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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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2 — Wednesday, July 27, 2022
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Michigan Court of
Claims restores 2018
petition initiative,
increases minimum wage
Judge Douglas Shapiro restores two public acts from
2018, increases minimum wage and paid sick leave
The Court of Claims restored two
public acts (P.A. 368 and P.A. 369)
from 2018 that sought to raise the
minimum wage and increase paid
sick leave on Tuesday. Judge Douglas
Shapiro’s Mothering Justice v. Dana
Nessel (2022) opinion reinstates the
acts in their original form, removing
amendments put in place in 2018,
increasing the current $9.87 minimum
wage in the state of Michigan to $12 an
hour, with the tipped minimum wage
increasing from $3.75 to $9.60.
One Fair Wage is a national coalition
of service workers which sponsored
the minimum wage initiative, while
the MI Time to Care coalition backed
the paid sick leave initiative. One Fair
Wage president Saru Jayaraman said
the restoration is a victory for minimum
wage advocates in a statement.
NIRALI PATEL
Summer News Editor
GOVERNMENT
“Workers have been fighting this
subminimum wage, which has been a
source of sexual harassment and racial
inequity, for decades …,” Jayaraman
said. “Today, the courts in Michigan
vindicated the rights of these millions
of workers, and millions of voters, to
demand that workers in Michigan be
paid a full, livable wage with tips on
top.”
In Sept. 2018, two ballot initiatives,
one for increasing the minimum wage
to $12 and another mandating paid
sick leave for employees, were passed
to the state legislature after receiving
400,000 signatures from Michigan
voters.
Rather than passing the initiatives
as they were, then-governor Rick
Snyder
and
the
Republican-led
legislature preemptively adopted the
two initiatives and went on to pass
other bills that weakened them.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Regents hold first meeting
in UP to discuss research,
appoint interim Dean of
Public Policy
Celeste Walkins-Hayes will serve as interim dean
effective July 19, 2022
The University of Michigan Board of
Regents met Thursday afternoon at Little
Bear East Arena in St. Ignace, MI, marking
the first time the regents have held a
meeting in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Interim University President Mary Sue
Coleman attended the meeting virtually
after testing positive for COVID-19, an
announcement she made at the beginning
of the meeting.
Regent Paul Brown related the
location of the meeting to the University’s
Inclusive History Project, which is focused
on engaging and understanding the
University’s history with diversity, equity
and inclusion.
“We’re here today because all of the
Regents are acutely aware of the debt
that the University owes all of the citizens
of Michigan,” Brown said. “For our 200
year history, we’ve been supported by the
taxpayers, and because of that obligation,
we’re here hopefully to present … the value
that we create for your tax dollars, as well
as listen to each of you in person from this
region, what we can do to serve you better.”
Adele Bromfield, Vice Provost for
Enrollment Management, shared a
presentation regarding the Northern
Michigan and UP admissions enrollment
data, which showed an increase in
students from Northern Michigan and
the UP — 5% and 18%, respectively —
graduating from the University over the
past five years.
ANNA FIFELSKI &
IRENA LI
Summer News Editors
Rent hike roils Ann
Arbor South Grove
community
Residents of suburban apartment complex in Ann
Arbor affected by increased rent prices
Editor’s Note: The sources Ethan
Jones, John Doe and James Leo,
referenced in this article, have had
their names changed in order to
protect their identities and housing.
The Michigan Daily has verified their
identities and their stories.
When Ethan Jones moved out of
his apartment due to unaffordable
rent and started searching for a
two-bedroom unit over a decade
ago, South Grove Apartments, a
1970s suburban apartment complex,
immediately stood out to him.
Sitting near the city limit with
several major bus routes passing by,
South Grove (formerly Pheasant Run
Apartments) offered easy access to
the University of Michigan, where
Jones was employed. According to
Jones, his monthly rent then was
around $600, whereas the median
rent in the city was around $900.
“We were just looking around on
Craigslist when we found this place,
and it was cheaper than anything
else by a couple of hundred dollars
a month,” Jones said. “So we’ve
basically been here the entire time,
and the buses are just as convenient
(as they were before).”
Jones said he felt a sense of
impending
doom
earlier
this
year. In recent years, the rents
in
many
previously
affordable
suburban
apartment
complexes
were adjusted to the market rate.
South Grove recently switched
their management from Hartman
& Tyner to Village Green, a rental
CHEN LYU
Daily Staff Reporter
ANN ARBOR
company with one of the largest
portfolios in Ann Arbor. Jones said
the switch alarmed him.
“I checked the website, trying to
get an idea of what the rent increase
for next year is going to be, and then
I noticed that (our rent) went up to
$1,350,” Jones said. “I’m thinking,
‘Holy cow, that’s like a $350
increase. That’s a big jump over
(the) $45 (increases in past years).’”
Village Green did not respond to
The Daily’s request for comment. In
interviews with The Daily, multiple
residents of South Grove confirmed
the rent hike; their rent increases
ranged from 20% to 33% based on
room types. In comparison, the
city’s median rent increase is 13.6%
from last year, according to the
data published by Apartment List,
a rental research website. The rent
hike could potentially affect more
than 800 people currently living in
the community.
John Doe, who has lived in
South Grove for almost seven
years, told The Daily he believed
the rent increase was unjustified.
He said the property’s rebranding
effort with the name change seems
inconsistent with its declining
amenity and service quality.
“Everything’s…expensive in this
area, but it used to be like Pheasant
Run was outdated,” Doe said.
“Since (Village Green) took over,
the outdoor pool hours have been
reduced and indoor pool was done
away with. The washer and dryer
prices have gone up. So I kind of felt
like it went from bad to worse.”
Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com
Jennie Vang/Daily