The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Wednesday, September 2, 2020 — 5

Pizza Bob’s moves to new location on S. State Street

After more than 50 years of 

operation at its original location, 
Pizza Bob’s will find a new home 
this Tuesday just 110 feet north 
at 800 S. State Street. The new 
location, previously home to Red 
Light Cafe, will offer both indoor 
and outdoor seating.

According 
to 
owner 
Pam 

Pietryga, the move was largely 
motivated 
by 
a 
desire 
for 

more space. The seating in the 
original location was limited 
to a front counter and a single 
round table, whereas the new 
location offers space for both 
indoor and outdoor dining while 
maintaining appropriate social 
distancing. Pietryga plans to use 
the basement of the restaurant to 
host larger parties when COVID-
19 restrictions no longer apply.

The 
space 
also 
makes 

it 
possible 
for 
one 
of 
the 

restaurant’s most well-known 
items, the Chipati sauce, to be 
prepared in-house. The owners 

had previously rented a kitchen 
in Ypsilanti to make the sauce. 

Pietryga said another perk 

of the new building is its public 
bathroom, which the previous 
space lacked. She also hopes the 
placement at the stoplight on the 
corner will increase visibility 
and foot traffic.

Kailana 
Dejoie, 
LSA 

sophomore 
and 
Pizza 
Bob’s 

employee, is hopeful that the new 
location will improve business.

“I think it’s going to be a great 

development for Pizza Bob’s and I 
think it’s a good location in terms 
of the community too,” Dejoie 
said. “I know a lot of people were 
sad that we switched locations 
because that’s been there for 50 
plus years, but I think for the 
business it’s a good move.”

Pietryga said she plans to 

retain as many aspects of the 
original restaurant as possible 
in the new space, including 
its posters, frames, handmade 
signs and the plexiglass wall 
filled with postcards sent to Bob 
Marsh, the original cook and 
the restaurant’s namesake. The 

restaurant will also be painted in 
the original maize and blue color 
scheme, with plans to recreate 
the past location’s Pizza Bob’s 
mural.

“All 
the 
different 
things 

people come to notice and point 
out about Pizza Bob’s … we’re not 
forgetting any of that,” Pietryga 
said. “We’re taking as much with 
us, and trying to find a good 
way of displaying it, so that we 
always have that memory and 
history and stuff that people like 
to see.”

Pietryga said while it’s hard to 

say goodbye, the benefits of the 
larger space outweigh the losses.

“I think the customers are 

gonna like it much better because 
… with all the renovations done, 
we’re going to be able to seat 
more than we ever could, and 
then when all this passes and 
we’re all back into our normal 
life, we’ll definitely be able to 
enjoy the customer interaction,” 
Pietryga said. “We’ve missed 
that now, the past four months. 
One of the things we love about 
Pizza Bob’s is the camaraderie 

with the customers.”

Pietryga said Pizza Bob’s has 

been able to stay open during 
the pandemic due to the support 
of loyal Ann Arbor customers. 
According to Andy Lansing, a 
University of Michigan alum and 
Pizza Bob’s customer, it is this 
companionship that sets Pizza 

Bob’s apart.

“What makes it special is just 

that it is today what it’s always 
been,” Lansing said. “In a world 
of chain restaurants and a world 
of sort of similar concepts, 
similar styles of restaurants, I 
think Pizza Bob’s is a mountain 
of its own… I think that the 

environment and just their style 
of service is really special and 
there’s something about it that’s 
really magical — and of course, 
the sauce.”

ANGELINA LITTLE

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Challengers swept incumbents 

in the Aug. 4 primary election for 
open seats in each of the five wards 
on the Ann Arbor City Council. 
Each 
candidate 
is 
currently 

running unopposed in the Nov. 3 
general election and will take office 
later that month. 

The Daily spoke with Lisa Disch 

of Ward 1, Linh Song of Ward 2, 
Travis Radina of Ward 3, Jen Eyer 
of Ward 4 and Erica Briggs of Ward 
5 to discuss their reflections on 
their campaigns during a summer 
of an unabating pandemic and civil 
unrest, as well as their priorities 
when inaugurated in November.

Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1
As a University of Michigan 

professor 
in 
political 
science 

and women and gender studies, 
Disch said she will bring a unique 
perspective to city council after 
her inauguration. In an email to 
The Daily, Disch wrote she feels 
very lucky to have the opportunity 
to regularly interact with students 
who 
bring 
different 
political 

viewpoints into the classroom.

