6A — Wednesday, August 31, 2022
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com 

CHEN LYU
Daily Staff Reporter

Extended social district, block closures 
shift Ann Arbor downtown experience

Resolutions passed by City Council change what downtown Ann Arbor looks like to consumers

Downtown Ann Arbor 
District Library installs free 
Narcan vending machine

RILEY HODDER
Summer Managing News Editor

Home of New Vision provides free overdose-reversing drugs

Students report 
landlords finding 
loopholes in the Early 
Leasing Ordinance
Students discuss potential issues with 
housing, hopes for future

EMMA MOORE
Daily Staff Reporter

Nearly 2,000 people gather 
for vigil after the Supreme 
Court overturns Roe v. Wade
People gather on Diag to ‘share space’ and discuss action

Read more at michigandaily.com

RILEY HODDER
Summer Managing News Editor

JULIANNE YOON/Daily 

SARAH BOEKE/Daily 

News

CITY

In June 2020, three months after 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the 
“Stay Home, Stay Safe, Save Lives” 
executive order, Ann Arbor joined 
a growing group of municipalities 
implementing 
temporary 
street 
closures to enable physical distanc-
ing for downtown restaurants and 
retailers. 
Ann Arbor City Councilmember 
Ali Ramlawi, D-Ward 5, who is also 
the owner of Jerusalem Garden, 
said his experience running a local 
business motivated him to work on 
the initial street closure agenda.
“We talked to police and Washt-
enaw County health officials to cre-
ate a safe area for people to come 
downtown,” Ramlawi said. “Equal-
ly important is to help businesses 
stay alive. Since people couldn’t 
dine-in, we wanted to set up out-
door sittings to the extent permis-
sible.”
The street closures instituted 
for last summer were temporarily 
suspended in November. On March 
21, the City Council passed a resolu-
tion announcing the return of street 
closures. The return of street clo-
sures not only allows city officials 
and downtown merchants to be 
prepared for renewed pandemic 
restrictions, but also creates a test-
ing ground for a more lively down-
town area as the city moves past 
the pandemic. The Michigan Daily 
spoke to Ann Arbor community 
members about the impacts of the 
revival of this policy on small busi-
nesses, community engagement 
and potential issues with accessibil-
ity.
Ann Arbor’s social district was 
first introduced in November 2021 
as the area of the city containing 
all block closures to allow people 
to walk around with open alcoholic 
beverages. An April 18 City Council 
resolution extended the social dis-

trict’s operational hours.
The block closures and social dis-
trict are both organized by the Main 
Street Area Association (MSAA), 
which works to make Ann Arbor’s 
downtown area and businesses suc-
cessful. In an interview with The 
Michigan Daily, Sandra Andrade, 
executive director of MSAA, said 
she expects the joint impact of the 
social district and its block closures 
to enhance foot traffic in outdoor 
spaces.
“My estimate is that the num-
ber (of participants) will double,” 
Andrade said. “The goal is to encour-
age people to be outside enjoying 
the space rather than inside. I am 
looking forward to incorporating 
that into the block closure this year.”
Andrade said increased foot 
traffic drawn by the social district 
and block closure would encourage 
more activities and events on the 
street. 
“Because of the pandemic, we 
haven’t been able to really engage 
the street space as far as we want,” 
Andrade said. “This year, we are 
going to start doing that. So Friday, 
we’ll be announcing a Thursday 
night music series. We’ll have com-
munity mornings on Fridays, and 
on Saturdays, the candles will light 
up the area. We really opened it up 
to anybody who wants to engage 
with street space.”
Opportunities for businesses and 
restaurants
2022 marks the first year certain 
downtown businesses get to expe-
rience the social district and street 
closure. Cinnaholic, a vegan bak-
ery that opened at the beginning of 
this year, is actively adjusting to the 
business rhythm of downtown Ann 
Arbor. Doug Moeller, the owner of 
the Cinnaholic, said in an interview 
with The Daily that he is looking 
forward to the upcoming events 
later this summer.
“We haven’t actually experi-
enced it,” Moeller said. “But you 
know, I did live here before. I kind 

