The Changing Face Of Fifth Avenue

The City Place student apartments are taking shape along Fifth Avenue where seven historic homes stood until last fall. The project was at the center of intense controversy for years and Ann Arbor officials still are considering zoning ordinance changes to prevent another similar project from encroaching on another near-downtown neighborhood.

Something Old, Something New

A new student housing project rises above an old student rental house at the corner of Division and William streets on the southern edge of downtown Ann Arbor.

Knighted

AnnArbor.com's outgoing sports editor Jim Knight was remembered Tuesday night at Conor O'neill's with a spoof video produced by colleagues Kyle Feldscher, right, and Pete Cunningham, on screen. It was filled with friendly mockery of Knight, who has accepted a job as communications manager of the Human Resources Department at the University of Michigan.

Sequence Of Events

The Dog Show

Stan and his pit bull friend Penny Lane met at the Swift Run Dog Park in Ann Arbor in early February and they've been BFFs ever since. They really play well together and know each other's limits. They could tangle for hours on end, and that's just what they did Friday after I got off work and drove to Ypsilanti for a doggy play date at Riverside Park. Stan is totally an alpha male, by the way. He courageously picks on bigger dogs at the park and I overhear this comment a lot: "Man, that's one tough puppy!"

Streetlight People . . .

East Meets West

Student high-rises are the latest fad in downtown Ann Arbor, and they're quickly changing the skyline one by one. As you can see from this photo from my office at 301 E. Liberty St. looking east, there's room for even more density.

Take 2

The Doctor Will Now See You

Keith Lambert, co-owner of the OM of Medicine medical marijuana dispensary at 112 S. Main St. in downtown Ann Arbor, gave me a tour of his business today. As you can see, the place is nicely decorated. "We have patients and we have caregivers come in here," he said. "We give them a safe place where they can get together and we can basically, for lack of a better term, kind of exchange meds and things along those lines. We have voter initiative projects. We have live comedy shows once a month." The dispensary started in July 2010 in hopes of bringing cannabis-based medical products to those who need them. "This is a place that your mother can go to, your father can go to," Lambert said, "and in fact that they probably should go to because all the pharmaceuticals they've been hooked on are what's killing them." And no, I couldn't resist shamelessly snapping a self-portrait in their snazzy mirror.

Not A Party

Ann Arbor resident Lizzie Shubin and Ypsilanti business owner Erik Nowakowski encouraged passersby on Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor to vote for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Tuesday. Paul pulled 12.6 percent of the vote in Washtenaw County as Mitt Romney went on to win both the county and the state, followed second by Rick Santorum. Paul, who completed his medical residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit in 1962, has his Michigan campaign headquarters based on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. Shubin said a defeat in Michigan wouldn't get her down. "He definitely will be in it," she said. "We're going to keep going and keep fighting. The liberty movement doesn't stop with Ron Paul."

Riding The Rails

As many wait for officials to deliver on the promise of a true commuter rail service between Ann Arbor and Detroit, a handful of people already are making it work. Living proof that it's possible right now to commute by train between the two Southeast Michigan cities — albeit with a few limitations — is Detroit resident Chinyere Neale. Neale has been boarding passenger trains at the Amtrak station in Detroit each morning for nearly a decade to get to her job at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "There are several others who get on in Royal Oak, Detroit and Dearborn to work in Ann Arbor and the university," said Neale, who lives only a few minutes from the Detroit station. "We have endured the delays, suffered the cancellations, and mostly enjoyed great service." Read the story.

Decision Time

Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje is thinking about serving one more term before stepping down. Who could be Ann Arbor's next mayor in 2014? Three names come to mind. Read the story.

I Hate Everything About Them

Vintage Hollywood Take 3

This was the scene Friday night at the Michigan Theater during the third-annual Vintage Hollywood event. You know, just raising more money for the Neutral Zone in Ann Arbor and having a good time doing it.