The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, June 13, 1979-Page 7
City Council approves cable TV ordinance
By JOHN GOYER system would be required to pay the council the franchise would only be apartments with offices built over a
After a two-hour working session city, and cutting the number of public granted for a 15-year term, and carport with 300 parking spaces.
Monday night, City Council gave access stations a buyer would have to therefore, the right to operate the cable Don Gallinger has proposed a $13
preliminary approval to revisions in the provide from four to two, television network would not be given
INeADDITIOyatherrdinancerstatss asyiindefinitely.million project on E. Washington St.,
city's cable television ordinance, in- IN ADDITION, the ordinance states away indefinitely, immediately behind the Ann Arbor
cluding one change which would allow a that cable television rates would not be COUNCILMAN James Cmejrek (R- Bank and Trust Company's Liberty St.
potential buyer of the city's troubled regulate Fif th r ao said te citysill branch. The mixed-use project would
cabl telvisin sytem o se itsown Also, the ordinance states the city reserves the right to regulate rates if it icue1 tre faatet ul
cable television system to set its own wudntr lt al eeiin festecbecmayi bsn t include 10 stories of apartments built
subscriber rates. would not regulate cable television feels the cable company is abusing its atop a five-story carport of 445 spaces.
The revisions are aimed at securing a rates until more than 90 per cent of city ability to set rates. . Both developers said they were
buyer for the system. The company residents are subscribers. At the same Earlier during the working session, having trouble in securing conventional
currently running the operation is in time, the revisions drop a requirement council heard from two developers who financing for their projects. Mayor
federal bankruptcy court, $4.5 million that the system's operator extend ser- want to construct mixed housing and Louis Belcher suggested that the two
in debt. vice a certain amount each year. commercial buildings in the downtown investigate state funds for subsidized
ONE PROSPECTIVE buyer, Daniels The system currently has about 9,100 area. housing and also city Economic
and Associates of Denver, Coloradoi, subscribers Daniel Kaplan's $18 million project, to Development Corporation Bonds for the
said one month ago it was no longer in- DEMOCRATIC Council members be built at the south end of the Main St. moneyi
terested in buying the system after expressed concern that the city was business section, would include 120
council failed to approve a similar or- giving away its right to regulate a
diac.monopoly._
dinance. npoyNw Showing, Campuw Area Butterfild Theatres
Councilwoman Leslie Morris (D-
But Ann Arbor attorney Peter Davis, Second Ward) said while the cable
who spoke in support of the ordinance
beo ounil said the Dn e television system was in trouble now, in MONDAY NIGHT IS ADULISFEI., SAT., SUN.
before council, said the Denver firm WEDNESDAY IS "GUEST NIGHT" EVE.&II0tIDATS $3.50
"would be happy to hear from us (the the future it could become quie,'BARGAIN DAY" TWO ADULTS R.EVE. $3.00
city) if we got a proper Cable TV valuable. "It's the ideas of giving ADMITTEDFORTHEtEES.0
document passed." something away - something that we $1.50 UNTIL 5:30 PRICE OF ONE OHILDTO 14 $1.50
The revisions include reducing the don't even know the value of that I am
monthly franchise fee a buyer of the opposed to,"she said.
City Attorney Bruce Laidlaw told
Three 'U' groups voice CAMPUS
crn over retired s t ffMON, TUE, THUR, FR 7:30-9:40 MON, TUTHUR, FRI 7:30-9:30
c n efSAT, SUN, WED SAT, UWED
By PATRICIA HAGEN
Because of rising concern over
inflation and the economy, three Univer-
sity organizations have become in-
creasingly concerned with improving
retirement protection for active and
retired University faculty andstaff.
Representatives of the American
Association of University Professors
(AAUP), the Annuitants Association
and the Annuitants Benefits Committee
jointly will present to the faculty Senate
Assembly a list of six proposals inten-
ded to improve organization and make
the Annuitants Association more
visible. They will make the presen-
tation at the Assembly's June 18
meeting.
"IN THE PAST, it (the Annuitants
Association) has been pretty much a
social organization," said the
organization's president, Prof.
Emeritus of Electrical Engineering
Raymond Mosher. During the past
year, the association has become in-
creasingly interested in medical
benefits and other financial aspects of
the retirement program, he said.
The Annuitants Association will be
asking the Assembly to consider faculty
benefits "from the time they're hired
until the time they die," Mosher ex-
plained..
The presentation will include a
request for the addition of one or more
retired faculty members to the Senate
Assembly-to be elected by the An-
nuitants Association.
THE PRESIDENT of the University
chapter of the AAUP, Prof. Wilfred
Kaplan, said annuitants also represent
the concerns of active faculty who will
eventually retire. "The problems of an-
nuitants are becoming very severe
because of inflation," he said.
"The question is," Kaplan said, "are.
they (active University staff members)
preparing properly for it
(retirement)."
The establishment of a campus office
for annuitants also will be discussed.
Some action already has been taken
with the aid of the Senate Advisory
Committee on University Affairs
(SACUA)-the executive board of the
Senate Assembly-to establish office
space in the Michigan Union. Kaplan
explained the annuitants need a
"headquarters ... a place to be reached
by phone."
PUBLICITY FOR the Annuitants
Association will be discussed because,
Kaplan said, it is important to "en-
courage more to ...oin" in order to
strengthen the association. He said the
association currently "is not well
enough organized."
Mosher estimated there are now
about 400 dues-paying members in the
group. But, if a revised constitution is
approved as expected at the
association's meeting tomorrow, all
retired faculty and administrators
above a certain level will become
members. This would increase the total
number of members to 1100, according
to Mosher.
The Assembly also will be asked to
invite comments from annuitants in
discussing a study of the University
retirement program currently being
conducted.
ACTIVE UNIVERSITY personnel
and the University contribute to the
Teachers' Insurance and Annuity
Association (TIAA), and receive
benefits from this association when
they retire. TIAA is a national pension
fund to which many colleges and
preperatory schools belong.
The University retirement program
also gives faculty and certain ad-
ministrators the option to contribute a
percentage of their salary to a stock in-
vestment pool, the College Retirement
Equities Fund.
Upon retirement, personnel receive
Social Security payments, TIAA
benefits and CREF dividends.
The informal Annuitants Benefits
Committee was formed two years ago
by interested persons concerned with
retirement benefits and medical
coverage and the effect of an in-
flationary economy on annuitants. Ac-
cording to its efairman, English Prof.
Ralph Loomis, the committee will
recommend the major medical
coverage for annuitants be increased to
equal benefits received by active per-
sonnel.
The organization also will request the
Assembly to look into present and
proposed state programs for
retirement protection, and the impact
of inflation on these programs.