Oh those Sliders

Well our Sliders have dropped below .500 with a 10 and 11 record.

But wait there is more news:
Crain’s Detroit Business is reporting that the Sliders ownership is going Public. It was my understanding that the new stadium in Waterford Township, where the Sliders will play next year, was under construction. It turns out that the organization wasn’t able to raise the funds to build the stadium through banks and is now looking for public investors. They are looking to get 5 million dollars by selling blocks of 100 shares for $1000.

What does this mean for Ypsilanti? If the Sliders don’t come up with the money to build a stadium will the Sliders stay in Ypsilanti?

The Sliders are on the road this week but will be back next week so reserve your tickets now. Remember you get in for a buck with your Big Three, or UAW badge.

Why is the Miss Ypsilanti Pageant in Belleville?

The Ann Arbor news had an article on the new Miss Ypsilanti Pageant which is to take place in Belleville.

I had heard that Downtown was working on getting this Pageant for part of the new Downtown Festivities which are going to happen during the Heritage Festival. I found out that wasn’t going to happen but how can someone have a Miss Ypsilanti Pageant in Belleville? Isn’t anything sacred anymore?

I think we should have our own Ypsilanti Pageant still. Who cares if it has anything to do with professional pageantry. We could have categories like; community involvement, quirky talent, ability to get along well with others, using Ypsitucky in a sentence etc. Maybe we should forget the Miss too and open it up to anyone who wants to participate. What should we call it? I’m putting this on the agenda of YpsiCAN, it will the first thing the organization can support.

Kurt

Luna Lake HoeDown summary

Yesterday, About 35 neighbors came together to work at Prospect Park to do the spring maintenance at Luna Lake. Luna Lake was once a beautiful garden and pond but deteriorated into a mucky water retention pond in the Spring and dried mess in the Summer. Last year the community pulled together to change the pond area into a rain garden.

The idea for the 1st Annual Luna Lake HoeDown was to get the neighborhoods together for a work day and then have a community event to follow. We started the organization only 2 weeks prior to the event but what we accomplished was fantastic. I think the concept will work perfectly in the future. Hopefully, each year we will draw more people and spread the work into other areas of the park.

Many of the people that showed up had other commitments during the day but took the hour or two they had to work. I believe there were about 10 people who worked almost the full day which started at 9am and ended at 6:30pm.

At one point we had a local boxer, who had been doing a work out in the park before being drafted to move compost, shoveling alongside a woman dressing in a full Cat-In-The-Hat outfit, while a 10 year old community member entertained us with his fiddle playing (This is why I love Ypsilanti).

We had volunteers from all 4 surrounding neighborhood associations, volunteers from 2 EMU student organizations, and we got our business support from Linda French and Sidetrack which saved the day by feeding the troops with Black Bean Burgers and Hamburgers. We had a neighbor drop by just to bring cookies and other folks looked in with interest. Our city council representatives, Robb and Murdock, both worked really hard to help this project come together.

I’m happy to say that what we accomplished on a small scale, getting every segment of the Ypsilanti community to come together, is an example of what the city can accomplish on a larger scale.

In true Ypsilanti fashion, we did ruffle the feathers of some that thought the concept and the project shouldn’t be done. While we were working our butts off these folks were boycotting the workday but I suspect many would not have helped anyway.

Next time you are out and about on the East Side check out the progress we are making in Prospect Park.

The next project is to mulch the playground area.

Luna Lake HoeDown 2009

Are you looking for a great way to spend June 13th?

How about joining your east side neighbors for the 1st annual Luna Lake HOEdown.

Last year, a group of volunteers cleared the Luna Lake site and planted native perennials, shrubs, and trees, creating a rain garden. Now it is time to do some maintenance work on this neighborhood gem. On June 13th we’ll e mulching, weeding, labeling plants, re-planting, etc. from about 9-3pm (with a break for lunch) and then partying from 3-5pm.

