Snyder’s reception at Old Town tonight makes me wonder how long it’ll be before he leaves Ann Arbor

SnyderOldTown2

A year or so ago, when Rick Snyder announced that he’d be selling his house in the gated community outside of Ann Arbor and moving to a million dollar condo downtown, I’m sure it seemed like a good idea. Even though he’d done things in office that people didn’t like, folks still, for the most part, were happy to see him, and treated him with respect. That, however, is apparently beginning to change thanks to his role in the poisoning of Flint and the subsequent coverup.

The photo above was taken an hour or so ago by Pete Larson’s son Miles, who just happened to be at Old Town when the Governor came in. Apparently at least four people who I know where in the bar at the time, and their stories are relatively consistent. All of them, for instance, tell of a guy who, on his way out of the restaurant, yelled “Rick Snyder, you fucked up!”, opening the door for others to begin expressing their displeasure with our Governor. A few, from what I’m told, made comments about the water that he was drinking. Some apparently went so far as to address him directly, directing comments toward him like, “How about another nice glass of water, Snyder?” A vast majority, though, just sat by in angry silence, pissed off that the Governor had invaded their favorite local watering hole, bringing the specter of what had happened in Flint along with him.

While I’m sure there are still places that he’d be welcome, like the West End Grill, where he’s a regular, I have a feeling, as evidenced by what just happened at the Old Town, that our Governor’s beloved Ann Arbor is growing smaller and smaller with each passing day. And it wouldn’t surprise me at all to hear, in a few months, that he and his wife had decided to move back to a gated community, where people can’t post wanted posters outside their door, as folks were doing yesterday.

Even with everything that he’s done, I still can’t help but feel sorry for him… With that said, though, I’m glad to know that some people in Ann Arbor are making him aware of how they feel. I think, if we’re going to see meaningful action from him, it will likely be because of things like the reception he received tonight at Old Town, and not because of protestors at the capital, or Facebook posts by the likes of Michael Moore. I think it’s incredibly important to Snyder how he’s perceived by his peers in Ann Arbor, and I know that, when he ran for Governor, this is not how he imagined things playing out. He wanted to be the “tough nerd” who solved all of our problems and put us on the path to a brighter future. Sadly, though, it didn’t turn out that way. He tried to run our state like a business, and, as a result, a city and its people have been ruined. And I’m afraid, now, he’s lost his hometown too.

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57 Comments

  1. Posted January 28, 2016 at 10:16 pm | Permalink

    Then there’s the giant inflatable cock that’s been affixed to the window of his condo.

    snyderpenis

  2. J.
    Posted January 28, 2016 at 10:19 pm | Permalink

    People were polite at Old Town. Stern but polite, for the most part. He drank mostly in peace. I think it’s worth saying that he messed up their good time by showing up, but they didn’t go to his table or get in his face. The mood was ‘depressed’ when he was there, and there was a palpable sense of relief when he left. It was ballsy to go to a locals bar. It felt intrusive. I have to wonder what he was thinking. Maybe the PR firm told him he had to go out and be a public person. One tough nerd is going to have to learn a different kind of tough.

  3. Frosted Flakes
    Posted January 28, 2016 at 11:18 pm | Permalink

    The revolution will be televised on channel tmz.

  4. Joseph Yaroch
    Posted January 28, 2016 at 11:29 pm | Permalink

    “He tried to run our state like a business, and, as a result, a city and its people have been ruined. And I’m afraid, now, he’s lost his home as result.”

    Exactly so. I have a little rant about this. I’ve always hated the phrase, “Run government like a business.” Let me tell you why. In the 1960s, my brother any I used to play a little game, walking home from Fletcher Elementary. We would sniff the air, and guess at what the air pollution index would be when they reported it on the evening news. You see, before the EPA, businesses would routinely, blithely, as a matter of everyday operations, poison their own communities. We got to the point where we could judge, within a few points, what the pollution index was. That was simply a routine part of growing up in Ypsilanti. It was accepted, as a matter of course, that businesses routinely poisoned children.

    When I took a business management course in High School, I was told that the majority of businesses fail within something like 3 years. Since then, I have tried half-heartedly to find a reference to back that up, but have not found one. In any case, I was left with the impression that most businesses fail.

