Vacuum - Edward Vielmetti in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Eulogy for Alfio (Auch) Vielmetti

My cousin Zorba wrote a eulogy for my great uncle Auch, who died last week at the age of 96. The whole thing is a bit too much to share right now, but there was one paragraph that really spoke to me about the sort of family I come from (and perhaps some insight into who I am)

In his later years Auch did a lot of walking. I mean a LOT of walking, some of it right below us when the weather was bad, and I am convinced that his amblings had a lot to do with the length of his stay with us. He walked every day to the library to read the [Wall Street Journal], he walked to the stores and the bowling alley, and also, You see, on a lot of his walks, he went to sundry houses and visited the sick and the infirm- just a stop in to see how they were doing- and to cheer them up he said. Now if he was on tear about the city council, I’m not certain how cheery it was, but you get the idea.

It's late now, and the weather is bad, but I'm inspired to go out for a walk.

Technorati Tags: walk, walking

Ann Arbor sign ordinances

If your neighbor erects a giant sign on their lawn, or on the side of their house, what is your recourse?

UPDATE: In Ann Arbor the simple and direct way to deal with this is to call the city's Community Standards department at 734-994-1613. A neighbor who has been through this before says that they deal with sign problems promptly.

The appropriate part of the city code reads as follows. NOTE: This is not the official city code site! Find it and read it before complaining.

- PDF from the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors:

5:504. Residence signs.

(1) Single and 2-family houses. Townhouses and detached single-family and duplex
houses are permitted signs having a total area of 3 square feet indicating the address and
names of the occupants.
(2) Multiple family residences. Apartment houses, fraternity houses, sorority houses,
cooperative houses, retirement homes, tourist homes and religious institutions are
permitted signs having a total area of 12 square feet indicating only the address, the
names of the occupants and the name of the building or organization.
(3) Subdivisions. Subdivisions of single and 2-family homes and housing complexes of
more than 1 apartment or town house building are permitted signs identifying the
subdivisions or housing complex. Such signs shall have an area of not more than 50
square feet and a height of not more than 8 feet. A subdivision or housing complex shall
not have a total of more than 2 such signs nor more than 1 per entrance.
(Ord. No. 55-74, 6-9-75; Ord. No. 33-82, 8-2-82)

5:505 Temporary signs.

Unilluminated on-premises temporary exterior signs may be erected in accordance with
the regulations of this section.
(1) Single and Two-Family Real Estate--For Sale Signs.
(a) A single sign with a maximum height of 48 inches and a maximum width of 36
inches, including the support structure and all riders, and with the bottom of the sign a
minimum of 6 inches from the ground, advertising the sale of a single or two-family
house or variant property adjacent to such a house is permitted.
(b) Such a sign shall be set back at least 15 feet from the street and at least 5 feet from
the inside edge of the sidewalk, or in accordance with Table 5:505 when conditions do
not permit such placement. Provided, that if a legally existing obstruction on the property
prevents the sign from being seen from the street when the sign is placed in accordance
with the foregoing placement requirements, then the sign may be affixed to or placed
immediately in front of such obstruction, so long as the display face of the sign is parallel
to the right-of-way line, and so long as the sign is not placed within the public right-of-
way.
(c) A sign advertising the sale of a property must be removed within 48 hours after the
closing on the sale.
(2) Single and Two-Family Real Estate--Rental Signs.
(a) A single sign with a maximum height of 48 inches and a maximum width of 36
inches, including the support structure and all riders, and with the bottom of the sign a
minimum of 6 inches from the ground, advertising the rental of a single or two-family
house or variant property adjacent to such a house is permitted.
(b) Such sign shall be set back at least 15 feet from the street and at least 5 feet from
the inside edge of the sidewalk, or in accordance with Table 5:505 when conditions do
not permit such placement. Provided, that if a legally existing obstruction on the property
prevents the sign from being seen from the street when the sign is placed in accordance
with the foregoing placement requirements, then the sign may be affixed to or placed
immediately in front of such obstruction, so long as the display face of the sign is parallel
to the right-of-way line, and so long as the sign is not placed within the public right-of-
way.
(c) A sign advertising the rental of a property must be removed within 48 hours after
the property is no longer available for rent.
(3) Real Estate. A sign with a total area not in excess of 12 square feet advertising the
sale or rental of real estate other than single or two-family houses is permitted pursuant to
a permit having a maximum duration of 120 days. It shall have a maximum height of 10
feet and shall be set back 25 feet unless attached to a permanent building.

