text:
TT with HD: John Floyd
[Ed. note: John Floyd is a candidate for city council in Ward 5. The photographer who stopped by to chat during the ride was Mike Ulmer.]
JF: I had wondered, can I play this thing going up and down!
HD: [laugh]
JF: I've heard of fiddling on the roof, but I've never heard of fiddling on the teeter totter! I'm attending a bat mitzvah tonight, so the image of a fiddler on the roof is ...
HD: ... so, are you going to play?
JF: No. I'm going as a guest, not as the entertainment.
HD: I don't even know. Is there typically entertainment of that form at a bat mitzvah?
JF: Well, there's typically dancing. But I don't think too much Irish old-time fiddling. It's probably not the zeitgeist of the event. And not to try to awe your readers with my knowledge of big words, but the word zeitgeist does mean 'spirit of the age'. There are people who don't know what that word means.
HD: All right. [Ed note: JF tunes the fiddle and knocks out a tune.] So what was the name of that tune?
JF: The Gaelic Club.
HD: So that's like an ancient melody? Or is that a relatively modern thing?
JF: Well, I'm going to guess that the ancient Gaels didn't really think about having a Gaelic Club! So I'm guessing, it sounds like something one would have invented in New York in about 1850 or 1870. I don't know more than that. It's not the sort of thing one often associates with the Irish. [Ed. note: JF offers a second tune.] That one has perhaps a little bit more of what one thinks of as the Irish.
HD: And that one is?
JF: That's the Old Irish Washerwoman.
HD: Are you kidding me? [Ed. note: HD is fond of 'washers']
JF: Yeah. I think of it as kind of the most famous of the jigs.
HD: It certainly sounds familiar, I just never knew what the name of it was.
JF: The Washerwoman, I think they call it in Ireland. In America it's The Irish Washerwoman.
HD: [laugh] Okay, so to my ear you sound like a really good fiddle player.
JF: I was classically trained originally. [Ed. note: JF performs another tune.]
Which is a jig also--by a German guy, though.
HD: And what is that one?
JF: That's the jig from the D-minor Partita of Johann Sebastian Bach. It's a lesser-known piece, I don't pretend to play the Chaconne from that.
HD: Okay, so you know the musical theory underpinning everything? In other words you're not just putting your fingers in the right places. So for example, when I play the banjo, it's strictly muscle memory--I know I need to make this sequence of muscle movements in order to produce ...
JF: ... well, any act of playing, that's exactly where I'm at. Where should my bow be? What's the angle? What's the pressure? Am I in the right plane? So in performing that's where I'm at. But I actually never took any music theory. I was bathed in music growing up. My mother was a trained organist and sang with the New Orleans Opera. And my daddy played Brahms and Chopin ...
HD: ... so did you grow up in New Orleans??
JF: I grew up here. I was in New Orleans for a year.
HD: Yeah, I thought that's what you said at the CTN debate.
JF: My parents were from Louisiana originally. It's a long story. My mother's family actually settled over in the southwest corner of Michigan in 1850. And it's a long story. Her parents moved to Louisiana where she was born and met my father. After he finished medical school he took a residency here at the big U. and went back to be on the faculty at LSU in New Orleans for a year, didn't want to be there, called up and said, Can I come home? They said, Okay! And so he moved back in 1960. I was there for a year or two just long enough for my big sister to run through a plate glass window at her school in first grade in New Orleans. But I grew up mostly in Burns Park. I was actually born on Fairview Street, which is near the fire station on Jackson. There's kind of a little side parallel road, and there's three streets that come off it. Fairview is the middle street. But I grew up in Burns Park.
HD: Got it. You know, there's no timer on the teeter totter like there is at city council public commentary, ...
JF: ... I have more than three minutes?
HD: Yeah, you have more than three minutes. But I'm guessing, I mean it's not just city council commentary that you've appeared at over the last, what, five or six months?
JF: Since about April.
HD: Planning commission and various and sundry other ...
JF: ... mostly those two. Mostly council and the [planning] commission.
HD: But I imagine that you have gotten pretty good at the genre of the three-minute speech?
JF: I've gotten very good at the genre of the three-minute speech that loses its last two sentences! [laugh] Beep! I worked hard on my timing for the League of Women Voters debate. I went over that, and over that, and over that.
HD: So they didn't give you the question advance, though, did they?
JF: Oh, no. They just felt like softballs.
HD: So, did you find that to be a satisfying experience? I mean, do you feel like that gave you an adequate opportunity to let voters know who you were, and what he stood for, and what you would be like on council?
JF: I think it was better than the three minutes in front of council. But I think you can't know anyone in 20 or 30 minutes. The things that I feel like I'm not getting the time to explain--because they are subtle, they are difficult to argue. It's not because people are not able to understand them, but because they are not ways that people are used to thinking. And to get people to think a little bit differently to make an argument, is very much harder than getting them to think about something that they are used to thinking about.
HD: ... so that would be like San Diego?
JF: Yeah, San Diego. Any of the S-cities, really. Salt Lake, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, or even Seattle doesn't really have February. They have a little more rain. They don't have February the way we have February. I have a buddy who is a venture capitalist in town, Lindsay Aspegren at North Coast, and he has pointed out to me, you guys are crazy if you think that you're competing with Ohio or Indiana.
HD: So this is the whole small-town, feel big-city vitality thing?
JF: Yes, there we are! Which is, oh, by the way, also my personal aesthetic. That's why I moved home from Chicago to make babies. But it's more than just my personal aesthetic. It's also our chief economic weapon. But that really has escaped people's thinking, because they don't think about it much.
HD: But do you think it's fair to say that has an appeal for some percentage, but certainly not all ...
JF: ... absolutely!
HD: So it becomes a question of, do we really want to sink everything into that, or do we want to say, All right, these guys who spoke at public commentary for City Place at the planning commission public hearing, who talked about the fact that City Place, to them, represented exactly what was missing from the area near downtown Ann Arbor--modern cheap housing. These are guys who are not interested in buying an older home and slowly and steadily refurbishing it. They just want a place that is good to go, that's clean and works, and has all the modern amenities. I don't think that the small-town aesthetic appeals to guys like that.
JF: Right. I think if that's the case, what's the chance of ever out-urbanizing Chicago? What's the likelihood of that ever going to happen? If you really want to be in the big city, are you ever going to be happy with this? And my suggestion is we can't win that game. It doesn't mean that we can't have modern apartments for people who want them. That's not my point.
HD: Well, I think that's part of the impetus behind the desire to establish these transit corridors--east-west and north-south, with the commuter rail that folks are talking about. At the last AATA meeting it sounds like as soon as August 2009 there could be a millage proposal on the ballot for a regional transportation authority that would be an expanded AATA. And would eventually include this commuter rail going north-south and east-west. Frankly, I think you're right in the sense that in Ann Arbor people don't have a Detroit on the horizon. We don't think of ourselves as living in the Detroit area.
JF: It's the D-word, you're not allowed to say it.
HD: What, Detroit?
JF: Ah Ah Ah! You can't say the D-word! You can't say it!
HD: Well, when my wife and I made our list of pros and cons--do we actually want to follow the job opportunity that moved us to Ann Arbor--one of the things that made the list was, Oh, a major metropolitan area, cultural opportunities that would be available to us by the proximity to Detroit. And we moved to Ann Arbor, and whoops, unless you make a conscious effort, it's very easy to forget that Detroit even exists. I mean if you work in Ann Arbor ...
JF: ... yes, yes.
HD: Aside from the handful of baseball games we've attended in Detroit, I don't think we've been to Detroit. But if there was a train that I could hop on, and I didn't have to worry about ...
JF: ... making that train home, and where are you going to die in the meantime.
HD: What's that?
JF: If you didn't have to worry about, If I miss the five o'clock train will I die? Which maybe is a little unfair. But it's where people's heads are at. We had the same issue. My kids wanted to go into Detroit. And there's no good way to do it on the train. You've got about a three-hour window, and if you miss the train, there's no way home. So my point is not that we shouldn't have regional transit, not at all.
HD: A small what?
JF: Salient. We tried to run a little diversion out of Auburn Hills--Chrysler, Great Lakes Crossing, The Palace--all built out in Auburn Hills.
HD: I think I'm just not hearing the word--salient?
JF: Salient. Maybe I have the wrong word. I'm thinking of the military operation that runs off to the side.
HD: I'll look it up.
JF: I must have the wrong word. Sorry. [Ed. note: It's not the wrong word. It's just a meaning with which HD was not familiar: A military position that projects into the position of the enemy.] Let's try "adventure". Let's see if that works, nevermind. So we try those. And you drive through Southfield, it's not very pretty. You drive through Auburn Hills, you go up Telegraph Road from Southfield, north to Troy, you have an awful lot of empty glass and steel buildings up there.
HD: ... you're talking about the University of Michigan as the "knowledge factory".
why do people stay in Ann Arbor?
JF: Yes. And how to get people who otherwise might not have thought about it, to begin thinking about, Hey, if somebody could figure out how to do this process, or solve this puzzle, or invent this thing, or figure out what that molecule really needs to be, we could make $1 million. So we need to be doing all those things. The question is, why does anyone want to stay here to do that. Now inertia is an important factor in human events, I understand that. And I'm not denying that.
HD: Yeah, I have to say at this point, if you asked me, Why are you staying here in Ann Arbor, Dave? My answer would be, because there's no place else I want to go, and moving, it's exhausting. The first year that I didn't move, it was just like this glorious relief. Oh my god, I didn't have to move this year at all, not once. The energy that that takes to look for a new place to move all your stuff there. There's a lot to be said for just parking yourself and reaping all of the savings of energy you get from not having to move.
JF: Fair enough. If you were in Cleveland, if you were in Elyria, Ohio, ...
HD: Elyria, Ohio??
JF: Elyria, Ohio.
HD: Where is that?
JF: Off the turnpike about 30 miles west of Cleveland. They used to have a Ford plant down the road from Lorain. They used to have a steel plant and a GM plant. I went to college about 7 miles from there.
HD: I was going to say, How would you know that place?
JF: I went to college down there. A place called Oberlin.
HD: Oberlin, okay.
JF: So, Lorain County. The Amtrak stop from Toledo is in Elyria.
