http://www.annarborisoverrated.com Tue, 06 May 2008 15:11:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en “I think it will change the whole feel of downtown … Every little space in this town, people will try to sell liquor,” laments a community member. Is it Joan Lowenstein or one of her crypto-prohibitionist fellow members of Campus Community Conversations? Nope, the concerned citizen is none ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/05/06/arena-owner-too-much-liquor-in-a2/ “Whereas in Berkeley two City Council districts contain the majority of the student population, in Ann Arbor students are distributed centrally throughout the city, said Ann Arbor Councilmember Joan Lowenstein,” reports the Daily Californian in a story comparing students’ involvement in local government in the two cities. Isn’t it ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/04/30/warding-off-student-influence/ We were going to have this op-ed about University Village in the Daily (under our real name!) but never finished revising it before the end of the semester: It’s the right building, but the wrong place. It’s the right place, but the wrong building. It’s too dense for a ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/04/28/university-village-op-ed/ Sick of all those best-cities lists that employ laughably faulty methodology? How about one that employs no methodology at all? A2 ranks among the Smithsonian magazine’s top 15 “where to live next” places, a list aimed at retirees from the “culturally-attuned Smithsonian audience.” Prominently featured among A2’s ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/04/17/where-culturally-attuned-baby-boomers-should-live-next/ Well, it’s not exactly surprising: Council unanimously passed an amendment to the city living wage law to exempt the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. As Chris Easthope argued, “the festival’s seasonal employees — almost all students — are not the kind of workers the wage law was meant to ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/04/08/summer-fest-loophole-passes/ A skate park seems like an odd cause for Ann Arborites to throw their weight behind. The sport appeals to young people, has a reputation for being dangerous and, most importantly, could result in more people using the park, which is generally not considered a desirable outcome. ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/04/03/skate-park-provides-chance-for-a2-to-show-its-hipness/ City Council wants to amend the living wage ordinance to include a loophole that will end up exempting the mostly younger workers that clean out trash cans at Summer Fest, but why stop there? How about adding some explicitly discriminatory language to make extra sure that employers of ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/03/27/youthquake/ The News once again misleadingly ignores the contributions of graduate students to the university’s research output in their story on the GEO work stoppage: “Graduate student instructors teach part time while working on their advanced degrees … The typical instructor teaches 16.5 to 20 hours a week during the eight-month ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/03/26/more-misinformation-on-geo/ Murph has a great post about the future of the single-family detached house monoculture in light of recent economic problems. “Quality of life” and “diverse neighborhoods” (in the A2 sense of “low density” and “low density” respectively) have been the norm only for a few decades and may start to ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/03/19/i-believe-that-planners-are-the-future/ Observer writer Vivienne Armentrout has announced her candidacy for the 5th Ward, running on a “quality of life” platform. Now, “quality of life,” as it’s used in A2, is what all the hip blogging kids would call a “dogwhistle.” It signals to a certain constituency that you’re willing ... http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/2008/03/17/dogwhistles/