So, the latest Ann Arbor Public Schools spending of taxpayer money is a campaign to ask for taxpayer money. The flyers came in the mail. One  implores us to vote on May 6th to give this dysfunctional administration more money to waste.

The other talks about “exceptional Accomplishments.” In the blurb about “Accessible Schools,” it says, “At Huron and Pioneer accessibility improvements were made to the curb ramps, sidewalks, parking areas and the routes of travel to and from both schools.” Of course, it leaves out the phrase, “under court order.” If it hadn’t been for the hard work of an Ann Arbor civil rights law firm,  the ADA would have been ignored. The AAPS was dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing.

After the AAPS gets so-called security cameras installed at Pioneer (because they can, because the community lets them), perhaps they should move on to terahertz cameras. Read about them here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7287135.stm

It just keeps coming.

George Fornero left quite a legacy to this town. And everyone on the board helped him do it. And almost everyone in the community let him do it.

Ann Arbor News 2/6/2008, Schools Face $6 Million shortfall

Can this be happening in hip Ann Arbor? Surveillance cameras on kids at Pioneer High School? Sure it can because the AAPS administration is clueless. Let’s not talk about the financial, ecological and demographic fiasco that is the new high school and the concocted lies and painted smiles that backed it up.

But let’s do talk about how the administration can actually think it’s okay, in this day and age, in a town that was once fairly progressive, to set up Big Brother cameras to watch over kids in high schools. Student Safety is the local politics version of National Security: the excuse to remove privacy from your life.

Besides, the community is clueless. Cameras were put in Huron quite a while back.

Besies, the district is “getting a good deal” (only about $80,000). When the same contractor who did up Huron, the district had some equipment left over. Instead of having the contractor buy it back, it’s now the explanation of why we’re getting such a good deal.

Clueless. And just plain bad.

After the Shadow Art Fair, stopped in, for my first time, at the Fiesta Mexicana on Cross St. in Ypsilanti. Had some nice poblanas, chocolate mexicano, and conversation with the folks there. Worth a stop if you’re over Ypsi way.

Great concert last night by They Might Be Giants at the Michigan Theater. Best of all being guests of drummer Marty Beller’s. John (or was it John?) got the crowd to come to its feet  and move towards the stage before the first tune where it stayed throughout. Playing a theater, with those darn seats interfering with movement and energy, is different from playing a club. For an Ann Arbor crowd, it was pretty animated though, according to John (or was it John?) not nearly as wild as the crowd at the gig the night before. In Grand Rapids of all places.

Ann Arbor sure ain’t what it used to be, if Grand Rapids can out wild it. But I digress. Thanks to TMBG. Thanks to Marty.

Congratulations to Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw for earning Bon Appetit’s Lifetime Achievment Award. Cool.

Yesterday, I sent the following letter to the Editor at the Observer.

Dear Editor:

I have to let you know just how appalled I was to see the October Observer cover.

To see the eviscerated remains of the historic and wonderful Frieze Building where usually one finds soft-focus views of an idyllic Ann Arbor we can only wish Ann Arbor were, was shocking enough. A photo in a feature, I can imagine. For someone to sit and paint this scene, like a medical illustrator working off a cadaver, and then, for someone to put it on the Observer’s cover for all to see, I strive, in my best mindset, to interpret as a protest against the taking down of the Frieze Building. From a more cynical point of view, it’s just tasteless. Perhaps you can tell me which was intended.

The October cover easily reminds one of the famous photograph of the infamous, domed building, the pathetic shell, intentionally left at ground zero in Hiroshima, as a monument to man’s destructive nature. Perhaps Ann Arbor should leave the last of the Frieze Building in its current state as a monument to the relentless, styleless, even mindless development of Ann Arbor in the form of yet more brick-and-glass monoliths and taller and taller flat-faced, soulless buildings.

Sincerely,
Alan Pagliere

Here’s the response from John Hilton. Not bad. Thanks to him. I still wish the commentary nature of the cover had been a bit more explicit. It would have obviated the need for my rant.

Hi Alan,

The artist, Richard Campanelli, was pained by the loss of the Frieze Building, and moved to capture what little remained. He didn’t consult us in advance, but when he brought the finished piece in, I thought it perfectly captured an important moment in the city’s history–it’s real history, not some soft-focus idyllic view.

We’ve done this a couple of times before, with John Copley’s watercolor of the demolition of the old Broadway Bridge, and Jon LaRose’s drawing of the university’s Old Main hospital coming down. I see doing this as part of our job as observers–but I am sorry that it caused you distress.

thanks
John

ps the U actually does plan to preserve that shell–the Carnegie Library that once stood alongside Ann Arbor High–but not as a standalone ruin. They’re going to incorporate the facade into their North Quad complex.

Based on the small infamy I earned by fighting the Ann Arbor Public Schools so-called administration, partly because of the parody website which I created (inspired as I was by the Yes Men and their concept of Identity Correction) and which was squashed by the school district’s $400/hour lawyers (who you would think would have better things to do even if the so-called administrators couldn’t take a joke), and which had gotten over 35,000 hits in its 10-day to 2-week life, I was asked to be interviewed on Homeless Dave’s Teeter Totter. Fun. Here’s a link to the interview.