HD: Okay. So if I were in Cleveland or Elyria, Ohio, what?
JF: The relief of not moving is great, but my suggestion is part of your relief is: This is a great place. You do have to deal with February, fair enough. But it's a great place! Right today, you're going to be hard-pressed to find more pleasant place to be than this totter, in this park, that view. Unless maybe it's that view, or that view.
HD: [laugh]
JF: I mean, come on! This is not a sharp stick in the eye! This really is nice. And my point is that like a mine, or like a large, virgin old-growth forest, like the forests of Michigan, there is an unending supply of timber here. The trees were this big around, they were 100 feet tall and they covered the entire state, starting from Frankenmuth to the Wisconsin border. They'd been growing for 300 years untouched. The writers say that there were no deer in the state, because there was no open land, there was no underbrush, it was empty.
HD: I can tell you right now there's plenty of deer around Ann Arbor.
JF: They're in my neighbors yards!
HD: Are they really? Are they basically just pests?
JF: Yeah.
HD: Because I was riding up to the Project Grow meeting on Traver, and I was riding along and there were these three deer in the lawn. I had my camera with me, and so I stopped, and I'm very carefully taking the camera out, trying to make sure it doesn't beep and buzz and spook the deer, because I wanted to take a picture, and they actually instead of startling and moving away, they approached me.
JF: Right.
HD: They were like dogs or something.
JF: Handouts!
HD: I guess. And a woman walked past and she kind of rolled her eyes, and I asked her ...
JF: ... are these yours? [laugh]
HD: I forget exactly what I said. I was trying to elicit from her, Why aren't you impressed by this special encounter with nature? And she was like, You know what, they are just all over the place, they're a dime a dozen. Not unusual to see them in all.
JF: Yeah, yeah. When I was a kid it was like a once in a five-year event to see a deer. Now it's, How many this week? Where some of my son's buddies live, it's a daily occurrence to see multiple deer.
HD: So anyway, I interrupted you. Your point was?
JF: That we used to have this unending supply of timber that will never end. More timber than you could cut in the entire world--until there wasn't any. Mining. You extract, and extract, and extract, until it's gone. And what we're doing here is culture mining. Quality-of-life mining. And we're going to mine it, and mine it, and mine it, and people are going to want to come, and they're going to want to come, and they will want to come, until--they don't want to come. And it will be off the radar like that. And you won't see it until it's too late.
HD: Is this the argument that you are making: If too many people come here, then this will no longer be a desirable place to be?
JF: For the particular people that we're looking for. Now you go from aesthetics, and where do I want to live, and what's my quality of life, to: What makes sense for the state? What makes sense for our region? How do we make this sustainable?
HD: The goose and the golden eggs??
JF: I met someone who had not. I had to explain the story on her front porch ...
HD: ... oh, man!
JF: A twentysomething.
HD: Okay! [laugh]
JF: Well, it's not on in TV! They don't read Aesop. They don't have any Aesop on Nick at Night. So we can try to get all the eggs out in a big rush. Why wait for them? Or we can fatten the goose, and we can sing it nice songs, and pet it, and speak tenderly to it, and make bigger eggs! Or we can slice it open and get all the eggs out! Remember how that story comes out. There's actually nothing inside this.
HD: Do you fish?
JF: Yeah. I'm a fly fisherman.
HD: Really? Did you have anything to do with--they did some work out by the bridge, that bridge that they are renovating right now ... [Ed. note: HD and JF are probably talking about different places--HD meant the Delhi bridge where there's been some signage installed by a fly fishing club.]
JF: ... in Dexter?
HD: Well it's out Dexter Way.
JF: They took out the Henry Ford dam, which is both a blessing and a sadness. Henry Ford built that dam, he went through Southeast Michigan building dams and mills in the later part of his life. I don't know if it ever powered anything, but he put that in there, that's what I'm told. And so to take it out is a great loss of history, but it's also re-awakened some pike spawning habitat. So now you've improved the fishery in the river.
HD: So have you fished that stretch?
JF: I have not. I have fished Hudson Mills, and I have fished Dexter-Huron. And I have fished Delhi, and I have fished Bell Road, which is my favorite spot, because it is so empty. You can think you're up north, it's beautiful. So Bell Road, and Zeeb Road ...
HD: So Bell, as in ring a bell?
JF: Yeah. Bell Road bridge was closed years ago. It's an old iron bridge, American Bridge Company Bridge. They would get a big crane that picked it up and set in the ground. It would dead end into Huron River Drive. You go out to Huron River Drive towards Hudson Mills, you cross Territorial Road, and you go straight, it stays dirt. Huron River Drive goes down Territorial and it crosses the river there. You stay straight on the dirt road and you will come to the sign--Bell Road. And you turn down that--I think it's only about 100 yards long there. And there's the river. [whispered] There's no one there. You feel like you're up north. And it's the rocky part.
HD: When you say local, you meet local here to Ann Arbor or Detroit?
JF: To Detroit. I don't have this completely worked out, I am still cogitating on how this happens--because nothing happens neatly. Central planning doesn't work, I mean, we know this. But nonetheless, look at where are the resources, and where do things make sense.
HD: Well, as you said, you know, central planning doesn't work in the sense that it happens neatly in the way that anyone can map it out.
JF: Right, right.
HD: You can develop a central master plan, but you can't pick and choose which developers are going to want to put what projects where.
JF: That's exactly right. And that is our dilemma. My suggestion, though, is simply give them their head, they will wreck it.
HD: Give them their what?
JF: Their head. It's an old expression. I'll try to be more 21st-century!
HD: Well you know there's that one expression you used that made me prick up my ears: Better than a sharp stick in the eye. I thought I was probably the only one around here who used that expression.
JF: There we go!
HD: Do you remember when you first heard that?
JF: In Mr. Piron's economics class my junior year of college, advanced microeconomics theory. And I've forgotten how he brought it up--oh, it was something like studying the Prisoner's Dilemma, where on the one hand you can get something great. If you optimize your situation you get something great, and your opponent gets an ice pick in the eye. He used "ice pick". I later learned to modify it to "stick". But if you collaborate, you get not the lady, and not the ice pick in the eye, but you get some middle ground, which is actually a lot better. You maximize it, but you have to collude, but what is in your naked, narrow, self interest actually makes you both worse off. That was the point of that. And that is my suggestion here--that what would be the naked self-interest of individual landowners, and individual developers, actually over time makes everyone, including them, worse off. Unless your goal is to build something, get a check with two commas, and get out of town. If that's your goal, you'll probably do that.
HD: Only two commas??
JF: You can have a lot of zeros still in front of the two commas!
HD: [laugh]
JF: So if your goal is to get a quick check with two commas, you might be able to pull that off. Although not in the next year or two. If your goal is, How do we fatten the goose, that's the wrong way to go. If we're ready to build things of scale, to build a population center, and if we want to be green, you wouldn't walk away from infrastructure. And infrastructure built for 2 million people, where the streets are seven lanes wide and are big enough, therefore, to accommodate 30-story or 40-story or 50-story building ...
HD: ... so you're talking about, we wouldn't walk away from Detroit.
JF: Yeah. If you actually were green. Now I know there's reasons it's happened, and I know that I am not going to move my children there tomorrow to reinvent the state economy. And so I understand all that. I understand why people are reluctant to go there. But if you want to step back and say, What are our strategic advantages? What do we have to work with? How do we play them to our advantage, and play them to our sustainable advantage? Not, How do we cut and get out? Cut and get out always makes the most money for the biggest players right now. But it's not sustainable. Michigan has had a boom-bust economy since the French first came through here. Furs ...
HD: ... beaver pelts, right.
JF: You laugh, but this was John Jacob Astor--you've been to Mackinac Island, right? Where are you from originally?
HD: Southern Indiana.
JF: Okay, a Hoosier? Well, oh, I see!
HD: [laugh]
JF: Mackinac Island was the center of the fur trade, for a huge amount of time. That's where John Jacob Astor had his big fur outpost. You've never been up there? You're clearly suffering from a fudge deficit.
HD: I'm suffering a fudge deficit?
JF: Yes. You need to [address] that this summer. Go up there and look at Astor's old fur post. But the minerals, and the lumber, the copper boom, the iron boom, lumber boom, auto boom, auto bust, it's been going on for years. And to try to get something a little more sustainable, I think this knowledge factory thing, if it's done right, could be that.
HD: I'm sorry, I didn't follow the connection to the Aztecs.
JF: Oh, it was traded by the Indians as far south as Mexico. That's how rich the vein was, how easy it was to get. All the money for that went back east to the guys who owned the mines. That's not entirely like this, because there are some local people who are trying to build here. But it's not a totally bad analogy either. The LLC that owns the rest of the 30 or 40 unsold condos at Ashley Terrace is a Chicago LLC.
HD: I haven't really been tracking that. What is their percentage of occupancy at this point? Do you know?
JF: I haven't gone through to look at it, yet, but there's an awful lot of them that are there.
HD: I noticed that they put up a new billboard--it's as you go west out of town along Huron, before the railroad. An advertisement for Ashley Terrace.
JF: There's one between the airport and Ann Arbor, and there's one coming south from Brighton.
HD: The one that you see west headed out of town away from Ashley Terrace, that doesn't seem like an optimal placement to me. But I'm not really an advertising/marketing guy.
JF: Well, that's not their only one. I think the idea may be, there are people who are leaving, who might want to stay here.
HD: No, never been out there.
JF: Have you seen pictures of it?
HD: I have seen pictures, yes.
JF: Well, if you put condos there, you could pay off the national debt. Until the day when: How is this different from downtown Los Angeles? There are nice views of the mountains from downtown Los Angeles, there are! But I came here not to be there!
HD: Yeah, you really should write that down so that you remember it.
JF: I missed T. Boone Pickens, but I heard Thomas Friedman, I heard David McConnell last year, I heard a children's author, Lemony Snicket, who came and spoke, and those are just the ones I had my head up and saw. The orchestras who come through town, the soloists who come through, if you like classical music. If you don't like classical music, we just had Bruce Springsteen down the road last week.
HD: Did you go to that?
