Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Porch Couch Ban Language Online

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 18. July 2004

The proposed language for the couch ban ordinance has been posted on the Ann Arbor City Clerks web site as part of the City Council’s Current Agenda. The agenda is a 200+ page PDF file, so I have posted relevant sections in the ArborUpdate library here.

The memo describing the ordinance to council is from the fire chief, Joseph A. Gorman. The primary rationale is that they believe upholstered furniture outdoors poses a fire hazard. The proposed penalty is $100. Some choice quotes:

Other reasons for enacting these bans is that sofas and other upholstered furniture are readily available fuel sources in civil disobedience situations, political protest, and revelry generally associated with sporting events…

... upholstered furniture in outdoor locations creates several additional problems including a blighted appearance of the neighborhood, an attraction for the homeless, and a breeding area for pestilence when sofas become damaged, ripped or weather-exposed.

The proposed ordinance has been presented to the University of Michigan’s Off-campus Housing Advisory Board and has received support from the student groups represented as well as the landlord’s.

Which student groups actually supported this ordinance? Whither the Ann Arbor Tenant’s Union?

Note that this Monday’s meeting is the first reading of the ordinance. The second reading and public hearing on the ordinance will happen at a future council meeting. In the interim, I recommend contacting your city council representatives and the mayor to express your opinion on the ordinance and begin to organize your friends.

Comment [4]

Porch Vision and Values

Posted by Brian Kerr on 18. July 2004

A recent press release from the Kerry/Edwards campaign states that:

Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry and his running mate John Edwards today kicked off an election long [sic] effort to take their shared vision and values to front porches across America.

Here’s one more reason to fight the proposed couch porch ban—if these guys bring their “effort” to town, it’d only be proper to offer them a place to sit down and get comfy.

Comment [1]

Economic Recovery?

Posted by Ari Paul on 17. July 2004

“The amount of money workers receive in their paychecks is failing to keep up with inflation. Though wages should recover if businesses continue to hire, three years of job losses have left a large worker surplus,” the New York Times reports.

Students receive e-mail about 2005 budget

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 16. July 2004

In an attempt to increase transparency and appear more accessible, U-M Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper has sent an e-mail to students detailing some of the significant highlights of the recently approved FY 2005 budget for the Division of Student Affairs. It is unclear, however, exactly which students recieved VP Harper’s e-mail, as it was not sent to the entire campus.

This comes after a winter semester filled with protest and student outrage at administrative folleys that resulted in severe cuts to many vital student services and resources. While many of the students’ issues have been addressed (to varying extents), students and adminstrators are likely to remain opposed on key issues such as SAPAC and MESA.

More commentary and analysis of this budget can be expected on arborupdate.com in the coming week.

The original e-mail:

To: “U-M Students”:;
From: “E. Royster Harper”
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 18:23:29
Subject: 2005 Student Affairs Budget

Dear Students:

I want to share with you some good news regarding the Division of Student Affairs budget, and its impact on student services and programs.

As a result of the continuing difficult state budget climate, Student Affairs, like other campus units, was asked to plan for a budget cut in 2004-05 of up to 5%. However, I believe strongly that further erosion of our programming budgets would hurt our ability to support our student communities. President Mary Sue Coleman and Provost Paul Courant agree with this concern, and together we have worked to identify resources that would allow us to protect Student Affairs from further cuts and restore some portions of our funding that had been cut in 2003-04.

Our budget planning and internal reallocations within and outside of Student Affairs have led to increased funding for the following items, among others: – $70,000 to create enhanced safe space for sexual assault survivors; – $27,000 in restored funding to Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs programs and Pow Wow (a restoration to 2003 funding levels), along with a continued commitment to work with the Native American community to provide support for the Pow Wow; – $8,000 in partially restored funding for Student Activities and Leadership; – $25,000 to support emerging opportunities; – Increased funding for International Center programs, including work related to new federal regulations; and – Expanding to full-time the position of education coordinator in the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs.

We also have focused our attention on how to use most effectively the resources that go into the University Unions, and you will see some positive changes at the North Campus Commons and at the Michigan League. At the Pierpont Commons, there is a new convenience store, new recreation and gathering space for students, and two new restaurant offerings: the Sky Grill, and the Earl of Sandwich. At the League, we have replaced the buffet with a grab-and-go food menu. You will be able to get food for longer hours during the day, and the underground space will have more Internet hookups and will be open longer hours for studying and gathering.

