Ann
Arbor
residents
gathered Tuesday night to
discuss developing affordable
housing at a meeting hosted
by the city and SmithGroup,
an
architectural
design
firm. Held in the Downtown
Development
Ann
Arbor
Authority
building,
the
meeting served as a follow-
up to a series of workshops
held in December to garner
community feedback about
possible affordable housing
sites.
Attendees
were
handed
a fact sheet that provided
information about affordable
housing in the city. In Ann
Arbor, the area median income
is $101,200. Families with
incomes at 60 percent AMI or
below qualify for affordable
housing developed by the
state, with affordable being
defined as costing 30 percent
or less of the household’s
annual income.
The
lack
of
affordable
housing in Ann Arbor has
been a hot-button issue in
recent years. In 2015, the
city adopted a plan to create
nearly 2,800 new affordable
housing units by 2035, though
less than 100 have been built
since then.
Discussion at the meeting
focused on redeveloping 350
South 5th Ave., also known
as the former Y-Lot, a site
adjacent to the Ann Arbor
District Library and Blake
Transit Center. There was also
a discussion of overhauling
415 West Washington St.,
which is adjacent to the
YMCA and the railroad track.
Michael Johnson, an urban
designer at SmithGroup, gave
a presentation summarizing
the results of surveys and
feedback
from
community
workshops
regarding
both
sites. The results showed that
respondents rated optimizing
the number of affordable units
for those with 60 percent AMI
as the most important priority
in redeveloping city-owned
properties.
Johnson
summarized
the
community
feedback
into a set of assumptions in
creating
possible
designs
for new buildings in each lot
and presented the preferred
options to the audience. As
he presented the possible
designs, audience members
shared criticisms.
Johnson said the purpose
of the meeting was to provide
a space for the community
to
discuss
and
agree
on
requirements to set before the
actual development process
begins.
“The hope is that based
on what we’ve heard, we can
begin a process that with the
city’s assistance pre-entitles a
series of criteria before even
engaging a developer going
through the next steps of that
process,” Johnson said.
The proposed design for
the former Y-Lot site included
two
buildings
reaching
a
maximum of 200 feet and
containing a total of 418
units, 130 of which would
be affordable housing. Some
audience
members
shared
concerns about the height of
the building, while others felt
it did not provide a sufficient
number of affordable housing
units.
The 415 W. Washington
proposal, which contained 173
total units with 15-20 percent
affordable, raised additional
concern from the community
because of its location in a
floodway
and
floodplain,
which renders it ineligible to
federal subsidies.
Some
residents
brought
up concerns with parking
and
traffic
congestion
in
the residential area. Others
said they felt the location
was unsafe for housing and
advocated alternatives such as
creating a park or community
center.
Ann Arbor resident Julia
Goode expressed frustration
with
some
community
members’
unwillingness
to
consider
the
415
W.
Washington design proposal.
“It felt like a ‘not in my
backyard’ meeting,” Goode
said. “People all started out in
support of affordable housing,
but as soon as it starts to
get dense, then people get
concerned about how big the
building is, how tall — even
though it’s not taller than
the buildings around it — and
that’s the only way you have
affordable housing, is to build
it denser, and that’s how you
get cars off the street, by
having a dense community so
it becomes walkable.”
City
Councilmember
Ali
Ramlawi, D-Ward 5, who was
in
attendance,
encouraged
attendees to be more open to
the proposals brought forth
by SmithGroup.
“I think the SmithGroup is
listening to the community,”
Ramlawi said. “I think we
need to approach this with
a little bit more optimism
and go from there because
we’re not really going to go
anywhere if we think this is
another exercise that goes
nowhere.”
Reporter Angelina Little can
be reached at anglit@umich.
edu.
FE ATU RE
2A — Wednesday, February 26, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
TUESDAY:
By Design
THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
FRIDAY:
Behind the Story
MONDAY:
Looking at the Numbers
WEDNESDAY:
This Week in History
ANGELINA LITTLE
Daily Staff Reporter
Urban designer from SmithGroup meets with community members to analyze and
debate number of units of affordable housing included in various proposed plans
Discussion examines opportunities for
redevelopment of two city locations
Feb. 25, 1998: Hundreds rally for affirmative action
Hundreds
of
students
attempted to capture the essence
of the ‘60s and ‘70s social
movements as they demonstrated
support for affirmative action at
the University yesterday.
