Mark Maynard | 2015 | September

Zines, local indie film, restorative justice, and the music of Junglefowl …on this weekend’s overly-ambitious Saturday Six Pack

By Mark | September 17, 2015

As of right now, at least according to Facebook, I’m the only person who plans on listening to this weekend’s episode of the Saturday Six Pack. That doesn’t mean, however, that the show we have lined up isn’t great. It is… Really, I don’t know how we do it, but we’ve got yet another awesome episode of the Saturday Six Pack lined up for you. Personally, I thought we’d run out of things to talk about after our first half dozen episodes, but the more episodes we produce, the more we hear about awesome people doing great, interesting things in our community.

I’d prefer that you just tuned in, without knowing what was going to happen, and be surprised, but, for those of you who won’t listen without first seeing an agenda, here’s the line-up.

We’ll start by talking with the Executive Director of the Dispute Resolution Center Belinda Dulin, the Executive Director of the Student Advocacy Center Peri Stone-Palmquist, and Restorative Practices Coach for the Ypsilanti Community School District Michelle Rose-Armstrong about restorative practices as they’re being employed in our local schools. Restorative practices, for those of you who may not be familiar with the term, provide a framework for dealing with youth offenders that stresses accountability to the community over more traditional forms of punishment, like expulsion. In the words of violence and bullying prevention specialist Nancy Riestenberg, restorative justice initiatives “provide a framework for administrators to address true accountability for offenders, the needs of victims and the actions of bystanders without sending anyone away, and a process to develop a supportive learning community, recognizing that by taking the time to do that, we improve academics, strengthen school connectedness and increase safety.” And, since Saturday Six Pack segment a few weeks ago during which Superintendent Edmondson was answering questions from YCS students about his suspension policies, it’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot about. I don’t know that we’ll solve anything on the radio Saturday night, but hopefully folks will at least be a bit more informed about what restorative justice is, how it works, and where it’s currently being employed.

Then, once we’ve wrapped up our discussion on restorative practices, we’ll have Mark Ducker and Martin Thoburn on to talk about the third anniversary of the Ypsilanti 24 Hour Shootout independent film competition, which is coming up the first weekend in October. I don’t know for certain, but I think they could also be bringing along last year’s winner. [If you’re interested in the history of the 24 Hour Shootout, I was just reminded that I actually interviewed competition founder Mark Ducker three years ago, just as he was launching the competition.]

And, when we’re done talking about independent film, we’ll talk about DIY publishing with Erin Anderson-Ruddon and Katy Shay, who are curating a big zine show at Ypsilanti’s 22 North Gallery. [Doors open at 6:00 PM on Saturday, October 24, and close at 10:00 PM.] And, toward the end of our interview, Im told local publisher Colin Moorhouse may be dropping by to tell us about the new issue of Ypsi Underground.

And, from there, we’ll segue into a discussion with the newlyweds of Junglefowl, who will also be playing a few songs for us. [As you may recall, the left their wedding reception a few weeks ago to pop by the station and say hello.]

And, here, thanks to AM 1700 graphic designer Kate de Fuccio, is this week’s poster, in case any of you want to print it out and leave it laying around your workplace.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER TUNED IN TO THE SIX PACK BEFORE, HERE ARE THE DETAILS ON HOW TO LISTEN:

Unless you live inside the AM 1700 studio, chances are you won’t be able to pick the show up on your radio. As that’s the case, I’d recommend streaming the show online, which you can do either on the AM1700 website or by way of TuneIn.com.

And for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the show, and need to get caught up, you can listen to the entire archive on iTunes.

One last thing… If you’d like to tell your friends and neighbors about the program, feel free to share the Facebook event listing.

And do call us if you have a chance. We love phone calls, even if you’re just calling to complain. So please scratch this number into the cinder block wall of the recreation room of whichever facility you’ve been assigned to… 734.217.8624… and call us between 6:00 and 8:00 this Saturday evening. The show is nothing without you. And I mean that.

