Kunselman’s win was relatively narrow compared to the 29-point spread in the Ward 4 race between Jack Eaton and incumbent Marcia Higgins. That margin translated into 559 more votes for Eaton.

Results map. Ward 4 precincts won by Eaton are in blue shaded by strength of support. Precincts won by Higgins are in red. Ward 3 precincts won by Kunselman are in purple, shaded by strength of support. Precincts won by Grand are in green.

Totals and percents in Ward 3: Kunselman received 927 votes (51.8%) and Grand received 862 votes (48.2%).

Totals and percents in Ward 4: Eaton received 1,233 votes (64.6%) and Higgins received 674 votes (35.3%).

Complete unofficial results with various cuts of the data are available on the Washtenaw County clerk’s election results website.

Voter turnout was 9.24% in Ward 3 and 9.58% in Ward 4.

Of the city’s five wards, those were the only two primaries that were contested. No Republican candidates filed this year. The council consists of two representatives from each ward plus the mayor for a total of 11 members. Councilmembers serve two-year terms, so every year one of the seats is up for election. This is not a mayoral election year.

With Kunselman’s victory in the primary, it sets up the possibility of a Democratic primary race in 2014 between the sitting councilmember Kunselman and incumbent mayor John Hieftje. Kunselman has said that if Hieftje seeks an eighth term, he’d run against him.

But Kunselman will need to get past the Nov. 5 general election in Ward 3, when he’ll face independent Sam DeVarti. DeVarti is a UM student, and son of long-time Kunselman supporter Dave DeVarti – who’s a former councilmember and former Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board member. Add in the fact that Kunselman’s wife Letitia and the younger DeVarti are co-workers at the Northside Grill and it points to a campaign that’s more likely to be waged on respectful than on bitter terms.

Other races now basically set for the fall include possibly a three-way race between incumbent Ward 1 Democrat Sabra Briere and independents Jeff Hayner and Jaclyn Vresics. As of the end of the day on Aug. 6, the city clerk was still in the process of verifying signatures for Vresics in advance of the Aug. 7 deadline.

In Ward 2, incumbent independent Jane Lumm will face challenges from Democrat Kirk Westphal (who was unopposed in the Aug. 6 primary) and independent Conrad Brown. Of the city council races in the fall, the Ward 2 race is likely to draw the most interest citywide.

In Ward 4, Eaton will almost certainly not face a challenger on November’s ballot. In Ward 5, incumbent Democrat Mike Anglin will likely be the only choice presented to voters.

In this report we provide some additional detail on the Ward 3 and Ward 4 primary result maps.

Ward 3

Kunselman’s 65-vote margin in Ward 3 is comparable to the 58-vote spread between Carsten Hohnke and Vivienne Armentrout in the 2008 Ward 5 Democratic primary. That resulted in a recount, which confirmed Hohnke’s win.

In Ward 3, Grand prevailed in two precincts. Grand’s 109-vote plurality in her own Burns Park neighborhood Precinct 3-3 provided some possibility that it would be a big enough buffer to prevail overall. There she had 313 (60.5%) votes to Kunselman’s 204 (39.5%). But the other precinct she won, Precinct 3-5, provided just 18 additional votes over Kunselman. In the 2008 primary, when Christopher Taylor prevailed against Kunselman, the Burns Park Precinct 3-3 – where Taylor and Grand live only a block apart – delivered an 80% Taylor spread (487-114).

Percentages in the Ward 3 map caption have been corrected from initial publication.

Ward 4

The first results to be reported out of Ward 4 came from Precincts 4-4 and 4-8 – just 10 minutes after the polls closed. Based on Eaton’s performance in the 2010 and 2012 primaries, which he contested unsuccessfully against Margie Teall, those combined precincts should have gone to Higgins, if she was to have any chance of winning. So from the 172-123 margin Eaton had there, it was already apparent that Eaton had won. The only question was by how much.

Now Eaton is likely to join Teall at the council table.

In the one precinct where Higgins prevailed, Precinct 4-1, only four people voted. So the two-vote plurality she achieved there did not come close to offsetting the clear majorities Eaton won across the ward. Eaton’s decisive victories near his own neighborhood in Precincts 4-7 and 4-9 were somewhat expected. But he also edged out Higgins in the Lower Burns Park Precinct 4-3, where Higgins would have been expected to show some strength.

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With results from 4 of 6 in-person polling locations informally reported, as well as absent voter totals from all precincts in Ward 3, Kunselman has received 747 votes (55%) and Grand has received 610 votes (44.9%).

This brief will be updated as more results are reported.

Updated at 8:46 p.m. With results from 6 of 6 in-person polling locations informally reported, as well as absent voter totals from all precincts in Ward 3, Kunselman has received 927 votes (51.8%) and Grand has received 862 votes (48.2%).

Kunselman appears to have won this race. 

These results are unofficial. The Washtenaw County clerk’s website for election results will also have unofficial tallies.

With results from 1 of 8 in-person polling locations informally reported, Eaton has received 172 votes (58.3%) and Higgins has received 123 votes (41.7%). The location reporting results is the combined 4-4 & 4-8 precinct. Based on results from previous years, Eaton would have not expected to poll as strong in those precincts as in 4-7 and 4-9.

This brief will be updated as more results are reported.

Update at 8:37 p.m. With results from 7 of 8 in-person polling locations informally reported, as well as absent voter totals from all precincts in Ward 4, Eaton has received 972 votes (62.6%) and Higgins has received 580 votes (37.3%).

Update at 9:11 p.m. With results from 8 of 8 in-person polling locations informally reported, as well as absent voter totals from all precincts in Ward 4, Eaton has received 1233 votes (64.6%) and Higgins has received 674 votes (35.3%).

Jack Eaton appears to have won this race.

These results are unofficial. The Washtenaw County clerk’s website for election results will also have unofficial tallies.

Members of one of the Pioneer High School marching band drum lines practiced on the evening before Election Day. Already in place was the yellow sign indicating that no campaigning is allowed beyond that point. Pioneer High serves at the polling location for Precincts 4 & 8 in Ward 4. (Photo illustration by The Chronicle.)

This year voters in the primary will be confronted with a single issue – a city council race. Ann Arbor city council seats have contested Democratic primaries in just two of the five wards. No Republican candidates are on the ballot.

Voters in Ward 3 will choose between incumbent Stephen Kunselman and Julie Grand. In Ward 4, the choice is between incumbent Marcia Higgins and Jack Eaton.

For all of you procrastinators who are still researching the candidates, here’s a link to Chronicle coverage of the Democratic primary races for Ann Arbor city council this year.

Not sure where to vote? To find your polling place and view a sample ballot for your precinct, visit the Secretary of State’s website.

Check back here throughout the day for briefs filed from the field, or add a comment with your own Election Day observations. 

7:15 a.m. Ward 3, Precinct 8 (Pittsfield School, 2543 Pittsfield Blvd.) As I roll up, poll worker Joseph Bones opens the door to the elementary school. In a loud, booming voice, he declares the polls open for all the world to hear. One person was there that early to vote. Two more arrive shortly after that. Among the reading material brought by poll workers: “Evil” by David Baldacci.

7:20 a.m. Ward 3, Precincts 1 & 2 (Michigan League, 911 N. University) Outside, there are 16 campaign signs for Julie Grand posted around the perimeter of the Michigan League – but so far, none for Stephen Kunselman. Poll workers expect an extremely slow day. They’re taking bets on the number of voters who might show up, with estimates ranging from 34 to 75.

This is a polling station for a combined precinct, and one of those precincts, 3-1, is primarily University of Michigan student housing, including the East Quad dorm. Poll workers recall that they were busy in November of 2012. “That was fun,” one of them says. One of the poll workers brought chocolate cookies to share. Another one brought carrot cake. They are well stocked for the long day.

7:49 a.m. Ward 4, Precinct 1 (Michigan Union, 530 S. State St.) The small polling room on the union’s first floor is stuffy – both the heat and the AC are on, poll workers report. One person has voted here so far. Because this is also a heavy student precinct – including the South Quad dorm – workers don’t expect more than a trickle of voters. They’ve brought reading material.

8:08 a.m. Ward 3, Precincts 6 & 9 (Scarlett Middle School, 3300 Lorraine St.) Approaching the Turnberry neighborhood through a cross-lot path, there’s a small sign in a front lawn: “US War Dead: 6,745.” The polls are set up in the gym. The two doors are propped open to the outside, but the air inside remains heavy with the smell of old gym wood floor varnish. A banner indicates that Scarlett athletes compete as the Roadrunners. Other middle schools: Cougars (Clague), Trojans (Tappan), Vikings (Forsythe), Golden Bears (Slauson), and Pandas (Ann Arbor Open). No Wile E. Coyotes in the mix. About a dozen people have voted so far. As she’s leaving, one tells the poll workers: “Thanks for doing this, you guys!”

8:27 a.m. Ward 4, Precinct 3 (UM Coliseum, Fifth Ave. & Hill St.) Voter No. 2 this morning just walks in – Graydon Krapohl, a member of the city’s park advisory commission. We chat after he finishes voting, and he reports that he’ll be putting out campaign signs here for incumbent Marcia Higgins. Signs for Jack Eaton are already posted in the appropriate spots. A few more voters show up, and most seem familiar to the poll workers. One worker is sewing red cloth baskets – she has three on the table. Others are doing more traditional time-killing activities: Reading and chatting. Voter No. 8 has now arrived.

And now voter No. 9 – Ned Staebler. He points out that voters no longer have to sign the statement saying they are a U.S. citizen. “I’m not a lawyer, but I play one on Facebook,” he jokes. Staebler also observes there are no longer any paper poll books – all precincts use electronic poll books now, and he clarifies that candidates can look at those. One of the poll workers asks: “Who are you?” He explains that he previously ran for office here, and has worked on other campaigns. Most recently, in 2010 he ran for state representative in District 53, but lost a very close race in the Democratic primary to Jeff Irwin.

