Market report for 2022-05-07

 

"Rheum rhabarbarum leaves and shafts" By Dieter Weber (User: Uellue) - own work, photo taken in a private garden in Kiel, CC BY-SA 3.0 

[Editor's note: this article is part of an ongoing series of Ann Arbor Farmers Market reports submitted by Ed Vielmetti.]

Market report: rhubarb (new crop), parsley (new crop), cilantro (new crop), green onions (new crop), cider (fall), frozen chicken from Harnois, chorizo tempeh crumbles, Betty's Best goat milk soap, a taste of hard cider, a taste of mead, a small bottle of sweet cider consumed on the spot, grape leaves.

Previously: 

Market report for 2022-04-23

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: May 5, 2022

 

Gentle reader, tonight is a special, Thursday edition of #a2Council. Here's the agenda and here's the Ann Arbor AF episode for tonight's meeting. 

The evening kicks off with a moderate, 17-item consent agenda. 4 out of the first 5 items are street closures: Taste of Ann Arbor, Sonic Lunch, The Event on Main, and the Rolling Sculpture Car Show. CA-6 is purchasing land with the Washtewnaw County Parks & Rec. Commission for the Greenbelt. 

There are 8 public hearings on the agenda tonight. PH-1/B-1 is on an ordinance to amend the discrimination ordinance to update definitions of gender expression, identity, sexual orientation and add religious based hair and head coverings. PH-2/DC-1 is on the resolution to approve the industrial facilities exemption for Sartorius BioAnalytical Instruments. PH-3 is on increases to the water rates and PH-4 is on an increase to stormwater rates. PH-5, PH-6, and PH-7 are on various fee adjustments. PH-8 is on  the 2023 budget. 

On to the resolutions. DC-2 is a resolution for the city to sponsor information on NACA Mortgages. DC-3 is a resolution to support Michigan House Bill 5931 which aims to fix issues with end of Michigan's no fault insurance program. 

And that's all there is. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.

Market report for 2022-04-23

[Editor's note: This Ann Arbor Farmer's Market report was submitted by Ed Vielmetti. Stay tuned for more market reports.]

The market report for 2022-04-23.

Bicycles in abundance on a beautiful Saturday morning. It will be hot (about 80F) this evening, and there's a chance of frost in low-lying areas later in the week. 

No asparagus at market yet, but the Argus Farm Stop folks say there may be asparagus in May, maybe. Drop off donations of food for Food Gatherers at their new grocery on Packard Street, three doors down from their cafe on Packard.

Kapnick Orchards has apple cider and is planting potatoes. 4245 Rogers Hwy, Britton MI 49229 off M-50 South of Tecumseh. "We Keep Good Things Growing". kapnicks@tc3net.com, 517-423-7419 or 877-450-6096 toll-free.

Wilson's Farm has dried hot peppers. 11559 Franklin Meadows, Tipton, MI 49287. wilsonsfarmtipton@gmail.com 517-673-6406. Also at Royal Oak Farmer's Market. Fresh peppers start to appear mid-July.

John Harnois has chicken and ducks, but is now out of the egg business. Whitmore Lake MI (Webster Township).

Tantre Farm has a summer CSA. 18 weeks of fresh produce for $650. Full share only, feeds 2 generously, or 4 with small children. Pickups Wednesdays and Saturdays at various locations around town including 

Saturdays at Roos Roast on Rosewood Avenue.  info@tantrefarm.com, 734-475-4323.

Ann Arbor District Library patrons have a free subscription to Creativebug, which teaches online art and craft classes. Over 1000 video classes in painting, knitting, crafting, sewing and more are available. https://aadl.org/creativebug.

John Roos and his staff brew coffee at their store on East Liberty Street and then haul it to market on a three-wheel coffee cargo trike. They are now selling cold brew coffee in take-home growlers. Dilute! Dilute! OK! OK!

Get your greens on with bok choi and spicy mix and baby kale from Goetz in Riga, MI, also available at Argus Farm Stop.

Fresh preztels.

The black radish is a "beer radish". Scrub well, slice very thin, serve with your favorite beer. Spicy! Available at Argus Farm Stop.

Ed

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: April 18, 2022

 

Gentle reader, it's #a2Council night in Ann Arbor. Here's the agenda. Here's the A2AF episode on tonight's meeting. 

The meeting kicks off with a moderate, 16-item consent agenda. Of note, CA-1, street closing for the Glacier Highlands Neighborhood Association Memorial Day Parade, and CA-2, street closing for Top of the Park. 

There is one public hearing on the agenda tonight. PH-1/B-1 is for a routine township island annexation. 

There are three ordinance first readings on the agenda. C-1 is an ordnance to amend water rates. This amendment increases water rates by just under 13%. If you want to know more about Ann Arbor's 4-tier water rate structure, check out Erich Z.'s 2019 article about the subject. C-2 is an amendment to increase stormwater fees by about 4%. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some disagreement about these ordinances. C-3 is an ordinance to amend the city's non-discrimination ordnance to include religious hair styles and head coverings. 