Posted in The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged 22 North Gallery, 24 Hour Shootout, accountability, Belinda Dulin, Benjamin Edmondson, bullying, Colin Moorhouse, Education, Erin Anderson-Ruddon, expulsion, indie film, Junglefowl, Katy Shay, kids and violence, Mark Ducker, Martin Thoburn, Michelle Rose-Armstrong, Nancy Riestenberg, Peri Stone-Palmquist, public education, restorative justice, Skyline, Student Advocacy Center, suspension, teen violence, teens, YCS, Ypsilanti Community Schools | 4 Comments

Apparently the all talk of a recall has had an effect on Ronnie Peterson, who at least temporarily derailed a takeover of the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau this evening

By Mark | September 16, 2015

Going into tonight’s meeting of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, I thought for sure there would be a vote in favor of closing the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (YACVB), and transferring the organization’s funding to a new Ann Arbor-based entity, where it could be put to better use promoting “the Ann Arbor region.” It just seemed like the stars were in alignment. Not only had the pro-merger folks somehow convinced Ypsilanti’s representative on the board, Ronnie Peterson, to vote against the wishes of his constituents, but Alicia Ping, the commissioner most outwardly against the idea off a merger between the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Visitors and Convention Bureaus, was a thousand miles away, on vacation, unable to stop anything from happening. Everyone seemed resigned to the idea, even the folks from the YACVB, who, up until now, had been fighting the idea to the best of their ability.

[For the background on this merger, and why, in the opinion of many, it would be terrible for Ypsilanti, just click here.]

The meeting, which ran for over four hours, started with Commissioner Andy LaBarre calling YACVB Board Chair April King and AAACVB Board Chair Sean Duval up to the podium to read prepared statements intended to convey to everyone in the packed chamber that resistance was futile, and that a merger was going to happen, regardless of what any of us might think about the idea. [I don’t know it for a fact, but I suspect that King was told that the pro-merger folks had the votes they needed to make it happen, and that she didn’t have any choice but to put on a happy face, accept the inevitable, and declare enthusiastically that the YACVB was 100% behind the merger, which would essentially strip us Ypsilantians of any real power when it comes to deciding how our community is marketed.]

King’s statement included phrases like “we are in agreement” and “we are unified in our vision.” Duval, like King, then did what he had to do, talking enthusiastically about the prospect of working together with people from Ypsilanti to promote “Washtenaw County.” [Up until today, Duvall had just spoken about how these funds would be used to better promote “the Ann Arbor region.”] The pro-merger contingent on the Board of Commissioners could not have asked for a better setup for their vote.

In spite of this, people in the audience still lined up to express their disproval of both the process and the outcome, which, by this point, seemed all but certain. “Ya’ll thugs,” said Ypsilantian Tyrone Bridges, referring to the “backroom deals” and “veiled threats” we’ve all been hearing about these past few weeks, as forces in Ann Arbor have aligned to strip Ypsilanti of its $1.17 million marketing budget. “You’ve pissed a lot of people off,” Bridges said, before handing the mic over to an older man, who told the commissioners that the people of Ypsilanti “have a right to a distinct identity” independent of Ann Arbor. He then went one step further, reminding the Ann Arborites in the room that, “if it wasn’t for an accident of history,” that brought the University of Michigan to their town, “Ann Arbor would still be Ann’s Arbor.” “Your identity is the University of Michigan,” he told them, while “our identity is our own, and distinct.” Also of note, Ypsilanti City Council Member Dan Vogt came forward to encourage the commissioners to make sure, if a merger is inevitable, that funds destined for Ypsilanti be controlled by local people. Otherwise, he cautioned, you will “destroy” any goodwill, trust and support that you still enjoy. And, lastly, local real estate agent Tyler Weston, after comparing Ann Arbor to the kind of neighbor that would steal your lawnmower and then try to set the terms for your borrowing it back, raised his voice and said, “How dare you!”

But then, when it came time to actually vote on the language of the merger, a weird, kind of magical thing happened. Ronnie Peterson, perhaps prompted by the talk of a recall, suddenly decided to throw a monkey wrench into the works and shut everything down. [Below is a “Recall Ronnie” banner that was making its way around the internet today.]

I don’t know if Peterson went into today’s meeting looking for a way to turn things around, and get back on the right side of the debate, but, when an opportunity presented itself, he sure as hell jumped at it.

