Around town
Discover the three main areas
for dining in Ann Arbor. Find
out where to go for a quick
lunch or nice dinner.
PAGE IOF
Fall 2005
clbr Alicrigttan t1 u
ANN
ARBOR
Kerrytown
Northwest side of Ann Arbor
offers fresh and famous food
to those willing to walk
beyond campus.
PAGE3F
SECTION F
w
NEW STUDENT EDITION
Welcome,
freshmen, to
Ann Arbor
A city of hidden treasures
I
I IA )N N IVI. F
I
Y ou've heard great
things about Ann
Arbor: It's suppos-
edly a diverse, culturally
rich, socially enlightened
urban oasis in an otherwise
dull Midwestern state. It has
several embarrassing and
inane nicknames. So far,
kthough, your experience of
the city outside your dorm
is limited to traditional Welcome Week pursuits:
a night of tramping up and down Washtenaw
and Hill with a dozen of your closest hall-mates,
looking for a frat party that will let in a throng
of desperate freshmen. Or, if you're reading this
before move-in, all you know is what you've seen
in East Quad and summer orientation, neither of
which resemble anything else you'll experience
here again. Either way, you're eager to get the
full "A-squared" experience.
Luckily, your first taste of the real Ann Arbor
will come early: If you're like most students,
you'll want to move into a house or apartment
after freshman year. And, in "Treetown," that
means a frantic search for housing around
mid-October - 11 months before the lease
begins, and right around the time of your first
midterms. Around this time, everyone suddenly
becomes a real-estate expert, and it's common
knowledge that the housing market in Ann
Arbor is as cutthroat as the curve in an Orgo
class: If you don't sign a lease before Hallow-
een, you can plan on spending $600 a month on
a broom closet in Ypsilanti.
The reality of student housing in Ann Arbor
is that the perfect lease everyone is looking for
- affordable, spacious, clean and located in the
thick of Central Campus - doesn't exist. Whether
you sign your lease on the first day of classes or
(God forbid) after fall semester, you're going to
pay near Manhattan-level rent for a fairly small
place somewhere near campus. Each house and
apartment building you look at will have its own
unforeseen problems - poor insulation or plumb-
ing, leaky roofs, spotty Internet service - so
prepare for surprises. If that still sounds appealing,
you haven't met your landlord company yet.
Why, then, is housing in Ann Arbor so expen-
sive? If you've ever heard of supply and demand,
you should have a pretty good idea: A lot of
people want to live here, and there isn't much
housing available. Unfortunately, the best ways
to increase the housing supply in a densely popu-
lated area - like building taller apartment com-
plexes downtown - are considered antithetical
to Ann Arbor's small-town atmosphere. Remem-
ber, Ann Arbor is charming above all else.
Once you move out of the dorms, real Ann
Arbor life begins. For the first time in your
life, you'll start living (though probably on
your parents' money) like an adult: paying
electric bills, using a laundromat and buying
your own groceries.
Only in Ann Arbor. there are no grocery
stores within walking distance of your apartment
or house. So unless you want to pay five dollars
for a gallon of milk at a party store, you'll need
to find a way to get to Kroger or Meijer. You will
begin to feel you need a car.
Good luck with that. Parking in Ann Arbor,
like in any urban area, is scarce. And if you ever
park where you're not supposed to for more than
a few minutes, you can expect to pay at least
$200 to get your car back from a local towing
company. Because Ann Arbor's towing compa-
nies are virtually unregulated by the city, most
of them will charge you whatever they want and
will only accept cash.
lot of the problems you'll find as a
student in Ann Arbor - like abu-
sive landlords, an unchecked towing
industry and overpriced housing - could be
addressed by the city government. In most
cases, though, they're not interested. Because
University students, even though they make up
nearly a third of Ann Arbor's population, have
almost no influence in city politics.
