Category Archives: Ann Arbor

I got to take the train from Ypsi to Detroit a few days ago, and, if we play our cards right, we might all be able to do it someday soon

By Mark | December 6, 2017

Last Friday, at about 1:30 PM, a train on Amtrak’s Wolverine line stopped on its way from Chicago to Detroit to pick up passengers in Ypsilanti. While it’s true that, back in late May of 2010, the President of Amtrak disembarked from a train in Depot Town and met with elected officials to discuss the […]

Also posted in Rail, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged AAATA, Adam Zemke, Amtrak, Andy LaBarre, Ann Arbor - Detroit rail, Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Beth Bashert, Beth Ernat, Brenda Stumbo, bus rapid transit, commuter rail, Dearborn, Depot Town, Derrick James, Detroit Metro Airport, Eastern Michigan University, Golden Limousine, high-speed rail, Jennifer Granholm, Jewell Jones, Lois Richardson, Mary Kerr, mass transit, passenger rail, Pete Murdock, politicians, QLINE, Rail, railroad, Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan, Ricky Jefferson, Ronnie Peterson, RTA, Sean Duval, SEMCOG, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Teen Vogue, train platform, trains, Washtenaw Community College, Yousef Rabhi, Ypsilanti Township | 35 Comments

The University of Michigan, with an increasingly wealthy student body, sets out to return the “common man” and increase economic diversity

By Mark | November 9, 2017

Politico has a really interesting piece today about the increasingly wealthy University of Michigan student body, what that means in practical terms when it comes to economics and politics in the state, and what University leaders are doing to reverse the trend, and increase economic diversity on campus. And, interestingly, they’ve decided to tell the […]

Also posted in Education, Photographs, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged 1%, American aristocracy, Ben Edmondson, Detroit, dismantling of public education, economic segregation, Go Blue Guarantee, HAIL: High Achieving Involved Leader, higher education, inheritance tax, inherited wealth, Jake Croman, James Angell, Politico, public education, ruin porn, Southfield, student debt, Tap Room, threats to public education, threats to the middle class, tuition, University of Michigan, wealth inequality, Wolverine Pathways, Ypsi High, Ypsilanti International Elementary School | 33 Comments

Washtenaw Intermediate School District leadership weighs in on the battle over Ypsi’s International Baccalaureate middle school

By Mark | October 30, 2017

On the evening of Tuesday, October 17, members of the Ypsilanti Community Schools Board of Education, without any public debate, voted 4-2 in favor of a plan to hand over control of Ypsi’s Washtenaw International Middle Acadey (WIMA) to the Washtenaw Educational Options Consotrium (WEOC), the organization that currently operates the regionally-funded, and Ypsilanti-based Washtenaw […]

Also posted in Education, Ypsilanti | Tagged Bert Okma, debt, diversity, East Middle School, economic segregation, extractive colonialism, International Baccalaureate, Maria Sheler-Edwards, Naomi Norman, opportunity index, public education, school consolidation, schools of choice, Scott Menzel, segregation, threats to public education, Washtenaw Educational Options Consotrium, Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Washtenaw International High School, WEOC, West Middle School, WIHI, WIMA, WISD, YCS, YIES, YPS, Ypsilanti Board of Education, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti International Elementary School, Ypsilanti Public Schools | 23 Comments

My friend Jeff Irwin is running for State Senate and he’d like to meet you this Wednesday in Ypsi

By Mark | October 29, 2017

As those of you who follow this site know, while I occasionally come out against people running for local elected office, I rarely, if ever, come out and endorse candidates, at least during primary season, when we have multiple Democrats running against one another. Well, I’ve decided to make an exception… I’m endorsing former State […]

Also posted in Politics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged 18th District, AAATA, affordable housing, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Augusta Township, Bona Sera, clean air, clean water, criminal justice reform, dioxin, economic segregation, Flint, Flint Water Advisory Task Force, Flint water crisis, friends who do cooler stuff that I do, gay rights, green tea coalition, Heat and Eat, Jeff Irwin, Jim Cherewick, job creation, Kate de Fuccio, Kathryn Loomis, marijuana, Michigan House of Representatives, Michigan State Senate, Milan, Partners for Transit, Pittsfield Township, political endorsements, pot, Salem Township, Saline, school funding, Superior Township, threats to public education, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, York Township, Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township | 14 Comments

My thoughts on International Village

By Mark | September 20, 2017

Yesterday, someone on Twitter called me out for being silent on the subject of International Village, the $350+ million dollar retail and housing development being proposed for Ypsilanti’s 36-acre Water Street property. According to this person, who was posting under a pseudonym, my silence on the matter was “deafening.” It’s something I’ve heard several times […]