By Mark | October 4, 2017
At tonight’s Ypsilanti City Council meeting, as you might imagine, people were anxious to discuss the most recent scandal swirling around the International Village development. Unfortunately, those in the best position to comment didn’t seem to want to talk about it. Mayor Amanda Edmonds, who just last night returned from 10-day trip to China, which […]
Posted in Local Business, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged affordable housing, Amanda Edmonds, American Center for Mobility, Amy Xue Foster, being tired, Beth Ernat, China, Community Benefits Agreement, Dan Vogt, Darwin McClary, EB-5, economic development, ethics, gentrification, growth, independent investigation, international travel, International Village, John Barr, Lee Tooson, Lois Richardson, Nicole Brown, participatory design, Pete Murdock, scandals, Shanghai, Sustainability, Tony DeGiusti, transparency, Water Street, Wayne State, Wayne State University Chinese Student and Scholar Association, Willow Run, Ypsilanti City Council |
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 […]
Posted in Ann Arbor, Architecture, Corporate Crime, Economics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged affordable housing, Amanda Edmonds, Beijing, brownfield, Brownfield Redevelopment Tax Credits, China, Chinese investment, condominiums, corruption, County Farm Park, Dan Vogt, Eastside Recreation Center, EB-5, economic development, economic segregation, environmental injustice, gentrification, International Village, luxury housing, money laundering, native plants, public health air quality, real estate, remediation, respirators, seed bombing, SHIFT, silence, student housing, tax credits, Troy, Veridian, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation, Water Street, Water Street Commons, Water Street debt reduction millage, Water Street Sculpture Park, xenophobia, Ypsilanti City Council, Ypsilanti real estate |
By Mark | August 17, 2016
As several people have pointed out over the past few weeks in relation to the Water Street debt reduction millage which was recently defeated at the polls, the people of Ypsilanti already pay a much higher tax rate than those who live elsewhere in the region. In hopes of finding out why that is, I […]
Posted in Michigan, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Beth Ernat, Eastern Michigan University, economic development, EMU, Headlee, Headlee Amendment, Headlee Override, millage, Murph, pensions, Proposition A, public pension crisis, revenue sharing, Richard Murphy, tax policy, taxes, Water Street, Water Street debt reduction millage, Ypsi taxes, Ypsilanti City Council, Ypsilanti Fire Department, Ypsilanti police department |
By Mark | February 3, 2016
The management of AM 1700 just marked the one year anniversary of my radio program, The Saturday Six Pack, by posting the following graphic to Facebook, along with a comment about how, almost every week, I wear the same filthy, brown sweater. I know I should either thank them for having hosted the show for […]
