4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 11, 2002 OP/ED 0 C'beAlriu nI 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 GEOFFREY GAGNON Editor in Chief MICHAEL GRASS. NICHOLAS WOQMER Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE ((Oh yeah, baby, give me the news, you are just sooo ... credible." - Phil Kloer yesterday in his column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Too sexy for the news?" which addressed the issue of how "our whole culture gives TV journalists the same hey-look-me-over treatment it gives to pop stars." f (K0P!DtUPSTAIRS APARTrMN, THE~N soCeAUI. I'LKW ( WAY ka(0') Ltvi-ACAMIMOUR, I'A WAS BX 1& BOOKS AD T NIT ME- IF A SO)N fIAO LL-EQUPED YARO0% CAM SELL TrMOOKS ROM, A V ESSAY Whose Ann Arbor? Part I: A changing city leaves future of student environment unclear BY MIcHALA GRASS Last month, an Ann Arbor institution announced it was closing. The owners of Dascola Barbers on East Liberty Street decided the rising rents of the State Street-area were too steep. With the departure of Dascola Barbers, only three busi- nesses in the area have been open for more than two generations - Van Boven men's clothiers, the Caravan gift shop and Arcade barbers. A December letter to the editor in The Ann Arbor News best describes Dascola's depature: "What a sad testimony to the changing character of our town that a thriving, family owned business like Dascola's can't afford to pay the increased rents. Ironically, despite the increase in rent the area itself seems to be in decline with vacant storefronts and dirty, unkempt sidewalks and streets. Perhaps Dasco- la's will be replaced with yet another ubiquitous coffeehouse or other soulless chain retail estab- lishment with virtually no attachment to our community. What a shame." Twenty years ago, the State Street-area didn't have New York chain restaurant like Cosi and Famous Famiglia. Decker Drugs had a pharmacy and Drake's Sandwich shop was a lunch-time staple. Border's was still a small bookshop rather than a big-box retailer and Jacobson's department store anchored the area. But times change and so has Ann Arbor. The State Street area was one of two student- oriented shopping districts for the University of Michigan campus. But during the 1990s, the nature of the area began to change and with it, on a broader level, students as an important con- stituency A DESIRABLE PLACE TO LIVE Right outside the back door of New York Pizza Depot on East William Street is a chain-link fence. On the other side of that fence is a if stude long abandoned McDonald's displace restaurant. On the Maynard their tra Street sidewalk is a large sign announcing the coming of the neighbon Collegian, an eight-story tower the effec that will have retail, office space Univesit and luxury condominiums. Although when structural steel the city - will rise from the site is still be dra unclear, as advertised on Nation- al Public Radio and in Crain's Detroit Business and The Wall Street Journal, the Collegian will boast two $1 million-plus penthouses with unequaled views of the Diag. Obviously, students will not live at the Col- legian. Maurizio Grillo, proprietor of New York Pizza Depot, isn't concerned that a huge building will eventually rise behind his business. Right now, the construction preparation is a little unnerving since he has lost use of the alleyway behind his business. But he isn't concerned that the tower might drive up property values - and the rent of students who are his primary cus- tomers. "People will come because of the quality of our food. The students will always come," Gril- lo said. But will that always be the case? Ann Arbor is the city it is today because of the University and its students. If the University never moved from Detroit in 1837, Ann Arbor would be just another small town on the periphery of metro- politan Detroit. Because of the University and the culture it supports, Ann Arbor is becoming a more popu- lar place to live for the well-to-do and educated upper-middle class of southeast Michigan. This was formally marked two summers ago when it FILE PHOI The Michigan Theater and State theaters anchor the State Street business district, an area where the spheres of student and city life converge. But as Ann Arbor changes as a city, will the University community remain the same? Mm ant y. 114 YP IN PASSING UNIVERSITY, STUDENTS SHOULD GIVE MAIL.UMICH A CHANCE Over a year ago, the University launched its own web portal named my.umich.edu where stu- dents could access a variety of online services, including web-based e-mail and classifieds. While the web portal was an excellent idea, my.umich was plagued initially by a number of problems: Excessively slow access times, an awkward e-mail interface and a seemingly flawed public information campaign to educate the University community about the portal. Stu- dents were turned off especially by the length of time it took to access their e-mail relative to the University's faster but antiquated telnet-based e- mail system. As a result, the University's sup- port for the site seemed to flounder in the face of these problems. But while my.umich has corrected its core problem - its slow speed of access - the Uni- versity has yet to renew its commitment to the site either financially or symbolically. For a University that considers itself to be on the cutting edge of technology, the lack of a strong, web-based e-mail system suggests other- wise. Most major educational institutions have a system for its members to check their e-mail over the web, having long ago abandoned archa- ic, telnet-based e-mail access. And while the University did introduce mail.umich.edu - an e-mail-only web site - the site does not work for students outside the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. If the University is to continue to be a leader in educational information systems, it must pro- vide, at least, universally accessible web-based e-mail access and reaffirm its commitment to accomplish this goal to my.umich. - Jim Secreto U.S. SHOULD TAKE A LESSON FROM HISTORY, AID ARGENTINA It's official, Argentina is up the creek with- out a paddle and President George W. Bush has implemented a policy casually known as "To Hell With Them." According to The New York Times, on the question of whether or not to bail out Argentina, Bush's "decision was to let Argentina suffer the consequences of its own economic mismanagement." Sure, Argentina made a few bad calls, econo- mists will argue, such as tying its peso to the dol- lar. But does that mean that we, the so-called leaders of the Free World, should let an impor- tant and highly populated country in South America fall into destitution, suffering and chaos? We didn't feel any responsibility to fix the suffering in the Middle East, instead we let Iraqis die under our policies and had the instability of Afghanistan end up in the installation of one