It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had an open thread here at Mark Maynard dotcom. And, since I don’t feel like writing tonight, I thought that now might be a good time to just open up the floor to you, my dear readers, and see what you have on your minds. So, what would you like to talk about? Anything interesting going on in your lives that you’d like to share? Any questions about whether or not an item in your fridge is safe to eat? Any personal problems that we might be able to help you with? How about local politics? I’ll even settle for some juicy gossip… It doesn’t have to be brilliant. Just leave a note. And, I’d especially like to hear from all you lurkers out there, who come here all the time, but never leave comments. Come on… what have you got to lose?
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I don’t know much about fish. Is that a northern whiting in the photo?
It’s really nice to see the crazy rebels I went to highschool with mellow out and start acting sane in their mid 30’s. It’s like the midlife crisis for people who spent their whole lives having a midlife crisis.
I posted that on my facebook, so I’m totally ripping myself off.
You can tell by the teeth that that fish was a fearsome predator to smaller fish.
Not so tough now, are ya, asshole?
That fish just reminded me that our human nostrils are also very close to our eyes. It would never occur to me to think about that before.
I love fish now.
And I thank Mark Maynard for bringing that devilish predatory pollock (or whatever it is) to my attention.
And that skin looks like it would make a nice coat in a desert environment. Have humans ever worn fish jackets or fish boots?
Reminds me of Spongebob (the show, not the character). The lips on the fish above look like the lips on the fish characters on SB.
Were humans ever put on ice, before refridgeration?
Sometimes when I’m driving down Washtenaw I try to imagine what it looked like when James Osterberg took the school bus from Coachville on Carpenter over to Tappan in the early ’60s.
In the late 1960’s, my father claims to have worn a long leather-like jacket made completely of fish lips. I’ll see if I can find a photo.
As for what kind of stuff I’d like to see on the site in the future, how about more interviews with our elected officials?
Down in Knoxville, Tenessee, their great independent radio station, WDVX, is having their annual fundraiser called the “Hillbilly Ball” (http://www.wdvx.com/events/show/151). They apparently have been doing this for years and years without complaint. And to think we can’t even whisper the words “Ypsitucky” up here.
Would you ever consider selling these on your site?
SNL weighs in on the Conan Leno thing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/17/snl-leno-conan_n_426195.html
No, Kev, but I may sell these.
A warning to all MM readers: Never, ever eat leftover Ethiopian food with three beers the night after your wife comes down with the stomach flu. Chances are you will get it the next night, and it just might ruin Ethiopian food for you for you rest of your lives.
Cool I have wanted to ask people this for a while:
I live in downtown Ypsi and I have noticed that the people that panhandle (homeless/semi-homeless) have gotten very nasty, loud and aggressive these past few months. Like yelling after you you when you say you don’t have any money, or following you. One guy yelled after me, “you just got out of your car, it has gas, I know you got some money bitch!” One guy in the bank parking lot ran after me and started banging on my window.
Plus I have noticed that they seem more unstable; couples yelling at each other, a few homeless women crying in the street.
It used to be a few regulars downtown, now it is increasing. I will give my change sometimes, but I say no most of the time I don’t because I am pretty broke myself.
Has anyone else noticed this change?
What’s with leaving the xmas lights up? It’s mid-January and there are 4-6 houses within a few blocks with lights up still. C’mon already!
Sometime MM.com commenter Rodney Nanney has a letter on A2.com about areas where we can trim our budget, before firing police and fire fighters.
What do I want to talk about? Local businesses. A restaurant called Pacific Beach Burrito just opened on Washtenaw (near the Asian market). I’ve been there twice in a week–I like it.
Also, it looks like Nathan’s Soul Food on Michigan near the Ford overpass has changed hands and become (can’t remember the new name for sure–Marcella’s, maybe?) I haven’t tried it yet.
And Neehee’s continues to rock.
Just ate at G’s Carribean delights this weekend. It’s on Washtenaw, in between Lover’s Lane & The Party Store, and it’s delicious.
I don’t like businesses that clear the snow from their parking lots but not their sidewalks.
Brandy’s Liquor Store has a loud speaker on the outside of the store to yell at loiterers. I keep waiting to hear “40 oz half off for the next 10 minutes. that’s all 40 oz half off for the next 10 minutes”.
