OPINION
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCV, No. 16-S
95 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by Students at
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
R.S.V.P.
NN ARBOR has a well deserved reputation as a city
A devoted to movies. Producers often use Ann Arbor as
a testing place for new releases and old movies are kept
alive with heavy exposure by the film cooperatives around
campus. So, the community appreciates good quality and
supports the city theaters.
When Kerasotes bought the Campus, State, and Wayside
theaters from Butterfield Theaters in December, they
inherited a virtual monopoly on first run flicks in town. For
some reason, Kerasotes doesn't seem interested in the
community and their behavior necessitates ex-
planation.
The first action Kerasotes took when they moved into the
theaters' was to dismiss the local union projectionists.
While it is debatable how much training is required to
operate the projectors, it is clear that the union was a
respected one. Why did Kerasotes replace union labor with
concession stand workers and ushers at minimum wage?
Kerasotes was aware that the union contract with the
previous owner extended into 1986, but they dismissed the
projectionists through form letters without warning, and
have refused to meet with union representatives.
Having dismissed the projectionists, and thus reducing
their labor cost, Kerasotes has not visibly improved the
quality of the theaters. On the contrary, since the projec-
tionists were dismissed, there have been complaints about
poor film quality such as out-of-focus films and other
technical difficulties. Last month, the city of Ann Arbor
closed down one of the studios because of a health code
violation. Dollar night and discounts for students and
senior citizens have been eliminated.
Certainly, it is Kerasotes' prerogative to run their
business however they want to, but they are in a powerful
position. They have control over a large segment of newly
released films in a city which prides itself on movies. They
don't seem to care very much about serving the com-
munity well.
For the past two months, a theater group organized by a
University professor has been performing in protest out-
side the Kerasotes cinemas. The theater group feels that
Kerasotes has been intimidating them.
This kind of behavior is questionable. The Ann Arbor
community has asked many questions, but hasn't received
any answers. It's time for an explanation.
Letters to the Daily should be typed,
triple-spaced, and signed by the in-
dividual authors. Names will be withheld
only in unusual circumstances. Letters
may be edited for clarity, grammar, and
spelling.
Tuesday, June 11, 1985
Page 5
American 'dreamhouse'
of demonstration projects to look at that address these
By Kathleen Mackay needs and provide new solutions. One of the problems is
When most young Americans embarking on careers or finding developers who are really interested in in-
starting families buy a home, the traditional problems novation, and who can see that many women would prefer
they encounter are scraping together a down payment and to have day-care rather than a fancy vanity or a
tackling the mortgage. The real estate horror stories microwave oven."
abound. HAYDEN'S IDEAS are not without a successful
Yet according to Dolores Hayden, who spent the last 10 precedent. Vanport City, Ore., was built for "Rosie the
years questioning architects, designe, urban planners, iveter families in 1943, families headed by female
yworkin mtersn andrhers hosingn erts, rAmericans workers. Nicknamed Kaiserville after the industrialist
looking for a home face a dilemma much more fundamen- who owned the shipyards where Rosie worked, Vanport
tal than price. City met the needs of a wartime labor force. Its builders
HAYh N eARGUES that housing today simply does not responded to the need for affordable housing, on-the-job
fit the realities of the late 20th century, and that we have training and economic development for workers, and
outgrown the "dream house" of the post-World War II recognized that single parents and families with two
wage-earners require extensive child-care services in or-
eraden, a professor at UCLA's Graduate School of Ar- der to give their best energies to production.
offersfsoatu e r Vanport City had public transportation connecting
chitecture and Urban Planning, offers numerous housing with the workplace and a 24-hour child-care cen-
statiles t supporer rhouses are still designed for the ter with an infirmary where sick children were im-
stereotype of the returning World War II veteran and his mediately treated. Pareti could pick up a hot casserole
wife and kids, today only a small percentage of American at heLa centerewn thecedteoiferred children afiew
families include a male breadwinner, non-employed of their parents' workplace, so they weren't cut off from
housewife, and two or more children under 18. The o t orenheir parents performed.
prdoinanttpe iyheyfaemisyithe tw wge-prearners, "It was a functional solution that engineers came up
and the fastest family type is the single-parent family, with quickly because they had to get those women into the
where nine out of ten single parents are women. laofocHydnss.TeUSgvrmntupid
-House sizes have been increasing for 30 years (from thb $26i lion nded to b i de hU.S government supplied
an average of 800 square feet and one-and-a-half baths to ONE CONCEPT Hayden and her partner Ena Dubnoff
1,60 square feet and two and a half baths). Meanwhile the describe sounds similar to that of Vanport City, and is
average household size in the United States has been designed to include child-care facilities in an 8t-square-
decreasing, from 3.37 persons in 1950 to 2.75 persons infdesgn etwencfde ria-arentnits.n hence-s a-
1980. Almost one-quarter of all American households con- foot space between four apartment units. The central
sist of one person living alone. roat h ts lined with sight lines through large windows to
-The average price of a single-family home rose to The laundry room of the complex is a warm and comfor-
$87, t0 in 1982 from $28,0 in 970. (Thisrnfon s table area with seating that looks out onto a playground.
exacerbated as 3t million baby-boom children of the post- Parents can watch their children from a cozy place while
World War II era came of home-buying age in the 1970s. Parntsecandrychther hdnravgozyneraeark,
An equivalent or greater number will reach their 30s in doing the laundry, rather than having to enter a dark,
the 1980s.) damp basement room. Another area in the complex can
-To lower housing costs, many working couples nowbusiness after schoolf
commute ong distatoe 597the journeysuburbs aereaed Hayden is striving for changes .like these in city plan-
nine miles one way; Americans own 41 percent of the ning proposals, and hopes to put into motion some of the
ninerlsssenerwa;Aers an wn41rear nt othienideas from her book through her firm. The key, she
world's passenger cars, and had more cars than children stresses, is awakening among American ideas of alter-
per household. nativesto the American "dream house" even as more and
All of these trends suggest that new types of housing are more homeowners and potential buyers find themselves
in order. "We're at a stage now where many people are in- frustrated by homes that aren't designed to meet their
terested in coming to terms with some of the social andbyhmstaarntdigeto etter
economic changes involved in the politics of design,' modern needs.-
Hayden points out. But, she says, "There's a real shortage Mackay wrote this for Pacific News Service.
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