The sign board of appeals home page:

Brenda Acquaviva, Appeal Board Administrative Support Specialist
(734) 994-2696 - Bacquaviva@a2gov.org

there's lots of broken links on that page.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, good-signs-make-good-neighbors, semiotics, sign

Chicken coops in Ann Arbor

from UPI in their "quirks" section:

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Officials in Ann Arbor, Mich., are working on a plan to allow residents of the college town to set up their own chicken coops.

City Councilman Stephen Kunselman told his colleagues during the weekend there is support among residents who like the idea of having access to "farm fresh" eggs, which some foodies consider to be tastier and healthier than the store-bought variety.

To the reader: a challenge to update the chicken coops page on Arborwiki, noting the urban history of residential avian husbandry, and to document in particular the tipping point at which eggs from your back yard went from being a sign of prosperity to something else.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, michigan, chicken

Neighborhood resources vs. cash resources

I've had good experiences with sharing of surplus resources at a neighborhood level. The folks on my block regularly borrow ladders, save up canning jars, pick each others surplus tomatoes, take care of cats etc as needed. Sometimes token amounts of cash change hands - mostly to pay kids - but often not.

I look at the kinds of businesses and business plans aimed at monetizing neighborliness with a bit of skepticism. You need only look at vast empty wastelands like NeighborhoodLink to see how grim things can look if you only believe what the people with a vested interest (real estate agents) have in providing local information.

There are multiple reasonable goals for neighborhood infrastructure. One is to use the exchange of small tokens of low value but useful stuff as a way of maintaining sociability and making sure that things don't go undone just because something is needed that is
readily available. A second, perhaps just as valuable, is to identify systematically how you could cooperate to generate something of substantial value - be that good real estate values, some kind of business opportunity, or some other cash equivalent.

In many ways, cash is the enemy of community and sociability at this level. Consider the set of people who would be happy to cook you a meal when you're in need of help; the fact that they can deliver a hot meal for your family is worth way more than whatever the nominal cash equivalent of that meal is. What dollar value do you place on having good neighbors? Is that even the right measure?

Deciding where to live is a big part of living.

Remembering Shakey Jake - memorial Sunday 1pm, Muehlig Funeral Chapel

Video by Jo Mathis of the Ann Arbor News.

Services for Shakey Jake via WAAM Talk Radio 1600
A memorial for “Shakey Jake” Woods is set for Sunday at 1:00 pm. The Service will be held at Muehlig Funeral Chapel on South Fourth Avenue. A staple of the downtown area for three decades, Shakey Jake and his rhythmic musings became part of the fabric of Ann Arbor. Once described as “an ever-vigilant presence along the main thoroughfares of the city.” Shakey Jake was born Jake Woods in Arkansas in 1925. He always had a smile and a set of shades to go along with hat and guitar. In a 1999 article in the Ann Arbor News, Shakey Jake described Ann Arbor as “nothing but a playhouse for me.” Jake was 82 when he died Sunday evening about 7:30pm. He will be missed.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, jake-woods, michigan, shakey-jake, shaky-jake

Ann Arbor water bill usage online

Thanks to Spencer Thomas for forwarding this along:

Ann Arbor, MI Now Allows Customers to Track Water Usage Online

7/17/2007

The City of Ann Arbor, MI now provides water utility customers with real-time, customer specific usage data and bill statement summaries on the city’s Internet site at www.a2gov.org under the “My Property” link. The city is among the first water utilities in the country to offer customers online access to their water use data. This information can help customers identify patterns in water usage and take steps to reduce unnecessary water waste and costs.

For more information, contact Wendy Welser, Customer Service Center Manager at (734) 994-2357; or Dan Rainey, Information Technology Director (734) 994-2794.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, water, meter, telemetry, utlities, michigan, go-blue, beat-oregon, michigan-who

Mondo Concreto

This video is making the email rounds in town; if you're not part of that world, you'll find this amusing. "Join the thousands of people racing from the suburbs to purchase a Mondo Concreto condo." Says one viewer: "lmao". Another: "really, really bad".