About three hours into the meeting, once the conversation finally turned to the CVB merger, Commissioner Conan Smith requested a more complete version of the proposal be shared with the other members of the board. [Apparently it was requested that this language be added to the board packet, but it somehow never made its way in.] A 15-minute recess was agreed to, and, once we were back in session, Peterson took off, talking animatedly about how he couldn’t in good conscience vote for something that had just been brought to the floor, that hadn’t been shared with his constituents. Others tried to step in, but he kept right on going. Andy LaBarre tried to interrupt him, but he refused to yield the floor. Commissioner Dan Smith tried to get everyone to go ahead and vote, saying that things could always be amended later, but Peterson wasn’t having any of it. He said it would be undemocratic. We needed two weeks, he said, during which time he promised that he would hold an open meeting to discuss the terms of the deal.

Eventually, Commissioner Jamnick seconded Peterson’s motion to table the vote, and, at that point, seeing that the train had left the station, everyone around the table jumped onboard, as they didn’t want to be seen fighting against Peterson, who, by now, had begun to paint this as a civil rights battle. After Jamnick seconded the call for tabling the item, LaBarre joined her. Then Rabhi agreed. By the end, it was unanimous that the matter should be tabled for two weeks, until their next meeting.

I don’t know that it had any effect on Peterson, but I don’t imagine it hurt that the woman sitting right in front of him had been outside earlier with a sign calling for his removal from office.

As for what this means, I’m not sure. We may just be delaying the inevitable at this point. The Chair of the YACVB board, after all, came out publicly at the beginning of the meeting, agreeing to the general terms of the deal. What’s more, Jamnick, who, as I understand it, had been against the idea of merger previously, seemed as though she’d resigned herself to it, even though she requested more time to go over the detils. Still, though, it makes you wonder if there might be a chance to keep the YACVB alive, or at least get a somewhat better deal for Ypsilanti, now that Peterson seems to have reversed course. [If we can’t get our own independent office, we at least need to fight for local control of the funds, and some guarantee that funds will continue to be directed toward Ypsilanti in perpetuity, and not just for the duration of this first contract.]

To Peterson’s credit, it would have been easy enough for him to have cast a “no” vote last night, which would have perhaps diminished some of the anger being directed at him, while not changing the outcome of the vote. [It seemed to meet pretty clear that they had the votes to pass the resolution without his vote.] But, instead, he shut things down, buying two more weeks. And this, I think, can only be seen as a positive… While I’m still not thrilled with Peterson’s representation, I think he did the right thing tonight, and that deserves acknowledgement.

I know it’s likely temporary, but I loved watching things go off the rails in such a spectacular fashion tonight. If nothing else, this has been entertaining.

Posted in Ann Arbor, Politics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged AAACVB, Alicia Ping, Andy LaBarre, Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, April King, Conan Smith, Dan Vogt, Eagleton, Recall Ronnie, Ronnie Peterson, Ruth Ann Jamnick, Sean Duval, Tyler Weston, Tyrone Bridges, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, YACVB, Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau | 28 Comments

Conan Smith says he and his fellow Washtenaw County Commissioners aren’t prepared to vote on merging Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti’s Convention and Visitors Bureaus; Will Potter on how the threat of terrorism has been used to quiet activists post 9/11; and Edgar Cayce making beautiful music …on episode 26 of the Saturday Six Pack

By Mark | September 14, 2015

This Wednesday evening, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on the future of the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (YACVB). According to most folks, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that our elected officials will vote to close the Ypsilanti bureau and shift their $1.17 million annual budget to Ann Arbor, where it can be put to use by the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (AAACVB) in their efforts to promote “the Ann Arbor region.” As readers of this site know, I think it’s a terrible idea, and I’ve taken every opportunity available to share that opinion. On this past weekend’s episode of the Saturday Six Pack, though, I decided, in the spirit of fairness, to have on Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith, who seems to be one of the individuals pushing the hardest to consolidate our two bureaus, and ask him why, in his opinion, this has to happen. If you have the time, I’d encourage you to listen to our entire discussion, which touches on everything from Commissioner Andy LaBarre’s possible conflict of interest (seeing as how he works for the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, which shares board members with the AAACVB) to the recent accusations by Commissioner Alicia Ping that “veiled threats” were made by Smith and other pro-consolidation Commissioners in order to get the YACVB board to stop fighting and accept a deal. It’s really fascinating stuff. If you can’t listen to the entire hour, though, just jump right to the 30-minute mark, where Smith and I talk about the metrics used by the Board of Commissioners to justify the closing of the YACVB.