    Thus, to me, ‘to run something like a business’ means to run it in a way that poisons people, and that will probably fail in a few years. It is not a formula for success.

  5. Peter Larson
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 6:18 am | Permalink

    Interesting reactions to this important event.

  6. Mr. Y
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 6:21 am | Permalink

    It was also Miles who started the ball rolling by saying, “You fucked up, Rick Snyder.”

  7. facebook staler
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:54 am | Permalink

    From the person drinking beers with the man who yelled “You fucked up”:

    “The servers at the watering hole would not let me send him a pitcher of water. That’s fine. I get it. Business is business. But what about civil disobedience? What about Thoreau? Or, better yet, what about Thoreau’s pal Emerson, who probably inspired Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience in the first place. Can you imagine having the names Ralph and Waldo and still being the most durable American thinker ever? Miles is a good name. And my pal Miles is a good and sensitive and thoughtful human. As he left, Miles stood wide and gave and me a warm hug, and shouted out, “You fucked up, Rick Snyder!!!” and the watering hole went silent for maybe eleven seconds. No texting. No Instagram. Sometimes eleven seconds is enough. Thank you, Miles. Thoreau and Emerson cheer you. As do I.”

  8. tommy
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:12 am | Permalink

    As our good governor has never, admittedly, been considered empathetic, he has attempted to evoke an image that his skills- and thus, his governing ability -lie in efficiency, problem solving, and competence. Skills that he honed in the private sector and that he brought to the government. The Flint crisis has shown that he really is no better at managing a state than someone without this ‘business’ expertise.

    I think “You fucked up, Snyder” is about the most accurate, succinct, and clear phrase that can – and should – be uttered in his presence. You are not a problem solver. You are not efficient. You are not a problem solver. You. Fucked. Up.

    I think you are right Mark – he will move. This guy will not be able to take a walk in Ann Arbor for the rest of his time here without someone reminding him that he fucked up. He is the George W Bush of Washtenaw county.

  9. Jason Kosnoski
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:21 am | Permalink

    As my wife commented, the sad thing is that so few people said something and that most just sat there. Remember Washtenaw county voted much more pro Snyder than other so called “liberal” counties like Wayne and Genesee in both of his elections. This man perpetrates one of the largest public health disasters in recent memory and all that happens is that four people say something mildly confrontational. This incident tells me that we still have a lot political work to do here. By the way, next time he’s probably just going to have a dinner with his friends the Greff’s at Arbor Brewing Company. That’s “liberal” Ann Arbor for you.

  10. anonymous
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:23 am | Permalink

    The Ann Arbor News interviewed people in the bar. It’s a good story, even if the headline is a lie. (He was not “heckled out” of the building.)

    http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/01/governor_heckled_out_of_old_to.html

  11. Graeme Kzing
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:31 am | Permalink

    He should have gone to ABC, i would think he’d be more welcome there.

  12. site admin
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:36 am | Permalink

    Context on the Greff comments:

    http://markmaynard.com/2011/05/rene-greff-on-her-support-of-rick-snyder-for-governor/

    http://markmaynard.com/2015/02/my-thoughts-on-todays-article-in-the-metro-times-about-ypsilantis-corner-brewery/

  13. Kat
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    We should start a pool for when he leaves. $5 buys you a day. Half the proceeds go to Flint.

  14. Posted January 29, 2016 at 10:26 am | Permalink

    I would be devastated if I got ran out of Ann Arbor. I want to feel sorry for him, but I just can’t. He is richer than I will ever be, he has resources I can only dream of, he is bankrolled by billionaires, oh yeah AND HE POISONED AN ENTIRE CITY. By action, inaction, ignorance, whatever, he still didn’t do what he was supposed to do, which is to keep people safe.

    I just read a post that he changed the rules for recalling politicians…now you only have 60 days to collect signatures. I haven’t read any further, but I find the timing on this to be quite interesting.

  15. Alan Goldsmith
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 10:32 am | Permalink

    Don’t worry, there’s always Arbor Brewing where he’ll be safe and protected amongst his own kind.

