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Vol. LXXIX, No. 12C
A.
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Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, February 21, 1969
Ten Cents
Ten Pages
Ten Cents Ten Pages
A
Housing
violations
for
fun
and
By DANIEL ZWERDLING
Ann Arbor landlords are proud of their
apartments and houses whose rents give
cityuhousing the price tag of luxury living.
But while such firms charge rents com-
parable to those in mid-town Manhattan
- $70-$75 a month, per person - their
building maintenance lags far behind.
Two of the city's biggest firms, Charter
Realty and Summit Associates, have alone
chalked up scores of major building code
violations since 1965 - many of them still
uncorrected despite repeated legal warn-
ings by the city:
. Charter Realty, owned by prominent
realtor John Stegeman, let his houses de-
teriorate so badly that they were finally
condemned, evacuated a n d boarded last
October.
Since 1966, the City Department of
Building and Safety Engineering and the
city attorney's office had sent Charter re-
peated warnings - all of them ignored.
In one house, says chief building inspector
Ralph Lloyd, "the furnace was so bad I
was afraid the tenants would die from
the damm fumes."
0 Summit Associates ignored threats of
arrest warrants from the city attorney
last year for refusing to "repair or raze" a
house plagued by "a heavy infestation of
the German cockroach," according to pub-
lic health officials. Other problems at the
house: scattered garbage, "general filth"
and major structural, plumbing and elec-
trical hazards.
Summit was first warned in February,
1968, and at least four times since then
until it finally began to repair the house
in December. Meanwhile, the tenants con-
tinued to pay full rent.
Charter Realty and Summit Associates
are by no means the only realty manage-
ment firms which maintain housing below
code - but they are the biggest, and the
most frequent violators. In violation files
at the building and safety department,
each firm accounts for far more major
violations than any other company.
Some case histories:
In November, 1966, building and safety
inspectors found serious electrical, plumb-
ing and structural defects at Charter-
owned 510, 512, and 615 Mack St. - and
gave the firm 60 days to correct them.
Over 60 days later, however, no repairs
had been made. So building and safety of-
ficials granted Charter another 30 days,
warning that legal action might be taken
if the firm failed to correct to violations.
But Charter had still not corrected any
violations three months later, in May.
This resulted in a letter from the city at-
torneys to Stegeman warning that "a war-
rant may be issued" for his arrest unless
repairs were soon made.
Charter made no repairs, however, and
on Sept. 23 the houses were condemned.
The city issued no warrant, and Stege-
man paid no fine.
Two Charter Realty houses around the
corner at 1336 and 1340 Wilmot were
cited in May 1967 for major violations.
Building officials sent two notices to
Stegeman over the next four months de-
manding action at 1336 Wilmot - but each
notice was ignored.
Finally, Lloyd inspected the house him-
self on Nov. 1 - and found the furnace
leaking so badly that he ordered evacua-
tion of the building within 24 hours. The
tenants moved into a hotel, and in May
1968 the building was finally condemned.
Again, Stegeman paid no fine.
Charter Realty also ignored violation
notices on the house at 1340 Wilmot -
until the city condemned the house last
fall and had to evacuate the low-income
tenants who had been placed there until
they could find a better apartment else-
where.
Stegeman wrote to the city: "The build-
ing was inspected prior to occupancy
and found suitable for habitation. Its prior
condition is testimony to the effect of the
occupancy of these people."
And Charter - whose holdings current-
ly account for about one third of all Ann
Arbor's condemned, boarded houses - has
accumulated violations elsewhere. City
officials sent repeated warnings to Stege-
man for three years before Charter finally
repaired one house on Linden.
Still other houses and apartments, in-
spected and found below code just last
year, have still not been fixed - despite
expired warnings that Charter would be
hit by legal action if it failed to repair
them.
A typical house, on Geddes, has an in-
profit
adequate ceiling which leaks, fire hazards,
dangerous electrical outlets, and other.
major violations. Charter has still made
no repairs - and has received no fines.
Why does Charter Realty fail to re-
spond to such violations? "I don't know
what you're talking about," says manager
Hip Buyer. "We have no record of any
violations."
The firm is not unfamiliar with the
building code, however. In 1967, building
officials found 34 major violations at
one time at Albert Terrace, a student
apartment complex.
Stegeman did not pay any fines, al-
though he had committed 15 similar vio-
lations the year before at an apartment
around the corner.
