4A - Wednesday, September 8, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com E-MAIL ELAINE AT EMORT@UMICH.EDU Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ELAINE MORTON | t 6iffe ~Ji'jv~it s& jiw kA'. -Jnsb *r C ND f TL JACOB SMILOVITZ EDITOR IN CHIEF 0 0 RACHEL VAN GILDER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MATT AARONSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. A summer cheat sheet News you need to know to get through the semester As summer draws to a close, students are forced to let go of carefree attitudes and return to an academic mindset. Students who spent the summer working, interning or just playing in the sun must now return to the daily grind of lec- tures, recitations and lengthy papers written on the fly the night before they're due. But it's been quite a busy summer from the news media's perspective. So we at The Michigan Daily thought we'd spare you the chore of reviewing the archives by catching you up on the summer's biggest stories and drawing your attention to Paying more for parking some stories to watch as they dev The summer's most worrisome national headline was the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In April, a BP oil rig exploded, leaving an underwater well open to spill hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf each day for months. Though the well was capped and covered in cement in July, the Gulf is still a mess of oil that BP has pledged to clean up. Some things have changed little over the summer. Though President Barack Obama declared an official end to combat opera- tions in Iraq last week, our nation's military presence in Iraq is far from over. And the economy - both across the nation and here in Michigan - is still pretty awful. Close to home, the news has been preoc- cupied with the approaching November elections. August primary elections placed Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, a Democrat, against Republican Rick Snyder, an Ann Arbor businessman, in the running to be Michigan's next governor. The race prom- ises to be contentious. Neither candidate is particularly well-known. And though Michigan typically votes blue, the state of the economy during Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm's term may lead voters to check Snyder's name on the ballot. Here in Ann Arbor, the August primary elections almost always indicate the win- ner of the November ballot- Democratic candidates rarely face Republican chal- lengers. True to form, Mayor John Heiftje will retain his job after defeating challeng- er Patricia Lesko in the Democratic prima- ry. And only one seat on the City Council has a Republican contender. At the University, it was announced this summer that the campus-wide smok- ing ban, scheduled to take full effect in July 2011, would be enforced at Michi- gan Stadium this season. The University also completed its investigation of allega- tions of NCAA rules violations and awaits the decision of the NCAA Committee on Infractions regarding the University's self- imposed sanctions. And the University's Board of Regents has, as usual, again raised tuition. The 1.5-percent increase for in-state students and 3-percent increase for out-of-state stu- dents constituted the lowest increase Uni- versity students and their families have seen in years. The regents' vote, unusually, was not unanimous. Two regents out of the eight that sit on the board voted against the increase. But these facts are cold comfort to students who struggle to pay ever-increas- ing and unreasonable tuition. In other areas, there is no certainty. Foot- ball fans anxiously debate the state of the Michigan football team. Students wait to see, if Chris Armstrong, president of the Michi- gan Student Assembly, can lead his party, MForward, to-make MSA relevant and use- ful again after years of scandal and disaster. Over the course of the semester, the Daily will track the progress of these and other topics, providing you with accu- rate, honest news coverage and thought- ful editorials. But your opinion matters, too. Express your opinion in letters to the editor and viewpoints. The Daily's opinion page is a place for discussion, but that only works if students speak up. bile we are were all laying on the beach on summer vacation, Ann Arbor intro- duced zoned resi- dential parking in the neighborhoods immediately north' of Huron Street. In June, City Coun- cil agreed to the action to counter an expected influx 3 of cars from the 460 students living PATRICK in the new North gMAHEN Quad. As a result, I dutifully trudged down to the City Service Building, handed over $50 for a year's parking, and received a flimsy plastic decal to prevent Trian- gle Towing from dumping my Dodge Neon in an impound lot. At first I was annoyed to have to pay for street parking after park- ing for free in that neighborhood for six years. But after some thought, I changed my mind. Ann Arbor deserves props for putting a price on its overused public asset of street parking in residential neighborhoods. In fact, one major problem that I have with the new policy is that the city is not charging nearly enough. Also, the scheme unfairly subsidizes the ability of residents like me to park their cars on city streets at the expense of the needs of commuters and student residents of North Quad. The fix to these problems is quite straightforward: Create an annual auc- tion for neighborhood parking permits. This step would create a fair market rate for parking, ease the city's chronic parking problems and cut automobile congestion.In additionAnnArborwill expand its revenue base, increase eco- nomic efficiency and encourage devel- opment of environmentally friendly forms of transport. The city's current parking problem is a simple Economics 101 homework exercise. Free on-street parking in many neighborhoods close to cam- pus makes demand exceed supply - which is the reason it's impossible to find a parking place duringthe dayon streets in the Old Fourth Ward neigh- borhood