4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 4, 1995 ije £Idigun &dqwqw aiQ JAN TWENGE Tm EAsABLE PEN Transportation X: Planes, trains and cab drivers 0 420 Maynard MICHAEL ROSENBERG Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editor in Chief Edited and managed by .JULIE BECKER students at the JAMEs NAsH University of Michigan Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. No-vwin situation City makes best possible deal in 'Y' debacle F ourteen months after it began, the city of City Council also wasted time debating the Ann Arbor-YMCA debacle has finally legality of the original loan agreement--even reached a conclusion. Unfortunately for the after the state declared the agreement illegal. city, this conclusion will cost it well over a At least one council member compromised the million dollars. At the same time, the City city's case by leaking details of proposed Council has lost face by failing to accomplish settlements to the press. the objectives that held up a settlement for However, the City Council was not alone in more than a year. creating this fiasco. The YMCA must share the In 1988, City Council agreed to guarantee blame. One reason for the problems, as alleged aloanfromGreatLakes Bancorptothe YMCA, by the city, was the fact that YMCA officials allowing that non-profit group to add anumber misrepresented their ability to repay the loan in of low-income housing units to its facility on order to gain the guarantee from the city. If Fifth Avenue. The arrangement went smoothly true, the YMCA should at the very least pay its until early last year, when the YMCA reported own legal fees. financial difficulties and asked the city to help What exactly has been gained by the year of with the loan payments. Instead of complying acrimonious debate? For the residents of Ann with the agreement, the city questioned the Arbor, absolutely nothing. Instead, where the legality of theoriginal contract. The two groups city could have paid small monthly sums until tried to negotiate a refinancing pact with the YMCA revenues again matched loan payment bank to get around the loan guarantee, but needs, the city is now saddled with a $1.2 those negotiations failed. million burden, plus $150,000 in legal fees, After numerous delays and missed dead- and perhaps also the $60,000 legal bill in- lines on paying back the loan, Great Lakes curred by the YMCA. Furthermore, the ten- Bancorp filed lawsuits against both the city ants rights issue is unresolved, abandoned in and the YMCA for defaulting on the loan. The the interest of ending this sordid affair. Al- YMCA then countersued the city, asking the though that question may arise again, as a court to decide whether the original agreement result of a lawsuit filed by the Ann Arbor was in fact legal. Faced with a potentially Tenants Union, the City Council has lost a damaging ruling from the court, the council chance to protect the low-income and nearly capitulated in a landmark decision last Thurs- powerless residents of the YMCA. day, agreeing to pay the bank $1.2 million. Unfortunately, the fallout from the case is The council's decision was appropriate still to come. Although the council's decision considering the circumstances. The city could closes the chapter on the loan, $1.2 million is not afford to bleed legal fees on a case it would a substantial amount. If the sum is not re- probably lose. But in paying out more than $1 couped through bond sales by the end of June, million, the council has only solved a mess the balance will be made up by-across-the- largely of its own making. The council last board spending cuts, with the possibility of December attempted to force the YMCA into temporarily shutting down city hall. While a a tenant management plan that it could not terrible outcome, it may be a fitting conclusion accept, stalling a solution to the loan crisis. The to this debacle. Choosing not to choose Rejection of term limits a victory for voters The ultimate grunge movie "Slacker" opens as a guy wakes up on a bus, gets off, and catches a cab. "Man, I just had the weirdest dream, back on the bus there ..." he begins telling the cab driver, who then sits without comment through the guy's 10-minute monologue on alternate reali- ties, how he could have ended up hitchhik- ing and getting a ride from a woman he didn't know, how they'd play pinball to- gether and how he'd eventually end up moving in. "Man, shit, I should have stayed at the bus station," he concludes. This guy had it good: He managed to babble incessantly at a cab driver, instead of having the cab driver babble inces- santly at him. Although some cab drivers manage to say absolutely nothing the en- tire ride (this includes the guy who had installed a TV set into the floor of his cab), a sizable minority have figured out The Universe, Government, and Why It All Sucks, and will proceed to tell you all about it -even if you feign a coma in the back seat. Following the logic of some cab driv- ers' thoughts is enough to make your head spin. On a recent trip to Midway Airport in Chicago, the conversation went like this. Cab driver: "Since you're still in college, do any of your professors talk about over- population?" Me, already thinking I should take notes on this conversation: "Do you mean the overpopulation of the world?" Cab driver: "No, of just this country. Because you know when they talk about 'creating' a job, that just means other people lose their jobs." Me: (Silence. Thinking this guy