See CHARTER, Page 10
i
Police,
violent
students
protests
clash
rock
at
EMU;
Berkeley
Henry Grix
George Bristol
Tear gas
fired on
UC protest
From Wire Service Reports
Police and students threw
tear gas cannisters at e a c h
other on the University of
California's Berkeley campus
yesterday in a three-hour bat-
tle that spread into surround-
ing city streets.-
Minor disturbances broke o u t
at other schools around the coun-
try, including Oberlin College,
Roosevelt University and C 1 a r k
University. At the University of
}Pennsylvania, several hundred
students continued a peaceful sit-
in.
The battle at Berkeley led to at
least 15 arrests and an undeter-
mined number of injuries in the
worst day of escalating violence
in a four-week old strike.
Eleven of those arrested were
changed with the felony of as-
saulting a police officer.
Police were pelted with rocks, 7
bottles, cherry bombs, and their
own tear gas cannisters as they
clashed with an estimated crowd
of more than 2000 protesters.
They reportedly responded by
charging the crowd and beating
many demonstrators with their
clubs.
Two fires were set in campus
buildings and another in the
14 students arrested,
charged with felonies
By JIM NEUBACHER
Violence broke out on the Eastern Michigan University
campus yesterday after riot-equipped police arrested 10 black
and two white students who refused to end an early morning
lock-in at the administration building.
Meeting in emergency session last night, the Student
Senate endorsed a boycott of classes called yesterday by
black student leaders.
The 12 students arrested in the lock-in, and two others
arrested at a rally later in the day were charged with
felonies. Protesting students are rarely booked on more than
a misdemeanor.
Bail was set at a total of $12,000 for the 14 students.
The disruptions began after !--
-5 DECISION,
Police tear-gas students at Berkeley
Steve Nissen
Ron Landsman
uaiy announces
new senior staff
The outgoing senior editors of The Daily announced
yesterday the appointment of the new editorial and business
staffs for the coming year.
Henry Grix, a junior from Birmingham, Mich., was named
editor for 1969-70. Grix will head a ten-man Daily senior
staff.
City Editor Steve Nissen and Managing Editor Ron Lands-
man will jointly handle the daily operation of the paper and
Grix, as editor, will be respon --- --- --
sible for the editorial page. SP
Landsman is a history majora
from Oak Park, Mich. Nissen, an
economics major, hails from Ful-
lerton, Calif. Q iJIt
Landsman will be responsible
for general story assignments,
while Nissen will be in charge of
the nightly production of the By RICK PERLOFF
paper. They will share responsi- The undergraduate sociology
bility under Grix for the pro- union yesterday demanded par-
duction of the news pages of The ity on departmental faculty
Daily. committees which handle tenure,
The 1969-70 business staff will hiring and curriculum.
be headed by George Bristol, an i However, faculty sources in-
economics major from Urbana, Il. dicated yesterday that students
Bristol will be assisted by Steve are not expected to gain equal
Elman, an economics major from membership on the committees
' Bethesda, Md., who was named which make tenure decisions.
administrative advertising direc- Tenure decisions are made on
tor. joint recommendations from the
Assisting in putting out The department's tenured faculty
Daily editorial page will be Edi- and a five-men executive com-
torial Page Editors Jenny Stiller mittee. If the recommendations
tona Pag Edtr Jen Stil are in conflict,. both are pre-
middle of the street. After t h e
main clash ended around 6 p.m.j
(PST), students set up bonfires
and barricades in nearby streets.
Earlier in the day demonstra-
tors staged a relatively peaceful
march on University Hall, across
campus from Sproul, where t h e
University's regents were holding
their regular monthly meeting.
See BERKELEY, Page 2
las
lat
tic
str
ca
de
dis
of
ECIAL CONFERENC
tents ask
votes to retain reoulation
forbidding disruptive protests.
By ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ One month ago, SGC declined Voting for the motion to rescind
Student Government Council to suspend their rules to permit the disruption ban were Neff and
st night voted to retain a regu- them to support a disruptive sit- at-large member Larry Deitch,
Lion banning students from par- in over language and distribution Gayle Rubin, Panther White, and
ipating in disruptive demon- requirements. Joan Shemel.
ations. However, SGC member Mark Voting against the motion were
Following a debate which be- Rosenbaum, who introduced the Koeneke and at-large members
me heated at times, Council motion to rescind the ruling, said Mike Farrel, Carol Hollenshead,
feated a motion to rescind the SGC "must consider the validity Roger Keats, Mary Livingston,
sruption ban by a roll-call vote of the ruling in general rather; Howard Miller, and Bob Nelson.
7-5. than under the pressure of a par- Rosenbaum, who assumed the
- -ticular issue." chair so that Koeneke could cast
EAt one point, executive Vice a vote, said he was divided on
President Bob Neff asked, "Is the iss ue.
