Monday, March 4, 2013

A plea for a space to watch City Council Meetings (and drink)

Tonight at 7:00 pm--like every 1st and 3rd Monday--the Ann Arbor City Council meets. If you would like to watch it (and you should, because civic engagement!) you can either attend in person, watch on channel 16, or stream it live via CTV. Tonight's meeting promises to be exciting. Lots of residents have strong feelings regarding a proposed 14-story high rise on Huron at Division. In response, CM Sabra Briere (D 1st-Ward) has proposed a 6-month moratorium on site plan approval in the city's D1 and D2 zones (downtown). My sources indicate at least 10 people have signed up for public commentary so far. It promises to be an exciting, and potentially significant meeting.

It's great to be able to watch city council meetings online. And if you're into Twitter you should totally follow @vielmetti, @a2chronicle, @juliewbee and @ryanjstanton, all of whom provide live tweetentary during the meetings. As great as all this is, wouldn't it be great if there was some public or semi-public place where folks could gather together and watch the meetings while learning about the civic issues at hand? Specifically I'd really like a place where we could project the meetings on a large screen and also drink. I think it would be a great way to get more (young) people engaged in city politics AND finally codify the rules for the Ann Arbor City Council Drinking Game. I'd also like to not pay anything for the privilege of using the space. I understand that some local establishments have the audacity to charge money in exchange for the exclusive usage of a space by a group of people. That said, I'm sure we could come to some arrangement where some local business would "sponsor" the City Council Viewing Party in exchange for free advertising on Damn Arbor for a month. That's a $50 dollar value.

Gentle readers, I'd really like to make these viewing parties happen. If you have any suggestions about where we could have the party, let me know. Also, if you happen to own a local brewery with, say an annex space, where we could watch the meetings, drop me a line. I promise we will buy a lot of beer.

10 comments:

  1. I told Ed that he & I should look into this when I'm on Spring Break (and will have 10 days with very little to do). Nevertheless, I am free tonight so I am emailing the Beer Wench now to see if the Wolverine would be available.

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  2. I would totally come and watch if a spot is found!

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  3. I'm also thinking about Arbor. They have that room in the middle where there is a TV. My concern about Wolverine is that they have trivia on Mondays and it gets super crowded. I asked about the new Gulo annex and we'll see. There is also Mash, which is the space beneath Blue Tractor so you get the beer and the cocktails. I know they have a TV because I was there for the Artini thing and it was on.

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  4. Good point, re Trivia. In my ideal world, Arbor Brewing would let us use their Annex Room, for free.

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  5. Arbor Brewing said yes! Rene told me who to email and they will set us up. It is happy hour all day and so she said our "sponsorship" will go further!

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  6. I'm on Twitter as TeacherPatti (go figure) and I'm happy to help spread the word :)

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  7. First - This is so cool. Great Ann Arbor get together. Bravo Arbor Brewing!

    Second - This made me laugh out loud - here in my hotel room far away from Ann Arbor. Wish I could be there.

    Third - Ed V. should tweet from ABC

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  8. @Anon, I'm glad this made you laugh. Ed will be joining us. Will you be back in time to attend?

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