Technorati Tags: 2007, 48104, mondo, concreto, condo, development, annarbor, video

Who do i call to report noise pollution in Ann Arbor, Michigan?

The Ann Arbor city noise ordinance is part of the city code. You can find the Ann Arbor city code online (you'd be looking for chapter 119, NOISE CONTROL), or you can find the relevant parts of the city noise ordinance on Goodspeed Update.

If you need a noise permit in Ann Arbor, fill out this form (pdf). It will need to be approved by the Ann Arbor Police Department and by the City Clerk's office. You need 5 days notice and a $7.50 permit fee.

There's a recent post on Ron Suarez's blog noting loopholes in the city noise ordinance regarding commerical lawn care services.

The loophole concerns an exception to the Ordinance allowing lawn services to operate in residential neighborhoods at a very loud noise level (up to 90 decibels). The specific section in the Ordinance is Chap. 119, Sec. 9:364-365. This allowable noise level is louder than the noise from the average factory (75 decibels) and nearly as loud as that in the front row seats of a rock concert (110 decibels).

City Council regularly hears requests to change or modify the noise ordinance. The marching band was the target of a 2003 complaint:

After several years of waking to the music, Van't Hul requested Tuesday that the Ann Arbor City Council change the city's noise ordinance law so that loud public music can only be played after 9 a.m, extending the current law by two hours. This would force the marching band to change its practice schedule.

"Nothing the University has done is illegal," said Van't Hul. But he added that the noise is a problem that could be changed quickly. "All it is, is just postponing (the marching band's) drums for a few hours. That's all. There's a lot of working people in Ann Arbor who need to get some sleep."

Enforcement of the noise ordinance is done by the city police. Here's a 2006 fall party season account of enforcement (Michigan Daily)

Police may issue noise violations after 11 p.m. if any noise can be heard beyond the property line.

Dresleski said officers rarely show up at house parties unless the department receives a neighbor's noise complaint.

"We don't care if you party all night unless it interferes with others' rights to peace and quiet," said Dresleski.

The Ann Arbor police now chart noise violations by address - instead of by person receiving the violation - and the price of the ticket goes up with each offense.

(inspired by a query that came to my blog; my neighbors are for the most part quiet enough, and if there's any loud noises at 11pm from my house it's from my two year old crying)

Technorati Tags: annarbor, NOISE, a-little-bit-louder-now, a-little-bit-softer-now

Coworking in the 80s at Zingerman's Next Door

Friday mornings is coworking time at Zingerman's Next Door. Today Catherine Juon, Laura Fisher, Dan Cooney and I sat down and caught up with each other, talked Wordpress, looked at the fonts on Safari for Windows, deleted email, discussed where to go for local vacations that still gave you a sense of wonder at the world around you, contemplated short Amtrak trips, compared notes on time tracking systems and had the appropriate mix of getting things done and figuring out what needs to get done later.

The upstairs area is great coworking space in the morning - there were lots of tables free, the wifi is good and there's plenty of power. Noticable however was the music: an 80s mix that had all of us flashing back to high school.

For your listening pleasure, here's KLOL's "I can has 80s music" morning coworking mix:

Deniece Williams, "Let's hear it for the boy"
Jefferson Starship, "We built this city on rock and roll"
J Geils Band "Freeze Frame"
Michael Jackson "Thriller"
Pointer Sisters "Automatic"

Heidi Hansen notes the 80s Hits channel on Rhapsody as a good approximation.

For more of your Ann Arbor coworking needs, see the microcoworking site with a local calendar of events, times, and places.

Technorati Tags: 80s, annarbor, coworking, zingermans

FestiFools @ Sweetwaters / Myra Klarman + Amy Palomar / through May 6, 2007

The Street Theater Art Project and Sweetwaters sponsored Myra Klarman to photograph the recent FestiFools Parade, including the puppet fabrication processes. Klarman noticed Amy Palomar's images on flickr, and invited her to contribute to the exhibit. A total of 53 images of the parade are on display through May 6.

Sweetwaters
123 W. Washington
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (map)

The best time to visit the show is on weekdays at lunchtime, when the café is least busy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Myra Klarman Photography
http://myraklarman.com
734.330.1251

Technorati Tags: annarbor, database, festifools, mmorpg, murn, myraklarman, photography