Welcome back everyone. Hello new readers:

Thanks for reading #eastannarbor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts, support our work.

Return of the son of “primary-voting-primer-mechanics” REVISITED

This week, on Tuesday August 2 Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor voters have a deadline by 8pm to get their votes in respective primary races and ballot measures. See previous ON entry from 7/17 for details on elections mechanics and how to vote

AAATA MILLAGE

Residents, registered voters in Ypsilanti, Ypsi Township and Ann Arbor are being asked to agree to an increase in the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority [AAATA] millage for their respective municipalities. Here’s info about the proposal and its implications for the region. We here at EAA fully support a yes vote for these important mass transit resources. It makes sense to do so given the impending changes to come to Ann Arbor’s new TC1-zoned districts.

What do you think?

The limitations of two-machine local politics [It’s the inequity, stupid]

Ann Arbor voters will essentially be choosing the next mayor during the local Democratic Party primary on Aug 2 [HOW TO VOTE].

We hear a lot of talk about there being a machine on one side of the Democratic Party in Ann Arbor. Alternatively, we continue to see coverage on Mlive and other local news/blog sites which reifies this two-faction division. Both sides claim to have made policy strides to address the gross inequity in access to critical life-sustaining resources like housing, jobs with adequate pay and transportation. But the disparities persist and some of the remedies [housing millage, unarmed crisis response e.g.] do not go far enough to eliminate those inequities.

Both sides reify failing police and [criminal] justice institutions, while paying lip service to the creation of an oversight commission that has very limited oversight powers.

No movement on municipal reparations is simply unacceptable if we claim to be about addressing the racial and class disparities in our city, our region.

None of the above [or below] for mayor of Ann Arbor in 2022.

Behind the curtain: Follow the money

Want to create your own conspiracy theory about who is funding the two major mayoral candidates and speculate as to why?

Go here for Christopher Taylor and here for Anne Bannister.

Independent candidate for mayor Eric Lipson will appear on the ballot in November and as yet has no statement of donations posted to his county campaign finance reporting profile.

One conclusion is that the baseless claims of Taylor having a “political machine” are belied, in part, by the numerous small and individual donations to his campaign.

Another thing that was odd to witness was this piece in Ms Bannister’s report:

The odd piece about this is Ms Bannister’s oft-cited claim of commitment to transparency. This entry goes against that ethos. Who is “Household Words”? Anyone know? We have no idea.

Here are Simon’s takes on this year’s Ann Arbor mayoral contest:

At once. But then also…

What do you think?

We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.™

See you next week with another Outreach Notebook