of know what to expect from those 
things … that’s going to drive a lot 
of traffic here. We’re gonna have 
tables outside selling baby buns dur-
ing the art fair … we’re staying open 
later on Fridays and Saturdays.”
Like many businesses on Main 
Street, even though most of their 
current orders are takeout through 
Snackpass, Moeller said he is 
researching how to expand outdoor 
dining. Andrade said businesses 
must complete an application pro-
cess before they can expand out-
door dining capacity.
“People have to get sidewalk 
occupancy permits directly with 
the city,” Andrade said. “The Main 
Street Area Association holds the 
permit for the street space. So for 
folks expanding to the street, going 
through us is just a simple process 
including signing a contract that 
follows the city rules, like noise con-
trol.”
The extended social district also 
allows downtown businesses to 
connect with one another and get 
involved in local causes. Lauren 
Bloom, the owner of Bløm Mead-
works, said the social district and 
summer events offered her business 
an opportunity to advance its sus-
tainability efforts and strengthen 
community ties when they were 
previously put into place for half the 
week.
“We bought compostable cups 
from a retailer here in Ann Arbor 
for takeouts, and we bought com-
postable stickers that have a social 
district logo on it,” Bloom said. “We 
offer discounts for participants of 
the biking events, and we’re also 
working on a local food-focused 
event during A2ZERO week. We 
love doing collaborative events. It’s 
so fun for us to work with other 
small business owners. In the mean-
time, our customers get introduced 
to their business and vice versa.”
For restaurants still reeling from 
the financial costs of the pandemic, 
the block closure enables outdoor 

seating and provides a lifeline.
TAQ is a local destination for 
tacos and margaritas. Cynthia 
Messmore, the owner of TAQ, 
said in an email to The Daily that 
the business could not have sur-
vived the early stages of the pan-
demic if not for outdoor dining.
“We 
currently 
pay 
over 
$10,000 a month for our small 
space,” Messmore wrote. “With-
out the additional seating in the 
summer, we would not be in 
business.”
What residents think
In interviews with The Daily, 
Ann Arbor residents spoke on 
the ways block closures have 
impacted their personal lives 
and routines. Rackham student 
Bahaa Aldeeb said he appre-
ciated the block closures and 
wished they could be a perma-
nent feature.
“It is nice to walk outside 
and it is nice to have social dis-
tance,” Aldeeb said. “We hope 
the city could make (block clo-
sures) more official rather than a 
bunch of random obstacles in the 
middle of the street. That would 
make it feel more like a forever 
thing and would encourage us to 
visit here even more often.”
Although some drivers may 
have to drive or park further 
away from their workplace due 
to the blockades placed on the 
street, a survey conducted by the 
MSAA reported that 96% of the 
1,400 respondents are in favor of 
street closures. 
University of Michigan alum 
Nick Hall works for the law firm 
Gunderson Dettmer located in 
The First National Bank Build-
ing, a historical landmark on 
Main Street. Hall said he sup-
ports the closure and that the 
policy has little impact on his 
commute.
“When I come into work, the 

Read more at michigandaily.com

Prior to September 2021, Ann 
Arbor legislation allowed land-
lords to start showing properties 
and signing new leases for the next 
school year 70 days into the exist-
ing lease. This resulted in students 
spending the early months of each 
semester searching for housing for 
the next year. The City of Ann Arbor 
attempted to address this issue by 
passing the Early Leasing Ordi-
nance in September 2021, which 
prevents landlords from showing 
leased properties to prospective 
tenants or entering into a new ten-
ant agreement 150 days before the 
end of the current lease.
Many students report landlords 
often evade the terms of the ordi-
nance by finding various loopholes. 
These include requiring prospec-
tive tenants to pay fees in order to 
enter a waitlist for a unit or hold a 
unit before reaching the 150 day 
mark.
Source 1, an Art & Design fresh-
man, spoke on their experience 

renting from Michigan Rental. The 
student asked to remain anonymous 
and will be referred to in this article 
as Jane Doe. 
Doe said that when they signed 
their lease with Michigan Rental for 
the 2022-2023 school year, the land-
lord made them put money down to 
reserve the unit in Feb. 2022. The 
Daily received a copy of this email 
and verified its contents. 
“We contacted the property 
management company and they 
(said) because of the land ordinance 
we can’t do a lease yet but if you pay 
$2,000 for a holding fee, then we 
can hold the lease for you,” Doe said.
Doe said the ordinance is inef-
fective because landlords have been 
inconsistent in following its terms. 
Doe said they might not have had a 
place to live for the winter semester 
if they had not paid a holding fee 
early. 
“I feel like if all of them (land-
lords) are following (the ordinance), 
it would be effective or if none of 
them were following it, it would be 
however it was before,” Doe said. “I 

