I’ve been nominated by the mayor to serve on Ann Arbor’s “Cool Cities Task Force,” according to the “current packet” available on the city’s website. The other nominees are Eugene Yue-Hin Chan, an LSA student and a native of Canada who lives in West Quad, Brandt Coultas, who works for SNRE, engineering student Melissa Schulte, and Maureen English, who I couldn’t find in the directory. I’m not sure who else is on the task force, or whether the nominations are approved, but membership was supposed to include: “one Pfizer employee, two University students, one artist, two downtown residents or businesspeople and three at-large residents.” While I have some ideas how Ann Arbor could be more “cool” (affordable housing, better regional transit, more local businesses, smart growth … how cool are these?!), I plan on encouraging the task force to hold a series of public meetings to gather ideas from various communities in the city – particularly from students.

Author: Rob