w
Page 8-Saturday, February 17, 1979-The Michigan Daily
State plan
By AMY SALTZMAN
As part of a state-wide effort to revitalize decaying city
neighborhoods, Ann Arbor will soon be receiving more
low-interest housing loans for lower-income residents.
The loans will be available under a Neighborhood Im-
provement 'Program, announced by Governor Milliken
earlier this month.
The state program will be providing Ann Arbor residen-
ts with $300,000 in loan commitments to renovate older
homes in the central, old Northside, and Southeast areas
currently being federally subsidized by the Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
LOANS OF up to $15,000 for a maximum of 15 years will
be issued to eligible Ann Arborites through the Huron
Valley National Bank.
to grant A2
To qualify fof a loan, a person must own or purchase a
home at least 20 years old in a designated CDBG neigh-
borhood and must earn an annual household income of
less than $14,000 after deducting $750 per family member.
According to Barry Tilman, the CDBG physical
development manager, the program will begin to be im-
plemented by the end of March "optimistically" and
definitely by April.
THIS RECENT increase in state funding comes at a
time when Ann Arbor is suffering from drastic cutbacks in
CDBG funds - the result of a steadily declining low-
income population in the city.
Tilman said because of these cutbacks, the program L
especially important as it allows the city to utilize state
funds instead of federal funds. "Now that CDBG funds
home renovation loans
have been cut, we need to tap other sources of this type,"
explained Tilman.
Ann Arbor was one of 43 cities in Michigan that submit-
ted an application for the housing loans, and, according to
Howard Mills, the director of the Home and Neighborhood
Improvement Program, the $300,000 requested by the city
was considered "well within reason of the need in the
area."
MILLS SAID the main objective of the program is to
eliminate housing problems in the state and to subsequen-
tly stimulate the -housing market. But Tilman also
stressed an ultimate public service goal. "The program
will affect the health of neighborhoods and public service
is a part of this," said Tilman. "It is a people program,"
he added.
Although the program is primarily aimhd at helping
older home owners, city councilwoman Susan Greenberg
(D-First Ward), said that it will also affect younger
residents such as University graduate -students. "The
program will help younger couples who want to buy old
homes and renovate them," said Greenberg. "It will
assist people with temporary incomes so many people like
graduate students will qualify."
Democratic mayoral candidate Jamie Kenworthy sees
the program as extremely positive on the whole, but does
cite one long-term problem. According to Kenworthy, the
program will eventually lead to an increase in moderate
income housing.
"When the people who are currently eligible for loans
die off, the homes will be worth more because of the
renovation. The-program will help keep moderate income
people in houses," said Kenworthy.
3ISA working with more
studen
CHEF and WAITRESS
POSITONS AREA VAILABLE
Apply Daily at the
Elias Brothers
Restaurant
Located in the Briarwood Mall
* We offer excellent
wages and benefits *
._,
(Continued from Page 1)
President Kate Rubin. "The 'first im-
pulse is to be really careful, to
scrutinize. Now we're a little less rigid,
but not less cautious," she said.
Treasurer Brad Canale said, "We
want to reevaluate, reconstrtict, and
rewrite the entire financial operation of
MSA."
Canale added, "We need to be more
accountable. We're doing good enough,
but the"current financial structure isn't
really sufficient."
Assembly members stressed the need
to plan long-term projects; and they
said they feel the only way they can do
this is by knowing ahead of time what
funds will be available to them. They
plan to ask the Regents for a three year
commitment to mandatory funding in
May or June, MSA President Eric Ar-
nson said.
"We want to stop piecemeal use of
funds," said Joseph Pelava, special
projects coordinator. "If we have a
long-range plan we can let students
know what's happening."
Some projects MSA is planning now
are renovation of the Fishbowl, car-
peting for the Undergraduate Library,
establishment of a suicide-depression
project, work on campus-wide
recycling, and funding for an alter-
native to the work study program.
Arnson said the focus of the budget
this year has been supporting the ac-
tivities of student organizations.
"Before we spent considerably less
time on the budget,". he said, "and now
because we have more money, we have
many more requests." ,
SCOTT REIT, co-chairman of BPC,
said MSA has become the biggest sour-
ce of funding for speakers on campus.
He reported about two-thirds of the
projects groups bring to MSA for fun-
ding revolve around speakers,
"We get speakers that hadn't been
coming before, the number has in-
creased greatly," said Reit.
