house

Proposal A may confuse and confound us in new ways this year as local governments wrestle with changes in assessed and taxable value. The City of Ann Arbor has a press release that explains the process and provides helpful examples for homeowners. The City Assessor's web page has an FAQ and Online Assessment and Property Tax Database where you can look up info on your property.

The R-word - recession, that is - has been bantered about a lot more recently. With job losses, a pitiful housing market, and the subprime mortgage crisis, its prominence isn't overly surprising, nor is politicians' desire for a bit of economic development. It also is not surprising that people aren't really in a spending mood right now, which further risks bringing about the R-word. In hopes staving off said recession, the House has passed a "stimulus package" that could result in a $600 check appearing in your mailbox. Providing that the Senate agrees, that is.

A $600 check does sound mighty nice. But the question is, will you spend it? The "stimulus" part of the economic stimulus depends on us going right out and buying that new ipod or laptop. Of course, with the economy as rotten as it is, some might want to save it for a rainy day.

So, what if you got a big, fat $600 check in the mail? Would you save it? Spend it? If so, on what? Let's see if Congress' plan is really going to work.

If you check out Amazon's business bestseller page, you'll spot an as-yet-unpublished volume on the so-called fair tax leading the pack. Even if you're not a tax policy wonk, you may have heard the term. And you likely heard it from Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee, who wants to implement such a plan.

Fair tax proponents want to eliminate the IRS and the income tax. They want to replace them with a nationwide sales tax of about 23%. The advantages of the tax, supporters say, is that it's much simpler and won't discourage saving. Not so fast, say critics. The less fortunate among us spend more of our income, so the tax ends up being regressive, even if you include rebates for the poor. Still, with tax season in full swing, many Americans may invite a simpler tax system, even if it's not quite perfect.

Want to learn more? Boortz & Linder, authors of the new book, have delved into this topic before. You can check out their first book from us!

street corner

There are a lot of factors that make a city cool and pedestrian-friendly streets and neighborhoods is one of them. The public is invited to the City of Ann Arbor's annual Traffic Calming Informational Session on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. Engineers, police and traffic consultants will be on hand to discuss the city's 10-step process to initiate traffic-calming procedures on streets in Tree Town. You can review the Traffic Calming Guidebook online or at the Downtown Branch Library.

johnallen

"The question of street repairs and improvements will always be with you and cannot be too thoroughly studied." So said the Mayor of Ann Arbor. No, not Mayor Hieftje in 2008, but Mayor Francis M. Hamilton in 1905. The collection of Council Minutes and Proceedings of the City of Ann Arbor in the Local History Room at the Downtown Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library provides ample proof that elected officials may come and go (and come again) but the issues, concerns and downright quirkiness of Tree Town remain constant.

Come to think of it : notes on the end of the millennium

Daniel Schorr, an institution at CBS for decades and a twenty-year mainstay of NPR joined Diane Rehm 12-13-07 on her radio show to talk about his life in journalism and the state of politics in America today and his recently released book "Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium"

ctnlogo

On Jan. 15, 2008, Comcast will move the four Ann Arbor CTN Community Access channels to digital service only stations. This will require all viewers accessing CTN to watch city council meetings as well as school and community programming to have a digital convertor box. CTN's press release gives full details on the changes and their response to the decision by Comcast.

golf

Golf Convergence, Inc. has been conducting a comprehensive analysis of the status and future of golf in the city of Ann Arbor and their Golf Report is now available online, at City Hall, and the 2nd floor of the Downtown Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. Golf Convergence will make a formal presentation on the report at a special Park Advisory Commission (PAC) meeting at 5:30 p.m. tonight, Nov. 27th, in Council Chambers in the Guy C. Larcom Municipal Building. This presentation will be televised on CTN.

leafbag

Another excuse not to rake leaves is no more. The City of Ann Arbor has extended leaf collection through Friday, December 14th. Seems the warmer than usual autumn weather has fooled the trees and we'll now have plenty of time to get those beauties in the bags and to the curb.

trash can

Trash collection in Ann Arbor will not be affected by Veteran's Day, Monday, November 12. So put your cans and recycle bins out on your regular pickup day. There are still a few more leaf collection weeks left to finish up with yard clean up too.