Ann Arbor

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 is local election day in Ann Arbor. Six candidates are running for school board. Four of the five wards have contested elections. There are 3 proposals on the ballot. Proposal 3 taps into an issue A2Ethics.org is keenly interested in examining at the municipal government level: the elimination of conflicts of interest by city officers. 

Think about it. Voting is the most extreme sport there is. Hell, we do it in a gymnasium! Opposing teams go in with thousands of players, and fight for the ultimate championship. Why do you think they call it a 'race'?

It could be that whenever you learn  a Commission has been formed or is in charge of a political or social issue near and dear to you, that you resign yourself to thinking  that little will be learned and  nothing will get done. You might think that Commissions are places where issues and proposed policies that could affect change go to be filed away in giant archives, never to be heard of again. Until the next Commission on the same issue is revived again.

Our talk with City Council Member Christopher Taylor. After a mini-fracas involving emails and emoticons between Council Members, Taylor discusses with Bart and Jeanine how this small event speaks to the peaks and valleys of public service. Now that the dust has settled and the small matter seems to have blown over, the conversation turns to the role of the representative and his approach to ethical governance. This lively and fascinating discussion was recorded Thursday, July 2, 2009.
 

BY BARCODE 2x

No more local sports. No more obituaries. No more slant, no more spin. No more outsourced national news.

A broken connection in the community. No other tangible connection exists around here. Not like a daily paper. On paper.

The environmental movement and the collapse of the newspaper are two phenomena lining up together perfectly. Forests may be preserved.

A letter from Christopher Taylor to Ann Arbor News reporter Judy McGovern regarding "E-Gate" and the City Council's alleged emails conducted during a recent meeting:

BY MZ. MANNERS, JUNIOR ETHICIST AND UNDERGROUND REVOLUTIONARY

Well, it's come to this. At a recent City Council Meeting, it was discovered through shared emails that Ann Arbor City Council members were sending mocking emails to one another during and after the meeting. The comedy team of Christopher Taylor, Leigh Greden, and Carsten Hohnke were found mocking everything from environmental issues to arts funding.

The A2 News owner's decision to "close" and move the 174 year old newspaper to an online "outsourced" contractor was both expected and surprising. We have been out and about talking to our friends and other city and area residents. The News' news is very much on their minds. And they have posed a recycling bin's worth of questions with ethics connections.

Here are two of the questions:
1. What are the implications for civil society?
2. How ethical is internet media?

Please tell us your views on the ethics of this decision and its impact.

By BARCODE 2x

I was walking in, he was walking out. I headed for the Men's room, when I thought Man, I should go out there and ask for an autograph.

By MZ. MANNERS, CARD-CARRYING ETHICIST

It's not just a city beautification issue. It's a question of personal responsibility, people. Last year when Barcode was walking to work and kept encountering the same roadkill every time, it's kind of the same principle. If a shopping cart is left by a bus stop, whose responsibility is it? I'll tell you whose it ain't: it ain't mine.