Political Pączki

[_earthshine_]

It's Fat Tuesday, and what better way to digest my lard-laden strawberry delight than with a quick public 2¢ on a few political issues -- one local, one national.

In Local News...

I heard today through friends' blogs and aaio's post that after nearly a decade of growth and success in downtown A², Leopold Bros. brewpub is skipping town and resetting

Comments

[logangrey]

What alternative do you propose to free market economy for rent determination?
I'll bet the rent is cheaper than downtown Manhattan. How do you deal with increasing costs as a village slowly transitions to a city? It's kind of a fact of life. How do you stop it? As demand increases, if you implement rent control, then you get venues occupied by squatters rights or other political decisions, and who knows who, rather than freedom of choice. People vote with their dollars, sometimes that's better than having no vote and having the government decide what where they're allowed to get plastered.

Good point nationally- I'm with you! :-)

[mrgeddylee]

I think the best way to save Ann Arbor is to petition the state government to take it over directly. It's the only way to end the town vs gown conflict and get unified oversight of the U and the town.

[captainblack]

Ya know? I could get behind some kind of initiative to save the last cool place to live in the Midwest besides Madison, WI and Chicago.

Do you know anyone with the kind of energy and organizational skills it would take to spearhead a movement like this?

I know that I won't be able to devote much time or energy toward it... but I could devote a little. A crucial little. More than people are doing now, if you know what I mean. A hundred people like me could do a lot of good.

We just need to find a few of those odd folks whose jobs don't tire them out and who have seemingly boundless free time.

We need some fanatics, or at least pragmatic enthusiasts.

[_earthshine_]

I've always found mrgeddylee's idea intriguing, but disentrenching Ann Arbor's politics from the locals would be a horribly bloody war -- and of course the local politicians would rally the locals to their cause fairly successfully by appealing to the "grass roots" Ann Arbor reputation that -- ironically -- they squelch on a daily basis.

[multiplexer]

I would like to point out my Hail to the Beef! LJ icon -- which I have had long before Obama-Mania really took off!

If he wins well today, or even takes his half of the delegates, I am so buying Obama loot off his website to contribute to his campaign.

[_earthshine_]

Acknowledged, Mux... and y'know, for better or worse, every time Obama came up over the past eight months the first thing i thought of was that icon...

[captainblack]

So, is a music & coffee shop less lucrative and therefore less able to pay Ann Arbor land-leeches exorbitant cocaine addiction induced grossly inflated rents, as opposed to say, a high fashion crap store for Birmingham matrons who want to dress like spotless-SUV-driving idiots from Tribeca?

[_earthshine_]

I think so. Especially if the music is live. No one pays for that crap.

[mrgeddylee]

I stopped caring what happened to Leopold Bros when they stopped having North shows.

[_earthshine_]

There's another typical A² story...

"[Todd Leopold:] We started out having live music on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We started getting complaints. We stopped doing it on Wednesdays and tried just Saturdays. The complaints continued. We decided it was too loud. We had The Gourds come in, Andrew Bird came in. There's another political game. Trying to get these bands to come down to your place when you're not a part of Clear Channel is an interesting adventure. We just decided it just wasn't worth it. You can't have a regional indie act--Postal Service, or whoever it is you want to have come in--have to shut down because the cops are there, so ...

"[Homeless Dave (Interviewer):] ... oh, so you're saying you wouldn't want to risk having a nationally known act have to pull the plug because of a noise complaint.

"TL: Right. So we decided to be good neighbors. We put a little ad in Current saying, We're done, thanks! It really was too loud, and the neighbors were pretty cool about it."

(from an online interviewTodd is awfully forgiving

Grumpy Cat's two cents

[captainblack]

If you want to live in "the city", you have to live a city life. You shouldn't be able to get the prestige and convenience of one without the other, at least not in a place that's supposed to be as cultured as Ann Arbor.

That's for damn straight. These pansies that live in downtown Ann Arbor aren't city people. They're burgermeisters who drive up the rents so that real city people can't afford to live there. The neighborhood becomes a nursery for whiny yuppies too timid to live the life they are trying to buy.

Re: Grumpy Cat's two cents

[_earthshine_]

Wow -- way to say it straight, Cap'n! I say a-men, brutha!

[_earthshine_]

1) I've never heard it put this well, but i'm 100% with you on this. The concept of the free market is sold to us as an "anyone can win" "level playing field" world of golden opportunity, but this is a sales pitch. Just like a casino, our structures have evolved to insure the house always wins by selling the idea that we can win, and by allowing a few of us to actually do so. I believe in the entrepreneurial spirit, in the small business, and even (in certain contexts) in the efficiency and industry of larger ones; i wouldn't call myself a socialist or communist any more than i would a capitalist -- but systems evolve within their environment, and as they acquire the ability to do so, they change that environment to support their ability to thrive. Freedom is not guaranteed simply via a lack of certain rules -- economic or otherwise.

2) I agree with what you say here, too, but it makes clear that i need to clarify my position. National politics do, of course, matter. What i feel is ridiculously oversold and nigh-unto-tragically