Here’s the part I think you’ll find most interesting. It’s a quote from Smith.

“Yeah, I don’t think we’re ready to vote on this, because we haven’t done the homework that needs to be done,” Smith said in response to my questioning. “You’re absolutely right. We haven’t taken the time to think concretely about the economic development strategy, the marketing strategy that Washtenaw Country needs, and what it’s supposed to deliver.”

I doubt the Ann Arbor News will do anything with this new information, given that they probably want this $1.17 million brought to their city, where it can help better promote the kinds of big events that generate advertising revenue, but I think this really is newsworthy… I mean, it seems to me to be somewhat significant when an elected official admits that he and his associates will be voting to defund an organization without having done the necessary “homework.” Here, with more on that, as a bit of our our exchange.

CONAN: …When we created this committee [Jamnick, Peterson, LeBarre and Ping] to investigate the CVB dollars and come back with a recommendation, we charged that committee with defining the outcomes of the use of the accommodations ordinance tax money… And that committee did not deliver a product.

MARK: Then how can you vote?

CONAN: Yeah… So here we find ourselves with expiring contracts at the end of the year, people clamoring for a solution, needing to do seeming, and we’re stuck talking about the structure of the delivery model [whether there should be one CVB or two], rather than what the model is supposed to deliver. It’s crappy. And I wish that we could back up six months and be having this conversation, but the reality is that we’re in a pinch. We’re going to have to make a decision…

MARK: Well that’s not quite true, is it? You could extend (the current contracts with both CVBs) for a year…

CONAN: Yeah, we could extend it for a year… And that was one of the options that was discussed. But the appetite wasn’t there… It’s just a reality that we have to accept.

MARK: But we don’t have to accept it, right? Why do we have to accept that, because the County Commissioners didn’t do their job, we have to have this vote now? Why do we have to accept that?

CONAN: You don’t have to accept that, but you have to accept that the board is ready to make a decision and feels as though it needs to make a decision.

MARK: But they don’t have to.

CONAN: They don’t have to… but they’re going to.

So, if I’m understanding all of this correctly, there is no justification for closing the Ypsilanti bureau. In other words, no metrics exist to show that one CVB is performing better than the other. And, furthermore, there is no plan in place to direct the AAACVB, assuming a merger is voted on. So, not only don’t they know how well our current CVBs have been doing, but, it would seem, they have no idea what they’d want from a newly merged entity.

When I ask Smith to propose extending the existing contracts with the Ann Arbor and Ypsi CVBs for one year, during which time a detailed analysis could be completed by a task force composed of various stakeholders, and not just the powerful Ann Arbor hoteliers who are pushing to defund the Ypsilanti CVB, he didn’t make any promises. I do think, however, it’s possible that, come Wednesday, he may do the right thing.

For what it’s worth, Smith says that his preference would not be a single CVB. He says that he would rather he and his fellow Commissioners identify their objectives and then request proposals from non-profits in Washtenaw County that feel as though they can meet these objectives. This idea, he said, was dismissed by his fellow Commissioners, who felt as though it would require too much oversight.

Here’s Smith agreeing with me that, given the history, one doesn’t have to be a “conspiracy theorist” to assume that mergers like this will go badly for Ypsilanti. [See our experiences with the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Realtors, and Ann Arbor SPARK.]

If you’d like to encourage Smith and his fellow Commissioners to do right thing and postpone their vote until they’ve done their “homework,” come out to the Washtenaw County Administration Building at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, September 16. It may very well be your last chance to tell them how you feel.

[If you would like to listen to episode twenty-six of The Saturday Six Pack, you can either download it from iTunes or scroll the bottom of the page, where you’ll find the Soundcloud file embedded.]

