Fighting Mismanagement in the Ann Arbor Public Schools District

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions,
they don't have to worry about answers" — Thomas Pynchon

• Environment
• Land Use
• Traffic
• School size
• Demographics
• Safety
• Archaeology
• Alternative sites

Land Use

Click on these links to read The Michigan Land Use Institute's reports on

• The mistake of building large schools on the outskirts of town
• Why LEED certificationisn't all it's made out to be.

"... It follows that energy-efficient buildings, even those powered by solar panels or wind turbines, cannot by themselves compensate for the energy workers spend commuting to them when they are located well away from metropolitan centers. Only better locations and better access to public and alternative transportation can accomplish that.

Smart Growth advocates who support LEED agree. They point out that even the greenest of buildings contribute to sprawl if they are built on the fringe of a metropolitan area, where they eat up farmland and wildlife habitats. That is a particularly acute problem in Michigan where, between 1997 and 2002, sprawl consumed 360,929 acres of farmland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But the problem is also a serious one nationwide; sprawl devours farmland at a steady two acres per minute."

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