The Michigan Daily - Saturday, May 21, 1983 - Page 3
Council approves deficit budget
By HALLE CZECHOWSKI But Republican council members blocked any The deficit resulted from the only issue both parties
negotiations over the budget, refusing to recess the 6- agreed upon,, when council members rejected a
Democratic hopes of changing a Republican-backed hour-long meeting so the two sides could work out a proposed 1 percent property tax surcharge that
city budget proposal were smashed Thursday night, compromise budget over the weekend. would have payed for collecting taxes,
when Republican council members refused to REPUBLICANS said that they resented a THE COUNCIL'S veto of the proposal produces a
negotiate the $34.7 million budget submitted by the Democratic press conference held Tuesday to an- $676,000 deficit, which will be cut by approximately
city administrator. nounce their proposed budget changes before any $84,000 by a .07 mill tax increase. Cities that cannot
The 1983-84 budget, which includes a deficit of more meetings with the Republican caucus. balance their budgets are required by state law to
than $600,000 was passed by default after a 5-5 council "If people are serious about drawing up a city raise their property taxes to maximum legal levels.
vote split along party lines. The city charter set the budget, it is not done in such an underhanded and After the Republicans defeated the move to recess
evening's meeting as the deadline for approving City spurious maneer," said Joyce Chesbrough (R-Fifth the meeting, the Democratic council members
Administrator Godfrey Collins' budget proposal. Ward). proposed amendments to the budget items they wan-
Ann Arbor Mayor Louis Belcher, the council's sixth Chesbrough told the Democrats that even though ted to change, but all were voted down.
Republican, is in Casablanca on a business trip, she approved of many of their proposals, she would If the council is unable to agree on amendments to
THE MAJOR expenditure of the new general fund not vote for them because the two sides should have balance the budget later in the year - amendments
budget are more than $11 million for the police and met beforehand. require eight votes to pass - Collins will be respon-
fire departments; $5.3 million for city employees' COUNCIL DEMOCRATS said that the Republicans sible for finding more money, since it is illegal for
Social Security, insurance, and benefits; and more were punishing them by refusing to negotiate the Michigan cities to operate under a deficit.
than $5 million slotted for general governmental and budget. COLLINS' OPTIONS could include layoffs of city
district court costs. "I heard that it's not in the city's best interest to workers.
The Democrats hoped to increase funding for hold a press conference. That's a minor tran- Council members from both parties said they
human services by $400,000, and also targeted $1.3 sgression," said Councilmember Lowell Peterson thought some compromises will be made during the
million dollars in budget cuts not called for in Collins' (D-First Ward). "What's in the best interest of the See COUNCIL, Page5
budget. city - passing a budget that has a deficit?"
WCBN to I \
boost its
power for
a 10-day
trial run
By RUSS SPIEGEL
The Federal Communications Com-
mission last week told WCBN, Ann Ar-
bor's only student-run FM radio
station, it could increase its broadcast
power by 200 percent for a 10-day trial
run, said Frederick Remley, the
University's technical manager of
broadcasting.
Although the increase would only
slightly increase the station's broad-
casting range, which at present cannot
reach the city limits, the sound quality
would improve dramatically, Remley
said.
See WCBN, Page5
_...*..v,..^..,. ~~~Daily Photo by ELIZABETH SCOTT
Mike Kopka general manager of University radio station WCBN, readies a disk for play on the airwaves. Those air-
waves will be more powerful next week, following FCC approval of a temporary boost in the station's broadcast power.
'Melting pot' myth
Harvard Prof. Glen Loury spoke about myths surrounding black Americans
at a four-day University conference on the effect of black immigration and
the black population at Law Quad.
for blacks,
By JACKIE YOUNG
The "melting pot" theory of
American culture is a myth for black
Americans, who have not charac-
teristically been immigrants but still
have been isolated within their own
country," said a Harvard University
professor Thursday.
While skin color sets blacks apart
from earlier European immigrants,
blacks also had trouble fitting into nor-
thern urban society because
they migrated to the cities from the
South at a time when opportunities for
upward mobility were scarce, said Glen
Loury, from the Department of
Economics and the Center for Afro-
American Studies at Harvard Univer-
sity.
LOURY SPOKE in Hutchins Hall on
the second day of the "International
Conference on Immigration and the
Changing Black Population in the
United States," sponsored by the Cen-
says prof.
ter for Afro american and- African
Studies (CAAS) .
Loury said that while other im-
migrants often did not feel they should
be treated as equal citizens, black
Americans prior to World War II faced
the frustration of being denied their
rights in their own country.
The theory of social Darwinism and
the perpetuation of racist ideologies
further hindered the black American's
assimilation into politics and society,
he said, since blacks turned from
discussing problems in the black com-
munity such as the deterioration within
some black families, poor
educational opportunities, and high in-
ner-city arrest rates.
. INSTEAD, black Americans
focused on refuting racist beliefs,
feeling that to address these issues
would be to feed information to racist
theories, Loury said.
See BLACKS, Page 4