Friday, April 4, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday1 April 4~ 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
, ...
VOTE MONDAY, APRIL
7
&City
Council
can dida tes:
An
evalua tio
First Ward: Curry vs. Gillespie
THE FIRST WARD on the north side of
Ann Arbor includes both white middle
class neighborhoods and a large percent-
age of blacks. The ward is solidly Demo-
cratic.
Two term councilman H. C. Curry has
been challenged by Republican Adtric
Gillespie for this position of leadership
in Ann Arbor's black community. Curry,
a carpenter, has lived in Ann Arbor for
20 years.
Although he is at times inarticulate,
Curry's record, especially in the area of
civil rights has been excellent. As the
only black councilman, he has spurred
council to consider th issues of fair hous-
ing and human relations.
Unlike both mayoral candidates, Curry
wholeheartedly supports the rent strike
and the Tenants Union.
Curry blames the delay in the Model
Cities program on Republican opposition;
to the makeup of the Model Cities policy
board. The Model Cities program, which
would begin the renewel of black neigh-
borhoods in the First and Fifth Wards,
has been held up pending hearings insti-
gated by Republican councilmen and
several area residents to determine if the
present duly elected board is representa-
tive.
Curry defends the makeup of the pol-
icy board and believes that any adjust-
ments in representation can be made as
the program progresses.
Curry is an experienced councilman
with a good understanding of issues. His
shortcomings lie in his exclusively prag-
matic outlook toward most issues, which
has led to unwise votes in some areas of
city planning. For example, he justified
his vote for allowing the 26-story build-
ing on Maynard to be built by pointing
to the jobs that it would create for low
income blacks, without regard to the ad-
vice and intent of city planners.w
In general, however, his voting record
has been one of the most progressive on
the council.
ADTRIC GILLESPIE, like Curry, is a
carpenter. At 29, he is the youngest
of the council candidates and is also the
most enigmatic.
Supporting the platform of Republican
mayoral candidate Richard E. Balzhiser,
he seem as ease being what many would
call a living contradiction -- a black Re-
publican.
However, Gillespie is independent of
the Republican position in certain areas.
Like Curry, he supports the rent strike
and agrees with Curry that the Human
Relations Commission should be strength-
ened a n d given legal powers. However
when asked what legal powers he would
recommend for HRC, Curry has diffi-
culty explaining just what specific re-
lorms he would recommend, revealing a
superficiality in his knowledge of the
problem.
When asked how he differs from Curry,
Gillespie is hard put to name specific
differences. Yet his stand on the city bus
system and Model Cities action definitely
parallel Republican policy.
Gillespie says he could lead the black
community better than Curry because
he is younger and "speaks both langu-
ages." But his confused and superficial
view of the issues, coupled with Curry's
success as a black leader, does not rec-
ommend Gillespie as a replacement for
Curry.
While he seems sincere in his desire to
solve the problems of the city, especially
in the black community, Gillespie lacks
a coherent program for council.
H. C. Curry (D)
Second Ward: Hobbs vs. Faber
THE SECOND WARD, on the east side,
is one of Ann Arbor's richest apd ,--
politically -- most important. Once a Re-
publican stronghold, the ward h a s be-
come an important swing vote because it
now includes the highest concentration
of students.
The second .ward election should be an
interesting test between the strength of
Republican, candidate Mrs. Ruth Hobbs
and Democratic opponent Robert Faber.
Faber is an intelligent liberal who is
genuinely concerned about the problems
of the city. Sharing the views of mayoral
candidate Robert Harris, Faber empha-
sizes the need for long range planning to
alleviate housing problems. Faber is par-
ticularly concerned with planning a liv-
able and beautiful Ann Arbor.
The candidate is also concerned with
the Model Cities program. He takes the
commendable position, along with most
of his fellow Democrats, that the present
duly elected board should not be inter-
This page was researched and writ-
ten by Bill Lavely, Chris Steele, Jim
Beattie and Bob Fusfeld.
fered with or controlled. According to Fa-
ber, any attempt to alter its operations
would cause residents of the areas affect-
ed to distrust the board. Moreover, coun-
cil control of the board can only stall vi-
tal planning of the much needed program
to re-build the ghetto areas of Ann Ar-
bor.