8:35 a.m. Ward 3, Precinct 5 (University Townhouses Center, 3200 Braeburn Circle) The speedbumps leading to the polls are substantial. Poll workers are disappointed that I am not here to vote. Three people have cast their ballots in person so far. There’s not typically a morning rush, they explain, but around lunchtime and evening when people get off work, they expect to see a few more voters. Poll workers sort through the scheduling for their lunch breaks.

9:02 a.m. Ward 4, Precinct 2 (Mary St. Polling Place, 926 Mary St.) Here at the city’s historic polling station – the only building that’s still used for its original purpose – the smell of bleach doesn’t quite mask the underlying scent of bird excrement. Most of the year, this small one-room structure is used by the Bird Center of Washtenaw County. There have been three voters here by 9 a.m., including one of the poll workers. The precinct chair, Richard Holmes, points out the new window air-conditioner that’s been installed. But unlike most August primaries when the weather is hot and humid, the AC is hardly needed today. At nearly every polling station, workers remark on the pleasant weather this year – they caught a break.

9:13 a.m. Ward 3, Precincts 4 & 7 (Allen School, 2560 Towner Blvd.) The road to Allen Elementary is called Easy Street, which competes with Goat Fell for the best street name in the city. The pervious pavers on the east side of Easy Street have sunken a bit, making cycling a bit of a challenge. Poll workers exhibit a bit of precinct pride in reporting that 48 people have voted so far. At one point, four people were in line, and two of the voting booths were occupied at the same time. They’re happy the lighting in the school has been upgraded, making it easier to see than in past years. They offer me a spot to observe, situated between the flag of the state of Michigan and the American flag.

9:32 a.m. Ward 3, Precinct 3 (Tappan Middle School, 2251 E. Stadium Blvd.) When I arrive, 64 people have voted. During the next 15 minutes, another 10 people show up to vote, but never enough to create a wait. On her way out, one voter says, “Well, that was really easy!”

City attorney Stephen Postema walks in and introduces himself to poll workers as a member of the city’s election commission. He arrives at the same time as Ward 3 councilmember Christopher Taylor and two other voters. Outside, two volunteers for Julie Grand – wearing her purple campaign T-shirts – are handing out literature and talking to voters on their way in. These are the first campaign workers I’ve encountered so far at a polling station.

10:08 a.m. Ward 4, Precinct 6 (Cobblestone Farm, 2781 Packard St.) Large cutouts of fruits and vegetables along Packard indicate the farmers market, which runs from 4-7 p.m. at this location today. At the polls, a ballot jams in the machine. Could be the humidity. In any case, it results in a spoiled ballot. And the tabulator appears to be wrecked. Poll workers decide to have subsequent voters put their ballots in the auxiliary bin in the voting machine on the lower left side of the machine. The second voter who was asked to use this secondary procedure is Liz Margolis, Ann Arbor Public Schools communications director. Her comment to poll workers on placing it in the auxiliary bin: “As long as it counts.”

A few minutes later, the poll workers break out the manual for opening up the tabulator to clear obstructions. “You want to take one and try it again?” It appears that one of the wheels that pulls in the ballots is not grabbing properly. It’s pulling on one side but not the other. A technician is called. He’s now on site. Wire cutters are located. Current count is verified. Power is switched off. Tabulator is removed from top of machine. Replacement is installed. Poll workers engage in verification procedures. Ballots are fed successfully through the new tabulator. Technician leaves with defective tabulator.

City attorney Stephen Postema has arrived. He’s approaching each poll worker, introducing himself and thanking them for their service, working the room as a candidate running for office would. This is his custom, as a member of the city’s election commission, to visit the polls, introduce himself and shake hands with as many people as possible. So it’s not necessarily analyzable as a soft launch to his campaign for 22nd Circuit Court judge in 2014. Still, according to some members of the Washtenaw County legal community, he’s told them that he’s decided to run in 2014 for the judgeship that Donald Shelton will leave open when Shelton is “aged out.” Other possible candidates include Cedric Simpson and Erane Washington.

11:56 a.m. Ward 4, Precinct 5 (Clare Church/Temple Beth Emeth, 2309 Packard) So far 53 people have cast ballots here. The designated public area for this precinct includes a table and a chair, making it the very best precinct in the city from the perspective of a working journalist. Campaign sign count outside is Eaton, 5; Higgins, 3.

This polling location is on an AAATA bus route. Bus #479 [vehicle number] has just pulled into the stop heading southeast on Packard [Route #5]. A family arrives – parents, teenage daughter, and two younger kids. About the older daughter, mother announces: “This is her first time voting!” After voting, she declares: “That’s exciting.” “I voted” stickers are handed out all around.

2:12 p.m. Ward 4, Precincts 4 & 8 (Pioneer High School, 601 W. Stadium Blvd.) Voter No. 123 walks into the Pioneer gym, which is empty except for the four poll workers. “How will you handle this big crowd?” she jokes. One worker reports that turnout is better than expected, and has been steady.

Soon there’s a mini rush of sorts, with about five voters showing up. The gym is a little stuffy – one of the big stationary fans isn’t working, and the school electrician is enlisted to see if it can be fixed.

Also making an appearance is Howard Scheps from the city clerk’s office, with some paperwork for a poll worker to fill out. One of the workers calls out: “Get two pieces of ID from this guy!”

2:37 p.m. Ward 4, Precinct 9 (Lawton School, 2250 S. Seventh St.) To get to the polling room here, you have to navigate a twist of hallways, though there are plenty of “Vote Here” signs to guide the way. Even so, one voter that I encounter has gone into a darkened room by mistake, so I point her in the right direction. Turns out we interrupted someone’s nap.

There have been 150 voters so far, and poll workers cheer when they hear that their number is higher than the Pioneer High polling station. They talk about a relatively easy wrap-up after polls close at 8 p.m., given the relatively low number of voters and the simple ballot – especially compared to November 2012. One woman who took less than a minute to vote says “That’s my kind of ballot!”

3:19 p.m. Ward 4, Precinct 7 (Dicken School, 2135 Runnymede) The polls have been open 8 hours when voter No. 200 walks into the gym at Dicken. Poll workers have been here since 6 a.m., and have five more hours until the polls close – not that they’re counting.

The elderly couple who are voters No. 199 and 200 walk arm in arm. The woman tells poll workers that “I used to work here many years ago.” The man says he’s glad it’s a short ballot. He puts the “I Voted” sticker on his forehead, and paraphrases General MacArthur as he walks out: “I shall return – in November!”

And that wraps up the tour for this year.  The polls close at 8 p.m. The earliest results could be available within a half hour or so after the polls close. We’ll publish initial, unofficial results – based on voting machine tapes generated at the close of polls – in the Civic News Ticker. The Washtenaw County clerk’s website for election results will also have unofficial tallies.

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of civics and government affairs. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already voting for us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

Electronic tabulation equipment for the Aug. 6, 2013 election. From left: Ann Arbor city clerk Jackie Beaudry, deputy clerk Jennifer Alexa, and chief of police John Seto. Beaudry and Seto are members of the city election commission. The third member is city attorney Stephen Postema, who was absent from this Aug. 1 meeting.

Ballots cast by absent voters in the Aug. 6 primary election will be handled a bit differently than in previous elections – which will bring the city into early compliance with a state law enacted last year. It means that the election results for absent voters will be broken down by precinct. [.pdf of Act 272 of 2012]

The basic approach to counting absent voter ballots in this election will be consistent with the procedure used in the last few years: In elections when precinct delegates for political parties are not being selected by voters, absent voter count boards are established – separate from the in-person precinct polling places.

The alternative would be to transport the absent voter ballots to each precinct location, where election workers at the precincts would feed the absent ballots through the same machine that counts in-person votes.

So for the Aug. 6 count, two separate absent voter count boards will be established – one for Ward 3 and one for Ward 4.

What’s different this year is compliance with Act 272 of 2012, which requires a precinct-by-precinct count within the set of absent voter ballots. The new law applies to elections that take place after July 1, 2014, but the city is complying with that procedure for this primary election.

In past years, election results for absent voter count boards were aggregated by ward, and were not broken out by precinct. 

Counting machine tape from the test of electronic tabulation equipment conducted on Aug. 1, 2013, showing absent voter totals broken down by precinct.

Compliance with the new law was already evident during a required public test of the electronic tabulators, which was conducted by Ann Arbor’s election commission on the morning of Aug. 1. The tapes generated by the counting machines for absent voter ballots showed results broken down by individual precinct.

The public test of the equipment is a requirement under state election law and rules promulgated by the secretary of state.

Voters in Ward 3 will choose between incumbent Stephen Kunselman and Julie Grand. In Ward 4, the choice is between incumbent Marcia Higgins and Jack Eaton. No Democratic primary is contested in Wards 1, 2 or 5. No Republican primaries are contested in the city.

Coverage of the campaigns is categorized in The Chronicle as “2013 primary election.”

Based on the number of absentee ballots returned by voters so far, interest in the Ward 3 election this year seems at least as solid, if not slightly stronger, as in a comparable past primary. A summary through Aug. 1 provided by the city of Ann Arbor clerk’s office shows 334 voters in Ward 3 have voted using an absentee ballot. In the 2011 Ward 3 primary, 286 people voted using an absentee ballot.

In Ward 4 this year, a total of 419 people have voted with an absentee ballot in the primary election. [.pdf of Aug. 1, 2013 AV ballot summary]

The Washtenaw County clerk’s office is prepared to accommodate the finer-grained breakdown of absentee voter totals in its online reporting of election results. According to deputy clerk Ed Golembiewski, who serves as director of elections for the county, a new template will be used, which provides a view of the data that breaks down the absentee voter totals by precinct.

Screenshot of test website for Washtenaw County clerk election results. This view will show the in-person and absentee votes cast in the combined Precincts 1 & 2 for Ward 3.

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of civics and government affairs. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already voting for us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

2013 Ann Arbor Democratic primary city council campaign contributions: All candidates. (Map by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk’s office.) Maps by candidate are included after the jump.

The deadline for filing pre-primary reports was July 26, for the period ending July 21.

Voters in the Democratic primary for Ward 3 will choose between incumbent Stephen Kunselman and Julie Grand as the Democratic candidate to appear on the November city council ballot. Grand raised the most cash of any candidate, getting donations from 68 contributors averaging about $160 apiece for a total of $10,825.

