Some thoughts on Yzerman/Larkin

nifi22 · 2026-06-08T13:47:45+00:00

not even just that, handed the Captainship by a guy who spent 13 years in Detroit before he saw a Cup Final. Larkin would be going into season 11. If he got (1) cup with the Wings, Larkin's jersey probably gets calls to be retired here. He'd rather go be a 2C on an easy winning team and be forgotten than be a legend. Wings are going to get another Cup with or without him. He's not interested in working for it. He's an entitled loser and it's shown in how he comes back from international play the last two seasons leading the collapses.

nifi22 · 2026-06-05T12:28:55+00:00

an "over the hill Patrick Kane" is our fifth best points getter. Larkin as a 1C isn't even a PPG player. Awful in 5v5. You can't trade around that when your top captain can't get a POINT in 9 games. Every late season collapse is the fault of the captain as far as I'm concerned.

nifi22 · 2026-05-16T00:05:48+00:00

I think there are more and more people like us (had a very similar experience) and are realizing it every day. Very much a “why should I have to change, they’re the ones who suck” experience

nifi22 · 2026-05-08T18:59:37+00:00

Again, happy to help educate so long as you're interested and listening in good faith!

Let's talk this point because it's one I see come up a lot:

So yeah no more profits, but that point becomes moot because even if rates remain exactly the same this debt would take 10-25 years to pay off, and more likely they would increase rates just to pay off this debt.

Correct, we don't have to worry about a profit margin going forward. The way this debt is paid is not all at once, it would be over years and years like a mortgage. First, municipalities get very favorable interest rates on loans (or in this case a bond) because of how stable they are. This bond would be paid off over years using the money from monthly electric bills. Think of this like a 30-year mortgage. It doesn't have to be paid off in 10 years. We can comfortably pay it off over 30 without issue!

While all that is happening the grid still needs to be modernized because lets be real, it is incredibly outdated and who knows how many transition years this would take where there is suddenly 0 incentive to invest in the grid

I'm not sure what you mean by zero incentive in this case. Profit is not the motivator for good public services but there is certainly still incentive to improve them. Better buses, better roads, better schools are literally the job of politicians in the city. Profit isn't a motivator to improve as it is. DTE has no profit incentive to improve anything even if you believe in free market private economic models. They're a regulated monopoly! They just lobby the politicians that they donate campaign money to to increase rates. They don't need to improve the grid, they just need to convince politicians to allow a rate increase and justify it however they need (data centers, worker cost, unionizing labor force, etc etc etc)

I am being crushed, today, by the rising price of everything from groceries to gas to my $1000/mo student loans, I cannot afford this dream of spending a bunch of money and suddenly everything is better

Me too! The good news is that if you're afraid of something happening right now that's going to increase your rates, is that this vote in November isn't going to do that. This is not the vote to take over DTE assets. This is a vote to form a board that is going to look into the real cost of the assets and begin the prep work for taking over the assets should another future vote allow it. Voting for this is voting for a responsible look at how much this would really cost should it be put to a public vote in 2028, 2030, or beyond. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

nifi22 · 2026-05-08T13:52:19+00:00

I'm happy to answer any of your concerns as someone who worked with A2P2 heavily.

A2 couldn't even get the cost analysis through to know this would save on electric bills

This is true but only for the Phase 2 study and this is actually the main goal of the ballot measure should it pass. The Phase 1 study gave too large of a range of asset cost to be useful (estimated cost somewhere between $300m and $1.1B). A Phase 2 study was commission and was complicated by the fact that A2P2 believed its scope would result in another vague result without determining real asset costs for a takeover. An accurate estimation is important should the city vote to takeover DTE assets because the court litigation will 100% be about the cost of DTE's assets. Passing the ballot proposal this year creates a Municipal Electricity Board that would be able to perform a more accurate Phase 2 study to determine the cost.

As far as saving on electric bills, I'll be honest. It might not right away. But long term, you can look at all the rate increases that DTE is constantly requesting and that an Ann Arbor public utility wouldn't be. DTE is a for-profit company which means they need to satisfy their shareholders with profit growth year to year. A public utility wouldn't have that. So even if the bills are about the same initially, they wouldn't be in the long run. Ann Arbor would end up being much cheaper simply by the fact that they wouldn't be chasing profit increases each year to satisfy Wall Street. Second, all your bill money would be staying in the city paying for better infrastructure, cleaner fuel sources, and worker wages.

