Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

30,000 State of Michigan employees lose same-sex benefits

Posted by Murph on 2. December 2004

Under pressure from the Republican legislature to comply with Proposal 2, Governor Granholm’s administration will remove same-sex partner benefits from the State of Michigan’s contracts with five unions, representing 30,000 state employees.

From the Ann Arbor News:

On Wednesday, Granholm aide David Fink said that negotiated contracts scheduled for adoption by the [state Civil Service Commission] on Dec. 15 will be stripped of the same-sex domestic partner benefits.

Fink, who holds the title of state employer, said the Granholm administration decided to eliminate the benefits because of the passage of Proposal 2, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman and bans same-sex marriage and “similar unions for any purpose.”

“We’re about following the law and honoring the intent of the voters,” Fink told a Detroit newspaper.

Fink is apparently hoping to avoid a lawsuit that would force the State to comply, and notes that the same-sex benefits could/would be reinstated if court challenges showed the amendment to have overreached.

University of Michigan employees are not affected by this action,

U-M spokeswoman Julie Peterson this morning said the governor’s action did not change the university’s position.

Officials at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University have said they are exempt from the constitutional amendment as autonomous entities of the state, and Proposal 2’s passage doesn’t change that.

Peterson said it was important to provide the benefits in order to attract the best and most talented employees.

“If the benefits are challenged, we’ll defend our rights to (provide them),” she said.

Comment [5]

Boyle on Pesick: 'Maniacal', 'One-track-mind'

Posted by Ari Paul on 2. December 2004

Frequent AU commenter David Boyle takes Michigan Daily editorial page editor, Jason Pesick, to task in the Letters section today.

Columnist evokes tyrants to inflate his own image

To the Daily:

While Googling “Lowliness is young ambition’s ladder” from Jason Z. Pesick’s A Thanksgiving wish (11/30/2004), and finding, by the way, some interesting results like “Lowliness Is Young Ambition’s Ladder: Eighth Concubine Surnamed Ho” at http://www.ubcpress.ubc.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=2008, I found that the quote is from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and is about people pretending to be humble until they spring to the top of the heap, and then become scornful for everything and everybody below them. Is this the kind of role model Pesick wants to set out if indeed he “moves up a couple lines” and becomes Daily Editor in Chief?

I should hope not, but then Pesick further gloats, besides his gloating about climbing the Daily’s greasy pole; we get to learn about his sibling’s acceptance to the University, and then we are treated to the truly maniacal “Just wait until I can control page 1.” Has Pesick been watching “Dr. Strangelove” too much lately?

Pesick’s columns have descended over the past several years into increasing rancor, such as his April 15 rant End of the Vulcans against Student Voices in Action-type activists, the sort who would dare to … boycott the mighty Daily. Ooooooh. How dare they, those dirty activists. His columns also show a repetitive obsessiveness with the wonders of globalization, including the glory of outsourcing any U.S. job to foreign countries except, apparently, his own job. Is such one-track-mindedness healthy? With all that plus his desired “control” of page 1 and other Daily pages, it is beginning to smell like those “114 Years of Editorial Freedom” can kiss their sweet (self) good-bye. Who knows, Pesick may ironically himself become the cause of another Daily boycott, and be forced to feel “lowly” indeed, but without pretending this time.

David Boyle

Alum

Border's workers achieve another contract!

Posted by MarkDilley on 2. December 2004

The tentative contract reported here a few months ago, was ratified by Border’s workers in MN! Yea! Contract negotiations are soon at Store #1.

From the email list Work in Progress

FIRST EDITION CONTRACT—After almost two years of bargaining, some 21 Borders Books & Music workers in Minneapolis, represented by UFCW Local 789, have a first contract. The agreement, ratified Nov. 14, includes an in-store labor-management committee as well as a grievance and arbitration process. This is the second Borders store nationwide to reach a first contract.

and

Dear BordersUnion.org registered users and community supporters:

Workers at Borders Uptown Minneapolis store ratified their contract on November 14. Uptown workers voted to unionize in October 2002, seeking a pay hike and have worked with organizers at the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 789. The workers rejected a company contract offer in September 2003 but ratified the new deal on a 9-5 vote.