JF: No, I didn't, had too much stuff, I couldn't get there. You know, John Lennon played here, everybody comes through here. Whether it's because we're special, or merely because we're a nice stop between Detroit and Chicago, every act comes through here sooner or later. So you can have all that stuff and have fabulous restaurants downtown, and my kids can walk to school, ride their bikes to school.
HD: Do they in fact walk and ride to school?
JF: They do. I have, for a bunch of reasons having to do with our family emotional dynamic, this fall been driving them both. This morning though, the big one took his bike and the little one walked. Last spring they were all doing their bikes. And they do. They go right down Sunset Road. They ride their bikes and walk.
HD: And that's to Wines ...?
JF: ... Wines and Forsyth. And I'm going to sound like a broken record, but if you wish to live in a large, cosmopolitan, big skyscraping place, I'm not sure that building out downtown Ann Arbor will satisfy your hunger. Unless the plan is, we are going to tear the whole city down, and build Oz. If we're going to do that, well, okay. But maybe that's the "shared high-level view of Ann Arbor's future" that no one is willing to discuss publicly.
JF: Ann Arbor News front page below the fold August 6, 2008. Article on the election and the celebration at Mr. Hohnke's wife's high-end, swanky you-have-to-look-beautiful-to-be-allowed-to-join club. I mean you have to be beautiful to start and then be willing to devote a significant fraction of your disposable income to looking even better. You know the one that had Carsten in a World Wrestling Federation poster pose in front?
HD: [laugh] I must have missed that one!
JF: I've got it at home. If you want, I'll show it to you. Anyway. But the mayor, in an apparent unguarded, undisciplined moment, said, This is great! Because all of his candidates won their primaries, he had this team of five candidates, "all of whom share this same high-level vision of the future of Ann Arbor. And we have the people to ram it through." I'm mis-quoting the "people to ram it through" but he said we had the majority to make it go.
HD: Well, as far as the Old West Side, which is a historic district that I live in ...
JF: ... I used to, until we got driven out.
HD: Got driven out??
JF: Yeah. We had our first child. My wife said before we have any more, I've got to get out of here. The the traffic had become crazy. They were building Ashley Mews. The noise!! No more babies here, we're done. So we left, and we came up here. To the suburbs! [laugh]
HD: [laugh] Yeah, it does have a very kind of suburban feel up here.
JF: And then, guess what happened? The density crowd decided to re-zone the single-family residence land that is now Sunset Brooks Nature Area--that was zoned for single families. Somebody wanted to come and put a bunch of apartments in there.
HD: I have a vague recollection of that.
JF: And the neighbors all said that doesn't fit what we've got here--it's zoned for single-family. We like having it feral but we know it's going to be developed some day. We're not arguing that. But that isn't what it's zoned for. Well, this was in the middle of my wife's illness and death, so I wasn't completely wired to the details. Everybody got upset, a lot of meetings, a lot of yelling and screaming, and the city essentially bought off the developer. Bought the land.
HD: So that's now a nature center of some kind?
JF: Yes its Sunset Brooks Nature Area. I may have my timing off on this--the ordering of events--then there was the Bluffs, just down below this hill.
HD: Hmm, I think the Bluffs preceded that.
JF: Oh, I got my orders wrong, okay.
HD: No, no, don't quote me on that.
JF: That's a fuzzy part of my public thinking now--which one went first. I know that the last one was down here, but there was the Bluffs ...
HD: ... when you say "down here" you mean the Black Elks?
JF: Yes. The Black Elks speak, yeah.
HD: The Black Elks what?
JF: Speak.
HD: [??] I'm sorry, I'm not following.
JF: There was a book that came out in the 70's about a Sioux Indian chief, Black Elk, it was at the time somewhat well-known: Black Elk Speaks. His prophecies.
HD: Okay.
three projects in northwest Ann Arbor that neighbors opposed
JF: I've been trying to make too much fun! I'll shut up! But you know, that would've been the entrance, where that truck is pulling in there, that would've been the entrance to the Bluffs. There's no other way to get down there. So the city bought off the developer again. And the third time, and that's when I said, Enough! Just enough! I figured out, these people don't care!
HD: That was--I'm trying to think, what is her name--oh, they own the Birkenstocks store on Fourth Avenue, mmmm, Tinkerhess. Tinkerhess, I think.
JF: Right, so that's when I began, that's when I realized, wait a minute, this whole process is not interested in what people want and need. It's being driven by some other agenda, not related to the citizens. That was my first time coming out, taking the black tape off the windows and re-entering the world. And I went down to the council meeting when they voted on this, and you could see the looks of--well, you don't know what's going on in somebody else's head, ...
HD: ... now are you talking about the Black Elks vote?
JF: The Black Elks vote down at city hall. It was hard to escape the feeling that council felt like they'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They were caught doing something that they really shouldn't have been doing. And that's reading more than I know from the looks on people's faces.
HD: Mmm, yeah. It was before I started paying attention to anything. So to me, it feels like it has been forever that it's been a Democratic council.
JF: Mike Reid was the last guy to run at all, but when's the last time a Republican ran in this ward? I haven't gone to look at up, but I bet you that a lot longer.
HD: Did you contemplate at all saying, Okay to have a decent shot at getting voted in ...
JF: ... the point was not to get voted in per se. The point is that the whole process is broken. The whole process is broken. You can't fix it with one election. You have to fix it by fixing the process.
HD: So the part that you are fixing is that at least there will be a candidate in the November election?
JF: Beginning the discussion! What does it mean when there is no candidate? What does that do to the discussion of the issues? What does it do, hard-core partisan Democrats? When you have made it impossible for anyone else to run? What does that do to you? How do you feel about that now? Oh, you actually shot yourself in the foot! Because now, you have nowhere to run. People who don't necessarily share your agenda have figured out that they can get a very small number of people to show up when everybody else is on vacation or having an adult beverage in the backyard, they can control the game. And now what are you going to do? Nothing. You're SOL. Severely out of luck.
HD: [laugh] This is a family website, right?
JF: Yeah, we have a neighborhood here. [laugh] So strictly speaking, we really are in the First Ward.
HD: Oh, really?
JF: That's the boundary.
HD: Oh. my. God.
JF: Yeah, my block is the northeast corner of the ward.
HD: Oh, you're screwed. Do you think people are going to hold that against you, are they going to say ...
JF: ... oh, he totters outside the ward! I don't have to think about him anymore!
HD: [laugh] Well, you know, Hunt Park has been sort of on my provisional list of places to teeter totter ever since Dave DeVarti recommended Hunt Park--and another place, Cedar Bend--as good locations to see the cityscape of Ann Arbor. That was the first time I had ever been up here. Right after his ride I went up to both locations, to see if I could capture the kind of cityscape that I was hoping for. And I guess it was a bit of a letdown ...
JF: ... come back in November [when the leaves have dropped], you'll have the view. You'll discover that we are a city of parking lots! You didn't realize that, but you'll come back in November and that's what you'll see. The niversity hospital parking lots and the parking lots here.
HD: In talking to Dave [DeVarti], I remember that my grand idea of something interesting to do with part of the greenway--because it can't be a residential area--would be to build a tall observation tower. Because what I felt like was missing, and what a lot of people under-appreciate--we talked a bit about this before we climbed on the teeter totter--that Ann Arbor does have a topography that you don't necessarily become aware of if you're driving around all time. But if you're riding around on a bicycle or you're walking, you definitely notice. And one of the things that a lot of people just don't get, I think, about the greenway is they say, what are you even talking about? But if you built a big observation tower, say like eight or nine stories tall--it would have an elevator, too, I suppose, to make it ADA accessible--you'd have a place to go up and you can look and see what Ann Arbor is like from an aerial view. I think that actually might help gives people a little more perspective about what kind of city this is, just from a geographical and topographical point of view. Because people who live in tall buildings downtown, they can get that view.
JF: Right, today they can. A year or two ago, I took a tour of a unit at Ashley Mews, I just wanted to see what a unit looks like. Because the newspaper, it talks about sparkling views from the top of Ashley Mews north of the river. And of course the space next door, I asked the lady about that, What about my view, is it protected? Well, you know, we don't know what's going to happen on this block next door. Translation: You're not going to have a view. That's what the people in One North Main complained about, when Ashley Mews was built, that they were going to lose their view. We're circling back around.
HD: So is there anything specific you'd be willing to hang the label of Stalinist architecture on in Ann Arbor?
JF: Well, you know there was a time when the Campus Inn and Tower Plaza were shiny and new and seemed bold and hip, and, Wow what a bold statement! And now even with the new windows that look better, it's one of those ironies: They now open out, which is great, for ventilation if you live there, but they wreck it as a visual thing. It used to have that solid wall--that was the thing it had to offer as a statement of architecture--a solid clean line. And now, people have the windows open and it wrecks the solid clean line. Ashley Terrace is not Stalinist. People describe it to me as Miami Beach. I haven't been to Miami Beach.
HD: I think it actually makes One North Main look better. Those two buildings together look better than One North Main did by itself.
JF: That may be.
HD: Which is not to defend the architecture of Ashley Mews ...
JF: ... Terrace.
HD: Right, Ashley Terrace. There's the part that is the base level, and then there's the part that goes up from there. The part that goes up, I think is okay, but it's just very blocky from that base part down. It's very blocky, and it's not fun to walk past.
JF: Let me suggest this, and see if see how it molders as it sits in the pot on the back burner. Ashley Terrace makes One North Main look better, because now, One North Main isn't such an odd outstanding eyesore. Now it has company.
HD: [laugh] Well, no, I think it gives a kind of a visual continuity ...
JF: ... when you paint your living room, or you paint one wall in the living room, the rest of it is intolerable. So just having two together makes the one less awful. It's a backwards analogy. So having more of it makes any one look less awful.
HD: Maybe.
JF: I think there's a building behind or across the street from Tower Plaza that is older about 10 or 11 stories, I don't remember the name. Maynard House? Or something.
HD: Nobody notices it. I'm trying to remember, maybe even on the teeter totter recently, somebody gave me as an example an 11-story building that nobody even knows is there, just because it is dwarfed by Tower Plaza.
JF: And it is so ugly in and of itself. It's both! You know the one on South University--University Towers, is that what is called? No.
HD: Yeah, I think so.
