tree town

My high school classmate Walt, a lifelong Vicksburger, sent me this video about Ann Arbor (1), asking me if this was False or Russian disinformation.  I reviewed the 11-minute video, which I mostly liked.  Always interesting to get an outsider’s perspective on your hometown. 

My response: Thanks Walt.  I really enjoyed watching that.  Guess the $125K I plunked down for my little brick ranch high atop the Defiance moraine in 1985 was a pretty good investment.

Mr. Wolfert does puff things up a bit.  We do have a lot of restaurants, but they are mostly mediocre.  A few ethnic spots are pretty good.  Availability of good food to take home and cook – from the twice weekly farmers’ market in season, independent small grocers like the co-op and Argus, direct purchases from local farmers, really good big but small grocers like Plum Market and Busch’s (across the street from each other in my neighborhood), and many, many little ethnic groceries – is ample.  And if you can’t rustle up an appetite, there’s a pot shop on every corner.  Two within 4 blocks of my house.  He said nothing about the excellent bus service, provided both by the University and by Ann Arbor Transportation Association.  He seemed to say biking was fun and available. Hardly.  Drivers are out to kill cyclists and succeed a couple times a year.  The insane city designers of bike lanes seemed determined to maximize those chances.

He gave short shrift to the cost side.  He mentioned the booming housing market, but neglected what that means in cost of housing and ridiculous rents.  Most of the students these days come from rich families, who either buy their kids a condo or just fork over the high rents, driving up the costs still further.  And the property taxes, oh my!  There’s a reason many U employees live just across the border in Saline or Dexter, or go slumming in Ypsilanti.

He didn’t touch on politics.  City gov’t is composed of hard lefties, reflecting the electorate. Mask wearers abound.  There are way more BLM and rainbow flags flying than Old Glory, which flies at my house.

There are still some real Ann Arborites – who call themselves Townies – who don’t much like all these monied out of towners coming in and driving up the cost of everything.  The litmus test for identifying a Townie is the elementary school they went to.  So, alas, even though I identify as a Townie, having lived here for all but 8 of the last 53 years come September, my first AA school was the U, making me forever an outsider.  So, while I have my issues with Tree Town, Kathy and I pretty much love it here and will be here for the duration.  Fortunately, we both love winter and are satisfied with our week or two in Florida each year.

And as always, we get to say Go Blue!

Reference

1. Paul Wolfert.  Why EVERYONE LOVES Living in Ann Arbor Michigan.  YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUrouhq-kgU

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