The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 18, 2005 - 3
Student groups to bring major artist to campus
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily News Editor
Members of the University Activities Center, Big
Ticket Productions, UM Hillel and the Michigan
Student Assembly have been developing plans for a
major concert this fall.
The two major contenders at this stage are
Kanye West and Ludacris, though at this point in
time the groups have not set a final date for the
show, or confirmed an act.
Tle show will most likely be October 6, 7 or 20,
said Andrew Bilinsky, vice president of Big Ticket
Productions. If the concert is held on October 20 -
homecoming weekend - Hillel will not be involved
because of prior obligations, Bilinsky said.
BTP President Mary Roeder said that a hip-hop
artist would represent the diverse interests of the
school. Ranjan Radhamohan, president of UAC
said that BTP and UAC are committed to bring-
ing diverse and recognizable acts to campus, and
that during discussions with MSA, a hip-hop act
was considered due to the current popularity of
the genre among students.
Bilinsky said that West was an obvious choice
because of his broad appeal, and that it was likely
he would be chosen over Ludacris for the event,
although there is no final decision yet.
Melton Lee, co-chair of MSA's minority affairs
commission, said West will begin touring for pro-
motion of his new album in the fall, and that he
would be an extremely popular act to book.
MSA president Jesse Levine said that he believed
MSA's involvement in hosting a popular concert
could have a positive effect on student awareness
and participation in MSA.
"One of the greatest concerns of our constituents
was that there was a lack of big-name concerts on
campus. This would be the first time a major hip-
hop artist act was brought to campus," Levine said.
Levine also discussed the possibility of Ludac-
ris enthusiastically, saying he was a good candidate
because of his recent activism, including speaking
at the national meeting of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People and involve-
ment in the independent film "Crash," a film that
ties a diverse cast into a story about race relations
in Los Angeles.
Levine said that promoting good community
relations are a top priority for MSA.
"Ludacris has recently devoted much of his time
to social justice work. This coincidesgreatly with
work MSA has done this year," Levine said.
MSA has also been developing "the day of
CHANGE" - creating a healthy and new genera-
tion of equality - an event scheduled to take place
in early September that seeks to stimulate curiosity
and learning about social identities through inter-
active activities.
One such interactive activity for the day of
CHANGE will have participants choose a social
label, such as race, ethnicity, gender, nationality
or sexuality, and discuss in groups what that label
means to them, what stereotypes they believe exist
about them and what they feel societies general per-
ception of them to be.
Bilinsky said that the majority of the costs would
be fairly evenly split between Big Ticket Produc-
tions and MSA, with MSA perhaps contributing a
slightly greater amount. Bilinsky said that the fee
for Ludacris would be about $60,000 and produc-
tion costs would be about $20,000. Roeder said
that West would probably be more expensive than
Ludacris. In combination with other expenses, Bil-
insky estimated the cost of the concert would be
about $85,000-$90,000, and that while at this point
no prices have been set, without subsidies from the
University ticket prices would be between $20 and
$30 depending on seating.
MSA brought Michael Moore to speak at Hill
Auditorium last year, his speaking fee was about
$2,000, allowing ticket prices for the event to be
set at around $5 and still generate about $6,000
of profit for MSA, Levine said. Levine also said
that another idea for an event would be to bring Jon
Stewart to speak at campus, in addition to hosting
a major concert.
Bilinsky said he believed the concert this Octo-
ber would generate a profit for all the sponsors
involved.
"We would expect tickets to sell out the first day,"
Bilinsky said.
DDA raises parking meter rates,
lowers parking structure rates
By Amber Colvin
Daily Staff Reporter
The rate for parking meters around Ann Arbor will be
more expensive this fall, while the price to park in a structure
will be less.
Parking meters may also be enforced two or three hours
later than6 p.m., the current time that enforcement stops.
The 15-cent decrease for parking structure rates will bring
them down to 80 cents an hour. In return, parking meters, also
80 cents per hour, will rise to $1 per hour.
The changes - approved by the Downtown Development
Authority during their July meeting and going into effect no
later than Oct. 1 - have been made to sway more drivers
toward parking in the structures.
"It's essentially intended to try to encourage people to park
in the structures for longer-term parking and the meters for
shorter- term parking." DDA board member Roger Hewitt
said. "This now makes it so that the structures are the least
expensive (parking option)."
Getting more cars in the structures instead of at meters is a
priority for the city, Hewitt said, because the current systems
makes it cheaper for drivers to park at an expired meter and
pay their ticket within one business day rather than to park
legally in a structure.
"We had a system that was sort of upside down where the
cheapest place to park was to park at a meter and not put
any money in it," Hewitt said. "We're trying to ... rational-
ize the system."
Another change meant to remedy this imbalance, approved
by City Council in May and effective this fall, will raise the
price of a parking ticket at a meter from $5to $10, if paid with-
in one business day. After one day, the fine becomes $15.
Engineering junior Eric Moore said he intentionally leaves
his meter expired because after parking for so many hours, it is
cheaper to risk getting a ticket than to pay the meter.
"I take the chance thatI'm not going to get a ticket, and if I do
I just figure I pay what I would in meter costs," Moore said.
He said that he has paid over 20 parking tickets this summer,
meaning more than $100 in parking tickets.
"It's still less than what t would pay if I would constantly pay
the meters all the time," Moore said, adding that choosing to pay
tickets instead of meters is also better because he does not
See PARKING, Page 8
An Ann Arbor police officer writes out a ticket for an expired meter.
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