3-News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 — 3

Recently, however, Wu and 

several 
of 
her 
neighbors 
— 

including the owners of Pita Pit 
and Mia Za’s — were compelled 
to sell their downtown lots to 
the 
Missouri-based 
Collegiate 

Development Group for a 13-story, 
91-unit project targeted at student 
tenants.

According to the U.S. Census 

Bureau, the number of housing 
units in structures with at least 20 
units in Ann Arbor has increased 
by 32 percent from 2010 to 2015, 
nearly quadruple Ann Arbor’s 
overall housing growth of 9 
percent. Of the 4,132 housing units 
added to the city in the past five 
years, 73 percent of these units 
have been in buildings housing 10 
or more people.

Many of these housing units 

are in the numerous high-rise 
structures newly erected near 
campus like Sterling Arbor Blu, 
Landmark and Foundry Lofts.

One of the main incentives for 

real estate developers to construct 
more high-rise apartments — high 
rent — also does not seem to be 
abating. In the past five years, 
median rents in the city have 
increased 14 percent to $1,075 per 
month, according to the Census 
Bureau.

Collegiate 
Development 

Group, which is also in the 
process of constructing a 229-
unit apartment off of South Main 
Street, did not respond to requests 
for comment.

The 
insurgence 
of 
new 

residential high-rises — often 
displacing other businesses and 
public spaces — has not been 
without resistance from both 
long-time Ann Arbor residents 
and students.

A proposal to sell a vacant lot 

adjacent to the downtown Ann 
Arbor District Library to a high-
rise developer drew a year-long 
petition drive by local residents, 
many of whom wanted to have 
a public park built in the space, 
aiming to force the decision onto 
the November ballot. In June, 
5,779 signatures were submitted 
to the City Clerk but were rejected 
several 
weeks 
later 
due 
to 

insufficient valid signatures.

At 
September’s 
Board 
of 

Regents meeting, David Schafer, 
Central 
Student 
Government 

president, told the board one of 
his priorities for this semester 
is coordination with the city 
government to alleviate growing 
off-campus housing costs.

As well, during this summer’s 

primary election for City Council, 
several candidates unsuccessfully 
challenged 
incumbents 
with 

platforms including skepticism 

of 
greater 
urban 
residential 

development.

Local attorney Eric Lipson, who 

ran against City Councilmember 
Graydon Krapohl (D–Ward 4) 
in the Democratic primary in 
August, said poorly planned and 
zoned high-rises come at the 
expense of existing residents by 
crowding out green space and 
leading to excess traffic and 
parking congestion.

“I think the majority of city 

residents don’t want to see 
excessive 
development 
that 

impairs the quality of life in 
town,” he said.

Lipson noted, however, that not 

all high-rise developments have 
met pushback from residents, 
comparing the relatively positive 
community 
reception 
to 
the 

Zaragon West building on 402 
Thompson 
St. 
to 
a 
chillier 

reception for the Foundry Lofts 
tower on 413 E. Huron St. He 
said he thinks Zaragon was 
not opposed by most residents 
because 
it 
blended 
into 
an 

already dense area of downtown 
with 
adequate 
infrastructure. 

Meanwhile, Foundry Lofts drew 
ire from citizens because of its 
direct adjacency to a low-density 
historical residential district.

“There are certain areas where 

there are serious mistakes in the 
zoning,” Lipson said. “Foundry 
Lofts was a disaster for all of the 

homes to the north of it … It’s 
shading buildings, it’s causing 
trees to die and it’s having a 
serious 
impact 
beyond 
the 

expectations of when the zoning 
was changed.”

Many of Lipson’s points were 

echoed by local resident Ray 
Detter, leader of the Downtown 
Area Citizen’s Advisory Council, 
which advises local government 
on 
downtown 
planning 

issues. Detter said downtown 
development 
would 
ideally 

allow 
for 
mixed 
residential 

and commercial use as well as 
economic diversity in residents, 
meaning he supports what he 
calls “good” developments such 
as the Liberty Loft condos off 
Second and Williams Streets.

