Vacuum - Edward Vielmetti in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Marquette Mining Journal removes reader comments from newspaper web site

The Marquette Mining Journal recently ran this editorial regarding taking interactive comments off of the internet version of their newspaper, reading in part:

The comments were posted, without prior screening, in order to make it as easy as possible for Journal readers to submit their input directly. Unfortunately, a handful of participants abused the system. While most comments were astute and relevant, some relentless individuals decided to turn the comments section into a chat room that ventured, frankly, into the realm of inappropriate, sophomoric idiocy.

The roots of The Mining Journal’s editorial ethical standards go back some 163 years. In order for a letter to the editor to be considered for publication in our print edition, a name and other verifiable information must be included. Not so, however, with the Internet comments. Subsequently, on our Web site a small but persistent group of people threatened to tarnish The Mining Journal’s reputation for responsible journalism. A few Web comment submissions even consisted of cowardly anonymous personal attacks on local citizens. That could not be allowed to continue.

The New Orleans online newspaper, nola.com, also has unmoderated comments. Alan Gutierrez notes what this does to the discussion, quoting Mayor Ray Nagin:

Your news cast and the local newspapers are feeding these awful, ugly talk shows, that are feeding these blogs. You go look at these some of these blogs out there and some of the stories that come from the paper and you read the comments, it’s the most vile angry people that I’ve ever seen in this community.

Alan notes:

This is a common misconception in New Orleans, that the bloggers are the rabble. The city newspaper’s website, NOLA.com, is entirely unmoderated. NOLA.com calls these free-for-alls blogs.

Newspapers always run letters to the editor after verifying the identity of the writer. Should online newspapers be any different?

Snow Day - Billy Collins

As always, we will be tuning in to see if the Ann Arbor schools are closed tomorrow; it's bitterly cold, there are wind chill warnings, and a few area schools have already cancelled. AAPS snow day phone 734-994-8684 - WWJ SE Michigan snow day page - WZZM Grand Rapids MI school closings - WSYM Lansing MI school closings - WLUC Marquette MI / Upper Peninsula school closings

SNOW DAY by Billy Collins

Originally from The Atlantic, February 2000

Hear Billy Collins read this poem (in RealAudio).

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed,
the All Aboard Children's School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with -- some will be delighted to hear --

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School,
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and -- clap your hands -- the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence.

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.

Technorati Tags: michigan, cold, snow, weather, brrr

snow poetry, school closing, paczki, Kindergarten, NAAPID

Since the storm is coming, I'd remind you of this page I'm collecting snow poetry on. ORD was showing 5 hour delays a few minutes ago and there are expectations of 6-10 inches.

UPDATE: Wednesday, March 5 2008. Ann Arbor Public Schools closed. Check the Arborwiki sledding page for your favorite place to slide.

UPDATE: Thursday, February 7 2008. WWJ Radio has a comprehensive schools closed list for SE Michigan. In the area already closed are several schools in Livingston Co (Brighton, Howell, Pinckney) but no news yet for Ann Arbor. Some snow day reading for kids to inspire you.

UPDATE: Friday, February 1, 2008 The Ann Arbor Public Schools are closed today.
UPDATE: Snow depth maps daily from Weather Underground

UPDATE: NOHRSC is "the ultimate source of snow information"

Ann Arbor snow day hotlines by telephone:

Ann Arbor City snow desk 734-994-2359
Ann Arbor Public Schools closing info 734-994-8684

For Ann Arbor school closings information, consult your second grader, who is planning a play date. If you don't know about that you can check the Ann Arbor school closing information page which says in part:

Inclement weather may require closing schools or changing school schedules and bus routes. The decision is made after an early inspection of road conditions and school facilities, as well as current or forecasted weather conditions. When schools are closed or schedules and/or bus routes are changed, information is sent immediately to the major radio and television stations-by 6:00 a.m. if at all possible.

February 5 is Paczki Day, and the authoritative source of information on this day is the Hamtramck Star's Keyword(s): paczki collection.

If you know of good Paczki in Ann Arbor, Arborwiki would like to know abou them. On my block downtown they are being sold at Amadeus.

