Coming off the heels of my first Ann Arbor City Council meeting, I'll say this: Getting my first taste of A2 politics Monday night was an interesting experience.
During the course of five hours, I heard an earful about what makes Ann Arbor residents tick. I was encouraged to see dozens of people in attendance, and even more impressed when such a large percentage took the podium to speak.
Of the many who spoke on the controversial City Place development, the award for most creativity goes to Libby Hunter, a retired music teacher, who serenaded the Council with an original song called "Developer's March," sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of The Republic."
I captured it on video in case you missed it.
A lot of intelligent ideas were floated during the public comment period, more so than I've seen over the years in other towns where I've covered local politics. Though I've been in Ann Arbor less than a week, it's clear citizens here care very much about their community and want to be involved in discussions regarding its future.
During an extended break in the meeting, I enjoyed getting the chance to interact with several residents like Lou Glorie, a local real estate agent.
"I think that we have to have a real sincere effort on the part of the politicians and the city in allowing citizens access to the design and the visioning of our future," Glorie told me. "It's not something that should be left to experts or a group of people who consider themselves to be the visionaries. It's something best done in collaboration with a lot of different people."
That's the kind of dialogue we want at AnnArbor.com from our readers.
So what do you say, Ann Arbor? What's on your mind? What matters to you?
I'll be covering government and politics for AnnArbor.com and look forward to hearing from you. Drop me a line at ryanstanton@annarbor.com and let me hear it.
"A lot of intelligent ideas were floated during the public comment period, more so than I've seen over the years in other towns where I've covered local politics. Though I've been in Ann Arbor less than a week, it's clear citizens here care very much about their community and want to be involved in discussions regarding its future."
You're kidding with this story, right?
Alan, we'll begin publishing stories when we launch on Friday. What we've been doing on the site this week is to give people an indication of the kinds of things we'll be covering when we go live. We welcome you to come back on Friday and let us know what you think of our coverage.
I wonder what the emails shooting back and forth between council had to say during that comment ;)
Singing historic Republican songs in a council meeting...... what has Ann Arbor come too?
If you want to actually read about the meeting now, the Chronicle has a 4,500-word piece online.
Here's the link to the Chronicle's story
http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/07/21/postponed-a2d2-city-place-moratorium/
This is a news story? It reads like a school essay, "My trip to the City Council meeting." It's more about the writer than about the meeting. I hope this is not a foreshadowing of your "news" coverage.
Let there be no confusion: This is not intended to be news coverage of the meeting. We will certainly go in-depth and delve into the issues after we launch AnnArbor.com on Friday. What you are reading right now is merely a placeholder page and not indicative of what's to come. Check back after we launch the site and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you see.
can't bring myself to actually watch the clip as so many city council meetings i've attended all around the country are plain b-o-r-i-n-g... most everything is hashed out in "executive session" and they simply parade in front of the public (giving citizens 3 minutes each by robert's rules to voice their concern) before voting on the record (even though they know if a proposal hails or fails in advance with VERY few exceptions).
the only reason(s) i'm commenting on this particualr story is: 1.) to suggest the guy who did the time-lapse thing with the footage of the ann arbor art fair do the same with future council meetings, and 2.) to wish tony and the gang @ annarbor.com all the best on its upcoming launch.
cheers!
I enjoyed Ryan's debut article. I loved the fact that he posted the lyrics to the song, which the Chronicle didn't do.
I enjoyed this video and look forward to seeing more multimedia coverage of city government, if possible. How can young people get involved if they care about this issue? Could you include information like that in future posts?
The issue the council was discussing is incredibly important, and I am interested enough to read more. Good job AnnArbor.com!
I hope that there will be no effort to censor those City Council comments, for example, the first Public Comment at Monday's meeting, which ask for the city to boycott Israel. Such censorship has nothing in common with journalism.
This is my first visit to this replacement for the Ann Arbor News. So far, I am not impressed.
The initial line of this piece ("... my first Ann Arbor City Council meeting ...") doesn't bode well. While Ryan Stanton may be a fine individual, I would prefer a reporter with specific experience with this governmental body, someone who understands the nuances and can hit the ground running in service to this new journalistic endeavor. While I trust that Mr. Stanton, should he continue on this beat, will, in time, learn such local subtleties, it gives me pause that other reporter positions here have been filled similarly. I would have hoped that with a much smaller staff that we'd be witnessing a crystallized, refined selection of Ann Arbor reporters, not first-timers.
While I am not impressed, I do thank Mr. Stanton for his frankness. It may have concerned him to make such an admission. Then again, this article is more about impressions than relaying information.
Additionally, I would like to see a feature that would permit us to click on the name of a reporter/author so we can have access to a biography and a list of recent articles by that individual. It would be very welcome and helpful as we new readers make our own assessments.
Thank you.
