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Monday, March 6, 2017 — 3A
cemeteries in three different
states have been vandalized in
recent weeks.
Recent threats in southeast
Michigan
go
beyond
the
Jewish
community,
too.
A
threatening
voicemail
was
left at the American Muslim
Society in Dearborn on Feb. 19,
claiming Muslims are “agents
of Satan” and that they “will be
eradicated.” The FBI has also
been called upon to investigate
this voicemail. In December,
the Ann Arbor Islamic Center
received an anti-Muslim, pro-
Trump
letter
with
similar
remarks.
On Friday, former journalist
Juan Thompson, a St. Louis
resident, was arrested in New
York for making some of the
bomb threat calls to Jewish
centers around the country, but
law enforcement officials do not
think Thompson was behind
other calls.
While there has been no
information released regarding
whether Thompson made the
call to Ann Arbor last week,
officials
discovered
he
was
responsible for a bomb threat to
a Jewish school in Farmington
Hills, Mich., at the beginning of
February.
David Shtulman, the executive
director of the Ann Arbor Jewish
Federation, feels dismayed by the
attacks. He said he wants more
of a response from the Ufederal
level.
“It’s
sad
that
this
is
happening,”
Shtulman
said.
“I think it’s part of the larger
sadness that’s happening all
across the country to all kinds
of groups. Personally, I wish
that the president of the United
States would speak out a little
bit more forcefully. It’s time
for the administration to really
speak out and say, ‘We’re not
going to tolerate this anymore.’ “
President Donald J. Trump,
whose senior adviser, Steve
Bannon,
penned
several
anti-Semitic
articles,
issued
a
statement
condemning
anti-Semitic acts on Feb. 21.
However, many Jewish leaders,
in the same vein as Shtulman,
criticized
the
president
for
not responding to the acts —
which have been occurring
consistently since the beginning
of January — sooner or in a more
personalized fashion.
“The
anti-Semitic
threats
targeting our Jewish community
and community centers are
horrible and are painful and a
very sad reminder of the work
that still must be done to root
out hate and prejudice and evil,”
Trump said.
THREAT
From Page 1A
Review Board is warranted,”
he wrote. “The commission’s
report does not identify or even
suggest systemic issues within
the ranks or leadership of the
agency that would warrant such
a step.”
At
the
time
of
this
publication, Baird could not
be reached for comment on
whether his opinion on such a
review board had changed.
Relations between civilians
and police across the nation
reached a tipping point in
August 2014 after a white
policeman
fatally
shot
unarmed
Black
teenager
Michael Brown in Ferguson,
Mo.
After
the
November
2014 shooting death of Ann
Arbor resident Aura Rosser
by a police officer, which was
ruled as justified self-defense,
local protests against police
violence rallied around Rosser
as a symbol for those affected
by similar incidents of police
violence.
One of the main functions
of an advisory board would
be to review complaints made
against police officers and
provide advice to the council
and AAPD regarding next
steps. In the memo, Baird
also defended the complaint
process, saying it could not
be as transparent as a report
from
the
Human
Rights
Commission
suggested
it
should be.
“Due to the nature of the
work officers perform and
the conditions they perform it
under, much of it must remain
opaque,” he wrote. “However,
we should always be in a
state
of
self
examination
to determine if there are
areas where we can be more
transparent.”
Councilmember
Graydon
Krapohl (D–Ward 4) said he
thought a civilian advisory
board would be a way to shift
the examination process from
the police department to an
independent body.
“The complaint process is
done internally through the
police department,” Krapohl
said. “I don’t want to say
exactly off the top of my head
–– complaints are brought in
and then they are reviewed
by senior officers, but all
complaints are taken seriously,
reviewed
and
investigated.
We’re hoping through the
audit, you know, how can we
improve this process? That
has been something –– maybe
not everyone feels comfortable
coming into the police station
to make a complaint, and I
think that’s understandable.”
CITY
From Page 1A
sexual assault and human
trafficking.
“Nadia
joined
the
University
in
2015
as
the
Sexual
Misconduct
Program Manager in the
Office of Student Conflict
Resolution
and
became
Assistant Director of Sexual
Misconduct in 2016,” Harper
wrote. “During that time,
Nadia worked with close
campus partners to provide
support
around
the
new
Sexual Misconduct Policy
and
its
implementation.
She has provided oversight
to case management and
the
development
of
best
practices.”
Harper
also
noted
Bazzy’s experience working
with minority groups at a
national level, particularly
her
invitation
to
attend
a
White
House
session
regarding the experiences of
Asian Americans — as well
as Muslim, Arab and Sikh
communities — this past
winter.
