mocomber

August 6th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^

When I was a junior (3 years ago) a house on Benjamin was smoking hookah on the front porch couch. The hookah tipped over, the coal got on the couch, and the couch and house went up in flames. I remember them talking about banning them then, because our realty company came by and took ours off. Maybe more of a liability than law, but still. 

 

Not to mention that the year before, while tailgating, a guy came up with this excited look on his face. He was talking about how he lived there growing up and tailgated and all that. Then his face dropped, and he said "That's the exact same couch we had out here!" He graduated in '88 or so. Took pictures and everything. Sick.

Horace Prettyman

August 6th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^

I lived down the street and IIRC those kids were idiots and all went inside and didn't put the hooka out on a windy night.

It's the same thing everytime a college house burns down.  Back when that house on Arbor St. burned in 2005 they blamed it on a bum smoking on the porch.  They went through the whole cycle of talking about banning couches on porches.

Couches don't cause fires. People smoking and lighting things on fire cause fires. Unless you believe in spontanious combustion that is.

those.who.stay.

August 6th, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^

I've never heard that story, but last spring I get a knock at the front door (I live on S. Forest Ave) and it is some woman from the fire department asking me to partake in a survey about my porch couch. Now I'm piecing it all together and she was probably involved in the Ann Arbor's investigation of porch couches. It makes sense because of the safety issues involved, but I love my disgusting porch couch.

BiSB

August 6th, 2010 at 12:40 PM ^

for years.  This was supposedly a "sure thing" to pass the council in 2004 after a porch fire, and in 2005, and again in 2006. 

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'll believe it when I see it.

bringthewood

August 6th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^

Whenever we played a morning Softball game in West Park we always had to boot the bums out of the dugouts. One armed Eddied would get pretty pissed if awoken before noon.

Sommy

August 6th, 2010 at 2:56 PM ^

If the bums are anything like the bums are anything like the bums I knew when I was an undergrad, in a nice, warm apartment after they go home from panhandling by the Dennison archway for the day.

zippy476

August 6th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^

Yeah making fun of the homeless, We sure have the "leaders and the best" well represented in this post.

brose

August 6th, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^

In all seriousness- it is kind of scary coming home at 3am and seeing a drunk adult sleeping on your front porch which was a very common occurance during the late 90's in Ann Arbor...I can't speak for today. 

jmblue

August 6th, 2010 at 3:10 PM ^

They'll just head to the one designated broken dorm door to sleep in the doorway.  I think it's West Quad's turn in the rotation this year.

Bando Calrissian

August 7th, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^

Seems Ronnie has migrated down towards State Street in recent years, he's grown a little crotchety and territorial.

My favorite Ronnie moment was the day he corraled me and my roommate to have a little 10-minute bitchfest about how he was having trouble paying his phone bill because his "old lady" was calling him too much.  Neither of us had ever heard a "homeless" person complain about his phone bill before...  I mean, little details, Ronnie lives with his mom...

Sommy

August 7th, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^

Ha, he seems to complain about his "old lady" quite a bit.  I remember having a conversation with him one day about how he was working double time because his old lady wanted him to take her on a vacation, and how he had to scout out different areas to panhandle at different times of the day.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

August 6th, 2010 at 7:17 PM ^

Remember when Jake Long--with temporarily soot-filled lungs--had to jump out of the third story of his house on Oakland and onto some kid's car rood because his house caught fire and he was trapped? He spent multiple days in the hospital, I believe. Anyway: Was that fire a couch-to-house fire? I lived at the corner of Church and Prospect at the time. I never knew the answer. Porch couch bans were a hot topic then, too.