JF: University Towers, okay. All these things are horrible. The new stuff built on South University? You know, I'm going to offend somebody by saying this because somebody has their heart and their soul and their fortune invested in this stuff, but I don't find it adds to anything. I really don't. You know, we don't have to be a Museum, we're not supposed to be a Museum. I like the one that Mr.--the athletic director ...
HD: ... Bill Martin?
JF: Bill Martin. I like what he did by the train station. Part of me would have liked to have kept that open, but I kind of like what he did. I think he ought to turn his light off at night so that the ladies across the street don't have to have it in their bedroom. That's not a very neighborly thing to do. But I like what he did there. There's one at the corner of William and Main.
HD: William and Main?
JF: I can't think of the name of it. It's got a little clock tower on it. It looks sort of like a Lego building. Something kind of vaguely Danish. Across the street from Palio.
HD: Ashley Mews???
JF: No, Renaissance. This is on the other side of William from Ashley Mews.
HD: You're talking about a new building??
JF: Well its newer. It's not since you have been to town. But it's newer. It's since the year 2000. And you know that's okay. It's not completely out of step.
HD: Oh, wait, wait, wait. So you're talking about that four-unit ...
JF: ... it's a four-story building.
HD: But it's residential, right?
JF: No, I don't know what's upstairs, but the first floor is office and business. At the corner of William and state you have the Detroit Edison parking lot ...
HD: ... Ashley Mews at the other corner, okay.
JF: Well, the gas station.
HD: Okay, and then Palio.
JF: And the other corner, the fourth corner. Go look at it, it's not bad. So we're not supposed to be a Museum. But I think that if we flush away everything that gives you a sense of place, you have taken away the reason to be here. And I think that's the piece that is not getting talked about in the equation.
HD: Well, I mean that's one thing that they do. But they do spend money on other stuff besides just parking structures.
JF: Like? The promenade planters, fair enough. Those are maintained by individual businesses, and they put the Christmas lights up--or is that the Main Street merchants association that puts the Christmas lights up?
HD: I'm not sure.
JF: I think it's the Main Street Association. Even if it is the DDA, good for them.
HD: Well, I stumbled across one example just unexpectedly the other day--at caucus there was a downtown resident who is making council aware of this two-story platform with a gigantic HVAC unit on it behind the Blue Tractor Brewery that's going in. They live along an alleyway/walkway ...
JF: ... right, the air-conditioning units, okay. I saw it in the paper.
HD: Off of Fourth Avenue there. Yeah so that alleyway actually has these cobblestone strips that apparently the DDA installed, and took care of that to basically improve the infrastructure along the alley.
JF: Just like a city government would do? So then what's the point of creating a DDA? Why not just run things through the city budget?
HD: As far as the rationale for the creation of DDA, I mean there was enabling legislation throughout the state, right? That allowed the creation of DDA's. The idea, I think, was that the key to the preservation of Michigan's cities was to privilege the downtowns of the city. And I think that there is a consensus for that.
JF: So what has that meant here? We build parking. My suggestion is that if the premise is that the city council and/or our citizenry are too stupid to know where the proper investments are, and what the proper investments are, then it doesn't matter what we do--we're all too dumb. And it doesn't matter what you spend your money on, just turn the lights off, we'll take the black capsule. That's the premise of that sort of thing.
HD: Well, no.
JF: Why don't their [downtown] improvements go into the common pot?
HD: I think the argument made in defense of DDAs in general, not just our DDA--Ann Arbor is not the only city in Michigan that's got one ...
JF: ... sure...
HD: ... is that downtowns deserve special attention in that they just need to be first in line ...
JF: ... deserve. Well, when we went from the street car culture to car culture--which you know other people have written better about that than I have--when people were too poor to own cars, and then people had cars, we lost all conventional retail downtown. And so the idea was we have to do something to restore conventional retail, I think, was kind of part of that thinking. And what we figured out is that that's not possible. Anymore. And there won't be conventional retail downtown ever again.
MU: Is this yours?
HD: Yes sir.
MU: This teeter totter? Is it?
HD: Yes sir!
MU: Oh, I seen you here shooting pictures, and I was just wondering ...
JF: ... what we were doing here?
HD: My name's Dave, hi.
MU: Mike Ulmer, I stay right down the street here.
JF: I'm John Floyd.
MU: John. And Dave. Nice to meet you. I'm a photographer and that's why when I seen you with a camera--can I see what you shot there? [Ed. note: Inspection of preview window of camera ensues]
HD: Sure.
MU: I've been seeing people shooting in this park here lately.
JF: Well, it's beautiful!
MU: It's a good time of the year.
JF: Absolutely!
MU: The leaves are turning.
JF: Absolutely, it's gorgeous. It's a great view.
HD: What I do is, I've got an interview website, and this is just to document the conversation.
MU: Okay, is this a D-200?
HD: It's D-60.
MU: A D-60, okay.
HD: Or, I don't know, I couldn't tell you.
MU: I seen you I rode by earlier.
HD: Yeah, well, we are still here!
MU: Does that have a movie mode? [Ed note: JF performs another tune.]
HD: I don't think it does.
MU: How many megs is that one?
HD: I couldn't even tell you. I mean, I will be perfectly honest with you, the reason I got this because I had a little tiny one, and you know you whip that out and people don't even take you seriously, but when you whip this out, people say, Oh you're like a real photographer!
JF: And it looks like it has film in it!
MU: You know I've got a 12 megapixel Fuji, if you want me to get a couple of good shots for you. I mean, you've got some good ones there, but you know. Are you going to crop those and everything?
HD: Yeah. Probably will. So you live just right up the street?
MU: Yeah. I've been shooting a lot.
HD: You know, I can hook you up with a teeter totter ride sometime. I'm sorry, John, but I'm always pitching a teeter totter ride.
JF: Oh you've got to!
MU: Are you leaving it here at the park?
HD: Oh, no, this is not a community donation! [laugh]
MU: [laugh]
HD: Wow, the sun just went in, and it chilled up just like instantly.
MU: Well, I didn't mean to interfere with you guys, I just seen you taken pictures and you know I got curious. I'm always curious when I see someone ...
HD: I'm glad you stopped!
MU: Yeah. Dave and John, right?
JF: And you are again?
MU: Mike.
JF: You live down the hill?
MU: Yeah.
HD: So not a prospective voter, John!
JF: Yeah, well, I can't talk to you then.
HD: He's running for council in the Fifth Ward ...
MU: ... oh, are you?
HD: And you live in the First Ward, right?
MU: Yeah, right here. I've got a website on that card. Just a bunch of local stuff--I'm into people. I photograph a lot of people.
HD: Okay, I will check it out.
MU: I did some of the art fair, just some local yokels, walking around taking pictures of them. If you get a chance just visit it.
HD: Thanks a bunch. [Ed. note: Another tune is performed by JF.]
HD: Nicely played!
JF: Fishers Hornpipe.
HD: Listen, is there anything else you wanted to add before we dismount?
JF: Well I want to come back around and hammer on this DDA thing. I understand the premise of it. I just think it's wrong.
HD: To me though, you just put the downtown first in line, and you have the DDA, the taxes that it does capture, and if at any point there's a sense that, Hey we don't think that the DDA is doing a good job with the allocation of the resources to the downtown, and balancing that with the needs of the community and what the community interests are, at any given point in time we can basically say, All right we're going to take control of the DDA's budget. And in fact city council did that for a certain category funds for the DDA--I think it was two years ago. They said all right, the DDA can't spend money out of a certain category of its budget without prior council approval.
JF: I think that if there was a time when it was a good idea and a useful idea ...
HD: ... you just think that time has passed?
JF: I think the time has gone. And why the rest of us are paying for services for the people who do live in Ashley Mews, what is that about?
HD: But the people at Ashley Mews wind up paying for some of our services, right? Like the leaf pick up? So a couple of weeks from now the city is going to invite everyone to dump their leaves into the street--where they pose a safety hazard to every bicyclist sitting there in the bicycle lane if there is one, or in the roadway where cyclists travel if there isn't--for people who don't have trees ...
JF: ... have you ever called the fire department?
HD: No.
JF: You subsidize every body who has.
HD: But that's exactly ...
JF: ... have you ever littered in the park?
HD: Um, no.
JF: You are subsidizing picking up the park. So once you go into parsing out which exact services somebody is using, the premise of having a government--provide services--is gone.
HD: But wait up, it seems to me that you are undermining your whole argument. If it's the case that we shouldn't be worried so much about what pot it comes out of for who is paying for what, then ...
JF: ... how much money are the residents at Ashley Mews paying compared to what that property is generating before it was developed? How much? A nickel? A dime? $3? $10? How much more is a contributing to general city coffers? $1000 a year? How much is that contributing to city government, more than just the land was? Yes, this will be on the final exam. How much?
HD: In the first year, I think it was nothing.
JF: That's right. In the second year, it's maybe not nothing. But how much more than not nothing?
HD: I don't know that depends on what the economy is.
JF: Well, what's happened to the cost of city services in the meantime? They've probably gone down or stayed the same, haven't they? No, everything goes up. So I think the whole premise is bogus. Unit 507 appears to still be owned by the developer. I picked it because ...
HD: You are talking about what?
JF: Ashley Terrace. It's not someone's personal home that I'm discussing. The taxable value before that they assigned to the parcel before construction started ...
BB: Could I ask what you're doing? I know I could make a guess but ...
JF: ... let's hear your guess!
BB: It's got to be a conceptual art project of some kind.
HD: Yeah, let's go with that!
JF: It's a kind of conceptual art.
BB: Okay, yeah. So is there an answer to this, or do I just have to go on?
JF: The art project is to see how people will react to it!
BB: Yeah?
JF: It's like a Rorschach test.
BB: It's like a balance of payments and you are China and you are the United States?
HD: [laugh] Yeah, sure now let's go with that.
BB: Okay.
HD: Honestly, I have an interview website, and all of the interviews take place while riding a teeter totter.
BB: What's your name?
HD: Dave Askins a.k.a. Homeless Dave.
BB: Oh, yeah I think I've heard of you.
JF: I'm John Floyd.
BB: I'm Bill B[undecipherable] from down there. This is an interview, right? I won't interfere then.
