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NEWS
Thursday, July 23, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor resident sues ‘U’ to allow open carry
Lawsuit claims
campus guns ban is
unconstitutional
By EMMA KINERY
Daily Staff Reporter
After igniting controversy at
Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School
in March for openly carrying a gun
to his little sister’s choir concert,
Ann Arbor resident Joshua Wade
advocated for the right to open
carry again by suing the University
for restrictions on bearing arms on
campus.
The lawsuit, filed in June,
claims the University’s ban of guns
on campus to be unconstitutional.
University spokesperson Rick
Fitzgerald said the University
intends to file a response.
“We expect to file a response to
the lawsuit in accordance with the
deadline established by the Court
of Claims,” Fitzgerald said.
Wade is not affiliated with the
University but feels strongly about
the University’s ban on guns. He
has said he would like to be able to
carry his gun on campus.
After Wade carried his gun into
Pioneer, Ann Arbor Public Schools
announced a ban of all guns on
school grounds — despite the state
law which allows citizens with
concealed carrying licenses to
have guns on school grounds.
Currently, the University only
allows military and law enforce-
ment officials to carry weapons
on campus. In September a Naval
ROTC
student
carrying
what
appeared to be a gun was incor-
rectly reported as a possible gun-
man in the chemistry building,
though it was “non-weaponized
equipment.”
Article X, Section 2 of the Uni-
versity’s
Regents’
Ordinances
prohibits non-military or security
personnel from carrying weapons
on campus.
Fitzgerald said the reason for
the ban is to create a safe learn-
ing environment for students and
campus visitors.
“The University will vigorously
defend its right to regulate weap-
ons on campus to ensure the safety
of students, faculty, staff, patients,
health-care providers and hun-
dreds of thousands of visitors,
and to foster a supportive learn-
ing environment where students
and faculty can feel free to explore
challenging topics without fear of
violence,” Fitzgerald said.
In an e-mail to the Daily, Phillip
Hofmeister, president of Michigan
Open Carry Inc., an organization
promoting lawful open carry of a
holstered handgun, said he sup-
ports Wade and his legal pursuit.
“We feel that places where
guns are banned (by state statute
or private property policy) create
a criminal empowerment zone,”
Hofmeister said. “These are places
where criminals carry guns and
can use them to harm others (as by
their nature, criminals don’t care
about the law or private property
rights), but law abiding citizens
are not given the opportunity to
protect themselves with their own
arms.”
Hofmeister said open carry
privileges on campus may protect
students from crimes such as sex-
ual assault.
“Many
college
and
univer-
sity campuses have what some
describe as an epidemic of rape,”
Hofmeister said. “A handgun is the
perfect tool for someone to equal-
ize the ground against their attack-
er, regardless if they are physically
overpowered.”
City council votes down nonpartisan election proposal
Term limits, housing
projects, and city
primaries discussed
By ALAINA WYGANT
Daily Staff Reporter
Voting reform and housing
development projects were key
issues discussed at the Ann Arbor
City Council meeting Monday.
Members of council voted down
proposed resolutions on local
official
term-limits,
switching
to non-partisan elections and
moving city primary elections.
If passed, the resolutions would
have gone on the November 3rd
ballot for voters to consider.
Regarding housing develop-
ment projects within Ann Arbor,
a number of amendments to
the zoning chapter of city code
passed. Many Ann Arbor resi-
dents voiced disapproval of one
specific project, Geddes Avenue
Improvement Project on Monday.
Among the election reform res-
olutions discussed was Council-
member Jane Lumm’s (I–Ward 2)
proposal to put on the November
ballot a proposal to switch elec-
tions from partisan to nonparti-
san elections — for both mayoral
and city councilmember elections
— which was voted against by
Council in a 7-4 vote.
Kirk Westphal’s (D–Ward 2)
resolution was for mayor and city
councilmember terms to be four
years instead of the current two-
year term system. Like Lumm, he
also proposed a resolution to have
non-partisan elections.
Another resolution to go on the
ballot asked for increasing term
numbers from two to four years
and moving city primary elec-
tions to August and have elections
starting in 2016 and on even years.
This would eliminate odd-year
elections.
None of the resolutions were
approved to go on the November
ballot.
Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) said
part of her reasoning for propos-
ing her resolution was that only
three other counties in Michi-
gan have partisan elections and
that Ann Arbor is an outlier. She
said nonpartisan elections would
encourage elected officials to go
out and see, by going door-to-
door, what the community wants.
Voter participation was a factor
discussed with election reform,
and many council members dis-
cussed the problem of low voter
turnout. Many councilmembers
also pointed out that the signifi-
cant student population of the
city is a large contributing factor.
Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) said
she has spent a lot of time looking
for conclusive data on voter turn-
out for partisan versus nonpar-
tisan local elections. She added
there needs to be an increase in
student participation in city poli-
tics.
“If it wasn’t about marijuana,
it wasn’t interesting,” Briere said
of past student participation in
local government. “Even when
local races are on the same bal-
lot as state and national races,
local races receive fewer votes —
partisan and nonpartisan,” she
said. “My observation has always
been the nonpartisan ballot gets
the least attention, has the least
awareness and we are already
fighting an uphill battle.”
Councilmember Sumi Kailasa-
pathy (D–Ward 1) said 5 percent
of registered voters voted in the
last election and that the system
was not working to represent
everyone in the city.
“Is it really working for the
average voter? I don’t think so.
Just getting more people into the
voting booth and voting is a good
thing,” Kailasapathy said.
Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward
3) said the low registered voter
turnout might be an inflated num-
ber since many students do not
change their voter registration
from their parents’ home address
to the city of Ann Arbor.
Members of council ultimately
rejected the resolution calling for
nonpartisan elections, the motion
calling for four-year terms and
eliminating odd-year elections.
Council did approve, however,
four ordinances to amend to the
city’s zoning code. In response to
Ann Arbor residents’ continued
concern about the over-develop-
ment of the city, some of these
amendments will add tighter
restrictions on future develop-
ment plans.
One of these restrictions is the
East Huron Character Overlay
Amendment, proposing the maxi-
mum height be reduced for build-
ings in the D1 and D2 districts
while adding a 130 feet maximum
tower diagonal height.
Although the construction of
Foundry Lofts, a student hous-
ing high-rise being built on East
Huron that calls itself “Ann
Arbor’s most exclusive residence,”
will be completed this year, simi-
lar buildings as tall as the Found-
ry Lofts will not be allowed under
the new East Huron Character
Overlay Amendment.
During the public hearing sec-
tion about the plans for rezoning
East Ann Street, quite a number
of residents spoke in favor of the
zoning revisions that they say
would preserve the historic dis-
trict of Ann Arbor and stop more
buildings like Foundry Lofts from
being built there in the future.
At the public hearing for a reso-
lution to amend the re-zoning
code in the Nixon road area area,
three residents opposed the reso-
lution for development because of
traffic concerns.
During
discussion,
council-
member Briere said the zoning
code in downtown Ann Arbor will
need to be continually revisited
with care in the future and that
building plans and their ramifica-
tions for the community need to
be looked at not after developers
build the structures, like in the
case of Foundry Lofts, but before
they are built.
Councilmember Mike Anglin
(D–Ward 5) agreed, adding the
rent in these areas is becoming
too high due to these luxury high-
rises and is only getting higher.
“I think the public outcry about
what buildings we are getting
in terms of design are not being
taken as significant. The public
speak, and it’s dismissed,” said
Anglin. “Well, that’s not good
governance. I would like us to be
really alert to this and not to keep
going forward for the sake of get-
ting some more money into our
city as if that’s going to improve
it. Actually, what you’re going to
do is increase expansion outside
the city: as people can’t afford to
be here, they’ll move out of the
city — just the opposite effect of
what you thought was going to
happen.”
Councilmembers
also
dis-
cussed the issue of flooding with-
in the city. Because of a recent
history of severe flooding due to
climate change, the council is also
looking at an ongoing creation
of an ordinance for a floodplain
management overlay. Members
of council unanimously approved
a proposal to go to the Ann Arbor
Planning Commission for recom-
mendations for the ordinance.
Councilmember Jack Eaton (D–
Ward 5), a sponsor of the reso-
lution along with Jane Lumm,
worked with University gradu-
ate students to come up with the
beginnings of the plan.
See CITY COUNCIL, Page 9