Kunselman raised $5,855 from 54 contributors. While that’s roughly half what Grand raised, it’s about twice what he received in the pre-primary period in 2011 ($2,750). That was a three-way race between himself, Ingrid Ault and Marwan Issa. The average contribution to Kunselman’s campaign this year was about $110.

In Ward 4, voters will choose between incumbent Marcia Higgins and Jack Eaton. Fourteen-year incumbent Higgins raised the least cash of any candidate, receiving $4,592 from 26 contributors for an average donation of $177.

Eaton raised $7,958 from 82 different contributors for an average donation of $97. That’s the greatest number of individual contributors of any candidate. Eaton’s total this time around is about twice as much as he raised for the same period in 2012 ($4,305), when he ran a close but ultimately unsuccessful race against incumbent Margie Teall.

Of the 228 total contributors for all four candidates (including those who contributed to more than one campaign), The Chronicle counted at least 57 contributions (25%) from people who are either current or past elected or appointed officials – including appointees to committees. Those contributions were evenly distributed across candidates: Eaton (16); Higgins (13); Grand (14); Kunselman (14).

Some current councilmembers have lent their financial support to candidates. Ward 4 challenger Jack Eaton is supported financially by Sumi Kailasapathy (Ward 1), Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2). Incumbent Marcia Higgins has financial support from her wardmate Margie Teall as well as mayor John Hieftje.

Ward 3 incumbent Stephen Kunselman is also supported financial by Anglin and Lumm. Julie Grand has received contributions from Higgins and Teall.

Current and past campaign filing documents can be searched and retrieved from the Washtenaw County clerk’s web page. [.pdf of Grand's statements] [.pdf of Eaton's statements] [.pdf of Higgins' statements] [.pdf of Kunselman's statements]

Other coverage of the campaigns is categorized in The Chronicle as “2013 primary election.”

Presented below are charts of contribution counts, broken down by size of contribution, as well as maps showing the geographic distribution of contributions.

Contribution Counts by Size

In recent Democratic primaries, the shape of the distribution of contributions by size has been a possible indicator of success. Specifically, those candidates with a distribution skewed toward a greater number of smaller contributions have been successful.

Jack Eaton: Ann Arbor Ward 4 city council 2013 Democratic pre-primary campaign contributions. (Chart by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

Marcia Higgins: Ann Arbor Ward 4 city council 2013 Democratic pre-primary campaign contributions. (Chart by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

Julie Grand: Ann Arbor Ward 3 city council 2013 Democratic pre-primary campaign contributions. (Chart by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

Stephen Kunselman: Ann Arbor Ward 3 city council 2013 Democratic pre-primary campaign contributions. (Chart by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

Geographic Distribution

The maps below do not include contributions made from out of state. For example, members of Ward 3 candidate Julie Grand’s family, who live in Massachusetts, contributed to her campaign.

Contributions in Ward 4 (green) this year continue a trend seen in previous primaries – for many contributions to come from residents who live inside the city but outside the ward. Eaton’s geographic distribution can be identified by the tight cluster of donations in the northwest corner of the ward – where he lives. But his support is evenly distributed across the middle of the city, without regard to ward boundaries.

Based on the geographic distribution of contributions to Higgins’ campaign, it’s not evident which ward the race is in.

Jack Eaton 2013 Ward 4 (green) Ann Arbor city council campaign contributions: Democratic primary. (Map by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

Marcia Higgins 2013 Ward 4 (green) Ann Arbor city council campaign contributions: Democratic primary. (Map by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

In Ward 3 (yellow), both candidates enjoyed some support from outside the ward, but Grand’s support is more clearly centered in the neighborhood where she lives – in Burns Park. She received no contributions in Ward 3 south of Buhr Park. Kunselman’s neighborhood is discernible in the geographic plot, south of Packard and west of Platt.

Julie Grand 2013 Ward 3 (yellow) Ann Arbor city council campaign contributions: Democratic primary. (Map by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

Stephen Kunselman 2013 Ward 3 (yellow) Ann Arbor city council campaign contributions: Democratic primary. (Map by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk.)

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the Ann Arbor city council. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already supporting us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

Jack Eaton and incumbent Marcia Higgins are competing for the Democratic nomination in the Ward 4 primary election on Aug. 6. (Photos by the writer.)

Each of the city’s five wards is represented with two seats on the 11-member council, which includes the mayor. The terms for council seats are two years, and one of the two seats is up for election every year.

Both candidates participated in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on July 10. The complete video recording of the forum, conducted at Community Television Network’s studios on South Industrial, is available online through CTN’s Video on Demand.

Questions fielded by Eaton and Higgins included topics like downtown Ann Arbor and future development, transportation, relations between the University of Michigan and the city, and interactions between councilmembers and residents.

They also responded to a debate prompt that for Ward 4 possibly could be of greater significance than those other issues – a question about flooding. In last year’s Ward 4 Democratic primary, which Eaton contested with incumbent Margie Teall, the election came about five months after heavy rains on March 15, 2012 caused overland flooding in the Lansdowne neighborhood of Ward 4. Although Eaton lost the election by a handful of votes, he was strongest in the precincts farther from downtown, where the flooding took place. Previously, Eaton had run for the Democratic nomination to represent Ward 4 in 2010, also against Teall. His showing in 2012 was a significant improvement over his 2010 result. This year marks his third campaign for Ann Arbor city council.

Higgins was first elected to the council in 1999 – as a Republican. However, she switched to the Democratic Party in 2005. She’s in her 14th year of service on the council.

This report presents responses by Higgins and Eaton to questions at the July 10 LWV forum, grouped more by theme than by chronology.

Opening Statement

Candidates were given a chance to make a one-minute opening statement.

Opening Statement: Eaton

Eaton began by thanking the League of Women Voters for holding the forum. Ward 4 residents were telling him that city hall needs to focus on sensible priorities, such as essential infrastructure and core services, he said. He’s running for office because he has been involved in local politics – as he’s been active in his neighborhood association and in helping other neighborhoods get organized.

What he’d found, Eaton said, is that the city council is unresponsive to the concerns of city residents. He’s running for council because he believes that Ward 4 residents deserve responsive leadership. He said he’d answer e-mails and return phone calls promptly. He’s running because he believes the council needs to represent the priorities of its residents. If elected, he would seek common sense solutions to neighborhood concerns.

He called himself a voice for sensible priorities – such as public safety, protecting the local transportation system, and maintaining essential infrastructure.

Opening Statement: Higgins

Higgins introduced herself as a current councilmember representing Ward 4. Since the time she was elected to the council, her priorities have always included a balanced budget, she said, which absolutely allows the city to provide core services.

Other priorities indicated by Higgins included maintaining infrastructure, maintaining strong reserves and an excellent bond rating, preserving parkland, and working with neighbors on various issues. She’d worked on stormwater issues, traffic calming, and had prevented football parking in Allmendinger Park, Higgins said. She’d worked on issues that arise between residents and students.

Higgins said she wants to continue to work to make Ann Arbor a vibrant and livable city. She wants to work with residents in collaboration going forward, looking at how Ann Arbor can be moved forward.

Downtown, Development

Several questions involved downtown development and a vision for the future of Ann Arbor.

Downtown, Development: City-Owned Land

Please tell the voters what land the city owns in the downtown area and how you would favor using it for the greatest good. What ideas are out there or are commitments already made? And specifically, what use would you support for the Library Lane lot?

The five city-owned sites that were the focus of the Connecting William Street project are indicated in blue.

By way of additional background, the DDA this year completed a city council-directed planning project, called Connecting William Street (CWS), which included the Library Lane lot as well as the former Y Lot. The CWS project was undertaken by the DDA based on a directive from the city council given at its April 4, 2011 meeting.

The intent was to make recommendations for possible future development, in a cohesive way, on five city-owned sites: (1) the Kline lot (on the east side of Ashley, north of William), (2) the lot next to Palio restaurant (northeast corner of Main & William), (3) the ground floor of the Fourth & William parking structure, (4) the former YMCA lot (on William between Fourth and Fifth), and (5) the top of the Library Lane underground parking garage on South Fifth, north of the downtown library.

In January 2013, the DDA gave a presentation to the council on its Connecting William Street recommendations. The council never took action on that proposal. However, at its March 5, 2013 meeting, the Ann Arbor planning commission voted to adopt the report as a resource document supporting the city’s master plan. Kirk Westphal, the commission’s chair, also served on an advisory board for the Connecting William Street effort. He is running unopposed in the Aug. 6 Democratic primary for Ward 2.

For a summary of Chronicle coverage of CWS and Y lot issues, see “Planning Group Strategizes on Downtown.”

Downtown, Development: City-Owned Land – Higgins

Higgins began by saying that the city council had worked with the DDA to look at what needs to be done in the downtown. The city owns several lots in the midtown area, she said. The Kline lot is also under consideration, she added. The city has just contracted with a real estate person to look at the Y lot and at what can be done with that, she said.

She felt there’s still a community conversation that is happening about what to do with those properties – and she didn’t think that decisions about that should be driven by the council. Higgins thought that decisions about those properties should be driven by the community. She was not aware of any decisions that have been made, she said. She’s not supporting any particular decision, she said, because it’s still an ongoing conversation.

For the top of the Library Lane lot, she’d heard all different types of suggestions that had been made, and all of them have merit, she contended. The community had not yet coalesced around one idea that is right for Ann Arbor, she concluded.

Downtown, Development: City-Owned Land – Eaton

The city owns a variety of properties downtown, Eaton began, saying that each one of them is unique. As a unique feature of the old Y lot, he pointed out that it’s a property that the city purchased and still owes money on. So he thought that property should be treated differently, saying that the city should try to sell that as soon as it can, so that the debt can be paid off. Eaton cautioned that it’s important to make sure that the zoning attached to the property is definite enough so that there is not a big drawn-out fight over how to use it, once somebody does buy it. But Eaton said he doesn’t think the city should micromanage what happens to it: The property should be put on the market and the market should decide what happens to that.