Old Brown Park,
The feature you'd like to see will be available when our site officially launches tomorrow. As we've said in this thread, Ryan's post was not coverage of a City Council meeting. He was introducing himself to the community and discussing the meeting. When our site is live, it will have comprehensive government coverage.
In addition, our staff is a strong mix of longtime Ann Arbor area residents and newcomers who are extremely talented and bring new perspectives. Ryan's impressions of the meeting reminded me of something I've taken for granted as an Ann Arbor area native – just how involved and passionate residents are here. We look forward to tapping into that passion and involvement as we cover the community.
Amalie Nash, News Director
@Amalie: Are you saying that no one should be skeptical of AnnArbor.com for hiring someone to cover local government who has no idea what the back story is on our wacky politics?
IMO, political/government coverage is the most important role of AnnArbor.com and if you can't deliver on this kind of reporting, personally I won't have much use for this site.
No offense meant, Ryan. This is just the downside of introducing yourself to a bunch of cranky locals and internet trolls. Welcome to town!
Paanta,
No, I'm not saying a dose of skepticism isn't healthy. Having institutional knowledge of city politics is definitely an advantage. When Ryan arrived Monday, he dove right in – he was at City Council that night, Planning Commission Tuesday and the CTN candidate debate last night. I'm confident he'll quickly be up to speed. In addition, I'm his editor and will be there to help – I worked at The News for 11 years, so I certainly have a good background in city government, cranky locals and Internet trolls.
With all due respect, if you want to call people who responded to the introduction of your new city government reporter as coming from ‘cranky locals’, then you really show go back and reread some of the concerns expressed on this site over the last few weeks.
Several people, me included, have brought up the issue of how would A2.com follow in the footsteps of the Ann Arbor News in regards to institutional knowledge, local history and experience to cover the local political scene. But instead of addressing that issue, giving a clue to what direction the coverage might take, we got this:
"A lot of intelligent ideas were floated during the public comment period, more so than I've seen over the years in other towns where I've covered local politics".
Where were these 'last towns' where the public comments were less intelligent? I'm sure his past readers really appreciate that comment. Will those comments be the same for his next reporting job in some larger and smarter town? We are Ann Arbor, we know how great the city is and smart and brilliant we are and how much we care about issues. Instead of an introduction of what was to come, it sounded like I-just-got-off-the-bus pandering.
With world class reporting on the city council scene by the A2 Observer and the A2 Chronicle, I am guessing readers of A2.com are expecting reporting more on that level of quality. That's why many people have taken the time to address this issue. But if you think comments expressing these concerns are just ‘cranky locals’ complaining, then I wonder how you’ve stand up to real world pressure when it comes to investigative reporting or readers pointing out your more serious shortcomings.
Thanks.
Alan,
My "cranky locals" response was obviously meant in fun while making a serious point about our plans to comprehensively cover city government. I'd be glad to address the issue in depth, but beyond that, you'll clearly see the direction we're headed after we launch and in the weeks to come.
I think I made my point. Lol. Looking forward to the comprehensive coverage to come.
I don't think Annarbor.com can have it both ways. I don't think you can promote yourself as a vibrant, comprehensive news source and then start your coverage with a "placeholder." I know the site doesn't officially launch until tomorrow, but it's by your digital journalist guy under the Annarbor.com logo and people expect something stronger. It may sound churlish to criticize, but this was a key opportunity for Ryan to display a real flash of insight and energy. Perhaps he could have taken a single issue from the meeting and presented it imaginatively. We are not being cranky -- many of us want you to succeed. We're simply judging what you're giving us, and the "placeholder" excuse doesn't cut it. Like last week, I baked cookies for my kid (it was after work, I was tired) and I forgot to put in eggs. When he said they were yucky, I guess I could have said, "Those are placeholder cookies. You'll get some edible ones this weekend."
Christine - LOL!! its like the acorn shell without the nut....
I think some slack-cutting is in order. Remember - the folks at the AA News (including Amalie Nash) didn't want any of this to happen. The decision to close the News and start AnnArbor.com was made by far-away people. AnnArbor.com is trying to pick up the pieces. Yes, it has been a difficult launch. But let's see where we are in a month or so.
I think a lot of us are waiting to see if AnnArbor.com is just another version of the Ann Arbor Snooze (AAS) or not. When the AAS came out with a wide sample of the Council e-mails, many wondered if ithe AAS had, in its last days, had discovered a backbone or if it was just a 'bait & switch" to enroll more readers.
To all of you "smart and brilliant" readers in Ann Arbor - I went to college in Ann Arbor many years ago and now live in Bay City, the last city Ryan Stanton came from where he worked for the Bay City Times. Our newspaper has also gone to limited publishing and is struggling right now. Ryan was one of the best reporters we had and it's our loss that he chose to leave. We could always count on him to give us unbiased reporting while still making city government interesting to read about. Please give him a chance to get to know your city - he'll learn about you quickly and do a great job for you. You're fortunate to have him on the annarbor.com staff.