Inter-city prep

Last week I was at Mayor Chilton's office in Carrboro talking about how to make the most of the Inter-City Visit to Ann Arbor (which my fingers keep misspelling "Ann Arrboro"). He suggested checking out some local blogs and we started Googling away. I only found one (Arbor Update) that seemed like OP, but there are definitely some interesting sites, although several haven't been updated since this summer.

Also DTH reporter Andrew Dunn is blogging the trip, and several of us will be Twittering about it, if you're into that kind of thing. Follow Andrew, , Monica Evans, and me (as OP). (Reminder: all OP tweets are at the bottom of every page here).

Please post links if you recommend any other Ann Arbor or Michigan blogs.

Here's the schedule for the trip:

Sunday, September 14
9:25am – 1:35 Southwest to Detroit
12:38pm – 2:36 Northwest to Detroit
2:30pm – 4:00 Hotel Check-in
4:10pm – 4:50 Orientation at Campus Inn
5:00pm – 6:25 Bus Tour of Ann Arbor
6:30pm – 8:30 Joint Reception at Hands on Museum

Monday, September 15
8:00am – 8:30 Breakfast at Michigan Union
8:30am – 10:15 Creating a Strong Community at Michigan Union
10:30am – 12:15 Environmental Stewardship at Michigan Union
12:15pm– 1:15 Networking Lunch at Michigan Union
1:15pm – 3:15 Responsible Economic Development at Michigan Union
3:30pm – 5:00 Site Tours: Food Gatherers/ En-House/ Incubator/ Public Safety & Major Community Events
6:30pm – 10:00 Dinner & Optional Activity at Zingermans Roadhouse

Tuesday, September 16
7:30am – 8:00 Breakfast at Campus Inn
8:00am – 9:00 Role of a University Community at Campus Inn
9:00am – 10:15 Reporting, Wrap-up and concluding remarks
11:00am – 11:45 Shuttle to Airport with boxed lunch (Northwest)
11:15am – 12:15 Lunch at Campus Inn (Southwest)
12:45pm – 1:30 Shuttle to Airport (Southwest)
1:51pm – 3:37 Northwest to Raleigh
3:25pm – 7:00 Southwest to Raleigh

Whew. And now I must finish packing and go to sleep as I am one of the unlucky souls on that 9:25 flight tomorrow morning.

Comments

The first group is here in Ann Arbor and the rest will join us shortly. Unfortunately it is rainy, but not as cold as many of us had expected. On the way in from the airport, our driver gave us a mini-tour of State Street which is a major artery and runs right along at least 2 of the 4 U of M campuses here. The four are: athletics, central, medical, and north campus - which houses architecture and other creative programs.

Next we will have orientation, a bus tour, and then a reception with our local "counterparts." I wonder if they invited any bloggers?

How much of your trip was subsidized by grants or gifts??  By whom?

As I said before (http://www.orangepolitics.org/2008/08/why-im-going-to-ann-arbor) I got a scholarship worth $800 from the organizers of the event. Some of the scholarship funds were donated by UNC, some by Jim Heavner/VilCom, and some by the Chamber (I think). As you can see below, I also raised $204 from the readers of this blog. I paid about $230 out of my own pocket, plus two vacation days from work.

Most of the other participants seem to be covered by the employer or institution they are representing.

In case you're not following the OP "tweets" (found at http://twitter.com/orangepolitics and the bottom of this page) here are some of my short updates from earlier today:

Early birds are on the bus to #AnnArbor now. Here & on both flights, you can hear a constant buzz from the many conversations.

All 100+ of us introduced ourselves. I think there are more ppl from Hillsborough than Carrboro!

Chancellor intro'ed himself thusly: "Hi, I'm the keyboard player for Equinox." Laughter & applause.

Huge Pfizer facility on UofM north campus shut down, 3k jobs & contractors gone. Note to Carolina North: don't put all your eggs in 1 basket.

Our tour guide is pres. of the #AnnArbor Chamber o Commerce. Funny & smart. But wish we could hear from gov't & community reps too.

There's a lot of neat, urban stuff here, but it started this way 50-100 yrs ago & was revitalized. We don't have cool, old stuff to revitalize.

"When we have these kind of events, it's damaging to our brand," said Chapel Hill Town Council member Matt Czajkowski. [on hearing of the killing of Joshua McCabe Bailey]

 

No further comment necessary.

 

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