HD: No, you're not interfering.
JF: [while playfully clutching his violin] I'm insecure, some people have stuffed animals that they cling to, I cling to my violin.
BB: I have a mandolin in my closet I haven't played it in 30 years.
JF: That's the same tuning as a violin. It's the same thing is just like this.
BB: I know nothing about art, I mean, about music.
JF: A mandolin is a violin here [oriented horizontally] with no bow. And it's got a little different thing, but it's got the same tuning. There is a mandola, which is the same tuning as a viola.
BB: Can I see what kind of camera you got?
HD: This is a Nikon something or other. Oh, its a D-60, there it is. [Ed. note: JF performs another tune]
BB: Good luck with the art project.
HD: Thanks for stopping by.
JF: Now I've lost my train of thought.
HD: You wanted to finish hammering away at the idea of the DDA increment ...
JF: ... the value of that unit went from $1200 to just under $158,000. Which is more than a factor of 100. This much [indicates zero] goes to the city, this much goes to the library, this much goes to the county, this much goes to the bus system. The rest of us are paying for everything that they use. All general government functions--planning and budgeting, tax collection, the pipes in the ground, all of it--we are paying for all of that. And their contribution back to the city is this much.
HD: This is something I've actually heard people say, that there is this plan to build a convention center ...
JF: ... it's in the zoning, along with the expanded adult entertainment district.
HD: Well, okay, yeah. But the adult entertainment district--I actually made some inquiries about that--and apparently they just have to list everything, or?
JF: Well, it's not that we have to have one by law. That isn't the point.
HD: I'm just saying they have to list it somewhere.
where girlie shows and dirty bookstores can locate in Ann Arbor
JF: That isn't the point either. How they choose to write that law is not a part of Michigan jurisprudence that I have a lot of personal familiarity with. Someone sent me Kalamazoo's and they have it written differently. So they got this one off an adult entertainment zoning website? I don't know where they got it from. I'm sure it's fine.
HD: What I can't figure out about this talk about people thinking that other people want to build a convention center, is where is this supposed to go exactly?
JF: Well, depending on who you read, either the old YMCA site, or the library lot.
HD: So it would be north of the library? Across the way from Library Lane?
JF: Yes.
HD: Okay well they would have to reconfigure the underground parking garage, right?
JF: No. They would have to build it so that it was capable of withstanding a building on top. And you have to build underground under Fifth Avenue a connection to what will be the hotel site at the old YMCA site.
HD: As far as I understand it that is being built in to the parking garage ...
JF: ... yes, because they are going to put a convention center there. That's why they're doing this. Didn't we just pass a nonmotorized plan? And we are still building more parking? Oh, okay. So none of this stuff comes up for discussion, because it all runs through the DDA. And that's why we are repairing our own sidewalks, which we are mandated by city law to maintain. Because the tax revenue is going to build parking lots.
HD: Has that happened in your neighborhood here yet?
JF: On my street! I've got to pay. It's a hairline crack with a big circle on it. My neighbors got some too. So yeah, it's been up here.
HD: So is that something that you are going to have to do, or have you already taking care of it?
JF: I have to call a guy to come do it.
HD: From the point of view of the process, as far as notification, and a painting of the circles or whatever they do, did that go as smooth as those things can go?
JF: For me?
HD: Just in general up here in this neighborhood.
JF: I just remember looking down and there was a circle on my sidewalk one day. There's no offset, there is just a hairline crack.
HD: But then you received a letter, saying, This is what the circle on your sidewalk means?
JF: I don't remember getting one, but I am familiar with the process.
HD: So you just knew what that meant.
JF: Yeah, I've got a guy in mind to come do it. I've just got to go and make that phone call.
HD: ... what would be an example of a bugaboo word?
JF: Republican!
HD: [laugh] Oh.
JF: Oh he's one of them! You know, you bump into people, who can't even hear what I have to say.
HD: So, to your way of thinking, would you just dismantle the DDA? I mean, because we don't have to have one, right. I mean, the enabling legislation doesn't say you must have a DDA, it just says if you're going to have one, well, then here's the rules ...
JF: ... if it's useful to keep together as a planning group, then maybe that's useful. As a group spending the public's money? No. Not without running it through the regular budget process that everybody else has. I think the idea that we need to protect downtown was when downtown was failing because we were all moving to car culture. And the last vestiges of the culture were trying to hang on. And what we have seen is that--we've got to get to the rest of my stuff--this is more than a three-minute speech.
HD: Yeah, a little bit.
JF: I'm sorry to ramble on and on, but all this stuff is connected. Think about the Kroger at Westgate--you know the one I'm thinking of?
HD: The what? Kroger at Westgate, okay.
JF: You know that one?
HD: Yep.
JF: It's next to Jackson Road, Maple Road, Stadium Boulevard and a freeway on-ramp. There's an enormous amount of traffic. I have not gone to look this up, but I am willing to bet you that the land cost, even at that location, is less per square foot than land cost down here.
HD: When you say "down here" you mean downtown.
JF: Downtown. I'm willing to bet that the land cost per square foot is less, whether you buy it or you rent it. I'm willing to bet, therefore, that that property taxes on it are also less per square foot than in downtown. It has an enormous size, you get lots of scale, lots of volume, economies of scale. It's got parking, so people can come buy a week's worth of groceries, which also contributes to scale. You've got an enormous amount of commuting traffic going by that site.
HD: Well, it goes down.
JF: How much?
HD: No idea.
JF: A third.
HD: You know, I know someone--someone who lives on my street in fact--will drive to Dexter to shop at the Busch's there instead of at the Main Street Busch's, because there are less intersections to go through. So yeah, no doubt people will drive.
JF: That's my example that conventional retail can never come back here. It can work in a place like Manhattan or in central Chicago, because the time and hassle tax of getting out of there is breathtaking. You spend more money getting out to a cheaper area than you would buying from a local store. That's not going to be true here!
HD: I think that the premise is as transportation costs go up, as fuel costs go up, as energy costs in general go up--there's this notion of peak oil and some people think we've passed it--I think it's conceivable at least that you could have a scenario where it literally does cost you more to go out to Dexter to buy your groceries at the Busch's there that it does say to walk downtown to the People's food co-op or to some other full scale grocery store downtown that is within walking distance.
JF: I don't have a crystal ball. I look at the economics going out to Westgate or going out to Meijer. And I don't see how White Market goes. If you want a White Market on steroids, okay! If you want an actual full-service grocery store, I have a hard time seeing that going. There's a reason you can't buy a pair of socks except at Sam's. You can't buy a pair of blue jeans except at Sam's.
HD: But part of that has to do with the number of residents downtown, right? You can say that you could never have conventional retail downtown, because you don't have sufficient numbers of residents who actually live downtown to actually support it. I don't think is a fair argument to make, that you're never going to have retail downtown ...
JF: ... conventional retail. Socks, underwear, tomatoes.
HD: So without sufficient residential density, that's true. So you seem to be saying, let's not put residential density down there, let's go out of our way to keep residential density low or as low as possible--so yeah, from that it does follow that you're never ...
JF: ... you've never heard me say keep it as low as possible. First of all, the idea that Ann Arbor is not densely populated?? If Manhattan is your idea of dense population, well okay, we're not Manhattan. Walk through town, there are few neighborhoods that actually are big suburban-sized lots. They are are not that many.
HD: I think it's worth pointing out that it's incredibly expensive to raise your kids on the Old West Side.
JF: Yeah? So it's not a low income neighborhood. Okay. What's your point?
HD: My point is that it comes at a price.
JF: How does destroying it make it better? Is your point that not everybody who wishes they could live there can live there? Well, welcome to planet Earth.
HD: Well, you know, I think it is reasonable to say that those frame homes that are close to downtown should be accessible to a young couple who both have good jobs and no kids ...
JF: ... that's an interesting philosophical argument, but what does that have to do with building downtown? I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm asking you, how does a downtown of 25-story buildings make that dream come true? The only way it does, it degrades property values enough so that nobody wants to live there anymore.
HD: Right!
JF: The fact that property values are high tells you that we are on the right track. Back in my day, that was not a nice place to live. It was a place that people got away from.
HD: You are talking about the Old West Side.
JF: Yes. Not that long ago it was not. We are not going to be able to put everybody who wants to live here here, without wrecking what exists. You can't put condos in Yosemite Valley, or in the great Smoky Mountains, or next door to Old Faithful, without wrecking what's there.
HD: ... in what?
JF: In-migrants. People migrating in.
HD: In-migrants, okay.
JF: Right. As opposed to out-migrants. People coming in. I think we need to figure out what it takes to make that an attractive place. We would discover how quickly it became hip. People like historic neighborhoods, that's why they're expensive. The ones that you can walk into downtown from, I think you're going to find that the noise, and the congestion, the family unfriendliness, the lack of small town-ness, the lack of sense of place, it's just another concrete canyon. I think we're going to take everything that makes this worth being here, and were going to mine it for short-term gain for a small amount of time, and then it will be gone.
HD: Dunno.
JF: Well, my suggestion is we have relied on industry chasing. We chased Pfizer and now we're chasing Google. That's why we don't have a skate park.
HD: Well, actually now we are chasing energy, right? With a Smart Zone, wait up no, the Centers of Excellence. The Centers of Excellence that are being established, you've heard of them, right? Ann Arbor, I guess, has been declared the Center of Battery Excellence, anchored by a Sakti3, which is a spinoff from a U of M research scientist.
JF: Okay. I'm sure that some chemist has figured out a way to make a molecule that stores energy better and can release it--fine. But I think we are more likely to be successful with a homegrown thing like this Sakti3. That's more likely to be our future--not chasing industries. And to do that, we've got to give people a reason to want to be here.
HD: Now when you say the "march towards the river," you mean the march towards Detroit?
JF: Reinventing Detroit. Another question, how come all the people around us--if our mix of services and taxes is right--how come nobody in the townships around us is clamoring to be taken into the city? How come the folks who are in the Ann Arbor school district don't want to be annexed? Why aren't they begging for that? Why aren't they filing petitions? If our mixture of services and taxes, our funding of downtown, if all of that is the right mix, how come nobody wants to be a part of it? ... Suddenly it became very quiet.
