Residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Michigan Stadium are still waiting to hear what plans the city of Ann Arbor and the Secret Service have for President Barack Obama's trip to town to give the 2010 spring commencement address at the stadium on May 1.

Stadium gates wil open at 6 a.m., and ceremonies start at 11 a.m. Undergraduates receiving their diplomas will get an allotment of eight tickets, and graduate students receiving advanced degrees will receive four. The Spring Commencement information pages note that some number of tickets will be made available to the general public, but plans have not been announced.

The crowd applauds Google founder Larry Page's 2009 commencement speech.

C-SPAN

Graduate schools have their own programs; a complete schedule shows 28 events in total, starting on April 30 with the Lavender Graduation and finishing up on June 5 with the College of Pharmacy graduation.

The last presidential commencment address in Ann Arbor was George Bush's May 5, 1991 speech, in which he spoke out against "political correctness" and its chilling effect on free speech on campuses. That event drew more than 78,000 attendees. National attention to the speech was overshadowed by events later in the day, when Bush was admitted to the hospital after experiencing an irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath while jogging at Camp David. Bush was later diagnosed with Graves's disease, a thyroid disorder. See his speech on C-SPAN video which includes scenes of the stadium before its $226 million facelift, which began in 2007 and is scheduled to be done by the start of the football season this year.

The university has announced plans for bus shuttles to the stadium for commencement, and parking in U-M lots and structures that are open will be free of charge on
commencement day.

The change in commencement time has graduates worried that their carefully constructed luncheon plans will be thrown askew. "I can tell you right now that you have probably ruined a few lunches and other engagements by changing the time like this. Not a very welcome surprise" writes Emily Erickson on the university's Spring Commencement Facebook page, a page which has 2,700 fans.

Area restaurants and hotels traditionally do a brisk business at graduation time. Restaurants will be smoke free starting May 1, thanks to Public Act 188 of 2009 which was signed into law on December 18 of last year.

The travel directions on U-M's page for graduates makes note that one lane is closed in each direction on the East Stadium bridge over State Street, and it recommends alternate routes for traffic with Hill Street. The bridge failed to get federal TIGER funding in February, but the city still plans to move forward with the stadium bridge project in November or December, even if that means spending its own money and delaying other road projects.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools operate parking facilities at Pioneer High School, across from the stadium. The field is currently under construction for installation of a stormwater retention facility. That project, scheduled to cost $3.1 million, is funded with about 40 percent federal stimulus money through the TIGER program.

The City of Ann Arbor is considering turning Frisinger and Allmendinger parks into municipal parking lots for future football Saturdays, as a part of a plan to help close a budget gap.

On a typical fall football Saturday, the driveways and lawns of the neighborhoods near the stadium are full of people and cars. Some regular fans park at the same place year after year. City ordinances specificly permit parking on lawns on football game days, and forbid it otherwise; some neighbors make enough on parking to pay their property taxes, and revenues from the parking concession are factored into the sale price of those homes.

5:166. Use of off-street parking facilities.
(1) No person shall park a motor vehicle in the front open space, except on the driveway, in a structure or within an approved parking space or lot. This subsection shall not be applicable on those days when football games are played in The University of Michigan stadium. It shall also be inapplicable to persons who have obtained a permit issued by the city administrator for parking in the front open space during the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. Such permits shall be issued in accordance with regulations adopted by the city council for the purpose of ensuring public safety and preserving the attractive appearance of the city.

South Main neighbors are already looking ahead to next winter, when U-M's hockey team faces Michigan State in a game dubbed The Big Chill, scheduled to be played on Dec. 11 in an ice rink constructed inside Michigan Stadium.

"Just sold our first parking space for the Big Chill at the Big House hockey game," wrote Julie Weatherbee on March 5; she's waiting to determine a price based on how many tickets will be sold.

Edward Vielmetti lives close enough to Michigan Stadium to sell parking spaces in his driveway - $20, easy out. Reach him at 734-330-2465.