“I have developed skills of 

communication 
and 
habits 
of 

listening and working in the 
classroom that I hope will make me 
a more effective representative,” 
Disch wrote. “I’ve also always 
thought that my job is more about 
learning things than it is about 
knowing and ‘professing’ them. 
This is a political moment when 
openness to learning in the face of 
unprecedented challenges might be 
a very good thing to have.”

Disch wrote she was excited 

about her win considering it was 
her first time as a candidate. 

“Nobody does systematic polling 

in an election like this one, and 
my excellent campaign manager 
and advisors had warned me 
throughout the campaign that 
Council elections are often very 
close,” Disch wrote. “I can honestly 
say that the results surprised me 
and my team — and thrilled us.”

On 
her 
platform, 
Disch 

cites urban and environmental 
stewardship, civic engagement and 
safety as some of her top priorities. 

Disch wrote she wants to 

improve the tone of council 
meetings and work collaboratively 
with other council members to put 
problem-solving ahead of personal 
and political differences. She plans 
to push for more affordable housing 
and the redevelopment of North 
Main Street.

“There 
are 
many 
pressing 

issues in Ward 1 that I want to be 
prepared to take up right away 
with staff,” Disch wrote. “Such as 
traffic management on residential 
roads like Pontiac Trail and 
Barton Drive that have become 
major commuter through-ways, 
and implementing the parts of the 
City’s sustainability plan that help 
reduce the disproportionately high 
costs of energy for lower-income 
households.”

Disch said the unavailability of 

affordable housing intersects with 
so many other challenges that Ann 
Arbor faces.

“It means that too many people 

in Washtenaw County are paying 
too much of their incomes for 
rent and that too many people are 
commuting too far to their jobs,” 
Disch wrote. “It is a top priority 
for me because it is a contributing 
factor to economic stratification, to 
structural racism and to the climate 
crisis.”

Linh Song, D-Ward 2
Throughout Song’s campaign 

for a seat on council in Ward 2, 
which her former opponent Jane 
Lumm first held in 1993-1998 and 
again from 2011 to the present, 
Song emphasized Ann Arbor’s 
national ranking as the eighth 
most 
economically 
segregated 

community in the U.S. As the Black 
Lives Matter movement swept 
the nation with renewed energy 
following the killing of several 
Black men and women at the hands 
of police, Song said her campaign 
shifted gears from an emphasis on 
affordable housing to focusing on 
issues of racial justice.

“So if I keep saying, ‘We are 

the eighth most economically 
segregated community in the U.S.,’ 
that’s what we’re talking about: 
that history of racial economic 
segregation,” Song said. “And we 
need to own up to it.”

Song said knowledge of Ann 

Arbor’s racial history — from 
restrictive housing covenants to 
the political pushback following 
the election of Ann Arbor’s first and 
only Black mayor Albert Wheeler — 
must guide any conversations about 
the future of the city, including 
conversations around affordable 
housing and policing. In 2014, police 
officer David Ried fatally shot Aura 
Rosser, a Black woman living in Ann 
Arbor, and faced no charges. This 
prompted protests and the creation 
of a police oversight commission. 

Mark Bernstein and Shauna 

Ryder Diggs, both Democratic 
incumbents and University of 
Michigan alum, were nominated 
to defend their seats on the 
University’s Board of Regents 
at 
the 
Michigan 
Democratic 

Convention this weekend. Both 
have served as regents since 2012. 

U.S. 
Rep. 
Rashida 
Tlaib, 

D-Mich., 
spoke 
to 
nominate 

Bernstein, 
while 
University 

Regent Denise Ilitch spoke to 
nominate Ryder Diggs.

In a video posted online earlier 

this month, Bernstein detailed 
his previous work as a University 
regent, including advocating for 
making college more affordable.

“It is an honor to have run and 

won eight years ago with my friend 
Shauna Ryder Diggs,” Bernstein 
said. “We’re eager to continue 
serving as Democratic regents 
at the University of Michigan … 
 

As a regent, I have aggressively 
advanced our Democratic vision 
for affordable, accessible and 
excellent public higher education, 
while 
embracing 
diversity, 

honoring labor and protecting the 
environment.”

In another prerecorded video, 

Ryder Diggs also discussed the 
importance of college affordability, 
noting her own experience with 
student loans.

