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