of the most tyrannical and oppressive regimes of our time. Of course we didn't, it didn't affect us, until some of them started crashing airplanes into the World Trade Center. Historians will show that nations with wide scale destitution and instability can and do lead to terrorism and tyranny. It happened in the depression in Germany; that led to people embracing Nazism. Palestinian refugees, who live in extreme squalor often turn to terrorism, for in their situation it seems to be the only hope. So why allow the U.S. to become an enemy of another country in disorder and destitution? Why let millions of innocent and suffering peo- ple become the victims of another dictator like Jorge Rafael Videla? There are two answers. Bush has a complete disregard to historical evidence and does not understand how prolonging the suffering of mil- lions on another continent is immoral and can affect the United States and the rest of the world. Bush would like to create more instability, to create more enemies and more terrorism in order to start yet even more wars, that will cause more instability and so on. It makes sense either way. - Ari Paul In Passing views are those of individual members of the Daily's editorial board, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of The Michigan Daily. was discovered that the Ford family was aban- doning its traditional Grosse Pointe Farms stomping grounds for Ann Arbor. And although the Fords did not choose downtown Ann Arbor as their new home, many suburban Detroit elite and professionals have. Douglas Kelbaugh, dean of the University's A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, believes Ann Arbor's urban characteristics and town-gown relationship make it a popular place for the newcomers and the traditional University community that has been in Ann Arbor for the past 165 years. Kelbaugh, who lives in downtown Ann Arbor, himself sees developments fS are like the Collegian - and a similar from tower proposal at East Washington and South State streets - as projects tiOnal that will add vitality and variety to oodS, the city's urban core. "What makes Ann Arbor so on the great is it is relatively compact and - and dense," he said adding that the Uni- - COuld versity's campus to is a physically intimate environment without the atic. buffers of playing fields and park- ing lots. That relationship is rare. "There is a vibrant dialectic between the sanctuary of the campus and the hustle and bus- tle of the adjacent city," he said. IGNORING STUDENTS' ROLE IN CITY COULD HARM ANN ARBOR, UNIVERSITY Such a close relationship between the Uni- versity and the students who live in the neigh- borhoods surrounding campus makes it imperative to keep students living close to campus. "The last thing we want to do is become a commuter university," he said. And if students are displaced from their traditional neighbor- hoods, the effect on the University - and the city - could be dramatic. "It's such a different culture and milieu." Although there aren't any visible conspira- cies to oust politically-disenfranchised students from their traditional - but often neglected - neighborhoods in order to make way for a gen- trified neighborhood for the upper-middle class professionals of metro Detroit, rising student housing costs are always a sign that it could hap- pen. Although Kelbaugh does not believe that is on the horizon, he said cost could be a major factor in the future of student neighborhoods. "I hope there are desirable student neighborhoods that remain affordable," he said. "These neigh- borhoods may get gentrified, also victims of their own success." When the University released its report on the undergraduate experience last semester, it outlined plans to build more residence halls, therefore reducing the dependence of its stu- dents to live in the neighborhoods that surround campus. Part of the reason students attend the Univer- sity is because of Ann Arbor. Student life is highly decentralized. Unlike someoampuses where unions or residence halls form the foci of student life, in Ann Arbor, it happens at off- campus houses, fraternity houses, State Street coffee houses and apartments in the student "ghettos." It's a fact, but it's something that the Univer- sity hasn't clearly recognized. Former President Lee Bollinger championed his "Master Plan" where the physical environ- ment of the University campus was analyzed and picked apart. The purpose and use of every inch of University space was considered, from bus routes to entertainment venues to the walk- ing paths of freshmen. But if you page through "Master Plan" reports prepared by the world- famous architectural firm of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, the off-campus student neighborhoods are misunderstood. Their contri- butions and vitality to the overall health of Uni- versity culture is not recognized. It's an interesting, but unknown territorial quandary, and students are left in the middle with nobody to represent their interests. And since the University and the city has not formal- ly recognized this grey area, it is difficult to forecast where Ann Arbor is going. When outgoing seniors graduate this April, they will expect that the environment and cul- ture that makes the University and Ann Arbor special to remain. But if the city and University don't recognize the importance of student neigh- borhoods, what makes the Ann Arbor unique could be destroyed. On Wednesday: Part II: Rising rent, students as a diminishing political constituency, their ineffectual leadership and lack of interest in neighborhood affairs. Michael Grass is the Daily's editorial page editor and an LSA senior. He can be reached via e-mail at mgrass~4umich.edu. 0 V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Diversity a testament to India's democracy To THE DAILY: The charge that Fadi Kiblawi makes in his letter, "India, Israel not democratic nations" (1/10/02), is not only a ludicrous accusation, but it shows Kiblawi's attempt to confuse the Kash- mir issue. The India Partition act of 1947 left no doubt that the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir were to remain under Indian control Further- India should hold a plebiscite on the Kashmir issue is a gross infringement on the sovereignty of the world's largest democracy. NxuHiu Sua LSA sophomore Pakistan also guilty of offences in Kashmir American women were denied voting rights up until 80 years ago. While it is evil that Israel oppresses Pales- tinians and denies them basic political rights and social equality, the West Bank and Gaza Strip regions do not entirely determine the type in government of Israel, which is designed as a democracy. It would be great if Palestinians were also allowed to actively participate in this democracy. The Indian army does control certain regions of Kashmir with an "iron fist" and commit . . . . I . . . 1 - . .. . fl a