“This past December, Nadia
was invited to a White House
session that focused on the
generational experiences of
Asian Americans, including
Japanese-Americans
placed
in internment camps during
World War II, as well as
modern day challenges facing
the Asian American and Pacific
Islander (AAPI) and Muslim,
Arab, Sikh, and South Asian
(MASSA) communities today,”
he wrote.
This is a developing story.
Check back with The Michigan
Daily for updates.
SAPAC
From Page 1A
According to Bradley, the
concept of discerning the
truthfulness of online news
comes up in many other
courses at the University. The
new class builds off these
predecessors,
like
Applied
Liberal Arts 105, a class about
digital research.
“We teach a current course
called ALA 105, and in it
we do a segment on news
to begin with, even just
evaluating general websites
that students find on the
web,” Bradley said. “We just
have seen over the past couple
years a need to evaluate news
and other types of non-
scholarly information.”
Social media has played
a role in the fake news
problem. Facebook has been
heavily criticized in its role
in dispensing unreliable news
sources to users’ newsfeeds.
Recently, the site has added
warning labels to posts that
have disputed information.
Because
of
the
role
libraries play in helping to
sort out different types of
information, Bradley thinks
the library system is the
perfect place for the new
course. She wants to use the
class to teach students the
skills librarians — and many
other professions — must use
every day.
“As
librarians,
this
is
exactly what we do,” she said.
“We evaluate everything that
comes through — who wrote
it, what’s it purpose, what is
their purpose in (writing) it …
everybody’s being asked to do
research, whether you need
to find this or that, and it’s a
skill that everybody needs.”
Angela
Dillard,
LSA
associate
dean
for
undergraduate education, told
the Michigan News a critical
view of the media is a crucial
part of a well-rounded liberal
arts education. She echoed
Bradley’s thoughts that the
new class focuses on a more
specific part of that skill.
“Teaching students to be
critical consumers of news and
information is part of a good
liberal arts education,” Dillard
said. “Students are learning
this skill in all their classes.
But today there is so much
information that learning how
to assess its validity is more
challenging than ever. This
course addresses that need.”
Bradley
and
the
other
librarians involved in the
course don’t yet know what
kind of response there will
be to the course, but they’re
hoping
to
attract
many
students.
As
a
one-credit
mini-course, the class will
only last the first seven weeks
of the fall semester and will
be
taught
by
University
librarians.
LSA
senior
Rebecca
Rothbart, the president of
the Michigan Association of
Communication Studies, said
she sees connections between
the fake news course and her
communication classes. She
said she is interested to see
what the mini-course leads
to, but also how the topic of
fake news will be further
integrated into other classes
at the University.
“I think from my standpoint
as a comm student, this course
seems to align with other
coursework
we’ve
talked
about, and even is a topic I’m
sure will be integrated into
future
courses,”
Rothbart
said. “I think if it becomes
… a class (communication
students)
can
get
credit
for, it would definitely be a
worthwhile class to take.”
Haber, the leader of the petition,
has criticized the council’s decision
to sell the lot and said he wanted to
build a civic commons on it.
“Sometimes
it
seems
(City
Council members) would sell their
mother if the price was right, and
not even notice they were doing
it, and they are trying to do that
right now, not noticing what never-
to-be center of community they
are selling away,” Haber wrote in
a Facebook post for the AACCC.
“This citizen initiative is the
alternative to 17 floor luxury hotel/
condo development, Chicago style.,
or its successor waiting to buy it out
from under us.”
Haber and others’ concerns
have majority support from the
community. A 2013 Park Advisory
Commission survey showed 76.2
percent of respondents thought
Ann Arbor would benefit from more
downtown open spaces — such as
a park or town square — and 41.5
percent of respondents chose the
Library Lot as the best option to
build such a space.
Will Hathaway, a member of the
Library Green Conservancy, a group
that advocates for apportioning a
part of the library lot as a public
open space, is one such individual.
Hathaway argued that the high-rise
is mired with problems, the most
important being parking.
According
to
Hathaway,
of
the more than 700 underground
parking spaces of the Library Lot,
Core Spaces is planning to purchase
or lease 196 of the spaces. However,
he said 196 is not a sufficient
number to satisfy all inhabitants
of the high-rise, so Core Spaces
is asking for another 85 parking
spaces and 80 off-peak permits in
the nearby parking lot on 4th Street
and Williams Avenue. Hathaway
argued even that is too little and
would create a massive shortage of
parking spots.