The other properties that the city doesn’t owe any money on are really public assets, Eaton said. And the city should be careful how those properties are used or disposed of. He believed a close look should be taken at developing downtown parks, and at creating downtown performance centers – things that actually serve the community, rather than simply selling those properties for a price.

Downtown, Development: DDA

Who or what is the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority and what is the financial interrelationship between the DDA and the city of Ann Arbor? Do you favor continuing it or changing it somehow? And if so, what would you like to do?

By way of additional background, the DDA does not levy taxes on its own authority, but rather captures taxes of other taxing entities – the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Washtenaw Community College and the Ann Arbor District Library. The DDA does not capture the full amount of those entities’ taxes, but rather only on the initial increment between the baseline value of a property and the increase in value due to new construction and improvements. That is, the DDA does not capture taxes on an increase that’s due to inflation.

Chapter 7 of the city code already regulates the DDA’s tax increment finance (TIF). The DDA has chosen to interpret the Chapter 7 language in a way that does not recognize the cap on TIF revenues that is set forth in the code. That led to a proposal by some councilmembers earlier this year to revise the ordinance so that the DDA’s alternate interpretation is clearly ruled out. The council gave the ordinance change initial approval on April 1, 2013. But later, on May 6, 2013, the council chose to postpone the vote until Sept. 3, the council’s first meeting that month.

Downtown, Development: DDA – Eaton

The Downtown Development Authority was created under a state statute, Eaton said, that allows cities to “skim” tax funds off of a downtown area for improving the downtown.

Jack Eaton.

The statute was originally intended to help avoid decaying Midwestern downtowns. Ann Arbor’s DDA has been quite successful, he said, pointing out that Ann Arbor doesn’t have a decaying downtown.

Eaton allowed that the DDA does important work for the city.

When the city of Ann Arbor originally conceived of having a downtown development authority, Eaton pointed out, the city’s ordinance [Chapter 7] included limiting the rate of growth of the DDA TIF capture, but now “we’ve lost our way from that.”

Now that so much building is going on in the downtown area, the DDA is increasing its revenues at a rapid rate, Eaton. He thought it’s important to look at how quickly those revenues increase.

Downtown, Development: DDA – Higgins

The DDA is always changing, Higgins said.

Marcia Higgins eyed the hat from which she was asked to draw a slip of paper to determine the sequence of speaking turns.

The DDA was created in the 1980s, at a time when downtown Ann Arbor was decaying. A complete flight of things out of downtown and out to the suburbs had taken place, she said, noting that this was when Briarwood Mall was built.

And Ann Arbor’s downtown was looking pretty bad. The DDA took the initiative and has rebuilt the downtown, Higgins said.

Over the last 20 years, the downtown has changed significantly several different times. That is a part of change, Higgins said.

The DDA does a great job, she said. The issue that has come before the council now is a funding issue, she explained.

Higgins contended that the city had spent a lot of time in an economic downturn to lay a platform for the growth of the downtown area – and some of that is now happening. And it’s not just apartment buildings being built, Higgins said. Companies are coming back to downtown because that’s where they want to be.

So the city council right now is tackling the issue: What is the correct funding formula? A DDA-council committee had been appointed to review that question and come back with a solution, she concluded.

Downtown, Development: Vision of Ann Arbor

Many of today’s Ann Arbor citizens say they don’t recognize their city anymore, with the high-rises, zoning changes, and widely varying architecture. Are we trying for a complete makeover? So how would you or did you as a councilmember vote regarding building moratoriums, height restrictions, dedication of historical districts, and architectural oversight?

By way of additional background, on May 13, 2013, the city council approved a contentious development proposal at 413 E. Huron – a 14-story, 216-apartment building at the northeast corner of Huron and Division streets.

The council had contemplated imposing a moratorium on downtown site plans, but on March 18, 2013 opted not to do so. Instead, the council gave direction to the city planning commission to review the city’s D1 zoning. The specific scope of planning commission work was outlined in an April 1, 2013 council resolution. Before that, on March 4, 2013 the council also reconvened its design review task force to take another look at the design review process. Currently, design review is mandatory, but compliance by developers with review board recommendations is voluntary.

Downtown, Development: Vision of Ann Arbor – Higgins

Higgins described the A2D2 downtown rezoning overhaul as a large project to decide on a vision for Ann Arbor, which had lasted several years. It was a collaboration of residents from across the city over several years and resulted in a community decision to increase density in the downtown. And until the community tells her otherwise, Higgins said, she’d continue to support that.

Where problems had arisen, she said, is in those areas where downtown zoning butts up against near-downtown neighborhoods. That’s now being reviewed, Higgins pointed out, by the planning commission. A consultant has been hired to look at areas where residential areas butt up against tall buildings, Higgins said, calling it a legitimate concern. As far as the proposed moratorium, she said, a platform had been set for what the community wanted to do in the downtown – and she wanted to continue with that platform.

Five buildings went through with complete approval, she said, and for one where there were issues, citizens had told the council there were issues. Higgins pointed to her work on the downtown design guidelines, which are used to guide architectural aspects of development.

Downtown, Development: Vision of Ann Arbor – Eaton

Eaton began by saying he felt there are competing visions for the city. He felt some of the city’s leaders envision making “radical changes to our town,” changing the character of downtown dramatically and perhaps even making Ann Arbor a “mini-metropolis.” Eaton said he’s not sure that everyone supports that.

He allowed that Ann Arbor can sustain some core density. But when the city was considering the A2D2 downtown zoning, he and others had warned that the zoning needed to provide buffers between the core density and the nearby neighborhoods – but the council had failed to do so.

Eaton analyzed the fight over 413 E. Huron as the product of a failure to address what’s included in the city’s master plan – buffer zones between density and nearby neighborhoods. Density has also been extended out into the neighborhoods, Eaton said – so now a four-story massive apartment building and multi-use project will be located at the former Georgetown Mall site, in the middle of a residential block. Eaton wasn’t sure that project is an appropriate use of density. [The project Eaton was describing is Packard Square, which recently received approval of a revision to its brownfield plan.]

Downtown, Development: Who Are We Attracting?

The mayor and others want to work to make Ann Arbor a more attractive home for young professionals. Are we doing as much to promote a good, accessible life for retired professionals as well as for our disabled fellow citizens?

Downtown, Development: Who Are We Attracting? – Eaton

Eaton began by saying it was his understanding that when the zoning in downtown was revised, the idea was to try to attract not just young professionals but also empty-nesters, and he guessed that includes the disability community as well. Eaton felt that the revised zoning had failed on both counts.

The massive building that’s happened in the downtown area has been student housing, he said – not for young professionals, not for empty-nesters, not for any just “normal residents” of town. He believed that the downtown rezoning efforts have really seriously failed – and it’s important to go back and address what it would take to make the downtown area more inviting for non-student groups.

Downtown, Development: Who Are We Attracting? – Higgins

Responding to Eaton’s assertion that the revised A2D2 zoning had failed, Higgins said, “I don’t believe it’s failed.” Many retirees come to Ann Arbor, and empty-nesters want to live downtown. They have many places to choose from, she said – pointing out there are wonderful lofts above historic buildings, and that’s where they live. They also live in Sloan Plaza, she added. The new building that will be built at 413 E. Huron has a mix of 60% one- and two-bedroom apartments. That development could also be a place for retirees to live, Higgins ventured.

As more density is being built in the downtown, Higgins said, in the near-downtown neighborhoods homes are starting to be turned back to single-family occupancy. It’s not just about young professionals who want to live downtown and it’s not just about students, Higgins said. Instead, she said, it’s about being inclusive so that we have the right mix of housing for everyone who wants to be in Ann Arbor.

Downtown, Development: Realizing Vision

Looking ahead 10-20 years, explain one or more projects you would like to initiate or support now to make your Ann Arbor vision realizable.

Downtown, Development: Realizing Vision – Eaton

Eaton thought the city really needs to focus on the core functions of local government. Primarily, he thought it’s the city’s responsibility now to set the foundation with infrastructure – so that 10 or 20 years from now, residents won’t continue to have the kind of bad roads that the city has now, and won’t continue to have the kind of street flooding that allows people to kayak in the street. Future generations should be able to build on what is done today, Eaton said, concluding that there’s a fundamental duty to take responsibility for problems today.

Downtown, Development: Realizing Vision – Higgins

Higgins began by quipping that she hopes she’s around in 15 or 20 years to see what it looks like. She said the city is “tackling” several issues – like transportation, what the downtown looks like, and preserving neighborhoods. She described those issues as including initiatives that have been underway for the past decade – and “we’re now starting to see fruits of that,” she said.

Responding to Eaton’s remarks about infrastructure, she contended that the city is focusing on infrastructure, saying the city has rebuilt five bridges in the past 10 years, put in miles of roads, replaced sewer, water lines, water mains and sewer pipes. Sidewalks have been replaced. That had been done in the context of a terrible economic downturn, Higgins said, adding that it’s important to ensure that the city has a balanced budget. A balanced budget is the most important thing, Higgins said, because what the city wants to do is always going to be determined by how much money the city has.

Affordable Housing

In your opinion, what progress has been made by the city to assure the availability of affordable housing? Could there be an exchange or regulations requiring developers of high-priced private dorms to provide some low-cost housing in exchange for the ability to develop it? Or will we just wait until these pricey student residences become outdated or unnecessary so they can be repurposed?

Affordable Housing: Eaton

Eaton said he thought the city has really fallen short on the entire area of affordable housing. When the old YMCA building was torn down, and its single-resident occupancy units for low-income people were eliminated, nothing was done to replace it, Eaton said.

He expressed concern about whether the city was maintaining the amount of affordable housing it had in the past. As an example, he gave an Avalon Housing project on Pauline Boulevard that demolished affordable housing and replaced it with fewer units. More needs to be done for affordable housing, Eaton said.

He also said more precision is required in the definition of affordable housing. He posed a series of questions: Is affordable housing for the very, very poor? Is it for the working poor? Or is it for middle-class people who can’t afford to live in this town? Without more clearly defining what is meant by affordable housing, Eaton felt it would be difficult to address the housing problem.

