I would give then a zero if I could. They refused to do anything when I reported a driver from…read moreNational Roadside Assistance for threatening me. So that driver reported my xar as abandoned at the building Ibwas working at. So no I have to miss work to prove my car isn't abandoned.case # 25-49347

I recommend NOT speeding in the AA area anytime soon. Because the Police Department just suffered…read morehuge budget cuts and layoffs, they are out on the prowl. Seriously. Though, to be honest, I don't blame them. Hot police spots--corner of Main and Madison. DON'T get caught picking up speed down the hill--it could result in a ticket going 40 in a 25 (and $120 fine as I just discovered). Also, Main St. at the golf course--they are lurky over there. Don't forget about the parking tickets too--they are out in full force!

Friends, I am not always the most cool, calm, and collected person. Sometimes my anxiety serves me…read morewell, in that I'm a very proactive, good person to have on your corner during times of stress because I think of EVERYTHING. But on the flipside, sometimes that leads me to do rash things in a panic because I think of EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG. This is a story of one of those times. It's a nice, early summer evening, around 10:30pm or so. My husband is out working so I am home alone, fixing up the solar lights in the garden now that I can see them properly in the dark. You know, restringing lights, putting garden and path lights back out for the summer, etc. In an effort to be more eco and wallet friendly I purchased replacement solar batteries to hopefully salvage some of the pieces that have stopped working. One piece in particular is being difficult. The solar panel for a string of lights. The battery slot is tight and for some reason I can't get the replacement in. Frustrated, I pull it out but it's stuck. Wedged in pretty good. I use my fingertips and try and pry it out and, as I do so, there's a flash, a puff of smoke, and a very distinct smell of burning flesh in the air. I freeze for a moment, processing everything that has happened. The stupid battery end cracked somehow, sparked and left a nice 3rd degree burn on my pointer finger. I take inventory the injury. My finger is so burned it doesn't hurt (nerves are gone, of course). NOT GREAT. But it's not a big spot, and I've done worse with a hot glue gun, so I move on, compartmentalizing that for later. Earlier that day I had seen a story about a lithium battery catching fire on a plane. I remember this as I move onto the next concern and suddenly the battery in my hand becomes a grenade. This is the moment I where I freak out. What do I do with it? I can't set it down or leave it anywhere until the morning (when I could take it somewhere to properly dispose of it) because I'm afraid it will burst into flames. Our house is over a century old. Our yards, surrounded by wood fencing both front and back. Garage? All wood. Trees! Bushes! Other houses! The world is a tinderbox waiting to explode. No, it can't stay here. In a panic I grab my keys, gingerly walk the battery to the car, and....drive to this fire department down the street. Because they'd know what to do, right? I park in the adjacent parking lot and walk over. No doorbell. Instead, there's an emergency button. I press it. It connects me to 911. Oops. I explain I'm on the doorstep of the fire department with a battery. They seem confused. "THE BATTERY CAUGHT FIRE!" I try to explain. They tell me to hold as they call the department directly to let them know. About a minute later the big garage door opens and three, very nice firemen greet me. I explain what happened. "I didn't know what to do!" I said. They very kindly talked me down. Said it was going to be fine. They explain that unfortunately they can't take batteries (unless they're involved in an actual property fire) but they tell me how to diffuse them until I can take them somewhere else. "Put them in a bucket of water." A BUCKET OF WATER?! OF COURSE! GOD I AM SO STUPID. I should have thought of that immediately. But I panicked! I immediately get embarrassed, apologizing for bothering them. "No, you did the right thing!" they said. IDK, man. The right thing would have just been dropping them in a bucket without a second thought. The other right option would have been to simply call the non-emergency line instead. Instead, I come pounding down their door on a Friday night, holding a single battery in front of me like a bomb about to go off. Anyway, we spent a few more minutes of chatting, some of it was more apologizing, some of it was more of them again kindly reassuring me this is what they're there for, but they also took a moment to tell me what to look for in solar battery replacements so they're as safe as possible (UL Certification). I thanked them profusely for the information and I took my janky battery back home, promptly dropping it in a mason jar full of water until I could get to Best Buy for proper disposal (along with the other batteries in that pack). Anyway, they could have been jerks. They could have blown me off. They could have made me feel stupid. But they didn't. And that's pretty cool. And, more imporatntly, they also put out actual fires and help in actual emergencies and I think that's even MORE cool. 5 stars, my friends. Keep on being awesome.

I really am fed up with the City of Ypsilanti. I got two parking tickets in one month! They do not…read morehave visible signs on the streets around Perrin and Emmet Street as if they are trying to entrap you to get tickets. I sure hope with the tickets fees they charge, they can upgrade with more signs that are more visible than the ones they have sparsely spread out. I parked along Perrin street several times beyond the fire hydrant before and didn't have any problems, also I saw other cars parked in that same area and they didn't get any tickets either. And I did not park to block the hydrant, I was well beyond it. There was no sign or painted curb to clearly indicate how far we had to be from the hydrant. The city's way of designating which areas are free to park and which are not is really clear, but ambiguous and disorganized to confuse people for their profit. If they could afford to charge people for parking tickets but they can't paint the curb to have clear NO PARKING signs show where is a no parking zone. If they don't have clear signs of where it's not permitted to park (I know there are signs about residental parking permit required, but the place where I parked, It was not clearly visible!) Unlike the City of Ann Arbor, they allow you the option to pay the ticket on the same day for less, which the City of Ypsilanti could learn from. The money that you are rolling in from these tickets, I hope you use to make better, visible signs around the streets near Cross St. and downtown and be clear about what you designate to be free for parking or not. This gave me a bad first and lasting impression of the City of Ypsilanti.