Where is that ? This is a block and a half east of Courtland…
So, according to last Tuesday’s City Council Paket, some one has purchased and aquired a liquor license for the former T.C’s Speakeasy…
Brandy’s Liquor Store is on the corner of Michigan Ave. and Summit St.
I’ve noticed more aggressive panhandling as well, but not to the extent of the previous commenter. No one is as bad at the Man with No Face, though. Life downtown improved immeasurably when he was driven out. I wonder where he ended up, anyway.
How much does a liquor license go for in Ypsi these days anyway?
I heard that No-face came to be that way, because he was an abusive boyfriend, who, while terrorizing his girlfriend with a shotgun one day, put it in his mouth to make a veiled threat to kill himself, and it went off, taking most of his face. Does anyone know if there is any truth to that story?
DDA liquor license is 20.000.00
I think there is 4 available in downtown and only 1 available for Depot Town
The new bar uptown (old TC”S) is going to be called Red Rock? It is going to specialize is slow cooked food and have live entertainment. Family run opderation with no ties to the old “cool” family.
Good news…bad name.
One of the man with no face’s nurses left a comment on this site quite a while ago stating that his problem was the result of a suicide attempt. He used to tell people that it was bone cancer, but it wasn’t.
So, should be pool our money and buy a liquor license?
So, the liquor license and the building sold together?
Any idea what the building sold for?
And I had no idea that there were four available licenses downtown. I guess one of them is from the Wooden Nickel and one is from Cross Street Station. (Or did the Cross Street license go to the Screaming Eagle?) And the one in Depot Town, I’m guessing, is from Cady’s. Where are the other ones from?
And when are they hoping to open this Red Rock place?
The building and license are separate. The old TC’s liquor license was sold off to a place elsewhere in the county. Same with the Wooden Nickel. Cross St. Station’s is under the management of the Screaming Eagle owners. Cady’s is still in effect and hasn’t been sold yet.
No idea what the building sold for. It’s been/being kept very quiet.
The DDA licenses are different from the typical “quota” license. The DDA licenses are $20k plus the usual state and local fees. There are over 12 available downtown and about 3-4 available in Depot Town/West Cross. You have to have a substantial/real food operation as part of your business to get the license. Can’t be a bar with pretzels and nuts and a deep fryer.
What about The Silent Kitty on Huron? That place kind of open but I never head word of what the place was like. I assume it’s closed not but it was hard to tell when it was actually open.
I don’t recall if it was the Silent Cat building, or the one next to it, but I remember noting that someone was working on it not too long ago. They repainted the front black and red. I remember thinking that the Silent Cat might be reopening.
So some of the liquor licenses can travel around the County? Why would anyone want to open a bar in Ypsi when they could do so in Ann Arbor and have access to x5 the people?
I wonder why the supposed opening of the Red Rock place has been so hush hush…you would think they would want to get the word out.
“So some of the liquor licenses can travel around the County? Why would anyone want to open a bar in Ypsi when they could do so in Ann Arbor and have access to x5 the people?”
some people prefer ypsi. can you believe?
The number of DDA liquor licenses available to a redevelopment district are calculated on the following basis:
(1) new one becomes available for every $200K worth of investment in the district.
Ypsilanti has two districts that mirror the old Downtown DDA and Depot Town DDA districts. There are (7) redevelopment liquor licenses available Downtown and (1) available in Depot Town.
In order to qualify for a redevelopment liquor license, an applicant must meet the following criteria:
a) They must be within the Redevelopment Liquor License Area.
b) Applicants must be engaged in dining, entertainment or recreation, be open to the general public, have a seating capacity of at least 50 people, and
c) Applicants must expend not less than $75,000 over a period of the preceding five years or comment to expending that amount prior to issuance of the license.
d) Applicants must demonstrate they attempted to purchase a readily available license within the municipality within which they want to operate and one was not available,
e) Pay a $20,000 fee for the license.
The building has not been sold yet. Financing was contingent upon getting a liquor license. Presumably the new owners would not want to talk about the new place until a deal takes place.