Further down the agenda we get to DC-1, a resolution to for the city to sponsor information sessions on the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) Mortgage program. This is a mortgage program aimed at lower-income and lower middle-income individuals. DC-2 is a resolution to extend the hours of the Main Street Social District. DS-1 is a resolution to issue a cool $15M in bonds to repair the roads. 

And that's all there is. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: April 4, 2022

Gentle reader, tonight we have a big #a2Council meeting. Here's the agenda and here's the A2AF episode on the agenda. If I were you, I'd pause reading right here and listen to the A2AF episode. It's essential listening for the ARPA Funds agenda item. 

The evening kicks off with a modest, 11-item consent agenda.  CA-1 and CA-2 are street closings for a UMLaw School building naming, 25th Annual African American Downtown Festival, respectively. 

There are 5 public hearings on the agenda tonight. PH-1/B-1 is for the second reading of the PUD for the Y Lot. In short, this is an awesome project. It'll allow a 20 story building with a large portion of subsidized housing. PH-2/B-2 is the second reading for the TC1 rezoning for the State and Eisenhower area. This is also awesome. TC1 is a new zone that allows more density and less car dependence. For more on these, check out Greg's awesome article from last Friday. 

PH-3/C-1 is on an ordinance to issue Water Supply System Revenue Bonds. I'm assuming this is to fund water system improvements. PH-4 /DB-1 is on the brownfield plan for the Sartorius development at 3874 Research Park Drive. PH-5/DS-1 is on an Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate for Sartorius. I think this is some sort of tax abatement. 

DC-1 is a resolution to support the No Mow Initiative. Personally, I love not maintaining my lawn, and I think the city should do more to legalize letting your lawn just go. 

DS-2 is a resolution to spend the ~$24 million Ann Arbor is getting in American Rescue Plan loot drops. The city put out a pretty good survey to gauge resident priorities and Administrator Dohoney put together a pretty good resolution on allocation. Though there may be some shenanigans in the form of amendments. If you haven't listened to A2AF yet, do so now please, because Molly and Jessica cover this is a lot more detail than I will. One amendment would take the money for the basic income pilot and put it towards fixing roads. This is regressive. It's taking money that would go to some of the poorest people and put it towards something that disproportionately benefits more wealthy people. People with higher incomes own more cars and drive more, on average. Also, the city is about to issue ~$15mil in bonds to fix the roads. So this would be a drop in the bucket compared to that. Another amendment would take money from the unarmed responder program and put it towards housing the homeless. Both of these are noble, but we shouldn't make it a zero sum game in terms of progressive programs. 

And that's it. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.

Transit Corridor Development In Ann Arbor: Where Do We Go From Here?

The Ann Arbor City Council will hold a public hearing for the second ordinance reading of the City's first TC1 rezoning at the April 4th #a2Council meeting.

[Editor's update, 2022.04.07: Greg asked me to clarify that this would be more accurately classified as an opinion piece or essay. Editor's note: this guest article comes from Greg Pratt. If you'd like to check out more of his stuff, make sure to stop by his substack, #eastannarbor.] The dynamics of our local city council politics don’t always allow for clear communication about land use within our municipal boundaries. This essay is an #eastannarbor attempt to clear the air a bit. We want you to make up your own mind whether or not you think it is a good idea to add mixed-use, mid-rise buildings along key transit routes in our city.

What is zoning? When was it implemented in Ann Arbor and how was it used?

Zoning is a form of urban planning in which municipal areas are divided into districts. Each district is assigned a zoning category, created in municipal code, to limit/specify the buildable environment. For example, in Ann Arbor we have a lot of R1 districts. These are exclusionary single family home districts that prohibit the construction of multifamily housing (R2, R3, R4). There are also C-districts noting different types of commercial uses, PL districts noting public or parkland. The city is empowered to implement these zoning laws through the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (MZEA). Residents are empowered to contribute to the vision for our city’s future buildable environments through the Michigan Planning Enabling Act (MPEA). 

Here is the text of the MZEA. The law allows municipalities to create zoning districts that limit the types of buildings constructed, bulk and height etc. Worthy of note here is a mechanism by which adjacent neighbors near any proposed development can submit a protest petition signed by 20% of affected neighbors and bring a higher vote threshold for the rezoning ordinance to pass.

Michigan Zoning Enabling Act

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: March 21, 2022

 

Gentle reader, tonight is the first #a2Council meeting of Spring. Here's the agenda, and here's the A2AF episode on the meeting. 

There's a modest, 10-item consent agenda. There are three street closings. CA-1, CA-2, and CA-3 are for the Burns Park Run, The Dexter-Ann Arbor Run, and the Mayor's Green Fair. If I were a gambling man, I would wager that CA-3 might be pulled. CM Ramlawi has mentioned in the past that he thinks the Mayor's Green Fair should be on the Library Lot. CA-9 is a resolution to approve the collective bargaining agreement with the Deputy Chief's CBA. Listen to A2AF for their comments on this. But tl:dr one of things that keeps us from having robust resident police oversight are the current contracts for the various AAPD CBAs. Seeing what is an essentially a continuation of the current contract come up in the consent agenda is disappointing.

