LOCAL/STATE
Tuesday, November 9, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 3
Sub ect victim of
robery outside
Martha Cook
*A female subject was the victim of a
strong-armed robbery in front of
Martha Cook Residence Hall on
Sunday morning, Department of Public
Safety reports state.
A male suspect reportedly wres-
tled the victim to the ground and
demanded her wallet.
No weapon was seen or implied,
and the suspect was last seen fleeing
on foot down South University
&enue. He was described as wear-
g a brown ski mask, blue hooded
sweatshirt and black gloves.
Man smashes
parking meters
A male subject was seen breaking
parking meters Saturday afternoon on
Madison Street, DPS reports state.
DPS discovered the man, who was
~ng a tire iron to smash the meters.
~S then notified the Ann Arbor Police
Department because the meters are
owned by the city.
DPS ejects fans,
hands out MIPs
at football game
DPS reported ejecting more than
40 people from Michigan Stadium
,*Saturday during the football
game against Northwestern. DPS
ejected 26 people for having open
intoxicants in the stadium and I1
for throwing projectiles such as
marshmallows.
DPS also cited five subjects for
Minor In Possession charges and
arrested one person for outstanding
charges.
Nichols Arboretum
trash catches fire
A small trash fire occurred in
Nichols Arboretum yesterday morn-
ing. The fire was extinguished and
the area cleaned up, and no one was
cited in the incident, DPS reports
state.
Football tickets
Molen from room
A male subject's Michigan foot-
ball tickets were stolen from his
room in West Quad Residence Hall
on Friday afternoon, DPS reports
state,
DPS did not report having any
suspects in the incident.
Victim taken to
bspital for bites
A biting victim was transported from
Arbor Heights to the University
Hospital's emergency room on Friday
afternoon, DPS reports state.
The victim was attempting to
restrain an unidentified subject.
when the incident occurred. The vic-
tim's skin was not punctured. DPS
officials are investigating the inci-
dent.
hairs stolen
from Bursley
computing center
Chairs were stolen Friday afternoon
from, a computing site in Bursley
Residence Hall on North Campus, DPS
reports state. DPS officers could not
locate the person who made the com-
lint and did not report any suspects in
the theft.
Man masturbates
in CCRB sauna
A man was seen masturbating in
the main sauna at the Central
Campus Recreation Building on
Friday evening, DPS reports state.
DPS did not report charging the sus-
Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
David Enders.
SACUA demands parking solutions
By Jeremy W. Peters
Daily Staff Reporter
In an attempt to remedy what members of the
faculty's governing body said should be consid-
ered a potential crisis, they passed a motion yes-
terday to petition administrators for a response
within 30 days regarding campus parking issues.
The Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs Chair and Social Work Prof.
Sherri Kossoudji will send a letter to associate
Vice President for Facilities and Operations
Hank Baier and Chief Financial Officer Robert
Kasdin demanding they address growing park-
ing needs.
Citing the fact that more people drive to cam-
pus in the winter months, SACUA Vice Chair
and biology Prof. Lewis Kleinsmith.said, "We
anticipate a crisis within the next couple of
months because of the weather and we would
like to provide a short-term remedy."
"They know we have a terrible problem," he
continued, "but they are interested in the long-term
solution. I'm interested in how we're going to get
through the winter."
Kossoudji said she also sees a problem on the
horizon. "We have a short-term problem that is
verging on the acute and it needs to be resolved
because winter is coming," she said.
Patrick Cunningham, director of Parking and
Transportation Services, said he was reluctant to
comment, not having seen the SACUA proposal.
But he did say that he would cooperate with the
committee as much as he could.
"We'd like to respond to them and we will see
what we can do to accommodate their requests!'
Cunningham said.
Kleinsmith suggested that the lack of ade-
quate parking was possibly connected to the
University's Parking Services overselling the
number of passes per available space by nearly
50 percent.
For the permit year ending Aug. 31, 12,378 Blue
Passes were sold for only 8,875 spots in the
University's Blue Lots and 1,007 Gold Passes were
sold for only 722 spots in the Gold Lots, according
to Parking Services data.
"Generally, almost all parking is o ersoi T
some degree because w e know that on any
given day, not all those who hold passes ill
park," Cunningham said in defense of the
University's practice. He added that in the past,
the ratio of permits sold to parking spots has
been 1.3 to 1.
"There's just too few parking spaces ... I want to
know why they are overselling' said sociology
Prof. and LSA SACUA representative Don
Deskins.
Kleinsmith said he agrees.
"After 10 o'clock in the morning, there's not a
spot on Central Campus and I'm concerned for
professors who need to give exams at a certain
time but are late because they can't find a parking
place" he said.
Cunningham said that past parking studies have
shown that the University could use an extra 1,000
parking spaces.