Affordable Housing: Higgins

Higgins began by saying she supports affordable housing. She wished the city had more general fund dollars to commit to affordable housing. The city has moved away from planned unit developments (PUDs), which had an affordable housing component. That involved a developer paying money into the city’s affordable housing trust fund, or providing a certain amount of affordable units within the housing itself. Now, more “by-right” development is taking place, instead of through PUDs, so that funding source has disappeared, she said.

The council is working with the Ann Arbor housing commission on ways to increase housing, Higgins said, and the city is working with other not-for-profits that provide affordable housing. She gave as an example Avalon Housing’s Carrot Way project on the northeast side of town. Higgins described the affordable housing the city has as not necessarily in the best shape. She said that the city needs to focus on what it already has, saying it needs to be housing for people who are going to want to live there and are going to be safe there, constructed with quality materials.

Transportation

Candidates were asked two questions on transportation issues at opposite ends of the spectrum: (1) a possible high-capacity transit system that’s currently being studied; and (2) a relatively new crosswalk law regulating conditions under which motorists must stop for pedestrians.

Transportation: The Connector

Regarding the connector study, plans are underway to bring light rail transportation into the city of Ann Arbor. Please use your minute to tell voters, especially in your ward, how you feel about any of the options – station location, possible routing, service priorities, cost-sharing on the planning.

By way of additional background, the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority is currently conducting an alternatives analysis study for possible high-capacity transit in the corridor running from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street, then further south to I-94. The alternatives analysis phase will result in a preferred choice of transit mode (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and identification of stations and stops.

Area of study for the connector. (Image links to study website.)

A previous study established the feasibility of operating some kind of high-capacity transit in that corridor. A key finding of the feasibility study was that the demand for high-capacity transit is clear in the “core” of the corridor – primarily between the University of Michigan’s north campus, medical facilities and central campus.

The demand was found to be less intense on the corridor’s “shoulders.” That basic finding is now evident in the color shading on the draft route alignment map for the current phase of the study, which indicates the density of trips.

At a public engagement session held on June 18 at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library, it was announced that the alternative of an elevated guideway system is no longer among the mix of options that the consultant is considering. A final report on a locally preferred alternative is expected for this phase of the study sometime in the winter of 2014.

The funding for the planning work associated with both phases of the study was subjected to wrangling among the funding partners – the city, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, the University of Michigan and the AAATA.

Transportation: The Connector – Higgins

Higgins began by saying that she was very excited to see that Florida didn’t want some federal funding that could now be brought into Michigan to consider funding “light rail.” [Higgins was alluding to federal funding for high-speed commuter rail for inter-city service. But the connector, as a new service that could be built within the city limits, is not that kind of project. The rest of the response from Higgins didn't address the connector project per se, but rather concerned commuter rail into and out of the city of Ann Arbor, with the associated controversies of building a new station – at the Fuller Park location – or expanding the existing Amtrak station to serve east-west commuter rail.]

Higgins said that “light rail” is not just about commuters, but rather is about people who want to go to a lot of places for entertainment, for example. It’s a way to connect, she said, and Michigan is behind the curve. As far as where the station could be or should be located, Higgins didn’t really have a preference about where it is. She just thought the best location needs to be decided and then the city should move forward with that. A new station could very well be an expansion of the existing station, she said. If a new station were to be located somewhere, there’d be a community dialogue on where it should be.

Transportation: The Connector – Eaton

Eaton began by first sketching out what the connector is. The connector study is actually a study about moving a large number of people within the city, he explained – from the northeast corner of town, down to the University of Michigan campus and perhaps even out South State Street. The connector project is separate and apart from the desire to have commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Livingston County or to Wayne County, Eaton said. The connector, Eaton said, would primarily benefit the University Michigan – in that it would be moving a lot of students between central and north campus.

Eaton pointed out that Ann Arbor has a transit authority in Ann Arbor with a dedicated millage. It should be the AAATA’s responsibility to work with the University of Michigan on the connector project, he said, and he was opposed to using Ann Arbor general fund money for that transportation study. There are a lot of other core, essential services that should be using its general fund, he concluded.

Transportation: Crosswalk Law

Please comment on the effectiveness and enforcement of the pedestrian crossing laws in Ann Arbor. Is there money available and is it being spent to ensure maintenance of the striping and the electric signaling? In your opinion, how are pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists responding? Is further education and communication needed?

Background on the legislative history of Ann Arbor’s crosswalk ordinance includes a tweak given final approval at the council’s Dec. 19, 2011 meeting.

Chronicle file photo of Seventh & Washington in Ann Arbor looking northwest. The crosswalk includes an island in the middle of the street as well as a “local law” sign, indicating motorists are to stop, not just yield.

The language given final approval by the council reads in relevant part: “… the driver of a vehicle shall stop before entering a crosswalk and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian stopped at the curb, curb line or ramp leading to a crosswalk and to every pedestrian within a crosswalk, when the pedestrian is on the half of the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.”

That revision came after a modification the council made 18 months earlier on July 19, 2010 – to include an expansion of the conditions under which motorists must take action to accommodate pedestrians. Specifically, the 2010 amendments required accommodation of pedestrians not just “within a crosswalk” but also “approaching or within a crosswalk.” The modification approved on Dec. 19 was intended to address a perceived ambiguity of the word “approaching.”

Besides the “approaching” phrase, the 2010 amendments also included two other key elements. The 2010 amendments included a requirement that motorists “stop” and not merely “slow as to yield.” The proposal to change the language to “stop” – for the sake of clarity – was made at the council table by Marcia Higgins.

Transportation: Crosswalk Law – Eaton

Eaton began by saying that recently the city passed a pedestrian ordinance that’s quite different from the local law in most communities in Michigan. Ann Arbor has a lot of people coming to live for shorter periods of time – to do business or attend school. He didn’t think that Ann Arbor’s law on pedestrian safety should be that much different from the rest of the state.

Eaton indicated that the state’s allocation of Act 51 money to the city might be available to use on sidewalks and pedestrian safety in greater proportions than it’s been used in the past. He would support more signals, and filling in more of the city’s sidewalk gaps to make pedestrians safer in town.

Transportation: Crosswalk Law – Higgins

Higgins thought the city’s current crosswalk ordinance language is a little confusing for a lot of people, saying that they don’t know exactly what they’re supposed to do. She described the council’s action as tackling an issue of safety very quickly, saying that not all the kinks have been worked out. Different alternatives had been considered to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely, she said. As an example, she cited solar-powered flashing signals that work to ensure that people can get entirely across some of the major streets.

About “road diets,” she said that the city is still trying to figure out the best approach, noting that there is still some work to do on that. About sidewalks, she said the recent voter-approved sidewalk millage is being used to work on the sidewalk gaps in the city. [The sidewalk millage is actually only available for repair of existing sidewalks, not for construction of new sidewalks.]

University-City Relations

Many university cities have established anchor institution relationships, the hallmark of which is connecting the campus with city life and community-building. What are the some of the ways you believe that Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan can nurture and grow programs that use common anchor institution strategies – among them local purchasing, investment practices, neighborhood partnerships, and city revenue generation, such as payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOTs.

By way of additional background, the city and the University of Michigan recently came up against a point of friction over a right-of-way occupancy agreement in connection with the university’s desire to run conduit under Tappan Street. The council took action at its July 15, 2013 meeting to direct renegotiation of the template used by the city and the university to handle that kind of agreement.

The friction stemmed from a vote taken at the council’s May 13, 2013 meeting, which failed to achieve an eight-vote majority. The purpose of the conduits is to connect a new emergency generator to the Lawyers Club buildings at 551 S. State St. The Lawyers Club and the generator are located on opposite sides of the street. The university considers the transaction to be a conveyance of an interest in land. The city doesn’t see it that way, but the council was asked to treat the agreement as if it were a conveyance of an interest in land – which triggered the requirement of an eight-vote majority.

Other recent council conversation about university-city relations includes coordinating with the university about a partial closure of Main Street on football Saturdays. A public meeting is scheduled for July 24 at 6 p.m. at the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library to explain how the logistics will work.

University-City Relations – Eaton

Eaton thought Ann Arbor needs to work significantly harder to cooperate with the University of Michigan, saying it’s the main institution and one of the largest employers in town. Eaton said the city does not have a good working relationship with the university. He thought that one of the ways the city could cooperate with the University of Michigan is by installing infrastructure and utilities on a schedule that is compatible with the building projects that the university has.

He also felt the city could cooperate with the University of Michigan in seeking alternative energy generation and use. He concluded that he believed there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to set up better cooperation between the city and the university, and he would support such efforts if he were elected to the council.

University-City Relations – Higgins

Higgins pointed out that the city already has a relationship with the university at the staff level. For the projects that the university is working on, city staff are providing support, she said, and vice versa. Monthly meetings are held where staff from the two institutions talk about what’s coming up, where the city and the university can collaborate on different issues – and she thought that approach is working well.

She described additional friction that can happen, when the university chooses to undertake major projects that affect the nearby neighborhoods. The city has been working for the past couple of years with the university so that when the university rolls out a project, the city can alert those neighborhoods so that a conversation can be started with the residents about how they will be impacted. Higgins said she thinks that is working very well, and it’s something the city will continue to work on.

Citizen Participation

The League of Women Voters exists to promote active citizen participation in government. Please direct your answer to an interested Ann Arbor resident. Tell her or him what steps to take to become actively involved in our city, through the neighborhoods, the council, the commissions, etc. What kind of advice would you give?

Citizen Participation – Higgins

Higgins said the city is always looking for volunteers. It’s one of the conversations the city council has had: How do we let people know where we need help? She pointed out that people can apply online to serve on boards and commissions. People active in their neighborhoods are very important, and the city looks to those neighborhoods to give direction on how neighborhoods can be helped, she said.

The city now has a citizen participation ordinance that requires a developer to have a meeting with citizens in the early stages of proposing a project, so citizens can have input on what they think about the project, she said. That all becomes part of the public record and it moves through to the planning commission, and it helps with decision-making, she said. Higgins concluded by saying that residents’ voices are very important.

