Environmental awareness

Another thing that I love about Ann Arbor is that we care about the earth. We have curbside recycling and compost pick up. And people use it. The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) just pledged to switch all streetlights to the more efficient LED light bulbs. "Once completed, project officials estimate converting all its downtown lights will save the city $100,000 a year in energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 400 cars off the road for a year." Read the article here:

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/10/ann_arbor_to_install_led_stree.html

We also have many people who bike or walk to work instead of drive. If I weren't a REALTOR I would be among this group! The small, local company for whom I work (Trillium Real Estate) is incredibly diligent about recycling. In fact, we have been recognized with the "Waste Knot Award" for several years in a row.

Ann Arbor loves its parks!

One of the things that I love the most about Ann Arbor is that we have a lot of wonderful parks. We have playgrounds, we have woods, we have large, open fields. Close to 100% of all park millages have passed because we value our parks. Regardless of where you buy a home in the city, you will have a park nearby. My home backs up to Leslie Science Center on the city's north side, so one of my favorite and most often visited parks is Black Pond Woods. It has lovely trails and a pond with lots and lots of frogs! Above is a recent picture of the woods.

If I'm more in the mood for sun on my back I might head over to Barton Park. The park runs along the Huron River. Since I have a wee pup who likes lots of exercise, I frequent many parks in town. It is gorgeous this time of year, with the colors beginning to come out.

In addition to being a great place for a pup to take a dip on a hot day, the Huron River is a wonderful place for canoeing and kayaking. We are lucky to have it running through our town and to have so many parks along its banks.

I love Ann Arbor

I regularly feel gratitude for being able to live somewhere like Ann Arbor, Michigan. I first got the idea for this blog after having been fortunate enough to join my 9 year old son, Gabriel, on a field trip. We went to the Power Center for Performing Arts downtown. It is a wonderful venue and hosts many, many talented artists. We saw Shen Wei, which is a group that performs Chinese Opera. It was a beautiful, yet tragic story, complete with singing and elaborate costumes. I think the story line may have been somewhat over the heads of many in the audience (all schoolchildren and their chaperones), but nonetheless such valuable exposure to something very different than we are used to. This is one of the many things that I appreciate about this city. There is so much offered here. We have a wonderful, diverse community and activities that reflect this. If you are considering moving to Ann Arbor, or want to learn more about it, check back to this blog often or contact me through my web site at www.a2homegrown.com .