Tuesday, May 29, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com i FormerEastLiberty "En your student high-rise buildings that are going up, they sld all have retail on the main floor," Borders space 50l he said. He expressed optimism about the possible new occupants the Specific plans for AnnArbor.com also reported spot could attract, noting the that First Martin Corporation, an community benefits of housing in property remain Ann Arbor-based commercial real downtown Ann Arbor. estate company, bought the portion "When you look at cities that undecided of the building not acquired by are doing well, they have a lot of Landmark. people living downtown," Hieftje By JACOB AXELRAD The flagship Borders store has said. "It provides that kind of 24/7 Editor in Chief remained empty since Borders excitement, and that's what we're Group Inc. announced plans to looking for." Whileitswindowshave revealed liquidate on July 18, 2011, after the He added, however, that hous- nothing but barren shelves for company originally filed for bank- ing geared specifically toward almost a year, the space that once ruptcy on Feb. 16 oflast year. students may not be the best fit held Borders bookstore on East Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje for the space. Liberty Street will not remain said he was one of many who felt "I have my worries that the stu- vacant for much longer. that the closing of the East Liberty dent housing market is fairly satu- On Thursday, AnnArbor.com location was a loss for the city. rated right now," Hieftje said, "But reported that Hughes Properties, "This was the original loca- I think there is a need for urban, the developer of Landmark - tion, and it's sad to see (Borders) professional housing." the high-rise student apartment go," Hieftje said in an interview Hieftje said another option for building at 1300 S. University with The Michigan Daily on July the space is a type oflow-cost hous- Ave.- bought the former Borders 19, 2011. ing workforce housing. property. Though it's unclear what will "That would be housing for "We are currently evaluating occupy the empty space - it people who aren't homeless ... who all uses for the property in order could be used for retail, office have jobs but can pay only in mod- to maximize the benefit of this space or residential housing - erate rent," Hieftje said. core property to the city and its Hieftje explained that the city Jessica Miller, assistant man- residents," Ron Hughes of Hughes will require retail on the main ager of American Apparel across Properties said in a press release. floor in an interview with the the street from the former Bor- BUDGET From Page 1A necessary - where we only need $34,000 of that." Anglin, who voted against the budget along with Lumm, said that more preparation in April and May would have led to more productive discussion prior to voting. "It's not the lateness of the hour that I'm complaining about, it's the fact that the task is postponed," he said in an interview after the meet- ing. "We could deal much more effectively if we did it earlier." Though the vote was not unani- mous, Hieftje said dissent is com- mon and a non-unanimous vote does not reflect negatively on the budget. "You never expect to have it unanimous,". he said. "I thought council worked well throughout all the issues." The longest portion of the meet- ing was dedicated to amending the 2013 budget, several of which con- cerned the fire department and safety services within the city. During a meeting intermission, Margie Teall (D-Ward 4) said fund- ing the fire department has been a long-standing issue that's affected by the state government cutting ders, said she would approveof mixed use of the space, but she would prefer any new business to be local. "The.7-11 and the CVS that have gone in, they just don't really fit with the philosophy of Ann Arbor," she said. "I think all the residents would rather have local businesses downtown." Miller said if the space is used for student housing, it could satu- rate the student housing market. "I worry that with so many lux- ury student housing projects going up (that) supply is going to outrun the demand, and it's going to bust the market," she said. Maria Saltiel, a Northville resi- dent who works as a dental hygien- ist on East Liberty, said she would rather the location remain devoted to retail. She said if the site couldn't remain entirely commercial, an increase in professional housing would be preferable to student housing. Saltiel said Borders helped with the business where she works and fostered community for many of her patients. Saltiel added that she thinks housing has the potential to alienate, while retail is open to the public. tions to South University Park was approved. Lumm, explaining the resolution, said the park was sur- rounded by young families, but recently more students have moved to the area. Early on in the meeting, the council heard from multiple com- munity members during the public commentary portion. Esther Choi - an Ann Arbor resi- dent - said her family has owned a party store on Broadway for more than 30 years and that robbery has been fairly common. Choi described one incident where her grandfather had to be taken to the hospital and another time when her mother had a knife held to her neck. She said that the store has been robbed