The trouble isn't just student apathy. Ann
Arbor's city council is selected through a system
of five wards, each of which is shaped roughly
like a slice of pie. The five slices meet on Central
Campus, where most of the students are con-
centrated, effectively dividing the student vote
among them and ensuring that students don't rep-
resent anything close to a majority in any of the
wards. On top of that, Michigan's voter registra-
tion laws make it confusing and inconvenient for
college students to register to vote at their cam-
pus addresses, so many University students reg-
ister to vote in their hometowns rather than Ann
Arbor. As a result, the people with nearly all the
influence here are permanent residents - people
who park in their driveways, cringe at the sight
of couches on students' front porches and would
just as soon maintain the high property values of
very fall, thousands of students flock to this small city. They come and prowl around State Street and South University
Avenue, but often they spend their college days unaware of the wide range of attractions this city has to offer. In 1823
John Allen and Elisha Rumsey settled on the banks of Huron River. By May 1824, the settlement had been recognized as Ann
Arbor, named for the wives of its original settlers, Ann and Mary Ann, according to the Ann Arbor Visitor's Bureau website.
As seen in the sign above, the name was first recorded on May 25, 1824 as Annarbour. It remains the only city in the world
with the name.
Ann Arbor is an eclectic mix of people that have made this city grow in many different directions. But hidden amongst the
new buildings and ever-changing scenery, there lies a bit of history and reminders of what has passed.
John Hieftje
re-electedAn
Arbor may.1.or
By Anne Joling
and Ekjot Saini
NOVEMBER 3.2004
Daily Staff Writer
Last November's Ann Arbor City Council elections resulted in the
re-election of all incumbents, including Mayor John Hieftje and 3rd
ward representative Jean Carlberg, the only two members who faced
challengers.
The council, currently made up of 10 Democrats and one Republican,
will remain unchanged for the next two years.
Hieftje - who won the mayoral race with 38,067 votes, almost 69
percent of the vote- now faces his third term. His opponent, Republican
Jane Lumm, received 17,285 votes.
Hieftje was ill and unable to comment on his victory, but his wife,
Kathryn Goodson, made a victory speech on his behalf at the Demo-
cratic headquarters on South Fourth Avenue.
"We're very excited about our victory - there will be a great team on
the council," Goodson said. "The mayor had a strong opponent, and they
both ran a very serious campaign."
Goodson also said Hieftje will continue working on his major tenets
of fiscal responsibility and nurturing and protecting the environment.
Among Hieftje's main accomplishments was the passage the Greenbelt
Initiative to preserve parks and reduce urban sprawl in Ann Arbor.
Lumm, who served on the council for three terms during the 1990s,
said she felt good about her campaign, despite the loss.
"I want to congratulate Mayor Hieftje on running a successful cam-
A2
votes to
legali~ze
medicinal
marijuana
By Leslie Rott
NOVEMBER 3,2004
Daily Staff Writer
Ann Arbor residents passed a ballot proposal to
allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes on
Nov. 2.
Proposal C will waive fines for medical marijuana
patients and their caregivers who receive the recom-
mendation of a physician or other qualified health pro-
fessional to use marijuana for medical treatment.
The proposal also changes the current law in Ann
Arbor to lower the fine for the third and all subsequent
marijuana offenses for non medical users to $100.
These fines include possession, control, use, giving
away or selling of marijuana.
Although medical marijuana users would avoid fines
under the law, the police are not required to return any
marijuana that they may seize from patients.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has spoken out against the
use of medical marijuana, warning it will still be illegal
to use, possess or sell marijuana under state and federal
law.
In response to the passing of Proposal C, Dan Sola-
no, a retired Detroit police officer and medical mari-
juana user, said the vote sends a positive message to the
state Legislature.
"It does symbolize that the public is behind amend-
DAVID TUMAN/Daily
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje was elected tohis second term in the
November elections.
paign. This election really wasn't about winning or losing, though. I feel
I accomplished a lot, and through the various debates and forums we
created a lot of good dialogue. I feel very positive. We did one for democ-
racy," Lumm said.
Carlberg, who faced two challengers, Green Party candidate Marc
See HIEFTJE, page 8F
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