The Millage People
“Ann Arbor’s city parks, one of the key reasons the city consistently ranks so highly in national ‘Best Places to Live’ surveys, are starting to look a little shabby,” the News reports, paraphrasing a city administrator arguing for a millage increase.
But isn’t this the very reason why we shouldn’t worry about maintaining our parks? Sure, they may be full of graffiti and weeds. But no “best cities” list has a category for “spray-painted letters per square foot of parkland.” As long as the parks aren’t somehow contributing to an increase in crime (a la “broken windows” theory,) it doesn’t matter how they’re kept up; the sheer square footage will remain the same, keeping us near the top of the city rankings and driving up property values without increasing taxes. In fact, as we’ve seen, a park that people actually might want to go to is sometimes a bane for nearby property owners; A2 residents tend to prefer their parks to act as a sort of negative space, pre-empting other uses of the land.
So the solution is obvious: designate more parkland and don’t maintain it. We’ll pull ahead of Boulder and Charlottesville in no time.
They could just put fences around the parks and call them an urban greenbelt. My neighbor is part of the greenbelt, and I can’t go on his land. He got two million bucks for it. This would be cheaper, and they wouldn’t have to cut the grass. They probably would, though.
posted by Michael McC. on June 13th, 2006 at 2:41 pmI love riding my bike during the spring, summer or fall in the AMs, along the Huron River at Gallop Park, all the way to the University and back again to Dixboro Rd, or evening, 2nd best. Sublime… It is also great by kayak or canoe. If you are so inclined continue along Riverside, just keep going along the river, it is bliss.
posted by eileenie on June 13th, 2006 at 9:07 pmAgreed, eileenie - that park is one of the real jewels of AA. If you don’t know about it, I’d also recommend biking up into Barton Hills (I think the st. is Barton Dr., off Plymouth), and turning into Bandemeer park. Another nice paved path by the river that takes you to the Argo Canoe place.
posted by Nick on June 14th, 2006 at 11:54 amLook out, here come the Ann Arbor boosters! But it does seem to be true, when you talk a bit with the real cynics like some of the ones on this site you find out they’ve never actually been to Bird Hills, to Barton, biked on Huron River Drive or canoed to the metroparks…ever. If you only know the way to the university, main street, and the airport, don’t be surprised if you find ann arbor uh… overrated.
posted by buzz on June 21st, 2006 at 7:27 pmWhich airport are you referring to?
posted by JCP2 on June 21st, 2006 at 8:40 pmDTW—ask the U-M grad student who commented a few weeks ago that “any place [sic] is better than ann arbor… ANY PLACE” where s/he’s been in the city, metro area, and surrounding region, and you’ll see: campus, main street, kroger’s, the odd strip mall, and …. I94 between Main Street and the airport.
posted by buzz on June 22nd, 2006 at 12:58 pmBTW…….AAIO. This thread title is your best ever.
It’s been a week, and its still funny.
posted by todd on June 22nd, 2006 at 4:55 pmWell, buzz, those who know me would hardly call me a booster; I found AA to be a lifeless, soulless place when I lived there. But I think the only way you keep yourself sane when you’re unhappy is finding things to enjoy and focusing on them. And I definitely found things in AA like those nice bike trips that I liked (although now that I live near mountains . . . well . . .). It’s just having to deal with, well, so many other things in the town that makes it a bad experience.
posted by Nick on June 22nd, 2006 at 8:09 pmthanks, Todd!
posted by ann arbor is overrated on June 22nd, 2006 at 8:57 pmOne of the worst things about Ann Arbor parks is the lack of a decent skate park. The only respectable one is open 2 months out of the year and costs 3 dollars to use. That’s ridiculous. Ann Arbor has a ton of money for things like this. They are actually re-cementing half of the sidwalks on my block - but they can’t afford a cement skatepark?! Crazy.
I know back in Bay City and Midland (my hometown) groups of average citizens organized and funded the construction of skate parks (one is in each city). So, I imagine that means Ann Arbor does not have enough motivated, oranized citizens because that it was what made it happen in the Saginaw area.
posted by nick t on June 23rd, 2006 at 4:11 amThere are lots of motivated and organized citizens here. It just so happens (unfortunately) that they are motivated and organized against things that don’t include the word “green”.
posted by JCP2 on June 23rd, 2006 at 1:27 pm“One of the worst things about Ann Arbor parks is the lack of a decent skate park.”
nick t: have you tried to get in touch with these folks?:
http://a2skatepark.org/
info@a2skatepark.org
posted by Bruce Fields on June 23rd, 2006 at 1:29 pm