We are looking for volunteers, gardening equipment, food donations, and Black-Eyed Susans.

We are also looking for folks to come and entertain us. If you are in an acoustic band we would like to have you entertain us.

This event is organized by neighbors for neighbors so please come out and help if you can. Of course we do accept monetary donations too (the plants aren’t cheap).

Please print and pass out the attached flier.

Luna Lake Hoedown PDF

Sliders post-weekend Update

This was a great weekend of professional baseball here in Ypsilanti. I attended all 3 of the Sliders games against Windy City. The Sliders won the first game but lost the next two. Pitching finally showed up for both teams on Sunday and it was a very good game. The Sliders had one bad inning against the monsters from the windy city. All in all on Sunday they had a very good showing.

There were still very few fans showing up. I believe there were around 170 on Friday and Sunday and only about 125 showed up for Saturday’s game. WHERE ARE YOU PEOPLE?

I strongly recommend going to the games since they are a good time. The next game is Tuesday evening at 7:05pm.

The Midwest Sliders Home Opener 2009

It would seem that nobody knew about Midwest Sliders first game since not many people showed up. In a league where other teams are drawing 3000-5000 fans the Sliders drew 187 people.

I know there is no history and they are only here for one year but this was the home opener. The baseball quality was good and they seem like they are a team that will be fun to follow. The Sliders are in first place and they score a lot of runs.

I personally will be very happy using the tickets from my Flex Pack (12 games for $72.00) and I plan on being an avid Sliders fan but that seems to be me and about 100 other people.

My personal opinion is that the Sliders are just too expensive and they fail to realize it. You get a great seat at the Sliders for $8.00 which is the same price as Toledo and $3.00 more than the cheapest Tigers ticket. The big difference is that at both Toledo and Comerica you are walking into an event at the Sliders you are walking into a baseball game. When you add $2.50 each for a hot dog and pop you are looking at a pretty expensive day for a family of 4.

2X8.00 for adult tickets
2 x 7.00 for kid tickets
4 pops at 2.50
4 hot dogs at 2.50

That is $50.00 for a couple of hours of entertainment in an economy where $50.00 means a lot to many families.

Perhaps the Sliders need to show the people of Ypsilanti that they are different than EMU Eagles baseball which many of the folks around here have ignored for years.

I strongly encourage all that can to come out to a Sliders baseball game. The organization, the coaches and most of all the players deserve a little support.

Neighborhood Email, Friday May 8 2009

Hello Neighbors,

After a couple of weeks of not having much to talk about there are a bunch of things going on this week.

SUNDAY — Pick up trash in Prospect Park from 6-8pm. The four neighborhoods surrounding Prospect Park have started a clean-up effort. The PPNA’s official pick-up day is the 2nd Sunday of each month (this Sunday) bring your own trash bags and gloves. Of course you are more than welcome to join with other neighborhoods picking up trash any Sunday between 6-8pm. There are a lot of plans for Prospect Park including patrols by Volunteer Service Corps members (a volunteer safety patrol with police radios), Painting the pavilions, putting up signs, redoing the mulch on the playground, and a few other ideas. As soon and the bureaucracy is gotten through I’ll let you know when you can come help with the major projects.

Friday – 2nd Friday event downtown and Spark East open house — read more below.

Tuesday May 12
Crossroads Fundraiser: A Taste of the Americas � Wine Tasting: Featuring
fine wines from North and South America . 6-8:30 p.m. Appetizers
included. Sponsored by Haab�s Restaurant and Arbor Brewing. Hosted at
Haab�s Restaurant � 18 W. Michigan Ave. Tickets $25.