If you have a kindergartener starting in the fall, it's time for the Ann Arbor Public Schools Kindergarten Roundup schedule. The Burns Park dates are 2/11/08 and 2/19/08, and if you have any questions as a new parent to the school I'd be happy to help find someone to answer. The 2/11 date is National African American Parent Involvement Day, which was founded by Joseph Dulin:

"Every parent wants their child to have a better quality of life than they themselves had. It is the American dream, and for many African Americans, this dream has not been realized as a result of their child's failure in school. Education is the key to success and parents are educators' greatest allies." Joseph Dulin

That's it for tonight.

Yahoo leadership - nature abhors a vacuum

As GigaOM notes in Yahoo Please Put Up A Fight

Yahoo has a staggering 500 million users. However, it does a rather poor job of monetization. The vision that Yang shared at CES last week (“At Yahoo we want to be the most essential starting point for your life”) can come true if the key activities that we perform online are channeled through its My Yahoo service. And on the financial side, each of those activities needs to be backed up by a monetization model that takes full advantage of the traffic that Yahoo consistently manages to generate and preserve.

If you have an interesting network with a huge number of users and an awful way to monetize the traffic, people divert their attentions to other interesting networks with perhaps less users and much better ways to monetize traffic.  This is particularly true if the gating point for your interest and attention is your ability to fund day-in, day-out, constant attention to a project, and account or a campaign.

Jerry and Sue, you need to show some leadership.  Make it possible for me to make money on your network.  If you can't, I'll systematically divert my attention (and my clients spend) to other networks that perform better than Yahoo.  I'll happily take good ideas from Brad and Caterina and Stuart and Les and Susan and Joshua and put them to work somewhere that will generate good cash flow.  And I'll invite anyone who was laid off or who left Yahoo to join me on the Yahoo alumni network where we can figure out what's next.

Ann Arbor (Jones Drive) murder - suspect information

UPDATE 1/18: Two arrested in Ann Arbor shooting (Freep)

from the Ann Arbor Police Department account on Youtube.

Wanted for Questioning in a Fatal Shooting in the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you know the whereabouts of Myrick, please call our Anonymous Tipline 734-996-3199. Refer to Case Number 08-457.

Local news reporting pull quotes -

Your best narrow search results show up for the Google searches for Ann Arbor Jones Drive murder . The outside.in searches for Ann Arbor murder are not good, but probably can be improved by tagging.

My inbox did not have anything about this murder in Ann Arbor today, which means I'm doing something personally wrong in my clipping strategy.

Michigan Daily

About 12-15 shots were fired at the scene and an AK-47 type weapon was found inside the house, police said. Bullet holes were also found on the exterior of the red brick house. Police found signs of forced entry at the residence. AAPD Lt. Michael Logghe said police are unsure why the victim entered Myrick's residence or of any other motives.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, murder

Michigan primary results - 2008 presidential primary

2008 Unofficial Michigan Primary Election Results from http://miboecfr.nicusa.com - who are these people, are they really part of michigan.gov ? Something is being outsourced, very badly.

The short story:
Dem: Clinton 55, Uncommitted 40, Kucinich 4
Rep: Romney 39, McCain 30, Huckabee 16, Paul 6, Thompson 4, Guiliani 3

Best counties (overnight approx, data from NY Times, where is my spreadsheet full of numbers?)

Democrats:
Kucinich: 9% in Washtenaw
Clinton: 88% in Houghton, 64% in Macomb, 66% in Chippewa
Uncommitted: 49% in Emmet, 46% in Washtenaw

Republicans:
Romney: 47% Oakland, 44% Leelenau
McCain: 40-42% Van Buren, Crawford, Marquette, Keewenaw, Kalamazoo

SOS - Elections in Michigan SOS stands for "Secretary of State", and the crummy TITLE tag is one reason why this page is hard to find. You'd think, with Google in Ann Arbor, that the state of Michigan would have better search engine friendliness for the state government site.

The best overall politics tracker is memorandum's political web; here's a snapshot of the overnight results at 1am.

Best Michigan 2008 primary map is from the New York Times, showing leaders by county. They picked a weird color choice for the Democrats, leaving Clinton and Uncommitted almost the same color.

