4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 12, 2003 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 SRAVYA CHIRUMAMILLA JASON PESICK Aletters@michigaNADly.com Editor in Chief Editorial Page Editor 4 EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT T hE Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not SINCE 1890 necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. As Ann Arbor residents say good-bye to longtime Ann Arbor businesses such as Decker Drugs, Ethnic Creation, Shiva Moon, Lure and Boss Guitar, they will be saying good-bye to independent mom-and-pop-type businesses and good-bye to diversity and originality. On April 29, one of campus's two drug stores, Decker Drugs, closed its doors as a result of the steadily increasing Ann Arbor rent rates, leaving students with only one campus pharmacy. Ethnic Creations is soon to follow as it wraps up sales and prepares to move to its new location in the Westgate shopping center on Old West Side. The recent departure of so many local businesses this year has left students and residents alike to wonder who is next and for how much longer Ann Arbor can maintain its unique and bohemian motif. Over the past few years, the streets of Ann Arbor have begun to shift from a hub of independent, novelty stores with local flare to a commercialized network of franchises and chain stores. While commercially oper- Starbuckization of A2 Decreasing number of local businesses is troubling ated stores may be easier on the average stu- dent's wallet, many students overlook the importance of supporting local businesses. The effort to maintain a local identity in downtown Ann Arbor has been a struggle for quite some time. Ten years ago, Ann Arbor had a diverse selection of record stores, department stores, among others. Then, in 1999, Ann Arbor began to lose its special atmosphere with the loss of Schoolkids Indie Records and Campus Bike and Toys. State Street has been metamorphosizing into a row of franchised bagel and coffee shops, yet hidden away, are the independent stores that supply downtown Ann Arbor with a flare unmatched by other cities of its size. Local stores planted the seeds of Ann Arbor, and it is because of these local busi- nesses that the downtown has grown into something beyond a consumer haven; it gained its edge over other cities by develop- ing a rich cultural experience. The independently owned stores continue to make the city attractive because residents cannot find similar stores anywhere else. Independent stores are also dedicated to the city, involved in its improvement and devel- opment. They are often the first to participate in and help fund local meta. They also sup- port University club teams and organizations. Furthermore, quality customer service is far superior at these institutions, as many local proprietors take the time to get to know their regular customers. The independent owners give themselves wholly to their businesses, as well as their city. Rod's Diner, for example, would not have the same ambience without the pictures of their patrons on the walls. Yet, one by one, these stores are disap- pearing. The closures cannot be blamed on just one factor, but a combination of many, including rent increases, poor economic sit- uations, downtown commercial competition along with commercial stores that are also beginning to spring up on the outskirts of the downtown area, drawing in customers with low prices and more selection. The continual development of such circum- stances will eventually diminish the number of options available to consumers. If local stores continue to vanish from the streets of Ann Arbor, consumers will be forced to turn toward chain stores for all of their needs. The local government, students and resi- dents must make an effort to keep these inde- pendent shops open. It is time the govern- ment allocated resources and worked with proprietors in order to aid these local busi- nesses. It is time for students and residents to consider shopping at more independently owned stores. For when these independent shops go, so do novelty, diversity and famil- iarity. In a sense, so does Ann Arbor. 4 4 Lending a helping hand The University community can have positive impact VIEWPOINT The supremacist Blue Block In an act of compassion, Michigander James Thornberry helped bring a 15- year-old Iraqi girl, Hannan Shihab, to the University's hospital for treatment of 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns. Thornberry, a father of three girls himself, saw Shihab on CNN after she had been severely burned when the thunder of nearby bombs caused an oil lamp to fall on her. Horrified by what he saw, Thornberry contacted the University's hospi- tal and his congressman to set in motion a series of events that brought Shihab and her mother here to United States. Mr. Thornberry should be applauded for his noble efforts. Quite often, it is much easier to dismiss tragedies on TV, but instead, he showed sympathy and kind- ness for others, which are sometimes put aside as they are often inconvenient. His kindness, along with donations from Northwest Airlines, the University and Arab charitable organizations have given this young girl the hope for a better life. The University's efforts in bringing Shihab to the United States should be com- mended. The University trains its students to be leaders, and it is essential to teach tomor- row's leaders about compassion and kind- ness. By using its resources to assist the community, the University has set an exam- ple that its students should follow. The University is