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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is
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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