HD: You know, I have no clue.
JF: The tax differential between this side of Maple Road and that side of Maple Road is unsustainable. We have a small window of time to correct it. And then people will be like my buddy, who said, I looked at buying a house in Burns Park: The price is absurd, you've got to spend another hundred thousand dollars to bring it into the 21st century, and by the way, I could fund my retirement off of the tax payments down there. If I go out to Scio Township, the house is brand-new, it costs me less, I have Ann Arbor schools, I have an Ann Arbor mailing address, my friends think I'm cool, I have Ann Arbor water.
supporting businesses of convention center versus conventional retail
HD: Alcohol, I'm thinking.
JF: And? After the alcohol what do they spend their money on?
HD: Sex?
JF: Bing, bing, bing, bing. Hookers and booze. Some restaurants, maybe. They're not going to go to Downtown Home & Garden and buy tools. And by the way, of all the weird places in the world to have a garden store, why would you put one in downtown?? What was he [Mark Hodesh] thinking? What kind of nut is that? How could you have a downtown garden store and make money? Why isn't it across from Lowe's? Or on Jackson Road with a huge parking lot and all the project kids coming in and out of Lowe's? What's up with that?
HD: [laugh]
JF: Why is Renaissance moving to the Google building? Because you need a $400 sweater--I know you do, Dave. You need one, trust me. People will shop here!! People will come and shop, but you have to know your market.
HD: ... now when you say "over there" you mean?
the non-relation of successful merchandizing and marketing to parking availability
JF: Burns Park, or wherever. We'll make them live here, they will have to spend money now! There won't be any more students, they'll just be relocated. They already have the Burns Park demographic for South University. They already have all the student demographic there. They keep looking for something that will save them from: How you figure out how to target that market? They want to change everything except how they manage their merchandising and their marketing.
HD: Next to Seva, now ...
JF: ... the vegetarian restaurant.
HD: Right, but three stories?
JF: Yep. You can go count them. Or is it four?
HD: I think it's 4 1/2. I think it's four with a--what you call it, a mezzanine?
JF: Anyway, I counted 20 electric meters. Somehow the world hasn't ended. I haven't heard of them being in bankruptcy. Now Spoon on Maynard Street, I think he's in bankruptcy, I think his building's up for sale--I've seen it in the Wall Street Journal advertised. You know the building I mean?
HD: This is next to Nickels Arcade?
JF: Yep. It's five stories but it's in this canyon, it's an ugly, ugly canyon. Go walk Washington Street from Main, start heading up towards campus. You cross Fifth Street, cross Division, you're in a canyon--and it isn't even constructed yet. They're going to put an 18-story building here, and a 20-story building there. On that block. It's going to be a canyon. The streets aren't broad enough, it's going to look like a bad Escape from New York movie. The setbacks aren't big enough, the sidewalks aren't big enough. It's going to be dark canyons. Anyway that's my point of view. I have been yapping.
HD: Yeah.
JF: And I feel like I haven't gotten the major points across. The whole direction of this council is wrong. And they're not listening to anybody out here, not just me. That's why we had to go three times in a year and a half--but they didn't get the message. None of this discussion is allowed to happen, because we've only got one party: We're going to do what we're going to do, we're going to make sure that a large part of the budget, no one ever gets to even discuss because it goes to the DDA.
HD: Well, you might be crazy, but even if you are crazy, you are also at least trusting. Because you have your feet up off the ground propped up on the totter.
JF: I've got big padding! If I fall, I've got big padding!
HD: All right, listen thanks for joining me out here today on the teeter totter.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Black Girls CODE Presents- Build a Webpage in a Day NEW YORK!
BLACK GIRLS CODE (Old)
Saturday, September 15, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (EDT)
Event Details
BlackGirlsCODE is bringing our exciting 1-day webmaking workshop to New York on Saturday, September 15th, 2012 at NYU. This workshop will teach participants to build their own unique webpage in one day using fun games and activities to introduce HTML, CSS, and basic web structure.
All BGC SummerofCode events are geared towards introducing participants to the technological universe and encouraging them to pursue careers as Tech Creators and Entrepreneurs. This event is intended for girls ages 7-18.
The event starts promptly at 10:00AM. Participants can bring their own computer or access will be provided to a computer workstation during the workshop. Both lunch and snacks will be provided.
Space is limited to sign up soon to secure your spot!
We are currently accepting both corporate, media, and community event sponsors.
Imagine. Build. Create.
Interested in volunteering at future BGC events, complete our Volunteer Registration Form.
Interestred in attending future BGC events, check out our Upcoming Programs.
Have questions about Black Girls CODE Presents- Build a Webpage in a Day NEW YORK!? Contact BLACK GIRLS CODE (Old)
When & Where
New York University
ITP Center
721 Broadway, 4th Floor
New York,
Saturday, September 15, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (EDT)
Add to my calendar


text:
The Changing Status of Women in New York City, 1913-1950: The Case of Theresa Bernstein Skylight Room
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue,NY The most active years of Theresa Bernstein's career in New York City, 1913-1950, witnessed enormous changes in opportunities for women, as conditions and attitudes evolved in the workplace and broader culture. Please join Gail Levin, Jeffrey Taylor, Grace Schulman, and Elsie Heung for a celebration of Bernstein's work in context, through an examination of these important transformations in the suffrage movement, worlds of art and jazz, and other areas.
Donate Now!
Help support the Gotham Center.
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Gotham History Festival 2001
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The Gotham Center for New York City History
The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, Room 6103
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Telephone: 212-817-8460
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Wednesday, March 11, 2015
8 comments
I wanted to share this experience with all of you since so many, like myself, have such a problem with night time eating. Early last September I started crocheting hats for kids with cancer, and began to notice that I didn't snack so much while ... Read more
Thursday, October 23, 2014
6 comments
Just had to let all you folks know about this really cute British series on Netflix that I'm watching while I crochet all my hats for the homeless and kids with cancer. It's called LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX. It's about this couple that meet again th... Read more
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
6 comments
WOW! Just found a Spark team called CROCHETING THE POUNDS AWAY, which is exactly what I've been doing these past weeks. My endless night time snacking has disappeared, and I've been doing the SLOW AND STEADY thing and losing 1-2 pounds a week. T... Read more
Sunday, September 28, 2014
12 comments
Trying a NEW weight loss plan for me. It's something so simple that I bypassed it many times as I raced to take off the most weight I could in the shortest amount of time. That's called DIETING and I know that diets yield short term victories.... Read more
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
6 comments
It's that time of year again, hot soup, toasted cheese sandwiches, and oatmeal muffins. I was so blessed recently to buy a toaster oven at a yard sale on the way home from church. It was definitely answered prayer because with my injured shoulde... Read more
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
7 comments
The longer I stay on this weight loss journey, the more twists and turns the road seems to take. I guess it's an ongoing education: Some knowledge learned by reading, some by experience and the inspiration of others, some by trial and error, an... Read more
Friday, August 15, 2014
7 comments
It was only a few minutes after 11 am but I wanted food, so since I had just opened a new bottle of fruit flavored water, I decided to put together a quick little lunch to go with it. A heavy fiber- rich rye bread, a few slices of soy cheese and... Read more
Sunday, July 06, 2014
12 comments
When will I ever learn????????????????I brought Tootsie roll pops to church with me today, because I found myself eating a couple of them every night, and that's just way too much sugar for me. Plus, it's a threat to my teeth, and I don't need t... Read more
Saturday, June 21, 2014
5 comments
Guess who came over on my birthday with a lovely present, and what else? A BIG TRAY OF COOKIES. This time they were my very favorite bakery style decorated butter cookies from my favorite very sweet neighbor, once again. So they will take a ride... Read more
Monday, June 16, 2014
6 comments
On Sunday I packed a shopping bag with two boxes of cookies and a one pound box of a famous brand chocolate truffles, and left for church. I enjoyed the service and afterwards I headed off for my morning coffee and Sunday paper, minus the box ... Read more
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
11 comments
I'm so excited. Only a few short pounds from my first hundred pound loss, and ahead of schedule, as of today. It's been a bumpy road this past two months, when my 9 pound loss in the beginning of April was reversed by a 6 day protocol of steroid... Read more
Sunday, April 27, 2014
7 comments
After a really good run, I fell down, but the strength I had gathered during that streak stayed with me, so I got up, dusted myself off, and started all over again. Today I'm 5 days into a good run again. Twelve days ago I got on the scale at m... Read more
Sunday, April 13, 2014
3 comments
Today I gave away a booklet of McDonald's coupons to a little girl at church who greeted me with the church bulletin. What a wonderful trade! My plan was to use a coupon to buy a fast food lunch and take it to the lake and eat there in the beau... Read more
Friday, April 11, 2014
5 comments
The title of this blog is my new mantra. Every time I say "No!" to a temptation I get stronger. I won't let those tempting snacks and comfort foods creep in. My new strength is in saying "No!" I still haven't had a McDonalds small vanilla cone i... Read more
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
8 comments
I have, by the grace of God, remained strong throughout the past week, and put that inner strength to good use by abstaining from the compulsive overeating that had begun to become the norm for me. I continued to stay focused on the next weigh i... Read more


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The Pour Fool: What to Drink from the World and NW
You'll usually taste as many as fourteen different bottles to find one that fits your tastes and budget. The Pour Fool can help you beat those odds!
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The New Northwest Stouts: Give Yourself To The Dark Side
The Dark Side is a little confusing, yet, here in the dazzlin' Soggy Corner…but it's also wickedly delicious… [Read More]


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Documentary Filmmaker to Discuss Why Corn is 'King' in American Farming
Published on November 23, 2010
SELINSGROVE—Filmmaker Ian Cheney will address local audiences at the screening of his films "King Corn" and "Big River" at Susquehanna University Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. Part of Susquehanna's sustainability film series, both showings in Seibert Hall's Isaacs Auditorium are free and open to the public.
Cheney, who received bachelor's and master's degrees from Yale University, will introduce his films and be available for questions and discussion afterward. He co-created and starred in the Peabody Award-winning documentary "King Corn," in which he and best friend Curt Ellis move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. According to DVD publisher Bullfrog Films, "with the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most productive, most subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm."
