The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 13, 2005 - 3
Petition seeks to restrict student parking
By Muhammad Saleem Khan
Daily Staff Reporter
Frustrated with a lack of parking space, the
North Burns Park and Oxbridge neighbor-
hood associations have submitted a petition to
the Ann Arbor City Council to create parking
districts that will require a special permit for
cars parked longer than two hours between 8
a.m. and 2 p.m.
Peter Nagourney, co-chair of the North
Burns Park Association, said the parking
problem can be attributed to daily commut-
ers parking their cars on the neighborhood's
streets.
The parked cars make it difficult for resi-
dents, service personnel and visitors to park
anywhere near resident's homes, Nagourney
said.
"The problems concern the environment,
street safety and inconvenience for residents,"
Nagourney said, "Long-term car storage has
made it impossible for the city to clean streets,
remove leaves and do proper snow clearance
on a regular schedule,"
Prue Heikkinen, president of the Oxbridge
Neighborhood Association, said parking is a
problem that affects everyone in the city, but
that the daily commuters who take advantage
of residential parking have become a great
annoyance to residents.
"If I'm paying thousands of dollars in prop-
erty taxes, I should at least be allowed one
spot in front of my house," Heikkinen said.
Jesse Levine, president of Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly, said he does not agree with
further restrictions on public parking.
"I've received my fair share of parking
tickets and am against further regulations that
would impinge upon public parking spaces at
the expense of students," Levine said.
Levine said the proposed parking poli-
cies for the Oxbridge and North Burns Park
neighborhoods are misguided, and the timing
couldn't be worse for students.
Levine and Stuart Wagner, MSA's Campus
Improvement Commission chair, scheduled a
meeting with Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje
to discuss a multitude of issues - parking
being one of them.
Wagner said various solutions to the park-
ing problem are being pursued, including a
delay to the parking districts vote until the
fall when more students will be in the city.
Connor Henley, president of Pi Kappa Phi,
agrees with Heikkinen that a reduction in
parking will affect students, but he said that
most of the parking is misused.
"Obviously, any reduction of parking
spaces near the University community would
adversely affect students. However, from my
observation, the majority of parking spots
utilized within the Burns Park district are for
long-term storage or extended parking," Hen-
ley said.
Even though students parking in the neigh-
Local neighborhood associations have submitted a petition to the city council to limit
student parking from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
borhood have led to the parking problem, stu- Nagourney said.
dents living in fraternities, co-ops and group "During this time students living in group
houses in the area have been involved in housing within the neighborhood have always
neighborhood meetings to work on a solution, been informed about neighborhood meet-
Nagourney said. ings, have attended these meetings and have
"Our neighborhood association has been been involved in discussions that led up to the
working on this problem for over two years," parking district proposal."
Students concerned over
closed Coke meetings
By Christopher Zbrozek
Daily Staff Reporter
Members of the Coke Campaign
Coalition have sent a letter to several
University administrators requesting a
meeting to discuss concerns about the
way the University is reviewing the con-
tract with Coca-Cola.
The University's Dispute Review
Board, which is investigating charges
of unethical behavior by the Coca-Cola
Company, held a closed meeting on May
9 to reach a decision whether to main-
tain the University's contract with Coke.
Despite finding evidence to support alle-
gations of pesticides in Coke products in
India and labor violations in Columbia,
the DRB has not yet released a final rec-
ommendation regarding the University's
business with Coke.
One of the University's contracts with
Coke will expire June 30.
The letter sent by the student coalition
alleges that the DRB's decision to hold
its final deliberations in a closed ses-
sion constitutes a violation of the state's
Open Meetings Act. Although there are
some exceptions, the Open Meetings Act
generally requires public bodies to allow
public access to their meetings.
The University has held that as an
advisory board, the DRB is not subject to
the Open Meetings Act.
University spokeswoman Julie Peter-
son said previously that a Michigan
Supreme Court case in 2000, Feder-
ated Publications Inc. v. Michigan State
University Board of Trustees, allows the
University to hold closed advisory-board
meetings.
SPIRITUALITY
Continued from page 2
too religious until six or seven years ago," Wong said.
Still, some students said they believed that religion
can provide structure for morality.
Zahier said having a spiritual base helps keep her cen-
tered while coping with the hectic college environment.
"The college experience strengthens my spirituality,"
she said.
According to the study, many students expected reli-
gious or spiritual structure to be emphasized by their
is.. University ,like most public universities,
privately run groups to meet students' spiritual
Father Tom McClain, pastor at St. Mary's Student
Parish, said that numerous opportunities and resources
are available for students, such as "weekly worship,
availability of literature and staff members for spiritual
direction."
Miller said he does not believe it is the public universi-
ty's role to assist in spiritual and religious development.
"There are groups on campus that are the service pro-
viders for students," Miller said.
In the letter, the students also express
concern that the DRB has not taken ade-
quate measures to ensure student repre-
sentation on the board.
The DRB's procedures state that two
of the board's seven members should be
students. Following the May 9 meeting,
LSA sophomore Julia Ris resigned from
the board.
Students Organizing for Labor and
Economic Equality, which has previ-
ously suggested members for the DRB,
supported the nomination of LSA sopho-
more Ben Grimshaw as a replacement.
Although MSA President Jesse Levine
has spoken with Grimshaw, the DRB has
not yet taken action to replace Ris, said
RC junior Clara Hardie, a Coke Coali-
tion member.
According to the DRB's procedures,
members of the DRB are chosen by the
University's chief financial officer.
Peterson said the offices of University
President Mary Sue Coleman and Chief
Financial Officer Timothy Slottow, as
well as DRB member Dennis Poszywak,
had received the students' letter Friday.
'The University is considering the
concerns raised in the letter," Peterson
said. She added that the University may
not meet the students' request that a
date for a meeting between students and
administrators be set by today.
Students involved in the campaign
against Coke were not pleased with the
pace of the DRB's process.
"People across the country and
world are very concerned about what
is happening at Michigan," Rackham
student and coalition member Andrea
Samulon said.
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