Today is World AIDS Day

Posted by swoll on 1. December 2004

This just landed in my inbox:

AIDS.ORG: World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004
———————————————————————————-

<><> KNOW THE FACTS ABOUT HIV/AIDS <><>
———————————————————————————-

WORLDWIDE

* 39.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS * 4.9 million people (2.4 million children) infected in 2004 * 50% of people living with HIV are women * Young women/girls 2.5 times more likely to become infected than males * 11 million young people are living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15-24 * 3.1 million men, women, & children died of AIDS in 2004 * 28.1 million people have died of AIDS since 1981 * Every 6 seconds, a new person is infected with HIV * Every 10 seconds, a person dies of HIV/AIDS
——————————————————————————————-

<><> TAKE ACTION—WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP <><>
——————————————————————————————-

LEARN – EDUCATE – DONATE – VOLUNTEER – PARTICIPATE

* Donate to AIDS.ORG or other nonprofit AIDS charities * Educate Yourself – get the facts, get tested * Educate Others – teach what you have learned to those close to you * Protect yourself – Protect others * Volunteer with an AIDS organization in your community * Register for a local AIDS walk
————————————————————————————— ** PREVENTION STARTS WITH YOU – GET TESTED ** HELP AIDS.ORG – HELP OTHERS

================================================

AIDS.ORG: Educating – Raising HIV Awareness – Building Community
a nonprofit AIDS education organization & project of Community Partners
http://www.aids.org

<><><><><><><><><><><>><><><><><><><><><><>

Daily chastises MSA over election results

Posted by Murph on 1. December 2004

The Michigan Daily today has a front page article noting that, over a week after the Michigan Student Assembly’s official election results were determined, MSA has yet to make any attempt at publicly disseminating those results.

The Daily has posted the results on their own website, and also presents some choice quotes from MSA:

MSA Vice President Anita Leung, an Engineering senior, said, “It never occurred to us to put it on the website.”

MSA Rules and Elections Committee Chair Russ Garber, an LSA junior, said no one would read the results even if they had been posted on the website.

Rackham student Darren Easton, an MSA representative, said the assembly should publish a list of successful candidates in some fashion, but added that the Daily should publish the results. “I’m kind of a neophyte to all this electronic stuff — I’m a paper and pencil kind of guy,” he said.

For the past several years MSA had counted on student “blog” websites to publish results, said former MSA Vice President Jenny Nathan, an LSA senior.

Goodspeed Update the official mouthpiece of MSA? Apparently so.

This site had posted the unofficial results of the MSA election and LSA-SG election as they were e-mailed to candidates; the results of the Rackham Student Government elections are on RSG’s website.

Comment [14]

Recruiters May be Barred from College Campuses

Posted by Ari Paul on 1. December 2004

College campuses win a victory over the Federal government and the Pentagon. Adam Liptak, the New York Times’ legal reporter, writes:

Universities may bar military recruiters from their campuses without risking the loss of federal money, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, found that educational institutions have a First Amendment right to keep military recruiters off their campuses to protest the Defense Department policy of excluding gays from military service.

The 2-to-1 decision relied in large part on a decision in 2000 by the United States Supreme Court to allow the Boy Scouts to exclude gay scoutmasters. Just as the Scouts have a First Amendment right to bar gays, the appeals court said, law schools may prohibit groups that they consider discriminatory.

Comment [2]

'Blog' Number One Word of the Year

Posted by Ari Paul on 1. December 2004

Via Reuters:

A four-letter term that came to symbolize the difference between old and new media during this year’s presidential campaign tops U.S. dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster’s list of the 10 words of the year.

Merriam-Webster Inc. said on Tuesday that blog, defined as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks,” was one of the most looked-up words on its Internet sites this year.

More Cheap Rides to the Airport

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 1. December 2004

Students who need to get to and from the airport after exams should take advantage of the Michigan Student Assembly’s AirBus program. Students can choose from a flexible schedule of departure times and can also catch a bus back to campus after break.

Busses will leave from Bursley (North Campus), Mosher-Jordan (Hill), and State St. by the Law Quad (Central). Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Michigan Union Ticket Office, located on the ground floor of the Union near the food court. Riders may also purchase their tickets at the pickup locations at an increased rate.

Winter Break reserve tickets go on sale today. Riders can also purchase tickets at the pickup locations at the time they wish to ride. The service is available to anyone with a valid M-Card.

AirBus Links:
Winter Break Schedule
AirBus Home
Michigan Union Ticket Office
Questions: MSAairBus(at)umich.edu

Comment [1]

U-M students plan for Bush inauguration

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 30. November 2004

The following e-mail has been making its way around campus:

CALL TO ACTION—UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN/ANN ARBOR COUNTER-INAUGURATION, JANUARY 20TH, 2005

***FIRST COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING—
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2ND, 8 PM
POSTING WALL, ANGELL HALL***