around Catherine, Law- rence and East Kingsley. Putting a price on parking will lower the quantity demanded. If forced to pay more, citizens will re- evaluate their options. Suddenly car-pooling, the bus or living closer to town might look more attractive than street parking. This in turn will reduce externalities associated with free street parking - heavy traffic, pollution and excess wear and tear on roads, all of which create a dragon the local economy. But the problem is finding a proper way to set a price on parking. The cur- rent neighborhood system falls short for two reasons. First, the city vastly under prices parking. In the Old Fourth Ward, private parking spaces adver- tised onCraigslistoverthesummerran from $80 to $100 per month, roughly 20 times greater than the current price of residential parkingpermits. Second, the current residential parking system unfairly subsidizes car-owning residents in the neigh- borhood at the expense of non-car owners and others who might wish to park - notably commuters and the students living in North Quad, who live within 100 feet of the Old Fourth Ward across Huron Road. Auctions would solve these prob- lems and inequalities by forcing pro- spective parkers to decide how much they value parking and creating a free parking market. Divide the city neighborhoods near central campus into distinct parking zones to reflect differing levels of desirability. The seven current residential parking zones could serve as a basis for these divisions. Once a year, anyone who wants the right to permanent street parking on weekdays submits a bid to park for the next year in the zone of their choice. For example, let's say we have a yearly auction for the approxi- mately 600 spaces that make up the Old Fourth Ward and North Central neighborhoods (yes, I counted them). If 1,000 people bid, the top 600 bids get parking, and the yearly rate is set at the price of the 600th bid. A lottery could break ties if necessary. The city could also issue exemptions for dis- abled drivers. Parking auction would create revenue for city. The auction would also cre- ate significant yearly revenue. For example, a reasonable back-of-the envelope estimate of the minimum winning bid might be $1080 (at $90 per month). That means that the Fourth Ward alone would generate roughly $650,000 in additional annu- al revenue for Ann Arbor. The city could use these proceeds to create a permanent street-repair fund and reduce the need to ask voters for special funds every sev- eral years. Perhaps it could boost the regional Ann Arbor Transit Author- ity's budget to improve mass transit links like the bus routes between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti that are perenni- ally under threat of elimination. Or the city could cut property taxes. But whatever the city does with the extra revenues, Ann Arbor can burnish its reputation as an environ- mental leader, improve its revenue situation and stop discriminating against students by making coddled residents like me pay the true value of parking. I - Patrick O'Mahen can be reached at pomahen@umich.edu # EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Jordan Birnholtz, Adrianna Bojrab, Will Butler, Michelle DeWitt, Will Grundler, Jeremy Levy, Erika Mayer, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Tommaso Pavone, Leah Potkin, Asa Smith, Brittany Smith, Laura Veith WILL BUTLER I Connect the DOTs LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu. Hold Enbrie accountable 0 Regional rapid transit isn't exactly the sexiest topic to bring up at party. (I have found that few policy debates actually help me "bring sexy back" on a typical Friday night). But with the Aug. 2 announcement that the Obama administration will begin an environmental impact study on a light rail on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, I have a hard time containing my excitement. The environmental impact study almost assures that not only will construction begin relatively soon, but there will also be federal support to match the private donations already collected for the project. This is an incredibly large and tangible step that is satisfying to those of us who have hoped for rapid transit in the Metro Detroit area but have been left only with empty promises. We will no longer be left with the People Mover, an overly glorified monorail that goes in a circle, or a bus system that takes an hour and half to go four miles. But the light rail isn't without obstacles. Even with the combined public-private dol- lars, the backers don't have enough money to actually make the light rail regional. As of the current plan, the rail begins in Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit and ends at the vacant state fair grounds at 8 Mile and Woodward. The pre- vious regional light rail project extended all the way to11 Mile and Woodward. While it's fairly simple to understand that without more funds there can be no more expansion to the rail, this is an all too beaten path for those from Metro Detroit. Too many times have good ideas seemed to dwindle and die in the graveyard that is the 8 Mile divide. Too little cooperation and compromise between Detroit's city leaders and suburban officials has left the region trailing behind every other metropolitan area. Transit is no exception. Simply look at the fact there are two different bus systems that run in Metro- Detroit: Detroit Department of Transporta- tion, the Detroit city bus system, and Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transpor- tation - more commonly known as SMART - which is the suburban system. These exist separately not due to any sort of financial, legal or rational restriction, but because of purely cultural divides. Some contend that the plan must start some- where and that this is as good as it gets at the moment. However, as John Hertel, general manager of SMART, explained a non-regional light rail "doesn't maximize whatgood it could do for Detroit...Whenyou'retalkingabout$500 million to go