“We’ve 
always 
wanted 
to 

encourage as much diversity in 
the downtown area as possible, 
both in types of people and 
income levels,” Detter said. “We 
were rather surprised by the fact 
that so much of the development 
in the city has been moving in the 
direction of students.”

Detter 
charged 
that 
the 

increase in student high-rises has 
been straining the limited land 
supply of downtown, as well as 
driving away other residents who 
cannot afford the rents charged 
by luxury student apartments.

“If you’re a person such as an 

artist, not making much money, 

where would you move?” Detter 
asked. “There are a lot of people 
who can’t afford $1,200 a bed. In 
the remaining space we’ve got 
downtown, what should we have? 
We’re always in support of more 
housing. But what should the 
housing be, who should it appeal 
to and how should it be designed?”

City 
Councilmember 
Sabra 

Briere (D–Ward 1) said concerns 
over 
increasing 
residential 

density is not unique to Ann 
Arbor.

“There’s 
been 
a 
lot 
of 

complaints about density in the 
city. These complaints could be 
transposed to nearly any other 
city in the U.S.,” Briere said. 
“Nobody seems to be really happy 
about more housing being built 
in the city, and to some extent we 
all share that concern because 
more housing means more people 
means more wear and tear.”

Briere, who is the council’s 

liaison 
to 
the 
Planning 

Commission, 
noted 
that 
the 

city government does not have 
the power to directly limit new 
development, outside of enforcing 
pre-existing zoning and building 
codes.

“Private 
property 
rights 

are 
very 
strongly 
supported 

by local government because 
they’re required by statewide 
government,” Briere said. “It’s 
difficult 
because 
sometimes 

people think what that we are 
going to stop a development, 
but mostly our job is to allow 
development 
but 
within 

constraints.”

For 
students 
on 
campus, 

the advent of new housing has 
brought 
both 
negatives 
and 

positives — especially when it 
comes to projects that displace 
businesses, like the South U. 
developments.

LSA senior Julian Tabron said 

he thought increased density 
was necessary, but added that 
he has been disappointed by the 
trend of small businesses being 
pushed further from campus 
to make space for new housing, 
particularly Lucky Kitchen.

“I’ve noticed a lot of restaurants 

on South U and East University 
shut down in recent years,” 
Tabron said. “It’s just crazy.”

LSA senior Sydney Ohl said she 

was disappointed by the closure of 
Lucky Kitchen’s Central Campus 
location due to its sentimental 
value — she dined there on the 
day she first moved to Ann Arbor 
as a freshman — though she 
understood the demand for more 
housing.

“Of course we need places for 

students to stay,” Ohl said. “But it’s 
really unfortunate it has to come 
in the way of small businesses, 
especially ones students really 
enjoy having around.”

HIGHRISE
From Page 1

supporters 
on 
campus 
from 

standing 
by 
their 
candidate, 

there is currently no operational 
Students for Trump chapter on the 
University of Michigan’s campus 
after the leadership of an existing 
chapter graduated last year and 
were not replaced. The University’s 
chapter of College Republicans 
only recently endorsed the Trump-
Pence ticket, several months after 
Trump 
officially 
became 
the 

nominee.

In comparison on campus, there 

is currently an active chapter 
of Students for Clinton and the 
University’s chapter of College 
Democrats endorsed the nominee 
in July, right after she clinched the 
nomination.

Engineering 
senior 
Kevin 

Kuang is a supporter of Republican 
presidential 
nominee 
Donald 

Trump and was loosely affiliated 
with Students for Trump last year, 
saying he was on the email listserv 
and attended a few group-affiliated 
events, 
though 
he 
stopped 

receiving emails over the summer 
after the leadership graduated.

“I think it was mostly like a 

group of friends that set it up,” 
Kuang said. “Most of them were 
seniors last year and graduated. I 
didn’t follow them too much, but I 
went to a few of their events.”

Because of his general lack 

of involvement in the group 
while it was active, Kuang said 
he was indifferent to the group’s 
dismantlement. He noted that 
he is not a member of College 
Republicans, but considers himself 
to be a conservative and still 
supports the Republican nominee 
because of his economic policies.

