2 - Friday, October 3, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom ..9 . s% ov __9______________i_____i. 2rwi 0% A f LEFT Students rally for President Mark Schlissel to fire Athletic Director Dave Brandon on the Diag Tuesday. (Ruby Wallau/Daily) iu RIGHT Students display their support for the protesters in Hong Kong on the Diag Wednesday. (Abby Kirn/Daily) CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Social justice Costume Musicology Good Kids conference design exhibit Lecture performance WHAT: A conference about data, social justice and the humanities will explore how these three topics are connected. WHO: Digital Currents WHEN: Today from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, Ehrlicher Room Freshman Friday WHAT: Eat some lunch and join the Career Center advisers for free food. WHO: The Career Center WHEN: Today from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Student Activities Building WHAT: Prof. Jessica Hahn will showcase a selection of costumes from plays and musicals that were created by students. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 12 p.m. WHERE: Duderstadt Center Cold War lecture WHAT: Arvind Rajagopal will discuss India in relation to the Cold War and Cold War communication. WHO: Center for South Asian Studies WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: School of Social Work Building, Room 1636 WHAT: Explore 20th century cinema with Prof Berthold Hoeckner. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 5 p.m. WHERE: School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Room 506 WHAT: Take in aplay exploring sexual violence in the world of social media. Student tickets are $10. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today from 8p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: Walgreen Drama Center - Arthur Miller T HR EE T HINGS YOU SH OU LD KNOW TODAY Tom Cutinella, a high school junior, died Wednesday due to a head injury sustained while play- ing football, ESPN reported. He collapsed on the field after beinghit. He was rushed into surgery, but later died. The Michigan Daily Editorial Board pro- poses stricter , con- cussion policies that the University and NCAA should adopt immediately. It's time to take student safety seri- ously. >M FOR MORE, SEE OPINION In Texas, health offi- cials say 100 people are being monitored for Ebola, The New York Times reported. Many people being monitored came in contact with Thomas Duncan, a patient who is in serious con- dition at aDallas hospital. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com PETER SHAHIN DOUGLAS SOLOMON Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1251 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 pjshahin@michigandaily.com dougsolo@michigandaily.com Newsroom News Tips 734-418-4115 opt.3 news@michigandaily.com Corrections Lettersto the Editor corrections@michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com Arts Section Editorial Page arts@michigandaily.com opinion@michigandaily.com Sports Section Photography Section syors@"i"igadai.om" p o@re'ieigandaiycom Display Sales Classified Sales dailydisplay@gmail.com classied@michigandaily.com Online Sales Finance onlineads@michigandaily.com finance@michtgandaily.com EDITORIAL STAFF Katie Burke Managing Editor kgburke@michigandaiy.om Jennifer Callas ManagingNews Editor Jcalfas@michigandaily.com SENIORNEWSEDITORS:IanDillingham,SamGringlas,WillGreenberg,RachelPremack and Stephanie Shenuda ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS: Allan Akhtar, Neala Berkowski, Claire Bryan, Shoham Geva, Amabel saroub, Emma Kerr, Thomas McBrien, Emilie Plesset, Michael Sugerman and Jack Turman Megan McDonald and Daniel Wang EditorialtPage Editors opinioneditors@michigandaly.com SENIOR EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Aarica Marsh and Victoria Noble ASSISTANTEDITORIALPAGEEDITORS:MatthewSeligmanaanaidHarris Greg Garno and Alejandro Zitiga Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaity.com SENIOR SPeORTSEDIS:Max Cohen, AlexaDettelbach, LevFacher, RaatKhare, Jake ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS: Max Bultman, Minh Doan,,Daniel Feldman, Simon Kaufman, Erin Lennon, Jake Lourim and Jason Rubinstein ishn Lynch and jptynchr@michiandaity.com Akshay Seth ManagingArtsEditors akse@michigandaiy.com SENIOR ARTS EDITORS: Giancarlo Buonomo, Natalie Gadbois, Erika Harwood and ASSISTANT ARTS EDITORS: JamieBircoll, Jackson Howard, Gillian Jakab and Maddie Thomas Teresa Mathew and Paul Shernan ManagigPhotoEditor s photo@michigandaily.co SNOR OO EIsOsRS:Alliso aan and RuasbyWallau ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS:KatherinePekela,VirginiaLozano, JamesColler,McKenzieBerezin,andNicholasWilliams Carolyn Gearig and Gabriela Vasquez ManagingDesign Editors design michigandailycom SENIORDESIGN EDITORS: Amy MackensandAlicia Kovalcheck tarlinaYDoan Maazin ddinor d statement@mihigandaily.com STATEMENT PHOTOEDITOR: Ruby Wallau STATEMENT LEADDESIGNER:AmyMackens Mark Ossolinski and Meaghan Thompson ManagingCopyEditors copydesk@michigandaily.com SENIORCOPYEDITORS:MariamSheikhandAlishaQiu AustenfHufford OnlineEditor ahufford@michigandaily.com VIDEEDIOS:Puri ec nJames Reslier-Wells BUSINESSSTAFF Madeline Lacey UniversityAccounts Manager Ailie Steir classified Manager Simonne Kapadia Local Accounts Manager Lotus An National Accounts Manager Olivia Jones Production Managers Nolan Loh Special Projects Coordinator Jason Anterasian Finance Manager The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Fridayaduringthe fall and winter terms by studentsat the university of Michigan.One copy is avalableftree of charge to all readers. Additionacopiesmay bepicedupat the Oaily's office for$2.Subscriptions for fall term, startingin September, viaU.