Read more at michigandaily.com

CITY

CITY

A new vending machine now 
stands outside the Ann Arbor 
District Library that dispenses 
free Narcan, the brand-name ver-
sion of the overdose-reversing 
drug naloxone, according to an 
April 1 tweet from AADL Direc-
tor Eli Neiburger. The vending 
machine was installed by Home 
of New Vision, an organization 
devoted to supporting those with 
substance abuse issues.
According to Rackham student 
Derek Frasure, policy director for 
Students for Sensible Drug Policy 
(SSDP) at the University of Michi-
gan, the vending machine sup-
plies resources that could be vital 
in saving someone’s life.
“(The vending machine) is 
something that can mitigate that 
tide of deaths, which has cur-
rently outpaced car accidents for 
common fatalities,” Frasure said.
Lieutenant Mike Scherba of 
the Ann Arbor Police Department 
(AAPD) said that in 2021, the 
AAPD received a total of 68 calls 
recorded in their system as drug 
overdoses in Ann Arbor, which 
averages out to about one call per 
week. While all AAPD officers 
and supervisors are required to 
carry naloxone, Scherba said the 
vending machine has the poten-
tial to create faster distribution of 
the drug to those experiencing an 
overdose.
“Provided that the person has 
the ability to administer (nalox-
one) properly, I think the poten-
tial, at least, is there for faster 
administration,” Scherba said. 
Public Policy graduate stu-
dent Alyshia Dyer is a former 
law enforcement officer for the 
Washtenaw 
County 
Sheriff’s 
Office and a member of SSDP. 
Dyer said she has responded to 
many previous 911 calls involving 
an overdose and expressed how 

critical naloxone is in overdose situ-
ations.
“The times that I’ve used nalox-
one, it really felt like you were sav-
ing someone’s life, because it wasn’t 
looking good before that,” Dyer 
said. “It showed me how important 
it was to make naloxone readily 
available.”
Dyer also said quick administra-
tion of naloxone was integral to 
ensuring the recovery of the person 
overdosing, and that by making nal-
oxone readily available, the commu-
nity was saving lives.
“I have done research on opioid 
response in Michigan, and basically, 
making naloxone widely available is 
one of the best public health initia-
tives that you can do to save people’s 
lives,” Dyer said.
Though the vending machine 
can provide quicker access to nal-
oxone, Scherba said the primary 
concern with its installment is that 
it could create a false sense of secu-
rity among those experiencing sub-
stance abuse.
“(People who are witnessing an 
overdose) may not call for help as 
soon as they could or would have 
otherwise, which could potentially 
put the user at risk,” Scherba said.
However, Brianna Dobbs, Recov-
ery Opioid Overdose Team coor-
dinator for Home of New Vision 
and coordinator for the vending 
machine project, expressed that the 
vending machine will help beyond 
just saving lives.
“Having (the vending machine) 

in such a public place will raise 
awareness, reduce barriers and 
increase access to a life-saving 
medication,” Dobbs said.
Dobbs added that Home of New 
Vision is trying to decrease the 
stigma around naloxone, as it is 
not just to be given to those expe-
riencing substance abuse. Dobbs 
emphasized naloxone can also 
be used in cases when prescribed 
medication is inadvertently mis-
administered. She said every 
household should have naloxone 
in their first aid kit.
“People can have an opioid 
overdose because they took too 
much of a prescription medica-
tion, they read the bottle wrong or 
a small child gets into someone’s 
medication,” Dobbs said.
As for the future, Home of New 
Vision hopes to expand the vend-
ing machines to other libraries in 
Washtenaw County. Dobbs said 
they are trying to expand these 
vending machines to the areas in 
Washtenaw County that expe-
rience the most overdoses. The 
organization told The Daily that 
their priority is challenging the 
stigma around drug overdoses, 
and there is still more to do.
“I think there’s so much that 
can be done,” Dobbs said. “I think 
the starting point is to provide 
empathy and passion and support 
for people.”
Daily Staff Reporter Riley Hod-
der can be reached at rehodder@
umich.edu.