  16. Posted January 29, 2016 at 10:39 am | Permalink

    Oops! Never mind…the article was from 2012. So ignore that last statement :)

  17. Luna
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 10:40 am | Permalink

    I’m actually pretty annoyed with a2 today – only 2 people stood up and said something, and everyone sat and fidgeted nervously because people said the right thing loudly, while everyone else worried about how unpolite they were being.

  18. Granholm
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 12:01 pm | Permalink

    Man, I miss Michigan. Unlike here, the liberals in Michigan get right to the point, not stopping to make sure they really understand a story and have all the background. Out here, the left wing dispalys way to much common courtesy and civility.

  19. RESIGN RICK
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 12:05 pm | Permalink

    Rick please get out. The poisoning was an unfortunate error but the subsequent lying and cover up was a criminal act committed by an elected official. If I see you downtown anywhere you can be sure I won’t be very polite. In fact, I’ll probably be arrested

  20. Lynne
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 12:27 pm | Permalink

    I don’t feel sorry for him. My hope is that this sort of thing motivates him into action regarding both Flint and the trouble in DPS (which is also his fault). Also, will he allow the DEQ to allow Marathon oil poison even more poor mostly black people?

    If he really cared, he would move (at least temporarily) to Flint in order to show some kind of solidarity with the people in that town. People might be more confident in his sincerity if he did although I imagine he probably wouldn’t want to eat out there. Or maybe he would. Maybe allowing the people there to vent their anger at him could be part of the healing process?

  21. Frosted Flakes
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 12:40 pm | Permalink

    I hope I do not offend anyone but based upon this article and the comments I give “Potbelly” and “Old Town” 4 stars; whereas I give”ABC” and “West End Grill” 2 stars.

    For comparison, Trendymoscow.com gave “Dr. Zhivago Restaurant” 4 stars.

  22. Meta
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 1:04 pm | Permalink

    A lot of people, like Luna, are wondering why more people didn’t speak up.

    From the Metro Times.

    Gov. Rick Snyder got a little more than he bargained for when he and an unknown man went out to dine at Old Town Tavern in Ann Arbor last night. Judging by a report from MLive, one man in the tavern shouted, “Snyder, you fucked up!” That drew the attention of diner Laura Tanner, who reportedly waited until the guv finished his meal and then confronted him while he was leaving. On her Facebook page, Tanner says she yelled at him, “How was your water? Clean?” Tanner’s friend then piped up, “Have some water on us, Rick Snyder!”

    Of course, this is not the countercultural Ann Arbor of the 1980s. None of the guests joined in the confrontation. Even 20 years ago, a man like Rick Snyder trying to enjoy a meal in downtown Ann Arbor would have likely spent most of his meal dodging food and footwear. But, as others have pointed out, the scrappy university town has since become a sedate bubble of affluence where such antics are viewed as bad manners. (Although the wait staff apparently were unsettled by a visit from the controversial governor; on her Facebook, Tanner says a waitress told her after the incident, “It was so hard to wait on him.”)

    Again from Facebook, Tanner adds: “I realize he was just having dinner, but here i was drinking a clean glass of water, staring into his eyes because he was right next to us, and I thought, ‘This may be the only chance I get to tell him to his face what I think of him.'”

    Read more:
    http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2016/01/29/gov-snyder-heckled-in-downtown-ann-arbor

  23. Robert
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 1:12 pm | Permalink

    What would one expect other than this from a bunch of liberal creeps. Flint is screwed up because of 75 years of liberal democrat incompetence. The citizens of Flint brought the EFM through election of incompetents to run their city.
    Rick Snyder did not fail to treat the water properly. The people who are supposed to understand and run the treatment plant failed. Name them so we know who is responsible.
    Ann Arbor liberal hacks just want to blame a conservative.

  24. Rat
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 1:16 pm | Permalink

    If they were so terrible and incompetent for so many years, why didn’t they poison people prior to Rick coming into office, Robert?

  25. Demetrius
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 1:34 pm | Permalink

    Elections have consequences. So do actions. (or the lack of action)

    I find it amazing that some seem to be way more upset that people are being “impolite” to Snyder than they are by the fact that the drinking water of an American city was poisoned – and many children may end up living with lifelong side-effects.

