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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, April 14, 2016 — 3

Fisher added that the success of 

the newly introduced sustainability 
initiatives came from a push to 
continue the group’s previous 
collaboration with other groups on 
campus.

Many 
Greek 
life 
groups 

participated as student volunteers 
in the sustainability drive, such as 
the sorority Sigma Kappa, which 
set up a table to distribute 200 free 
flowerpots and flower seeds. LSA 
sophomore Becca Berman said 
the initiative was in concert with 
Inherit the Earth, Sigma Kappa’s 
environmental program.

“One 
of 
our 
national 

philanthropies 
is 
Inherit 
the 

Earth,” Burman said. “Today at 
SpringFest, we decided to sponsor 
them by providing flowerpots and 

flowers for people to take home 
with them.”

LSA junior Elizabeth Morand, 

senior producer of SpringFest, 
spearheaded 
the 
zero-waste 

portion of the event this year — a 
program intended to eliminate 
trash, 
encourage 
compostable 

products and create sustainable 
initiatives.

“We’re 
really 
focused 
on 

promoting positive social change,” 
Morand said. “It only made 
sense for us to also be concerned 
about climate change and the 
environment; it’s just incorporated 
between the whole idea of social 
changes.”

Morand said she hopes to 

expand the event and its different 
components 
— 
especially 

sustainability — in the future. 
Ideally, Morand said she would 
like to see the entire SpringFest day 
become zero-waste.

SonReal, one of the performers 

at the daytime event, said in an 
interview he enjoyed his first visit 
to the University of Michigan, and 
thought the event was important at 
a college campus.

“It brings a lot of the students 

together, and I also think it brings 
the students together in a way that 
they don’t get a chance to actually 
do very often, which is bringing 
them together through art, music,” 
he said. “That’s the best way to 
get to know people and be out and 
about and enjoy your time as a 
student.”

SpringFest also featured a row of 

sustainability-driven food trucks 
parked 
outside 
the 
Michigan 

League. This included Shimmy 
Shack — owned by Engineering 
lecturer Debra Levantrosser — 
Michigan’s first and only vegan and 
gluten-free food truck.

The Ann Arbor staple attracted 

crowds of student by selling finger 
foods like nachos, fries, hummus 
and pita, as well as a variety of 
flavored shakes.

Levantrosser, who has had 

Shimmy Shack for three years, said 
it has always had an environmental 
focus.

“We 
used 
100 
percent 

biodegradable and compostable 
materials 
for 
today’s 
event. 

Also, we are vegan, which is 
environmentally conscious in and 
of itself, in terms of what veganism 
does for the environment,” she 
said.

Levantrosser 
added 
that 
it 

was more than sustainable food 
practices that made her business 
renewable, pointing to the back of 
the truck.

Read more online at
michigandaily.com

SUSTAINABILITY
From Page 1

for their seats. No Republicans 
or independents are currently 
running for Council. Kailasapathy 
is being challenged for her Ward 
1 seat by both longtime volunteer 
coordinator Jason Frenzel and 
local 
entrepreneur 
Will 
Leaf. 

Krapohl 
is 
running 
against 

Diane Giannola, manager of the 
University of Michigan’s startup 
company, Venture Accelerator, and 
local attorney Eric Lipson.

All eight candidates stressed 

affordable housing policies as one 
of the city’s leading issues, though 
most diverged on how to best 
remedy the issue.

Lipson said rising rent rates 

threaten to gentrify Ann Arbor and 
drive out lower-income residents. 
However, he also acknowledged 
city policies on the issue must be 
balanced.

“We don’t want Ann Arbor to 

become an enclave for the rich,” 
Lipson said. “At the same time, we 
don’t want to destroy the values 
that have made Ann Arbor such a 
great place to live.”

Frenzel and Giannola proposed 

encouraging 
low-rent 
housing 

and accessory housing — small 
housing units built on existing 
lots — near downtown. However, 
Leaf dismissed accessory units as 
a “token solution” and asserted 
the only systemic solution is 
with reforming the city’s zoning 
protocol to open more land for 
residential development, which 
Lipson echoed.

“City Council’s challenge is to 

allow the supply of land to increase 
in a way that’s acceptable to local 
residents,” Leaf said, suggesting the 
city allow for mixed commercial 
and residential zoning instead of 
allotting areas only for commercial 
or residential use. “We can allow 
more people to move into those 
commercial corridors and have it 
be more mixed-use.”

Warpehoski also supported a 

mixed-use zoning proposal, but 
said it isn’t a sufficient remedy 
to rising rents. Rather, he said 
subsidized housing is necessary to 
create truly affordable housing for 
low-income residents.

“We 
also 
need 
a 
housing 

solution that addresses very low-
income households as well, and 
that’s a situation where we can’t 
solve that problem without some 
form of subsidy,” Warpehoski 
said, acknowledging new revenue 
sources — such as the sale of a 

vacant library lot — would be 
needed to fund a subsidy.

“I think Ann Arbor’s a wealthy 

enough 
and 
inclusive 
enough 

community where we should be 
able to do that,” he added.

