Page 4- The Michigan Daily -Friday, April 19,1991 Gbe Airbigan iailij 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan ANDREW K. GOTTESMAN Editor in Chief STEPHEN HENDERSON DANIEL POUX Opinion Editors Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. yo btu MUc-N 'oLIR OTO 2 -_~ f:.: :: : Vt AK.t.'..r t.\..Y .M.Y..'. . ". Y.Y:.":.1 W.:.:.V":"::1... :: .':.":. J:"h:..":"LY1 .l"V. y"".YV:tV:."". J:::"."".'" . : .. : : t :J .::. :: : :: :::." ":v:::: ":// :::t/i{":. :{ i~t:?:L ii:":":;:::"; . :d{i 'iV i i ~ai i :{ Detroit City needs more than new buildings to cure economic ills * ,, °" , , _' _, L ooking at the skyline in Detroit, one would guess that the city is burgeoning with economic growth. Every few years, a new, towering sky- scraper shoots up, changing the physique of the downtown area, and giving the appearance of a revitalized business climate in the city. But a closer examination reveals the true, bleak reality of Detroit. The raw facts illustrate that the city has had very little new business in more than 10 years, and the constant construction taking place downtown does little more than solidify the empty shell the city has become. Admittedly, new skyscrapers in Detroit have little difficulty filling their corridors. The Madden Building - which finished construction last year -- filled up before it was even completed. And the newest concrete excursion - One Detroit Center - already has more than 90 percent occupancy contracted, despite the fact that it has barely even gotten off the ground. But the tenants in these buildings are not opti- mistic new investors in the Detroit area. Instead, they are businesses which have become accustomed to playing "musical chairs" every so often in the city, moving from one new building to the next, and leaving a vast amount of unoccupied office space downtown. Comerica Bank - which cur- rently owns its own building near Cobo Arena - recently signed a lease for space in One Detroit Center, which will leave 11 floors in its present building vacant. And Comerica is not alone. There are currently 72 million square feet of unoccupied office space downtown, and this undeniably points to a major problem the city's administration has largely chosen to ignore: Detroit must find better ways to attract business than merely constructing new buildings. The city reverted to this practice after many long-time business establishments abandoned the downtown area in the early 1980s - the most prominent of which was the J.L. Hudson Company. Needless to say, the economic "flight" from the city to the suburbs - and to other metropolitan centers - left a large hole in the city's financial base. But the mannerin which the city's administration has chosen to combat this situation has only ex- acerbated the problem. By granting large tax abatements and attempting to sell off valuable city property at criminally low prices -all to construct these concrete monsters - the city has stabbed itself in the back. Supposedly, the money brought in by new businesses would have paid for these actions. But as of yet, neither the businesses nor the money have yet to materialize - and perhaps they never will. Now, the city has some tough choices to make. It is painfully obvious that the current course of action is not working; there are plenty of shiny new buildings downtown but very few new businesses to match. Detroit must reconcentrate its efforts to get new business downtown, taking the focus off of physical growth and putting it on real economic growth. Only this way will the city's financial future be profitable - or even secure. Base closins Efforts to cut defense budget should not focus on workers S ecretary of Defense Dick Cheney recently much of its usefulness is questionable. The B-1 and announced a controversial plan to cut 31 ma- B-2 bombers continue to sap the treasury of hun- jormilitaryinstallations,12 smallerones and shrink dreds of billions of dollars every year in an attempt 28 others. This planis a successor to the 1990 plan, to make them, finally, fully operational. President scrapped by Congress, to shut down some 90 Bush still dreams of a Strategic Defense Initiative military installations. Since the end of the Cold to protect us from an enemy who no longer exists. War, many have called for drastic reductions in the Cutting programs such as these is what needs to be military budget, including the Democrats now done. fighting Cheney's plan in Congress. Any step to However the Pentagon acts to curb its spending, reduce the trillions spent in the military-industrial it and Congress must make certain the American cmplex is a welcome one. But, Cheney's plan, as economy is not inundated with untrained and un- p'oposed, threatens the welfare of thousands of employed workers. Secretary Cheney is encouraged wprking Americans, yet still fails to make signifi- to continue slashing the defense budget, but its cqnt progress in budget-reduction. devastating effect on the working class needs to be The Cheney plan comes dangerously close to buffered and reduced, so that the solution to one wrecking local economies. Arkansas will lose half problem does not create a host of others. oe its military jobs, with the closing of Eaker Air Farce Base and Fort Chafee. California will suffer Environmental disaster the most, losing nearly 30,000jobs. Congressional representatives are understandably frustrated. T he initial uproar caused by the announce- There is no question that needless installations ment of the base closings will undoubtedly need to be phased out. But, care needs to be taken obscure a more important issue that lurks below to protect the 520,000 workers who will be let go the surface. Since the end of World War II, the by 1996. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), an military has used its extensive property hold- ardent supporter of slashing the Pentagon budget, ings around the country as a dumping ground calls Cheney's proposal "unwise and unfair." A for unwanted and extremely dangerous mate- plan for peaceful conversion, which would trans- rials. Now the Pentagon, faced with an im- plant workers formerly a part of the military- pending property liquidation to pay its bills, has industrial complex, into new working positions - an additional decision to make: Either shell out or at least offer job-training - needs to be formu- the additional millions it would take to clean up lated and presented to Congress in conjunction these bases so that they can be sold, or continue with Cheney's proposal. its policy of procrastination, and leave these Dumping 500,000 soldiers and working-class bases vacant for years. Ainericans into the world of unemployment may From forests littered with unexploded shells have consequences more difficult to correct. from some long-ago target practice to contami- For all the dangers in Cheney's plan, the pro- nated groundwater sources from decades of posal offers few benefits. Certainly budget cuts careless chemicaldumping,the U.S. government need to be made. But, while the proposal will - in particular, the U.S. military - has been devastate local economies, it will save only $800 America's worst polluter. million during the next five years. Secretary Cheney Exempt from even the most lenient statutes etpects the closings to cost $5.7 billion until 1996, regulating the runoff from research facilities arid save $6.5 billion during the same period. Only and the storage of its toxic waste, these bases after 1998 will the Pentagon save as much as $1.7 have poisoned the acreage they occupy so badly billion every year. that the cleanup costs would be many times the Announcing the closing of40installations leaves profit the military could hope to make from the the American people with the idea that Uncle Sam sale of the land. So, when the troops and sup- is, finally making giant, drastic cuts. The cuts porting personnel move outlaterthis year, many appear more drastic than giant. of these bases will lie empty. The American tax-payers must be careful to If the land that these now-defunct military ensure that the Pentagon continues to make serious installations occupies is ever to be used pro- reductions in the American military machine - ductively, the Pentagon must make the initial cuts that amount to more than $800 million. Mil- investment, and clean up the mess it made. tary weaponry is continually being produced, and Keep Dooder State To the Daily: "Dooder State College" by Alan Landau is the funniest comic I've ever seen in my life. Please axe "Calvin And Hobbes" instead. Carl Dahlberg LSA fifth-year student Enough Dooder State letters! To the Daily: I think we've just about had it with all these complaints about Alan Landau's strip "Dooder State College." Don't these people have anything better to do? I do. I should be writing a paper that's already 12 days late. I hope my TA doesn't see this. Dan Mason Second-year student, School of Natural Resources MSA is a joke To the Daily: I've been hearing a lot around campus lately about the fact that only 13 percent of our student body voted in the recent MSA elections, and a lot of people are wondering why. One of the main reasons is that many people laugh at MSA and consider the whole thing a joke, which it is. What has MSA ever done for the student body besides rally for issues they believe in, spend our money or deal with foreign policy issues? If things were done in the students' interests, then more students would take an interest in MSA and what it does. The reasons student give for not voting in MS A elections are much the same as ones a lot of American citizens give for not voting in any governmental election; power is concentrated within a few of the elite, and they will always do as they please. This is essentially what MSA does. Things that are said in campaigns are never heard again once elections are over and someone has won. If MSA actually dealt wich student issues and represented the interests of the majority of students around campus, then more would being to look seriously at MSA. Brandy King LSA first-year student Israel's fault? To the Daily: I was wondering about the thought process of those who organized the Ramadan rally ("Muslims protest Zionism, rally for Palestinian rights," 4/16/91). Let me see if I can understand their reasoning: Iraq invades Kuwait, murders its people and loots the country. Iraq launches Scud missiles at civilian targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia, endangering not only Jews, but Christians and Muslims. While the world's attention is focused on the Gulf, Syria cements her control over Leba- non, killing hundreds of Muslim and Christian Arabs. Before being driven out of Kuwait, Iraq sets 600 oil wells on fire, which poses a huge ecologi- cal danger to the largely Muslim Middle East, not to mention India. In the civil war following her defeat, Iraq indiscriminately shells civilian areas, killing thousands of Shiites and Kurds. Iraq defeats Kurdish rebels and drives outr hundreds of thousands of Kurds. So, what do they do to celebrate their holiday?.They have an anti-semitic rally against Israel. Seems to make sense. Ken Goldstein Rackham graduate student Give us the downside To the Daily: Once again the Daily has muddled its journalistic efforts, this time on the bet'alf of the Greek system. After running a week's worth of positive stories about. the "service" activities sponsored during Greek Week, the Daily then at -mpted a hard news story about drug use in fraternities ("Could it happen here?" Week- end, 4/12/91). Neither of which has served to illustrate the other side of Greek life, the downside. Indeed, these stories are proof that the Greek system can get away with anything, under the guise of a positive social organi- zation. While the focus of Greek Week may be to provide funds for various charities, this takes place during only one week. The other 51 weeks of the year, the Greek system manages to fund hundreds of parties, where drinking is a main attraction and social responsibility is hardly an issue. While certain members of these organizations - their administration and the Intra- Fraternity Council - work toward a better image, they are also denying the undercurrents which cause the Greek system to be denounced by many non- members. Closed parties and other similar tactics are not going to stop the cultivation and protection of attitudes which are dangerous toward the public. Instead of reading about Greek lawlessness in glowing stories, we would be better served with unbiased stories of change. Elizabeth Britten LSA first-year student Sticking around this summer? Come write for the Daily Opinion Page! For more info., call Mary Beth or Jay at 764-0552 0 ing the end of hitoryi Mlarke tmgnt h e end of tr It doesn't take agenius to figure out that the Soviet Union is falling apart. And hence it shouldn't come as a surprise that scores of pundits and analysts are dissecting its de- mise. Or that they are predicting B both the collapse of commu- & . nism and, most fa- mously, the "end of his-M tory" - an Mike epoch in Fischer which the clear supe- riority of the West and of the free market can be taken for granted. But history has a funny way of refusing to die. And it has a long, man__Pan ernncn nof Soviet Union. The current drama there does not revolve around Yeltsin and Gorbachev, and it is not taking place in Moscow. The real action in today's Soviet Union is in the coalfields, where hundreds of thou- sands of Soviet miners are on strike and where, as a consequence, coal production is down by 82 percent. The miners are not walking be- cause they want Yeltsin and his free market proposals. 57 percent of Soviet workers are opposed to large- scale private property. Less than half of them believe that a person should be allowed to hire other workers; three-fifths of those who support hired labor believe that it should be strictly limited. At the end of 1988,40 percentof the Soviet people were in favor of rationing. By the end of 1989, that number had risen to 58 percent. Gnrachev's1 9RR derision to lift many. Current estimates for the Soviet Union project 40 million layoffs if Gorbachev - or Yeltsin, or anyone else - introduces full- blooded market reforms. That is why the spanking new platform of the Soviet Union's na- tional miners' union - formed af- ter the wave of strikes that swept the country in 1989 - specifically and explicitly rejects both the free market and capitalist relations of production. It calls for democracy - and for socialism. And it desig- nates centralized planning as "one of the great inventions of the twentieth century." Soviet miners are on strike be- cause they have the audacity to believe that they can have both so- cialism and democracy, both eco- nomic security and freedom. Put another way, Soviet miners are on strike because they want - and deserve - both bread and roses. Nuts and Bolts rwr+EY, 5 'ME S7uOC'$ HOW 1)i t? 17GO wrrl I IE t~uowN s? ac'VO GrpL -rwo H o -.4ME% F IT WAS S$4R! 'Ml-E C1RL. SM~ 5AUTI FUL AN D 2 W4AS SURPRIS DcNOW W.~ARM AND O F~EW 7HE GIRLS I RE + YKNOW, 1FRiaN14L'(. by Judd Winick (WELLY'MNr HAVE Tt BE SARCASTIC.