4r A rtigatt Daily Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Truth Will Prevail '0 - A ' L ~ *.(J f 4 i Ik , .b,.-,,,- -.: iYf~A1 r r. - t v..~~ A a., , H ' , .. . - ! l" : * J' R- .iy~, .?c. 1 i " --_.- NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: PAT O'DONOHUE Investigation Mandatory For City Building Practices ALBERT TERRACE apartments' history of building and zoning violations, landlord negligence and deliberate eva- sions of city codes implicates the entire Ann Arbor building and renting trade. Charter Realty President John Stege- man repeatedly violated the law-and the city Department of Building and Safety Engineering did little to stop him. Stegeman could not have unknowingly evaded the city codes at Albert Terrace, for he had pleaded guilty in court to evading the identical codes a year before. Building and safety department officials could not have overlooked the unprose- cuted violations in a. haze of confusion, because they recorded all violations in their own files. Something is wrong in Ann Arb6r city government. If one apartment complex owned by one realtor has such a record of blatant violations; if the building and safety. department has shown itself in- capable of preventing or rectifying them; then among Ann Arbor's multitude of other student apartments, other land- lords may be profiting from illegal opera- tions as well. And no one has the ma- chinery or power to correct the situation. ACTIVITIES AT Albert Terrace are at last reaching a plateau of legality, but the history of the $350 per month apart- ments is a colorful one. Basically it en- compasses four issues: O When Stegeman first applied to the city in 1966 for a zoning compliance. (certifying Albert Terrace would comply with the zoning law), the Department of Building and Safey Engineering approved the construction plans, which included provisions for the minimum number of parking spaces required by city codes. Just as Stegeman was about to open his apartments and build his parking lots, however, the department took another look-and discovered' the parking plans were, under zoning codes, illegal. 0 Stegeman prepared to open Albert Terrace to tenants last August while his parking lots were still incomplete al- though city law states all parking must be provided prior to occupancy. The building department let him pro- ceed, but only on the condition that Stegeman would first provide a monetary bond guaranteeing to finish all the park- ing by a certain date. Stegeman promised the bond, and occupied his apartments- and delayed posting the bond until five months later. - Stegeman occupied 32 apartments before the building and safety depart- ment inspected them, contrary to city codes requiring inspection before occu- pancy. The realtor had violated the same code 14 times the year before-but build- ing and safety did not press charges. " Stegeman's zoning compliance ap- proved construction of 62 one-bedroom apartments. Stegeman built Albert Ter- race as two-bedroom apartments -- and never changed them to comply with the permit, as the city demanded. ALBERT TERRACE mocks city govern- ment and decent realty practices everywhere, but it can serve Ann Arbor as a valuable, crucially needed lesson; landlords in the All-American City flout the laws at the city's expense and to their own financial benefit. Ann Arbor govern- ment needs drastic restructuring to stop them. A thorough investigation of Albert Ter- race and its persistent violations is mandatory. The city must determine responsibility for the zoning "error," the bond issue, the requested occupancy violations, and maniputlation of the bedroom permits. If the apartment's landlords are blameless, an investigation will clear them. If land- lords are guilty, then the city must bring them to account for their unchecked violations of the past. Even more important, the city must undertake a critical review of the entire Department of Building and Safety En- gineering, its procedures and place in city government. The department is the autonomous controller of every building and building practice in Ann Arbor - when the department fails in its duties, no one rises to check it. CITY COUNCIL has taken a good first step by hiring professional consul- tants to examine building and safety operations. But Council must complete the task by investigating building and safety in the context of Albert Terrace and all of Ann Arbor. Why did the building department ig- nore 32 serious violations? Why did it deal permissively with others? How could the department approve construction plans which violated city laws? The City Council and all of city gov- ernment must answer these questions; then they must restructure the building laws and , departmental machinery to prevent their recurrence. Otherwise, local builders will continue virtually unchecked to proliferate their apartments as they please, with no con- sideration of their tenants or the laws which "govern" them. Why not? As Chief Engineer Charles Blackmer of the build- ing and safety department says, "It is more profitable to break the law than to obey it." -DANIEL ZWERDLING -MARK LEVIN Editor NEAL BRUSS=- UAC To Consider Canadian Weekend TIn E LIFE OF A male upperclassman or graduate student who isn't interested in studying medicine or dentistry lately amounts very much to a waiting game: waiting for current