“Growing up in Detroit, lower-

middle class, I feel like a lot of his 
policies help out the middle class,” 
Kuang said. “I’ve read through 
all of his visions and policies for 

America and I feel like he’s for me.”

Engineering sophomore Jack 

Kuchta was never a member of 
Students for Trump, but considers 
himself to be a supporter of the 
candidate. Unlike Kuang, who 
rarely feels impacted by the 
generally 
Democratic-leaning 

campus climate, Kuchta said he 
can feel hostility on campus when 
telling people he is supporting 
Trump in the presidential election.

“I was hesitant to join Students 

for Trump, just because of the 
bad vibe I had been getting from 
liberals on campus,” Kuchta said. 
“Last year I purchased a Trump 
shirt as kind of a social experiment, 
to walk around on campus and, 
I guess, see what would happen. 
The reactions were exactly what I 
thought they would be, with a few 
surprises.”

When confronted by people 

with opposing political views on 
campus, Kuang said he asks them 
for reasons why they don’t approve 
of Trump, finding that they 
oftentimes can’t give him a straight 
answer.

“They usually just say he’s a 

racist or bigot and I ask them for 
examples,” Kuang said. “They 
usually tell me, ‘I don’t know too 
much, it’s just what I hear.’ It’s 
mostly media.”

For the most part, however, 

Kuang said he doesn’t often notice 
the political climate on campus or 
among his peers.

“I feel like the majority of people 

don’t really talk about politics 
at all,” Kuang said. “Most of my 
friends and the clubs I’m in know 
I support Trump, but I don’t really 
wear my ‘Make America Great 
Again’ hat outside or anything.” 

Kuchta pointed in particular 

to his experience wearing his 
shirt before a rally by Sen. Bernie 
Sanders (I-VT) on campus in 
March. Walking through campus, 
he said he encountered a group 
of students who harassed and 
threatened him.

“They were just yelling stuff 

like ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and 
‘Why are you wearing that?’, just 
being immature. Honestly, that’s 
what I assumed would happen,” 
Kuchta said.

He noted that he’s also had some 

pleasant surprises, such as a polite 
exchange with a Sanders campaign 
volunteer

“She definitely saw my Trump 

shirt, politely asked if I would 
like a flier, I politely said ‘no,’ then 
she smiled and went on her way,” 
Kuchta said.

Among his peers and friends 

with differing political opinions, 
Kuchta said he’s also had a generally 
more positive experience.

“I’ve 
basically 
picked 
the 

friends who are very liberal, but 
who I know I can actually have a 
good policy debate or actual good 
conversation with, without there 
being animosity,” he said.

Kuchta added that he feels 

it’s disconcerting when he faces 
personal 
attacks 
simply 
for 

expressing support of a candidate.

“Some see me as ‘Oh, you’re a 

racist, you hate Black people, you 
hate Muslims’ and I mean it’s really 
demeaning,” Kuchta said.

Trump made some questionable 

comments in the primaries, Kuchta 
said, adding he is unable to stand 
by everything the candidate says. 
However, he said he would much 
rather vote for Trump when faced 
with the prospect of a Hillary 
Clinton 
presidency, 
especially 

when it comes to the nomination 
to replace conservative justice 
Antonin Scalia’s on the Supreme 
Court.

“I was drawn to him when I saw 

his Supreme Court justice list. A lot 
of conservatives were very happy 
with it,” Kuchta said. “Those picks 
can last a generation, while Trump 
or Hillary will only be there for 
four to eight years; (Trump and 
Clinton) don’t have as big of an 
impact as the choices they pick for 
Supreme Court justices.”

TRUMP
From Page 1

50 percent in comparison to what 
they were last year,” she said.

Young people’s interest in 

living in Detroit is also often cited 
as a reason for market growth 
and rising prices, particularly 
in Detroit’s Historic District 
and trendy neighborhoods. This 
includes areas like Palmer Woods, 
Lafayette Park and Grandmont 
Rosedale, where property values 
never dipped below $50,000, the 
point at which lenders generally 
stop issuing mortgages.

