The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Friday, August 15, 1975
News Phone -764-0552
Downtown market needed
WITH THE IMMINENT closing of the Huron Street A&P
food store, hundreds of Ann Arbor students, under-
privileged residents and elderly citizens will be left look-
ing for a source of life's staples.
An Ann Arbor fixture for 37 years, the downtown
market has provided a relatively affordable food outlet
for the sidewalk-bound set who have no ready access to
the city's outlying supermarkets, either because of physi-
cal disability or lack of transportation.
The store management claims that with the number
of large-family, high-volume customers steadily on the
decline and overhead costs skyrocketing, the A&P can
no longer turn a profit. When in doubt, bail out-that
seems to be the big business rationale that's taken hold
here. Unfortunately, what's good for A&P will surely be
crippling for mid-town Ann Arbor.
WHY IS IT THAT city planners are so willing to heap
praise on propositions ridden with aesthetic draw-
backs and hazards to the community (Chances Are, for
instance), and yet refuse to lift a finger when a business
that deals in necessities as opposed to exceses decides
it has played Ann Arbor for all it is worth?
There is no way the city or a civic board can compel
a private establishment to stay in town against its will.
You would think, however, that if the powers really care
about those who populate Ann Arbor's conjested areas,
they would be able to provide enough incentives to attract
or sustain a high-volume, moderately priced food re-
tailer in the center of the city.
What are the old people, the pensioners and widows
of Ann Arbor's builders from its early years, supposed to
do once the A&P closes its doors for the last time to-
morrow? Not eat perhaps? Or maybe not pay as much
for heat and upkeep so they might afford the smaller,
name-brand stores that dot the campus area?
jOR THE PEOPLE who, for one reason or another, can-
not safely or economically arrange transportation to
the Stadium or Washtenaw markets, the presence or
absence of a centrally located market is not a trifling
matter. It is a question of survival.
The city should take it upon itself to see that the
needs of these people are provided for. If A&P cannot be
persuaded to alter its plans, and no other private enter-
prise shows a desire to take up the slack, Council should
do whatever is required to develop a viable alternative.
For an answer to the dilemna, the city might look
to the city's small but successful food cooperatives. A
cooperative venture underwritten by the city could at
once take up the burden soon to be abandoned by A&P
and provide a working model that citizens could follow
to arm themselves in other areas of economic sub-
servience.
Ann Arbor has long prided itself as a people town,
a place where the pace is relaxed, the natives friendly.
Over the years, its citizenry has consistently displayed
a willingness to accommodate a broad range of persu-
sions, both political and cultural. Therein lies its vitality.
But given the sway of recent events, one wonders
what the future holds in store.
BHEN A COMMUNITY starts neglecting those citizens
who have been around the longest and have held fast
to its core, and centers its goals around fast food and
fast money, there is something badly amiss. To chance
stringing out a well-frayed line one time too often, what
are our priorities?
Editorial Staff
JEFF SORENSEN
Editor
PAUL HASKINS
Editoria Director
JO MARCOTTY .. ...................................... Night Editor
ROB MEACHUM .. ....... ........ . . ..Night Editor
JEFF RISTINE .. ........Night Editor
TIM SCHICK .. . . .................................., Night Editor
DAVID WHITING .........Night Editor
BILL TURQU .E ................................... .. Night Editor
ELAINE FLETCHER .............. ................ As't. Night Editor
TRUDY GAYER . .......................... Ass't. Night Editor
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI ..... ... .... .............. Ass'. Night Editor
PAULINE LUBENS ............ ......... ... Asst. Night Editor
BETH NISSE N. ....,. .,,.. . . Editorial Psge AssS.
PIRGIM REPORTS
No evacuation plan
MICHIGAN CITIZENS living
within 20 miles of nuclear
power plants should be told
about emergency plans to evac-
uate them from their homes in
the event of a nuclear accident,
according to a proposal filed
August 6 with the Michigan
Public Service Commission. The
rule-making petition filed by
PIRGIM, the Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan,
and a similar one filed with a
federal agency, ask the regula-
tory agencies to require all
electric utilities operating nu-
clear plants to inform their
customer, of the little-knowen
plans.