    The old saying about “speaking truth to power” seems appropriate here, somehow …

  26. Kim
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 3:29 pm | Permalink

    Russell Simmons Calls Out ‘Environmental Racism’ In Flint

    “We need the governor’s hands in cuffs. If this happened in Beverly Hills… First of all he’s a conservative governor, there’s black people there, they don’t vote for him, and they’re poor. So he just let it happened. And it would never happen in a community where people had wealth and influence.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russell-simmons-calls-out-environmental-racism-in-flint_us_56aa6a00e4b001648922b405

  27. Jean Henry
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 3:50 pm | Permalink

    Luna’s take is inaccurate. Everyone there supported the actions of those who stood up– in word if not in deed. They did not worry about whether it was polite. They just chose not to start a riot in their favorite bar. It was frankly not as exciting as anyone has stated it. I do find it interesting that so many have been so inflamed in their rhetoric but did not say anything politely or not to the man at the top when given the opportunity. He’s a civil servant and should expect to be addressed in public places about an ongoing scandal. My guess is that Snyder considered the outing downright pleasant relative to the public reception he’s getting elsewhere.

  28. Olive
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 4:05 pm | Permalink

    Why is everyone assuming that everyone else in there felt the same way as the hecklers but was only too afraid or “polite” to speak up? Some people might see issues differently. Some people don’t know about the Flint water problems. People were probably uncomfortable because conflict in a place like Old Town seems anathema to the typical atmosphere. Just a reminder that you can’t read minds.

  29. Cat
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 4:33 pm | Permalink

    Jean Henry, you’re so wrong about “everybody there.” My group was there and we support being civil. It was juvenile.

  30. Jim
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 4:57 pm | Permalink

    Snyder’s using the incident to play the victim.
    http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/01/29/gov-snyder-says-hes-been-heckled-and-worse-over-flint-water-crisis/

  31. Adam
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 5:02 pm | Permalink

    How can you feel sorry for him? He’s complicit in racial genocide. There are no possible contexts in which to be an apologist of the policies of third-worldization he is helping implement. Fuck him, and fuck you for saying you can’t help feeling sorry for him. You might need to reorient yourself to the social reality of what is happening in Flint and do some serious reflection on how you might be complicit in an ideological complex that does nothing but further the normalization of neoliberalism and people’s suffering. Also, him being heckled out of the Old Town is cool, and feel-goody and all, but to say that actions such as that are the catalyst for social change eclipses the reality of people who put their lives on the line, lives that are already on the line to begin with, in an ongoing struggle against the State.

  32. Jeff Hayner
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 6:59 pm | Permalink

    The Flint Water Crisis was precipitated by Gov. Snyder’s calls to “re-invent state government”. The Flint water department was forced by Snyder’s EM to move prematurely away from the Detroit water system because their contract with Detroit water was up for renewal- before the new regional pipeline got built. The move away from Detroit water was not to save money for Flint, it was to keep money from Detroit to further continue to bankrupt the city. The goals for all of the Snyder administrations moves are outlined in a document distributed by the “Michigan’s Collaborative Stakeholder Initiative” which was set up in 2012 to examine the MDEQ’s guidelines for acting on cleanups. From the document:

    “CSI is the culmination, at a critical time, of the previous collaborative evaluations related to State of Michigan Environmental Programs and programs conducted pursuant to Part 201 and Part 213 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection act, 1994 PA 451 as amended (NREPA).) It was undertaken in a few short months to improve the state’s delivery of environmental stewardship and reinvent its remediation and brownfield redevelopment programs in support of Governor Rick Snyder’s goals to:
    ● Reinvent our government
    ● Create more and better jobs
    ● Restore our cities
    ● Enhance our national and international image
    ● Protect our environment
    ● Solve problems through relentless positive action ”

    See—protecting the environment is 5th on the list of MDEQ responsibilities!… so when they were sent to provide oversight of the transition of Flint’s water, what did they care about the quality of the water? The switch was to create jobs, economic development, and further erode Detroit’s ability to operate in the black – which would have made a big difference to the then-on-going bankruptcy proceedings. The MDEQ failed to oversee the Flint Water treatment of the drinking water – for years they only had experience with treating waste water for release, and for flushing the Detroit source drinking water to waste twice a year to check pumps and processes. When they were charged with creating their own drinking water they knew enough to test and treat for the horrible toxins but they had no experience with buffering the final results – hence the corrosive nature of the “new” water. MDEQ failed to monitor the situation, and when they did, they didn’t care – they aren’t charged with caring anymore under Snyder.

