Arbor Update

Local

Planning Commission Denies New Life Church Auditorium

Posted by Brandon on 17. November 2004

A proposed apartment building was not the only major issue taken-up at last night’s meeting of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission. The Commission voted 5-3 to deny approval of the student-oriented New Life Church’s site plan and a special exception to build a two-story addition, including a 550-seat auditorium, onto a former sorority house on Washtenaw Avenue between Hill and South University Avenue.

Commissioners particularly felt that the plan did not fit the neighborhood’s character, which is one of the required standards a petitioner must meet to be granted a special exception to the zoning. Dissenting Commissioners Jennifer Hall, Eric Lipson, and James D’Amour noted the pedestrian-dependency of the project as something that should be encouraged, and viewed the impact of the project on the surrounding neighborhood as relatively minor, especially in comparison to such “nuisances” as the UM football games and even the structure’s former use as student group-housing.

Just before the Commission voted, Hall commented that she would be sad if someday she sees this church built in one of the surrounding townships because a home for it could not be found in Ann Arbor.

Comment [2]

Campus

White Ribbon Campaign seeking volunteers

Posted by Murph on 17. November 2004

“are you a man?” begins the e-mail:

Men Against Violence Against Women needs men of good conscience to help us with our annual White Ribbon Campaign by passing out our white ribbons on the DIAG during the first week of December, as a message to men all over campus that men’s violence against women must end now.

We are asking men to give as much or as little time as they have to hand out these ribbons. We will be on the DIAG 9am-5pm from Mon. Nov 29 thru Friday Dec. 3. you can sign up for one-hour shifts by responding to this email (jrezmovi@umich.edu).

My jacket still has a white ribbon on it from about four years ago—be aware that a limited number of ribbon colors exists in the world, and you may be thanked for supporting the fight against breast cancer due to color overloading.

Campus

Student Elections Underway

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 17. November 2004

Voting in U-M student government elections began today at midnight. Students have until tomorrow (Thursday, 11/18) at 11:59 PM to cast their ballots. Voting is done online at umich.edu/~vote.

Students can vote for MSA representatives from their school, and for representatives to their school’s government (e.g. LSA-SG for LSA students and UMEC for Engineers).

Results should be available mid-Friday.

Comment [1]

Regional

New Livejournal community for Detroit transit

Posted by Murph on 17. November 2004

Livejournal user declanmcmanus has started an lj community detroit_transit for coordinating advocacy of light rail and other mass transit in Detroit. From the introductory post:

I figure after this past election, it’s time for me to get active about some issues locally that I care about, and try to make the world a better place on a smaller scale.

So, here’s the premise: Southeastern Michigan has no mass comprehensive mass transit system, other than a loose network of bus systems which are inefficient, dirty, and not at all comprehensive.

I think it’s time to change that. I think it’s time Detroit joined other major metropolitan areas and had it’s own light rail transit system. I am starting this journal community to encourage debate and discussion, and maybe even some progress towards making a Detroit/Southeastern Michigan Transit System a reality.

If not me, who? If not now, When?

You’re all invited, of course.

Thanks to George Hotelling for the link.

Local

828 Greene apartments meet heavy neighborhood resistance

Posted by Murph on 16. November 2004

An item on tonight’s Planning Commission meeting is seeing a lot of neighborhood outcry,

Public Hearing and Action on 828 Greene Street Apartments Site Plan, 0.37 acre, 824 and 828 Greene Street. A proposal to remove the existing two houses and construct an 11,790-square foot, six-unit, three-story apartment building, and a ten-space parking lot – Staff Recommendation: Approval

The petitioner noted, during the public hearing before the Commission, that the site plan, including parking, has been reviewed by the city’s planning staff, and that the proposal is following the staff’s recommendations.

In response, a string of neighbors and neighborhood association representatives have decried the plan, citing every imaginable excuse for not wanting student apartments (the petitioner “actually admitted that this is student housing – this is not useful to other people!” exclaims one neighbor). The hearing reads like a tutorial in how to attack student housing, and the neighbors seem skilled in the practice.

Complaints include noise, parking, litter, floodplain considerations, and sewer capacity. One speaker cites a problem with 36 bedrooms attracting boyfriends, girlfriends, family – with 36 residents quickly becoming 72 – while another claims that 6-bedroom units are hard to rent, and fears the property will go unfilled, and thus unmaintained, and will become an eyesore. One implores the Commission to demand the proposal be scaled back to affordable one- and two-bedroom apartments that “can help lower-income families get started in Ann Arbor.” Another, an architect, shows his modifications to floor plans, showing how the apartments could be divided up into even more bedrooms once approved, with just a few illegal wall additions.

The South Main Neighborhood Association representative claims, “I genuinely like students,” but not in her backyard. She defends her concern with the plans by saying she fears for the tenants’ quality-of-life, calling the building “a mini-dorm, without food service and without benefit of rules.”

After an hour of discussion, Commissioner Jean Carlberg moved to table the application, after support for the proposal from Carlberg and Chair Jennifer Hall failed to win over enough commissioners to pass the propsal.