the extra miles, its not a whole lot of money, but it's a gigantic leap for the region to go that extra three miles," according to an Aug. 11 article in Crain's Detroit Business. There is a solution that could possibly fix both the financial and cultural problems plagu- ing this project - A Regional Transit Author- ity. An RTA would not only commit itself as a source for securing funding to extend the light rail to suburban cities like Royal Oak and Troy, but it would also force Detroit and its suburbs to begin a foundation of sustainable regional cooperation. In 2000, Michigan had put a plan in motion to create the Detroit Area Regional Transit Authority. Unfortunately, a judge ruled that the plan overstepped its authority in 2003. More recently, there have been bills in the Michigan State House to create a new RTA to serve these functions, but opponents inside and outside Detroit's city limits have since defeated these plans. Regional cooperation with regards to transit is the key to a revitalized Metro Detroit, as well as a revitalized Michigan. This is true not only because it pools resources and funds, allowing for greater efficiency at a lower cost, but also because transit spurs business growth. With more business growth, students, who educate themselves in Michigan but then leave for jobs in other cities, may now find new economic opportunities in the state. It's sad to realize that due to the region's prideful yet misplaced self interest, the Metro Detroit area is losing out on a wonderful opportunity to connect itself, both physically, economically and culturally. Will Butler is an assistant editorial page editor. When I was little, the only thing that could pull me out of my Power Ranger suit was my fishing gear. Since then my priorities have swung in a slightly more academic direction, but fish- ing still maintains a close second. That's why I was V devastated to hear that the worst oil JOE spill in the history SUGIYAMA of the Midwest occurred in my home state. Late in July, a pipe belonging to Enbridge Energy Partners spewed out nearly one million gallons of oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River. Since the incident, Enbridge - under the supervision of the Environmen- tal Protection Agency - has gone through painstaking efforts to rid the river of its slip-up. Although the Kalamazoo River still remains uncharted territory to me, all Michigan rivers are similar in that they are without a doubt some- one's favorite place to fish, hunt, walk by or float down. I know for a fact if Enbridge Energy had their little inci- dent in one of my favorite rivers, I would be out for blood. Now Enbridge is being hit financial- ly by the EPA, who, under the Com- prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, will hold Enbridge entirely financially responsible for the clean-up. They're also being hit on Wall Street, where their stock plummeted - and hasn't since recovered - following the spill in the Kalamazoo River. But I feel that the fiscal damage done to the compa- nies and those directly responsible for the disaster is not punishment enough. I feel that those who are real- ly to blame, whether it be an inspector of a pipe or the president of the com- pany - namely, Enbridge Energy CEO Patrick D. Daniel - should face the stark reality of going to trial with the risk of jail time. You might be reading this and thinking how ridiculous it seems to imprison someone for an uninten- tional offense, but I believe that it's warranted. Think about it this way: First degree murder, vehicular man- slaughter and animal cruelty are all crimes punishable by time in prison. Although first degree murder is pre- meditated and vehicular manslaugh- ter is unintentional, they each achieve the same final result. That's why vehicular manslaughter is punish- able by time in prison. No matter how you look at it, someone convicted of it caused the death of another person. I propose that a similar line of logic be used with animal cruelty and the environmental devastation caused by Enbridge Energy, because no matter how you look at it, an entire ecosystem has been devastated and thousands of flora and fauna are now dead because of the negligence of Enbridge Energy. Sound extreme? I completely agree that the limb I'm standing on is about to snap, but something must be done to stop these disasters from occurring. If there was some possibility of doing time for being negligent with the envi- ronment, you can bet that CEOs of oil companies - and plenty of other companies for that matter - would be a bit more adamant that their inspec- tors actually inspect closely and their operators operate diligently. Deterents like jail time are necessary to prevent oil spills. There have to be ultimatums con- cerning these disasters because our current system, which most of the time is no system at all, isn't work- ing. And when the nonexistent sys- tem breaks down, it's not the CEOs and workers who are facing the consequences of their carelessness; it's the 200-year-old white oak that chokes on the poisonous crude that's saturated the earth, it's the blackened Canadian goose and her chicks who struggle to paddle through a thick layer of sludge and it's the little boy who's fishing hole has now become a toxic dump. If you're not a fisherman or have never taken time to enjoy any of the great rivers of Michigan, you might still be struggling to invest fully in my proposal, but taking a 15-minute trip down Ann Arbor's Huron River Drive will make my argument clear. These are places that must be pro- tected from avoidable mistakes and we can prevent these mistakes by set- ting a precedent that puts culprits of these crimes against nature on trial and possibly in prison. - Joe Sugiyama can be reached at jmsugi@umich.edu WANT THE DAILY ON THE GO? Now you can access your favorite Daily opinion content on your phone. Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials and join in the debate. Check out the Daily's mobile website at m.michigandaily.com.