& mal are $11o Win"e t" (' anuary through April) is$11, yearong (September through Apri)is $19. University afilates are subject toa reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. h eMichiaan Daiay is a member of The Associated Press and hea ssociated ColSate Press. Marilyn Horne Mattiones&the singing class WHAT: Renowned soprano Marilyn Horne will work with members of the voice department. The public is welcome to observe. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 5 p.m. WHERE: Walgreen Drama Center, Stamps Auditorium Rewnstruction WHAT: Matt Jones, a song- writer from Ypsilanti, will perform in Ann Arbor. His music explores sin and the human condition. WHO: Michigan Union Ticket Office WHEN: Tonight at 8p.m. WHERE: The Ark, 316S. Main St. _ Grant for. Detroit transit should improve access Federal and state money to bring 50 new buses to city By NEALA BERKOWSKI Daily StaffReporter New federal money for the Detroit Department of Transpor- tation offers an opportunity to improve the city's bus system. Detroit was granted nearly $26 million by the Federal Transit Administration last Thursday - a grant that was partially matched by state funds for a total of $32.3 million. The money went toward the purchase of 50 new city buses, said Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United. "The Federal Department of Transportation provides support for purchasing new buses regu- larly and the secretary of trans- portation said that Detroit made -HU a compelling case that they have a real need to increase their bus fleets," Owens said. "There was about $100 million available nationally and Detroit got about $26 million, which is pretty sub- stantial." She said Detroit will receive its buses in the next six to 18 months. Owens explained this implementation time is typical, because the city has to work out the logistics of contracts and of manufacturing the buses before they arrive. "Another nice thing is that the city was able to repurpose some other funds that they had to pur- chase another 30 buses," Owens said. "Those are already on order and they're hoping to have -at least some of those buses running before the end of the year. Alto- gether, gaining another 80 buses over the next year or so should provide a big help to the city, improving its reliability." One third of Detroit house- H-m holds do not have a car and rely on buses, biking and walking, she said. Detroit's transportation sys- tem is unreliable in part because there are not enough buses run- ning to meet current schedule requirements. The current sched- ule requires about.225 buses, but there are only 180 buses in the city's fleet. "There are bus routes that just don't have a bus operating and there's no way for the passengers to know that; say, Woodward is supposed to have six buses oper- ating on it in order to handle the 20,000 people a day who ride, but if they only have four buses that day, the buses get very over- crowded and get behind," Owens said. "It really makes a lot of peo- ple late." Daniel Spyker, associate mem- ber of the Consumer Family Adversary Council of the Detroit Wayne County Community Men- tal Health Agency, has been riding city buses as many as six times per day for the last 32 years. He said the bus system is undependable and not accessible for those with mental health disabilities. "I would say as far as perfor- mance, my view of the city buses is unfavorable for me and the people I work with," Spyker said. "People can't get to their jobs or job inter- views on time and miss doctor's appointments." Unlike major Midwestern cit- ies like Chicago, Detroit does not have a sales tax on transportation, Owens said. Cuts have been made' to transportation over the last decade as Detroit struggled with its finances and decides how to distribute its scarce dollars, lead- ing to inadequate transportation services. "The amount that the city has allocated has dropped to half over the last six or eight years," Owens said. "They used to be spending $80 to $90 million every year to run a transit system for the city. Now that's closer to $50 million. And so that's one of the big chal- lenges, that there is no money that automatically goes to the transit STARTUP From Page 1 Shen and Mecham began work- ing with one another through "Startup Academy," an annual event put on by entrepreneur- ship-focused student organiza- tion MPowered. There, Shen said, Mecham helped him explore the idea of renting out self-storage and catering that to students asa prof- itable service. The duo conducted a test run this summer with a group of roughly 30 students, selling them cardboard boxes for a nominal fee and storing their goods in a small warehouse space. What made their services different from other storage facilities, they said, was