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I’ve posted the results of my city council candidate questionnaire. I know it might look a little unwieldy, but I’ve organized it by ward: find which ward you will be voting in, and then scroll to that part of the page. Tomorrow I’ll post a basic student voting guide, with voting suggestions for each ward.

> Ann Arbor City Council Questionnarie 2003

Quick question: If I created an RSS feed for the Goodspeed Update, would you use it? Feel free to use comments to post a simple Yes or No, or email thoughts to rob @ goodspeedupdate.com. RSS is a way of letting others know when you’ve updated your blog.

There are a few articles of interest in the Daily today. They covering the greenbelt issue in the city council elections in “A2 city council hopefuls discuss urban sprawl” However, their statement “… all University residence halls are located in the 4th Ward” is incorrect:

- Ward 1 contains West Quad and Bursley, and the Michigan Union and Bursley are voting locations
- Ward 2 contains the Hill dorms, and Markely is a voting site
- Ward 3 contains East Quad, and is also a voting site
- Ward 4 contains South Quad, also a voting site
- Ward 5 contains the Main Street area and the Northwest corner of the city, most students would vote at a precinct at Jefferson and Fifth Street (west of Main street)

For more voting information see my voting page.

From the article: While Kinsey said he thinks the city is effective in maintaining a tolerant balance in relations between the Ann Arbor Police Department and the students, Trudeau said, “I would like to see an independent board set up to address complaints that students and also residents have of unfair violations.”

The Daily also endorses Scott Trudeau and Rob Haug in Wards 1 and 4 in an editorial today.

Also of note is “Lecturers rally for improved relations”, and the Daily writes about yesterday’s crime alert: “Student assaulted near Frieze building” Finally, a representative of the Border’s employees’ union responds to a viewpoint written by management: “Borders, not Daily, needs to get facts straight.”

Here’s a crime alert that was just issued by DPS:

“UM DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Suspect: White male, 25-35 years old, 5’10″-6’0″, approximately 150 lbs. He was described as having dark, spiked hair. He was last seen wearing a dark blue or black, puffy, waist-length jacket.”

The Ann Arbor News writes about the issue of density in the city of Ann Arbor yet again in a story today, “However city votes, density issues loom.” Underlying the whole story is a generally skeptical tone, and the assumption that only people living way out in suburban developments (and subscribe to the News) are “city residents.” Here’s an example:

“In almost every instance, city residents have opposed higher-density housing, especially when condominiums are proposed near single-family homes.”

Let’s analyze this statement. First, the News is excluding students, over 1/3 of the city, from definition of “city residents.” Have you ever heard students oppose higher-density housing downtown? A few might grumble about particulars: that new housing is too expensive, the buildings are ugly, etc, but in general it’s widely recognized there’s a distinct lack of enough good, inexpensive housing near campus. The article briefly mentions accessory apartments, which the New York Times though important enough to write a story about earlier this month. Oh, that’s right: City Council had already unanimously rejected them in the city!

And they include something I didn’t know about U-M athletic director Bill Martin: he believes in density. Although, perhaps only because it would benefit him as a real estate developer:

“Changes require foresight and nerve, says Bill Martin, athletic director at the University of Michigan and chairman of First Martin Corp., an Ann Arbor real estate development company.

A supporter of the greenbelt proposal, Martin believes increasing density the only way to foster a healthy tax base necessary to repair aging infrastructure. “We need 1,000 units of housing or more, and not just affordable housing, but all levels. We need three or four Tower Plazas,” said Martin, referring to the 26-story condominium building at the corner of Maynard and East William streets. “

The Association of Michigan Universities, an association of student governments at Michigan’s public universities (of which MSA is part), has begun a letter-writing campaign to the Michigan legislature to convince them not to cut funding for higher education, recently passing the 2,000 letter mark through their website helphighered.org.

> See AP: “Students turn in thousands of letters against cuts”

Also, the events planned for National Take Affirmative Action Day have made the AP wire. (“U. of Michigan students host National Affirmative Action Day events”) In case you didn’t recieve this via email:

“STUDENTS SUPPORTING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE NAACP UofM CHAPTER
NATIONAL TAKE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DAY

EVOLUTION OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PANEL
10am, Anderson Room, Michigan Union”