"My goal as director is to create at least
another 1,000 spots," he said. Cunningham
acknowledged that no surface space exists for
parking at ground lexel and parking structures
are expensive.
For now though, Cunningham said that he
would like people to consider using alternate
forms of transportation.
"We want to encourage people to park in remote
lots and take buses. We believe that our bus system
is one of the best in the country and people should
take advantage of it,' he said.
Faculty members are not the only ones affected
by the lack of spaces on campus.
LSA senior Matt Schultz said when he drove to
class last year, he often found himself irritated
because he could not find a space.
"I was late for class many times because I could
not find a parking spot. Sometimes I would drive
to the top ol two structures before finding a place
to park." he said.
Schultz though, said he did not park in
University lots because 3lue Passes are not avail-
able to students. In fact, none of the passes issued
this year were given to students, according to
Parking Services Data.
Developer's plans vetoed
due to city's zoning laws
Strummin' a tune
Ann Arbor officials
have rejected proposals
to build residential units
at historical site
By Tiffany Maggard
Daily Staff Reporter
Personal style could be the one thing
stopping long-time Ann Arbor develop-
er John Stegeman from seeing his latest
dreams become more than just blue-
prints.
Stegeman has been developing since
the 1960s. He is responsible for many
Ann Arbor residential units, including
recent projects such as The
Amsterdamer on South University
Avenue and The Barrister on Monroe
Street.
But a few of Stegeman's most
recent plans haven't won the
approval of the Ann Arbor City
Planning Committee.
One of these proposals was a
multi-family residential unit that
Stegeman wishes to build on the cor-
ner of Wastenaw Avenue and Hill
Street.
City Planner Wendy Rampson said
that the City Planning Committee has
turned down Stegeman's proposal
because it "did not meet the standards
of public benefit."
Such standards differ from situa-
tion to situation. Public benefit may
refer to anything from single-family
verses multi-family housing units to
keeping a historical building updat-
ed.
"It could be you're protecting an aes-
thetic resource," Rampson said. "In
which case, some creativity from the
developer is required."
Stegeman said he does not wish to
comment on any of his plans until they
are proposed to the city officially.
Stegeman purchased the Wastenaw-
Hill site from the University and then
demolished the existing University
Tudor-style building that was located
on the property. The property, zoned for
a single- or two-person dwelling, could
not hold the six-condo residence
Stegeman proposed, Rampson said.
Rampson said Stegeman plans for an
apartment building that he called
"Dean's Crescent" on the corner
Observatory Street and Geddes Road
included making the existing building
denser than it is already. The city does-
n't want the building denser because the
city's master plan for that area restricts
increasing density.
Rampson said Stegeman's plan for
"Dean's Crescent" will be presented to
the city counsel next month.
Stegeman faced more heat from
the city when he began the demoli-
tion process of a building in early
October without a permit from the
city's historic preservation commit-
tee.
He purchased the site on the corner
of Forest and Hill streets that included
the former residence of Delta Sigma
Phi fraternity after the building was
damaged by a fire in 1994.
The building is zoned a historical
site, but Stegeman requested permis-
sion in January 1999 from the
Historical Preservation Committee to
destroy the building.
"One provision of the historical
ordinance says that you cannot
destroy a building in a certain district
without approval," said Building
Department Director Larry Pickel,
"The law is there to make sure prop-
erties are preserved - to preserve
what's there."
The committee approved the demo-
lition. But Pickel said Stegeman was
to pick up his demolition permit only
after he received a plan from a city
forester as to what trees needed to be
preserved.
On Oct. 4, Picket said a resident who
lives near Stegeman's property noticed
that trees on Stegeman's property were
being cut down - a first step in the
demolition process.
But it was only two days later, after
the trees were cut down, that one of
Stegeman's contractors went to the
Historic Preservation Committee with a
plan for the destruction of trees. At this
time, the demolition permit was issued.
Since then Stegeman has continued
the demolition process by destroying
the building.
Rampson said that Stegeman has not
yet proposed any plans for the
Hill/Forest site, but that he has met with
the Department of Downtown
Authority to request help in financing
the construction of a parking lot for a
15-story apartment building on the
southeast corner of William and
Thompson streets.
"If you propose an idea in Ann
Arbor without parking, no one is
going to be really interested in it"
said city assistant planner, Alexis
Marcarello.
Rampson said that Stegeman is prob-
ably waiting to hear from the DDA
before he brings his plan before the city
planning committee.
JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily
Dan McCarthy, Ann Arbor resident, plays an F-style mandolin on the corner
of State Street and North University Avenue yesterday.
Big Three gin-ve -less
softmno
political prties
Groups criticize Abraham for
blocking judicial nominations
LANSING '(AP) - Lansing-area pastors and labor
activists accused U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham and other
Republicans yesterday of blocking President Clinton's
federal judge nominations, including many women and
minority judges.