Faber also recognizes that present
property taxes is "strangling" low income
residents and should be reduced and sup-
plemented by a more equitable income
tax.
:iIRS. RUTH HOBBS, the Republican
candidate, is likewise in favor of an
income tax. Unlike most other Republi-
cans, she feels an income tax would be
equitable "if by ordinance there can be
a curtailment of real estate taxes."
Mrs. Hobbs' platform reflects liberal
stands on other major issues, s u c h as;
transportation and housing. She favors
the institution of a bus system with city,
university or state help if necessary, and
solid backing of a low cost housing pro-
gram.
However, it is her interest in p u b 11 c
housing that should concern voters. An
officer in an Ann Arbor real estate agen-
cy owned by her husband, M r s. Hobbs
might experience a conflict of interest
when trying to effect housing programs.
Her seemingly good platform w o u 1 d
hardly substitute for effective council ac-
tion.
Although The Daily was unable to
secure a special interview with Mrs.
Hobbs, it seems apparent citizens should
look beyond her platform when -voting.
Ruth Hobbs (R)
Robert Faber (D)
Third Ward: Kazarinof f vs. Emmons
THE THIRD WARD on the south east
side of the city is a well-to-do resi-
dential area and a Republican bastion
since it was redistricted two years ago.
Democratic candidate, Nicholas Kaz-
arinoff, a professor of mathmatics at the
University, would represent the interests
of the University community better than
any other candidate.
He combines an excellent understand-
ing of city problems with a strong social
conscience. Besides giving wholehearted
support to the rent stike, and following
the Democratic line in advocating an in-
come tax and immediate bus service, he
has been the only candidate to risk dis-
turbing social norms by actually discus-
sing substantive campaign issues in pub-
lic.
If elected, Kazarinoff has already
pledged to work to fire City Clerk John
Bentley, whose handling of voter regis-
tF
THE FOURTH WARD, on Ann Arbor's
west side, is principally a white, sub-
urban Republican stronghold.
There, Republican Roy Weber is facing
Doris Caddell, both candidates seeking
first terms.
Mrs. Caddell, a former teacher at Tap-
pan Junior High, is an intelligent, in-
formed candidate with a good grasp of
campaign issues.
She stresses that Ann Arbor is becom-
ing a metropolitan area faced with "con-
gestion and decay in the central city"
which is stifling the "lives of people liv-
ing there" and which "directly affects all
other city residents."
Mrs. Caddell strongly supports the rent
strike and the aims of the Tenant's Union,
tration has blocked many students from
voting, as well as Claire Wheeler, the head
of housing code enforcement.,Kazarinoff
would also see the departure, of the city
traffic engineer and the head of the pub-
lic works department if he had his way.
At a recent Chamber of Commerce
breakfast Kazarinoff castigated the C of
C for having no black members. The
other candidates who spoke confined
themselves to speaking on the micro-
issues which the commerce members
wre willing to hear.
If elected, Kazarinoff would freshen
council meetings stultified by platitudes
and expediency. Admittedly, Kazarinoff's
unconventional approach to city politics
make his chances for election slim but
his hard hitting campaign make him an
outstanding candidate for council.
3Y CONTRAST, third ward Republican
candidate Richard H. Emmons is one
of the worst candidates for council and
one with overwhelming odds to w i n. A
conservative Republican, Emmons would
work to obstruct policies in Ann Arbor.
His statements on the issues are couch-
ed in generalities and rhetoic which of-
fer no guidance to the voter and no solu-
tion to the city's problems.
On the tenant-landlord relationship,
Emmons has little to offer. He considers
the Balzhiser ordinance, w h i c h would
outlaw withholding of damage deposits,
"willfully, fraudulently or maliciously," a
gesture in the right direction. But he is
not sure whether the ordinance would
have any legal effect. Anyway, the or-
dinance died at I a s t Monday's council
session.
Emmons, like mayoral candidate Bal-
zhiser, seems quite disturbed by the
thought of the city having anything at
all to do with the -rent strike. "I would
feel uncomfortable with the city being a
party to the dispute," he says.