In "Big River," Cheney and Ellis return to Iowa to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn has had on the people and places downstream. Bullfrog Films says, "Half of Iowa's topsoil, they learn, has been washed out to sea. Fertilizer runoff has spawned a hypoxic 'dead zone' in the Gulf. And back at their acre, the herbicides they used are blamed for a cancer cluster that reaches all too close to home." "Big River" asks if industrial agriculture is worth its hidden costs.
Cheney also directed the feature documentary "The Greening of Southie." He is currently directing and producing "The City Dark," a feature documentary about light pollution, and "Truck Farm," a short film on urban agriculture. With longtime collaborator Ellis, Cheney runs Wicked Delicate, a documentary and advocacy project in Brooklyn, N.Y. Wicked Delicate maintains a .001-acre farm in the back of a 1986 Dodge pickup truck, and is part of a planning process to develop FoodCorps, a national school garden and farm-to-school program.
Susquehanna's sustainability film series reflects Susquehanna's university theme for the 2010–11 academic year, A Sustainable Future. The films tackle issues that hit most people close to home, addressing food production and safety, energy and alternative fuels, consumerism and fair trade. Showings are followed by panel discussions moderated by faculty members or, as in the case of "King Corn," led by filmmakers. The final film in the series, "Razing Appalachia," is scheduled for Dec. 8 at 7:30 in Isaacs Auditorium. The film depicts how lifelong residents of tiny Blair, W.Va., fought efforts by America's second largest coal company to expand strip mining near their Appalachian hollow.
For more information on the film series, visit www.susqu.edu/filmseries.
Founded in 1858, Susquehanna University is a residential, national liberal arts college that prepares undergraduate students for achievement, leadership and service in a diverse, interconnected world. Academic excellence, study away and service learning, student-faculty collaboration, and rich opportunities for creative and personal growth are hallmarks of a Susquehanna University education. Nearly 2,300 students come to Susquehanna from 36 states and 13 countries, and more than 90 percent of them find jobs or pursue graduate study within six months of graduation. The university is located in central Pennsylvania, in the town of Selinsgrove, along the banks of the scenic Susquehanna River and about three hours from major East Coast cultural, financial and recreational centers. For more information, visit www.susqu.edu.
Karen M. Jones


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ENGELHARDT: Castle's Gilles burning up the record books with his passing
Mitch Gilles' touchdown passing totals are staggering.
He threw five scoring passes in the first quarter of No. 3 Castle High School's 56-12 romp over host Floyd Central last Friday in the first round of Class 5A Sectional 8. Gilles, whose football pedigree seemingly ensures success, finished with seven scoring passes, breaking his old record of six, set earlier this year against Central and Harrison.
He increased his season total to 36 TD passes, snapping his previous school record of 33, set last year.
But Gilles would trade all of those records for a victory by Castle (10-0) over visiting Bedford North Lawrence (5-5) on Friday night in the sectional semifinals. Bedford defeated the previously unbeaten Knights 26-21 last year for the sectional championship, something the Castle players have had in the back of their minds for months.
"They're just stats," said Gilles, who is 131-for-202, a 65 percent completion percentage, for 2,237 yards with seven interceptions. "I'm not thinking about it during the game or during the week. I think it's cool to be part of the record book, but there is not pressure being put on me that 'you have to do this.'
"Fortunately, I have the rest of the team to help me do something cool. No record means as much as an entire season."
If pressed, Gilles said last year's seniors would tell you that they were looking past Bedford and obviously paid dearly.
"I felt we had a special team a year ago and ran into Bedford," he said. "We were lucky enough to get Bedford again and fortunately they're coming to Castle Stadium."
Last year, the Knights had to make the 21/2-hour bus trip to Bedford.
"We've been thinking the whole season about preparing for the possibility of Castle-BNL," said Gilles, who also has a school-record 5,336 career passing yards. He is being recruited by several FCS (formerly Division I-AA) schools, such as Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, Indiana State and Murray State, plus FBS (formerly Division I-A) Western Kentucky.
You would think the Knights won't be looking past Bedford the second time around. But of course, some fans continue to peek down the road and see the possibility of a regional matchup against No. 6 Center Grove (9-1).
As Castle marched toward its second consecutive unbeaten regular season and back-to-back Southern Indiana Athletic Conference championships for the first time since 1982-83, Knights coach Doug Hurt warned his players that they were getting cocky and making too many mistakes, which could eventually come back to nail them. In recent weeks, however, he seems to have gotten his message across.
In addition to talented running back Andrew Finch and a solid offensive line, Gilles has a three-headed monster at wide receiver at his disposal. Jon-Marc Anderson has game-breaking speed while Cameron Parus and Joe Redburn provide midrange possibilities and more. Anderson and Parus are tied with a school-record 16 receiving TDs this season.
Gilles considers Anderson his best friend and has known Parus since they were 9 or 10 years old. Mitch also is a baseball teammate of Redburn, son of University of Evansville softball coach Mark Redburn.
Like Redburn, Gilles is from an athletic family. He's heard the stories from his father, Gary, who played cornerback on the 1982 state championship team. John, his uncle, played in the 1990s and is Hurt's defensive backs coach.
"Growing up through childhood, I would hear the stories of when my dad played and my uncle played," Mitch said. "I couldn't wait for my time. I thought it would never get here. Now I'm a senior and I'm a part of it. We've won conference two years in a row, which hasn't happened since my dad played."
He said he relishes the chance to carve his own legacy.
"I would hear my dad tell stories and now one day I can tell my son a few stories," Gilles said.
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text:
Missing Hays boy, 7, located with mother
Benjamin Cotton Auberry found near Tulsa, Oklahoma
Missing 7-year-old Hays County boy Benjamin Cotton Auberry was located Tuesday night with his mother, Stephanie Anne Cotton, just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Hays County sheriff's deputies were called to a home in Wimberley early Tuesday, where they said Cotton had taken the boy.
Cotton was said to have an extensive criminal history, including warrants issued for felong burglary and felony interferance with child custody.
Family of Cotton notified authorities after she showed up to her father's home Tuesday night.
Cotton was taken into custody with charges of burglary felony and interference with child custody.
Arrangements are now being made to extradite Cotton to Hays County and to get Auberry back to Wimberley with his guardian.
Click here to view more videos on KSAT.com.
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text:
Landmark New York hotel can't get bike-sharing rack removed
NEW YORK (AP) — A landmark New York City hotel's bid to get rid of a bicycle-sharing rack from a space across from its entrance has been rejected. Full Story
Nielsen's top programs for July 27-Aug. 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 27-Aug. 2. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership. Full Story
One Direction's Louis Tomlinson forced to admit impending fatherhood
A day after band member Liam Payne confirms the news, Tomlinson acknowledges for the first time that he's going to be a dad -- after getting blindsided by question on 'Good Morning America.'


text:
- Detail Images
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The classic keeps getting better.
The North Face gives you more to love with the Women's Denali Hooded Fleece Jacket. Thanks the brilliant addition of a hood, you get more of the expedition-weight fleece. What's more, the entire jacket is made from recycled and environmentally-certified materials for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and gasoline consumption.
- Nylon abrasion panels protect the jacket from backpack straps, ski edges, and other wear-and-tear
- Zip-in compatible, so you can layer it with a The North Face shell for the ultimate cold-busting comfort
- Fleece-lined hood features front adjustment cords to keep your ears warm on exposed walks
- DWR treatment repels light precipitation
- Drawcord hem seals out drafts
Share your thoughts
What do you think of the
The North Face Denali Hooded Fleece Jacket - Women's
? Share a...
NE_Horse and Dog person
My daughter loves this jacket.
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
Height: 5' 3"Weight: 140 lbs
She has an older Denali without the hood that is aging. I bought her this one to replace it. She LOVES it. Fit is the same as all the Denalis. Hood is great when it gets cold out. Terrific deal--thanks!
Sydney Davis
great jacket!
- Familiarity: I've used it once or twice and have initial impressions
- Fit: True to size
love this jacket just got it a couple days ago. love the color (mint) and also the added hood is a nice addition my other north faces i have purchased did not have a good so this was a nice bonus. will keep you warm!
Fen O.
Is the hood removable or not?
Grant Kates
What is the center back length of a medium?
Grant Kates
28 inches
Natalie Wall
Did you answer your own question, Grant? Haha.
Grant Kates
I answer all questions. Look around and you will find about 500 more. :D
Warm but
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
I gave to my girlfriend for Valentine and she wore it couple times; however, she keep complained the fleece particles keep attached to her inside clothes. The particles can be easily seen when you wear white or black color clothes underneath since the particles are pink . The coat is very warm and stylist which she like but this constant annoyance to her clothes, make me return it.
will curtis
Time Tested and Proven
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
- Fit: True to size
This Is our third Denali. This Jacket will not disappoint. It is warm, durable, and never out of style. The hood is a nice bonus!
Absolutely love it!
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
I have a black with pink ribbon NorthFace that I cannot keep clean because of my Saint Bernard. This one ( light grey) looks great and shows no hair at all. Plus, service from Backcountry was wonderful and prompt. Would definitely recommend.
edith arnst
Totally stoked!!!
- Fit: True to size
I wore it today in the most miserable rainy Georgia winter day and I was toasty warm. My two dogs want a North Face jacket too. I got my jacket so fast I thought they dropped it from a passing plane since I live in the country. I don't think I have ever experienced this level of service during the holiday season.
Love it!
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
This is my second NorthFace. It is a great product
And backcountry was wonderful to deal with for this purchase.
Best Fleece
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
This is so warm and is now my new winter coat. Not too bulky. The pocket on the upper left is perfect for my cell. Washes well and is super comfortable to wear.
Beautiful color!
- Familiarity: I gave it as a gift but have feedback to share
- Fit: True to size
Order this jacket as a gift for my sister in R Passion Pink/ Pache Grey. The color is absolutely beautiful and really pops. Super soft and warm. My sister loves it and wears it everywhere!
Super disappointed
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
I have many North Face jackets in my closet and have been wanting this denali with a hood for a very long time. I finally decided to pay the money but I am disappointed. Love the color and hood and everything, but HATE how it sheds all over everything! If I could return it I would, but I already threw away the tags and receipt it came with.