Citizen Participation – Eaton

Eaton took the question as an opportunity to praise the League of Women Voters, by saying he’d suggest that a resident of Ann Arbor consider joining the League of Women Voters and becoming active through LWV, which he described as a superb organization. He also suggested as an alternative becoming active in a political party of a resident’s choosing.

Eaton stated that he’d personally been active in many neighborhood organizations and helped form coalitions of neighborhoods. That was an excellent way to become involved in local politics, he felt, because the interaction between neighborhoods and elected representatives is “really where a lot happens in this town.” He hoped to work to open up availability on boards and commissions, contending that it seems like the same people are repeatedly appointed to the same boards and commissions again and again, term after term. Eaton wanted to open up the boards to more residents and encourage more residents to participate.

Flooding

What plans does or should the city have to prevent or abate street flooding in the city? What do we need? Can we afford it? What interim measures can we work on first?

Malletts Creek “smart map” showing the study area.

Additional background includes a study currently being conducted by the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner focusing on the Upper Malletts Creek area – located in Ward 4. The study was authorized by the Ann Arbor city council at its Oct. 15, 2012 meeting. The $200,000 cost of the study is to be paid for with city funds already held by the county water resources commissioner’s office. [County web page on Upper Mallets Creek study]

The staff memo accompanying the council’s Oct. 15, 2012 resolution mentioned the heavy rains on March 15, 2012, which resulted in street flooding in that part of the city. The city council heard complaints from the public at its meetings after the flooding. A map of historical flooding in the city shows that respondents to a survey conducted in the mid-1990s reported they’d experienced street flooding in the same areas that the flooding occurred in the spring of 2012. That map was part of a 1997 study conducted by Black & Veatch under contract with the city.

The city is also conducting a city-wide study of stormwater issues. [City web page on stormwater model calibration]

A third related study involves monitoring of the sanitary sewer system during wet weather. [City web page on wet weather sanitary sewer flows] That study is meant to measure the effectiveness of the city’s footing drain disconnection (FDD) program, which was partially suspended in city council action taken on Sept. 17, 2012. The developer offset mitigation portion of the program continues – as recent projects like 413 E. Huron (now approved) and the Glendale condominium project (currently postponed by the city planning commission) include required footing drain disconnection credits from developers.

The city of Ann Arbor has separate sanitary and stormwater conveyance systems. However, during construction of new developments before 1980, footing drains – permeable pipes buried around the perimeter of a foundation, roughly at the depth of a basement floor – were frequently connected directly to the sanitary sewer pipes. Those connections were convenient to make, because the footing drains and the sanitary sewers are buried at roughly the same depth.

During very heavy rains, that configuration leads to a volume of stormwater flow into the sanitary sewer system that it’s not designed to handle. That can cause sewage backups as well as possible discharges of untreated sewage into the Huron River. It was such discharges that led to the creation of the city’s FDD program in the early 2000s. Another relatively small volume of such discharge was caused by heavy rains last month.

Flooding: Higgins

Higgins stated that Ann Arbor has experienced flooding for years. There are new tools that can be considered, and the city has several different projects underway right now. To move forward just for the sake of moving forward quickly could exacerbate the problem – if it’s not the right solution. So time was being taken to study the issue. Higgins noted that the city is working with the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner [Evan Pratt] and using his expertise to deal with overland water flow.

Higgins also mentioned the city’s footing drain disconnection program, which she characterized as “a big question.” That program is being reevaluated, she said, noting that there is a moratorium in Ward 4 dealing with that. For Ann Arbor streets that were designed a decade ago or more, a decision was made that as storm sewers reach capacity, that water would be held in the streets. Not everybody understands that, Higgins said, so when you see a street flooding, it is actually supposed to do that. But because of the increased frequency of heavy rains, she added, the flooding is going overland, and that is what the city is dealing with now.

Flooding: Eaton

Eaton began by stating that two of the city’s main watersheds – Malletts Creek and Allen Creek – are beyond capacity. There’s continual talk about planning for growth, Eaton said, but he contended that there’s not capacity to handle the stormwater that the city is already experiencing.

He called for approaching the problem in a variety of different ways. He called for using pervious paving materials that allow stormwater to soak into the ground at the site rather than just moving it downstream. The city needs to increase the capacity to move water through Malletts Creek and Allen Creek to the Huron River, Eaton said. And the city needs to set up retention and detention ponds in neighborhoods to delay flow into the downtown areas, he said.

In 1997, Eaton said, the city did a major stormwater study. But the city had simply failed to follow up on any of the recommendations, Eaton contended. Now, 15 years later, the city is repeating the process of studying the problem that had already been ignored. He called for moving in a more expedient way.

Closing

Each candidate was given two minutes for a closing statement.

Closing: Higgins

Higgins thanked the LWV and CTN for hosting the event. During her years serving on the council, her constant focus has been on building the city’s infrastructure, she said. She’d kept an eye toward the future while respecting the past, and she thought the city needs to continue to do that. The city has a great budget, she said, and it’s balanced every year – the city was not raising taxes, but was providing services. On the question of whether additional police officers and firefighters could be added, Higgins said, “We just did.” She said that three more police officers had been added, saying that “We have beat cops that we didn’t have before.” But she stressed that it’s a matter of how those positions are funded. It’s easy to say, “just give us more,” Higgins said, but there has to be a funding mechanism. [Three Four additional firefighters were authorized in the FY 2014 budget compared with the FY 2013 budget. However, the number of authorized sworn police officers has remained the same. The council has passed a resolution asking the DDA to consider allocating funding for three downtown beat cops, but the DDA has not yet acted on that request.]

The city’s parks and recreation facilities are a tremendous asset, she said. Every week the city wins awards for livability. The city’s budget is the envy of Michigan, Higgins said. She called it a great decision to partner with the county and the University of Michigan to found Ann Arbor SPARK – and that has helped the city provide an economic platform to bring companies to the city, which diversifies the city’s tax base. Everyone had learned a very hard lesson when the largest taxpayer and employer [Pfizer] had left the city, Higgins said. So she thought the city was doing very well.

She supports transportation, Higgins said, calling it a core service that has been offered in Ann Arbor. In founding the AATA, Ann Arbor had been way ahead of the game and it’s been a “treasure,” Higgins said. She felt that expansion of the AATA could take place, as long as it’s not at the city taxpayers’ cost.

Higgins concluded by drawing a contrast between herself and Eaton. She said that this election offers a choice, indicating that she was a candidate who would work to ensure and approach the future with efficient, open and transparent government, by listening to residents and colleagues, and making Ann Arbor the envy of every other city in the state. Change is coming, Higgins said, and she would continue to engage with all residents as the city strives to find the best solutions and thoughtfully prepare for this change. She indicated the choice was between her approach and “candidates who only say no and fear any change of any kind.”

Closing: Eaton

Eaton thanked the LWV for holding the event. He called Ann Arbor a special town.

Jack Eaton at the 4th of July parade this year.

There’s an opportunity to protect and preserve what is great about Ann Arbor while working to solve problems as they arise. This election provides a clear choice for voters, Eaton said. If elected to the council, he’d provide responsive representation. He’d answer constituent e-mails, and return phone calls, and meet with neighborhood groups. He would release regular e-mail updates. More importantly, Eaton said, he’d work with residents to help solve problems. He’d represent common sense priorities of the Ward 4 voters.

In speaking with Ward 4 voters, he’d heard that residents want the city council to focus on core services. He intended to work to rebuild the city’s safety services. The city’s police and fire departments should be staffed to meet nationally recognized standards, he said, contending that they don’t currently meet those staffing standards.

If elected, he’d work with other councilmembers to improve the city’s infrastructure. Long-term flooding problems need to be addressed, he said, saying that the city can’t afford further delay. Road repair funds need to be spent to maintain high-quality roads, Eaton said, not for ambitious planning and development.

Recent elections have added new responsive members to the council, he contended. He’d like to join those representatives and help bring common sense to city budget decisions. He asked people to take the time to vote on Tuesday, Aug. 6. He asked for support to represent voters’ interests and priorities.

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Julie Grand and Stephen Kunselman are posing for Ann Arbor Observer photographer Adrian Wylie before the start of the League of Women Voters forum held on July 10, 2013. (Photos by the writer.)

Each of the city’s five wards is represented with two seats on the 11-member council, which includes the mayor. Every year, one of the two seats is up for election – as the terms for council seats are two years.

Both Ward 3 candidates participated in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on July 10. The complete video recording of the forum, conducted at Community Television Network’s studios on South Industrial, is available online through CTN’s Video on Demand.

Questions fielded by Grand and Kunselman included topics like transportation, downtown Ann Arbor, relations with the University of Michigan, public safety, alternative energy, and interactions between councilmembers and residents.

Kunselman is serving his third term on the council, having first been elected in 2006. He did not win re-election in 2008, when Christopher Taylor prevailed in the Democratic primary that year. Kunselman was returned by voters to a seat the following year, and was then re-elected in 2011. Kunselman’s campaigns – this year and in the past – have stressed his commitment to middle- and lower-income neighborhoods located farther away from the center of the city, such as his own neighborhood in the Springwater subdivision south of Packard and east of Buhr Park.

Grand, who lives a block away from Taylor in the Burns Park neighborhood, has served since 2007 on the city’s park advisory commission and is currently chair of that group. Kunselman served on the council when her nomination to PAC was confirmed. Grand’s campaign has stressed that she is a good communicator and seeks consensus, without needing to be the loudest voice.

Until the July 10 LWV forum, the contrast Grand drew between herself and Kunselman with respect to communicative style had been implicit. At the LWV forum, however, she made her criticism explicit, using her closing remarks to accuse Kunselman of focusing “on creating problems rather than solving them.” She also claimed that Kunselman had admitted that he didn’t come prepared to council meetings.

Grand responded to an email query from The Chronicle by indicating that she’d based her contention about an admission by Kunselman on her memory of a June 8 Democratic Party forum. Included in this Chronicle coverage of the LWV forum is a partial transcript of an audio recording from that June 8 event.

This report also presents responses by Grand and Kunselman to questions at the July 10 LWV forum, grouped more by theme than by chronology.

Opening Statement

Candidates were given a chance to make a one-minute opening statement.

