Wikipedia:Peer review/Ann Arbor, Michigan/archive1

Ann Arbor, Michigan

I decided to try to expand and clean up this article with the goal of one day getting it featured. Aside from climate (which I am unsure of the proper place to find that information) is there anything else that needs attention? Pentawing 01:09, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

At a glance, I can see that the Geography and Demographics sections read like computer printouts and need to be made into brilliant prose. AlbertR 01:31, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- I tried to reword the Geography section a bit. As for Demographics, I am not sure about that, especially since the wording is similar to that of other featured city articles (e.g. San Jose, California). Pentawing 02:21, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - I suppose there isn't much that can be done with the Demographics section. The geography section looks much better, though. AlbertR 03:50, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The images Image:Ann-Arbor-City-Flag.gif and Image:Ann-Arbor-City-Seal.gif are tagged as public domain. What is the source of those images, and under what grounds was it determined that they were in the public domain? The only images that are regularly in the public domain in the US are those that are the work of the federal government. --Carnildo 06:56, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- At any rate, those images should probably be converted to PNG. AlbertR 19:48, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- I contacted the person who uploaded the images and hope to get an answer soon. Pentawing 01:54, 18 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - Hey everyone. Happy to hear that a lot of progress is being made on this article. I think it has the potential of being featured. My sources for the flag and seal differ and I listed them in the public domain only because I figured that city seals and flags are automatically in the public domain in the same way the American or British or Nigerian or Detroit flags and seals are in the public domain. I got the flag from the Flags of the World Database. I've just changed the old "Public Domain" tag to the "PD-flag" tag to signify its specific status. The seal is from the City of Ann Arbor website and can easily be seen on the main page. I've just changed the old "Public Domain" tag to the "Coat of Arms/Fair Use" tag to signify its specific status. The images' file extensions have also been changed from .gif to .png (see: Image:Ann-Arbor-City-Flag.png and Image:Ann-Arbor-City-Seal.png) and the main article has been edited to reflect this. Hope this clears things up! The images' use in the article only enhances its quality so I would hate to see them go. If there's still problems, feel free to contact me! Gsgeorge 04:10, 18 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, found the climate information at the Weather Underground and added that to the article. Pentawing 02:57, 18 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I put up a request for a new location map along the lines of this and this with the user who made them, SoundGod3. Hopefully he/she won't mind making one for the Ann Arbor article! Gsgeorge 20:33, 19 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Map posted. Let me know what everybody thinks of it. SoundGod3 16:02, 21 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- Good one! Thanks. Pentawing 16:09, 21 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A cursory glance reveals:

Missing altitude
=govt= very short. council strength; police, fire etc. can be included.
=Nicknames=: not needed here. Merge with lead
=Education=: subsections not needed
=Culture=: too long. Summarise, move details into dedicated article
=Events=: too detailed. Tone down, reduce to two small paragraphs and merge with =culture=
merge =sports= with parent
move =literature= to the new culture article.
rem =infrastructure= sub heading
move =sister cities= under culture
+ more images.

I'll review in depth if the above are taken care off. =Nichalp «Talk»= 09:31, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

I am currently expanding the government section. The "education", "culture," "events," "sports," "literature," and "nicknames" sections have been taken care of. I have seen "sister cities" as a separate section in other city articles. As for "infrastructure", I believe that it makes the TOC more organized and intuitive than if the heading were eliminated. Pentawing 00:42, 26 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The only information I can find concerning elevation is for the airport (found at airnav.com), though I am trying to ascertain some values from topographic maps from topozone.com. Pentawing 18:44, 27 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In the US, elevations for cities are traditionally measured at the site of the Weather Service measuring station, which is usually at the airport. Other common locations, for locations without an airport or Weather Service station, are city hall or the post office. --Carnildo 05:29, 28 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the information. The airport elevation was indeed noted. Pentawing 16:32, August 28, 2005 (UTC)

According to the Fed Aviation Facilities Directory, the elevation of the runway at Ann Arbor Airport (ARB) is 839 feet. That is probably as good an elevation as any, since the terrain in Ann Arbor varies due to the river valley.

Here's some economic information from Crain’s Detroit Business from its most recent survey of the largest public and private employers in Washtenaw County ranked by full-time employees as of January, 2004.

The top 20 of these employers are listed below

The largest employers in Ann Arbor include the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Hospital. The largest employers in Ypsilanti include Eastern Michigan University, Trinity Health, and General Motors. The number three employer in the county, Visteon Corporation, is Ford Motor Company’s largest supplier and Visteon’s highly-paid employees are protected by UAW contracts.

Washtenaw County’s Largest Employers, 2004

Rank Company Name Employees Type of business 1 University of Michigan 15,594 Public university 2 University of Michigan Health Centers 8,569 Hospital & health center 3 Visteon Corporation 5,910 Automotive supplier 4 Ford Motor Co. 5,000 Automobile manufacturer 5 General Motors Corp. 4,739 Automobile manufacturer 6 Trinity Health 4,503 Health care system 7 U.S. Government 2,607 Federal government 8 Pfizer Inc. 2,600 Pharmaceutical company 9 Ann Arbor Public Schools 2,130 Public school district 10 Eastern Michigan University 2,088 Public University 11 State of Michigan 1,791 State government 12 Borders Group Inc. 1,406 Book & music retailer 13 Washtenaw County government 1,388 Municipal government 14 ProQuest Co. 980 Information databases 15 Standard Federal Bank, N.A. 934 Mortgage and financial services 16 City of Ann Arbor 820 City government 17 DTE Energy Co. 678 Energy company 18 Ypsilanti Public Schools 658 Public school district 19 Chelsea Community Hospital 639 Community hospital 20 Chrysler Group 564 Automobile manufacturer

Also of note is that Ann Arbor is the Headquarters of Flint Inc., the worlds largest privately held manufacturer of ink with reported revenues of USD$1.471 billion. Flint Ink is listed by Crain’s Detroit Business among Michigan's top ten privately held companies, and by Forbes among the top 220 Private Companies in the US. I don't work there, but it is an oft overlooked Ann Arbor Company which is interesting, considering its size)

Economic stability is provided, to a great extent, by the county’s two universities - The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. These facilities are major employers which are not as economically sensitive to fluctuations in automotive demand as are industries found in the Detroit area. Recently emphasis on high technology research and development expansion has been a priority of the MEDC and other NGO organizations. The universities have attracted a variety of companies in technology industries in recent history.

There are many significant research-oriented high technology firms in the area are including - Environmental Protection Agency Emissions Control Laboratory - Pfizer Global R&D - General Dynamics (former ERIM), National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Proquest - Terumo Cardiovascular Systems (formerly a division of 3M) - U of M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

The University of Michigan ranked first in research dollars spent by public universities in fiscal year 1990, with much of these funds devoted to biomedical developments funding from the NIH.

Take this information and place it in the article as you see fit. Since you're working on it, it is probably good to have it in your style. Keep up the work and let me know if you want to catch up fro coffee at Zolas to talk about Wikipedia some morning. My username has a lot to do with my name. Best...--Ronreed 17:37, 28 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]