charging students for their boxes on a monthly basis and not charg- ing them at all for pickup and delivery. The average rate for these boxes is $10 per month - totaling roughly $40 for the duration of summer break. Now, they are changing their business model and moving away from cardboard boxes. Vaultd has paired with a manufacturer and has ordered a limited quantity of. large plastic boxes measuring 24 by22 by12 inches. "Because we used the card- board boxes, we found that after a few months, even in a climate- controlled facility, between mov- ing and transporting stuff, and stacking the boxes on top of each other, they just kind of got warped and damaged," Mecham said. "With plastic bins, they're a lot more sturdy, they're waterproof ... you can even zip-tie them," he added. Vaultd's main competitor as of this moment, it seems, is John's Pack and Ship. For its standard, 18-by-18-by-24-inch large box, the company charges from $55 to $187.50 for five to eight months of storage, with the pricing contin- gent on the weight of the box. John's Pack and Ship also sells its own cardboard boxes; each large box costs $5. Furthermore, a local self-stor- age unit, such as Stop 'N Lock, costs $33 per month for its small- est locker, which is 5 by5 feet. Since its summer trial period, in which Shen and Mecham invested their personal funds, Vaultd has received a $5,000 grant from Grand Rapids startup accelerator Start Garden. Mecham said the company will now use this to test a new theory that students may even desire extra storage during the year. The decision to test this comes after Vaultd used its capital from the summer to invest in a larger storage warehouse in downtown Ann Arbor, for quick and local access to students' stored goods. The hope, after this three- month trial period, is to re-pitch their business to Start Garden for an additional $20,000 invest- ment. Shen said the company has also networked with other helpful local sources through the Univer- sity's Center for Entrepreneur- ship, where Mecham works as a peer advisor. The duo has attended events at startup incubator Ann Arbor SPARK, and was even encouraged to apply for a grant through a Ross School of Business commercial- ization fund. Another goal of the company is to expand into a peer-to-peer storage service by creating a web - and eventually, mobile - app. Essentially, Mecham said, Vaultd wants to set up a social network through which students can keep extra items in the homes of local students and residents willing to store them on their behalf for a small fee. The company would still charge its standard $10 per box per month, and would seek com- mission from the people storing boxes in their homes. Mecham said Vaultd has also considered pairing ridesharing services such as Uber or Lyft to streamline delivery and pickup methods as well as engage more with the Ann Arbor community. "We're hoping that this ... one- size box, flat rate, monthly, will definitely be able to compete well," Mecham said. "Especially with our modernized web and mobile app, which definitely appeals to college students." agency. Detroit's total area is dispropor- tionate to its population, which is now less than 700,000. Population decline has eroded Detroit's tax base, leaving less money to devote to transportation. Detroit's popula- tion peaked at around 1.8 million residents in the 1950 census and has been declining since. "There is hope that in the next couple of years there will be a regional tax on the ballot to help support an improved regional transit effort that would improve regional transit between Detroit' and Ann Arbor to supplement what the city is doing and provide some additional options for people to get around," Owens said. "We now have this Regional Transit Author- ity thatoversees DDOT, Ann Arbor Transit, SMART and the People Mover. They're looking for ways to improve the service." Owenssaid adding50 new buses to the fleet is a step in the right direction for Detroit's transpor- tation system, but there are still changes to personnel hiring and the buses' maintenance that the city needs to make to permanently improve its transportation reliabil- ity. "They still need to fix their maintenance so that these buses can stay in good condition," Owens said. "Getting new buses and then not keeping up on them doesn't help." When bus drivers quit or retire, it is hard for the city to find people to replace them who have experi- ence, training and can pass drug testing, Spyker said. "If a bus breaks down or one person doesn't come in, the whole system shakes," Spyker said. "Last year one of my favorite drivers on the Livernoisbustold mehissuper- visor was literally having a stress- related mental breakdown because someone didn't show up. When this happens people just sit around waiting for the bus to come." To succeed, Detroit needs reli- able public transportation for the people who rely on it, Owens said. "It's just something that every city needs to have," Owens said. "We need to have transportation options. Everyone of us is one bro- ken leg away from needing transit to get where we need to go, but especially in Detroit ... Ultimately, Detroiters are never going to be able to get ahead if they're unable to get around through reliable transportation." 4 4