Houses in these areas can now 

go for as much as a few hundred 
thousand dollars. Ryan Cooley, 
owner of O’Connor Real Estate, 
said young people are the main 
reason this area stayed fairly 
stable and now has begun to 
grow.

“We are starting to see people 

want to move here just because of 
the interest in Detroit right now, 
where before it was always ‘I 
grew up in the area’ or that kind 
of thing,” Cooley said.

Though Detroit’s reputation 

includes 
negatives 
— 
there 

remains a high unemployment 
rate and lack of basic services 
— some young people are still 
attracted to the city for their first 
homes, a logic that Mike Seger, a 
music producer living in Detroit’s 
east side, says comes down to 
simple math.

“A young person can move 

here with $10,000 and start up 
a small flex space for artists or 
artists’ studios,” he said. “It’s the 
uprising of the youth being able 
to have the opportunities to make 
a future for themselves.”

Robert Fishman, interim dean 

of the University of Michigan’s 
Taubman College of Architecture 
and Urban Planning, noted that 
while these spikes in housing 
prices represent a wave of 

improvement for the city to come, 
as of now they are contained to 
these wealthier neighborhoods 
like Midtown and Palmer Woods. 
He added that Detroit cannot be 
viewed as one singular market — 
there is the housing market in this 
small bubble of higher income 
downtown, and then there is 
everywhere else in Detroit.

“There are at least two housing 

markets in Detroit, one of which 
is the famous 7.2 square mile 
Downtown and Midtown, which 
is starting to show some life after 
many years of being as stagnant 
as the rest of the city,” he said. 
“Many other parts of the city are 
sadly still under the influence 
of the foreclosure crisis and, if 
anything, have not yet recovered 
from it.”

Urban 
Planning 
Prof. 

Margaret Dewar attributed the 
dual market in Detroit to the 
large number of residents who 
have left poorer areas, leaving 
behind few residents and many 
abandoned homes.

“In 
some 
neighborhoods 

prices are increasing, but in 
other neighborhoods they are 
not because population has 
continued to decline,” Dewar 
said. “I’m worried that those 
will be neighborhoods that do 
not realize price and demand 
increases because there are just 
not as many households.”

Interest in Detroit isn’t just 

growing among young people — 
many academic fields now use 
Detroit’s trajectory as a sort of 
case study upon which theories 
and examples can be applied. In 
2012, a lecture series called “The 
Detroit School: Conversations 
in Urban Studies” was started 
in the Taubman College that 
created a concentration within 
the 
college 
specifically 
on 

Detroit. 
This 
establishment 

makes 
Detroit 
the 
third 

American city, behind Chicago 
and Los Angeles, to serve as 

the concentration for a field of 
study.

“Detroit is neither a dense, 

industrial 
Chicago 
nor 
a 

sprawling, 
fast-growing, 

immigrant-rich Los Angeles,” 
reads the program’s website. 
“Yet Detroit is representative 
of a host of cities that have 
experienced 
sustained 
and 

substantial deindustrialization, 
depopulation, 
and 

disinvestment since World War 
II”

Dewar, who serves as faculty 

advisor to the program, said the 
purpose of this program is to help 
students not only understand 
the city, but also to help improve 
it through collaboration with 
organizations 
and 
groups 

invested in Detroit.

Fishman said he thinks the 

recovery of Detroit has been a 
long and strenuous process, but 
now that it is underway, the city 
will be back soon with more to 
offer than ever before.

“It is my belief that the 

recovery of Detroit has been 
slower than the recovery of any 
other major American city but 
it’s definitely underway and I 
think it will be one of the most 
striking recoveries of any city in 
recent years,” he said.

He said University students 

can 
benefit 
from 
seeing 

Detroit both as an example for 
understanding urban planning 
and economics concepts, but 
also as a hands-on learning 
experience if students engage 
with the city and get involved.

“There 
certainly 
are 
a 

great many opportunities for 
University of Michigan students 
that simply did not exist 10 or 20 
years ago, such as being a part of 
this growth and transformation, 
and I think that’s a good thing,” 
he said. “Healthy cities thrive 
in part by people who have a 
choice choosing to come there 
and stay there.”

HOUSING
From Page 1