Bob Dascola is running for Ann Arbor City Council, Third Ward

Bob Dascola is running for Ann Arbor City Council in the Third Ward in the 2014 campaign. His email to me was brief but to the point:

Hi Ed. Yes I am planning on running in the 3rd ward. I will send you more details very soon. Thanks for the e-mail.
Sincerely,
Bob Dascola

Dascola has been a barber in Ann Arbor for over 40 years, and runs Dascola Barbers on S State St. His family has been in the barbering business in the city for a long time, and the Ann Arbor News "Old News" archive for him has entries back to 1956, when his father, barber Dominic Dascola, ran for the school board. (Bob was 10 then; Dom died in 2008.)

Are you ready for some Fútbol?

MGoBlog is reporting that there'll be a pre-season matchup between Manchester United and Real Madrid at the Big House this August.

 

"It's being reported that Manchester United and Real Madrid will play at the Big House on Saturday, August 2 at 4PM as part of the 2014 International Champions Cup.

Even though it will only be a preseason match, it'll be a great opportunity to see two of the world's biggest soccer clubs and some of the world's best players."

I feel like the winter classic shows we could handle an influx of hockey hosers as a community, but are we ready for soccer hooligans? Regardless, this will have a huge impact on the local economy. Hopefully we'll all be rolling in €'s and £'s. 

You should check out the comments on the MGoBlog article. One hypothesizes Dave Brandon's next move will to host the largest Westminster Dog Show ever. 

County Line at the Performance Network Theater

County Line will not be for everyone. It deals with darker subject matter than any play I have seen at the Performance Theater Network before. We watch as our heroine Lois is taken from her well meaning but dysfunctional father and put into the foster care system. This is the first of many tragedies to strike Lois. It seems undeserved, especially since her father is not abusive nor neglectful towards her.

All photos from Sean Carter Photo

City Council to vote on Edwards Brothers' Property at Feb. 3rd Meeting

As tradition dictates, there has been a last minute addition to the City Council's Feb. 3rd agenda. According to the Chronicle, a resolution to proceed with purchasing the 16.7 acre property for $12.8 million was added to the meeting agenda January 30th. From the article:

Discussion at the city council’s Sunday night caucus on Jan. 19 indicated that talks are taking place between the city and developers who might have an interest in purchasing the property from the city. One obstacle in those conversations is the fact that the university could still eventually exercise its right of eminent domain to acquire the property from a developer, even after purchasing it from the city. But that would require convincing a court that the expansion of the university’s athletic campus at that location would be in the public interest.

Gentle readers, what's your take on this? Do you think it would be smart for the city enter the real estate industry? I know Ann Arbor is different than Ypsilanti, but perhaps the Water Street property serves as a useful cautionary tale.

Previously:

Should the City buy the Edwards Bros. Property?
Edwards Brothers Malloy and Shinola

Media review: February 2014 Ann Arbor Observer

The Ann Arbor Observer's February 2014 issue hit my mailbox yesterday. Here's what you'll find when you look through its 84 pages.

The dude behind the booze

XLR8R has a fun little article out about Todd Osborne's favorite places in Detroit and Ann Arbor, but it's really his favorite places around Ann Arbor and Ypsi, and one place in Detroit. Mentioned are Beezy's, The Last Word, The Blind Pig, Hello Records and The Ugly Mug. I was particularly happy to see The Last Word mentioned, as it is my favorite place in the verld. I was most impressed that The Osborne drink was named after him, which is of course superior to most gin drinks right off the bat because it's made with Hendrick's, but then finishes the job by having muddled japeleño AND pineapple in it. And lime juice. UGH how is it 9 am on a Thursday?

Next time I'm there, Last Word, I hope there's an Osborne waiting. And a "You're My Boy, Blue."

Here's to hoping, but come on this'll never work. YOU GUYS ARE SO COOL just be my friend.

Ann Arbor City Council preview for 3 February 2014

Hey! It's time to make sure you have an ample supply of popcorn and appropriate libations and a copy of the Ann Arbor City Council preview to get ready for the meeting of Monday, 3 February 2014.

As always, things can come and go from the agenda until the last possible moment. If you want the absolute latest from the original source, see Legistar, the city's public posting of meeting notices, agendas, and minutes for many (but not all) city boards and commissions as well as for all of City Council. The meeting details for 2/3/2014 are here.

A preview is also here from the Ann Arbor Chronicle, and sometimes the Ann Arbor News writes a pre-meeting story going into more details on some element of the meeting.

UPDATED: Friday with new information.

Water main megaspill, and sewer minispill, on S Industrial

From the city water utilities department, details about the water main break that closed South Industrial earlier this week. The spill was significant enough that you can see it on the USGS water gauge for Malletts Creek downstream.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday January 28, 2014) the freeze/thaw cycle that we are experiencing this winter caused a 16-inch water main to break on S. Industrial. The force of water from that break caused a private sanitary sewer lead to break as well. Water then flowed into the open sewer lead, flooding the sanitary sewer and forcing untreated sewage up through manhole covers, onto the street and into the storm water system. We’ve estimated that about 900 gallons of untreated but diluted (with 1,000,000 gallons of clean drinking water) sewage found its way into Malletts Creek.

A gallon of water costs about half a penny from a city tap, according to a handy city Water Matters newsletter from 2011.  A million gallons of water would run you a cool $5,000 at municipal rates. If instead you went to fancy bottled water and spilled a million gallons of Cap-10 from the local party store, at $1.39 a liter that would run you on the order of $5.26 million dollars worth of spillage (plus deposit and carbonation).

Extra bones for your Puppybowl/Superbowl par-tay

JSTOR is lookin' for people to come down to the Ann Arbor office tomorrow and Friday to test out some new ideas for the site - for moneyyyyyyy! Okay, so not a bajillion dollars, but $25 for 30 minutes is pretty good. It's at least enough to cover the amount of guacamole necessary to have a good time,* and with the Puppy/Superbowl this weekend, the importance of guac in our lives is about to go up tenfold.

Interested folks will have to fill out this survey in order to get set up and make sure they qualify, but that's pretty much it in terms of prep.

*Just to be clear, anything less than $25-worth of guacamole does indeed mean that you are NOT having a good time.

Where is Detroit's Williamsburg?

According to a very unscientific search of a Gawker Article's comments section, both Corktown and Midtown are Detroit's Williamsburg. Congratulations Hamtramck, you are now Bushwick. Here's how the voting broke down:

Perhaps this poll suffers from low turnout. Though more likely the problem is in the premise and the Brooklyn-centric world view it represents. Sure, there are hip folks in Detroit in addition to up-and-coming/up-and-came neighborhoods. But I don't think anywhere is really like Williamsburg.