Trigger warning: this article 
contains 
mentions 
of 
sexual 
assault.
An estimated 2,000 people 
gathered on the Diag on Friday to 
‘share space’ and discuss action 
after the Supreme Court over-
ruled Roe v. Wade (1973). The 
Supreme Court voted 6-3 in favor 
of a Mississippi ban on abor-
tions after 15 weeks of pregnancy 
in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s 
Health Organization, overruling 
Roe v. Wade and Planned Parent-
hood v. Casey (1992). The decision 
leaves the right to abortion access 
to the states, and it is expected 
that almost half of states will 
establish a ban on abortions as a 
result.
The vigil began with Carrie 
Rheingans — an instructor at the 
School of Social Work, a member 
of the Washtenaw County Board 
of Health and an organizer of the 
event — asking the crowd if they 
felt hurt, exhausted and angry. 
Rheingans then led everyone in 
a “deliberate scream”, and the 
Diag was momentarily filled with 
voices.
The ruling came after Politico 
released a leaked draft opinion 
suggesting that the Supreme 
Court would overrule Roe v. 
Wade last month. This leaked 
draft opinion sparked nationwide 
protests and was condemned by 

both advocates of abortion rights 
and Michigan physicians.
In 
Michigan, 
a 
preliminary 
injunction issued in May on a 1931 
ban on all abortions except those 
that are necessary to save a per-
son’s life will temporarily maintain 
access to abortions in the state. The 
injunction currently halts the ban 
from coming into effect, but it is 
only temporary, with conservative 
activists having filed a request last 
month to have the injunction lifted. 
In response, a ballot initiative called 
the Reproductive Freedom for All 
campaign currently exists in Michi-
gan that would add the right to an 
abortion to Michigan’s constitution 
if passed.
Bonsitu Kitaba, Deputy Legal 
Director at the ACLU of Michigan 
and an organizer of the vigil, spoke 
about this ballot initiative to the 
crowd, claiming that it not only pro-
tects access to abortion but also pro-
tects a wide range of reproductive 
healthcare services.
“The Reproductive Freedom for 
All campaign and ballot initiative 
is a constitutional amendment that 
protects every individual’s right to 
reproductive freedom,” Kitaba said. 
“And that means your right to make 
and effectuate decisions related to 
your pregnancy, whether that be 
contraception, sterilization, prena-
tal care, postnatal care, miscarriage 
management, infertility and abor-
tion care.”
Katie Scott, County Commission-
er for District 9 and an organizer of 
the vigil, addressed the crowd and 

urged them to act beyond the ballot 
and donate to the Midwest Access 
Coalition, an organization that rais-
es funds to help women with travel 
costs and other costs associated 
with getting an abortion. 
“In Michigan, 87% of our coun-
ties have no abortion providers,” 
Scott said. “What do we do about 
this? We support organizations like 
Midwest Access Coalition.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann 
Arbor, also spoke, expressing her 
shock at the decision. Dingell 
encouraged the crowd to use its 
energy from the vigil to take action 
to protect abortion rights.
“We’ve got to put (the energy), 
that passion, into fighting for what’s 
right, to fight for women’s health 
care,” Dingell said. “And remember, 
that’s what we’ve got to tell people, 
a woman has the right to make her 
own decision and control her own 
body.”
Ann Arbor is considered a “zone 
of reproductive freedom” after resi-
dents of Ann Arbor voted to amend 
the city’s charter 30 years ago. 
Under the amendment, if an abor-
tion were to take place within city 
limits while a state or federal ban on 
abortions existed, the person who 
had an abortion, or the healthcare 
provider, would only be subject to 
a $5 fine. Additionally, government 
officials, including the city attorney, 
are not able to refer cases to any 
other authority for prosecution.
State 
Rep. 
Felisha 
Brabec, 
D-Pittsfield, addressed the crowd, 
saying the overturning was person-
al for her as a mother of two daugh-
ters. She spoke on how this decision 
has impacted the youth of America.
“It is our 13-year-old’s birth-
day today, and the conversation 
we were having today with her 
was about the rights she had today 
when she woke up, she no longer 
has going to bed,” Brabec said. “(My 
daughter) has less rights than I had, 
and less rights than my mom had. 
That has got to change. That is why 
we are all here.”

CITY

Design by 
Erin Ruark

