Political theater comes in many forms in the area. Ann Arbor political theater is live, on the first and third Mondays of each month, at Ann Arbor City Council; Ypsilanti political theater is best represented by the local affairs puppet show Dreamland Tonight at the Dreamland Theater.

Here are links to snippets of the drama that has unfolded over the past week, with some measure of contrast between the ability of citizens on both sides of the fortified US-23 divide to take a light-hearted look at themselves.

Development

Ann Arbor political weblogs narrowed their focus this week to the Moravian proposal, which was rejected by Ann Arbor City Council on Monday night. Alas, there was a certain amount of name-calling going on between the two lead protagonists in the political blog scene, the formerly anonymous Pat Lesko (on A2Politico) and the currently anonymous Arborblahg.

Council was entertained by a parade of public comments in a comment period that stretched over some three hours. Both sides rallied their supporters, and both sides accused the others of bringing in ringers to support their cause.

On A2Politico, Pat Lesko writes under the title The Politics of Development: If You Think It’s About Urban Density and Affordable Living, Think Again:

"Here in Ann Arbor, The Moravian PUD went down in flames early this morning with very few of the young professionals (YPs) and students in attendance whom developers Jeff Helminski and Newcombe Clark had rallied together in a pre-Council meeting Happy Hour. Evidently, when it was time for their flash mob politicos to speak in support of The Moravian they got email alerts so that they didn't have to sit around listening to other people blather on."

The "flash mob politico" jab is aimed at the pro-Moravian organizer strategy of inviting their supporters to Cafe Habana for a pre-council party, with supporters summoned to council by text message and email so that they wouldn't have to sit around for the other parts of the agenda. It's an effective tactic which I'm surprised more neighborhood and issue groups don't have in their toolkit; council can add items to the agenda at the very last moment, and being able to rally support using modern communications tools is part of modern government.

Currently anonymous political non-candidate Arborblahg picks up the snark in WWPLD?, using her platform to bash Pat Lesko and by extension to bash the opponents of the project.

"But wait, candidate Lesko was anti-Moravian too! Lesko logic dictates that A2Politico must investigate herself immediately, penning a blog-based hit job on her dubious affiliation with the tartan-wearing Germantown property owners who live in Detroit’s posh Huntington Woods suburb. Stay tuned. I have no doubt Lesko will be pealing back the sordid corruption of her own positions some day soon!"

The reference to "tartan-wearing Germantown property owners" is a link to a photo of a smiling Louise Giles that had run in the Detroit News as part of a story on a North American International Auto Show gala event in January of this year. AnnArbor.com's reporting of the Moravian story had originally identified Giles as an Ann Arbor resident; she is now correctly identified as a property owner in the Germantown neighborhood, after sharp-eyed commenters noted that her primary residence is in Huntington Woods.

Julie Weatherbee, a former editor of Arbor Update, followed the event via live television on CTN. (She has cable; if you don't have cable, there's no live Internet feed.) A transcript of her Twitter messages to #aacitycouncil gives a timeline of what transpired.

11:09 pm juliewbee: Speaking of, I think that Rebecca woman who just spoke might have had a leetle too much at the Cafe Habana pre-party. #aacitycouncil 11:17 pm juliewbee: Ha, Newcombe is fired up! Shirtsleeves pushed up, hair askew, a bit of spittle--he is usually quite composed. #aacitycouncil

Political theater in Ypsilanti

Dreamland Tonight * Episode One from mike ambs ☂ on Vimeo.

Dreamland Tonight (episode one) - a puppet hosted talk show from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Special guests include Ypsilanti Mayor, Paul Schreiber, a falafel eating champion, and a man that can communicate with animals.

The show has been called both "warm" and "charming."

The host: Mark Maynard
The theater: Dreamland Theater

Political theater in Ypsilanti isn't limited to events that happen in council chambers. Mark Maynard has recorded a second edition of his Dreamland Tonight production in the Dreamland Theater. Maynard, a prolific Ypsilanti blogger, hosts this talk show in the form of a puppet of his likeness.

"Last night’s Dreamland Tonight taping went pretty well. Annie Palmer was a great musical guest, local real estate developer Stewart Beal brought us up to speed on the Thompson Block, and historian James Mann shared a few ghost stories. It was a little sloppy, as we were still kind of writing as we went along, but it was fun. And I think that’s all that really matters in the end. There were some good laughs, and I think folks might have even learned a thing or two about our City too, which is good."

Ypsilanti, at least, knows how to have fun while looking at serious city issues; it's a lesson that both the "moneyed elite" and the "young urban professionals" of Ann Arbor could learn from.

Edward Vielmetti has not yet convinced AnnArbor.com to design a puppet in his likeness. Contact him at 734-330-2465 or edwardvielmetti@annarbor.com.