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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1972

NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT SCHREINER

In search of a better tax

MONDAY, FOR

THE second time in

three years, Ann Arbor voters re-
jected a proposal for a one per cent flat
rate income tax.
In the weeks leading up to the election
the Democratic administration of Mayor
Robert Harris was predicting dire conse-
quences - a $600,000 to $800,000 deficit
and "substantial" cuts in city services-
if the city failed to increase its revenues.
Yet, the voters decisively turned down
his request for the tax he said would al-
leviate this problem. Even in wards and
precincts traditionally thought to be
"safe" Democratic turf, the tax question
lost.
Clearly, a major factor in the defeat
of the tax was financial. Voters just don't
like to impose taxes on themselves-
especially when rising inflation and un-
employment are putting the average
family in a financial squeeze play.
HOWEVER, A considerable portion of
the opposition to the tax was on
grounds other than unwillingness to pay
more money to the city government.
The inequities of the proposed tax
caused many liberal - radical elements of
the community, who might otherwise
have been expected to support such a
measure, to come out in opposition.
As has been pointed out many times,
a flat rate tax places an unfair burden
on lower income families. Further, Har-
ris' package would have been a bonanza
for business and landlords.
In a larger sense, the fault for the

crisis in city finances and the inability
of Ann Arbor to get an income tax ap-
proved lies with the State Legislature.
By passing restrictive laws prohibiting
the enactment of progressive or variable
rate income taxes, the state has forced
the cities to choose between regressive
property taxes and equally regressive
flat rate income taxes.
ACCORDING TO Harris, service cuts
and personnel layoffs will now be
necessary to prevent a deficit this year,
and an increase in the city's property
millage--presently 14.85 mills-may be
necessary to keep the city's fiscal head
above water next year.
Placing a millage question on the bal-
lot would be unwise.
It would inevitably be turned down by
the voters-as it should be. The property
evaluation is one of the most blatantly
unfair bases for taxation, since studies
show investment in property tends to be
a much higher proportion of the income
of poor families than wealthy ones.
Rather than attempting to replace one
regressive tax with another, the city
should direct its efforts to forcing reform
of the state laws.
IN THE MEANTIME, it may be neces-
sary for Ann Arbor to tighten its belt.
Hopefully this tightening will be done in
such areas as the police allocation, and
not the already anemic budgets of the
city's social services.
-CHRIS PARKS

By CHRIS PARKS
BEAKES ST. is a quiet one-way street
which runs South, for three blocks
through the heart of the Model Cities
neighborhood on Ann Arbor's North Cen-
tral side. Along it stand the old time-
worn homes of its predominantly black and
lower income population.
It is a typical residential street. Children
play along its edges - and sometimes in
the street if their mothers aren't watch-
ing.
But, if Mayor Robert Harris and busi-
ness-minded Republicans have their way,
40,000 motorists (according to figures of
the city's transportation department) may
soon race down Beakes every day in their
mad rush to get downtown and to, outlying
shopping centers.
Should plans approved by City Council
last month be funded by the voters in an
April 3 bonding election, an improved
physical connectionewill be made between
Packard St. and Beakes via Ashley St.
and First St. (see map).
The construction would convert Beakes
into a major thoroughfare for traffic enter-
ing town from rapidly developing subdivi-
sions to the North.
OPPOSITION TO THE planned bypass
from the people of the area and their
representatives on the Model Cities policy
board has- been stiff.
The project, they say will inundate the
neighborhood with high-volume traffic. This
rush, they say will split their community
in two, dividing people from their neigh
bors and destroying the area's slowly
developing residential character.
Councilman Norris Thomas (D-first Ward)
who represents the area on City Council,
says the council has ignored the "social
costs" of the project.
If the road is built, Thomas says, "I
can't imagine kids crossing the streets.
That's no way to develop a residential
neighborhood."
To Thomas, and the Model Cities Policy
Board, perhaps the most destructive as-
pect of the project is that its passage
fosers a sense of powerlessness on the
part of the black community.
ON THE OTHER hand, if the Beakes
route is constructed, certain groups - bus-
inessmen in the downtown area and land-
lords in the Model Cities area - tand to
gain.
For Ann Arbor businessmen, "a vote for