The Democratic party pull quotes:

Hillary Clinton won a largely uncontested Michigan Democratic primary - Boston Globe

The Obama Campaign is not participating in the Primary and has not instructed supporters in Michigan whether or how to vote - National Journal, Hotline Blog

Because of the hopelessly messed-up nature of this year's Democratic primary, this is a perfect opportunity for progressives in Michigan to make a statement without taking any risk. And the way to do that is to vote for Dennis Kucinich. Detroit Metro Times editorial

The Republican party pull quotes:

Romney is the son of former Michigan Governor and 1968 presidential candidate George W. Romney (Wikipedia)

Ambassador Weiser, an Ann Arbor resident and chairman of McCain's Michigan campaign, said Lieberman will join McCain at a joint town hall meeting on Election Day (Ann Arbor News)

My personal election story was not as good as it could be. I tried at the last moment to figure out what the status was of the ACLU Michigan Primary Election law lawsuit, where the Green Party and a political consulting firm among others are suing for the right to have access to primary voter lists. If they win, I'm going to buy me a list; even if they don't, you can get voter lists (city of Ann Arbor through the Ann Arbor City Clerk, $5). Hm, time to put that online too.

The technological snafu was voting as though I was a vision-impaired voter and trying to use the AutoMARK machines provided for that purpose. (press release from SOS) The machine marks ballots with audio prompting; it has awful industrial design, a very clumsy ballot shield, the poll workers had not run a real ballot through it all day (just a sample ballot), and when it spat back my ballot a half dozen times they directed me to the hand marked ballot booth rather than spoiling the ballot and starting with a new piece of paper.

The other technological snafu (again from the perspective of the vision impaired) was that the ballot eating machine has no audio or tactile feedback that a ballot was successfully accepted, and even its visual feedback is really bad (a tiny lcd display hard to read in dim light). I had really no way of knowing that the ballot eating machine really took my ballot, not even a reassurance that some bell dinged. Had I had no sight at all, some poll worker could have taken my ballot and disposed of it or remarked it and I'd be no wiser.

Technorati Tags: vote, michigan, election08, bibimbop, primary

Hoop house basil? Some early research

It's January, which means no farmer's market basil until July or August. Not too early to start thinking about it, though, especially thinking about how to grow your own - perhaps using a hoop house to speed the process along. Here's some preliminary research to share.

http://mdmintake.blogspot.com/2006/08/basil-anyone.html

Brooke and I had a great time at the farm this afternoon. And by great, I mean I now know why Tricia is always wearing carhartts, a straw hat, gloves and boots. The weeds on the farm? Not so much like the weeds in our garden.

http://deberosahomestead.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/portable-hoop-house-construction/

This year we built a portable hoop house on Deberosa for tomatoes and basil. It was fairly successful but as you can see from the storm post, it didn’t survive an extremely bad wind. I think it would have survived it the rain did not make the ground so soft that the rebar simply pulled out of the mud. Oh well, we’ll rebuild for next year - it will just be a little shorter and perhaps oriented lengthwise to the prevailing wind.

http://quetzalfarm.com/tour.htm

Early in the spring we plant basil and cucumbers in our hoop house. It is significantly warmer than outside, allowing us to harvest much earlier. The basil will grow into fall.

http://www.newfarm.org/depts/beginning_farmers/0603/greens2.shtml

Basil’s really the only herb to which we give much attention, and it responds well. It flourishes in the heat of the hoop. Keep cutting back the terminal buds and it’ll bush out. Give it an occasional shot of fish and it may produce for months.

http://www.vpi.org/urban_farm.html

ReVision Urban Farm is an organic micro-farm whose guiding vision is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable urban agriculture. The farm grows a wide variety of food crops on three reclaimed urban lots totaling one-acre of growing space. The farm enhances the delivery of nutrition services throughout our community and increases local awareness of the social, environmental, and economic benefits of sustainable urban agriculture.

Technorati Tags: basil, hoophouse, gardening, farm, ubifarm

Michigan Sample Ballot - Presidential Primary, Jan 15 2008

There's a Michigan presidential primary coming up on Jan 15, 2008.

You can get sample ballot information from the Michigan Secretary of State- they link to the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Not all of the candidates in the Iowa primary are on the Michigan ballot.

Republicans on the sample ballot:

Fred Thompson
Tom Tancredo
Mitt Romney
Ron Paul
John McCain
Mike Huckabee
Rudy Giuliani
Sam Brownback
Duncan Hunter

Democrats on the sample ballot:

Mike Gravel
Chris Dodd
Hillary Clinton
Dennis Kucinich

Polling locations may change from election to election. This is a current copy of the Washtenaw County voting location list as of the time I got it. Check the current list at the Washtenaw Votes site, part of the official Washtenaw County site.

