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.” The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. 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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