Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

ACLU Versus the MATRIX

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 10. February 2005

The New Standard reports on the American Civil Liberty Union’s challenge of the multi-state MATRIX law enforcement project:

Since December 2003, Michigan police have participated in the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or “MATRIX,” a federally funded private database project that collects information from government agencies and private corporations. MATRIX is designed to analyze an unprecedented amount of data from various sources in order to facilitate law enforcement investigations.

While noting that MATRIX has some legitimate law enforcement uses, the ACLU questions other purported uses of the database that delve more deeply into the realm of profiling and identifying suspects based on speculative criteria.

> New Standard: Suit Advances Against Michigan Police Use of MATRIX Database
> ACLU of Michigan
> MATRIX

Ann Arbor Car Co-op Launches

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 10. February 2005

The Ann Arbor Community Car Cooperative, is now looking for members:

The Ann Arbor Community Car Cooperative (A2C3) has completed its initial trial phase and is now actively seeking new members. A2C3 is a car share program that was launched with one car and a closed membership in July of 2004. Having worked out many operational details, the cooperative is now seeking new members needing occasional car use. A2C3 has one car stationed on the near west side of Ann Arbor. As membership grows, additional cars will be added around Ann Arbor.

> via the Michigan Independent Media Center

Comment [2]

Campus Newsbits

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 10. February 2005

Student government votes to support Affirmative Action, unmarried partner benefits

On Tuesday, MSA voted on a resolution opposing Ward Connerly’s MCRI campaign, which seeks to end Affirmative Action in Michigan education. The resolution was created by several members of BAMN, but was supported by a wide array of student reps. This support included typically conservative students, and the resolution passed with only a handful of nay votes.

The resolution compels the student government to send letters in opposition to MCRI, and to lobby U-M administrators to support campus efforts at defeating MCRI.

There were also two resolutions on the agenda which asked for MSA support in the battle to maintain U-M’s current benefit structure with regard to unmarried and same-sex couples. These benefits are in danger due to last year’s passage of State Proposal 2, defining marriage as between a man and woman only.

Both resolutions passed with little opposition.

EMU BAMN & NAACP join to oppose MCRI

Just down the road in Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan University students rallied and marched in opposition to MCRI. It marks the beginning of a unique partnership between BAMN and NAACP, who typically do not work together.

EMU’s NAACP chapter went against national organization policy to work with BAMN, which earned a reputation for using violent and divisive tactics during the run-up to the 2003 supreme court hearings on U-M’s admissions policies.

The event saw about 250 people and several members of the media (including a Channel 7 camera). Some U-M students attended, and plan on working more closely with EMU in the future.

Coke campaign update

Next Tuesday, MSA will vote on supporting student efforts to end U-M’s contracts with the Coca Cola Company and its distributors. Eight universities in the US have already cut their contract, and countless more are considering doing the same.

If the resolution passes, U-M stands to become the largest university asking Coke to mend their ways.

see also: Killer Coke, Rally and Teach-in

AA News Editor Vindicator Scab

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 10. February 2005

Ed Petykiewicz is a scabAnn Arbor News editor Ed Petykiewicz temporarily went to Youngstown, Ohio to work as a scab at the Youngstoung paper The Vindicator when workers there walked out on strike:

We’d heard that the editor of The Ann Arbor News, owned by the Newhouse chain, was among a group of employees who’d temporarily relocated to Youngstown, Ohio, to serve as scabs at The Vindicator, an independent daily rag where 170 workers have been on strike since Nov. 16.

Union members in the editorial, classified and circulation departments walked out over issues ranging from pay increases and overtime rates to increasing health care costs, according to Deb Shaulis Flora, vice president of the Youngstown Newspaper Guild.

> From the MetroTimes: Winter (strike) break

Comment [11]

Granholm offers public works kickstart to State economy

Posted by Murph on 9. February 2005

Last night, Governor Granholm presented her unfortunately titled State of the State address, Jobs Today, Jobs Tomorrow.

Among the highlights,

  • Granholm wants to condense the next decade of public works projects into the next three years, in order to create immediate jobs.
  • Granholm proposes a $2 billion state bond (to be put before voters in November) to sponsor energy research: “This investment in Michigan’s future will allow us to transform the state that put the nation on wheels into the state that makes those wheels run on pollution-free fuel cells or bio-diesel technology; the state where the research into alternative energies is done; the state where the clean technology is developed, and where the clean cars, products, and businesses are built.”
  • Granholm proposes raising the minimum wage by $2/hour.
  • Granholm is replacing the current $2500 Merit Scholarship to high school students scoring well on standardized tests with a $4000 scholarship to all students completing two years of college.
  • Granholm asked school districts to consolidate services for increased efficiency, and asked the legislature for the power to force consolidation in districts that fail to do so voluntarily.

Predictably, State Republicans were nonplussed.

For more information, see:

AU International Travel Log

Posted by Ari Paul on 9. February 2005

DHARAMSALA, India—Losar, the Tibetan New Year, took place this morning in Dharamsala in northern India, the seat of the Dalai Lama’s government in exile. The Dalai Lama’s government has been based here since the late 1950’s, when the Chinese government invaded Tibet and exile Buddhist leaders.

People from around the world crammed into the temple in McLoudganj to see Buddhist monks call upon the state diety to grant the Tibetan strength and bring world peace. Tibetan children danced and sang while two monks debated the Buddhist concept of compassion as onlookers watched and drank Tibetan tea.

Rains and cold weather have impeded some to come to the mountain city for the annual festival, but life goes on here as usual. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was not in town today, but is expected to return this week.