Then, at 1:02, we welcome journalist Will Potter, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, into the studio to talk about the criminalization of free speech in America post-9/11. Potter, the author of the book Green Is The New Red, talks about his own experiences with the FBI, and the increasingly aggressive use of anti-terrorism laws to silence non-violent environmental activists in the United States. [Potter, who covered crime, government and breaking news for the Chicago Tribune’s metro desk, was threatened by the FBI after having been arrested for handing out leaflets against animal testing. The FBI essentially told him that he would be put on a domestic terrorist watch list, which would effectively kill his career as a journalist, unless he helped them in their information gathering activities. While he chose not to help them, and instead fight the charges, the event changed the trajectory of his life and his work, which is now focused on how, since 9/11, the government, with the enthusiastic urging of corporate America, has used the fear of terrorism in order to silence dissent.] Potter and I talked about everything from his current work as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan to his most recent TED talk, which was received with a standing ovation. Here he his is telling us how he’d learned from watching Law and Order that it never helps to talk with the cops.

“It starts with the so called radicals, it moves on to more and more mainstream groups, and ultimately puts all of our rights at risk,” says Potter of the increasing use of anti-terrosim laws to quiet those involved in peaceful protest. “You can’t give people in power more power and then not expect those people not to use that power. It’s never happened in history.”

We end our discussion on an optimistic note, with Potter noting that corporations, based on their overwhelming response to things like activists with drones keeping tabs on their factory farming operations, must be scared. We might, according to Potter, be approaching the end of this era we find ourselves in.

And, lastly, we welcomed in the incredible Edgar Cayce and His Guitar from Saginaw, who was kind enough not only to play four or five songs for us, but also share stories of his time spent scoring drugs in Ypsilanti and being in jail without access to television. Here he is with his tiny guitar, which his father bought for him when he was 19.

And, yes, he apparently really does have a tattoo of Mr. Burns on his chest.

Thanks, as always, to AM 1700 for hosting the show, Kate de Fuccio for documenting everything, Jim Cherewich for keeping me company, and Brian Robb for running the board, making sure the bills paid, and insuring that the toilet paper stays stocked.

If you like this episode, check out our archive of past shows at iTunes. And do please leave a review if you have the time, OK? It’s nice to know that people are listening, and, unless you call in, that’s pretty much the only way we know.

AND NOW, THANKS TO SCIENCE, YOU CAN LSTEN FOR YOURSELF:

[The drawing at the top of the post is by Jim Cherewick. The subject of the drawing is Conan Smith… If you come on the show, you are in danger of being drawn… The caption of this photo, if I recall correctly, says, “Homework, haven’t done it.”]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Civil Liberties, Politics, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged AAACVB, activism, ag gag laws, Alicia Ping, Andy LaBarre, Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Conan Smith, Edgar Cayce, Edgar Cayce and His Guitar, FBI, fear, fear tactics, Free Speech, Green Is The New Red, Michael Flores, Ronnie Peterson, Ruth Ann Jamnick, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, Will Potter, Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau | 43 Comments

Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith on why he thinks the Ypsi Area Convention and Visitors Bureau needs to close, journalist Will Potter on the prosecution of activists as terrorists in the wake of 9/11, and the music of Edgar Cayce and His Guitar …on this weekend’s edition of The Saturday Six Pack

By Mark | September 11, 2015

[My friend Caleb Brokaw, who is truly one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I have ever known, has cancer. And there’s going to be a fundraiser for him and his family Saturday night at the Blind Pig featuring a reunited Black Jake and the Carnies. While I’d love for you to listen to this week’s episode of the Saturday Six Pack live, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings in the least if you were to cut out early to be a part of this. In fact, it would make me incredibly happy.]

