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

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