Is the R Teaberry Pink the same as the...
Is the R Teaberry Pink the same as the example pictures of the reddish color jacket? It is the thrid picture from the beginning.
Carver Shaw
Hey Chelsie,
It is the same jacket, but the Teaberry Pink color is last year's model (the one listed as "Outlet"). The other jackets are the newer models in different colorways. Same jacket, different year.
Thanks! So same both are the same color, just a different style?
Backcountry Video
The North Face Denali Hooded Fleece
Great Jacket! Highly satisfied!
It's very cold where I live and this jacket keeps me warm! My second time buying from Backcountry, and like the first time, excellent customer service and super quick shipping!
I'm 5'4'' and normally fit size 10/12 tops, Juniors' XL, and women's Small.
I ordered a Small and it is a perfect fit for me. It's a little roomy, but that is what I expected since this isn't a truely fitted style. An extra small would be way too small around the bust.
Great Jacket!
This jacket is warm and has a hood! I use it all the time while walking my 3 Wheaten Terriers.
Vincent Tiernan
Makes my wife happy, makes me happy.
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
I was disappointed that it does not mimic the men's Denali, because it lacks the chest pockets and pit zips. However, my wife likes and it gets the job done.
Great Gift for the Girlfriend
My girlfriend loves this jacket, she needed a warm fleece for around town activities because she didnt want the bulk of her ski jacket. She has worn it in the snow and wind and said it still kept her warm. She loves the pit zips so she can dump heat when the Colorado weather changes mid-day. The White-Heather color surprisingly does not get as dirty as we thought. Very versatile.
North Face Denali Fleece Jacket
- Gender: Female
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
Bought this jacket atfer Christmas for myself, I walk my dogs alot and in the winter it gets pretty cold and I hate wearing bulky coats when I go . This jacket fits nice. I purchased size medium and Im 5'6 140lbs. Does not fit tight like some people like to wear it. Some reviews say wind goes right through you I have not had this issue. Hood was a really good idea for the windy days. Unfortunately I left a couple of doggie treats in my pocket and my dog got a hold of the jacket and ate through the pocket so now I have to take it somewhere to be fixed. But its worth it I love my new North Face. I did shop around also and Back Country had the best deal by far.
Best Investment!
- Gender: Female
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I purchased this jacket (in TNF Black) after the holidays when the price dropped, as well as the TNF Men's Apex Bionic softshell. I bought both online so I could compare the two in person. I went into a local REI and tried on this jacket in the size I ordered as well and fell in love! I went with this jacket because it was extremely warm and realized I didn't necessarily need a windproof jacket like the Apex Bionic. Thus I returned that jacket.
This jacket has kept me cozily warm throughout the early winter this year in 30 degree weather. I've already used it for several hikes in the wild and general errands in the city and it's been perfect. I even got caught in light rain for about 15 minutes and though it absorbed the water it wasn't soaked - no water came through the fabric and onto my layers beneath. This has been the best thing I've purchased in years and I look forward to exploring more of the wild this year in my Denali hoodie. Thanks for reading!
Ingrid Backstrom
a true classic
- Gender: Female
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
whenever I want to be warm and cozy and comfy, I reach for this. It goes both tech or just for recreational winter comfort.


text:
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Imagine you are racing down the field at MetLife Stadium on a post route, picking up speed as you run by each yard line, trying to avoid the last safety in between you and the end zone, when you reach out for the football and - whoops - it goes right through your hands like water! Now imagine that same scenario wearing the Vapor Jet 2.0 Team Authentic gloves from Nike. Nothing is slipping through these babies because they are designed to catch, grip and fly! On each palm is a sticky Magnigrip material to enhance gripping in all conditions. They are made from light flexible fibers with mesh paneling for breathability, and feature pre-curved fingers for a better range of motion. The design of these gloves is the coolest part of all, because when the two hands lock together, they form the Jets' logo. You can rep New York all the way to score a touchdown! Sizes are approximate: Small- 7 1/4- 7 1/2" (19cm), Medium- 7 1/2- 7 3/4" (20cm), Large- 7 3/4- 8" (21cm), X-Large- 8- 8 1/4" (22cm), XXL- 8 1/4" and up (23cm and up).
- 62% Polyester/18% Nylon/12% Silicone/8% Neoprene
- Adjustable hook and loop fastener at wrist
- Imported
- Lightweight receiver gloves
- NOCSAE approved
- Officially licensed NFL product
- Team colors and logo
Reviewed by 1 customer
- Attractive Design
- Shows Off Team Pride
- Stylish
Best Uses
- Anytime
Comments about Nike New York Jets Vapor Jet 2.0 Team Authentic Series Gloves:
I use the product for playing wide receiver and they work like a charm. They are stylish and easy to catch with too
Special event items are produced by manufacturers only after the outcome of a game or event. These are advanced sale items and will ship immediately after they are received in our warehouse.
Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


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They tuned in from Russia and India, Colombia, Canada and California — in all, more than 25,000 signed up for a free online course at the University of Washington last quarter called "Information Security and Risk Management in Context."
Thousands more signed up for two other course offerings, one on computational finance and the other on scientific computing.
That the courses were popular was clear. Less clear: whether the UW can find a way to break even on the venture.
In the past year, the UW and dozens of other universities have begun offering free online courses through for-profit companies like Coursera, a fast-growing California startup, and nonprofits like the MIT-Harvard partnership edX — sometimes for the prestige, sometimes simply to reach a broader swath of students.


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I'm delighted to see in the stores now those little boxes of Paas Easter egg coloring kits that they bring out at this time of year. I remember those when I was a kid, and I'm surprised those kits are still around after more than 50 years.
Back then Mom would get one of those, and when we'd get home she'd color Easter eggs. She must've felt I was too young, or she might've feared the mess I'd likely make. Or maybe she just wanted to hog the fun for herself.
The kits back then had three methods to decorate eggs. First, you could drop a color tablet into a coffee cup, the tablet would dissolve, then you'd drop in an egg to color it.
And there were some transfers you could use to imprint nice designs on eggs. Finally, there was a special crayon you could use to draw your own design. Mom tried to keep that one away from little ol' me.
One year I picked out a favorite egg. It was a brown egg, and Mon had placed a transfer, of a cross covered with vines. I was drawn to the beauty of the design and the Easter message it carried.
As I hunted eggs that year I'd look for my favorite egg with the cross. When I found it I'd be delighted, and I'd drop it eagerly into my little Easter basket. When somebody else found the egg during a subsequent hunt, I was jealous.
Come Easter Sunday afternoon all the egg hunting was over - I had exhausted adults with my pleas to hide eggs just one more time - and it was time to begin feasting on the hard-boiled eggs.
I found myself in a dilemma. I didn't want to eat my favorite egg. It was too pretty.
So we'd munch on the other eggs, and I'd stick my favorite egg at the bottom of the basket trying to hide it. The egg collection dwindled as evening approached.
Come Monday only the egg with the imprint of the cross was left. I didn't want to eat it. "It'll go bad," Mom reminded me.
So what would I do?
At Easter kids used to look forward to getting new clothes. And adults used to look forward to buying new clothes for kids.
As a little boy I didn't care much for clothes. But as I approached my teen years, some years after the egg incident, a new Easter jacket got my attention.
It was double-breasted jacket, light yellow with vertical navy pinstripes. Mom found it at JC Penny when there was a store on East Main Street in Elkin in the current Kennedy's location. That coat was flashy, even by late '60s standards.
So here I go on an Easter Sunday morning in a jacket that would have made Elvis proud. Yes, I was overdressed but enjoying it.
That is until a buddy next to me in the pew started giggling during the preaching service. He pointed out a store tag still on the bottom of the sleeve at the left wrist. Mom and I had overlooked it.
I was horrified. The last thing a kid wants is to be laughed at by a buddy, so I tried to rip off the tag.
It wouldn't come off. It was one of those tags stitched securely at the four corners. So then I gave it a big, desperate yank. Along with the tag I ripped off a nice piece of the pinstriped fabric.
The Easter sermon was glorious, but I all I could think about was the fire and brimstone preaching I would get at home when I showed this to Mom.
Actually, she took the bad news pretty well and tried to sew the torn piece back on the sleeve.
But the vertical stripes didn't line up quite right, and my new Sunday jacket that had made me look so cool had become like one of those eggs you try to boil but something goes wrong.
Frequently there's one egg that cracks in the pot of boiling water, some of the egg white runs out and congeals, and then you just don't want it.
So my flashy Easter jacket hung in the closet for the most part.
No matter how pretty something is, it won't stay that way. Things break. Things get old. Things change. You outgrow things like an Easter jacket. At other times, things outgrow you.
So on that Monday after Easter I looked over that egg with the pretty cross design. I picked it up and held it in my hand. I studied it and thought I would never see such a pretty Easter egg again. And I never did.
Then with a sigh I cracked and peeled the thing and gobbled it down.
After all, I do like hard-boiled eggs.
Stephen Harris returned home to live in State Road.


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Scottsdale's mayor optimistic about city
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - A few weeks into his second term, Scottsdale's mayor thinks things are looking bright for his city.
Jim Lane thinks Scottsdale has a good future.
"We're going to grow," Lane said. "We're going to grow gracefully, and we're going to do it with real consideration for our legacy and our history."
Lane is especially proud of one thing that's been accomplished.
"We really had just fixed an old contract that happened to be an old subsidy agreement from years ago before I was mayor," Lane said. "We were able to save some $30 million over the next 15 years."
Lane said things are "toning down" in Old Town Scottsdale. He said there are fewer complaints of noise and trash from around nightclubs in the area.
The mayor wants Scottsdale to continue to spend money to attract visitors.
"It's important that we properly and efficiently use the kinds of funds that we have made available through the bed tax allocation for capital infrastructure for tourism," Lane said.
And he wants to continue to make improvements to one facility.
"We're in the process in Westworld of making some major changes and enhancements," Lane said. The city last year approved a $40 million dollar expansion of Westworld's Tony Nelssen Equestrian Center to replace a 120-thousand square foot tent on the property. Westworld is home to the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction.
Lane will give his state of the city address on February 21st at the W hotel in Scottsdale.