    So next time you get a chance, speak your mind, don’t sit like a silent witness – -if you don’t speak up, you will only encourage him…

  33. Jeff Hayner
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:06 pm | Permalink

    P.S. This is the same MDEQ our city council trusts with issuing wetlands permits for development in NE Ann Arbor and in the Allen Creek and Mallet’s Creek watersheds, and who our city council trusts with the clean-up of the Gelman Plume. Instead of being proactive and saving for the time when our water will need to be treated for 1,4 dioxan, the city council has a plan to switch, at great expense in our monthly bills, to the Detroit Water system. So next time you see a city council member out dining downtown remind them of their responsibility to the people of Ann Arbor.

  34. Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:28 pm | Permalink

    Adam, I did say that I felt sorry for him being shunned in his own hometown, and I do. I have also said, on multiple occasions, that he’s responsible for what happened, and should be held to account. I encourage you to read back over the dozens and dozens of posts I’ve written since he took office, a few of which are linked to above. I’m not a fan of his by any stretch, and I look forward to the day he testifies under oath as to what he knew and when he knew it. With that said, I can still image what it might be like for him to be in Ann Arbor right now, hated by a good number of his neighbors. But that doesn’t change the fact that, as I said in the post, I liked seeing him heckled, and I think there should be more of it. I want it to be like Chinese water torture for him. Everywhere he goes, I want for people to be saying, “drip, drip, drip.” I want him to be constantly reminded that we’re aware of what’s going on. But I get your anger and I can see why you’d be pissed off that I said I feel sorry for him. You can feel sorry for someone and still want to put them in prison, though.

  35. Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:36 pm | Permalink

    And, Jim, hearing him now talking with the press about how he was harassed while eating dinner makes me wonder if perhaps he chose Old Town because he knew that he’d likely get some shit there, which he could then refer to later in hopes of eliciting sympathy. I don’t like to think in such conspiratorial terms, but I suppose there could be something to it.

  36. Frosted Flakes
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:38 pm | Permalink

    I am a little confused by Jeff Hayner’s argument. Is your premise that bullet points 1-6 are to be read in order and reflecting Snyder’s intended hierarchical order of priorities?

    I am interested in the theory that the move off of Detroit water had the purpose of bankrupting Detroit. Is that a common theory? I haven’t heard that before but I am interested if anybody has anything more to say about it…

  37. Bob
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:45 pm | Permalink

    It’s good to see others finally beat me to bashing the creeps at Arbor Brewing. I find this younger Larson much more interesting.

  38. Jean Henry
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:45 pm | Permalink

    I am not inclined to think in conspiratorial terms either, except when a crisis management PR firm is hired. At that point every public action a person takes is a calculated move. And everything that person says about it is spin. Given the expectation generally that the Governor would get more crap at Old Town than he did, one could assume that he anticipated the poop throwing. And didn’t get much. I would question the idea that such a move would engender sympathy. It may have been intended to make him look fearless. I don’t know, but, for sure it wasn’t any 11 hour Benghazi inquiry.

  39. Jean Henry
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    If the consequences of water contamination in Flint rises to the level of ‘racial genocide,’ then every American is culpable of it. This is not a unique event except in its concentration. Plenty of Democratic run cities have terrible lead contamination issues. The data for mobility, health, poverty and justice for poor people of color tells us that this is not an isolated problem. Negligence, even criminal negligence– which this appears to be, is very different than intent to harm. It’s bad enough as is. There is no need to hyperbolize this shit.

  40. Posted January 29, 2016 at 7:56 pm | Permalink

    I suppose it’s possible that the West End Grill didn’t have a table open, but the more I think about it, the more I think he went to Old Town to either, as you say, Jean, stand up and show how fearless he is, or try to win some sympathy points. Likely he was hoping to accomplish both.

