Defining neighborhoods in the city of Ann Arbor a tough task
What defines a neighborhood?
That's the question the Community Team at AnnArbor.com has been struggling with over the past few weeks. Hyperlocal neighborhood coverage is a key part of our strategy to make AnnArbor.com of, by and for the community. But before we launch full-force into trying to create the kind of rich, hyperlocal content we envision, we have to define the neighborhoods in the city.
It's important to note that this effort is focusing on the city of Ann Arbor and its neighborhoods. It is separate from any strategy we'll have for covering nearby cities and communities such as Ypsilanti, Chelsea, Saline or Dexter.
So for the past three weeks, we've been meeting with various folks to get input on neighborhoods, including Liz Margolis, Ann Arbor Public Schools spokeswoman and Ann Arbor native. We've talked to a few real estate agents and our neighborhood contributors.
We've been mulling it over as a team and sorting through maps, city guides, neighborhood watch info and lists of residential associations.
Our initial list of neighborhoods was based almost entirely on elementary school attendance areas, along with a geographic quadrant division. We realize this list misses several neighborhoods.
There are so many ways to look at what defines a neighborhood. We thought about doing it geographically, in quadrants, and then by elementary school. We talked about political ward lines, historic district boundaries, parks, major landmarks and subdivisions. We debated whether some people even define themselves by the neighborhood they live in - and if they ever would.
Above all, we want our list of neighborhoods to reflect how the community sees itself. And we also need to be able to create useful content for the neighborhoods we list on our site since each will have its own page. That may mean some very small neighborhoods should be listed as part of a larger neighborhood since it will be difficult to create meaningful content for an area that only encompasses a handful of houses.
In the future, I envision our neighborhood pages will have content as diverse as real estate listings and data, stories from our digital journalists, reports from our neighborhood contributors, event listings, wedding and birth announcements, death notices and obituaries, crime maps, forums, classifieds, multimedia galleries ... and the list goes on.
So below is our current list and an additional list of neighborhoods we've come up with after consulting with others. We'd like your input; take our poll to select the neighborhoods you'd like to see on our site, leave a comment below or e-mail me at StefanieMurray@AnnArbor.com.
Is there a neighborhood listed that should be combined with another? Is there a neighborhood that we missed? Is there a neighborhood listed below that really isn't a neighborhood, or isn't how the residents define themselves? Let us know.
Comments
Larry Kestenbaum
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 : 1:50 p.m.
Contrary to some of the comments here, I think defining neighborhoods is useful work, and not just for slotting news stories on a web site. Neighborhoods that have a widely accepted name and identity do better on all kinds of measures than similar areas which lack those assets.
DagnyJ
Wed, Sep 2, 2009 : 6:52 p.m.
You know, I am really annoyed. Story after story on Rich Rodriquez, and a lot of baloney polls about traffic. And you promised me HS sports. Tony, where is the prep sports coverage? I am really disappointed. Is this it? You are going to report every time someone blows his nose over at UM, but all our kids are going to get short shrift? You are full of talk, promises. And baloney.
Steve Borgsdorf
Fri, Aug 28, 2009 : 4:07 p.m.
Whether defining neighborhoods in Ann Arbor is tough is debatable. In any event it seems unnecessary. Why build boxes if the news will not always fit into the boxes you create? Maybe report the news using old fashioned details for location (e.g. address), and--where necessary--include information regarding the "neighborhood." For instance, the Old West Side Neighborhood(where I live) is defined in a similar, but not identical, manner as the Old West Side Historic District. Different stories about my neighborhood may require telling the reader the election ward, the school boundary, the historic district, etc. But no one category is completely satisfactory for all occasions. The entire AnnArbor.com site needs a complete organizational overhaul; it looks more like some blog than it looks like a reliable source for news. Efforts to define the neighborhoods so you know where to hide stories are not going to help.
yua
Thu, Aug 27, 2009 : 9:56 p.m.
NANA is a pretty big area--I like to think of the Spring/Summit area as its own neighborhood...the OWS really ends at Huron, despite the fact that Bach extends northwards. And Spring/Summit really goes beyond Summit. Just my two cents.
Irwin Martin
Thu, Aug 27, 2009 : 2:02 p.m.
You are missing the surrounding townships. Why Pittsfield and not Scio, Lodi, Ann Arbor Township, Webster, etc. We all consider ourselves part of greater A2!
LA
Wed, Aug 26, 2009 : 3:35 p.m.