The issue of the chemical plume 

— a slow-moving contaminated 
with a carcinogenic chemical 
mass of groundwater beneath Scio 
Township and Ann Arbor that is 
moving toward the Huron River — 
was also raised during the debate, 
with candidates disagreeing over 
whether to petition for federal 
intervention and cleanup.

Citing a lack of faith in the 

state’s ability to manage the 
contamination, 
Ann 
Arbor 

Township, which is a separate 
municipality from the city of 
Ann Arbor, recently authorized 
a petition for the Environmental 
Protection Agency to designate 
the plume to a superfund site for 
cleanup. Ann Arbor city officials 
have said they are concerned this 
may hurt local property values but 
have not yet ruled out supporting 
the petition.

Warpehoski said though he 

believes the Michigan Department 
of Environmental Quality has 
failed to contain the plume for 
the past two decades, he would 
prefer to work with the Michigan 

Attorney General’s office to litigate 
Gelman Sciences — the original 
polluter — for a more stringent 
cleanup 
using 
new 
standards 

from the DEQ, though he did not 
rule out supporting an eventual 
EPA petition. Leaf took a similar 
position on the EPA position.

“We have seen so little action 

by the state courts and the state 
Department of Environmental 
Quality to really do what it’s 
going to take to address that 
long-term threat,” Warpehoski 
said. 
“I 
think 
superfund 

designation is something we 
need to have on the table … but 
we absolutely need to continue 
fighting, whether it’s through 
the courts or the MDEQ.”

Frenzel 
also 
criticized 
the 

state’s efforts in managing the 
contaminated groundwater, but 
said he would never support a 
federal 
intervention, 
instead 

suggesting local residents should 
pressure state officials to take 
stronger action.

“I’m really concerned about 

superfund designation and its 
implications 
socially 
for 
our 

community,” Frenzel said. “It is not 
to say that I don’t find the DEQ’s 
actions to be pretty reprehensible 
at this point.”

COUNCIL
From Page 1

into the crowd. The trio also 
brought 
Michigan 
football 

coach Jim Harbaugh, as well 
as members of the Michigan 
football team onto the stage, 
who all dabbed while Migos 
perform their hit single “Look 
at my Dab.”

In an interview with the 

Daily after the concert, Quavo 
said the group has a deep 
respect for the University of 
Michigan, 
and 
appreciates 

always 
being 
welcome 
to 

campus with open arms.

The group previously took 

the stage with Harbaugh at the 
“Signing of the Stars” event in 
March where they also dabbed 
with former Detroit Tigers 
manager Jim Leyland.

“Y’all have supported us 

since day one,” Quavo said. 
“I just like the way you all 
construct things, and your 
whole program, I respect it a 
lot. We’re loyal people, so if 
you rock with us, we’ll rock 
with y’all.”

Hosted by MUSIC Matters, 

the 
group’s 
performance 

came after a day-long series 
of activities for SpringFest, 
stretching 
from 
the 
Diag 

to 
North 
University. 
In 

collaboration 
with 
several 

other organizations at the 
University, SpringFest featured 
interactive booths, a fashion 
show, live performances and 
other activities.

Business 
junior 
Kaitlin 

Smith, 
who 
attended 
the 

concert, 
said 
she 
thought 

SpringFest was an overall a 
success.

“I think it went really well 

this year,” she said. “Everyone 
who participated this year was 
really really phenomenal.”

As a part of MUSIC Matters’ 

mission, proceeds from the 
Migos’ performance will be 
used toward a Detroit summer 
youth camp set to launch this 
summer. During the camp, 
which will be hosted at the 
University, Detroit high school 
students will participate in 

workshops, 
class 
sessions 

and other activities aimed 
at inspiring participants to 
pursue higher education in the 
future.

Takeoff 
told 
the 
Daily 

he thought giving back to 
the 
community 
was 
very 

important in inspiring more 
hope in at-risk communities.

“It’s positive to give back to 

the community with the things 
that are going on, and to let 
them know that there is still 
hope,” he said.

In addition to planning the 

summer youth camp, MUSIC 
Matters 
also 
bussed 
150 

Detroit high school students 
to the University Wednesday 
so they could participate in the 
day’s events.

Smith 
said 
she 
thinks 

interacting 
with 
Detroit 

students 
furthers 
MUSIC 

Matters’ mission, and gives 
their 
organization 
the 

opportunity to learn about 
different communities.

“When we interact with 

these 
schools 
in 
Detroit, 

it not only kind of helps 
in 
communicating 
the 

importance of education to 
them, but it also teaches us 
about the people that live very 
close to us and people that live 
different lifestyles,” she said.

Overall, 
students 
in 

attendance 
said 
they 

appreciated Migos’ enthusiasm 
throughout the performance 
and 
their 
continuous 

interactions with the crowd. 
In an interview after the show, 
LSA junior Drew Merrill said 
he thought the group brought 
high energy to the stage. 

“It 
exceeded 
my 

expectations,” he said. “I wish 
they stuck around a little while 
longer.”

LSA junior Eman Jacksi said 

she thought the concert was 
a nice break from the stress 
of finals, which members of 
Migos mentioned during their 
performance. 

“It was awesome,” Jacksi 

said. “It was definitely a good 
break from writing papers and 
a great time.”

TRIO
From Page 1