CPSR Annual Conference October 19-21, 2001 Ann Arbor, Michigan

Getting Around Ann Arbor for the
CPSR 2001 Annual Conference

The goal of this document is to provide details on how to survive Ann Arbor as a first time visitor.

Getting Around AA

Your biggest transportation issue within AA will be getting backing and forth from campus/downtown to the State St. hotels. Your choices are:

• Walk the three mile trip to campus (it's mostly downhill). With any luck October weather will be very pleasant and you might even enjoy a brisk walk in the morning. You can't get lost. Get on State Street and head north (away from the Interstate). Eventually, you'll walk right past Angell Hall. Once you are on campus, you'll be able to easily walk to the Cottage Inn, IT Zone and the surrounding eateries, including those on Main Street (6 blocks away).
• Take the Bus. The AATA runs an excellent bus system, but service is curtailed on the weekend, so your choices will vary a little depending on the day. You'll want to take a serious look at the schedules at http://www.theride.org/rg/ for bus (route) number 6. A bus ride will cost you $0.75 each way. The bus does have a machine that will accept one dollar bills, but they do not provide change. You will want to get off the bus when you see Angell Hall on the right hand (east) side.
  

  From the hotels you'll want to walk to State St and Eisenhower (next to the Wolverine Tower) where your bus will pick you up. Take a careful look at the hotels area map and find where the bus stop is. You want to be on the south side (nearer the Interstate). The bus stop is clearly marked with a class enclosure and a distinctive bus sign.

  • On Friday number 6 runs every 30 minutes. Friday is your lucky day, because bus number 36 is also running. This goes about every 15 minutes between campus and Wolverine Tower (State and Eisenhower).
  • On Saturday only number 6 runs every 30 minutes.
  • On Sunday only number 6 runs every 60 minutes.

• Use a Taxi ((734) 663-3355 or 547-2222) for the three mile trip from the State Street hotels. This will set you back $8-9 and takes about 15 minutes (at most). Since there will be many of your CPSR colleagues at the hotel, we suggest you share a taxi - putting 3 or 4 in a taxi for a substrantial savings. Also keep in mind that some number of people at the conference will have cars and I'm sure they will be glad to give you a lift.

Parking

No one ever accused downtown and the campus areas of Ann Arbor of being a car-friendly town. On Friday and Saturday, parking is expensive. Expect to pay $0.90-$1.00 per hour in the parking garages or on the street. On Sundays, however, the parking is free. If you are driving to the conference your best parking garages are the ones on Thayer Street, Thompson Street, Maynard Street or Liberty Square (access from E. Washington). Check the campus map.

On Friday there is a convenient commuter parking lot that is free on State Street, not far from Eisenhower. Check the map. Bus 36 will stop here about every 15 minutes and deliver you right to campus.

Annotated Maps

• Detailed map of State St, from I-94 and the hotels to downtown. Note annotations in blue for hotels, bus stop etc.
• Detailed map of central campus, showing State St. and the neighboring downtown area to downtown
• Central campus and neighborhood.
• Map fragment for Friday commuter parking.
• Central Campus fragment. Print this, good reference.

Friday

Afternoon Seminars

Everyone is invited to two seminars held Friday afternoon (see schedule for details). These are specifically aimed at the Ann Arbor community and those CPSR members who have already arrived. Check out the map and look for West Hall and Dennison on the right hand side (east).

Friday Early Evening, IT Zone Social

For those who arrive Friday afternoon and early Friday night, we've arranged for a place to gather and meet. The Ann Arbor IT Zone is a non-profit organization of some 500 IT businesses which provides opportunities for people to meet and discuss issues of interest to the IT community. They also have a nice large space, centrally located, that will provide a good opportunity for CPSR members to meet, mingle with some of the AA community and gather for the evening's meal and entertainment.

Stop by between 5:30PM and 8:00PM, have a few snacks and a beer or something lighter at our social for the conference. The IT Zone is 330 E. Liberty, about two blocks from campus. Check out this map or this one.

This event is free to everyone attending the conference.

Conference Site

Both Saturday and Sunday of the conference will be held in Auditorium D of Angell Hall. which is on State St. (isn't everything?) down and across the street from the Michigan Union. Check out the map.

The auditorium itself is one floor down from where you enter (see picture to the right). Enter the building from the State St. entrance, take the stairs on either side down one floor and you are there. Saturday the area place is ours. Sunday we'll have to share with another group.

Wiener Award Dinner

The Wiener Award Dinner will be held at The Cottage Inn on Williams St. Go one block north from Angell Hall, turn left onto Williams. The Cottage Inn is on the left hand side, two short blocks from State Street.

We have the large meeting room upstairs (top of stairs, on right). We'll start meeting at 6:30 PM, dinner begins at 7:00PM. You must pre-register. Join us as we honor this year's award winners!

Food

You'll never go hungry in Ann Arbor - as long as you have enough money. :-) The town is filled with coffee shops and places to eat of every ethnic group you can imagine. A good URL for restaurants is at http://www.arborfood.com/restaurants/ (check out State St or Main St). If you don't like the ones listed here there are equally as many which are not listed.

• For lunch you'll find plenty of places near Angell Hall - on State Street, Liberty (near the IT Zone), Williams St (near the Cottage Inn) and on South University. Check out the map.
• For dinner you may want to travel further west (away from campus). There are plenty of restaurants between State St and Main St (6 blocks away). Follow Liberty (best choice), Williams or Washington streets from State to Main. Main Street is filled with brew pubs and restaurants of a wide variety. Check out the map.