| A N N A R B O R I S O V E R R A T E D . (a blog.) |
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"Yuppies are an asset to any market," someone at the firm producing the survey observed. "Their buying power is already substantial and it's going to continue to grow for decades." Herb David has been successful even though "other stores offering ethnic and vintage instruments have folded or moved to Detroit." The writer views its staying power as evidence that "goodwill has triumphed over market forces." But isn't it possible that Herb David, described here as "one of the best-known music stores in the world," is around specifically because of market forces - consumers preferring it to inferior competitors? We're no free-market libertarian, but sometimes a local business closes up shop for non-sinister reasons. This was brought to our attention by an opinion piece in The Ann Arbor News today, in which the following nightmare scenario is envisioned: the house across the street from your beautifully maintained century-old mansion is being covered with gauche vinyl. But wait - it gets much worse. "[T]he entire home is being converted into rental apartments." The writer argues for a historic district as a way of preventing this kind of catastrophe. Now, the vinyl would clearly be verboten under historic-district rules. But we weren't aware that these ordinances also forbid the conversion of houses into apartments. Is this true? If so, then the impact of these districts on students has been greatly understated. The original News article mentioned only that fraternities and sororities might have to pay for expensive repairs. So maybe it's time for students to start paying more attention to the activities of the Historic District Commission. Of course, they can be a bit arcane. "Commissioner Bruner stated he preferred the ell gable at ninety degrees to the main gable for its look, water shedding capabilities, and historically - the ell would have a gable perpendicular to the roof," runs one riveting excerpt. But sometimes they can tend toward high comedy, such as when two commissioners request that "the historic elements be incorporated without it looking old." Saugatuck, Michigan, to which we were occasionally coerced to go as a child on family vacations, is basically Ann Arbor without any of the things that the Bobos find irksome. A glance at the town's website reveals uncanny similarities between Saugatuck and A2, or at least the idealized A2. Saugatuck is mainly known for its art galleries - it calls itself "The Art Coast of Michigan" - and it does boast an incredibly long list. The town's retail culture is described thus: "Here you peruse. You don't 'shop' here. You savor. You wander along on a sensory journey through a melange of cultures, life-styles and tastes. In a retail world increasingly dominated by bigness and sameness, the shops of Saugatuck/Douglas are almost audacious in their individuality." And one can "walk - in a safe and friendly environment - to almost everything." Best of all, there are no students. [T]he construction will include some spots that could feature overlooks or historical plaques. ... The city has planned for several other spots that can be used for displays, including areas of about 4-by-20 feet overlooking the river, with enough space for people to stop and maybe read something about the area. And there could be space for information on 5-foot bases on lamp posts to be installed at either end of the bridges. When this blog first started, we thought we'd run out of things to hate about Ann Arbor by the end of the summer. But that hasn't happened at all. If anything, we now have a much sharper understanding of why we've taken on A2 as an adversary. And we hope that you do too. When The Ann Arbor News took Talk About Town offline, we thought that it would be an insurmountable obstacle. Where would we possibly find local-flavored vignettes about dogs and crafts? But we've made it past that setback. So thanks for reading. And as long as we're stuck here, and A2 has its rapacious landlords, clueless student journalists and locals who don't see any reason why a quaint little college town has to include students, we'll try to keep doing this. An Ann Arbor woman told city police Wednesday her car was damaged by vandals who egged it and smeared it with ketchup and mustard. Ex-Weathermen and Dylan fans will be disappointed that the vandals didn't take any of the car's handles. More local business clarification. trampslikeus writes: For accuracy's sake: Potbelly replaced Discount Records (Harmony House [which was a regional independent before it went under last year] was replaced by that gallery for the art school). Discount was a fairly useless and crappy record store but did once employ Iggy Pop, a distinction its fratty successor will likely never claim. You know, that Potbelly place replaced a Harmony House. And Cosi replaced a Hallmark. EMS? A ghetto party store that charged twice as much as Diag. Local businesses, my ass. No, not really. But the Daily's recent well-intentioned editorial on the "Starbuckization" of A2 makes us think that this will be the rallying cry in a few years. In it, the Daily mourns the loss of local businesses like the recently departed Decker Drugs. Let's take a look at these local businesses that the Daily misses so much. There's Ethnic Creations and Shiva Moon, both of which roughly fit into the "New Age gift shop" category. Schoolkids Records, which still maintains a State Street presence, last we checked. Finally, there's Campus Bike and Toys. We've always felt there were more than enough bike stores in A2, but we'll leave this to the outdoorsy types. As an example of a still-thriving business with local "ambience", they offer Rod's Diner, which serves up funky atmosphere between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Replacing these kinds of establishments, which serve mainly to inflate A2's sense of its own bohemian-ness, with the latest sandwich chain doesn't have much effect on the actual student experience. The Daily should be lamenting the local businesses that we've rarely or never had in A2, at least in recent memory. The 24-hour diner that's less pretentious than the Fleetwood. The coffeehouse that serves up the caffeine well past midnight. The rock venue that manages to steal a few acts away from the Magic Stick. "It is time the government allocated resources and worked with proprietors in order to aid these local businesses," the Daily writes. We can only hope that the independent, locally-owned stores designed to prey on carless students with prices several times what you'd pay at Kroger get all the help they need. And here we thought they were slim all year round, unless six-month runs of "Amelie" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" count as offbeat. Ann Arbor promotes itself as a Midwestern artists' Mecca. This couldn't be further from the truth! The Technology Center, the last affordable artists space in town, is being torn down at the end of June to make way for a new $18-million-dollar YMCA. Kick out the birds! The News hasn't neglected the tree beat in this frenzy, though. The "house lovers" want to preserve the "character" of Ann Arbor, which to them lies in expensive houses whose meticulous maintenance is enforced by historic district fascists. That we can't dispute. But, as a weblog devoted to destroying the character of Ann Arbor wherever it rears its Bobo head, we've got to side with the landowners. "Is that magnificent or is it magnificent? Look at it!" gushes a preservationist quoted in the article as she drives through A2. "We should have a show...We would call it, 'The Old War Horses of Ann Arbor.' Join us as we tour our city and show you why we love it." One preservationist even keeps an "inch-thick file" on a house that was demolished 17 years ago. The historic character of the city is under siege by property owners and student renters. Students, the reporter editorializes, come with the "typical student issues of noise and mess." But there are even more appalling indignities. Among them: a house rented by students to which an unsightly fire escape had been added, "obscur[ing] much of the second-floor architecture." Icky! Next they'll be blighting our fair city with wheelchair ramps. (Collapsing porches are probably okay, as long as you can't see the rubble from the street.) Still, we can't help but not feel sorry for the opposing Citizens For Sensible Preservation. Group member Jeff DeBoer points out that these rules would only disallow changes to the outside of a house - read "gargantuan McMansion additions." He asks, "As a homeowner, how'd you feel if you spent $800,000 for your home and a small group of people you don't even know decide your neighborhood is in crisis and impose a historic district on you without any vote?" That was probably rhetorical, but we would feel wealthy. Essentially, this is a win-win. Lower housing prices than Manhattan, less smog than LA. This is fun. Let's see, we'd be willing to bet that A2 has fewer traffic problems than Boston during the Big Dig. How about less crime than 1980's New York? And let's hear it for higher mean temperatures than Bismarck. |