ann arbor is overrated.

“Überliberal Ann Arbor ensures that there’s a motley crew of fashionable types available — from the label-heavy out-of-staters to scenesters, punks, hippies and, yes, Mods — and the retail scene here is equally eclectic … After all, if you’ve got it, flaunt it,” says Women’s Wear Daily. Huh? Maybe if “eclectic” means a choice between head-to-toe fleece and sack dresses for the Artisans’ Market crowd. All we can figure is that WWD is a magazine struggling to find its footing after its reporter/suspected rapist/firefighter impostor Peter Braunstein went on the run.

Today’s Business Review provides some perspective on the A2 retail scene by interviewing the owner of local boutique Suwanee Springs. “I do not develop relationships with customers who return things,” he tells BR. “That would not be my preference for a customer.” Ah, those friendly local businesses.

A resident of the Old West Side speaking during the public commentary portion of tonight’s city council meeting argued against tall buildings downtown near her neighborhood on the basis that “a 10-story building would feel like a 12- to 15-story building.” Is this a new windchill-like rating for buildings? “The AccuBuilding RealHeight ™ tallness index is at 13 stories, with possible increases to 16 stories as you get closer up.”

The Daily reports that an apartment building fire that started about four hours after an earlier, apparently less severe, fire had been put out was caused by “smoldering debris — including a highly flammable mattress — that firefighters had thrown out the window after the first fire” and left near the building. The News leaves out this bit of information.

The News has a relatively good story on financial pressures faced by college students — until it attempts to explain the changed economic situation by relying primarily on the bizarrely out-of-touch perspective offered by EMU’s financial aid director Cynthia Van Pelt. “The big difference is with the students themselves. They don’t just want a cell phone; they want a cell phone that takes photos, says Van Pelt.” And today’s students are not only infatuated with the latest gadgets; they also insist on the most opulent living arrangements. “Nowadays, everybody has a single room, and they don’t understand why their bills are $800 more than anyone else’s.” The “anyone else” that’s not part of the “everybody” that has a single room, apparently.

We just want to thank Mayor Hieftje for appearing at Leopold Bros. last night to meet with the local blog types (announced here). And for having a great sense of humor about the “best-tasting water” award mockery.

The new anthology Writing Ann Arbor is 24 pages long and costs $39.95, according to Metro Times. We can’t imagine a more appropriate tribute. (Unfortunately, it’s probably a typo; the book’s Amazon page lists it at 224 pages.)

“Most Democratic council representatives have been affordable-housing advocates, and Republicans have been business and development supporters,” the Observer says in a story about competing visions for downtown. “But the Ann Arbor public has consistently voted for quality of life.” Unlike many other cities, where shoddiness of life is more politically popular.