For more than three years, the Senate Judiciary
Committee has refused to consider Clinton's nomination
of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Helene White for a
vacancy on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Abraham (R-Mich.) is part of the reason for that delay.
When a judge is nominated, senators from the judge's home
state must turn in "blue slips" telling the Senate Judiciary
Committee to proceed with the nomination process. U.S. Sen.
Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has turned in a slip for White, but
Abraham hasn't.
Abraham's spokesperson Joe Davis said the senator
won't tell the committee to proceed because he has some
disagreements with the White House about White's
nomination.
"He has serious problems with the way the process was con-
ducted, and the (Clinton) administration has said they agree
with that. It's not reflected on her personally,' Davis said.
Davis wouldn't elaborate on the reasons for the argument,
saying Abraham is still trying to work out an agreement with
the White House.
But Marilyn Coulter, civil rights chair of United Auto
Workers Local 602, said there can be no excuse good enough
for the delay. "If people are capable of doing the job and they
are nominated, how dare (the senators) make them wait so
long," she said.
"If it takes them three years to make up their minds, maybe
they're not sitting where they need to be," she said.
Columbus Clayton, a pastor at New Mount Cavalry
Baptist Church, said Abraham eventually will be held
accountable for stalling the nomination. "In the upcoming
elections, we will remember how you voted and how you
stood," he said.
Democrats have long contended that Republicans use
stalling tactics to keep Clinton nominees off the federal
bench, and that minority and women nominees have
fared the worst.
According to a recent report by the bipartisan
Constitution Project, the Senate during the 1997-98 ses-
sion took an average 186 days either to accept or reject
white nominees, but 246 days for minorities. Moreover,
the rejection rate was 14 percent for the 92 white, and 35
percent for the 31 minority nominees.
In response, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Judiciary
Committee chair responsible for moving judge nomina-
tions through the Senate, has pointed out that 45 percent
of the judicial nominees reported to the Senate floor this
year have been women or minorities.
DETROIT (AP) - Some automak-
ers have stopped making so-called "soft
money" donations to political parties,
campaign records show.
In 1997, General Motors Corp.
stopped making such contributions
because it said there was no way to
know how they were being spent.
Now, Ford Motor Co. and
DaimlerChrysler AG have followed
suit.
Soft money describes contribu-
tions made for general party activi-
ties, such as get-out-the-vote cam-
paigns and party membership drives.
There are no limits on such contribu-
tions.
"It's really difficult to keep track
of where those funds end up," GM's
Washington spokesperson Bill
Noack said. "We didn't feel it was
appropriate to make those kinds of
contributions ... I think we're doing
the right thing."
The reduced giving so far has not
hurt relations with lawmakers, said-
GM's chief lobbyist in Washington,
Andrew Card.
"We have to work harder than a lot
of our competitors to have some of
our public policy concerns heard,"
Card told Booth Newspapers in a
story yesterday. "But I can tell you
candidly, it has not presented any
impediments to my ability to do my
job."
The two major parties expect to raise
more than $500 million in soft money
by next November's election, double
the amount raised in past campaigns.
Proponents say soft money strengthens
the political parties, while critics say it
gives the appearance of buying access
to lawmakers.
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
"'
GROUP MEETINGS
t Reform Chavurah Meeting, Hillel,
7:30 p.m.
EVENTS
J "Blood Battle between U-M and
.1&1 L. -- -- .k- A l unkn O
Sponsored by Interfaith Council
for Peace and Justice, Memorial
Christian Church, 730 Tappan,
7:30 p.m.
U "Poetry Reading by Larissa
Szporluk," Sponsored by
Department of English and the
Office of the Provost, Rackham
Amphitheater, 5 p.m.
Ql "Rash Hodes~h Service," Sponsored
Buildings" lecture by Steve
Strong, Sponsored byTaub man
College, North Campus Chrysler
Center, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
SERVICES
Q Campus Information Centers, 764-
INFO, info@umich.edu, and
SKIP CLASS?
STAY UP LATE?
LIKE TO WRITE ?
IGNORE
HOMEWORK
Everything A Psychology Concentrator
Needs to Know About
Applying to Graduate School
Wednesday, November 10, 1999
7:00-9:00 PM
4th Floor Terrace, East Hall
There will be refreshments.
Anyone interested in Psychology and/or Mental
Health Professions is encouraged to take
advantage of this opportunity.
The Psychology Peer Advisors are located in
1044 East a and have walk-in hours from
11:OOAM-4:OOPM Mon-Fri. They help students
with questions regarding the Psychology and
Biopsychology concentrations and can help
declare students in either concentration.
Special Egg Donor Needed
i