Brian, as long as you’re here on the site, can you also respond to the question, raised in another thread, about the Depot Town CDC, and why they aren’t given back control of the parks, saving us tax payers tens of thousands of dollars?
Over the weekend I’d heard that someone said that it was now costing the City $300K a year more now that it is maintaining Riverside and Frog Island parks (a figure greated than the entire parks and DPW budgets combined). I was waiting on commenting in hopes the presumed cost to the City would reach over $1.5M a year.
The claims of an increase in costs of $20K let alone $40K aren’t supported in the budget or statements made by the City Manager. The savings never materialized because the the Parks Department was not able to reduce its head-count.
Brian, you are one smug, arrogant bastard. It’s really funny isn’t it? The fact that you can joke about these figures, as we are faced with letting police and firefighters go is a slap in the face. I’d say people should slap you back, but you know the old saying about shit splattering. Joke it up, funnyman. You won’t be laughing come election time.
Even if the cost to the city is $1000….that is $1000 too much, when it used to cost nothing,before your egos raised the price.
Let’s hear your witty comeback. I can’t wait. Asshole.
Savings never materialized.
What more discussion is there about savings?
Brian,
You’re saying there was never any savings to the city when the CDC was doing maintenance for the parks? And thus there is no added cost to the city now?
Yeah Mr. Microphone…what about all that b.s. about the parks upkeep coming out of your council sound system budget. You are so full of shit that your eyes are brown. How can something cost money to perform, and then not? What was the purpose of having the CDC do it in the first place? Shits & giggles? No…it was to save the city money. Stop trying to save face now.
Mr. Kingpin,
You can disagree and yet remain civil. Your posts don’t encourage dialog. Wouldn’t it be better if voters would ask questions and council persons felt comfortable sharing information with their constituents in this forum?
Kingpin speaks in uncensored World-Wrestlerese. It’s like if you were about to wrestle, and you were both given microphones to talk smack about each other. It doesn’t mean anything, he does that to everyone. Just play along and return in kind.
Kingpin, you talk a big game, but let’s see if that big Bay City reject ass of yours can balance a budget bigger than your bi-hourly buttermilk pancake bill, which, last I checked, was approaching 20k. Common rubbish like you don’t have the chops to consider all the ins and outs of running a city bigger than a village on Zelda. If only the type of chops it took were of the pork variety, then you pedestrian peasants could make a real showing.
:)
I hate agreeing with EOS, but, Kingpin, you need to cut the shit. You’ve got serious points to make, but they get lost in the bravado, or whatever the hell you call it. If you just stuck to the facts, I think you might be surprised by how much farther you’d get.
As for the details, am I understanding correctly, Brian, that when the oversight of the parks was given to the CDC, the thought was that $20 to $40k a year would be saved? But, that this was contingent on the Parks department laying a person off, which they didn’t do? Am I right about that? And, if that’s the case, why wasn’t the Parks department forced to lay someone off? I’m having a problem following the logic.
That’s it…someone is getting put in the Iron Claw, brother!
Also Tim, getting you to agree with EOS is like getting you to tap out to my figure 4.
Whooooooooo!
About the Kingpin vs BrianR “discussion” on here…. What’s the difference between Kingpin getting pissed and making harsh statements and the city council getting pissed and making rash decisions, ie pulling the parks from the Depot Town group? I see why Kingpin is pissed and wanting an answer. Brian is just giving half-ass answers with no-depth to them. There might not be a cost savings by giving up the parks, but at least that group did a better job at maintaining them than the city. I prefer my riverfronts to be condomless and gazebos to not have homeless persons dumps on them (in them?). I also like matching paint colors on public parks buildings.
It’s still nuts to think that the word “Ypsitucky” led to all this. No, not nuts, very very sad. I went to the Jamboree and other events that group put on and thought they were first class. I had friends in-town for the Heritage Festival and found that to be embarrassing at best.
I will exercise my right to vote since I think that is only way we will be heard.
Clark, don’t be so sad. The parks were not pulled from the CDC over “Ypsitucky.” That just made it easy to drag them (CDC) through the mud and make them look bad. The real cause was standard Ypsi, there was a political axe to be ground. Brian said himself during the CDC witch trial, that once the CDC contract was voided, nothing was stopping the CDC from calling the festival Ypsitucky if they wanted to; it became free speech once they were severed from the city. So if we look at it logically, canceling the contract would be the last thing the city should have done if it was really over that word or the image of the city.
