ZIMonday, July 9, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 2013 Ann Arbor budget assessed by 'U' peianit Monday, July 9, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com K bet, As t city of keeps a In a the Ur tions d tionshi Univer of the: approv City C Kost ly few versity "A n being becaus cant it (and) Kostev Kos the Un and fi becaus bers o: are ins the U Public "We interes busine have t approp and p' )steva explains ment," Kosteva said. "And while . we have our own Department of relationship Public Safety for campus activities, w a 2 30,000-plus of U of M students live ween U and A2 off campus." The 2013 budget allows for City By STEVE ZOSKI Administrator Steve Powers to Daily News Editor hire six new firefighters through a $642,294 federal grant. The city he largest employer in the also receives fire funding through Ann Arbor, the University Michigan's fire protection grant sn eye on the city's budget. program annually, which pro- sn interview, Jim Kosteva, vides fire funding to communities niversity's community rela- in Michigan that have substantial lirector, discussed the rela- state entities like a public univer- p between the city and the sity withintheir borders. sity - emphasizing the role Kosteva said the state funding 2013 city budget, which was helps but isn't consistent. 'ed at the May 21 Ann Arbor "The city receives about a mil- ouncil meeting. lion dollars a year from the state teva said there were relative- fire protection fund ... the state leg- issues pertinent to the Uni- islature and the state government in this year's budget. have from time to time reduced otable exception, of course, those fundsthat are made available police and fire protection through the grants," Kosteva said. e those do have a signifi- Last February, the city mpact upon the University announced plans for the Fuller University community," Road station - a collaboration va said. between the city and University - teva said part of the reason had been cancelled. iversity always makes police The city recently accepted fed- re protection a priority is eral funds to explore building a e many incidents that mem- new train station in an alternative f the University community location. When council approved valved in are often outside acceptance of the funds, they niversity's Department of expected the University to provide Safety's jurisdiction. a portion of what will match the have an equally strong federal funds. t as any resident or any Kosteva said the University may ss in the community would be interested in working with the o help ensure that there is cityto plan construction of the new priate and adequate staffing station at some point in the future. ersonnel in the fire depart- "It is possible that some of those efforts that the University con- tributed to will be able to satisfy the federal requirements for local match," Kosteva said. "So, yes, some of the University money that was spent toward Fuller Road sta- tion might contribute toward the federal grant." Kosteva said the University acknowledges the Fuller Road loca- tion as the prime site for the train station, even if it won't include a parking station or built-in Univer- sity bus station that the original Fuller Road station plan included. "We believe that it would serve community and University inter- ests, and we are likely to be a partner of some measure at such a time when the city is able to line up federal and other local funding sources for the construction of a new station," he said. Because the original Fuller Road plans fell through, the University is building a parking structure for the hospital independently. Kosteva said the University couldn't afford to wait for the potential Fuller Road station park- ing structure in collaboration with the city because of the pressing need for more hospital employee parking. Part of the need is due to the openingofC.S. Mott Children's and Von Voightlander Women's Hospital creating 500 new jobs. The tables were turned, how- ever, when plans for the Wall Street parkingstructure caused some Ann Arbor residents and councilmem- bers to criticize the University. Though Kosteva emphasized the necessity ofthe parkingstructure. "There were expressions Hof concern from neighbors in the Wall Street area expressing their preference not to have a park- ing structure," Kosteva said. "It is reasonably close proximity to the medical center, so it enables our (medical center) employees to shuttle or to walk from that loca- tion. There has also been growth in employment in the Wall Street area with the expansion of the Kellogg Eye Center and the expansion of the Brehm Tower." Another factor making the city budget important to the University is that the University has money flowingto the city through streams like leasing buildings and paying taxes, according to Kosteva. Kosteva added that, overall, the relationship between the city and the University is strong. "For the most part, there is an appreciation and a value that the University has added 9,000 jobs in this community in the past 10 years," Kosteva said. "I believe there is a real, sincere appreciation for that on the part of the city and the majority of residents through- out the community" However, Kosteva noted that there is sometimes' friction between the two parties. "Nonetheless, there is also an ever-present tension that does exist between the University communi- ty, public universities and the com- munities that they're in, because there's such a large amount of property," Kosteva said. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JACOB AXDIAD MEWL HULTENG CONTACT INFORMATION Newsssse fic ous 734-763-2459opt.3 News Tips news@mchigandaiy.com Coreios corrmctions@michigandaily.com LetterstotheEditor xedaity @micnigandaily.cm orvit ihi.5gandailycom./letter Photo Departmenit photo@michigandaily.com ArtsSection arts@michigandai.com Edtoril Page e opininmchn ailye om, Advertising Phone:734-764-0554 Desartment display@michigandaily.com Cassifieds Phone:734-764-0557 epartmet cassiied@michigandaiy.com EDITORIAL STAFF Giaomo Bologna gbotogn@mi,,5t daity.om ManagingEditor 'U' buildings to be Red Cross emergency shelters Ne to U el Las annom Ameri ignate used a Arbor The gency Cross buildi In Emerg field s ighboring areas the University and the Red Cross identified the need for an emer- ltilize campus in gency plan. "They actually approached us vent of disaster with an interest in increasing the number of shelters that they could By STEVE ZOSKI have available to them for emer- Daily News Editor gency sheltering for the communi- ty as a whole, so it's much broader t Tuesday, the University than just U of M," Burchfield said. nced an agreement with the "From the American Red Cross can Red Cross-allowing des- standpoint, they're looking at it for d University buildings to be a shelter of the community - citi- s emergencyshelters for Ann zens within Washtenaw County and other nearby areas. and even Lenawee County." University's Office of Emer- Burchfield said the agreement Preparedness and the Red will allow for an efficientand legal- have yet to determine which ly sound plan to come in place. ngs will be used. "There have been discussions an interview, University ongoing for actually quite a while, 'ency Manager Andy Burch- and we were able to finally for- aid the agreement came after malize something with them that allows for them to keep in touch with us in the event that they need sheltering and they have the abil- ity to use some of our facilities," Burchfield said. Burchfield said the Red Cross already has shelters in the Ann Arbor area but looked to the Uni- versity for extra space. However, Burchfield noted that the shelters would mostly be used for people outside the University. "From a campus standpoint .(their) coordination is done between our office and the Divi- sion of Student Affairs ... for the most part (we) have the capac- ity between the resources that we already have," Burchfield said. "We've come to an agreement with the American Red Cross that is specific to the outside population." Burchfield said the agreement was a good step for the University's rapport with the Red Cross. "It continues to further enhance our relationship and our partner- ship with such an important organi- zation as the American Red Cross." In a press release issued by the Red Cross, Jim Kosteva, the Uni- versity's community relations director, said the agreement could reduce suffering. "If suddenly a couple of hun- dred people and families -needed immediate shelter, we don't want to add more suffering to their cir- cumstance by having to wait for an authorization request to move through channels," he said. "The University of Michigan is pre- pared to help and offer its facilities as needed now." 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