With respect to the William Monroe Trotter House Multicultural Center, I am pleased to tell you that we have been able to allocate additional funding both for facilities needs and for programming. These funds are in addition to the efforts underway to obtain support for Trotter through private donors as part of our major fundraising campaign.

Our facilities staff has been working on an assessment of the physical condition of Trotter House to determine what infrastructure updates are urgently needed. A fund of $800,000 has been set aside from investment proceeds to support infrastructure repairs and improvements over the next two years; and an additional $200,000 has been identified for immediate and forthcoming facilities needs, such as interior and exterior enhancements. Some of these improvements are already apparent.

In addition to these one-time investments in the facility, we have worked to find $80,000 in recurring funds to support the long-term development of multicultural programming connected with Trotter House. An advisory group, made up largely of students and including faculty and staff representation, will be established to guide us in planning for how best to use these resources to develop effective multicultural programming that supports the vision of Trotter House. This group will carry out its work during the coming academic year.

Because of the commitment of recurring University funds for multicultural programming, the leadership of the Michigan Student Assembly decided not to bring forward to the Board of Regents a request for an additional $1 student fee increase to support Trotter.

Our work together to create a vibrant, stimulating and supportive student community is tremendously important. The entire staff of Student Affairs looks forward to working with students in the months ahead as we put the University’s vision and values into practice.

Sincerely,

E. Royster Harper
Vice President for Student Affairs

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Kiblawi Reports from Middle Easternville

Posted by Ari Paul on 16. July 2004

Fadi Kiblawi, the U-M alum who was arrested last month by Israeli troops for taking part in a protest against Israel’s illegal seperation wall in the West Bank, has just published an essay about his travels in the Palestine Chronicle.

Writes Kiblawi:

Al-Ayzariyah has perhaps one of the more disturbing constructions of the wall. On my way to Jerusalem, I took the route through this Palestinian community. Bear in mind, Al-Ayzariyah falls within Israel’s Jerusalem Municipal borders and its residents pay taxes to the Jerusalem Municipality. The main road, eerily void of cars, is brusquely interrupted by concrete eight meters in height and endless in width. To the right, houses, and to the left, a mosque; all practically one with the invasive eyesore. Al-Ayzariyah is entirely cut off from Jerusalem, while Ma’ale Adumim, a Jewish settlement further away to the east, enjoys unfettered access. The single possible rationale of this portion is to further disjoin Palestinians from their capital in Israel’s heinous attempts to Judaize Jerusalem through a process of depopulating it of its native Arabs.

Comment [6]

Lullaby For Birdland?

Posted by Ari Paul on 16. July 2004

According to sources at Current magazine and other Ann Arbor insiders, one of Ann Arbor’s premier jazz sites, The Bird of Paradise, will, in fact, be shutting down.

The Bird’s record has been tarnished by a brawl that involved hundreds of people last week, which resulted in the stabbing of several patrons.

Word has it that the Bird will close after the 30th.

Story developing…

Comment [3]

And That's a Good Thing...

Posted by Ari Paul on 16. July 2004

Martha Stewart gets 5 months at Club Fed for lying to investigators.

Juan Cole in 'Michigan Today'

Posted by Brian Kerr on 15. July 2004

Michigan Today is U of M’s thrice-yearly house organ of cheery fluff. The Summer 2004 issue has an interesting two-page interview with University professor and Arbor Blogger Juan Cole about his career, his blog, and his much-beloved—by us, at least!—perspective on the “war on terror.” An excerpt from the interview:

Robert Haug: In general, what role do you think should be played by academics in the public and political discourse?

Juan Cole: I think it’s really unfortunate that academics have been sidelined in most important policy debates. If you watch the cable news channels, you very seldom see academics. Most of the talking heads are self-appointed experts who lack the credentials we would insist on in academia. The vast majority of the people you see talking about the Middle East on television haven’t lived there and don’t know Arabic or another Middle Eastern language, and yet they are representing themselves as founts of wisdom. I laugh often because they can’t pronounce the names and places and yet they have been brought in front of the camera as an expert. I think that there’s been an unfortunate tendency for right wing think tanks to dominate these discussions. They often produce very shoddy studies and policy recommendations, which are nevertheless taken very seriously.