Packard-Beakes is a vote for downtown."
Groups like the Chamber of Commerce
and the Downtown Property Owners threw
their support behind the proposal, which
they felt would vitalize the downtown
area. That area has lost business recently
to the rapidly developingshopping center
complexes on the perphirey of town.
Councilman Lloyd Fairbanks (R-Fourth
Ward) articulates the hopes many business-
mnen have for the project. If Packard-
Beakes is built, Fairbanks says, "It will
show that the city has a concrete interest
in the area. That may generate capital
investment downtown, and if a proposed
mall is built I could see downtown as be-
ing a vital area."
A second group pushing the bypass is
the North Central Property Owners As-
sociation (NCPOA), a collection of around
120 landlords with property in the Model
Cities area.
They, too, expect economic benefits from
the completion of the route.
The NCPOA has a long record of oppos-
ing plans to close streets or reduce traffic
in the area, because they fear such meas-
ures would reduce commercial potential.
"We're trying to protect and improve our
own property," says Letty Wickliffe, the
NCPOA president.
The NCPOA does not accept the :argu-
ment that traffic generated by the bypass
would have a destructive effect on the
black community. Attacking opposition to
the bypass by what they call "mission-
ary liberals," they stated recently, "t h e
property owners are, at this time, Anterest-
ed in the value of their land and not any
plan for pseudo-socialization."
* * * *
THE IDEA OF a Packard-Beakes by-
pass is not new.
The concept of using Beakes as a major
access route to the downtown area had its
roots in the early 1960s among planners
and businessmen who- were concerned with
the steady decline of the central business
district (CBD).
One of those businessmen Robert Fab-
er, owner of Faber's Fabrics on Main St.
and Democratic councilman from the se-
cond ward, now has second thoughts about
the proposal he helped to develop.
"We never considered anything more
than saving the downtown," Faber says.
'The Beakes area was cheap property con-
sisting of old homes which would be easy
to condemn. It was great for planning.
We were totally unaware of the problems

4
'I

Fnr
Faculty input' on research

I THE REGENTS' rejection Friday of
proposals to ban classified research
from this campus was disappointing, the
faculty response was even more so.
After proposals from Student Govern-
ment Council, Senate Assembly, the Fac-
ulty Reform Coalition, and even the Uni-
versity's' executive officers had all been
dismissed; and after Senate Assembly
had been told imperiously to work out,
something acceptable to the Regents,
there should have been strong reaction.
Instead, Assembly passed Monday a
token reaffirmation of its proposal, and
then agreed to go back to the drawing
board until the Regents are happy.
Perhaps the most glaring injustice of
the Regents action is that they said a
new classified research policy was un-
necessary; they favored only better
mechanisms for implementing the old
policy.
Perhaps, as President Robben Fleming
said in his speech to Assembly, the Re-
gents didn't "understand the complex-
ity of the issue."
Fleming rarely leans so far in his
statements concerning the Regents, but
this time he had good reason. Obviously
the Regents didn't understand-or else
how could they uphold the present policy
with only one dissenting vote after wit-
nessing literally years of arguments
against the research.
The faculty proposal itself was far

from perfect - but it had been carefully
drawn. up, it eliminated at least some of
the research, and it had faculty approval.
And an injustice broader in scope than
the research issue is that the Regents
disregarded input from students, from
administrators, and chiefly, from the
faculty.
When Senate Assembly has said some-
thing, the Regents-at least in the past
-have listened. This time they didn't.
This lack of attention to faculty wishes
should not only disappoint and upset As-
sembly members, it should scare them.
Assembly is set up to represent faculty
members to the rest of the University. A
totally unheeded Assembly request, thus,
substantially weakens the faculty's clout
in University matters, now and in the
future.
For Assembly to let this pass with little
protest, to promise humbly to do the bid-
ding of the Regents, is unthinkable. But
it did just that.
ASSEMBLY SHOULD reconsider the is-
sue at its next meeting. And it should
follow through its reaffirmation of the
original proposal, not with a promise to
obey the Regents, but with a vow that
the same proposal shall be returned to
the board each month until it is ap-
proved.
-TAMMY JACOBS
E5ditorial Director