Map provided by Andrew Turner, High Earth Orbit, based on the Washtenaw Votes list.

View Larger Map

CITY OF ANN ARBOR
First Ward
Precinct

1. - Michigan Union, 530 S. State St.
2. - Michigan Union, 530 S. State St.
3. - Community High School, 401 N. Division St.
4. - Community Center, 625 N. Main St.
5. - Northside School, 912 Barton Drive
6. - Northside School, 912 Barton Drive
7. - Bursley Hall, 1931 Duffield St.
8. - Mack School, 920 Miller Ave.
9. - Clague Middle School, 2616 Nixon Rd.
10. - Arrowwood Hills Community Center, 2566 Arrowwood Tr.

Second Ward
Precinct

1. - Family Housing Comm. Center, 1000 McIntyre Dr.
2. - Mary Markley Hall, 1503 Washington Heights
3. - Angell School, 1608 S. University Ave.
4. - Angell School, 1608 S. University Ave.
5. - Ann Arbor Assembly of God, 2455 Washtenaw Ave.
6. - Clague Middle School, 2616 Nixon Rd.
7. - King School, 3800 Waldenwood Lane
8. - St. Paul's Lutheran School, 495 Earhart Rd.
9. - Thurston School, 2300 Prairie St.

Third Ward
Precinct

1. - East Quad, 701 E. University Ave.
2. - East Quad, 701 E. University Ave.
3. - Tappen Middle School, 2551 E. Stadium Blvd.
4. - Allen School, 2560 Towner Blvd.
5. - University Townhouses Ctr., 3200 Braeburn Cir.
6. - Scarlett Middle School, 3300 Lorraine St.
7. - Allen School, 2560 Towner Blvd.
8. - Pittsfield School, 2543 Pittsfield Blvd.
9. - Scarlett Middle School, 3300 Lorraine St.

Fourth Ward
Precinct

1. - South Quad, 600 E. Madison St.
2. - Mary St. Polling Place, 926 Mary St.
3. - U of M Coliseum, at Fifth Ave. & Hill St.
4. - Pioneer High School, 601 W. Stadium Blvd.
5. - St. Clare/Temple Beth Emeth, 2309 Packard Rd.
6. - Cobblestone Farm, 2781 Packard
7. - Dicken School, 2135 Runnymede Blvd.
8. - Pioneer High School, 601 W. Stadium Blvd.
9. - Lawton School, 2550 S. Seventh St.

Fifth Ward
Precinct

1. - Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave.
2. - Bach School, 600 W. Jefferson St.
3. - Second Baptist Church, 850 Red Oak Rd.
4. - Slauson Middle School, 1019 W. Washington St.
5. - Slauson Middle School, 1019 W. Washington St.
6. - Eberwhite School, 800 Soule Blvd.
7. - Dicken School, 2135 Runnymede Blvd.
8. - Lakewood Elementary School, 344 Gralake Ave.
9. - Haisley School, 825 Duncan St.
10. - Abbot School, 2670 Sequoia Parkway
11. - Forsythe Middle School, 1655 Newport Rd.

CITY OF CHELSEA
Precinct

1. - Community Education Center, 500 Washington
2. - Community Education Center, 500 Washington

CITY OF MILAN
Precinct

1. - City Hall, 147 Wabash

CITY OF SALINE
Precinct

1. - Liberty School, 7265 Saline - Ann Arbor Rd.
2. - Liberty School, 7265 Saline - Ann Arbor Rd.
3. - United Methodist Church, 1200 N. Ann Arbor St.

CITY OF YPSILANTI
First Ward
Precinct

1. - Perry Child Development, 550 Perry St.
2. - Senior Center Rec. Ctr., 1015 Congress
3. - East Middle School, 510 Emerick

Second Ward
Precinct

1. - Estabrook School, 1555 W. Cross
2. - Fletcher School, 1055 Cornell
3. - Estabrook School, 1555 W. Cross
4. - Fletcher School, 1055 Cornell

Third Ward
Precinct

1. - Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 201 N. River
2. - Adams School, 503 Oak St.
3. - Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 201 N. River

ANN ARBOR TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 3792 Pontiac Trail
2. - Fire Station #2, 4319 Goss Rd.