“As a daughter of two university 

professors, I believe in the power 
of higher education to improve the 

lives of us all,” Ryder Diggs said. 
“I’m a physician in solo private 
practice, and I attended Michigan 
for college, medical school and 
residency. 
Those 
years 
were 

wonderful and I built long lasting 
friendships and was trained by 
the best doctors in the nation, but 
they were costly. Even when my 
family supported me, I still had to 
take out large loans to pay for this 
extraordinary education.”

Ryder 
Diggs 
emphasized 

several policy issues she has 
focused on over the past eight 
years, 
including 
support 
for 

more equitable funding across all 
three University campuses and 
organized labor. 

“I believe in the power of 

collective 
bargaining,” 
Ryder 

Diggs said. “That is why I’ll 
continue to support the faculty 
and staff doing the work on a daily 
basis … but there is still much more 
work to be done.”

The two will appear on the 

ballot for the general election in 
November.

According to campaign finance 

documents filed prior to the 
convention, Bernstein’s campaign 
has raised a total of $25,964.25 in 
contributions and other receipts. 
Of that, $20,000 came from a 
direct 
contribution 
Bernstein 

made to his own campaign on Aug. 
3.

Meanwhile, Diggs’ campaign 

had a total of $4,799.65 in 
contributions and other receipts. 
On Aug. 19, Diggs reported a late 
contribution of $2,500 to her 
campaign.

While both are Democrats, they 

have not been in lockstep with one 
another in their time as Regents.

Over the summer, as the Board 

debated a tuition increase to help 
the University deal with a budget 
crunch brought on by the COVID-
19 pandemic, Diggs voted against 
the initial budget proposal while 
Bernstein 
supported 
it. 
That 

proposal, which failed with a split 
vote, would have increased tuition 
across all three campuses while 
providing additional funding for 
the Flint and Dearborn campuses.

The move drew swift criticism 

from students, who argued that 
classes will not be as valuable 
as they would be under normal, 
pre-pandemic circumstances and 
that the heightened monetary 
burden was a blow to people facing 
financial straits of their own.

At another meeting several days 

later to consider a new budget 
proposal, Diggs and Bernstein 
maintained their initial positions: 
Diggs voting no and Bernstein 
voting yes. That budget passed 
in a 5-2 vote and included a 1.9 
percent increase in tuition for 
the Ann Arbor campus; a 3.9 
percent increase for UM-Flint 
and UM-Dearborn; a 1.9 percent 
increase in room and board fees 
and a $50 COVID-19 student fee.

In 
February, 
Bernstein 

announced the Board of Regents 
would reevaluate the University’s 
policy on investing in fossil fuel, 
freezing any new investments 
during that time. The decision 
followed 
months 
of 
public 

commenters 
highlighting 
the 

threat of climate change and the 
University’s 
responsibility 
to 

combat it.

At that same meeting, Bernstein 

also advocated for ensuring that 
major capital projects undertaken 
by the University align with 
its goal of achieving carbon 
neutrality by 2030.

In 
December 
2019, 
when 

the Climate Action Movement 
and One University members 
expressed frustration at a lack of 
direct response from the Board 
regarding climate change, Diggs 
was the only Regent to respond 
to their questions. She noted that 
the Regents do take into account 
public commenters’ arguments 
and sympathize with their views. 

Bernstein’s efforts to support 

the University have not always 
been well received. In July 
2016, he withdrew a $3 million 
donation he had made to the new 
Trotter Multicultural Center due 
to concerns about naming the 
building after Bernstein.

The 
Trotter 
Multicultural 

Center, which honors activist 
and newspaper editor William 
Monroe Trotter, is the only 
building on campus named after 
an African American. Bernstein 
said his intention was not to 
minimize Trotter’s legacy, adding 
that the decision came after 
feedback from the University 
community.

BRAYDEN HIRSCH & 
JULIANNA MORANO 

 Daily Staff Reporters 

Democratic incumbents nominated 
to defend seats on Board of Regents

Following state convention, Mark Bernstein and Shauna Ryder Diggs will seek 
re-election in the November general election after first being elected in 2012

Courtesy of Mark Bernstein and Shauna Ryder Diggs

Mark Bernstein and Shauna Ryder Diggs were nominated to seek relection at the Michigan Democratic Convention this week.

A2 City Council 
primary winners 
look ahead to the 
future of the city

Challengers swept incumbents out of 
office with victories August elections

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

SARAH PAYNE
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

Local eatery expands seating with increased space; owner says move will allow restaurant to accommodate more patrons 

PENNY LAM/Daily

Pizza Bob’s, a popular spot for U-M students, will move to a different location on S. State St this coming Tuesday.