it would cause in the black community."
In 1966 the Beakes route was approved
by City Council and funded by the voters
in a road bonding election.,
It soon met stiff resistance, however,
from members of he newly established
Model Cities project.
In the face of bitter opposition, the city
agreed to postpone the project and called
on Model Cities to draw up an "alternate
route."
Model Cities, however, did not seem anx-
ious to act. By December of last year
an alternate proposal had still not been
developed.
AT THIS POINT, according to Robert
Johnson of the Planning Department, an
impatient City Council warned that they
would consider the bypass question on Jan.
31, 'regardless of whether the planning
commission was ready."
Working under the gun, the planning com-
mission set up a special task force in
an attempt to break the six year dead-
lock on the question.
The seven member task force was com-
posed mostly of representatives of con-
servative property owner groups commit-
ted to the bypass.
Johnson, who worked closely with the
task force, says most of the people on the
force seemed in sympathy with the Pack-
ard-Beakes proposal.
While admitting that the task force was
weighted in favor of the busines interests,
Johnson explained he thought the group
was "representative of who had more at
stake."
Predictably, the task force gave its ap-
proval to the Packard-Beakes route by a
6-0 vote. Model Cities abstained, promis-
ing to come up with an alternative pro-
posal.
Despite this favorable report, the Plan-
ning Commission, meeting on Jan. 25, dead-
locked four to four on the issue - officially
a denial of approval.
ON JAN. 31, the Packard-Beakes pro-
posal came before City Council along with
two alternatives,' one developed by the
Planning Commission and one by Model
Cities.
These. two plans were rejected as ex-
pensive and impractical however, and af-
ter bitter debate both among councilmen
and people in the audience the Packard-
Beakes route was approved 7-4.
The six Republican votes went unani-
mously in favor, while the council's four
Democrats voted against.
Surprisingly, Democratic Mayor Harris,
whose veto could have killed the measure,
cast his lot with the Republican major-
ity.
Harris' only explanation was that the

road would receive the same amount of
traffic whether or not the improvements
were made. This view was shared neither
by his fellow Democrats nor by others
concerned with the Beakes area.
* * * *
THE PASSAGE of the Packard-Beakes
proposal was a landmark in the six year
struggle between the Model Cities com-
munity and the pro-bypass interests.
The bypass opposition this time around,
was plagued by a lack of organization.
Charged with devising an alternative
route to the bypass in 1970, Model Cities
waited until the last minute. They even-
tually came up with a proposal which was
so impractical that it would have cost the
city :over ten times the projeced cost of
the Beakes route.
The performance of other radical liberal
groups sympathetic to the Model Cities resi-
,nts was equally dismal. The H u m a n
Rights Party (HRP), for example, was
taken almost completely by surprise when
it learned of the vote.
'By contrast, the more conservative, pro-
bypass forces came into the fray ready
for battle.
The landlords of the NCPOA formed an
alliance with the Downtown Property Own-
ers Association and the old West 3 i d e
Association to fight for Packard Beakes.
Perhaps this coalition's most active sup-
porter was Councilman Fairbanks. To un-
dermine the position of Model City's policy
board as spokesmen for the black com-
munity, Fairbanks convinced city council
to pass an unprecedented motion granting
NCPOA "official recognition" as a com-
munity group.
The supporters were thus able to go be-
fore city council with the unified backing
of the business community, and an "offic-
ially recognized" group of Beakes area
residents.
COUNCILMAN THOMAS expresses bit-
terness over the role of the conservative
coalition in the passage of the proposal.
"This city," Thomas comments, "is the
Huron Valley Bank and the real estate de-
velopers. It pisses me off sometimes."
"The issue," Thomas says, "was a show-
down 7between white businessmen a n d
blacks who had fought this thing success-
fully since 1966. It just shows the blacks
don't control their own community."
For the poor and black people who in-
habit the area, the message is not a new
one. While fearful about the effects of
massive high-speed traffic through the dom-
munity they seem reticent to commit
themselves emotionally to yet another lost
cause.
An older woman, expresses the resigna-
tion: 'Well, I dunno, I've lived here 40
years, I guess I'll live here 40 more."