"Almost one and a half mil-
lion people in Michigan are
within 20 miles of nuclear plants
presently in operation or under
construction," according to
Richard Conlin, PIRGIM Pro-
jects Director. "A panic evacu-
ation of even the smallest area
w onu l d be disastrous. Public
knowledge and awareness of the
evacuation plans could reduce
this risk."
PIRGIM's proposal would re-
quire notification to all cus-
tomers of utilities operating nu-
clear power plants, including
those beyond the 20-mile limit.
of the federal Nuclear Regula-
tory Commission. Plans f o r
evacuating a radius of at least
20 miles around the plant are
required by federal regulations,
though a 40-mile area has also
been proposed.
"If a serious disaster occur-
red today, the public would not
know what to do to minize ra-
diological damage, deaths, and
injuries," Conlin stated. "The
disastrous evacuation of Saigon
demonstrates the chaos that can
exist when evacuation is needed
under c r i s i s conditions. Of
course, evacuation in the event
of a nuclear plant explosion
would have much less time than
the Saigon evacuation had, and
therefore needs to be much bet-
ter planned. Imagine evacuating
a quarter of a million people
during rush hour or under win-
ter snow conditions. P u b I i c
knowledge of the evacuation
system would at least enable
proper planning and help to
avoid panic."
Though power plants cannot
explode as a nuclear bomb
could, a failure in the cooling
system could cause melting of
the plant and the reactor core,
powerful chemical explosions,
an accident, has never been suc-
cessfully tested.
In 1973, there were some 861
"abnormal occurrences" in day-
to-day reactor operations; the
closest that we have come to a
reactor accident so far was in
1966, at the now permanently-
closed "Fermi I" breaker re-
actor in Monroe, Michigan, in
which portions of the core ac-
"A panic evacuation
of even the smallest
area (around a nuclear
plant) would be disas-
trous. Public know-
ledge and awareness
of evacuation plans
could reduce the risk."
Sma7g estasiim~.: :~asasvses
tually melted, and an explosion
was narrowly averted.
UNDER MICHIGAN law, the
Public Service Commission has
90 days to either grant
PIRGIM's petition or give rea-
sons for denial. Nuclear plants
in operation or planned in Mich-
gao are owned by Detroit Edi-
son, Consumers Power Com-
pany, and Indiana and Michigan
Electric Company.
PIRGIM joins with consumer
advocate Ralph Nader and 31
citizens nrganizations in 20
states to file its petition with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commis-
sion, asking it to issue a na-
tional rule to reveal the evacu-
ation plans to the public and
test plans with yearly public
drills.
PIRGIM Reports is a ser-
vice of the Public Interest
Research Group in Michi-
qan.
's O -'. .- .a'f x- {Y}:.!J J.":?...5 :ti .5 -tici'' ,t M h:
"Though power plants could not explode as a
nuclear bomb could, a failure in the cooling
system could cause melting of the reactor core,
powerful chemical explosions, and widespread
radioactive contamination."
PIRGIM reasons that people and wide-spread distribution of
outside the critical area need to radioactive material. A 1965
know too, to reduce the risk of AEC study estimated that such
panic if they hear of an acci- an accident could result in
dent requiring evacuation, and 45,000 deaths, 100,000 injuries,
so that they can be prepared to and damages of $17 billion, en-
assist nuclear refugees. The in- compassing "an area of disas-
formation would be mailed an- ter . . . equal to that of the
nually with regular electric state of Pennsylvania." While
bills. estimates of how likely such an
accident is differ, the- "Emer-
THE EVACUATION plans are gency Core Cooling System,"
designed by the utility on orders designed to compensate for such
VN L ," / LIKIE "b BE i