AUGUSTA TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Brick Elementary Senior Citzens Center, corner of Whittaker Rd. and Willis Rd.
2. - Brick Elementary Senior Citzens Center, corner of Whittaker Rd. and Willis Rd.
3. - Augusta Township Hall, 8021 Talladay Rd.

BRIDGEWATER TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, Corner of Braun & Clinton Rds.

DEXTER TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 6880 Dexter-Pinckney Rd., Dexter
2. - Multi-Lakes Sewer Authority Office, 12088 N. Territorial Rd., Dexter
3. - Township Hall, 6880 Dexter-Pinckney Rd., Dexter

FREEDOM TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Twp. Hall, 11508 Pleasant Lake, (Cor. Pleasant Lake & Lima Center Rds.)

LIMA TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 11452 Jackson Rd. at Lima Center

LODI TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Farm Council Grounds, Bldg. A, 5055 Ann Arbor - Saline Rd.
2. - Farm Council Grounds, Bldg. A, 5055 Ann Arbor - Saline Rd.

LYNDON TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 17751 N. Territorial Rd.,

MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Manchester Township Hall, 275 S. Macomb St.
2. - Manchester Township Hall, 275 S. Macomb St.

NORTHFIELD TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Public Safety Building, 8350 Main St., 2nd Floor, Whitmore Lake
2. - Fire Hall, 2727 E. N. Territorial, Whitmore Lake
3. - Public Safety Building, 8350 Main St., Rear, Whitmore Lake

PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. – Township Administration Bldg., 6201 W. Michigan Ave.
2. – Carpenter School, 4250 Central Blvd.
3. – Chinmaya Mission, 4760 Packard Rd.
4. – Arbor Pointe Clubhouse, 2020 Arbor Circle East.
5. – Ann Arbor Airport, 801 Airport Dr.,
6. – Roberto Clemente Center, 4377 Textile Rd.
7. – Pittsfield Twp. Community Center, 701 W. Ellsworth
8. – Pittsfield Twp. Administration Bldg., 6201 W. Michigan Ave.
9. – Harvest Elementary School, 1155 Campus Pkwy.
10. – Hunt Club Clubhouse, 4685 Hunt Club Dr.
11. – Chinmaya Mission, 4760 Packard Rd.

SALEM TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, Village of Salem, 9600 Six Mile Rd.
2. - Salem/South Lyon Library, 9800 Pontiac Trail
3. - Salem Bible Church, 9481 Six Mile Rd.

SALINE TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 5731 Braun Road

SCIO TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Dexter Senior Center, 7720 Ann Arbor St.
2. - Scio Township Hall, 827 N. Zeeb Rd.
3. - Scio Township Hall, 827 N. Zeeb Rd.
4. - Scio Community Church, 1292 N. Zeeb Rd.
5. - Scio Farms MPH Clubhouse, 6655 Jackson Rd.
6. - Scio Fire Hall, 1055 N. Zeeb Rd.
7. - Washtenaw Intermediate School, 1819 S. Wagner
8. - Scio Fire Hall, 1055 N. Zeeb Rd.
9. - Main Clubhouse, 5200 Polo Fields Dr.

SHARON TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, Cor. Sylvan & Pleasant Lake Rds.

SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 3040 N. Prospect
2. - Cheney School, 1500 Stamford
3. - Christian Love Fellowship Hall, 1601 Stamford Rd.
4. - Cheney School, 1500 Stamford Rd.
5. - Township Hall, 3040 N. Prospect

SYLVAN TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 18027 Old US Highway 12.

WEBSTER TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 5665 Webster Church Rd.
2. - Township Hall, 5665 Webster Church Rd.
3. - Township Hall, 5665 Webster Church Rd.

YORK TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. - Township Hall, 11560 Stony Creek Rd.
2. - York Baptist Church Activity Center, 11220 Stony Creek Rd.
3. - York Baptist Church Activity Center, 11220 Stony Creek Rd.