Thursday, May 14th from 12pm till 6pm
Spring Flower Sale Fundraiser
Boy Scout Troop 290 is having a flower sale to benefit Troop activities such
as camping, equipment, training, leadership skills, etc.
Visit us online at http://www.troop290.us
Where: The K-Mart parking lot on Washtenaw
Questions: Please call Deanna at: 734-485-4284 or email the Scoutmaster at scoutmaster@troop290.us

Ypsilanti goes national twice
If you didn’t see Jimmy Fallon’s late night report on Ypsilanti check it out on Mark Maynards Blog (keep in mind the facts are not right)
And in other news — Ypsilanti is mentioned in the New Elvis Costello Song (I believe he has his facts correct)
Here is the Ypsi verse:
The women in Poughkeepsie
Take their clothes off when they’re tipsy
But I hear in Ypsilanti
They don’t wear any panties
Once they gargle with the finest champagne
They hitch up their skirts and exclaim
It’s not very far, sugar
It’s not very far, sugar
Pour a little sugar on me, sugar
It’s not very far from Sulphur to Sugarcane

Time to join the 4 square society
Growing hope has started the ’4 square society’ as a way to track what people can grow in 4 square feet of space. If you are growing in your backyard please help them out. Find the information on the 4 square society here http://www.growinghope.net/foursquaresociety/index.shtml

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday May 8

SPARK-East Open House/ Downtown Retailers Second Friday Shopping Event �
The following stores will have extended hours and special discount coupons
for each may be picked up at the SPARK Open House:

Simply deVine Cards-N-Gift 126 West Michigan Avenue

Studio Glamour Fashions – 214 Michigan Avenue

Glemps Printing and Word Gifts � 133 W. Michigan , Suite C.

Ritas Designs � 8 W. Michigan Avenue

World of Rocks – 42 North Huron Street

The Rocket – 103 West Michigan Avenue

Bowerbird Mongo – 210 West Michigan Avenue

SPARK-East (215 W. Michigan) Ann Arbor SPARK, in collaboration with
Washtenaw County, Eastern Michigan University, the Eastern Leaders Group
and all Eastern Innovation Campus partners, will kick off a community-wide
business open house with the debut of SPARK East, the third business
incubator in SPARK’s Regional Incubator Network. SPARK East offers
affordable office space, and critical start-up services, to new
businesses.

Features a tour of the incubator, learn more about how Ann Arbor SPARK and
the Eastside Innovation Campus grows businesses in our region, and meet
entrepreneurs starting up and aiming for success.

Speakers include: The Honorable John D. Dingell, 15th Congressional
District , Dr. Susan Martin, President Eastern Michigan University, Robert
Guenzel, Washtenaw County Administrator, Ronnie Peterson, Washtenaw County
Commissioner, 6th District, Host: Michael A. Finney, President and CEO Ann
Arbor SPARK.

Capture the Trash Update

Saturday was a great day at Riverside Park. Amongst the dozens of people playing games and taking in the sunshine were about 40 volunteers who came to pick up the trash. The event started at 11:30am with a brief orientation and chit-chat. The group broke away into their self-designated teams and hit the hills from noon until 2pm. The hills of Riverside Park and Frog Island were full of eager trash-pickers and if you go down there you will certainly notice the difference. I don’t have the numbers from this years pick up but there was an awful lot of trash and recyclables removed from the park.

The interesting thing about the trash collection is that you can tell exactly what goes on in each area of the park. The surprising thing is that the ‘healthy’ people and the drug addicts are equally guilty when it comes to throwing trash.

Sadly, my team did not win this year although we had quite a few neighbors from the PPNA show up to lend support. We did collect the most bags of trash but they gave the win to another team that had the most weight of trash. We did win for our trash art which was entitled ‘Graduation Day.’

As a final point I’d like to thank all of the folks that put this event together including Aubrees which worked with the DTCDC and provided free pizza. I also want to thank all of the folks that showed up to pick up trash. Finally I want to ask, where were you? In a town our size with a large student population 40 folks is a pretty crappy turn out. Lets get some of that community spirit and help make the community a better place.