Couch Ban Cartoon

Posted by Rob Goodspeed on 15. July 2004

Two U-M grads who have started the internet comic “The Sock Drawer” have designed a comic on the proposed couch ban for ArborUpdate. Click here to view the comic.

Gentrification and the City: Eaton Factory Re-Zoning

Posted by Rob Goodspeed on 15. July 2004

The Eaton Factory, the last remaining industrial facility in the Downtown Area, is set to close soon and the city will be voting soon to allow the factory to be “re-developed” as expensive condominiums and shops. Engineering student Katherine Scott thinks the planned destruction of the historic factory is a loss of a historic building, and “If Ann Arbor wish to remain a truly “cool” and progressive city in Michigan we must attempt to preserve our unique residential and retail spaces.”

I agree with her, and I think city leaders in general aren’t being nearly as creative or vigorous in their vision for downtown: they give the issue of affordable arts space and affordable housing lip service, and then rubber-stamp massive gentrification projects.

Here’s an op-ed Scott has sent Arborupdate:

Historic Factory to be Replace by Condominiums – PLEASE HELP!
By Katherine Scott (kscottz at umich.edu)

Ever wonder why there are rail road tracks through downtown Ann Arbor, or what that huge factory is doing right in the heart of Ann Arbor’s old west side? In 1858 the first part of the structure, now called the Eaton Factory, was constructed. As the legend goes steam powered locomotives, laden with buffalo hides, would ride across the prairie and arrive in Ann Arbor, to be tanned at a small factory just off of Main Street. Back then Ann Arbor was just a small community, and a new University had just been built in the city of trees. Land was cheap, and with a rail stop, Ann Arbor presented a great alternative to the bustling metropolis of Detroit. Like many cities in the Midwest, Ann Arbor grew from a one horse town into a big city; and what was once a little tannery expanded into a auto-parts manufacturing plant.

What was once that tannery was eventually purchased by the Eaton Corporation. At its peak this building housed nearly 500 employees making various auto-parts such as fuel regulators. Last year the Eaton factory announced that the factory was to be shut down. Like many of the manufacturing plants in the area, the parts it produced could be produced cheaper in Mexico. Within the coming weeks the last workers at the Eaton factory will be laid off, and the assembly line shit down for good.

These lost jobs are a lost cause; the Eaton corporation will not bring them back. The problem now lies with the historical space left by the corporation. The city has plans to allow the Chicago based Morningside Realestate Group to tear down this 150 year-old structure and build 60 condominiums, a large commercial development, and a parking structure. No price has been set for the condominiums, but estimates range from a quarter to half a million dollars. At that price, the cost of these commercial and residential areas will be out of reach of most Ann Arborites and local business. The subsequent increase in local property values will also serve make what was once a modestly economically diverse area more homogenous. Undoubtedly the development will also increase the congestion in the downtown area while giving little back to the current residents of the Old West Side. Recent downtown condominium developments, such as the Ashley Mews already offer a sufficient number of high priced condominiums in the area, and do little to promote an economically mixed neighborhood. Furthermore the Ashley-Mews modern brownstone design is in stark contrast to Early Gilded Age home styles already present in the Old West Side. While the Eaton factory does not blend stylistically into the background neighborhood, the building gives the Old West Side a certain character, and serves to remind residents of Michigan’s manufacturing heritage.

Alternatives do exist that will meet the city’s need for commercial, residential spaces without the destruction of the historic Eaton factory. Furthermore renovation of the factory can be done in such a way as to preserve a historic part of the building, while providing affordable housing and retail space for local business and residents (Much like the former Argus camera factories). If Ann Arbor wish to remain a truly “cool” and progressive city in Michigan we must attempt to preserve our unique residential and retail spaces. This is not to say that the Morning Side Group is not welcome to create a development within the city, but rather that such a development should take place at a location outside the immediate downtown area and certainly not on the site of the historic Eaton factory.

There is still time to stop the destruction of the Eaton Factory and the further gentrification of Ann Arbor. The city must re-zone the property of the Eaton factory from light industrial to commercial. A city council meeting will take place on July 20, 2004 at 7pm to hear about this rezoning. City council meetings take place on the second floor of city hall. Please let your voice be heard and attend this meeting, or contact Katherine Scott at (734) 358-0175 or kscottz at umich.edu

Further reading
> Old West Side Association
> “Development gets first OKs”

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