Consent of the McGovern
Judy McGovern is less than optimistic about the willingness of the U of M to go along with recommendations in the Calthorpe plan that the town and university work together on such major planning initiatives as putting some benches on the Diag (the only concrete suggestion she quotes), using the report mainly as a jumping-off point for yet another screed against the university. “How about townies’ concerns about pedestrian-unfriendly buildings that loom over streets? Take a look at the beauty going up on South Thayer and Washington streets.” Apparently, she’s concerned about the ability of pedestrians to fight their way through those thick shadows that the building throws on the sidewalk.
Oh, and A2 appears on some more best-city lists. “Three hurrahs in one week. That’s not bad, even for a city that regularly makes such lists,” write Geoff Larcom. Except one of the awards, from Forbes’ “Life 2.0″, is actually from over a year ago.
There’s already about a dozen concrete benches on the diag. I have never seen someone standing around there because they lacked a place to sit.
posted by Dale on December 18th, 2005 at 2:31 pm eUm, what Dale said about the benches. Even neglecting the concrete ones, you have the black metal benches on the edges, and the mini-concrete-walls between the grass and concrete by the Natural Science building and physics lab building.
North Campus, on the other hand… the pseudo-Diag there is certainly lacking sitting spaces. I can think of four benches, and I really don’t think I’m missing any.
Pedestrian-unfriendly buildings? That’s too vague for me. How tall are the buildings in the Ann Arbor Townie Pedestrian Measurement System, as opposed to say, metric?
posted by Jen on December 18th, 2005 at 5:26 pm eAnn Arbor is the biggest town in Washtenaw County.
I ususally travel along I-94 or the Amtrak line when I visit my folks. That goes past Jackson and Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. It seems like those towns have buldings that support jobs that pay enough to live in those towns. The service jobs on Main don’t look like they would support expensive condos.
Did Jackson and Battle Creek and Kalamazoo have the same growing pains? Did people want to make those towns like Albion or Niles?
posted by A Different Jon on December 18th, 2005 at 7:46 pm eMaybe not the service jobs on Main, but have you looked at service jobs within the medical center?
posted by JCP2 on December 19th, 2005 at 10:24 am eUm…….the cheapest apartments you can find on the westside are about $400 a month and they put you IN the ghetto of south maple. Retail will allow you to live in one of those in poverty. This city is only concerned with supporting the already-here rich and the soon-to-move-here rich.
Property value in this town has SKYROCKETED in the past 10 years. I mean the housing costs have nearly DOUBLED in that time. We’re talking a house going from an appraised value of $180,000 in 1994 to over $300,000 this year for a house with less than 1200sq/ft of floorspace.
It doesn’t help that we have a neverending flow of spoiled children on a 4 year vacation here either. This city has so much retail it’s not even funny. Enough money is SPENT in this city to cover the property taxes for all of Bloomfield Hills twice over.
It’s becoming so that the only people that can move to this city for permanent residence are those who’ve completed their graduate work………..or the homeless.
With property taxes so rediculiously high……..someone please tell me why we can’t plow the damn snow on time for the workday to start?
posted by A townie on December 19th, 2005 at 2:06 pm eIf you read McGovern’s piece, you’ll see that she isn’t just asking for benches on the Diag generally, but specifically “at the northwest corner of the Diag to encourage community use of the park facility”. There isn’t any seating there at all currently, whether concrete walls, benches, or otherwise. It is a lack in the town & gown boundary that could easily be overcome.
posted by KGS on December 19th, 2005 at 3:00 pm eHow come the “spoiled children” are consistently among those stuck in substandard housing that burns down, and kept out of many neighborhoods by zoning restrictions?
posted by ann arbor is overrated on December 19th, 2005 at 3:14 pm eHard to decide who’s more spoiled: the out-of-town “children” or the locals who are so mortified at having to share their town with anyone not exactly like themselves. Real life is hard, townies: cut the obnoxious, ludicrous boosterism and see if that stems the cost-of-living tide.
posted by Nick on December 19th, 2005 at 3:51 pm eSpeaking as a service worker within a stone’s throw of Main Street, that sounds pretty accurate.
I cracked up about the shadows. I’d read that editorial myself, but I think I started to zone out, believe it or not.
posted by Lazaro on December 19th, 2005 at 4:08 pm eThere used to be a wooden bench on the Kresge Corner, but it was removed by the collaborative effort of townie and gownie skaters.
I’m thinking there should be some couches showing up on the northwest corner of the Diag. Or couch shanties to support the right to bear couches. Or permanent cement couches.
posted by A Different Jon on December 20th, 2005 at 4:48 am eTreatment of service industry folks in this town is disgusting, IMHO. Go to another town where cost of living is much less. You’ll find the pay is significantly greater there, and no one (like Main Street Ventures) gives a shit if you smoke cigarettes on your own time.
I can’t decide if the lousy pay is a concerted effort to keep the “undesirables” out of town (by not paying enough to afford to live here), or if it’s just a general competition with undergrads willing to work for beer money. Either way, it’s gross.
posted by SweetJesusIHateAnnArbor on December 20th, 2005 at 12:19 pm e