Opening Statement: Kunselman

Kunselman began by saying, “I’ve held the office with dignity, respect and honor.”

Stephen Kunselman.

He called himself a strong and effective voice for fiscal responsibility, saying that he’d advocate for Ward 3 residents’ interests, as he understood the issues facing the city and its residents.

Kunselman said he had the “experience and ethical fortitude” necessary to provide solid representation to all neighborhoods of Ward 3.

He said he understands all too well the challenges facing the many working families and individuals who are striving to live a quality life in “this great city of ours.”

He then ticked through a geographical tour of the ward: “From Forestbrooke, to Arbor Oaks, to Burns Park and all the neighborhoods in between, I will continue to represent each and every one of you.”

Opening Statement: Grand

Grand introduced herself as a 15-year resident of Ann Arbor, living here with her husband and two children.

Julie Grand.

She has a masters and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan school of public health, she continued, and teaches health policy studies at the University of Michigan at Dearborn.

For the last six years she’s served on the park advisory commission.

As chair of that commission, she’d enjoyed solving problems and engaging the public, and had been energized by the opportunity to directly improve the quality of life for all citizens of Ann Arbor.

Ann Arbor has 157 parks and natural areas, she said. She invited voters to learn more by visiting her website: votegrand.org. Her service on the council would be about proactive and responsible communication, and public input that leads to informed consensus-driven decisions.

She described it as a pleasure to learn about the issues that are unique to individual neighborhoods, as well as those that are common across Ward 3.

Transportation

Two questions from the LWV involved transportation.

Transportation: The Connector

Plans are underway to bring light rail transportation into the city of Ann Arbor. Please use your minute to tell voters, especially in your ward, how you feel about any of the options – station location, possible routing, service priorities, cost-sharing on the planning.

By way of additional background, the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority is currently conducting an alternatives analysis study for possible high-capacity transit in the corridor running from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street, then further south to I-94. The alternatives analysis phase will result in a preferred choice of transit mode (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and identification of stations and stops.

Area of study for the connector. (Image links to study website.)

A previous study established the feasibility of operating some kind of high-capacity transit in that corridor. A key finding of the feasibility study was that the demand for high-capacity transit is clear in the “core” of the corridor – primarily between the University of Michigan’s north campus, medical facilities and central campus.

The demand was found to be less intense on the corridor’s “shoulders.” That basic finding is now evident in the color shading on the draft route alignment map for the current phase of the study, which indicates the density of trips.

At a public engagement session held on June 18 at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library, it was announced that the alternative of an elevated guideway system is no longer among the mix of options that the consultant is considering. A final report on a locally preferred alternative is expected for this phase of the study sometime in the winter of 2014.

The funding for the planning work associated with both phases of the study was subjected to wrangling among the funding partners – the city, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, the University of Michigan and the AAATA.

Transportation: The Connector – Kunselman

Kunselman began by saying transportation is an issue the community has been talking about for many years. And the connector is really no different. He said the study that is underway is for a service that would mostly serve the northeast side of town, and down through the University of Michigan campus and maybe down to State Street. It certainly has a lot of positive elements, he said – whether it’s implemented as light rail or bus rapid transit (BRT).

He felt it had to be recognized that the connector would primarily serve the University of Michigan campus. The question, Kunselman said, is really: Does that benefit the outlying neighborhoods – in Ward 3 in the Packard area, or in Ward 5 in the Miller and Maple area? Other questions cited by Kunselman included: How much does it cost? Who is going to participate? And where will the operational funds come from?

Given the size of Ann Arbor’s community, Kunselman expressed doubt that there is sufficient density for the connector service to be very functional. He expressed concern that the density used to assess the feasibility of the service is actually students in the dorms.

Transportation: The Connector – Grand

Grand indicated she was pleased that in connection with all transportation options, especially those related to rail, site studies are being conducted that would show if there is sufficient population to support the service, and how the service would be used.

Grand would personally support rail – but only with a number of conditions. One of those conditions, she explained, was that the numbers need to make sense – in terms of population and whether people would actually use the transportation options that are provided to them. Another condition she placed on her support for rail was the requirement that significant partnerships would be leveraged – citing specifically state and federal partnerships.

She added that because of who the connector would be serving, the University of Michigan would have to put up “significant zeros.” As a parks advocate, she had also supported the goals of public transit in the past, but had expressed some concerns about land use, so she thought questions about land use needed to be answered as well.

Transportation: AAATA

Our bus transportation system has become the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, with a seat for the city of Ypsilanti on the board. How is the current ridership? Will other surrounding townships come on board? What revenue will they bring? What say does the city of Ann Arbor and the city council have about millage money and the expansion or extension of routes?

By way of additional background, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board gave final approval to the change in its articles of incorporation, admitting the city of Ypsilanti as a member, at its June 20, 2013 meeting. As part of the move, the name of the organization was changed to the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority.

The geographic footprint of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority is shown in green: the two cities of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. The city of Saline and the townships of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti have also been part of recent active discussions about committing to a more stable funding mechanism for existing service and expanded service.

Before that, the city councils of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti had already approved the change. The Ann Arbor city council voted on June 3, 2013 to approve the change in governance, while the Ypsilanti city council took its vote on June 18. Both councils voted unanimously to support the move. [.pdf of new AAATA articles of incorporation] [.pdf of old AATA articles of incorporation

While the change to the articles will affect the governance of the AAATA, the goal of the governance change is to provide a way to generate additional funding for transportation. The AAATA could, with voter approval, levy a uniform property tax on the entire geographic area of its membership – something the AATA did not do. The cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti now levy their own millages, which are transmitted to the AAATA. However, Ypsilanti is currently at its 20-mill state constitutional limit. A millage levied by the AAATA would not count against that 20-mill cap.

Current discussions indicate that the intent is to increase levels of service – both frequency and the hours of operation – within the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti city boundaries. The additional amount of local funding for the planned increases in service would be the equivalent of around 0.6-0.7 mills. One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.

An AAATA millage proposal would require voter approval. The proposal to include Ypsilanti in the AAATA came in the context of a demised attempt in 2012 to expand the AATA to all of Washtenaw County. Since then, conversations have continued among a smaller cluster of communities geographically closer to Ann Arbor. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Ypsi Waits at Bus Stop, Other Riders Unclear."]

Transportation: AAATA – Kunselman

Kunselman began by calling the issue something that is very dear to him. The expansion of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, which gives a seat to the city of Ypsilanti, is a very positive step, he said. It brings Ypsilanti to a seat at the table, so that Ypsilanti can be represented in decisions about where routes need to go between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

On the topic of a possible millage to be levied by the AAATA, Kunselman said he thought “that’s a little ways off for our discussion at this point.” But about transportation, Kunselman said, “We have to have mass transit.” He supported mass transit that serves neighborhoods and dense areas.

But he stressed that he did not think it made sense to send buses out into the countryside or to operate vanpools or “limousine service” for commuters from Chelsea or Canton. [The last reference was to AAATA's ExpressRide service.] Those things, he said, just do not make sense and they should not be funded by the Ann Arbor tax for mass transit.

Kunselman believed the “urban core” approach that’s being taken now is a positive direction, and it will only strengthen the AAATA’s ability to provide better service and increased frequencies and routes.

Transportation: AAATA – Grand

Grand began by saying she’s a strong supporter of transit and believes that it is a core service to the community. She felt it’s very fortunate to have what’s now the AAATA in the community.

Based on her conversations with people out in the ward, she didn’t think they are ready for a big comprehensive system that is quite as regional as the AAATA would have liked. The incremental approach, starting with Ypsilanti, was more obvious, she said – to the residents of Ypsilanti as well as to residents of Ann Arbor. Focusing on that urban core is a good first step, which provides the potential to grow.

Grand reported that she’d met with the AAATA leadership and talked to them about the issue of fair contribution – and they understand that the townships need to pay for service, if it’s provided. She didn’t have a problem with providing service out to the townships – it just shouldn’t be paid for by the Ann Arbor taxpayers.

Downtown Development

Three questions related to the downtown and/or development.

Downtown Development: Vision of Ann Arbor

Many of today’s Ann Arbor citizens say they don’t recognize their city anymore, with the high-rises, zoning changes, and widely varying architecture. Are we trying for a complete makeover? So how would you or did you as a councilmember vote regarding building moratoriums, height restrictions, dedication of historical districts, and architectural oversight?

By way of additional background, on May 13, 2013, the Ann Arbor city council approved a contentious development proposal at 413 E. Huron – a 14-story, 216-apartment building at the northeast corner of Huron and Division streets.

The council had contemplated imposing a moratorium on downtown site plans, but on March 18, 2013 opted not to do so. Instead, the council gave direction to the city planning commission to review the city’s D1 zoning. The specific scope of planning commission work was outlined in an April 1, 2013 council resolution. Before that, on March 4, 2013 the council also reconvened its design review task force to take another look at the design review process. Currently, design review is mandatory, but compliance by developers with review board recommendations is voluntary.

Downtown Development: Vision of Ann Arbor – Kunselman

Kunselman began by saying he certainly understood the perception that people don’t recognize their city anymore. He grew up in Ann Arbor, he continued, and had seen the dramatic changes since the 1960s when he was a toddler. He called the changes in the downtown “certainly dramatic,” but at this point he did not think it was overbearing. He acknowledged there’s a fear that it could become that way.

Kunselman felt it’s important to recognize that Ann Arbor is a Midwestern college town. What’s happening, he ventured, is an effort to create an image of a “great metropolis.” About the idea that Ann Arbor is a metropolis, Kunselman said, “That we are certainly not.” He indicated that he didn’t think Ann Arbor would ever be a metropolis, because Ann Arbor is now more than it ever was before a “company town” – with the University of Michigan as the company. A number of private-sector businesses have been lost, he said.

Maintaining the character of the community really does start in our neighborhoods, Kunselman said. He has supported protecting the city’s neighborhoods from intrusions of inappropriate elements, he said, and he’d continue to do that.

Downtown Development: Vision of Ann Arbor – Grand

Grand reported that in talking to people out in the community, she heard the sentiment expressed in the question quite a bit – that people find the changes to the downtown “jarring.” The tall buildings are not what people expected to see, even those who were supportive of density in the downtown.