six times within the last 10 years in total. The most recent robbery - on April 9 of this year - entailed her father being held up at the gunpoint of a sawed-off machine gun, accord- ing to Choi. She said after giving evidence to the Ann Arbor police, little headway has been made in the case. "Even after this recent incident, there hasn't been any progress ... clearlyour requests have been taken lightly yet again," she said. "These are not petty crimes; they are life- threatening, violent crimes." cage hilcioan Baum 420 Maynard St. AnnArbar MI 48109 1327 wwmichiganidaily corn JACOB AXELRAD MERYLHULTENG E.,-dca ditor in Chief Busines Managerc axldmciadiyo 2 4 4 4icigndicom CONTACTINFORMATION NewsroomO s fisehours" 734-763-24s9 opt.3 News Tips news@michigandaily.com Corrections corrections@michigandaiycom LetterstotheEditorr eoedaity@michigandaily.ceo PhotoDepartment photo@michigandaily.com Arts Section arts@michigandaflvrom Editorial Page ,:opi cniemciadaiyom, Advertising Phone:734-764-0s554 Department display@michigandaily.com Classifieds Phone:734-7640557 Department cassified@michigandaily.com EDITORIAL STAFF Giacomoisologna ManagingEditor gbologna@michigandailycom AnnatRoienberg d Managing NewsEditor annoe@nmichigandaily.com, SENIOR NEWS EDITOR: Steve Zoski Adrienne Roberts EditorialPageEditor ad rirobeg iciganda ily.cs,, "EIO EDITO"ALPGEEDITORS: Sarah Skaluba, MichaelSpaeth Colleen Thomas ManagingSports Editor teolltom @m ichigandaily.ciom SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR: Matt Slovin AnnalSadovskaya Managing ArtsEditor asado@m ichigndailcom SENIOR ARTS EDITOR: Kelly Etz Terra Moengra O sManagingPhoto Editor Alicia Kovalcheck Managing Design Editor design @mich igs,,d ily.com Kendra Furry Copy chief copydesk@micigandailv.com BUSINESS STAFF BrettBergy Sales Manager Joe Crim Classified's Account Executive Connor Byrd Finance Manager The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the tall and winten terms hy students at the Ueiveesity sf Michigae. Tee espy is asailable free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office fon $T. Suhbsnriptiossfoe tall tees, starting is SeptmberviaU.S. smailaree $st1. Wintee term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliatesaresshjecttoareducedsubscription eate.SO-caspus suhscriptiossfon tall tens are $35. subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Pressand TheAssociated Collegiate Press. By ALEXA DETTELBACH Daily Sports Writer The spring NCAA champion- ship season is upon us, and the Michigan men's track and field team is a part of it. This past weekend, the Wol- verines were represented by nine individuals in addition to the 4x400-meter relay team at the three-day NCAA East Prelimi- nary Meet at the University of North Florida. Coming into the meet, Michi- gan's performance at the Big Ten Outdoor Championship pushed the team up 39 spots to No. 31 in the USTFCCCA Division I nation- al rankings. The Wolverines placed ninth at the conference meet while four athletes gained All-Big Ten acco- lades. "The idea is to be consistent and to advance," said Michigan coach Fred LaPlante. "They're advancing to the elitist level." And for a handful of the ath- letes, the team's goal from a week ago is now a reality. Fifth-year senior Craig Forys in the 3,000-meter steeple- chase, sophomore Ari Arastu for the 400-meter hurdles, and the 4x400-meter relay team all quali- fied for the NCAA Champion- ships. "The fact that they all made it is not easy," LaPlante said. "And to add to the success, our guys that didn't make it all improved on their performances and their rankings. It really doesn't hap- pen very often and we really per- formed well." Forys and Arastu are both mak- ing their second straight trip to the national meet after qualifying for the NCAA Championships on the second day of competition. Forys finished second in his heat for the 3,000-meter steeple- chase and placed third overall with a time of 8:38.86, just a two weeks after a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Champion- ships. Meanwhile, Arastu took third in his heat and sixth overall in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.44. "I am definitely happy with my performance," Arastu said. "I've had faster times before, but I mean, the whole goal is to make it to the national meet and I did, so I look forward to going and con- tinuing to compete." It wasn't easy for Arastu, who struggled during the indoor sea- son. "The main thing was getting faster times," Arastu said. "And once outdoor season came around I was in better shape, it was warm- er, we got to work on the outdoor track and my 400-meter times got lower, and that translated to my success." On Saturday, the last day of competition, the 4x400-meter relay team looked to join Forys and Arastu at championships. And they did. The relay team - comprised of of senior Nick Neuman, junior Senior Craig Forys will run in his final NCAA Championships in two weeks. Aaron Taylor, redshirt junior Matthew Campbell and fresh- man Philip Washington - clocked a season best of 3:06.15 to finish eighth overall, earning a trip to Des Moines, Iowa for the champi- onships. "The performances themselves are going to vary in what happens in the next 10 days from now, but the fact that you can qualify for the next meet is great," LaPlante said. "They're standing