Over the past several weeks, I’ve spent quite a bit of time and energy fighting against the merger of the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti convention and visitors bureaus. I’ve written extensively about the issue here on the site, and Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (YACVB) Executive Director Debbie Locke Daniel and I have talked at length about it on the radio. What I haven’t done a great job of, though, is allowing the other side to weigh in on why, in their opinion, it would be good for all involved if the YACBV were to be absorbed into the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (AAACVB). And, with that in mind, I’ve invited Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith to join us this Saturday evening on AM 1700. I know there are some who don’t appreciate Conan’s stance, as he’s been the County Commissioner most up-front in the campaign to defund Ypsilanti’s bureau and transfer its operating budget to Ann Arbor, but, to his credit, he agreed to come and discuss the issue on the radio with me when others, like Ypsilanti’s Commissioner, Ronnie Peterson, did not. And I appreciate that. [Peterson, interestingly, says he’s voting to close the Ypsi Convention and Visitors Bureau in spite of the fact that his constituents seem to be overwhelming against the idea. When asked why he’d do such a thing, as I understand it, he’s responded by saying that everything would be made clear at an open public meeting that he would be holding. As the vote is scheduled to take place this next Wednesday, and as I’ve heard nothing in response to my inquiries as to when and where such a meeting might be taking place, my guess is that it’s not actually going to happen.]

After Smith and I fight it out, we’ll be joined in the studio by journalist Will Potter, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, who will be talking with us about the criminalization of free speech in America post-9/11. Potter, the author of the book Green Is The New Red, is presently at the University of Michigan, where he’s a 2015 Knight-Wallace Fellow. Here, for those of you who may not be aware of Potter’s work to illuminate the process by which peaceful protesters have been effectively branded as terrorists, is video from a TED talk he delivered shortly after the publication of his book. [Potter, who covered crime, government and breaking news for the Chicago Tribune’s metro desk, was threatened by the FBI after having been arrested for handing out leaflets against animal testing. The FBI essentially told him that he would be put on a domestic terrorist watch list, which would effectively kill his career as a journalist, unless he helped them in their information gathering activities. While he chose not to help them, and instead fight the charges in court, the event changed the trajectory of his life and his work, which is now focused on how, since 9/11, the government, with the enthusiastic urging of corporate America, has used the fear of terrorism in order to silence dissent.]

And, then, Edgar Cayce and His Guitar will be joining us from Saginaw… If you’d like to see what Edgar Cayce and His Guitar look like, here’s a photo I snapped of them recently from inside the kitchen of a house on Washington Street… And, if you’d like to hear what Edgar Cayce and His Guitar sound like, you should just tune in this Saturday evening.

And, here, thanks to AM 1700 graphic designer Kate de Fuccio, is this week’s poster, in case any of you want to print copies and leave them laying in stacks around Ann Arbor.

Oh, and best of all, the great Jim Cherewich will be back in the guest host chair, stirring shit up.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER TUNED IN TO THE SIX PACK BEFORE, HERE ARE THE DETAILS ON HOW TO LISTEN:

And for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the show, and need to get caught up, you can listen to the entire archive on iTunes.

One last thing… If you’d like to tell your friends and neighbors about the program, feel free to share the Facebook event listing.

And do call us if you have a chance. We love phone calls. So please scratch this number into the cinder block wall of the recreation room of whichever facility you’ve been assigned to… 734.217.8624… and call us between 6:00 and 8:00 this Saturday evening. The show is nothing without you. And I mean that.

Posted in Ann Arbor, Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime, Economics, Marketing, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged AAACVB, ag gag laws, AM 1700, Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, animal rights, Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Caleb Brokaw, Chicago Tribune, Conan Smith, domestic terrorism, Edgar Cayce and His Guitar, environmental terrorism, fear, fear mongering, fear tactics, Free Speech, fundraisers, Green Is The New Red, investigative reporting, Jim Cherewich, journalist, Knight-Wallace Fellows, Michael Flores, Ronnie Peterson, TED, Will Potter, YACVB, Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau | 6 Comments

Ypsi Real (let’s keep it that way)

By Mark | September 10, 2015

Over the past several months, we’ve talked quite a bit here about an attempt on the part of Ann Arbor hoteliers and their supporters on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to defund the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (YACVB), and move their $1.1 million annual budget to Ann Arbor, where it could help further promote “the Ann Arbor area.” This, they tell us, would not just be good for Ann Arbor, but for Ypsilanti. If we just stop promoting our community and hand over our current allotment of the Washtenaw County Hotel Tax to the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (AAACVB), they tell us, good things will happen. With a bigger budget, they’ll be able to do a better job of getting the word out about Ann Arbor, and, being just a few miles outside of Ann Arbor, we’ll naturally reap the benefits. The prosperity, we’re told, will eventually trickle down… no doubt as people attracted to Ann Arbor turn the wrong way on Washtenaw when getting off the highway. As we’ve discussed here before, though, I’m skeptical. I’ve been around long enough to know how these things typically work out.