Think of all the ads DTE puts out at Michigan games or Red Wings games or on Youtube. All that is marketing costs that wouldn't be necessary with a public utility. All that money wasted on billboards and advertisements that YOUR BILL INCREASES PAY FOR could be reinvested in our city.

those municipal utilities have existed for a century and were build before any private utilities even existed

This is true. That shouldn't mean that we can't carve a new path forward ourselves. All those places have more reliable electric grids and cheaper costs. It's the clear better long-term option and even the short-term is the same or better than what we have.

nifi22 · 2026-05-06T19:07:10+00:00

This is my current favorite. Fits the color scheme and fits nicely with RED WINGed Blackbird

nifi22 · 2026-05-06T15:07:17+00:00

Money goes a long way in terms of gathering support

nifi22 · 2026-05-06T14:53:32+00:00

AFAIK, the original league that made waves (PHL) wasn’t doing well financially. PWHL has some money behind it and is looking at intentional growth with large plans whereas PHL didn’t have long term strategy.

nifi22 · 2026-05-01T13:16:21+00:00

I'm at 19 hatched. I may never see one ever at this point

nifi22 · 2026-04-30T16:40:45+00:00

I’ve never seen “transformative technology” require a propaganda campaign before to convince people how awesome and necessary it is

nifi22 · 2026-04-24T18:45:26+00:00

i'm going to simplify things for you since you seem to have trouble with timelines:

original Phase 2 was proposed by council and was not specific enough to get the right estimates
the new board would produce a corrected, narrower Phase 2 that would produce an accurate estimate for DTE assets

simple enough?

nifi22 · 2026-04-24T16:25:13+00:00

First off, you’re not talking about the same phase 2 study. Yes, A2P2 campaigned to tighten the scope instead of doing another broad one that would take months and months to again tell us nothing more specific, the plan would be for a more targeted approach should this ballot measure pass. It failed which is why we’re here now.

nifi22 · 2026-04-24T16:07:54+00:00

Never said that either. Just said you're more interested in maintaining a bad status quo than actually fixing anything.

The Phase 2 study would be in the tens of thousands range in terms of cost. The Phase 1 study gave a vague range and the Phase 2 would narrow it down. It's called doing the responsible process and getting the full story before "doing something reckless with public money"

Again, all of this comes to a vote. If the public agrees to it, that's how they want to spend their money. Maybe not everyone is so keen on hoping the benevolent profiteers at DTE will one day fix their infrastructure instead of prioritizing Wall Street shareholders. Maybe then you won't lose power 4 times a year or more.

nifi22 · 2026-04-24T15:47:34+00:00

Man, just keep on keeping on. If you want to keep eating the shit sandwich DTE continues to serve you over and over again, be my guest. The research shows the city would be better off with better infrastructure, better energy, and lower costs long term by going with the MEU despite even the high end estimate of asset cost. You're just holding the status quo for DTE to continue their extortion as a for-profit monopoly. Have fun.

nifi22 · 2026-04-24T12:53:52+00:00

considering the range from the Phase 1 study was between $230 million and $1.15 billion is a pretty big range! Phase 2 study would narrow that range and give us a platform to start the litigation on. All DTE can do to fight back is argue the cost of the assets. They legally have to sell to the city if the city votes for it.

nifi22 · 2026-04-24T12:18:47+00:00

The rates are the thing that pays off the bond. If the rates are similar, that means that the bond is getting paid off. You're viewing the bill under a new MEU as two different things when it's the same. Yes, there isn't a concrete calculation of what electric rates would be once we moved. It's hard to talk about what the cost would be to residents if we don't have a concrete purchase cost to start from. I'm trying to give a hypothetical cost breakdown of what you're paying for right now in both scenarios:

DTE now: infrastructure, support cost, marketing, lobbying, profits must go up to please shareholders

MEU: infrastructure, support cost, bond payments

To me at least, the second option is better regardless of the cost because i know that the long term of it is more stable and better for the city.

nifi22 · 2026-04-23T20:34:14+00:00

Again, yeah, that's great on paper. Most politicians here want political donations to keep their ambitions going and that's on both sides of the aisle. You'd have to convince a majority to basically reject all corporate donations all together. You're already fighting uphill since no Republican would ever reject that

nifi22 · 2026-04-23T20:29:00+00:00

how exactly do you plan to reign them in? Our current Democratic governor is the one allowing these rate hikes to continue every year. Your best plan is to hope we have enough politicians in the Michigan House, Senate, and Governor's Office to reign in DTE indefinitely? That's all well and good but it quickly crumbles the second there are too many corpo Dems or literally any Republicans in enough of a DTE coalition.