should write speeches for Clinton.) Then I was treated to The Monologue- a ramble on practically everything that re- quired absolutely no input from me. "Did you hear they have this light bulb now that give indefinite light?" he asked. "Yeah, a guy came up with that about 10 years ago. And now they've got people who don't need their glasses anymore. They give them this operation ..." I think that's where I lost him com- pletely in a tangle of cab-driver logic, and he shut up for the rest of the ride. In the end, he was smarter than the airline agents who scheduled my flight: On atrip from Chicago to San Francisco, I somehow ended up with a five-hour layover on Cleveland. Someone clearly had it in for me. In this way a cab ride is the perfect beginning to any trip: It prepares you for the absurdity that characterizes traveling ingen- eral. The airlines' current hub system is supposed to cut prices by minimizing the number of flights, but someone with a de- gree in post-modern literature was clearly hired to design some of the schedules. One songwriter in the'60s, driving from Florida and distrustful of the South, wondered if he could get "to L.A. via Omaha." If he flew Continental, he'd have to - unless they decided to stop off in Bangor, Maine, first, in which case the layover would be in San Bernadino. Then there's the whole principle ofplanes in general. Next to a couple of skyscrapers, a jet airplane is hands down the heaviest thing I have ever seen. Yet every time, impossibly, this ma- chine lifts off the ground into the air and clouds, a lead-footed beast tearing through the breath of angels. I was sure gravity had more sense than that, but there I am, pay- ing $275.50 for a seat on a contraption that defies the laws of physics onaregularbasis. Once airborne, the result of all of this technology is that all technology falls away to insignificance. For a while, the tiny cars rush this way and that on the small ribbon of road, cruising among the neat squares of farmland and the impossibly straight rows of houses in the suburbs with only the occasional swimming pool to break the monotony of the square green lawns. But after a few minutes, with my face pressed close to the cold of the plane window, all of that disappears into a blur of brown land, snow-capped mountains, and featureless plains. This heavy hunk of metal hurtling through the sky is the last evidence I can see of life on Earth. And the cab driver says there's over- population. ARE EAT i W94A W TILL NUNCARY. Owl~ gGH J) NOTABLE QUOTABLE "The idea that you can't tell It like It Is because It will offend some groups in our society Is a mistake. it's just a mistake." - University history lecturer Tom Collier, on the Smithsonian Institute's decision to throw away text on the Enola Gay exhibit in the face of congressional disapproval 01 V'WON L ast Wednesday, the U.S. House rejected four Contract With America proposals that would have imposed constitutional lim- its on the number of terms senators and representatives could represent their con- stituencies. With this vote, the House placed good governance above short-term political motives. Term limits are the most broadly sup- ported element of the Contract With America, with some 80 percent of the American public backing measures that limit the time indi- viduals can serve in Congress. This support is fueled by a public disgust with the role lobbyists and special interests play in the government. However, term limits are not a substitute for lobbying and campaign-finance reforms, and consequently, they will not improve the functioning of government. As Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) put it, term limits are "the lazy man's excuse for what's wrong with Congress." The most eloquent criticism of term limits came, quite surprisingly, from a Republican, Rep. Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, who has served in Congress since 1974. Hyde noted that experience is fundamental to the effec- tive running of Congress. As Hyde put it, "To do your job around here, you've got to know something about environmental issues, health care, banking ... (America) needs statesmen How TO CONTACT T.EM State Rep. Mary Schroer (D-52nd district, North Campus) 99 Olds Plaza Building Lansing, MI 48909 (517) 373-1792 and it needs giants - and you don't get them out of the phone book." By limiting the number of terms represen- tatives could serve, term-limit legislation would turn Congress into a chaotic play- ground. Members of Congress would lack sufficient knowledge about policy areas in which they will be legislating. They would increasingly come to rely upon a corps of legislative aides who had the experience and practical knowledge so necessary to the pro- cess of legislation. These aides would be- come permanent fixtures in the Washington political structure, and would acquire a deci- sive role in the workings of Congress. In- deed, few things are more frightening then a legislative body that functions through unelected aides who are not accountable to the general public. Term-limit legislation also denies the public the right to choose those whom they wish to represent them. Under term-limit legislation, the public can not re-elect legis- lators who have effectively served their dis- trict or state for 12 years. Instead, the public will be forced to elect an individual with no congressional track record. Perhaps the most succinct criticism of term-limit legislation was delivered by Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.): "We've already got term limits. They're called elections." State Rep. Uz Brater (D-53rd district, Central Campus) 412 Roosevelt Building Lansing, MI 48909 (517) 373-2577 Multiculturalism: A '90s p.c. charade By Vahe Tazian When I became a student at the University of Michigan, I felt as if I were being bombarded with various ideas and programs that promoted diversity and multiculturalism. I soon realized this institution's serious commit- ment to multi-culturalism -- which is viewed as a way to make Americans more sensitive to the diverse cultural and ethnic back- grounds of people in this coun- try. However, in an attempt to achieve this goal and promote multiculturalism, the facts of American history and the course of its development have been dis- torted and even eliminated. I now realize that multiculturalism has gone too far. The goals set forth and imple- mented by multiculturalists are doing a great disservice to many, especially minority students, who have multicultural views imposed on them. Diversity is a nice idea to promote. Learning about the different cultures and ethnicities in this country should most defi- nitely be looked upon as a posi- tive idea. However, it must not be done at the expense of Ameri- cans, and the values and beliefs they cherish, as it is now. America has always taken pride in being a melting-pot cul- ture, where people of all back- grounds are welcome and are treated as equals. There is no question that this country has had their native cultures. We should all learn to assimilate, rather than point fingers. In order for America to succeed as an inte- grated society, we must all be- have as though we are Ameri- cans. This does not advocate for- getting who we are as individu- als, orforgettingourcultural heri- tage. These ideas should be en- couraged and upheld in the home and in the community, not in university lectures, or in elemen- tary classrooms, as is occurring. When we examine what the United States has stood for, we will realize this country, which is the greatest nation in the world, has been defined by the idea of self-reliance. This is the "land of opportunity." This is the country to which so many immigrants have dreams and aspirations of coming. This is the country that was built on the notion of every- body fending for themselves and their families. Multiculturalists would like to rob us of these fundamental ideas. Those in the multiculturalist movement certainly may have had good intentions in believing that the movement will help mi- norities and whites become more well-rounded. In fact, courses should be taught, like those at the University, about Third World countries, African Americans and other cultures, for obvious rea- sons, most importantly aware- ness. These are subjects that to Martin Luther King Jr. Indeed, Dr. King does have his place in American history and his efforts in the Civil Rights movement should be acknowledged. How- ever, he should not be the pri- mary focus of American history. As a result of multicultural revi- sionism, students are not receiv- ing an accurate depiction of the development and history of the country in which they live. Multiculturalists believe we should be teaching students about the virtues and vices of the op- pressive societies that so many immigrants fled, rather than teaching them about the free so- ciety they sought. Teaching mi- nority students how their ances- tors were oppressed only rein- forces the feelings of subjuga- tion minorities have historically experienced. I question why stu- dents are not taught in Race and Ethnicity classes, for example, about the positive contributions AfricanAmericans,suchasColin Powell and Thurgood Marshall, have made to our society, rather than emphasizing how cruelly whites treated minorities. A recent University of Chi- cago study highlights the prob- lem even further. Marta Tienda, the study author and a sociolo- gist, said many children ofimmi- grant parents, particularly Blacks and Hispanics, experienced de- clining academic achievement with succeeding generations. that minorities, and especially Blacks, will neverbe able to make it if they have to play by the same rules, because America is inher- ently racist and prejudiced. If that is the case, how is it that so many Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants who arrive on the West Coast are able to speak English within a few years, many of them become successful busi- nessowners, and many have chil- dren excelling in our schools? They are perfect examples of what America stands for. These immigrants, whether they be Asian, Cuban or Russian, came to the United States to escape the oppression in their countries and take advantage of the opportuni- ties available in America. They are not taught or encouraged to be bitter at America, or that they should dwell on the study of their own cultures. They came to suc- ceed within the rules, not to change the rules. African Americans may ar- gue that they didn't choose to come to this country; their ances- tors were brought here. There is no denying that occurred. That was unquestionably America's greatest sin ever. But there is nothing we can do about that now. It's time to move on, and stop dwelling on the past. America allows for individual freedom and self-development. America allows for people to come to this country with practi- 0 State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Washtenaw County) 410 Farnum Building i