In deciding on funding procedures,
BPC generally looks at the benefits of
the program, how important an activity
is, the needs for such a program in the
University, how many people it affects,
and finally if it's new.
"YOU HAVE to take a close look at it
(the program). For the most part,
organizations understand the position
we're in, said Richard Barr, the other
co-chairman of BPC. "We should con-
trol the money. We owe it to the studen-
ts, we owe it to ourselves."
DESPITE ALL the money the
assembly has allotted to external
allocations, it isn't all that easy to get
funding. The BPC will often fund only
certain portions of a project, and
always requires the groups to fill out
extensive forms. BPC also asks that the
groups fill out more forms when the
program is over, and have just recently
started to take this procedure seriously.
BPC's attitude may be summed up in
Barr's statement: "We don't want
groups to be extravagant."
Barr and Reit both said groups which
come before them subscribe to political
philosophies which don't line up with
their own, and as a result, they have to
be objective.
t money
Barr said, "Organizations have a
responsibility to use the funds respon-
sibly, and just because 55 per cent of the
student body doesn't want to fund
something, doesn't mean MSA
shouldn't do it. But, MSA should be
responsible for explaining why they did
it."
He also said a number of items MSA
has chosen to support are not going to
appear for years.
"People that lived on the hill.aren't
likely to know that MSA was respon-
sible (for helping SUDS) - or they'll
forget. The people here next year won't
know," Barr said.
"Mandatory funding accomplishes a
lot," Barr continued, "We got the North
Campus busing thing going, too. People
on North Campus are benefitting
through the work at MSA. But, those
who ride the bus at 2 a.m. won't
remember MSA was responsible."
An equal opportunity
employer (M-F)
iiT SgOT
.M.
LSA-SG allocates money readily
7 -'
STORE
CLOSI
G
(Continued from Page 1)
LSA-SG met informally to discuss the
possibility of forming such a committee
and discarded the idea. LSA-SG Vice-
President Kathy Friedman said the
self-styled committee also unanimously
decided to follow the allocations
guidelines organized by previous coun-
cils.
These guidelines include such
qualifications as educational value, the
number of LSA students affected, other/
sources of funding, and the amount of
money requested.
Under the present system of
allocations, once a group asks for and
receives its allocations, they are not
required to report back to Council on
what happened at their event. Con-
ditions appear to be changing, however.
"These organizations should definitely
be submitting reports on their produc-
tivity and what they've done in the
past," said Council member Ameen
Rasool Abdul-Raheem.
FRIEDMAN INDICATED changes
would be forthcoming. She said the
present allocation forms which groups
must fill out would also include a
credit/debit sh et and a follow-up tear
sheed which drganizations would be
required to complete after they've
spent their money.
Fund allocations occupy a major por-
tion of LSA-SG's spending. Since their
first budget allocation session at the
Jan. 17 meeting, Council spent a total of
$5,000.23. While this figure includes
$685.23 spent in allocations and debts
incurred last term, there have been
only four allocation sessions this term.,
At the group's Jan. 17 meeting,'Coun-
cil allocated a total of $1,760 to four dif-
ferent groups, including the Markley
Minority Affairs Council for its annual
Minority Awards Banquet, which
received $700.
THE ALLQCATIONS to the Markley
dinner left many Council members.
angry and many said they felt Council,
spends too much money on dinners,.
rather than on educational functions..
Cox said Council could have cut back on
the amount of funds given to certain
groups such as the Markley Minority
Council. He suggested that instead of
allocating $700, a lower sum would've
done. "People (on Council) weren't
thinking of the implications (of the,
spending), just that it's a good cause."
Cox emphasized that while Council's
spending hasn't been "excessive,
(Council members) haven't been
careful enough. That's a lot of money
(to spend) in a short period. If we didn't
get the winter revenues; we'd be in
trouble," Cox added.
Cox defends the allegation that if an
event is for minority students, chances
are the group will be funded. "We don't
agree with Jeff Coleman that there's
too much money being spent on
minorities," said Cox., Coleman, a
member of MSA's BPC spoke to MSA
Last week about the Assembly's
budget, and made the charge.
Stechuk agreed with Cox that the
funding for minorities is not out of line.
He said last year approximately one-
fifth of the group's allocations were to
black groups, and another fifth funded
women's and other minorities groups.