The council meeting will be replayed on CTN Channel 16 at 10am Wednesday, November 17 and at 10am Saturday, November 20. The hearing on the 828 Greene apartments starts approximately half an hour into the Commission meeting.

Comment [11]

Local

AAACP to become Michigan Peaceworks

Posted by Murph on 16. November 2004

The Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace announces an upcoming name change via e-mail:

Announcing…
MICHIGAN PEACEWORKS

Effective January 2005, the Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace will have a new name. We’re finally shaking off our geographically limiting, sterile-sounding, too-long, acronym-defying moniker in favor of one that’s snappier, more dynamic, and easier to say.

The new name gives us the flexibility to work anywhere in the state AND ushers in an expansion of our mission.

It has become evident that advancing peace in the world requires making repairs on the home front. The social inequities, feelings of powerlessness, and lack of information about world events among U.S. citizens enables dominant government and corporate actors to wage wars while neglecting social and environmental needs.

Therefore, our continuing work around peace will involve collaborating with low-income communities around issues that affect their quality of life while making the link between local and global issues. What will that work look like? Here are some examples:

1. provide trainings and consultancy for grassroots organizations in low-income communities
2. organize accountability sessions with elected officials
3. establish youth-organizer trainings and peace pilot programs in high schools
4. engage in voter education and registration
5. continue our tried-and-true methods of promoting peace through community education, demonstrations, and media advocacy.

We also wish to facilitate the tremendous energy that you all have for various peace-related projects. Get involved! Come to Thursday night’s community gathering and potluck!

REMINDER
Peace Community Gathering & Potluck
THIS Thursday, November 18
7 pm
Northside Presbyterian/St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church
1679 Broadway, Ann Arbor (off Plymouth Rd.)
Enter through the farthest north door.

Bring a tasty dish to pass! AAACP will provide beverages, plates, cups, and utensils.

We’ll share reflections and ideas in a large group, then break down into small groups by areas of interest for further conversation. We’ll facilitate the swapping of contact information so you can stay in touch with like-minded souls. Come for the camaraderie!

Show up at 6:30 pm if you’re able, to help set up tables and chairs.

Comment [4]

National

Stabenow becomes Democratic Caucus Secretary

Posted by Murph on 16. November 2004

Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow has been selected by her fellow Senate Democrats to be the Democratic Caucus Secretary, the third highest-ranking caucus position after Leader and Whip.

From a press release in advance of this selection,

“I look forward to taking on this leadership position which will allow me to more effectively fight for the things that matter most to the people of Michigan and get the job done,” said Stabenow. “We have important work ahead of us on critical issues like stopping Canadian trash, making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, protecting our manufacturing economy and creating good paying jobs. I look forward to continuing to lead the fight on these important issues.”

Meanwhile, President Bush’s Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has announced his resignation from the cabinet. Abraham is a former Michigan Senator who was defeated by Stabenow in 2000.

The former U.S. senator from Michigan faced numerous problems as the longest serving energy secretary in history: skyrocketing energy prices, the controversial development of Yucca Mountain in Nevada for spent nuclear fuel storage, and an electricity blackout that darkened much of Michigan and several other states in 2003. He also promoted advanced fuel technologies and fought nuclear weapons proliferation, but has been unsuccessful persuading Congress to pass a comprehensive energy bill.

See also,
> Detroit Free Press, 16 November: Nevada’s Reid tapped to lead shrunken Senate Democratic caucus; Stabenow is caucus secretary

Local

Mary Beth Doyle Obituary

Posted by MarkDilley on 16. November 2004

via Mlive

Doyle, Mary Beth Ann Arbor, MI Age 43, died in a tragic car accident on November 13, 2004. Mary Beth was a leading environmentalist; a beloved sister, daughter, friend, and colleague; and a joyous presence on the dance floor, in a music hall, and at environmental demonstrations.

Mary Beth was widely recognized as one of Michigan’s most prominent environmental advocates. Her professional career included positions with the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, where she directed a canvass office, and the Ecology Center, where she worked for the past 12 years, most recently as its Environmental Health Campaign Director.

She worked with dozens of local communities throughout Michigan to help them address toxic pollution problems. Among the most notable in stances, she was a leader of a successful campaign to shut the Henry Ford Hospital incinerat or in Detroit, a source of air toxics to the community. She worked with residents in Hamtramck to shut a troubled, dirty and polluting commercial incinerator. In Romulus, she helped the local residents fight establishment of a toxic waste injection well. And she was a leader of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, a Detroit-based organization which campaigns for environmental justice. Mary Beth was a leading voice for stronger environmental health protections in Michigan.

