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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, February 26, 2016
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
See MCITY, Page 3
Techlab to allow
outside researchers
to contribute to
driverless car tech.
By ALLANA AKHTAR
Daily News Editor
The University of Michigan
launched the pilot of TechLab at
Mcity, a program for transpor-
tation startups to partner with
researchers at the automated
vehicle testing site, Thursday.
TechLab is meant to bring
driverless innovation closer to
consumer markets by provid-
ing companies working with
transportation technology with
access to Mcity’s nationally
recognized research facilities,
according to a press release.
“By creating a structure that
allows startup companies from
around the globe to access top-
flight talent and resources that
would otherwise be unavailable
to them, we believe we have
hit upon a model that will cre-
ate a winning opportunity for
all involved,” Thomas Frank,
executive director of the Col-
lege of Engineering’s Center
for Entrepreneurship, said in a
press release.
Frank was not immediately
available for comment Thurs-
day evening.
Mcity launched in July 2015
as the world’s first controlled
vehicle test site for research-
ing automated vehicle technol-
ogy and developing driverless
cars ready for the mass market.
Housed on North Campus, it
was created by the University’s
Mobility Transformation Cen-
ter and the State of Michigan
Department of Transportation.
Zendrive, created by former
employees at Google and Face-
book, is the first startup par-
ticipating in TechLab. Zendrive
uses mobile sensor technol-
ogy to measure driver safety in
actions like acceleration, break-
ing, swerving and phone use.
“Collaborating
with
U-M
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
University alum Donavan McKinney, community engagement associate at Community Development Advocates of Detroit, speaks during a panel on the topic of
Muslim solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement at Rackham Auditorium on Thursday.
Student association
hosts series of events
to promote discussion
By SOPHIE SHERRY
Daily Staff Reporter
The Muslim Students’ Asso-
ciation hosted an event Thursday
aimed at demonstrating solidarity
with Black Lives Matter, an activ-
ist movement advocating for the
freedom and liberty of people in
the Black community.
LSA senior Sarah Khan, a pan-
elist and MSA’s social justice and
activism director, said the goal of
the event was to combat instances
of racism that are found in a vari-
ety of communities and expressed
by a wide range of identities.
Khan is a managing editor for The
Michigan Daily’s Michigan In
Color section.
“As a non-Black person of color,
my hope for this event is to combat
the anti-Black racism that is pres-
ent in my own community,” Khan
said. “I hope that this event will
give us the foundation to under-
stand why the Muslim community
must stand in solidarity with the
Black community. This is the MSA
beginning to take accountability.”
Panelist Dawud Walid, execu-
tive director of the Michigan
chapter of the Council on Ameri-
can-Islamic Relations, began the
discussion by asking the audience
to take a different approach to
identity.
“The term ‘solidarity’ is to me
trying to find the common points
and stand with someone who is
maybe outside of yourself,” Walid
said. “I’d like for us to try and
reframe this and look at this as us
actually being integrally connect-
ed and part of each other.”
LSA senior Arnold Reed, an
adviser to the Black Student
Union, was also on the panel.
Reed said BSU was the first place
See PANEL, Page 3
See OPINION, Page 3
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Stephen Dolen, executive director of Parking and Transportation Services at the University, explains the rationale for
choosing a site for the new bus depot at the North Campus Research Complex on Thursday.
Residents
concerned about
potential pollution
from new structure
By LYDIA BARRY
Daily Staff Reporter
University of Michigan offi-
cials and Ann Arbor residents
met Thursday evening to dis-
cuss the University’s proposed
Transportation Operations and
Maintenance Center, slated to
be built on Green Road between
Hubbard Road and Baxter Road.
The meeting yielded a large
turnout of residents hoping to
gain a deeper understanding
of the potential issues with the
new center, which will serve as a
bus depot where North Campus
buses will be stored and receive
maintenance.
At the meeting, residents
expressed several main areas of
concern, including environmen-
tal impact on the surrounding
area and potential traffic issues.
The local neighborhood asso-
ciation has created a site with
information on the proposed
facility. Ann Arbor resident
Dan Beard told officials that he
thought the University hadn’t
not fully consider the conse-
quences of its actions.
“It’s really disturbing that the
University is consolidating its
pollution output so close to low-
income housing,” Beard said.
University
Planner
Susan
Gott said the center’s location
was determined to be the most
logical proposal because of an
increased number of people rid-
ing University buses and subse-
quent need for a larger vehicle
storage facility.