With the recent coup in Nepal and less pressure on China from Europe and the United States to resolve its human rights problems, it appears that Tibetan idenity is in jeprody, however, this has only increased people’s awareness of this problem here in India.

SOS Open Houses Provide Grass-Roots Opportunity

Posted by MarkDilley on 9. February 2005

SOS Community Services will open its doors on February 24, March 24 and April 28, 2005, to community members interested in learning about and supporting the county-wide Blueprint to End Homelessness. From 5:30-7:00 p.m. on each of these days, community members can meet with SOS board directors and staff, share ideas and engage in discussion about how we can all work together to end homelessness in Washtenaw County. Each open house will start at the SOS Administrative Offices, 101 S. Huron Street, Ypsilanti. At 6:00 p.m., staff will escort guests on a guided tour of the SOS Crisis Center and Prospect Place Family Shelter, with discussion continuing afterward.

To attend an open house, please contact Kathryn at 734.961.1207 or kathrynt@soscs.org by Monday, February 21, March 21, or April 25, respectively. Those unable to visit SOS on these dates may contact Kathryn to make alternate arrangements for groups of five or more.

At these gatherings, SOS board directors and staff members will share what we know about family homelessness in this community and the solutions SOS has been pursuing to end it. We invite our fellow community members to share their own perspectives on this issue. The goal of the SOS open houses is to exchange good information that enables all of us to make knowledgeable, realistic and effective decisions about what each of us can contribute towards transforming the Blueprint from vision to reality.

The Blueprint charges SOS Community Services with two responsibilities:

1) to work with the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), the Salvation Army, Saint Joseph Mercy Health Systems and the rest of the community to increase the number of family emergency shelter units in Washtenaw County, and

2) to work with Washtenaw County’s Workforce Development Board, Employment Training and Community Services Group, Family Independence Agency, Office of Community Corrections and MSU Extension; the State of Michigan’s Michigan Works! and Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS); Food Gatherers; Michigan Ability Partners (MAP); Project Outreach Team (PORT); Shelter Association of Washtenaw County; and Washtenaw Community College to develop an integrated strategy of education and employment services for people who are homeless.

SOS Community Services responds with care and respect to families in need by working in partnerships that result in economic, family, and residential stability. SOS provides comprehensive services for homeless families and children, including but not limited to eviction prevention, emergency food distribution, utility assistance, shelter location and housing relocation, temporary shelter and transitional housing, educational and employability support services, life skills training, parenting programs and play-groups, therapeutic child care and after-school programs.

For more information about SOS Community Services, including opportunities to volunteer and donate, please visit soscs.org or call (734) 485-8730. For more information about the Blueprint to End Homelessness, please visit whalliance.org .

Same-Sex Benefits Suit Filed Against A2 Schools

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 9. February 2005

Right on schedule:

As opponents of Proposal 2 predicted, the constitutional amendment approved by Michigan voters last November to define marriage is being used to challenge same-sex benefits provided to partners of gay public employees.

An existing lawsuit against Ann Arbor Public Schools is apparently going to be the test case.

The Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center and 17 taxpayers are asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to stop the local school district from providing medical benefits to gay couples. In court papers, they cite the November constitutional amendment known as Proposal 2, which says the union between a man and a woman “shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”

> AA News: Suit seeks to end same-sex benefits

Comment [4]

City Council attacks UMich on student housing

Posted by Murph on 8. February 2005

At last night’s City Council meeting, the council approved an easement proposal for providing a vehicle access on Murfin to a private dorm near the corner of Broadway, Plymouth, and Murfin, just behind the NCRB. The 992-bed dorm was originally called “North Quad”, but is now being called “Melrose Student Suites”. The proposal passed by a 9-2 vote; the Suites expected to be open by the Fall of 2006.

The Council’s discussion apparently got fiery, though, with the Mayor and various Councilmembers criticizing the University for foot-dragging and for failing to house their students. From the Ann Arbor News:

Many on the council were miffed by comments made earlier in the meeting by U-M spokesman Jim Kosteva, who said the university was a “reluctant bride” in an agreement to build a private student housing project at 1756 Broadway. He said it would increase infrastructure costs for the university to support that new community of students near North Campus.

Hieftje and other council members who have previously criticized the university for not providing enough campus housing, seized on the remark.

“The University of Michigan should come out and say, ‘We aren’t interested in housing students. We’d rather they be a burden on the community,’ ” Hieftje said. “Is this a policy of the university?”

Other councilmembers joined in with criticisms of varying quality:

Carlberg, D-3rd Ward, said she was “baffled” why Kosteva would portray the added busing expenses as a negative when alternative transportation was a goal of the community.

Council Member Marcia Higgins questioned why the university was citing added costs for transportation when they charge students tuition.

“It is ridiculous to say this is a cost you shouldn’t be absorbing,” said Higgins, D-4th Ward.

Council Member Wendy Woods, D-5th Ward, said a $2 million contribution the developer was giving to U-M as part of the agreement for the easement should cover those costs.

Some further part of the discussion involved Kosteva trying to pull his foot back out of his mouth. If watching the Council and University fight it out is your idea of a fun evening, you can watch the meeting on CTN channel 16 at 7:30pm Friday.

Comment [1]

Killer Coke, Rally and Teach-in

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 8. February 2005

geno-cide
SOLE is rallying, demanding the U-M to “require Coca-Cola to reform their business practices to adhere to ethical standards. If Coca-Cola does not change its practices of violation of basic human right, we
demand that the University stop doing business with
the Coca-Cola Company.”


DUMP KILLER COKE

> Upcoming.org listing

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