Most recently, she had been working to enact legislation to ban brominated flame retardants neurotoxins found in common consumer products, now discovered to be building up in the environment and our bodies that just last Wednesday passed the full Senate and is expected to be passed by the House and signed by the Governor. She was instrumental in the state environmental community’s develop ment of the Don’t Trash Michigan campaign, which earlier this year won passage of legislation to regulate out-of- state waste. In 1995, Mary Beth helped organize one of the country’s first conferences about endocrine disrupting chemicals. In 1999, she persuaded the first retailer in the country to agree to stop selling children’s chew toys made from toxic poly vinyl chloride. She worked with health-impacted groups, including the Endometriosis Association, the Learning Disabilities Association, the Breast Cancer Fund, and others on the environmental causes of disability and illness. She was a leader in national and international coalitions including Health Care Without Harm, Be Safe Coalition, Coming Clean Coalition, Stop Dioxin Campaign, and several others designed to protect people from toxic substances. She worked on campaigns across the country with communities fighting polluting incinerators, and on a nationwide campaign to develop uniform standards for alternative treat ment technologies.

Finally, she was a major figure in environmental issues in her adopted home town of Ann Arbor. In 1999, she led the grassroots portion of the successful People for Parks campaign to pass a citizen-initiated millage proposal for parkland acquisition the program which was later expanded into the City’s Parks and Greenbelt Program. She helped pass a ban on mercury thermometers in Ann Arbor at the time, the third in the country – and then the successful statewide ban, which has prevented mercury from contaminating Great Lakes fish, and the environment. Mary Beth served as a member of the Ann Arbor Environmental Commission, the Board of Directors of the Michigan Environmental Council, two international work groups, and many other bodies. She held a Masters of Public Health Degree from the University of Michigan. She is widely known and respected by policy makers and regulators in Michigan, as well as activists and community leaders throughout the country. At the same time, she never took anything or any one too seriously, and occasionally performed as a giant rain drop in skits done in area schools to teach kids about water quality and conservation.

Mary Beth is equally famous in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area because of her contagious, positive, dynamic personality. Among her circle of friends are musicians, artisans, professionals, and regular folks of every persuasion who have all enjoyed the best conversations and dancing of their lives be cause they shared them with Mary Beth. Her personal hobbies were also numerous, and included kayaking, cross coun try skiing, swing, tap, and rock- and-roll dancing, cribbage, and gardening. Whatever she devoted herself to, she shared with the rest of us in such a way to make us happier people. Her jokes were better because no one got hurt. While we grieve our tremendous loss, we are grateful for her joy and light, and for her work to make the world better.

A memorial service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 4001 Ann Arbor Saline Road, 1:00 PM Wednesday, November 17. A reception will follow. She is survived by her brothers Michael and John of New Jersey and Virginia; respectively, her sister Marnie of New Jersey; and her beloved David Keeney of Manchester, MI. The family requests that donations intended to memorialize and continue Mary Beth’s work be sent to the Ecology Center at 117 N. Division, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

>Arbor Update: Memorial Service and Fund
>Arbor Update: Mary Beth Doyle was passionate about the environment
>Arbor Update: Tragic News

Comment [1]

Campus

Justice Scalia Speaks; Scalia Protest

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 16. November 2004

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks today at 4:30pm at the Rackham Auditorium. University of Michigan Students for Choice are planning to protest Scalia and are meeting at 4pm at the fountain near the Modern Languages Building. The email calling the protest contains a litany of reasons to show up to protest, including Scalia’s stances on choice, affirmative action, and sexual orientation.

> Students for Choice Scalia Protest Email
> Law School: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court presents the Helen L. DeRoy Lecture
> Ann Arbor News: Scalia to lecture at U-M
> U of M News Service: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Scalia to give U-M Law School lecture
> ArborUpdate: Justice Scalia to Address Law School, Nov. 16th

Comment [14]

Campus

Group Plans Another Showing of Prison Documentary

Posted by Rob Goodspeed on 15. November 2004

(I also posted this on my personal blog)

After an overflow crowd turned out for a November 8 screening of a documentary about the criminal justice system, the U-M chapter of Amnesty International has organized another free screening of the award-winning prison documentary “Juvies”.

The group will show the documentary Juvies on Thursday, November 18 at 7 p.m. in the Vandenberg Room of the Michigan League.

I interviewed director Leslie Neale for this website before the first showing. During her visit to Ann Arbor earlier this month, Neale answered questions after the screening of her film and participated in a joint event with the Prison Creative Arts Project, a U-M program where students work with Michigan prisoners to create artwork.

On Nov. 8, the U-M Amnesty International group says “over 50” people were turned away after the 210-seat screening room filled to capacity. The Michigan Daily covered the event with a lengthy story, which included this excerpt:

... “Every warden I have talked to has said juveniles are the most rehabilitatable group among violent criminals.” [Directory Leslie Neale] then made an analogy between sending adolescents to adult prison and “feeding coal to a furnace.”

She emphasized the financial implications of sending young people to prison as opposed to rehabilitating them and letting them return to society.

“It costs one million dollars to lock a kid up for life,” she said.

LSA student John Smith, said the film was illuminating. “It’s absolutely shocking what they did to those kids – the sentences are egregious,” he said. He blamed the phenomenon on overzealous politicians and a public that has been confused by an alarmist media.

At the film’s end, the pedestrians who said they were in favor of juvenile criminals standing trial as adults were told what [juvenile offender] Ta had done and asked what punishment he should received. The pedestrians, who seemed to agree on a sentence of several years, were in disbelief when informed that he had been given 35 years.