Emmons' stand on the issue of student
voter registration is as meaningless. In
his pamphlets he encourages "the quali-
fied young people of our community to
register, vote and take part in the de-
cision-making." But he doesn't seem wil-
ling to define just what makes a young
person "qualified." He would leave stu-
dents at the mercy of the city c 1 e r k,
whose strict interpretation of vague vot-
ing qualifications have obstructed many
students from registering to vote in the
city where they live and work.
As editor of The Michigan Alumnus
and editorial director of the Huron Val-
ley Ad-Visor, Emmons has taken a con-
sistently uncritical view of Ann Arbor and
the nation. His misguided dedication to
the preservation of the status quo at the
expense of large segments of the city's
population can not be endorsed.
Nicholas Kazarinoff (.D)
Richard Emmons (R)
..I
ourth Ward: Weber vs. Caddell
arguing that both should expand to in-
clude non-student tenants in low income
areas. She also favors the enforcement of
high minimum penalties for housing code
violations.
Like other Democratic candidates, she
endorses institution of an income tax
accompanied by a reduction in the prop-
erty millage.
Mrs. Caddell stands with the Democrats
in her commitment to the maintenance of
bus service and suggests integration of
city, University and Ann Arbor school
bus systems.
ROY WEBER, a vice president of the
Ann Arbor Federal Savings and Loan,
is harder to pin down on issues. He has
said so little and been so vague that even
his campaign manager says "our litera-
ture basically contains broad generalities
which don't say much."
While campaign platforms +are often
hollow statements, Weber's whole cam-
paign has been to avoid stirring any con-
troversy. He declined an interview with
The Daily and refused to enunciate his
views on the rent strike or housing.
However, Weber has stated a position
on the proposed city income tax. He
argues that such a tax might well cause
a general tax increase in the fourth ward
and that "there is no need for an income
tax until the current rate of growth in
the tax base begins to decline."
He ignores that the present property
tax weighs unjustly on low income resi-
dents and that the present tax surplus
cannot cover the pressing needs of the
community, or even adequately staff city
hall.
Weber would also block the institution
of a city bus system, until presented with
a plan that is "reliable" and "economi-
cal." Although the transportation issue
has no urgency for Weber's well-wheeled
constituency, one would hope. a city
councilman might attend to the needs of
Ann Arbor's low-income residents. Not ex-
plaining his standards for reliability and
economy, Weber would -apparently leave
the bus question unresolved.
His apparent lack of concern for the
needs of a burgeoning community make
Weber's candidacy unacceptable.
Roy Weber (R)
Fifth Ward: Stadler vs. Connelly
THE FIFTH WARD in the northwest
section of the city is divided-between
middle class white subdivisions and the
largest part of Ann Arbor's black ghetto.
It is a'Republican ward, but only by a
narrow margin.
Republican Brian Connelly, an adver-
tising executive, was appointed a y e a r
and a half ago to fill the vacancy left by
Richard Balzhiser, and his voting h a s
paralleled Balzhiser's old, conservative
record.
the major issues of the campaign b o i 1
down to stalling while his opponent ap-
pears genuinely interested in getting jobs
done.
Connelly was content to support t h e
"Balzhiser ordinance" although he ad-
mits he ealizes just how ineffective such
an ordinance would be.
Connelly has led the movement on
council to delay the Model Citis program
through a series of public hearings which
ostensibly seek to solve the problem of an
stunt their ability to make long range
plans. But he insists on coupling the tax
reform proposal with t h e proposed in-
come tax, which would result in tax in-
crease unpalatable to voters. Stadler,
however would separate the two issues on
separate ballots, which would put each
in a better position for passage.
HlENRY STADLER'S approach to other
problems aims directly at the causes
rather than the politically. attractive ex-
pedients.-
ting a bus system established on a more
permanent basis than Connelly would ap-
prove.
Stadler recognizes the problem t h a t
Connelly refuses to recognize: that the
buses must come before ridership is es-
tablished, and that a six month "experi-
ment" will neither attract riders or work
to change the habits of Ann Arbor com-
muters in any meaningful way.
Further, Stadler's support for mayoral
candidate Harris' damage deposit pro-