This is my happy place. I love coming to the library to see what they have on their express shelf…read moreand to ask the kind, helpful librarians for recommendations. They also have miscellaneous cool stuff for checkout like board games, music instruments, even art. The website is easy to use in terms of reserving books. If you reserve a book and clear the wait list, they will pull it for you. I wish they had a method of deferring (eg if you clear the wait list when you're on vacation) so that you don't have to go back through the queue, but understand how this could be complicated. Their "shelf service" is amazing. You put in your reading preferences and they select a handful of books that fit. It's wild that this is something you can access for free. It's a nice physical space with plenty of bathrooms, reading areas, wifi, etc. I love this library and coming here makes me so grateful to live in AA

I can't believe that I came here for the first time last weekend, even though it's been 8 years…read moresince I was a student in Ann Arbor! Ann Arbor offers an abundance of things -- not just books -- and it's one of the most impressive libraries I've been to because of that! I came here last weekend because I heard they had an art exhibit for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month of a collection of artwork made by various Taiwanese artists. As a Taiwanese American, I knew I had to check this out immediately! And while I came to see this collection (and was so impressed by it!), I stayed for all the other things the library had to offer! I perused it's rows of artwork (including the Taiwanese artwork!) that you could check out and display in your household for 2 months on end! What a ingenious idea, I thought, as someone who is constantly switching out the artwork I have hung around my house depending on my mood haha! I also perused their aisles of equipment you can check out for every reason under the sun - starting a podcast? need some hardware? lighting? DJing? hosting a big party and want some giant chess? want to try a new instrument? The list goes on and on and the opportunities are endless! It's a shame that I am neither an Ann Arbor resident nor work in the city, so unfortunately I can't get a free library membership (and a paid one costs $150 a year!), and the librarian I spoke too also mentioned that the University of Michigan doesn't collaborate with the AA District Library either, so I'm not entirely sure if you're able to even get a membership here as a student, if you don't change your address to something in Ann Arbor, which is a bit of a bummer! But if you live or work in Ann Arbor, definitely don't sleep on the district library and make sure to take FULL advantage of all this place has to offer!

Mr Paul and Lt. came out to our apartment in Pittsfield township today to save trapped…read moreducklings...these men were the most kind, up beat, and helpful firefighters I have ever met in my life. I have new found appreciation to firefighters. Thank you for making our city safe and better for all people and animal!!!!

I mean, it's a courthouse. You walk in and go through the metal detector…read more I had jury duty and went to the waiting area on the second floor. I was selected for a case and after the jury selection was complete, we got tags saying we were jurors and went to the deliberating (deliberation?) room. We were told we could go get our cell phones and parking would be paid for because we were selected. I can't really talk about the case, but the building is nice and it's by a bunch of parking garages and restaurants. (The parking at 4th and Washington is $1.20/hr) Just a heads up, you cannot take cell phones or anything that takes photos with you at first (laptops, etc.) we were allowed only because of our Juror badges. There's actually a list of things you can't take in, which I'm glad a read beforehand. I had both knitting needles and crochet hooks in my bag (and a cheese pocket knife, but I knew to take that out first.) I guess I could say it's a great place to go if you ever get jury duty or if you have to go to a courthouse. If you're not wanting to roam the restaurants, there's a little coffee shop diner on the first floor that makes food right where you can see them cooking. I think it's run by an older Asian couple. The gent in there was so sweet! He said he could put the second half of my sandwich in their fridge until the end of the day so it wouldn't go bad. And I kept hearing his wife/the woman in there calling people Mr. "Hi, Mr. Mike! How are you today?" The only downfall is that there's currently construction going on outside and the sidewalk is being worked on. It was rainy and I had to go a little further out into the rain than I wanted to get a drink from my car. That's only temporary though, and had nothing to do with the building itself.

We visit here every year on Halloween for trick-or-treat. Fun place for children on that day. The…read moretheme of this year was Hollywood! My kid were excited to see Sulley and Mike of Monsters, Inc. The staff was so kind. This indoor trick-or-treat is great on cold Halloween.

Kind people, hard working and responsive to voters' needs. Personally I wish there was better…read moresignage on the official dropbox because some people are very confused by how to sign and seal an absentee ballot. You need to have the envelope and sign in the right place on the outside of the envelope not directly on the ballot as some people I saw today were considering.

Gift certificates are usually so limiting... but think about this - an ANN ARBOR gift certificate!!…read more How cool is that?! Yup, at the Chamber of Commerce you can purchase "Ann Arbor Gold" gift certificates. They are redeemable at over 130 shops, restaurants, etc. around Ann Arbor. You could use it anywhere from the Art Center to the Michigan Theatre, from the Paint store to the lumber yard, from the Gandy Dancer to Pizza House. There is no fee to purchase them at the Chamber or at a few local banks (check the website, click on "chamber store" for more info). You can also buy them online, but I'm not sure if there's a fee - you'd need to check. BOTTOM LINE: Don't limit your family/friends with a single-store gift certificate, get them an Ann Arbor Gold certificate and let them choose a new place to try around town!

From the owner: The mission of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce is to support our members by promoting…read morecommerce in the greater Ann Arbor area through business advocacy and leadership in economic, political and educational development. The vision of the Chamber is to be an organization that will effect positive change to ensure a sustainable economic, social and a natural environment for current and future generations. The Chamber provides businesses with low cost marketing, advocacy and networking opportunities.

great staff here, great pricing (even better for Twp residents but the price is still the best for…read moreCity and other residents). I like to call ahead of coming just to make sure their waste dumpsters aren't already at capacity, sometimes they can fill up but that is just how it goes with a smaller facility like this.

It's always a pleasant experience coming out to pickup compost. The facility is organized and…read moreinteresting, the bonus is interacting with Carl and the guys.....theyre top shelf and always a pleasure! Marv rock connections