  41. Posted January 29, 2016 at 8:00 pm | Permalink

    As for the theory that the move off of Detroit water was made to push Detroit toward bankruptcy, I’m not sure. This is the first I’ve heard of it. I have, however, heard it suggested that the move was made to weaken the Detroit Water Department, which, according to some reports, was the golden goose funding the corrupt Kilpatrick empire.

  42. Rachel Maddow Show
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 10:50 pm | Permalink

    The Rachel Maddow Show just posted the following to Facebook.

    New amazing developments from Flint:
    New tap water lead level test results were just announced and the numbers are staggering. The federal alert level for lead is 15 parts per billion (ppb). The filters being distributed in Flint are meant to handle up to 150ppb. According to the new announcement, many homes tested over 150ppb, with the highest reading a shocking 4000ppb.

  43. Greg Pratt
    Posted January 29, 2016 at 10:58 pm | Permalink

    We don’t know if Rick Snyder’s rebranding campaign for the Flint water crisis will be successful. However, we do know that the effects of lead poisoning are permanent.

  44. Posted January 30, 2016 at 2:59 am | Permalink

    He wishes that energy could be spent solving the crisis in Flint? What fucking chutzpah! Those folks are using their energy to solve the crisis in Flint by telling an asshole public servant whose job it is to fix the fucking crisis in Flint that it’s important to fix the fucking crisis in Flint and that it doesn’t look like he’s doing nearly enough — especially since his fucking administration was complicit at every step of the way!

    (As for “run the government like a business,” according to the SBA, half of all businesses started fail within a year, and two thirds fail within 10 years. Say what you will about government, but we tend to expect them to be solvent longer than that.)

  45. Jcp2
    Posted January 30, 2016 at 5:03 am | Permalink

    Jeff Hayner is onto something. The Flint Water Department was in over their heads, and relied on LAN Engineering to guide them. LAN failed.

    https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-the-flint-water-crisis-corrosion-of-pipes-erosion-of-trust-53776

    Why is this firm always referred to generically as “an engineering firm” if even mentioned at all? After all, they have a part in this as well.

    http://michiganradio.org/post/former-flint-mayor-water-crisis-its-frustrating-me-more-has-not-been-done#stream/0
    http://www.lan-inc.com/portfolio/karegnondi-water-authority-66-inch-raw-water-transmission-main/
    http://www.lan-inc.com/portfolio/genesee-county-lake-huron-water-supply-intake/

    That’s a significant business with a significant reputation to protect. After all, they rely on government contracts to exist.

  46. Demetrius
    Posted January 30, 2016 at 9:04 am | Permalink

    This terrible, man-made disaster (and possible crime) thrust on the people, and especially the children, of Flint is just the worst example of a decades-long policy of disinvestment in infrastructure and education all across Michigan – in exchange for big tax breaks for the wealthy and large, multinational corporations – all predicated on the idea that these “job creators” will somehow bless us with their prosperity. (Hint … that ain’t happening.)

    As a result, roads, bridges, water systems, public schools – and especially infrastructure in urban communities, like Flint – are suffering from *decades* of deferred maintenance. Yet, we treat what happened in Flint as some kind of aberration … rather than a harbinger.

    Most immediately, Michigan has an obligation to help the people in Flint – but if we don’t also understand that this is part of a much bigger crisis – and deal with it aggressively – we will miss an important opportunity to re-set our priorities.

  47. Pat
    Posted January 31, 2016 at 10:17 pm | Permalink

    I’m a left-wing liberal. Bad manners are bad manners. If you are immature, rude and hateful, I hope you can sleep at night. You won’t be happy until you hang him, will you?

  48. Lynne
    Posted February 1, 2016 at 11:39 am | Permalink

    I would say that in the grand scheme of things, it is pretty bad manners to poison an entire city through their water supply and then have the nerve to be seen drinking clean water in a super affluent town that no one would ever allow to suffer the same fate. I would say that is worse than being heckled in the manners department. Perhaps I’ll write to Miss Manners for her opinion.