On January 20th, 2005, our worst fears will come true. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will be sworn in to another 4 years as president and vice-president of the United States.
This will mean violence, intolerance, and hatred for another 4 years, for Americans and for the world. The most recent attacks on Fallujah have left the region utterly devastated, with no signs of the destruction ceasing. The administration’s disregard for the opinions of the global community have left us even more vulnerable as a nation. We must join hands with our brothers and sisters of the world, and stand up for our future.
We cannot be silent on January 20th. The world is counting on us to be the voices of dissent, to march and rally for peace, to reclaim our rights, to destroy the mandate. We call for people all over the nation and the world to converge in Washington, D.C., on January 20th, for peaceful anti-war, anti-hate, anti-intolerance, anti-greed actions. We also call for a student walk-out on the campus of the University of Michigan on J-20, followed by pro-peace, pro-diversity, pro-compassion actions on campus.
We call to organize rides, housing, know-your-rights training, legal observance, and risk-appropriate affinity groups for travel to Washington D.C. on January 20th. We call for campus activists and student groups to join the call, to participate in the student walk-out, and organize actions and events on the University of Michigan’s campus on J-20. We call for University of Michigan’s administration and faculty to participate in the events of the day, and to provide support for students on J-20.
WE ARE NOT LIMITED, NOR ARE WE BOUND BY ANYTHING IN THIS CALL. The people will determine the direction and content of this coordinating committee meeting.
There is no organization behind this call. We will meet to begin organizing and create necessary organizational structures on Thursday, December 2nd, at 8 pm by the posting wall of Angell Hall. Let us come together and stand with the people of the world who want justice, peace, truth, and love. Let us come together and stand peacefully against the leadership of George W. Bush.

Signed,
Ashwini Hardikar

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ALONG TO ANY AND ALL, AND SIGN YOUR NAME TO THE CALL IF YOU WISH WHEN YOU FORWARD IT.

http://www.counter-inaugural.org

Ann Arbor Working Group:
http://www.counter-inaugural.org/lightningbug/web/index.php?
action=detail&mode=view&listing=23

Comment [12]

Ann Arbor revisits city income tax plan

Posted by Murph on 30. November 2004

Consulting firm Plante Moran yesterday delivered their report on a possible city income tax to the City of Ann Arbor. The City Council will consider placing a measure on the ballot in November to create an income tax for those who live or work in Ann Arbor. From the Ann Arbor News:

The independent study stated an income tax of 1 percent on residents and businesses and 0.5 percent on non-residents could raise between $905,000 to $18.6 million annually, depending on the size of the exemption set by the City Council for dependents in a household.

An income tax would have to be approved by voters. In exchange, the city would eliminate 6.21 mills from its overall property tax rate of 16.90 mills.

Property owners – whether homeowners or landlords – would be the clear winners under this plan, while renters, students, and especially commuters would be the losers.

City Councilmember Mike Reid (R-2nd) points out that businesses and residents who rent, rather than own, their space could be net losers—renters would pay the new income tax, while landlords would receive the property tax break. The News notes that the City is “hopeful” landlords would lower rents in response to the lower property tax. It can be presumed city officials are also peering out their windows hopefully for a glimpse of the flying pigs.

The explicit target of the move is to capture some tax dollars from the University of Michigan,

“Look at the U of M,” said Council Member Margie Teall, D-4th Ward. “We don’t collect anything from them.”

“Now, we’d start collecting on their employees,” Chief Financial Officer Tom Crawford told Teall after the meeting.

If University employees are forced to pay income taxes, many may demand higer salaries from the University in order to make up for the lost income—if the University complied, it would have to raise tuitions or cut services in other areas, as extra money from the State is not likely forthcoming.

Commuters who live outside of Ann Arbor would receive no benefit from the tax shift, as most of the revenue would be used to pay for existing services, and not for new services that would provide them any new value, like commuter transit. Additionally, the effects of this tax on commuters could be felt in other cities, perhaps diverting money from the City of Detroit’s budget to Ann Arbor,

Dave Asker of Plante Moran said a person can’t be fully taxed twice. For example, the study reports that 1,306 Ann Arbor residents commute to Detroit to work, which has a city income tax. Those people, he said, would continue paying Detroit’s income tax but would receive a credit for their Ann Arbor tax.

Clearly, the idea of a city income tax is skewed in the favor of local landowners, and would be at best neutral for everyone else who lives or works in Ann Arbor. Admittedly, the City needs to find new and better ways to raise money to meet the demands of the City budget (such as replacing the hemorrhaging municipal water system), but an income tax is not by any means “better”. Perhaps they should instead consider encouraging development (or redevelopment) of underused land and structures in the City: infill development and renovation of unused structures can increase tax revenues with minimal new demands on infrastructure, with the money coming from the owners of the newly valuable structure, and not from students, commuters, and renters in decrepit older housing stock.

As a final nail, notice that residents would be charged at a higher rate than non-residents, in effect bribing students to maintain addresses outside of Ann Arbor rather than, say, registering to vote within the city.

Comment [5]

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