out there with the best." Forys, Aratsu and the 4x400- meter relay team will compete in the NCAA Championships from June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa. Tuesday, May 29, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD Forys, Aratsu, 4x400m advance to NCAAs funds as well. "There's an optimal number of firefighters for us to staff and we're trying to get back to the previous decade (before) we had to cut a lot of firefighters," she said. "It's been a tough road to go down, because we've been experiencing a lot of cuts from the state revenue shar- ing." Stephen Kunselman (D-Ward 3) proposed an amendment that would've allocated funds from the Downtown Development Author- ity to pay for additional firefight- ing services and jobs. However, the amendment did not pass after much consideration. Kunselman, in an interview dur- ing the intermission, said that much of the tax revenue that the DDA col- lects is not from the DDA's work, but from unrelated economic develop- ment. "That additional (Tax Increment Financing) money should be com- ing to the city of Ann Arbor, so that we can pay for public safety which has been taking serious cuts over the years," he said. Kunselman added that he and the dissenting councilmembers disagree about the parameters of a city government and the success of the DDA. "Local government is about pub- lic health, safety and welfare in my opinion - that's my priority," he said. "The economic development that is proposed out there is all speculative. " Aside from items explicitly relat- ing to the 2013 budget, the council discussed the North Main-Huron River Corridor Vision Task Force, a group focused on bettering the connection between North Main St. and the Huron river. There were originally 10 vot- ing members and four were added. However, the fourth spot - intend- ed for a member of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission - garnered heavy debate. Members of the council were concerned that more members could affect the efficiency of the task force. Tony Derezinksi (D- Ward 2) voted for the additional members and argued for a member of the AAPAC tobe on the taskforce, stressing that art is integral to Ann Arbor. "We think you have to start at the beginning when you're doing the vision rather than looking it, 'Oh we can add something later that's artis- tic,' "he said. "We think it's critical to start with that as part of your artistic consideration." Also during the meeting, a resolution for $39,575 of renova- Second varsity eight wins NCAA title By COLLEEN THOMAS Daily Sports Editor With just two races to go in the final day of racing at the NCAA Championships in West Windsor, N.J., the Michigan women's row- ing team was all but out of conten- tion for a national title. The first and second varsity eight boats had yet to compete on Sunday, and the team was in strik- ing distance of first place. But Michigan finished second as a team, clinching its second runner-up spot in program his- tory, and its best finish since the 2001 season. The Wolverines finished just five points behind Virginia in the team standings with 82 points. The first and second varsity eight boats were the last two to compete in the three-day NCAA Championship regatta, and Michi- gan needed good finishes by both boats to compete for a team title. After an hour rain delay, the second varsity eight took an early lead from the start - a lead they wouldn't relinquish. They beat second-place Ohio State by nearly two seconds and finished with a time of 6:37.04, capping its undefeated season with a national championship. "It's a great accomplishment," said Michigan coach Mark Roth- stein. "We're just really happy for that boat and the seniors." The victory pulled Michigan within five points of the cham- pionship with just one race left. With a Wolverine win in the first varsity eight race, and a third- place-or-lower finish by Califor- nia, Michigan could walk away national champions. But that's not what the rowers and coaches were worried about. "When they left shore for warmups, we didn't know what the situation was," Rothstein said. The Wolverines pulled out to an early lead, but Virginia - who had posted the fastest times all week- end - took the lead, and the even- tual victory. The Cavaliers won by an impressive boat-length. Vir- ginia's boat finished with a time of 6:18.72 while Michigan crossed the finish in 6:22.09. "Going in (to the first varsity eight race) we thought we had a chance," Rothstein said. "We knew we had to have our best race in order to have a chance. I think we did that, but Virginia was just a better boat ... they deserve to be national champions." Michigan had another boat rac- ing on Sunday. The first varsity four finished sixth in the petite final with a time of 7:33.75. "It's a great team," Rothstein said. "Great senior leadership, great commitment, (and) a lot of fun to coach. Probably the most fun I've had coaching - just a great group." Affordable Student Co-op Housing iAl 1502-1518 Gilbert Ct. Near Baits It & Ann Arbor, MI 48105 MBus Stop! 2. 4 and 8 @ Utilities, High-speed Internet Month Contracts 4 Homemade Meals FALL/WINTER U Shared Work, Shared Fun 2012-13 g Leadership opportunities North & Central 4 Single/Double rooms Campus Parsing available WWW.ICC.COOP ( INFO@ICC.COOP The Inter-Cooperative Council