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP
Precinct

1. – Free Methodist Church, 1800 Packard Rd.
2. – Ardis School, 2100 Ellsworth Rd.
3. – Ardis School, 2100 Ellsworth Rd.
4. – Victorious Life Church 1405 Sweet Rd.
5. – Ypsilanti Twp. Community Center, 2025 E. Clark Rd.
6. – Ypsilanti Twp. Community Center, 2025 E. Clark Rd.
7. – Ypsilanti Twp. Fire Station 1, 222 S. Ford Rd.
8. – Calvary Baptist, 1007 Ecorse Rd.
9. – Erickson School, 1427 Levona
10. – Kettering School, 1633 Knowles
11. – Rawsonville School, 3110 Grove Rd.
12. – Rawsonville School, 3110 Grove Rd.
13. – National Guard Armory, 7400 S. Huron River Dr.
14. – Ypsilanti Township Civic Center, 7200 S. Huron River Dr.
15. – Bethesda Bible Church, 1800 S. Huron St
16. – Bethesda Bible Church, 1800 S. Huron St
17. – Southside Bap. Tabernacle Church, 6710 Textile Rd.
18. – Southside Bap. Tabernacle Church, 6710 Textile Rd.
19. – Ypsilanti District Library, 5577 Whittaker Rd.
20. – Community Free Will Baptist Church 6945 McKean Rd.

Barton Hills Village

-Barton Hills Village Hall, 195 Barton Shore Dr.

Manchester Village

- Lower level "Village Room" of 912 City Road

Larry Kestenbaum is Washtenaw County Clerk and Register of Deeds.

Technorati Tags: election08, michigan, primary, vote

Ann Arbor Snow Removal Information

This is a copy of http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/fieldoperations/Pages/SnowRemoval.aspx as of December 2007, with markup and annotations noted.

The City of Ann Arbor performs a variety of street maintenance depending upon the amount of snow that falls. Generally, the categories are described as "light snow," "snow emergency." In addition, the city is dependent upon its citizens for sidewalk snow removal.

For up to date snow information please watch Cable Television Network (CTN) Channel 16.

Light Snow: Street Cleaning
When there is light snow or ice on road surfaces, the city's Public Services Department clears over 94 miles of high volume streets, bridges, intersections with stop signs or traffic signals, and streets with curves. De-icing materials are applied to provide better traction for vehicles to help prevent accidents at high-risk locations. The street clearing process takes about five hours and may be repeated as needed. After the major and high risk streets are cleared, city crews de-ice the local streets in the city, which requires ten to twelve hours.

Snow Emergencies
When a snowfall of four inches or more occurs, street snow plowing begins and the City Administrator may declare that a "snow emergency" is in effect. Plowing is done on all public streets and City-owned property; however, all schools and privately owned areas provide for their own de-icing and plowing. Citizens are advised to remove cars from curbside parking to allow for effective street plowing.

When a "snow emergency " is in effect, illegally parked vehicles may be ticketed and towed.

The City snow desk is staffed when a snow emergency is in effect. The snow desk tracks the location of plows throughout the City and provides information to the public about the plowing progress. You may reach the snow desk at 994-2359.

On days having odd-numbered dates, vehicles are prohibited from parking on the side of the street having even-numbered street addresses - in order to allow plows to clear the even-numbered side of the street. Parking is permitted on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses in legal spaces.

On days having even-numbered dates, vehicles are prohibited from parking on the street having odd-numbered street addresses - in order to allow plows to clear the odd-numbered side of the street. Parking is permitted on the side of the street with even-numbered addresses in legal spaces

Sidewalk Snow Removal Information
During the winter, the City provides residents with up to one, five-gallon bucket's worth of a sand and salt mixture, per visit to the maintenance yard, 721 N. Main, (734) 994-1617. Residents should bring their own shovel and bucket and self-load this material from the marked pile located next to the entrance gate. This material is intended for City residents only, and not for contractors, even if servicing sidewalks. The pure salt stored in the barn is restricted for City operations.

Technorati Tags: snow

Pedal powered washing machine

Homeless Dave has this video documenting his design, implementation, and real world daily use of a dual use pedal power system, with a pedal powered washing machine spinning clothes dry, and a separate belt going to a generator for electricity.

We talked on Teeter Talk back in September, and you'll catch a piece of the washing machine discussion there. Naturally there's a sticker.

go urgently, and find some mechanical engineer while you're at it who has powertrain or appliance experience to look at the design and source parts for an improved version.

Technorati Tags: pedalpower, laundry, teetertalk, homelessdave, specialized