“The existing facility … is not
meeting the current operational
needs and therefore a new facil-
ity will incorporate space that
better incorporates better buses
than could fit into the original
facility,” Gott said. “The reason
this location is selected is to try
to bring the beginning trips to
where the early morning and
evening demand is. There is an
efficiency for relocating onto
North Campus.”
During the meeting, City
Councilmember
Jane
Lumm
(D-Ward 2) also spoke out
against the proposal. She said
she thought there was another
option the University could uti-
lize to increase bus count with-
out
affecting
neighborhoods
— the city’s Wheeler Center, a
garage which she said is cur-
rently under capacity.
“We have a state-of-the-art
garage facility, the Wheeler
Center,” Lumm said. “What the
city could do for the Univer-
sity is to offer an incredible col-
laboration opportunity. All of
our vehicles are maintained at
the Wheeler Center. It sounds
like an excellent collaboration
opportunity.”
In response to concerns, Uni-
Eight individuals
have officially
declared their
intentions to run
By JACKIE CHARNIGA
Daily News Editor
As the deadline for filing
petitions
approaches,
eight
contenders
have
officially
stepped forward in the 2016
election for Ann Arbor City
Council.
Five out of the 10 seats on
Council are open in Novem-
ber’s election, along with the
position of mayor. Five of
the six current office holders
— Kirk Westphal (D–Ward
2), Julie Grand (D–Ward 3),
ChuckWarpehoski
(D–Ward
5), Graydon Krapohl (D–Ward
4) and Mayor Christopher
Taylor — are running for re-
election thus far.
To vote in the upcoming
City Council elections, indi-
viduals must be both a regis-
tered voter in Ann Arbor as
well as a resident of the can-
didate’s ward. In the past, stu-
dents have noted it is difficult
for them to coalesce around
one candidate because of the
way the wards are drawn.
“So where the campus is
located touches all five wards.
Every address in the city
including the dormitories is
assigned — they’re on the map
See COUNCIL, Page 3
See CENTER, Page 3
From THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Anyone who has taken a Blue
Bus can attest to its tendency
to be inefficient and consis-
tently
overcrowded.
These
issues serve to create a siz-
able gap between Central and
North Campus: Students who
live on Central are disincentiv-
ized from enjoying the natural
beauty and arts on North, while
students who must travel from
North to Central are alienated
from much of University life.
Intercampus transportation is
very clearly an issue that needs
to be solved.
Fortunately, the University
of Michigan and the city of
Ann Arbor have begun moving
forward with plans to build a
light rail, named the Ann Arbor
Connector. The first part of the
project that would ultimately
run throughout the city of Ann
Arbor is the branch of the train
that would unite North and
Central Campus. Paid for by
the University, the city of Ann
Arbor, and most likely with
funding from federal, state
and public and private part-
nerships, the light rail would
be expensive in the short run,
but beneficial to students in
the long run. This light rail
system would improve student
life in myriad ways, providing a
quicker, safer, more accessible
way to move between our cam-
puses. A light rail system would
be more reliable than the cur-
rent busing system because it
would move at the same rate no
matter the level of car traffic.
What’s more, students could
get down to Central Campus
faster during game days and
event days when the roads are
teeming with pedestrians and
parents. Additionally, because
light rails are automated, they
could run later and longer than
the buses we have now.
This
project
would
not
only benefit students in their
everyday lives, but it would
also prove advantageous for
the University and the city of
Ann Arbor. It would reduce
the number of cars on the
road, alleviating the extremely
heavy traffic Ann Arbor faces
on a daily basis. Light rail has
also been proven safer than
cars.
The city of Ann Arbor would
also benefit because this proj-
ect would reduce the city’s
carbon footprint. More than
46,000 people commute to
the city each day, and with a
light rail, commuters would
be able to park their cars near
a train stop and then take the
monorail to their workplace,
leveraging the fact that rail
systems are four times more
efficient than cars. This would
take cars off the road — making
them safer — and save time for
commuters and students who
need to drive or take the bus.
The light rail is planned to be
powered entirely by renewable
resources, which would fur-
ther reduce our emissions.
In the long run, the light
rail would save the Univer-
OPINION
New transportation center
on North Campus debated
Mcity and
startups to
partner in
new effort
Panel explores solidarity in
Muslim, Black communities
A2 Connector a
practical option
for campus, city
RESEARCH
CITY
Multiple
challengers
emerge for
open seats
on Council
INDEX
Vol. CXXv, No. 82
©2016 The Michigan Daily
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