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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is 
published every Thursday during the 
spring and summer terms by students 
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2

Thursday, June 1, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

Ward 1 candidate Anne Bannister looks 
to bring transparency to city council

Bannister, a life 
long Democrat, 

said she was 

encouraged to run 
by her neighbors

By ANDREW HIYAMA

Summer Daily News Editor

On Tuesday, August 8, Ann Arbor 

residents will vote in the primary 
election for City Council. In Ward 
1, 
Democrat 
Anne 
Bannister 

is challenging the incumbent, 
Democrat Jason Frenzel, who 
lost 
to 
Councilmember 
Sumi 

Kailasapathy 
in 
last 
year’s 

election, but was appointed by 
the council to fill a vacancy left 
by Councilmember Sabra Briere’s 
abrupt resignation.

Bannister, a lifelong Democrat, 

University of Michigan alum and 
now Certified Financial Planner, 
said she was encouraged to run 
by neighbors who felt their voices 
weren’t being heard by City 
Council. She joined the Daily for 
an interview Monday to discuss 

who she is, why she’s running, and 
what she sees as the main issues 
facing Ann Arbor city government.

TMD: Let’s start with the 

basics. Why do you want to be on 
City Council?

AB: Well, I’m a 43-year resident 

of the town, and I moved into 
the first ward — so I’ve been 27 
years with my neighbors down 
here in the first ward. And I’m a 
personal finance educator. That’s 
my background. Running for City 
Council was not on my radar. I do 
volunteer, I’m going to Huron High 
this Wednesday as a guest speaker 
in the economics class, and my 
main work is in educating people 
in the basics of personal finance. 

But then in April, community 

activists started to get concerned 
about 
the 
existing 
council 

members that were not listening 
to the residents enough, that they 
were disregarding a little bit of the 
public process in things that we, 
as residents, feel that we need a 
bigger voice in. They’re also a little 
bit brushing aside local business 
too. As an educator, I want to 
help people understand a little bit 
more about — you know, we all 
understand national politics, and 

even quite a bit about state politics 
— but when it comes down to the 
city decisions that are affecting 
long-term effects on the future 
of Ann Arbor, I find that people 
don’t know what ward they’re in, 
they don’t know who their council 
member is, and they’re not sure 
about anything. So that’s one 
of the reasons I’m running, is 
to help people understand the 

decisions that are being made 
that affect us, without having to 
decipher — I want to decipher 
it for them. It’s not about Anne 

Bannister’s 
opinion 
about 

anything. It’s about listening 
to the neighbors and the voices, 
and what they feel are priorities 
in the city, and then trying to 
represent those voices at the 
council meetings.

TMD: By running for a Ward 

1 seat, you’re going to inherently 
be challenging the incumbent 
Jason Frenzel. What are your 
thoughts on your opponent?

AB: I’ve been a friend of 

Jason’s for years. I bump into 
him out on the hiking trails in 
our neighborhood, and I’m also 
friends with his (step)mom, 
Sandi Smith. So it’s not a big 
divisive race — we’ve all been 
friends. 

But I think, back in April, 

when 
community 
activists 

were concerned about some of 
the vote ... we have a public lot 
downtown next to the public 
library, and our taxpayers own 
that lot, and we own the parking 
structure underneath it. That’s a 
public piece of land. There were 
petitions; 5,647 people signed 
that they wanted a bigger voice 
in creating some sort of different 
development on that lot. I want 

to put people first and bring that 
voice to City Council and make 
sure that we are represented in 
these decisions that are forever 
going to change Ann Arbor.

TMD: 
You’re 
a 
Certified 

Financial 
Planner. 
Can 
you 

explain a little more about what 
that means, and how you think it 
prepares you to be on Council?

AB: The Certified Financial 

Planner designation — roughly 
only half of the people in the 
country who sit for that exam 
actually pass it. It’s sort of a gold 
standard for people in financial 
planning. And not only does it 
show that we’ve really studied 
taxes — so I’m a lifelong financial 
person, I started out as a bank 
teller when I was at U of M. 

One of the things — and maybe 

this is too big of a word — is 
fiduciary. I’m a big believer that 
the person sitting across the table 
from you, whether you’re their 
financial planner, or whether 
they’re your neighbor and you’re 
on City Council, people need to 
know that person is representing 
your best interests. We call it the 
fiduciary. In order to be a CFP, 
you have to take ethics courses 
every two years to make sure 
that you understand that you 
don’t represent any particular 
investment 
or 
commercial 

interest, you represent the best 
interests of the person who’s 
seeking your advice, who thinks 
you’re protecting them. If my 
neighbors tell me that they want 
better safety at the crosswalk, then 
I want to take that voice and work 
to make sure that the city’s actions 
and budget priorities reflect what 
people are saying they need. So 
it’s a code of ethics, where I’m 
just a plain old resident, and I’m 
not running for a political career, 
I’m not running because I’m a real 
estate developer or anything, I’m 
running just because I’m 53 years 
old, and it feels good to me to do 
the right thing for the people for 
the greater good and to listen to 
what their priorities are.

TMD: Walk me through your 

political experience. I know you 
served a variety of roles in the Ann 
Arbor Democratic Party, but what 
kinds of things did you do, and 
what did it provide you?

WARD 1 CANDIDATE ANNE BANNISTER

COURTESY OF ANNE BANNISTER

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