deferments to expire; waiting for induction into the armed forces: waiting perhaps for an end to the Vietnam War - and most important, waiting for the courage to relinquish the American tragedy for a self-preserving Canadian exile. Many students talk of the trip, to Canada, but it is such a severe move that few have gone far enough to plan for it. In such times of hesitancy, the University Activities Center can serve students with information and, in so doing, make clear how desperate and final the options of dissenters have become. UAC should consider sponsoring a new all-campus event - "Canada Weekend." Tens of thousands of University students, faculty members and ad- ministrators would spend two days in our Neighbor to the North ex- amining alternatives to life in The Great Society. All who left campus for "Canada Weekend" would not be expected to return. "CANADA WEEKEND" would serve several serious purposes: -It would inform the myriad members of the University com- munity who lately seem so uncertain in their American tenure of the opportunities they would find in their self-banishment. -It would be a far more effective protest than a Day of Deliber- ation where everyone talks about the evils of American foreign policy but no one really does anything about it. A pre-Exile exile would be only less effective a demonstration of dissent than the Exile itself. -It would give stay-at-home Americans a preview of the im- pending mass exodus as their government becomes more merciless in pursuing its Asian policy despite widespread and rational opposition. The fat old men of the so-called Establishment would find that when America's anti-war intellectuals leave, the protecting liberal cushion from hostile, militant ghetto fighters and rifle-toting rightist fanatics also depart. When the college students lead the exodus to Canada, the fat old men will discover they must fend for themselves. There will be no more liberals to sop up America's guilt and despair. -It would give an early boost to the tourist season in Canada, the peak of which would probably be felt in mid-summer as big city residents leave their fiery hot, congested homes to national guardsmen and ghetto fighters. THE CANADA WEEKEND would be in keeping with UAC's two major spheres of activity: student flights and gala weekends. While the Canada Weekend would be primarily a student flight, faculty and administrators would also be invited to flee. Hopefully, for the sake of faculty and administrators wishing to participate, the event would be priced somewhat below the means of rich, white middle-class students. Canada Weekend could be organized as a far greater affair than any past UAC weekend spectacular. It might be called "Wild, Wild Westmoreland" and could be advertised as an 'alternative to that other government-sponsored student affair, "The Maniacal Misery Tour (Roll Out!)". ' WHATEVER IT MIGHT BE CALLED, the weekend could be well- organized and fun-packed. A secret destination in Canada would be selected by UAC to heighten the excitement. After the fifty-mile line of vehicles finally crosses the Ambassador Bridge late Friday, it would be greeted by Sgt. Preston and his dog King and that other Canadian folk legend, The Lone Evader and his sidekick Toronto. A delegation of University grad students would plant a Univer- sity banner in Canadian soil, thus picking the location for a pos- sible New Ann Arbor, the Exilepistemiad of Michigania. The 50 mile caravan would be directed to form a circle on the Canadian tundra and the real festivities would begin. Saturday morning would be devoted to calisthenics. A delegation from the Royal Canadian Air Force would demonstrate its eleven- *minute exercise program, and Ann Arborites would be moved to think of the contributions toward physical fitness of their own American Air Force. For entertainment, UAC would arrange a concert featuring some of Canada's finest entertainers, stars such as Giselle McKenzie, Oscar * Peterson, Ian and Sylvia, Glenn Gould, Robert Goulet, and Gordon Lightfoot. The concert could be M.C.'d by some of Radio CKLW's fun jocks. Forseeably, however, because of previous commitments in the United States, some of these Canadian stars might be unable to appear. "\Q4 Fc aR, THE OM3 N' 5 BGLEKiCi. , ITS MAD The President's Riot Commission Mood of Congress, Country Set Against Report By DAN SHARE THE PRESIDENT'S National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders turned in its report four months early, urging a "compas- sionate, massive, and sustained" effort to stave off the coming racial crisis. Commissions rarely report on time, but the speed with which the Commission finished its assign- ment dramatizes the urgency of our racial dilemma. Given the pre- vailing political atmosphere in America no "massive" effort to remedy our racial ills can be ex- pected. The Commission recommends specific actions: (1) Programs to create two mil- lion jobs in the next three years: (2) six million new housing units designed to break up the ghetto; (3) creation of a national system of guaranteed, or supplemented, income; (4) programs to improve community services, education. and general relations between the races. Although such actions will not eliminate the problems, they are the minimum steps which must be taken to help ease the tense situation. Nevertheless, despite all the