'C
OFF EVERYTHING,
Books
Posters
Kites
Calendars
EVERYTHING MUST GO!
Bookcases, Fixtures, etc.
CENTICORE ROOKSHOP
- 336 Maynard
Dance Ti
D ac'(Continued from Page 1)
Moving Company, a modern dance
troupe.
After a year and a half with the
Merce Cunningham Company of
New York, Watson came to Ann Ar-
bor in '76 and began work on a
master's degree in dance from the
University.
Now in his tenth month as director of
Dance'Theatre II, aacompany which he
started, Watson is also teaching dance
classes and working in a bookstore to
pay bills. As director of Dance Theater
II, Watson said, "I want to provide
myself and the company with as many
different kinds of performing experien-
ces that I'm interested in now because I
did start when I was older. That does
make a difference. I don't have the
luxury of time that a younger person
has. I don't think about that, I mean, I
don't sit around pining away about the
past years, because I really do believe
that my dancing has benefitted from
my experiences prior to my commit-
tment to dance.
"OF COURSE I'd like to be 10 years
younger. But I definitely feel settled
9:30-10 p.m. Mon.-Sot.
12-8 p.m. Sun.
heatre Hpe
now, settled in the sense that I know
direction. This year I've had to accept
that I can't do everything. Jmping into
a project like this, you're very im-
patient to do everything at once. You
have to narrow down your priorities."
Perhaps because of Cunningham's in-
fluences, Watson's choreography is
very abstract. His dances don't tell
stories. There may be themes in the
dances, for example, in one of the
pieces which are being performed this
weekend, the choreography stems from
"pure movement" ideas. There are
rythmical sections, sections which in-
volve precise foot placement, and ex-
pressions of falling, catching, and
swinging.
"I DON'T LIKE to work with any pre-
set ideas," Watson explained. "I like to
leave everything up to the audience,
and I want the movement to speak for
itself. When choreographing, my inner
reaction to the movement is most im-
portant. It's an emotional thing. The
movement doesn't have to be pretty.
But there's a certain energy that I need
to see.
"What excites me is the variety of
ways in which the choreographer can.
have a dancer construct sculptural
things or energy patterns. I'm not ex-
cited by bravura displays which are
based on how high the men can jump
and how fast the woman can turn. They*
'aCC OQCJQC
For Jewish CAMP COUNSELORS,
COUNSELORS TO BE,
THOSE INTERESTED IN TEACHING
AND SOCIAL WORK
WHAT-WHERE-WHEN
TIME-Sundays, 2:30-5:00p.m.
DATES-Feb. 25, March 18 & 25, April 1
PLACE-Concourse Lounge, Mary Markley
Residence Hall
REGISTRATION
Please call the Hillel Office (663.3336) by Feb.
21 st to indicate you will be attending.
rforming
bore me. On thehother hand, I can watch
Margot Fontaine walk across the stiage
and F'm very happy. She's' so lovely.
She has so much to give the audience.
Christopher Watson, having arrived
in the dance world, is enjoying the Ann
Arbor community tremendously: The
audiencesare receptive, the University
brings in a great variety of artists, and
there is easy access to video equip-
ment.
ALL THE SAME, he feels that there
is still mystery and prejudice about ar-
tists in general, even in Ann Arbor.
Dancers are at the low end of the ar-
tist's totem pole, and some people
refuse to take them seriously.
"It's okay on Saturday night at the
disco," Watson said, "but as a
profession, it's misunderstood. Nobody
knows the history of dance, nobody
knows the tools of dance like they know
the tools of music which are taught in
grade school. How many people know,
what a tandu is or a pliesWe all can
recognize a bar sign or a measure. We
know about Beethoven and da Vinci,
but nothing of Pavlova.
"I want to change that, as well as
prejudices against male dancers, at
least in a small way. I want to bring
dance to kids and show them it's okay.
You can be six feet two and weigh as
much as I do and still dance."
Tonight at Slauson School,
Christopher Watson's Dance Theater II
will perform in its first formal concert
series. It will be a personal highpoint
for Watson, and one hopes it will marl
the beginning of wider understanding
and appreciation of dance in Ann Ar
bor.
ELEClON DIRECTORS NEEDED
To organize and operate the Michigan Student Assembly
(MSA) elections of April 2-3-4.
Requires one month of preparation.
Experience helpful.
Paid position by contract.
a