The National Day of Action,
designated by the Rev. Jesse
Jackson as a day to support
affirmative action nationwide,
was celebrated at the University
by a rally and march on the
Diag, two teach-ins and a sit-in
at Angell Hall. Event organizers
also encouraged students to skip
classes for the day.
The day hit close to home
at the University in light of
two lawsuits filed against the
University last fall that target
its use of race in admissions
policies.
“It’s
important
for
the
students to show the media and
the nation that it’s not business as
usual when affirmative action is
under attack,” said Law second-
year student Kevin Pimentel.
After
the
morning
teach-
in, Pimentel stood before 250
students who gathered on the
Diag to rally for affirmative
action.
Pimentel
described
affirmative
action
as
“the
last game of the Civil Rights
Movement that is still standing.”
Pimentel said that although his
classes at the Law School were
not cancelled, his professors
accommodated
students
by
offering audio and video tapes of
missed lectures to students who
participated in the day’s events.
“I think we have had a great
showing of the school,” Pimentel
said. “The people are really
listening to the speakers here at
the rally and at the teach-in.”
University officials said no
classes were officially cancelled
for the events. But several
professors and graduate student
instructors offered alternatives
for students who missed classes
yesterday.
History GSI Alice Ritscherle
said she encouraged her class to
attend the sit-in to learn more
about how diversity affects the
campus.
“I am going to let students
make up their own minds,”
Ritscherle said. “I think it’s
an unusual case where a lot of
different interest groups have
come together and listened to
each other seri- ously.”
About 20 high school students
from Ann Arbor Huron High
School
and
Detroit’s
Cass
Technical High School, several
of whom spoke at the rally, came
to campus to take part in the
day’s events.
Alianza Co-chair Diana Derige
said yesterday’s demonstration
in support of affirmative action
should not be limited to one day.
“We need to think ahead and
show our solidarity together,”
said Derige, an LSA junior. “The
plight of minority students on
campus goes beyond affirmative
action.”
After the rally, nearly 250
students
marched
through
campus,
crammed
into
the
Angell Hall Fishbowl area and
staged a sit-in. Students sat
on the floor for three hours to
hear testimoni- als about how
affirmative action, racism and
diversity have impacted the
campus.
Organizers said they were
pleased with the number of
students who took part in the
day’s events.
“I’m really impressed with the
tumout. I think it’s obvious that a
lot of people support affirmative
action and are willing to miss a
day of class” said Law first- year
student Meera Deo, a member of
United for Affinnative Action.
Engineering
sophomore
Robert
Green
said
he
was
impressed with the diversity of
the crowd that attended the sit-
in.
“We need to take a stand as
students,” Green said. “Awesome
turnout, but there could be many
more.”
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RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Panelist speaks on the hidden plight of moderm farmers at Food Literacy for All, a weekly lecture series sponsored by the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative in Angell Hall
Tuesday evening.
Pence opened his 30-minute
speech
by
expressing
his
continued support for Trump
and reminding the crowd that
Michigan was a state Trump
won back in 2016.
“Here
in
Michigan,
you
believed
we
could
be
stronger,”
Pence
said.
“You believed we could be
prosperous again. You said
‘yes’ to Donald Trump in 2016,
and I know that Michigan is
going to say ‘yes’ to four more
years of President Trump.”
Pence then talked about
Trump’s immigration policies
and
the
administration’s
commitment
to
building
a wall along the southern
border.
“Under
the
President’s
leadership, we have made
historic
investments
in
border security and working
on
the
crisis
of
illegal
immigration on our border,”
Pence said. “Once we secure
our border, we’re going to
pass immigration reform that
puts America first.”
According
to
the
2018
Enforcement
and
Removal
report, ICE made 158,581
administrative arrests in the
2018 fiscal year, as opposed
to the 143,470 arrests made in
2017.
Lastly, Pence talked about
the Trump administration’s
track record on promoting
and creating manufacturing
jobs.
“Now, as I stand before you
here today, I’ll tell you here
in Michigan, the American
economy is booming,” Pence
said.
“Since
election
day
in 2016, almost 8 million
jobs have been created by
businesses, large and small,
including 120,000 right here
in the Great Lakes state.”
PENCE
From Page 1A
See PENCE, Page 3A