capable of providing a wide varietyof assistance to, the local, national and global community. Its medical facilities are among the best in the world - and as the case of Shihab shows - can be used to help those who are unable to receive proper treat- ment. In addition to great medical facilities, the University has an excellent faculty that could provide expert advice to nations, like Iraq, and the local community, in areas such as urban planning, engineering and business. A greater effort should be made to make these resources more widely available. Perhaps students do not have the resources or influence that the University has, but nonetheless, they too can make a tremendous impact. Take for example Dance Marathon, which raised more than $197,000 this year to help children in need of rehabilitation. This kind of fundraising and leadership can serve as an example for other students to follow. Students do not necessarily have to organize events that raise large amounts of money like Dance Marathon. Instead, by providing their time, they can help bring hope and inspiration to the lives of the young, sick and elderly. Students can have an enormous impact, for example, on high school students. High school students look up to those in college, they view college students as their peers, rather than author- ity figures. Taking a genuine interest in a child's interests, goals and concerns helps develop a bond that allows a student to guide a child and help him stay dedicated to his studies. Through mentoring and tutoring programs, University students can offer the kind of individual attention that today's overcrowded schools have trouble providing. It is impossible to bring every injured Iraqi to the United States for med- ical treatment or to help every person who needs such care; however, the University community has the ability to make a dif- ference in the lives of others and should replace any apathy with the kind of sym- pathy exhibited by Thornberry. The University community should continue to live up to its mission of serving the people of the state and the world by continuing to reach out and help those in need like Hannan Shihab. BY ARI PAUL The proposal to divest from Caterpillar Corp. was tabled until next year, and it probably won't pass then either, that is if the Blue Block - the zombie army wearing "We Stand with Israel" T-shirts - keeps up its tactics of intimidating MSA representa- tives. At the meeting about which MSA Representative Brad Sugar and alumnus Fadi Kiblawi are publicly bickering, the scariest detail mentioned has been com- pletely ignored. Incoming American Movement for Israel Co-chair Jonathan Goldberg has summed up the main point some of the leaders of the Blue Block made in defense of Caterpillar's sale of bulldozers for the use of home demo- litions by saying, "Caterpillar is a free com- pany; they're allowed to trade with whoever they want." Really? Let's set the stage for a different era: World War II. A human rights' group at the University has just put forth an MSA pro- posal to divest from Mercedes-Benz and vari- ous U.S. motor companies for manufacturing goods for sale to the Nazi regime, using such products for the advancement of their con- quest of Europe and genocide. Had Goldberg been around for that MSA meeting, would he have used the same defense for these compa- nies, even though they were producing goods supporting the mass murder of his very own people? I would sure hope not, and I bet he would have been an ardent supporter of that divestment, seeing as the welfare of his people would have been the issue at hand. But flash forward a half-century later, and Goldberg is on the other side of the human right's fence. To make matters worse, the Blue Block went on to say that condemning Israel's human right's violations is not only anti-Israel, but is often times, anti-Semitic. So let's go back to our make-believe MSA meeting during World War H. If I had publicly called for the divestment of these participants in the Holocaust, under Goldberg's logic, that would have meant that my concern for univer- sal human rights was rooted in my hatred for all German people. That is lunacy. I had the pleasure of meeting with Goldberg's predeces- sor, David Livshiz. I asked him tojustify why a Jew from New York should have the right to Israeli citizenship when someone whose fami- ly had lived there for centuries was forced into exile. His justification was that "England was conquered by the Saxons." Therefore, because England was a legitimate state, so was Israel. Great, so if one day the Syrian army invaded Israel and proclaimed it as the next province of Syria, that would be kosher by Livshiz' standard because that has hap- pened to other states in the past. Of course he wouldn't support that, because the wel- fare of his people would be at stake. And while it is natural for one to look after one's own people, holding such blatant double standards is the kind of ethnic supremacy inherent in Zionism, or any form of nation- alist rhetoric, that breeds a very real and devastating racist fervor. The intransigence of the Blue Block to admit that Israel shares much of the blame in the Middle East conflict is the central obstacle to ameliorating both the condition of the Palestinian people and the fearful prospects of terrorist acts in Israel. It is this kind of half- baked logic such as Livshiz' that gives rise to extremism. And more and more people are thoughtlessly signing on. How do I know? I hear they're ordering more T-shirts. Paul is an LSA senior and a member ofthe Daily's editorial board.