Fall 2018 — 3E
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Councilmembers sue
city over Library Lot deal
Ann
Arbor
City
Councilmembers
Sumi
Kailasapathy, D-Ward 1, and
Anne
Bannister,
D-Ward
1,
have sued the city of Ann Arbor,
Mayor Christopher Taylor and
City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry
over a $10 million deal regarding
the development of Library Lot.
The contract, signed by Taylor,
Beaudry
and
Chicago-based
developer Core Spaces on May
31, hands over the development
rights of Library Lot, a parking
area next to the Ann Arbor
District Library where Core
Spaces plans to construct a
17-story high-rise called the
Collective.
Attorney
Eric
Lipson
filed the lawsuit on behalf of
Kailasapathy
and
Bannister
June 18 in the Washtenaw
County Trial Court. The lawsuit
accuses Taylor and Beaudry of
violating Ann Arbor’s charter by
signing a development contract
without first consulting City
Council. The council voted
8-3 to sell Library Lot in April
2017 to Core Spaces, but the
purchase was not finalized until
this year. The lawsuit claims the
May 31 contract finalizing the
purchase was not presented to
City Council.
According to Kailasapathy,
the Ann Arbor City Charter
requires purchases or sales
valued over $25,000 to be
approved by at least eight
councilmembers.
She
said
the language of the charter is
clear and she therefore feels
confident about the strength of
her and Bannister’s case.
“In plain English, it says
a contract has to come, and
there’s
no
way
they
can
say there was a contract 13
months before because there
was no contract, there was a
resolution,” Kailasapathy said.
Kailasapathy
claimed
she
and Bannister sued the city
to protect the interests of
their constituents. Ann Arbor
voters trust the City Council
to represent their interests,
Kailasapathy
said,
so
the
council must get a say in
financial decisions.
“Anne Bannister and I, we
represent Ward 1,” Kailasapathy
said. “Our residents, they do like
people to have financial oversight
over the city’s business.”
She added the authority of the
charter needs to be respected
because it maintains checks and
balances within city government
and provides order.
“I
look
at
rules
and
regulations
very
seriously,”
Kailasapathy
said.
“If
City
Council itself doesn’t follow its
charter, how do we expect the
residents of Ann Arbor to follow
our charter and ordinances?”
ALICE TRACEY
Daily Staff Reporter
AAPD works to increase diversity among staff
According to a recent study
of
demographics
within
the
Ann Arbor Police Department,
the demographics of the city’s
police force do not match those
of the Ann Arbor community.
In a city that is 69 percent white
according to a 2010 census, a
surveyconducted earlier this year
shows the AAPD is 87 percent
white or Caucasian.
Several
members
of
the
AAPD explained the lack of
diversity within the department
seems to be the result of an even
greater lack of diversity within
the pool of graduates from the
police
academy.
Lieutenant
Mike Scherba said in the state
of Michigan, about 97 percent of
the academy graduates are white
males.
“What we found traditionally
is that those coming out of the
police academy in this area are
white males and the tentative pool
for the police department is then
obviously primarily white males,”
Scherba said. “As a result, we had
to then look and think: ‘How do
we better represent the diversity
within our city?’”
A
need
for
diversity
representative
of
the
Ann
Arbor populace has also been
emphasized due to recent racially-
charged incidents in AAPD, such
as the shooting of Aura Rosser
in 2014 and the violent arrest
of high school student Ciaeem
Slaton in September, leading Ann
Arbor citizens to call for increased
transparency in the AAPD as well
as a police review board. At an
October rally in support of Slaton,
Ann Arbor resident DaQuann
Harrison
said
the
incidents
involving Slaton and Rosser ––
both Black residents of the city
–– were representative of a larger
problem that existed in Ann Arbor
as well as the rest of the country.
“(Ciaeem) is one of many youth
of color who are targeted by police
in here,” he said. “His situation
is also one of many that has
historically appeared here in Ann
Arbor.”
Members
of
minority
communities at the University
of Michigan as well, including
Rackham student Javier Solorzano
Parada,
have
experienced
a
lack
of
communication
and
understanding with AAPD that
they feel is not on par with the
relationship between the police
and white student communities.
When students were arrested at
a tailgate hosted by Solorzano
Parada’s former fraternity, which
is predominantly Latino, he said
officers provided no explanation.
“Communication is key with
communities of color, and you
need to tell us it’s not about race
but safety, or size or whatever
reason you may have,” he said.
“And if I’m scared after all these
years here, what must it be like
for an undergraduate student?
Or a first-generation student? We
shouldn’t have to be afraid of the
police. We shouldn’t have to live
in fear.”
To combat the discrepancy
between
the
community
demographics and the lack of
diversity within the AAPD, the
department has responded by
seeking to recruit a wider pool
of candidates through extending
their recruiting radius. Sergeant
Jaime
Crawford
from
the
recruiting and hiring unit of the
AAPD explained the department
is actively looking for candidates
from all over Michigan.
“We
are
really
trying
to
broaden where we are recruiting
from and the type of events we
are attending,” Crawford said. “In
the past, it was easier to recruit
inasmuch as we didn’t have to
do much because people were
seeking out law enforcement as a
career, and now that has changed
so we are really trying to attend
events at universities and we are
going into more urban areas.”
Crawford
said
AAPD
has
begun recruiting at many colleges
throughout the state, attending
career fairs at the University
of Detroit Mercy, Wayne State
University, Ferris State University,
Michigan
State
University
and Mott Community College.
Recruiters like Crawford seek to
identify good candidates — even
those who might not be ready
to apply for several years — in
order to develop awareness of
opportunities within AAPD.
“We want to expose them
to what the Ann Arbor Police
Department
is
all
about,”
Crawford said. “We are highly
regarded within the state and
among other police departments
so we really want to pull them in
early and let them know what we
have to offer.”
Part of how AAPD goes about
recruiting is through maintaining
diversity within the recruiting
staff.
“We try to have diversity in our
recruiters,” Crawford said. “Just
so that the representatives we
have from the Ann Arbor Police
Department
are
approachable
and can answer any questions or
concerns that potential candidates
might have. As a female, I get a lot
of questions from females that are
curious to know what it’s like in
this field.”
Crawford went on to explain
that while it is obviously a male-
dominated environment, she has
been afforded every opportunity.
“My experience with Ann
Arbor has been phenomenal,”
Crawford said.
Alongside pursuing potential
candidates at universities, AAPD
has also initiated a sponsorship
program as another mode of
promoting diversity. The program
allows the city to assume the cost
of the candidate attending the
academy with the promise that
when they graduate, they become
an officer in AAPD. This has been
helpful as Crawford said the
academy itself can be a roadblock
for potential candidates. It can
be difficult for some to attend the
academy due to the cost, which
is about $7,000, combined with
the fact students in the academy
don’t have time to work during the
training process.
GRACE KAY
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com