urgency of the racialdcrisis, the recommendations of this report will be ignored. DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN, Har- vard urban affairs expert, cited the major obstacle on national TV Sunday when he said that the daily cost of financing the Commission's program w o u l d roughly equal our daily expen- ditures in Vietnam. When President Johnson, in deal- ing with an economically minded Congress is clearly having dif- ficulty passing a surtax to f in- ance his war program, additional funds for any program, no matter how urgent will not be appropria- ted. As Moynihan said, until we get out of Vietnam the nation's internal crisis will receive no significant attention. While federal action is stymied by the Vietnam commitment, po- lice forces and citizens across the country are acting directly anti- thetical to the Commission's recommendations. The Commis- sion condemns "blind repression" and police force. and says con- structive community work is more effective in controlling riots. But police forces seem increas- ingly to opt for bigger and more powerful weapons. More efficient chemical weaponry and armored tanks are the pride of the modern police force - many acquired at the expense of good police-community relations. When violence erupts this summer, .the philosophy of force will only fur- ther inflame the violence. HIGH RANKING NATIONAL Guard officers have been receiv- ing training from the federal government but there is no rea- son to expect the leaders' new knowledge to filter down to un- trained troops. The troops if is called out again this year, the Guard will be just as trigger-happy and ineffectual, as they were last summer. Much of the white community is succumbing to the very par- anoid fears perpetuating the ra- cism which therCommission hopes to eliminate- These fears are evidenced in the increased following of Donald Lobsinger, and his Detroit break- through organization, who special- ize in promoting racist causes. Many whites exhibit suburban fear of a black mob surging from the inner city to destroy white middle class homes. One Warren housewife stocked her basement for a seige for several weeks, and has armed herself and learned to be a crack shot with a rifle. FOR THE UNITED STATES to weather this crisis, the Commis- sion says, will require "new at- titudes, new understanding, and above all, new will." So far we have failed to produce any tangi- ble evidence of any of these. The Commission cited the most daring evidence that the U.S. won't be able to handle this crisis: it warned that the report is ai- most identical to previous Pres- idential reports on racial distur- bances given to Presidents Wilson (1919) and Roosevelt (1935 and 1943>. In a very few years, when the ne x t Presidential Commission writes a report on racial distur- bances in the U.S. it will conclude that its report sounds strikingly similar to President Johnson's Riot Commission report of 1968. 4r 10 s Johnson Cops-Out on His Advisors Many Happy Returns OMMITTEES AT this University seem almost sacred. There are decision- making committees, rule-making and rule-breaking committees. But maybe our prolific committee collection is not ex- tensive enough. We forgot a birthday committee. William Haber, dean of the literary college, is 69 today. After five years as the dean of the lit school and 32 years at the University, Haber deserves some recognition for his service as adminis- trator, scholar, economist and public re- lations officer for the lit school. To recog- nize accomplishments such as Haber's, a birthday committee might be a small first step. Haber's reputation extends beyond the confines of his Angell Hall office and into Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104. The Daily is a member of the Associated Press, Collegiate Press Service and Liberation News Service. Daily except Monday during regular academic school year. Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular summer session. Fall and winter subscription rate: $4.50 per term by carrie; ($5 by mail); $8.00 for regular academic school year ,$9 by mail). Editorial Staff MARK LEVIN, Editor STEPHEN WILDSTROM URBAN LEHNER Managing Editor Editorial Director the chambers of federal economists in Washington. As consultant to the Social Security Board from 1939-45, Haber played a key role in writing the contro- versial program. During World War II, the Rumania- born Haber directed, advised or chaired an impressive list of .federal committees on everything from social security to manpower mobilization. STRETCHING THE meager budget allo- cations provided for the literary college has also been a Haber specialty. Although Haber's five years have been lean ones for the University, the literary college has sustained a period of fantastic growth due to the efforts of Haber and his successor, Associate Dean William L. Hays. And educational innovations have been a constant concern for Haber. In the last two years, the Residential Col- lege materialized, the Pilot Program has endured despite financial difficulty, the pass-fail option was extended to juniors and seniors, and a liberal studies program was inaugurated. Today is Haber's last birthday as dean. But being too vigorous to retire, hopefully Dean Haber will spend many more birth- days at the University. -HENRY GRIX I T_._ t. s t- f I - By STUART GANNES "THE PRESIDENTtcopped-out on us," commented one re- searcher for the President's Com- mission on Civil Disorders in a dis- appointed voice. Last Friday, when the commis- sion released its much-touted and long-awaited for report, Nathan Caplan, Associated Director for the Institute for Social Research was in Washington with other members of the commission to present the 1600 page document to the President. But the scientists and politi- cionas fretted out the day in the capital while their hopes of seeing the President dwindled. Johnson, it seems, had made a last minute decision to go to Maryland for the unveiling of a new cargo plane. Still the commission waited. But Johnson, in another surprise move, decided to spend the rest of the weekend in Puerto Rico. "I think that this might be the first time a President wasn't around to accept the conclusions of a presidential commission," said Caplan. Caplan is surprised and disap- pointed about the outcome of the commission's report. "The com- mission printed everything the re- searchers wanted" said Caplan, re- ferring to the liberal tone of the report and its recommendations. However, the noticeable absence of the President last Friday was cer- tainly discouraging for the re- searchers. IT IS EASY to speculate why Johnson suddenly vanished just before, the report was made pub- lic. Perhaps he isn't willing to sup- port the liberal conclusions of the commission. Or perhaps Johnson won't ac- cept the commission's recom- mendations that would probably cost $30 billion to implement. Domestic expenditures of these proportions could only result from a reduction of defense spending which Johnson seems unwilling to do. Eventually President Johnson must accept the unfeasibility of his guns and butter policy. When the nation's cities exploded last July, Johnson was forced to turn his attention from Vietnam to dom- estic affairs. By creating a com- mission, he was able to forestall action for another eight months, although the commission's recom- mendations could have been (and were proposed last summer i.e. more federal involvement in urban affairs. HOW MUCH LONGER can Johnson ignore the situation? The commission's recommendations can only be pushed aside at the risk of worse riots this summer. MEANWHILE BACK IN Ann Arbor, municipal engineers would be busy repairing buildings which collapsed in the vacuum of the wholesale rush to Canada by the University community. Merchants in a vacant Ann Arbor would keep in shape by exploiting themselves; landlords with nifty new apartments to fill and no students to fill them would at last confront the aught-month lease. UAC itself would gain most from the weekend, coming one step closer to its ultimate goal: sponsoring a world's fair. Inspired by the University's example, groups of students from all over the United States - from as far south as Panama - would begin to flood Canada for weekend visits. The Canadian government, overwhelmed by the demand, would ultimately call upon UAC to organize the festivi- ties. And so, on that original Canadian turidra, UAC would build a new exposition site, a Disneyland of Dissent known as "Exilo '68." Letters to the Editor More Rent Arithmetic To the Editor: IN ANSWER to Mr. Morris' Rent Arithmetic letter (Feb. 28), I would say that there are a few points that he has beenrunaware of during the University eight month lease campaign. In trying to persuade Ann Arbor landlords to offer the University eight month lease, SGC-SHA has not ignored the problem of rent increase. I will agree that a 25 per cent increase in rent that some. of the landlords are charging for an eight month lease is ridiculous. The University lease itself has no specific limitation on rent in- crease, but we-have always stressed that 15 per cent is maximum in- crease that we feel would be ac- ceptable (Mr. Morris based his calculations on a 25 per cent in- crease in rent). tnfortunately in the apartment market where you are dealing with entrepreneurs who are out to make "the buck," it is difficult at this time to dictate to them, "offer the University eightamonth lease with little or no increase in rent." MR. MORRIS did not include the psychological and time costs that a student pays in trying to find someone who will sublet sum- side, for there are more apart- ments for rent than there are stu- dents looking for apartments- By not signing leases for next fall until this summer or even next fall, students are going to force more landlords into offering an eight month lease. In the last month and a half 18 per cent of the total market has come to eight month terms. This is not too bad considering this is only the first of March. If a majority of the landlords can be persuaded into offering an eight month lease, then by the use of the same student pressure tac- tic, I think we will find the overall rents going down. Landlords, in order to fill up, their apartments, are going to have to make more attractive deals in terms of price for the student. But first we must get the eight month lease concept itself accepted by a majority of the landlords in town. ALL OF THIS can only come about by consumer pressure. When two economic groups, the students and the landlords, confront each other, the group which has the strongest organization will win out in the long run. Right now there is a buyer's market with the sup- .. . :.