Ann Arbor News - Plans to Redevelop Quality 16

Morning, Ann Arbor! Quick reminder that the first Sonic Lunch concert of the summer is this afternoon. Moving forward, I’ll include a feature every Thursday on that day’s Sonic Lunch musician.

Stick around, we’ve got a story about a stray cow that was lassoed on a highway outside of Detroit.

Read Time: 3 minutes

Reader Count: 601 townies

Percent of Ann Arbor Reading: 0.501%

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ANN ARBORITES SHOULD KNOW

🎥 Quality 16’s Vacant Lot: Plans to redevelop the vacant Quality 16 movie theater lot inched forward last month when the Scio Township Planning Commission approved an expanded list of property uses for the space. Previously only zoned to be a movie theater, the revision opens the door for the lot to be developed into one of the following:

• Multi-family apartment building

• Medical office/dental office

• Office/technology space

• Mixed-use building including some combination of retail establishments, grocery stores, restaurants, and bars

While no plans have been selected yet, any redevelopment would likely include demoing the existing theater building.

💰 Ann Arbor’s 2023 - 2024 Budget: City Council voted unanimously to approve Ann Arbor’s $565 million city budget ahead of July 1’s fiscal year start. The approved budget includes new funding to help marginalized and vulnerable residents, create more affordable housing, enhance climate action, and further invest in city infrastructure. The budget is a 7% increase from 2022 - 2023’s $526 million budget and a 20% increase from 2021 - 2022’s $470 million budget.

🏈 Shemy Schembechler: A week after being hired as Michigan football’s assistant director of recruiting, Glenn “Shemy” Schembechler III, the son of the late football head coach Bo Schembechler, has resigned. Public outrage erupted when it came to light that Shemy’s Twitter account had “liked” tweets promoting the benefits of Jim Crow laws for Black Americans, mocking Joe Biden, and downplaying the January 6th Capitol riots.

🌙 Football Night Game Drama: Michigan and other Big Ten schools are pushing back on a clause in the conference’s new media rights deal that would require the conference to play weekly night games. Historically, Big Ten football games have never been played at night after week 10 (about the first week in November). If weekly night games are required, Michigan could be forced to play some brutally cold games under the lights.

🎸 Today’s Sonic Lunch Concert: Melt

• Listen: Spotify or Apple Music

• Style: Psychedelic, Pop, Ethereal

• Top Song: “Sour Candy” with 9.6 million plays

• Popularity: 140,000 monthly Spotify listeners

• Today’s Concert: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm on the corner of Liberty and Division in downtown Ann Arbor

MICHIGANDERS SHOULD KNOW

🫀 Organ Donors Needed: Despite 2,400 Michigan adults on organ waiting lists, the state’s donor list is growing at its slowest pace on record. In an effort to combat the slow growth, a House bill has been passed that would allow Michiganders to join the organ registry list while filing their state taxes. If signed into law, the bill would be the first of its kind in the country.

🩺 Homeless Youth Healthcare: Under a newly proposed package of House bills, homeless or runaway youth between the ages of 16 - 21 could receive medical, dental, or behavioral care without parental consent. The bills would not cover youths in the foster care system and the bills would not provide access to abortion care.

🚩 New “Red Flag” Law: For the third time this year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a new gun control bill into law. Under the new “red flag” law, courts can temporarily seize firearms of a person deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Michigan is the 21st state to adopt such a law. The law is expected to go into effect early next year.

📈 Economy Check-In: Forecasters are “cautiously optimistic” Michigan’s economy will perform well in coming years despite uncertainty for the national economy. Propelled by blue-collar industries like manufacturing, the state economy could benefit from a backlog of demand for microchips and other automotive parts. However, the state’s declining population trend remains worrisome.

ON THE MARKET

3 Bed | 1 Bath | 1,141 Sqft | $199,000

3 Bed | 2 Bath | 1,462 Sqft | $445,000

7 Bed | 6 Bath | 4,961 Sqft | $2,890,000

That's all for now! Next Michigander comes out Monday.

- Andrew

P. S. - If you like what you read, subscribe to get the Michigander emailed to you every Monday and Thursday.

P. P. S. - State Police recorded a runaway cow being lassoed on I-75. Skip ahead to 1:15 for the action.