  49. Lisa
    Posted February 5, 2016 at 11:01 pm | Permalink

    What happened to the Ann Arbor I used to know? I was there when we were protesting Apartheid and people were in the Diag every day standing in a cage. Before that, people were protesting the Vietnam war. Now, it is only a few people who had the courage to speak up against a government that has so wronged the people and refuses to acknowledge full responsibility, but wants to act like now they are the good guy fixing the problem. That shows me how passive Americans have become and why we are in the current state we are in. Things aren’t going to change as long as people keep acting the way they do.

  50. Jeff Hayner
    Posted February 15, 2016 at 3:36 pm | Permalink

    Here is the link to the document that outlines the “re-imagining” of the MDEQ’s responsibilities towards the Part 201 rules among other things, under the Snyder administration.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20121222222054/http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-rrd-CSI-FinalCSIReport3-14-2012_379271_7.pdf

    The Part 201 rules are the rules that are in play in Ann Arbor’s “Gelman Plume” cleanup. My re-quoting of 6 goals is taken from page 14.

    As for any other connections, I would point out that the Detroit Water Department and now the SE Michigan regional water authority is run by Sue McCormick, a former Ann Arbor public services administrator, whatever that might have to do with anything. Also, please note that Snyder receives a big pat on the back by all the economic development people in Ann Arbor, including our current and former mayor and the majority of our city council members, MEDC, SPARK, etc. A curious side note to that is Snyder started out with something called “The IT Zone” which later folded into SPARK. One of Snyder’s investors in The IT Zone was Chuck (Plume) Gelman. Make of that what you will… I just see it as polluting business birds of a feather; but all this talk is not doing anything to help clean up A2’s water.

  51. Autumn
    Posted February 15, 2016 at 4:05 pm | Permalink

    My friends weren’t 100% sure if was him, but they think Snyder was at Old Town again Saturday night. At the time they left, nothing had happened.

  52. Fred Zimmerman
    Posted February 15, 2016 at 6:41 pm | Permalink

    Embarrassing and immature lack of civility was shown in this public confrontation.

  53. Anonymous
    Posted February 15, 2016 at 6:46 pm | Permalink

    Some would argue that saying “you fucked up” is considerably more civil, by orders of magnitude, than allowing people to drink poison.

  54. Peter Larson
    Posted February 16, 2016 at 4:51 am | Permalink

    “You fucked up” is pretty right on.

    Snyder, in fact, fucked up.

  55. Peter Larson
    Posted February 16, 2016 at 4:56 am | Permalink

    It was a statement of fact.

    Some Ann Arbor liberals must have an issue with facts.

  56. Demetrius
    Posted February 16, 2016 at 6:14 am | Permalink

    @ Fred

    I agree.

    Snyder’s lack of civility toward the citizens of Flint was embarrassing and immature.

  57. iRobert
    Posted March 6, 2019 at 2:18 pm | Permalink

    I’d bet he’s moved down to Florida by now.

3 Trackbacks

  1. […] Arbor is just too small of a town to keep secrets like this… A few days ago, when Governor Snyder was heckled at Old Town Tavern for his role in the poisoning of Flint, I heard about it almost immediately from four different people, all of whom were there at the […]

  2. […] $2 million Main Street condo. Among others, she interviewed my old bandmate Pete Larson’s son Miles, local activist Susan Fecteau, and my friend Jennifer Scroggins… all people who are dedicated […]

  3. […] Remember how, several months ago, I told you that a 25 year old video of my Ann Arbor noise band, Prehensile Monkey-tailed Skink, had surfaced in Oregon, and how music journalist Dustin Krcatovich had made it his mission in life to track it down? Well, he was apparently successful. After teasing me with a few still shots, and a provocative clip of me licking the sweat from a fellow bandmate’s brow, Mr. Krcatovich finally come though with the entire video. This evening, upon arriving home from my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party in Kentucky, I found what could well be the only known copy of “Fears of Practice” waiting for me on my doorstep, along with the following story, which was signed “Dustin Krcatovich.” Before we get to his letter, though, here’s how the long lost video, which had been distributed on VHS through Blackjack Records back in the early ’90s, begins. The little boy at the beginning of the video, by the way, is Miles Larson, the now grown man who recently made headlines for interrupting Governor Rick Snyder’s dinner at Old Town by walking out and loudly saying, &…. […]

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