Even if DPW didn’t eliminate a position when the CDC was caring for the parks, that worker was free to do something else, which translates into a savings for the city. There was also many, many thousands of dollars in differed maintenance needed in the parks ; painting shelters, upgrading lights, repairing dangerous electrical boxes, the dock; that were paid for all or in part by the CDC. Ernie, the semi-retired gentleman the CDC hired to care for the parks picked up all the trash and took pride in mowing the grass. He kept a freezer stocked with popsicles for kids. Wonder who put those hay bales there to protect sledders? Remember how, for that one year, the whole park was striped like a baseball diamond? Ernie loves those parks; they were not his job, they were his passion. He didn’t need to be there, he wanted to. The parks were, in short, in better shape than they ever were. But I guess that is of no value to the city.
Speaking of costing the city money, the folks who put on the beer festival really, really liked working with the CDC, and Ernie in particular. Remember how the contract termination date was extended one week so as to take effect the day after beer fest ended? Wonder how much of a loss it would be to the city government and business if they were wooed away by another, easier to deal with municipality?
The CDC didn’t do everything perfect. But then they were never really given a chance. Maybe the city just needed a more defined contract with them. One thing that can’t be argued is that they were saving the city money by managing the parks. Either by relieving DPS workers of the duty, by paying to for the liability insurance, or by paying for differed maintenance, costs savings were realized. Brian, if you are out there and you still think otherwise, I think you owe all of the readers here an explanation.
Kingpin might be a little rash, but we really haven’t had a good explanation from council since they took this action. It’s way past due.
It looks like the Democrats lost the 60 seat majority in the Senate today.
Hey,
I’d like to talk about why YPS thinks its a good idea to close Chapelle Elementary school, one of the few neighborhood schools we have left.
If anyone is interested there will be a meeting at Chapelle School on Wednesday, Jan 20 (tomorrow) at 6:00 P.M. Dinner and childcare provided!
C’mon and show your support for this wonderful neighborhood school that has been a cornerstone of Ypsi for many many years!
Here’s the save Chapelle Elementary School facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=279713915831&ref=search&sid=1507487092.939497416..1
…for all the difference in actual policy it will make.
Basically, it means that one or two moderate Republicans will break ranks. The whole health bill as it stands has Republican written all over it. They only oppose it because it’s politically advantageous to be the underdog and seen to be “fighting for everyday Americans” without having to really lose anything in terms of policy.
The Democrats already caved to Republicans on the bill and watered it down to leave out anything of substance.
FYI… I just started a new conversation about City Council, the DTCDC and the parks on the front page. So, if you’ve got any further thoughts, please leave them there.
Circle the date on your calendars! The people have put an end to the Federal takeover. If you like tonight’s results, just wait till next November. Those Democrats not on the extreme left will be trying to buy their redemption with a no vote on the second attempt of the health bill.
The Senate lost their super majority and the House will never approve the Senate version that mandates federal funding of abortion. The buyouts of Ben Nelson, Landrieu, and the unions pushed the limits. The closed door meetings and lack of transparency were the fatal blows that sealed the defeat of this administration.
And if the Republicans think that we’re in for another round of musical chairs, exchanging one corrupt party for another, they will be sadly mistaken as well.
I don’t know… I think the same bunch of idiot phony big government neocon Republicans are just going to co-opt the small-government movement and ride the antiDemocrat wave right back in. Just like Beck and Palin are trying to do. The same basic foreign and domestic policies will continue, but with different color jerseys and different rhetoric. And people will just keep falling for it. Maybe I’m just totally burnt out on it all, but I think it’ll take a total economic collapse to end the cycle. Maybe not even that. Too bad.
So what color will the new jerseys be? I’m sick of red and blue. What about Purple VS. Green. It’s so super-villian…
I have seen the future. They’ll be bedazzled blood red tube tops.
Breaking News!
Scott Baio’s wife is friends with a black person!
There’s even photo evidence.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/scott-baio-tweets-michell_n_431214.html?fbwall