michigandaily.com
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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