showed up and some hipster was “sharing” the wallet we lost a while ago. It’s a really ironic wallet, if that helps.

Our FAQ proves to be very informative to our readers once again:

well haha after sending you a msg about leaving a2, i read the FAQ and now understand you are in grad school. well there may not be a fucking grad school if a2 wasnt the way it is… hey retard, transfer out west or something, you are a bitch and doesnt deserve u of m. ass

From an ad we recently saw for Kerrytown Market, which we will pass along without comment:

How to acquire the Ann Arbor mystique [under one roof.]

Grass-fed meats. Specialty products. Wine. Children’s clothes. European cuisine. Jewelry. Cookware. Imported clothing. Handmade paper. Home accessories. Fish. Furniture. Sushi. Creative toys for kids. Cooking classes. Bim Bim Bop. Everything that makes Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, without leaving the building.