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is publishing weekly on Wednesdays
for the Winter 2022 semester by
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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2 — Wednesday, May 25, 2022
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Ann Arbor city council passes
resolution to approve city
budget for 2023
The Ann Arbor City Council
met on Monday night at Larcom
City Hall to discuss and eventually
approve the Ann Arbor city budget
of approximately $525 million for
the 2023 fiscal year. The budget will
provide funds for social programs
established to support BIPOC small
business
development,
implement
training programs for citizens to
increase diversity in the workforce and
improve sustainability by giving grants
for home improvements.
Councilmembers
discussed
ways to use money collected from
the marijuana excise tax. From the
excise tax, $75,000 will be used for
exploration, community engagement
and planning for a space on Catherine
St. dedicated to the development
of
small
BIPOC
businesses.
Councilmember Julie Grand, D-Ward
3, believes the Ann Arbor community
will support this decision.
“Knowing that (the area near N 4th
Ave and Catherine St.) historically has
been a Black business district in Ann
Arbor, the idea that we could have a
BIPOC small business development
site or space (there) … would have a lot
of resonance in the community,” Grand
said.
An
additional
$572,000
from
the marijuana excise tax revenue
will go towards the establishment
of a Deflection Pilot Program. The
Deflection Pilot Program will provide
mental health services, substance
abuse counseling and assistance with
housing and transportation to those
in need of these resources, without
involving them with the criminal
system.
Community
members,
ambulance services, substance abuse
treatment providers, mental health
providers and the police will be able to
refer individuals to the program.
Councilmember Lisa Disch, D-Ward
1, said that allowing individuals to
seek help without the threat of being
arrested is what sets the new Deflection
Pilot Program apart from the city’s
current diversion and Expungement
programs, which are funded by the
2022 city budget. Disch said that the
goals of the Deflection Pilot Program
align with the Council’s resolution
(R-21-098) to use the marijuana tax
revenue to improve public safety and
provide support for the community.
“Deflection is important because
it fuses even more closely than (the
diversion program) does to Council-
stated purposes for the marijuana tax
revenues,” Disch said. “In contrast to
diversion, deflection occurs without
anyone being charged with a crime or
having a criminal file built.”
Councilmembers
also
debated
the use of a one-time withdrawal
of $100,000 from the marijuana
tax revenue to fund the creation
of a Public Works Apprenticeship
Program. Many current public works
job opportunities require candidates
to have a commercial driver’s license
(CDL). The goal of the Public Works
Apprenticeship Program is to attract
more people, especially students, to
work in public works by paying for CDL
training and offering other types of job
training. Disch said the apprenticeship
program will increase the workforce
diversity in public works.
“What
this
Public
Works
Apprenticeship Program is trying to
do is to reach out and find people who
would not normally find their way
to a job in public works,” Disch said.
“So that is about building diversity by
giving (diversity) a pathway in and not
assuming that (diversity)’s going to find
its way to our door.”
Councilmember
Ali
Ramlawi,
D-Ward 5, said that while the Public
Works Apprenticeship Program is
important, the marijuana tax revenue
should be used to address more
pressing problems caused by drugs.
“I
support
this
apprenticeship
program,” Ramlawi said. “I just believe
… that this isn’t the right source of
funding for that program, and I think
we can find the $100,000 somewhere
else.”
Ramlawi proposed an amendment
that would contribute the $100,000
from the marijuana tax revenue
to Dawn Farm, an organization
dedicated to providing long-term
treatments for recovery to addicts and
alcoholics. Ramlawi said that the City’s
cooperation with Dawn Farm would
effectively help individuals who suffer
from overdose, a problem that has been
increasing in severity in recent years.
“Within the last two years, both
years in 2020 and 2021, we’ve lost
over 100,000 people to fentanyl and
other overdose drugs,” Ramlawi said.
“We have a crisis on our hands with
overdoses in our country.”
UMich community reacts to
updated COVID-19 mask policy
The
University
of
Michigan
announced in an April 27 University-
wide email that starting May 2,
masks would no longer be required in
indoor spaces, including classrooms
and campus transportation. This
updated policy is applicable to all
three U-M campuses and includes
campus
visitors,
regardless
of
vaccination status.
The Michigan Daily spoke to U-M
students about their reactions and
opinions regarding this change. Some
students said the spring semester
seemed like the appropriate time to
lift classroom mask requirements,
given declining cases for the majority
of April and decreased student
presence on campus, but said they
would personally remain masked
while in class.
Rising LSA sophomore Jenny
Zhao said although she believes the
updated mandate is reasonable, she
will continue to wear a mask in the
classroom out of health and safety
concerns.
“When I first heard about it, it did
make sense because there (are) less
students on campus, and classes will
be smaller,” Zhao said. “I’m probably
going to (keep) wearing my mask in
classrooms just for safety concerns
because I don’t want to get sick
during the spring semester.”
Rising LSA junior Aricka Croxton
said that while the timing of the new
policy made sense, she believes a
gradual change would have been a
better approach.
“I think it’s around the time it
should happen, but I didn’t expect
it to be so abrupt,” Croxton said. “I
think the school should have just
leaned into it more slowly.”
Croxton said the changes in the
TINA YU
Daily Staff Reporter
mask mandate did not affect her
experiences while communicating
with instructors and classmates in
the classroom.
“It’s kind of still the same,”
Croxton said. “I still interact with
people the way I did before, and
I don’t think the masks changed
anything.”
Rackham student Xiaosheng Guo
is a Graduate Student Instructor for
the spring semester. Guo said she
believes the new mask mandate will
not impact safety in lecture halls
because the bigger classroom size
allows students to maintain social
distancing.
“I have taught for two semesters
that students have masks for the
whole class,” said Guo. “I think for
rooms that (are) large enough, and
the students can sit separately… then
it is okay that students don’t wear
masks because in this way, you can
still keep your social distance, and
you don’t need to be that careful
about getting (COVID-19) or other
diseases.”
However, Guo said she felt the
University should adjust its policy for
classes where students have to sit in
closer proximity to each other.
“In
discussions,
we
prefer
students to work in groups and
discuss with each other,” Guo said.
“In that case, it’s hard to keep the
social distance in the classroom. The
University should think about more
ways to actually prevent (COVID-19)
from spreading.”
Rising LSA sophomore Abhi
Shuko said while he does not
personally have an issue with
the new mask policy, he believes
it is important to maintain mask
requirements in spaces students
cannot avoid, such as classrooms and
transportation.
ANN ARBOR
CAMPUS LIFE
Design by Serena Shen
TINA YU
Daily Staff Reporter
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