City Council Posts

Below are essays I’ve written exploring Ann Arbor City Council issues in depth and providing more background on the decisions of your elected representatives.

One Full Year of Unanimous Government

This week marks a full year since the installation of a City Council in which all elected members were approved and endorsed by Mayor Taylor. In the last twelve months, 97% of all agenda items have been approved unanimously, most notably on issues of controversy.

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Traffic Reconfigurations Without Data

This week’s agenda item DC-4 is a stunning departure from past city policy regarding data-driven decisions. City staff is asked to prioritize reconfiguring all existing multilane roads under the City’s jurisdiction, narrowing and reducing traffic lanes. Council no longer wants traffic data for specific locations or projections for safety improvements and traffic delays.

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Ann Arbor Airport Lease: “A More Directed Approach”

The April 17, 2023 Council agenda illustrates just how much transparency is lost when City operations happen outside of public process. Item CA-9 is an amendment to a 20 year lease agreement (with option to renew for 10 years) for building maintenance and management of services at the Ann Arbor airport.

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A Million Dollars and Counting

I scanned Legistar and quickly found multiple examples of how “Best Value” contracting policy has been implemented, at a cost to taxpayers. In just a preliminary search, I identified where this new scoring criteria – combined with Council discretion, rejecting staff recommendations – has cost the City over a million dollars.

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