SGC to cater to an intransigent At one point in the debate, sev-
* ;jfaculty and administration who eral Council members objected to
j want us to protect them from Rosenbaum's taking the chair.
students? "The sponsor of the motion should
It is SGC's responsibility toI take an active part in the debate,"
support students who want policy said Deitch.
They are interested in ex- changes and can't get them any
anding the number of inde- other way except by disruption,"
endent study courses, making Neff said.# M SU N 'ew
e introductory sociology However, SGC president Michael
urses more relevant to cur- Koeneke expressed concern that
n the dear e nd ichang- rescinding the rule "would impede
a methodologySGC i its attempt to initiate
"There's a lot of repetition. policy changes in such areas as
nd sometimes too much em- academics, tenure decisions, and The faculty-student advisory
basis on methods in sociology," IEthe Ann Arbor housing situation. board of the Michigan State Uni-
ae student member of the ur- I""It would be an invitation for versity student newspaper, the
n said, the faculty and administration to State News, yesterday refused to
The students are also asking declare that we are not responsible revoke its censure of editor-in-
r a reduction in the require- enough to be involved in decision chief Edward Brill.
ents for a major in sociology. making in these areas," he ex- Brill was censured last week for
hey said that students plan- I plained. "deplorable lack of editorial judg-
nearly 75 black students had lock-
ed themselves into the administra-
tion building early yesterday
morning to emphasize a list of ten
demands regarding black student's
education and campus life.
University authorities ordered
the students to clear the building
and most of those inside left. The
remaining 12 were arrested on
charges of conspiring to create a
disturbance, a felony carrying a
penalty of up to one year in pri-
son and a fine of not more than
$1,000.
More than 80 police, including
a dozen tactical riot squad patrol-
mnen with police dogs, bullet-proof
vests and face masks confronted
a crowd o~f nearly 500 students who
gathered outside the campus home
of EMU President Harold Spon-
berg to demand the release of the
arrested students.
Havoc nearly broke out after
police arrested another black-
one of the speakers at the rally-
on charges of inciting to riot. The
felony charge carries a penalty
of five to ten years in prison,
and/or fine of $2,000.
Students surrounded the squad
car in which police held the ar-
rested student and filled the
streets to prevent it from leaving.
The riot squad forcibly moved the
crowd back onto the sidewalks,
knocking some of the students
down and beating them.
A major incident was averted
however when Sponberg agreed
to meet with three representatives
of the black students if the stu-
dents would agree to clear the
streets.
Student leaders persuaded the
crowd to disperse. Later, the rep-
resentatives met with Sponberg
for three hours to discuss their
demands and the question of am-
nesty for those arrested.
The demands of the black stu-
dents included:
-The appointment of a blackI
as a vice president for minority
affairs;
-The institution of a black stu-
dies program with the curriculum
controlled by blacks;
-The establishment of Martin
N.Campus
co-ops
approved
By NADINE COHODAS
Members of Inter Cooperative
Council - yesterday voted over-
whelmingly to go ahead with their
North Campus Project. The results
were 183 for and 26 opposed.
The project, funded by a $1,240,-
000 college housing loan from the
( federal government, will provide
18 separate 12-man co-ops.
The loan, which was' given pre-
liminary approval in July, was
formally approved by Congress
Wednesday. However, if ICC
members had voted to discontinue
the North Campus Project, they
would have had to refuse the
grant.
"Naturally we're e x t r e m e l y
pleased the referendum passed,"
said Don Stewart, ICC president.
"We will proceed as fast as pos-
sible with construction," he added.
Stewart said January 1970 is the
proposed date for partial occu-
pancy.
The referendum was proposed
by the ICC Board of Directors
in January after several members
expressed criticism of the project.
Rather than go ahead with a pro-
gram the membership did not
favor, the board decided to put
the matter to a vote.
The primary objections to the
project were financial. Some mem-
bers said that if the project fails,
ICC could lose all its assets
for central campus expansion be-
cause it is "fully liable" for any
losses incurred.
Other members said the pro-
posed co-op construction plan
"would submerge" the basic feel-
ing of co-op living" because the
new units would be too much like
dormitories.
However, John Aschatz, director
resentatives for the undergrad-
uate committee at a meeting
next Thursday. They will also
determine how to continue to
press for a voice in tenure de-
cisions.
Reiss told the students yes-
terday that he preferred to wait
to discuss the students' role in
tenure decisions, explaining that
"the department has up to now
voted not to give students this
power." '
H o w e v e r, Reiss suggested
membership on the undergrad-
uate committee could be used
as "a mechanism to talk about
pa
pe
thi
co
'ei
in
01
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ph
on
io
fo
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