I agree with the comments about adding Mack School. Whether it's the "Open School" or not - tell someone you're from the 'Mack neighborhood' and they'll know what you mean. I like the use of the park areas as a way to designate also. I live in the Maryfield/Wildwood area, and while Haisley is our closest school, that is not how I describe my neighborhood. Same as with my previous location: Garden Home Parks. Wines was our zoned school (tho we attended Bach Open), but we did not feel part of a Wines neighborhood. But this may all be too detailed for the purposes of reporting/news/events. We needn't go block by block! Perhaps the four major directions (N,S,E,W), plus larger areas: Downtown/ Arborland etc. for sections, and then sub-dividing the more detailed neighborhood location only as necessary for the article/event/reporting. As it is now, I click on Old West Side, Downtown, Wines and Haisley... and when time allows, Is till end up clicking on other locations just to see what's happening in town. A2 is not so large that we need to micro-manage it to death. Good Luck!!
Marlene
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 12:41 p.m.
I agree with several others who have made comments about my neighborhood (Mack School). According to your elementary school list - I am in the Bach neighborhood. But I consider my neighborhood boundaries to be Miller-Spring-Sunset-Brooks. This neighborhood is unique with its own set of issues - not shared with the Old West Side and other neighborhoods in the Bach boundaries. I would really like to see specific coverage for my neighborhood - we had a kidnapping today - how often does that happen in the Old West Side!
Julie
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 10:11 a.m.
I consider myself in the Sunset/Brooks neighborhood.
Barb
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 8:20 a.m.
This is not all organized by schools. For instance we have Lawton listed (a school) but also Lansdowne (the neighborhood the school is in). So maybe we should figure out how to organize areas without schools involved. In this case we're omitting Churchill Downs, Boulder Ridge and a bunch of other neighborhoods whose kids go to Lawton.
mtlaurel
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 7:55 a.m.
Come on: people flow all around Ann Arbor for different purposes-work, shopping,restaurants,etc.Don't see how a town this size needs to be broken up to organize your stories. People can scroll up or down and read whatever they choose now it's online.Just get the stories-I read most of it because to date there isn't that much.
Mike D.
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 7:21 a.m.
AnnArbor.com has an opportunity to help crystallize a concept that's always been pretty fluid, and it makes sense to ask the community for input. That said, the list above isn't particularly useful. I've lived in Ann Arbor for decades and owned a home here for many years, but I don't identify with anything on this list. Because most of the "neighborhoods" listed here are in fact elementary school names, only parents will understand this list. That's fine if you want to limit your audience, but there are plenty of other people in Ann Arbor who might be interested in neighborhood contentlike me. I'd say a map is in order so people can see which neighborhood is which.
Larry
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 6:31 a.m.
Glacier Highlands, located off of Green Rd. south of Plymouth Rd., is a large neighborhood that needs to be included on your list.
David Wallner
Tue, Aug 25, 2009 : 5:34 a.m.
I think people are confused because the selections do not use a common criteria. For example Hollywood Park and Abbot, or Ives Wood and Burns Park seem to blur the identy. There will always be compromise in process but I think staying with the elementary school boundries would simplify the effort.
Rici
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 9:31 p.m.
So you've added Blueberry Lane, but not Mack School or Ann Arbor Open. Oh well. It's bound to be imprecise, no matter what you end up with.
Elizabeth
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 8:51 p.m.
I suggest that you add Dixboro to the list.
SueD
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 4:55 p.m.
I think you should not got nuts trying to create bright lines between neighborhoods. Someone who lives in Arbor Hills but whose kids go to Burns park will feel part of Burns Park AND Arbor Hills. So people will look at the news for the (named) area they identify with - they choose. That said, I suggest that your neighborhood maps overlap, so that "Burns Park" gets news about what goes on across the Washtenaw Ave border.
MichiganPete
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 4:29 p.m.
And isn't Stonebridge in Pittsfield Twp?
Bob Dively
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 3:54 p.m.
Blueberry Lane? That's outside the City in Ann Arbor Township and Scio Township.
MichiganPete
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 3:31 p.m.
Definitely need clearer instruction on how the poll is supposed to work.
Rici
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 3:27 p.m.
I'm confused - are we supposed to check the ones that we think are legitimate neighborhood areas? Or just the ones we affiliate with? I don't think I should be defining neighborhoods in the opposite corner of the city from where I reside, I don't know how people up there view their boundaries. Also, if you are including elementary schools, why not Ann Arbor Open @ Mack? Yes, it's a magnet school that draws from the city, but there is a thriving neighborhood near the school that probably doesn't consider itself "wines" (other closest elementary) or "bach" (default elementary zoning). I certainly wouldn't look in "bach" if I were looking for yard sales in that area.
Barb
Mon, Aug 24, 2009 : 2:38 p.m.
I'm confused... why is the poll for T-W separate from the other poll?