“The rest of the people who
don’t get a dedicated parking space
who are in this building are going
to be in the mix with all the rest
of us looking for parking spaces,”
Hathaway said. “So the impact goes
way beyond those parking spaces
that they’re proposing to take out of
the system.”
However,
Councilmember
Zachary Ackerman (D–Ward 3)
argued the surface parking lot
and 196 spaces underground were
built expressly with the purpose
of building a structure above it. He
also noted that of the 160 spaces at
Fourth and William, only 80 can
only be used during off-peak hours.
Therefore, Ackerman said, the real
issue is the other 80 spaces, which
he said is more than enough of a
trade-off for the high-rise.
Ackerman noted that with the
high-rise, Ann Arbor will gain a
much-needed 20,000 square feet of
office space for the tech community,
as well as 120 apartments and 3,350
square feet of retail space. He added
the benefits do not end there.
“Each of these (spaces) will
help activate 12,000 square feet
of public plaza that will be built
and
maintained
with
private
dollars,” Ackerman said. “This is
important to note because our Parks
Department is already responsible
for maintaining 2,200 acres of
parkland with a $14 million budget
that they use in its entirety every
year.”
Ackerman’s assertion has some
backing in Councilmember Kirk
Westphal’s (D–Ward 2) comment
regarding Haber’s attempt at the
petition. Westphal told the Daily
in June the future of the parking
lot as a high-rise was decided
through a transparent public
process.
“Before I was involved in city
government, I participated as a
citizen in the Calthorpe process
for downtown over 10 years ago,”
Westphal said. “The state of that
particular parcel has not been
contentious at all for decades, so
going to the voters about a single
piece of property didn’t seem
to be a good use of the ballot
mechanism.”
Ackerman reasoned that in a
state which prohibits rent control,
increasing supply and competition
is the best way to bring prices
down for residents. He also noted
that 42 of the housing units will
be workforce housing, which
will house individuals making
$45,000 to $60,000 a year, 80
to 100 percent of Ann Arbor’s
median income. Moreover the city
will appropriate half of the $10
million revenue from the high-rise
to the Affordable Housing Fund.
In a meeting last Wednesday,
the
Downtown
Development
Authority decided to lease the
360 parking spaces for 50 years,
the minimum that Core Spaces
deemed necessary. The proposal
is heading to the council, where
it would be approved at an
undetermined date.
Hathaway also said the real
estate biome around the parking
lot is also problematic for building
a massive high-rise. He said
that the Core Spaces proposal
encroaches on a piece of land the
council designated as a public
open space in 2014, and other
developers may take Core Spaces
to court in order to prevent a high-
rise from casting a shadow over
their planned developments.
“Part of what we’re hoping
is that we can avoid this whole
protracted battle over who has
a legal right to do whatever they
want here and here, and instead
get the community to step back
and say, ‘Well, what would be
the best way to develop this
and this and this so that it all
hangs together and supports the
downtown around it instead of
just treating each site in isolation?’
” Hathaway said. “It’s better from
an urban planning perspective. …
It’s more holistic to think about the
relationship between all of these
different sites and how they could
knit together the downtown.”
Hathaway
and
Ackerman
found common ground, however,
in creating affordable housing
for Ann Arborites with modest
means.
Hathaway contended that Core
Spaces may be adding luxury
student housing in the building
to ease the parking issue, but
suggested the council apportion
the land for affordable housing.
“If they use this site and a
build a more modest building
that included a 100 or 200 units
of workforce housing, that could
really help to create a more
vibrant downtown,” Hathaway
said. “You have people, in theory,
who are the workers who work
downtown
living
downtown,
so less traffic congestion, less
pressure on parking.”
Ackerman
said
instead
of
building affordable housing on
the Library Lot, the council is
building it across the street.
This
year,
the
council
is
purchasing back this property,
known as the Y Lot, for $4
million
from
the
high-rise
revenue because there was no
development since selling the
land in 2014. Ackerman said City
Council is bringing 250 units
of affordable housing on the
Y Lot and leftover land in the
Library Lot, and contended this
was a smarter way to solve the
affordable housing problem.
“Talking
about
affordable
and
workforce
housing
only
becomes lip service if we do
nothing to build it,” Ackerman
said. “Leaving this opportunity
on the table is not just inaction
on workforce housing, it’s action
against workforce housing.”
LOT
From Page 1A
MINI-COURSE
From Page 1A
Teaching students
to be critical
consumers
of news and
information is
part of a good
liberal arts
education
The complaint
process is done
internally
through the police
department