81 Wednesday, June 30, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com City parking rights debated A' committS~pp ..p con Discu of Ann Develop who she ment ar of both respons TheI parking from meters and parking structures trol over parking throughout the city, agreed to trans- fer $2 million in parking revenue to enforcement the city in May under the condition that talks would take place to discuss By HILLARY BOK the possibility of expanding its duties For theDaily to include parking enforcement, among other responsibilities. issions between the City But now that the topic is open for Arbor and the Downtown discussion, some City Council mem- ment Authority concerning bers appear opposed to the possibil- tuld control parking enforce- ity of transferring responsibility. e at a standstill as members According to City Council Member groups dispute where the Stephen Kunselman (D-Ward 3), the ibility should fall. DDA "does not have a leg to stand on DDA, which is in charge of when it comes to the parking issue." maintenance and collection The city and the DDA each created "mutually beneficial committees" in 2009 in order to handle the process of negotiating the parking agree- ment, but the negotiations have yet to result in a decision. Kunselman questioned whether City Council even needed approval for the money from the DDA given that the group was originally created by the city itself. "It's not their money by law and that's what gets missed in the trans- lation," Kunselman said. "There's this sense that oh, we have to work with the DDA and we have to come to an agreement. Well, no we don't. It's our money." Parking arrangements were out- side of the purview of the DDA until 1992 when the city asked the DDA to manage the off-street parking sys- tem. In 2002, the committee took over management of the on-street parking system as well. Executive Director of the DDA Susan Pollay said that management and enforcement of parking are not necessarily the same but are best handled collectively. "To us, parking enforcement and parking operations are two halves of the same parking system," Pollay said. "Optimally, enforcement and operations strategies are planned and managed together." The DDA believes that parking management and enforcement are best run by the same entity. Cur- rently, the DDA has a contract with Republic Parking, a private com- pany, to handle parking operations. These operations include running and maintaining the parking struc- tures, selling meter cash cards, col- lecting money from the meters and reserving metered locations for private occasions or construction access. Officers of the community stan- dards branch of the police depart- ment are currently in charge of parking enforcement, handing out tickets for parking violations. Police officers also have the power to issue parking tickets. "The DDA itself as a body is not going to directly enforce parking. They would contract it out," Kun- selman said. "I will not abdicate my responsibility to the community to a third-party vendor." Pollay said the DDA wishes to gain control over parking because its mission as an agency is to promote the growth and development of the downtown area. "Having an effective parking sys- tem requires that parking rules and regulations be established and then enforced fairly, consistently and with sensitivity to the fact that most customers' first and last impression of downtown begins and ends with their parking experience," Pollay said. Since the $2 million transfer, the discussion about the parking agree- ment between the city and the DDA has not seen any resolution or action. Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje that while he believes the DDA's aim is to create a friendlier downtown parking atmosphere, he does not believe a transfer of responsibility would be beneficial to the city. "So far, it is just talk. What I think the DDA wants is a representative downtown to be there with a smile, to provide a friendlier face to be aware of things like aggressive pan- handling," Hieftje said. "However, I'm not in favor of the DDA taking over parking enforcement." The two "mutually beneficial com- mittees" have until October to come to an agreement on the issue. S 0 *0 0 F Mention This AD And Receive $100 Off. Now is the +LSAT perfect time to prep with one of the nation'sleadorss so test preparatson. Small Classes +GMAT - Expert Instructors -Free Extra Help +MCAT The Princeton 800-2ReviewPnReview US 00 Inclement weather strikes Storms, tornadoes, and earthquake hit Ann Arbor area By BRIENNE PRUSAK Daily StaffReporter The city of Ann Arbor has recently faced a patch of inclement weather that has not only included several tornado warnings but also the after- shocks of a 5.0-magnitude earth- quake, which struck Ottawa, Canada on Jun. 23, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said while there was no damage reported on campus as a result of the earthquake and recent string of storms, tornado damage has been reported in the areas surround- ing Ann Arbor. Tornadoes reportedly caused extensive damage on Jun. 6 in Dundee, Jun. 24 between Milan and Saline and Jun. 28 in both Clyde Township - which resulted in the death of one man - and New Boston. Tornadoes that touch down are tracked on a website - tornado- paths.org - run by the department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sci- ence at the University. Dennis Kahlbaum, University weather observer and staff meteo- rologist, said there isn't a connection between the storms and the earth- quake because the two types of disas- ters are caused by entirely different natural processes. Kahlbaum continued by saying that it was a total coincidence the thunderstorms and the earthquake occurred within the same month. He added that it is also a coincidence that there have been so many torna- does that have formed out of these thunderstorms. "The number of tornado warn- ings in Ann Arbor seems higher than normal. I don't keep records of that, but such fluctuations are normal," wrote Perry Samson, a professor in the department of Atmospheric, Oce- anic and Space Science, in an e-mail interview. The peak of tornado season is in April, but it can continue throughout the summer, Samson wrote in the e-mail. Samson went on to write that he believes the University's Department of Public Safety is doing a good job in alerting students of tornadoes in the area. These emergency alerts are sent out to University affiliates when they're in imminent danger. Fitzger- ald said threat levels account for why alerts were issued for the recent tor- nado warnings, but not for the earth- quake. He added thatthere have been no changes in the emergency alert system in light of the recent occur- rences. DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown echoed Fitzgerald's comments, say- ing that there are no changes nec- essary because the alerts are being appropriately sent to students, fac- ulty and staff. Brown said there is no need at the moment to revise the DPS disas- ter response because reliable plans are already in place for emergency situations, and the people who are charged with responding to emer- gencies are prepared to handle the issue. WANT TO WRITE FOR THE DAILY? . E-mail alapin@umich.edu for details.