4

Primary: Negative response

APPROXIMATELY 14,004 registered
voters in Ann Arbor exercised their
constitutional privileges Monday and
went to the polls to ballot in the pri-
mary election. They defeated an income
tax proposal and selected two men and
one woman to be council candidates for
the April general election.
In the final analysis, though, the elec-
tion signified only a negative response
to city problems.
Only about 25 per cent of the total
registered voters did in fact vote. The
Editorial Staff
ALAN LENHOFF
Editor
SARA FITZGERALD................Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS....... ......... Editorial Director
CARLA RAPOPORT................ Executive Editor
ROBERT SORREINER..... ............ News Editor
ROSE SUE BERSTEIN...............Feature Editor
PAT BAUER..... .......Associate Managing Editor
L,"SAY CHANEY............Editorial Page Editor
MARK DILLEN...............Editorial Page Editor
ARTHUR LERNER .............. Editorial Pagze Editor

rest apparently felt that this one out of
four should decide city policy for them.
While it is true that there were no
really exciting races in any of the, city's
five wards to heighten voter and inter-
est and thus increase voter turnout,
elections are not television shows that
can be ignored if there aren't enough
blood and guts to satisfy the viewer.
WHAT IS especially dismaying about
Monday's balloting is that so few
students voted. For many it would have
been their first time at the polls-yet the
total student vote probably did not ex-
ceed 20 or 25 per cent.
Marvelous tidings indeed for the old
pols and cynics, now secure in their dis-
regard for youth power at the voting
machine.
Ann Arbor needs positive solutions to
its problems, and these solutions require
the input of both residents and admin-
istrators.
The April election for council mem-
bers will be one of the most crucial in

Letters: On the women '~s commission

To The Daily:
THANK YOU very much for
your fine article on the Women's
Commission (Feb. 19) which was
very accurate in detail except for
the first paragraph.
First, the Women's Commission
did not recommend, but consid-
ered the possibility that the Uni-
versity appoint a single Affirma-
tive Action Officer; and second,
we definitely do not recommend
that the Affirmative Action Of-
ficer encompass the present roles
of both the Minorities and Wo-
men's Commissions.
We would like to see an Affirm-
ative Action Officer take care of
the compliance data and take the
responsibility for monitoring the
University's Affirmative Action in
hiring more women and minori-
ties, as job vacancies open up.
However, we do not want the

sult of an increase in interest
among women in legal careers,
and we hope and expect the num-
ber of women in law school will
continue to grow.
For the record, there is no quo-
mitted to The University of Mich-
ta on the number of women ad-
igan Law School, and to my
knowledge there never has been.
Men and womenapplicantsbare
judged by. the same standard.
-Matthew McCauley
Assistant Dean
Feb. 21
Prof., criticized
To The Daily:
PROF. GAYL NESS is a mem-
ber of the University's Commis-
sion for Women. Ness has a repu-
tation for discouraging w o m e n
rrom applying to graduate school.
He has openly admitted to at least

the chances of improving the sit-
uation.
With men like Ness on the
University's Commission for Wo-
men, I too, am pessimistic.
-T. Evans, Grad.
Feb. 18
On arson
To The Daily:
HAS IT OCCURRED to th o s e
campus dissidents that some, or
maybe all of the damage done to
books and records of your lib-
raries can destroy items they may
need for research in a particular
area and are now lost to them and
their colleagues and perhaps pos-
terity?
Why do it? So much effort is made
to help you - why hurt yourself?
-Ike Jones
Feb. 16

4

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