Hello, Ann Arbor: 9-year-old saves sidewalk; indie café wins battle against Starbucks - MLive.com

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It was the week of the underdogs.

Two recent stories pitted the small against the mighty -- and in both cases, the small persevered.

Reporter Ryan Stanton literally stumbled on the first story while walking around Ann Arbor. One day he came across a note written by a 9-year-old girl, a plea to the city to save a sidewalk slab with a heart-shaped cavity.

“Dear Sidewalk People,” Dahlia Grocoff wrote, ““There is a heart in this block, and as me and my mom were walking home from school, we saw that there was an ‘R’ on the block that the heart is on. You see, the heart is not just a heart. Ever since I was little, I said hi to the heart. Don’t you see how much it means to me? Every time I pass the heart, I say hi and it brings me joy.”

The girl’s note helped save her beloved sidewalk slab. The city even wrote her back.

It’s this kind of civic engagement that melts even this jaded old newsman’s heart.

The second story comes out of Pittsfield Township from reporter Makayla Coffee who has been covering a situation between Brewed Awakenings, an independent café, and a developer looking to bring a Starbucks to the same plaza.

Brewed Awakenings Owner Kim Kaster isn’t irked by the competition as much as she is concerned about the proposed drive-thru planned for the mega-chain coffee behemoth. At other locations, it’s not uncommon to see a dozen SUVs idling in line, waiting for their turn to get a latte.

The Pittsfield Township Planning Commission recently ruled against the Starbucks drive-thru, however, which Kaster said was a “huge victory.”

That’s what caught our eye in Ann Arbor this week. Take a look at those headlines, and others, below.

Ann Arbor responds to 9-year-old girl’s plea, agrees to save sidewalk with a heart

‘A huge victory.’ Residents join forces to fight potential Starbucks drive-thru

Ann Arbor-area landscaping and nursery business to close after nearly 40 years

Wrong-way driver causes crash injuring 4 on US-23

What’s that? A new restaurant has opened right outside downtown Chelsea

Broken windows, threats led to workplace safety inspection at Washtenaw County building

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John Counts is editor for MLive/The Ann Arbor News where he started as a police and court reporter in 2012. He lives in Whitmore Lake with his wife, two daughters and two dogs. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com.

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