When the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor Chambers of Commerce merged, we were told the new, improved Chamber would keep a presence in Ypsilanti. It didn’t. And, when the Washtenaw Development Council was reborn as Ann Arbor SPARK about a decade ago, we were told that, by promoting Ann Arbor, as opposed to the entire region, good things would happen in Ypsilanti. It hasn’t happened, though. While Ann Arbor is booming, the only new commercial building to have been built in Ypsi over the past several years is a dollar store on Michigan Avenue.

But yet they tell us that “Ann Arbor is the brand” that drives our region. And that’s what this move is about… the reallocation of resources to more loudly proclaim the awesomeness of Ann Arbor. Sean Duval, the board chair of the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau recently told the Ann Arbor News, “It’s absolutely our vision to see one countywide marketing agency, one voice for the Ann Arbor area.” You’ll note that he didn’t say “Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.” He said “the Ann Arbor area,” which is how they see us.

Commissioner Conan Smith has said recently that, when the merger goes through, it will mean more resources for the eastern side of the county. And that might be true in a sense, as it could be argued that certain spending is being done for our benefit. The thing is, we’d no longer have a true say in how this money would be spent. Sure, we’d have a seat at the table, and a few employees of the new, bigger AAAVCB might even be from Ypsilanti, but they wouldn’t have an independent budget to spend on our behalf, as they do now, and they wouldn’t be able to make decisions based on what’s best for our community. And, when that happens, you can be sure you won’t see campaigns like the following, which, just started being rolled out this afternoon.

This, in my estimation, is exactly the kind of work a CVB should be doing. And it reminds me why this fight we’re having is so important. This isn’t just about the $1.1 million we’d be losing as a community… it’s about the loss of our ability to define ourselves.

And, here, so you get a sense of how Ann Arbor’s CVB is marketing the Ann Arbor area, is an ad that they’re currently running in the AAA magazine. [If they cropped the shot differently, you’d be able to see the thirty-some year old iconic mural is no longer on the side of a quirky used book store but on the side of a fast food franchise.]

Tell me which, in your opinion, is doing a better job of selling its city as the kind of place you’d like to visit, live, etc.

No offense to the people of Ann Arbor… I know they’re smart. And I know they feel as though they’re helping, even if it might come across as paternalistic… But, as someone who intends to one day open a business in Ypsilanti, I’d much rather have local people at the YACVB calling the shots as to how we promote our community than folks in Ann Arbor, regardless of how well-intentioned they might be. I want the employees of my CVB to be down the street, eating at our restaurants, and talking with our local business owners on a daily basis. I want them to know this community and what makes it special. And I’m not convinced that any of that would happen under a merger, in spite of the promises I’ve heard to the contrary.

“Ypsi Real,” is a serious campaign. It gets to the heart of who we are. And who we are isn’t just “a small town close to Ann Arbor.” We have something unique and different here, and we need to protect it. And I’m not convinced, if we trust our fate to the AAACVB, that they’ll understand that.

One last thing… It’s probably worth stating that I’m not adverse to finding ways for our two bureaus to better work together. If there is in fact redundancy, I think we should do our best to eliminate it. As both bureaus, for instance, employ staff charged with pitching our respective towns as possible locations for conventions, I suspect there may be an opportunity to cover more ground by working together. What I don’t want, though, is for us to totally hand over the development and articulation of our community’s identity to people who don’t understand what it is that truly makes Ypsilanti unique. I realize the stakes are high here, and that the cards are stacked against us, but I feel as though this is something worth fighting for… If we give up our percentage of the Washtenaw County Hotel Tax now, you can be sure we’re never going to get it back again. It’ll be gone forever… as will our ability to define ourselves.