FYI- If we use drug paraphernalia and condoms as a guide, the drug addicts and prostitutes seem to hang out in the Frog Island parking lot especially behind the Recycle center, the dumpster coral, and behind the utility shed in Frog Island. The drinkers aren’t particular, all areas of the park are littered with liquor, wine, and beer bottles. It does seem, by the number of tiny liquor bottles, that many of the people that park on the gravel portion of the Frog Island lot are drinking at their lunch hours since they don’t have time for a 1/2 pint. Along the soccer field there were a lot of plastic water and sport drink bottles (need receptacle for recyclables since the trash can was full of plastic bottles).

Learning is a Family Thing

lift-flyer

Fun for the whole family!

Sponsored by the Washtenaw County Literacy Coalition, the “Learning is a Family Thing” (LIFT) Program is a series of four interactive sessions designed to enhance family, health, financial, and workplace literacy skills for everyone in the family!

The four sessions will address:

Reading Together: Reading as a family; using effective communication skills and study techniques.

Healthy Families: Keeping your family healthy through nutrition, exercise, and education.

Dollars and Sense: Credit management, budgeting, and financial smarts for all ages.

Workplace Skills: Using computers, protecting your employment, and finding the right career for you.

Activities for all ages! Prizes, raffles, giveaways! Snacks and drinks provided!

Cost: Absolutely nothing! It is free!

Ann Arbor District Library

343 S. Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI

Reading Together: 4/19/09, 2-4pm

Healthy Families: 5/17/09, 2-4pm

Dollars and Sense: 6/7/09, 2-4pm

Workplace Skills: 7/19/09, 2-4pm

Community Church of God

565 Jefferson St., Ypsilanti, MI

Healthy Families: 4/28/09, 6-8pm

Reading Together: 5/26/09, 6-8pm

Dollars and Sense: 6/23/09, 6–8pm

Workplace Skills: 7/28/09, 6-8pm

Faith in Action

603 S. Main St., Chelsea, MI

Workplace Skills: 4/15/09, 7-9pm

Dollars and Sense: 5/20/09, 7-9pm

Healthy Families: 6/17/09, 7-9pm

Reading Together: 7/15/09, 7-9pm

Jewish Family Services

2245 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI

Dollars and Sense: 4/8/09, 10am-12pm

Reading Together: 5/6/09, 10am-12pm

Workplace Skills: 6/3/09, 10am-12pm

Healthy Families: 7/1/09, 10am-12pm

Ypsilanti District Library

5577 Whittaker Rd., Ypsilanti, MI

Workplace Skills: 5/4/09, 6:30-8:30pm

Healthy Families: 6/8/09, 6:30-8:30pm

Reading Together: 6/29/09, 6:30-8:30pm

Dollars and Sense: 7/13/09, 6:30-8:30pm

See attached for more information. Please distribute widely.

Capture the Trash Tomorrow at 11:30am

The Details:
Capture the Trash
Riverside Park — Orientation and refreshments at 11:30am
Trash pick-up — Noon till 3pm
Date — Saturday, 4-18-09

Trash Bags provided
Gloves and old clothes are recommended

Join neighbors and students at Riverside Park to pick up trash. Once
Riverside and Frog Island parks are cleared of trash, groups will be
dispersed to clean up other parts of the city. Last year’s event was a
great success, with a lot of trash being cleared from the parks, the Maple
street parking lot, and the Frog Island parking lot.

It would be great to see a bigger community involvement this year,
however, as volunteers last year consisted mainly of EMU students. We
hope many more residents will come out for a few hours this Saturday to
show their support of the parks! For fun, the event is organized as a
team competition, but you don’t have to be on a team to participate. The
winning team last year,’Team Smoot,’ only had two full-time participants,
who managed to gather no fewer than 23 bags of trash. Awards will be
presented for the trashiest team, the muddiest group, the most unique
piece found, and the most trash collected. The awards are very nice, but
clean parks are the big trophy, and one we can all share.

Hope to see you there,
Kurt Anschuetz
Prospect Park Neighborhood Association