There are no public hearings on the agenda and one ordinance first reading. C-1 is a routine township island annexation. 

Further down the agenda, there are 6 resolutions on tonight's docket. Of note, DC-3 is a resolution hiring current interim city administrator, Milton Dohoney Jr. as city administrator.  DC-5 is a resolution setting a public hearing on a tax exemption for Sartorius BioAnalytical Instruments. Finally, DC-6 would close streets for cars some places downtown for the summer. This is based. 

And that's it. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: March 7, 2022

Gentle reader, tonight is the first #a2Council meeting for March. Here's the agenda, and here's the A2AF episode for the meeting. Make sure you check it out for the discussion of PUDs. 

The meeting kicks off with a short, 11-item consent agenda. Of note, CAs 1 through 3 are street closings for FoolMoon, The Monroe Street Fair, and FestiFools, respectively. CA-8 is for traffic calming along Northside Ave. You love to see it. 

There is one public hearing tonight, PH-1/B-1 is on some technical changes to the employee retirement system. This passed without discussion during first reading. 

There are two ordinance first readings on the agenda tonight. They are both great. C-1 is the PUD for the Old Y Lot. TL;DR here, it'll be a 20-story building with a good amount of subsidized units. You love to see it happen. C-2 is the first TC1 rezoning. 68 parcels in the State and Eisenhower area that will be rezoned in the new Transit Corridor zone. This is awesome, and I hope it is the first of many TC1 zonings we see. 

There are 4 resolutions on the agenda tonight. DC-1 is a resolution on the need for reliability improvements for upgrades to DTEs streetlights. DC-2 is the contract for replacing the Third and Mosley water main. DC-3 is a resolution to appoint a couple of folks to the Washtenaw Regional Resource Management Authority. DC-4 is a resolution to appoint Kevin McDonald as Interim City Attorney. 

And that's it. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 22, 2022

 Gentle readers, it's #a2Council Night in Ann Arbor. Here's the meeting agenda. 

The evening kicks off with a deep, 20-item consent agenda. There are four street closings on the agenda: CA-11 for the Goddess 5k on April 3rd; CA-12 is for Take Back the Night on April 7th; CA-13 is for the Annual Soapbox Derby on April 10th; CA-14 is for SPARK's Tech Trek on October 14th. But there's tons more: insurance, grant applications to protect Lake Erie, and much, much more!

There is one public hearing tonight. PH-1/DB-1 is on a routine township island annexation. C-1 is an ordinance first reading that seems to make some minor and highly technical changes to the City's pension plan. 

Elsewhere on the agenda we have DC-1 to appoint a non-elector to the Renter's Commission. DC-2 which appoints new members to the Environment Commission. DC-3 is a resolution to request a legal opinion on requesting changes to Jennifer Salvatore's Dec. 7th report. And finally, we have DC-4 a resolution urging reform of the state's no-fault auto insurance reform.  

And that's it. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 7, 2022

Gentle reader, tonight is the first February meeting of #a2Council. Here's the agenda, and here's the A2AF episode on tonight's meeting. Please take a listen to the A2AF episode--it is so, so good. 

The meeting kicks off with a reasonable, 10-item consent agenda. Of note, CA-4, which is a street closure for the Time to Teal 5k. Also, CA-5 which is for Art Fair. 

There are no public hearings tonight nor ordinance first or second readings. There are some real spicy chilies on the resolution docket tonight. DC-1 is a resolution to resume deer management research. DC-2 is resolution requesting a "corrected" version of Jennifer Salvatore's memo. I don't think I have enough time to go into this one. DC-3 is a resolution to provide a report on the ownership of 68 parcels that are being considered for TC1 (transit corridor rezoning). I am just going to quote what CM Briggs said about this in her newsletter: 

"There are important reasons that we do not consider who owns a property when making rezoning decisions.  If Council and staff were to investigate who owns a property before determining whether to grant or prevent zoning action, it could lead to discriminatory or preferential actions.” 

This will be a spicy chili. And finally we have DC-4. This is to remove some of the design constraints that Council put on the rebuilding of the East Medical Center Drive Bridge. The TL;DR here is that the bridge needs to be repaired, and U of M wants to widen it while it's rebuilt. They also don't want to add any good pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure. This would go against Ann Arbor's climate and safety goals and council should not pass this. If U of M wants the bridge to be widened, they should pay for robust protected cycling and walking infrastructure as well. Alternately, we can just not widen the bridge. Here's another great quote from CM Briggs's newsletter:

I reject the premise that we should approve a substandard project design that is in conflict with our transportation and climate action plans, as well as the University’s carbon neutrality plan.  Our priority needs to be on rehabilitating this bridge, which is in poor condition.  If the University wishes to widen the bridge, then it needs to fund a project that improves conditions for all users in an area that is known to be both dangerous and uncomfortable to navigate.

And that's it. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.