I'm interested in what you think about Ann Arbor politics.  

Do you think Ingrid Shelton will be a better mayor than Liz Brater?
Will she be able to do anything with a city council that's so heavily
Democratic?  Will the Democrats flounder without Brater at the helm?

What are the big issues facing the council?  Are we looking at more
tax increases as our city administrator seems to think?  Will new
reports about leakage at the old landfill burden the budget even
more?

14 responses total.

Housing is a big issue that is sticking with the city council.

How do you feel about it, dana?  Personally, I'm not so sure the city
should be involved in housing.  I don't think they do a very good job
of it.

The city has been administrating the public housing sights.  With the
city in charge the residents have not been treated well by the admini-
strators and managers, maintenance could take months when it was done
at all and often was not done well.  

The tenants have formed an organization called Unity.  This group
is working to make certain the tenants rights or not stepped on 
because they live in public housing.  They maintain that they
can participate in the management structure officially and want
representation on the housing board.

This type of program has worked successfully in St. Louis and other
places - some worse off than Ann Arbor's public housing.  Residents
which participate in a program that gives them some control over
their own environment will feel more powerful and have a greater
sense of self-esteem than before.  The skills learned will often
be transferable to other jobs.  Finally, with greater self-
esteem and control over the environment people will be more in-
volved in the community making it a safer place.  With transfer-
able skills, it will be easier to find a job which lead out of
public housing and to a more independent lifestyle.  The program
has a lot of potential

What do you think?

I think Liz Brater was the first effective mayor Ann Arbor had in years.
Her election loss was a triumph of appearance over substance.

Of course, the appearance obstacles were pretty horrendous.  First, she
is about as anti-photogenic as any political figure I've known.  Her
picture, even in her OWN LITERATURE, was ghastly, made her look like a
12-year-old bully, and validated the nickname of "Brat Brater."  She
even dressed in an outfit (little-girl collar) that strongly accentuated
this bizarre impression.

Second, she had to cope with Kurt Zimmer.  I'm not saying that Kurt is
mentally ill, but I think it's fair to say that his paranoia is intense
and impressive.  Try discussing Brater with him at any length and see
what happens.

Third, there was the Ann Arbor News, which seemed to delight in reporting
conflict in ways that reflected negatively on Brater.

Sheldon conceded all the issues to Brater, and promised to be just like
Liz, only nicer.  Given Ann Arbor's history of weak personalities in the
mayor's office, I'm skeptical.

Nice is the _only_ quality I have heard associated with Ingrid Sheldon,
even when people aren't supporting her.

This is the transition year under the November elections plan.  1993 will
have TWO full-dress city general elections, one (already held) in April,
the other in November.  All five wards will elect representatives this
fall.  The minor catch is that they won't take office until the following
April (a one-time deal because the terms of incumbents couldn't be
shortened).

I'm a bit saddened, though not at all surprised, to see that despite the
lack of incumbents running for re-election (only Peter Nicolas in the
4th Ward), there is NOT A SINGLE PRIMARY in either party for these seats.
Some of these new candidates are in fact without any major-party
opposition at all.

I keep trying to explain about the candidate shortage and its impact ...

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try to find the locations of AA's
political parties and when and where they meet.  Only the Republicans
are listed in the telephone book.  I've never seen any notice of party
meetings--of either party--in the News or the Observer.  It seems to
me that these organizations are not really interested in recruiting
new people.

Larry, do you see yourself ever running for a council seat?  I think
you'd be quite good at it.  Is there a minimum time period for which
someone has to have established residency?

Re 7.  The Ann Arbor Democratic Party meets monthly at the Ann Arbor
Community Center on North Main.  I get notices of the meetings (usually
several month's notices packaged as one flyer).  I'll post them here if
you like.

Re 8.  I'm not sure if the Ann Arbor City Charter establishes any extra
durational residency requirement, beyond the 30 days required to vote.
As for myself, I'm flattered, but I don't think I want to attempt it
as long as I'm commuting to MSU four days a week.  

Also re 7.  I think getting involved, from scratch, in a political party
organization is not for everyone.  Someone with little experience who
wants to get involved would be better advised to start with the campaign
of a candidate they like.

Yes, please post the notices.  Perhaps we can start a separate item
for the notices.  I agree about working on campaigns, but I still say
the parties are not really looking for more members.

There is no law stating that you have vote for a major party or their
candidate.

I think that most political parties recuit from their inner circle
of people.  Once that falters, then a new circle develops to try
and meet the needs the old circle did not or could not face.  Of
course these inner circles have connections to other political
people, and to money so they can run a good looking campaign.

I have some questions about local politics.

1.  I live in Pittsfield Village, in the now co-ops that used to be
rental units across Washtenaw from arborland.  What ward am I in?  Who
is my City Counselperson?

2.  To restate the original question of this item, what do you feel are
the most pressing issues of the day for AA-Ypsi residents?

3.  What would people recommend as the best  ways to begin participating
directly in local politics?

I wasn't reading this conference last year, so I missed this question.
The answers to (1) are that you are in the 3rd Ward, Chris. Here is a 
map of the ward boundaries from the City clerk, in case others want to 
know what ward they are in 

http://www.ci.ann-arbor.mi.us/framed/Clerk/wrd4web.gif

You can also view 
http://www.ci.ann-arbor.mi.us/framed/council.htm
to see the names of the councilpersons.  These are the 3rd ward people 
listed:

WARD 3
Jean Carlberg (D)
1902 Independence Blvd. 48104
769-4493
JCarlberg@ci.ann-arbor.mi.us

Heidi Cowing Herrell (D)
2896 Sharon Drive 48108
973-3125
HHerrell@ci.ann-arbor.mi.us

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