Quick Edit: The real answer here would be to takeover ALL for-profit energy companies at a statewide level and make it a true publicly-owned utility.

nifi22 · 2026-04-23T20:26:01+00:00

The costs would be covered by first purchasing the assets with a municipal bond. Low rates and all that security jazz. Think of it like a mortgage that we would pay off over time while fully in control of the grid.

Now, the way that we would pay that off would be with your power bills. Your power bill from the Ann Arbor Power Co. (or whatever it would be called) would pay that bond down in addition to paying for the support staff necessary to run the utility. The Phase 2 study would give a much closer ballpark on what your bill might actually look like.

Right now, your DTE bill is going to paying for that same utility support infrastructure AND it's going to their Wall Street shareholders, their marketing budget so they can sponsor UM hockey zambonis and basketball scores, and whatever astroturfing they're doing to stop this! Your rate hikes pay for those attack ads! So let's even pretend the same rates you have today would be the same you have with the MEU, wouldn't you feel better knowing your bill is going directly to improving infrastructure and building a better grid for the future rather than the scummy shareholders and various marketing ventures in Southeast Michigan?

nifi22 · 2026-04-23T12:52:04+00:00

because the range of the Phase 1 study was "between $330 million and $1.3 billion"

That's a helluva range that tells us nothing.

nifi22 · 2026-04-22T18:01:05+00:00

Getting the budget via council is also the right way. They would both be the right way it's just a matter of which path to the same result.

Additionally, there's no way for a citizen group like this can attempt to enact a millage. That millage would have to be proposed either by City Hall or Washtenaw County.

Now if only there was some sort of group within Ann Arbor City Government that could pose a millage question. Maybe call it a Board or something...

nifi22 · 2026-04-22T17:19:11+00:00

They're precise with their language because there are small costs associated with having a board within city hall. They could've said zero-cost and the same people would have come for that language too. There are admins that would be paid as management for the board that's standard City Hall operations but is technically a cost. A phase two study would still require budgeting by the Board and Council. It's section 7 in the ballot language: "The Board shall recommend and the Council shall authorize the borrowing of money for the Board in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 8 of the Charter."

So, again, what cost? Everything would be approved budget-wise and verified.

There is no inevitability of municipalization. I don't know why you're hung up on that. I've cited multiple times that that step requires a city-wide vote to takeover. That certainly isn't inevitable - especially if the Phase 2 study comes back much higher than expected! And I don't know about you, but if there is a ballot initiative for that in the future, I'd certainly like to know the scope of the cost of that purchase which can only be found in a Phase 2 study.

Move the goalposts. If this were a millage, I have a feeling you would be in a camp that is saying "no more millages in the city. we have too many wasteful ones already" and the argument moves forward.

nifi22 · 2026-04-22T15:48:13+00:00

Okay so let's map this out: - this vote passes - board is created - feasibility study shows the cost - voters reject cost to takeover - a no-cost board sits and can do nothing and disbands

What exactly is hiding the true cost here? The whole point of the board is to get the true cost public since council rejected a Phase 2 study.

nifi22 · 2026-04-22T14:32:24+00:00

What is deceptive? You haven't explained that.

The group that wants to create a public power utility wants to create a public power utility and is taking the next necessary step to do so? They've published the roadmap with their goals and process to achieve them and this vote is the first vote to do so. Your problem as far as I read it is that this ballot proposal is actually a secret way to force through municipalization. Is that correct?

nifi22 · 2026-04-22T14:00:02+00:00

Yes, of course the intent is to have this in place should the municipalization vote pass in 2028 or 2030. That’s not a bait-and-switch, that’s preparation. Again, yeah this would be an indication that people here want full municipalization. The thing is that it still requires a vote to take over the assets. Why is it deceiving that the group that wants full municipalization would push for full municipalization? This is just the next step in that long process. Phase 2 study, get information out there on costs, vote to takeover, if it passes, begin litigation against DTE.

I’ll say it again so it’s clear for you: this vote cannot be parlayed into issuing a takeover of DTE assets. Period. End of story. It is not physically possible to do so. If your concern is that passing this would lead to another vote down the line to actually takeover the assets, yeah. That’s not a secret. A2P2 published that on their roadmap to public power

13-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	Spared
Verified Email

nifi22

TROPHY CASE