Grand noted that the city owns a number of properties that are available to be developed in the coming years – in and near the downtown. She felt the city needs to “lead by success,” and involve citizens in decisions about the future use of that property. Just because it hasn’t worked in the past, doesn’t mean that the city can’t truly engage citizens in the process so that development of those parcels is achieved that is compatible with the aesthetic vision that the community wants. That would get people feeling more connected to their downtown, she said – not just in terms of building, but in the balance that people want, between buildings and open space.

Downtown Development: DDA

Who or what is the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority and what is the financial interrelationship between the DDA and the city of Ann Arbor? Do you favor continuing it or changing it somehow? And if, so what would you like to do?

By way of additional background, the DDA does not levy taxes on its own authority, but rather captures taxes of other taxing entities – the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Washtenaw Community College and the Ann Arbor District Library. The DDA does not capture the full amount of those entities’ taxes, but rather only on the initial increment between the baseline value of a property and the increase in value due to new construction and improvements. That is, the DDA does not capture taxes on an increase that’s due to inflation.

Chapter 7 of the city code already regulates the DDA’s tax increment finance (TIF). The DDA has chosen to interpret the Chapter 7 language in a way that does not recognize the cap on TIF revenues that is set forth in the code. That led to a proposal by some councilmembers earlier this year to revise the ordinance so that the DDA’s alternate interpretation is clearly ruled out. The council gave the ordinance change initial approval on April 1, 2013. But later, on May 6, 2013, the council chose to postpone the final vote until Sept. 3, the council’s first meeting that month.

Downtown Development: DDA – Grand

Grand began by saying that she didn’t think she had the time to explain what the DDA does. But she stated that the DDA is definitely linked to the city. The city council ultimately approves much of what the DDA does, and that meant the DDA and the council are linked together – as she believes they should be.

She currently does support what the DDA is doing. She felt that that one thing Kunselman doesn’t talk about a lot is that even though the DDA captures taxes, the DDA does give back to the city. And that supports the core services that neighborhoods care about as well, she said. So when the DDA is doing its job and bringing more development, supporting local business in the city, that tax capture doesn’t just support the downtown.

A vibrant downtown that brings people to the city, and causes people to want to live and work in the city, means that there is also money for the neighborhoods to pay for roads and to pay for schools, she contended. To illustrate her point, Grand said that 13 years ago the DDA district generated $4.5 million and in 2013 it generated $10.5 million.

Downtown Development: DDA – Kunselman

The DDA has been empowered by the city and is regulated under a city ordinance, Kunselman began. He felt that the source of the DDA’s funding – and whether it is appropriate that the DDA’s tax capture should help subsidize the parking system – could, he thought, generate some lively discussion. Kunselman said he believes the DDA does not need to take all the money that it can possibly take, just because student high-rise development has taken place.

Kunselman invited voters to think of the situation in terms of a Halloween analogy: You’re a parent and you’re taking your kids trick-or-treating. You come to a doorstep where somebody has put out all the candy on the porch, with the assumption that you probably are going to take what you need – but you don’t take the rest because you have to leave some for somebody else. The others who need that candy, the others who need that money, are the other taxing authorities, Kunselman said: Washtenaw County, the Ann Arbor District Library, and Washtenaw Community College, as well as the city of Ann Arbor. He concluded that he didn’t think the DDA should take everything, and should give some back.

Downtown Development: City-Owned Land

Please tell the voters what land the city owns in the downtown area and how you would favor using it for the greatest good. What ideas are out there, or are commitments already made? And specifically, what use would you support for the Library Lane lot?

The five city-owned sites that were the focus of the Connecting William Street project are indicated in blue.

By way of additional background, the DDA this year completed a city council-directed planning project, called Connecting William Street (CWS), which included the Library Lane lot as well as the former Y Lot. The CWS project was undertaken by the DDA based on a directive from the city council given at its April 4, 2011 meeting.

The intent was to make recommendations for possible future development, in a cohesive way, on five city-owned sites: (1) the Kline lot (on the east side of Ashley, north of William), (2) the lot next to Palio restaurant (northeast corner of Main & William), (3) the ground floor of the Fourth & William parking structure, (4) the former YMCA lot (on William between Fourth and Fifth), and (5) the top of the Library Lane underground parking garage on South Fifth, north of the downtown library.

In January 2013, the DDA gave a presentation to the council on its Connecting William Street recommendations. The council never took action on that proposal. However, at its March 5, 2013 meeting, the Ann Arbor planning commission voted to adopt the report as a resource document supporting the city’s master plan. Kirk Westphal, the commission’s chair, also served on an advisory board for the Connecting William Street effort. He is running unopposed in the Aug. 6 Democratic primary for Ward 2.

For a summary of Chronicle coverage of CWS and Y lot issues, see “Planning Group Strategizes on Downtown.”

Downtown Development: City-Owned Land – Kunselman

There are at least five parcels that are parking lots, Kunselman began.

He wanted to focus on one of them that he’d talked about two years ago in 2011, during his campaign – the Y lot. That needs to be sold, he said, because it has been a huge drain financially on the city taxpayers. He pointed out the burden of carrying the debt. One of his campaign pledges in 2011 was to get that property listed for sale, and the rest of the council had agreed with him – along with the mayor, who co-sponsored the resolution – to hire a broker. He was pleased to announce that is now underway.

Kunselman noted that he’d grown up in Ann Arbor and lived downtown for a number of years. He attended school at the University of Michigan. And during that time, the Library Lane lot has always been a surface parking lot, he said. What are we going to do with it in the years ahead? That’s going to be a great community discussion, he ventured. He pointed out that there’s a lot of money invested in the new underground parking garage, and there’s a lot of issues about how it was financed, using public federal dollars. He contended that it’s going to be very difficult to sell the air rights above the parking garage, due to the bonds that were used to finance the structure.

Downtown Development: City-Owned Land – Grand

Grand said she’d add a number of other city-owned properties to the five properties associated with Connecting William Street. There are also some near-downtown properties – like 415 West Washington and 721 North Main, which she was pleased would be anchored to the future Allen Creek Greenway. That’s a project she’d worked on as part of the city’s North Main Huron River task force.

And she currently sits on the downtown parks subcommittee, as part of her service to the park advisory commission, Grand noted. Instead of saying what she thinks should go on top of the Library Lane lot, she stressed that the subcommittee is asking the community: What do you think should go there? The committee was also gathering a lot of expert opinion as well, and that’s going to inform the committee’s recommendations, she said. But in the week ahead, she encouraged people to fill out their surveys.

As for the old Y lot, as with all the city properties, Grand felt it shouldn’t just go to the highest bidder. She allowed that the city needs to be responsible and to cover its debts. But the city also needs to have a long-term vision for that space, she added, so development can be achieved that is consistent with what the citizens want to see.

University of Michigan-City Relations

Many university cities have established anchor institution relationships, the hallmark of which is connecting the campus with city life and community-building. What are the some of the ways you believe that Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan can nurture and grow programs that use common anchor institution strategies – among them local purchasing, investment practices, neighborhood partnerships, and city revenue generation such as payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOTs.

By way of additional background, the city and the University of Michigan recently came up against a point of friction over a right-of-way occupancy agreement in connection with the university’s desire to run conduit under Tappan Street. The council took action at its July 15, 2013 meeting to direct renegotiation of the template used by the city and the university to handle that kind of agreement.

The friction stemmed from a vote taken at the council’s May 13, 2013 meeting, which failed to achieve an eight-vote majority. The purpose of the conduits is to connect a new emergency generator to the Lawyers Club buildings at 551 S. State St. The Lawyers Club and the generator are located on opposite sides of the street. The university considers the transaction to be a conveyance of an interest in land. The city doesn’t see it that way, but the council was asked to treat the agreement as if it were a conveyance of an interest in land – which triggered the requirement of an eight-vote majority.

Other recent council conversation about university-city relations includes coordinating with the university about a partial closure of Main Street on football Saturdays. A public meeting is scheduled for July 24 at 6 p.m. at the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library to explain how the logistics will work.

University-City Relations – Grand

Grand began by saying she’s personally been disappointed with some of the decisions that the university has made. She felt it’s important to understand that the university is a state institution that is accountable to the state, and that the city council can ask, but ultimately the university is not responsible to the city council. The university is responsible to the state legislature and to the voters of the state and the residents of the state, she stressed.

Grand felt there are some really great examples of collaboration already between the city and the university. For example, she said, the police forces work together. In the parks system, the natural area preservation program gets hundreds if not thousands of volunteer hours every year, from student volunteers who are out working to make a better community. In the city’s schools, students volunteer as well. She didn’t want to demonize the University of Michigan. She would like to see PILOTs and would like to see the city and university work together more. Grand hoped that with the new leadership that would be coming to the university, some potential new areas of collaboration would open up.

University-City Relations – Kunselman

Kunselman picked up on Grand’s phrasing by saying that he, too, would not demonize the university – as he is a university employee. [He serves as a Planet Blue energy conservation liaison.] He called himself a great fan of the university, having obtained three degrees from UM. The university employed both his mother and his father over the years. There is a great deal of collaboration that already takes place, he said, giving the Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s Top of the Park, held at UM’s Ingalls Mall, as an obvious example. Even things that aren’t seen for the most part by pedestrians – like the connections between University of Michigan buildings – usually cross city right-of-way, he said. And those kinds of things have to be worked out, and they have done pretty well for the most part, he said.

The big issue between UM and the city right now is security, Kunselman said. The two police departments will need to work together in the context of homeland security laws, to handle football games and hockey games during the winter. As far as PILOTs go, Kunselman said, that will never happen, and it needs to be dropped as a discussion point. UM is a state constitutional entity, which has its own governance and owes the city nothing.

Public Safety

The Ann Arbor police chief tells us that the city is a pretty safe place, even with a reduced police presence. But our police department would like to have more officers, in order to be more proactive. Do you agree with hiring more officers? Can we afford to? Is there possible help from the DDA for this?

By way of additional background, Ann Arbor chief of police John Seto updated the council at its July 15, 2013 on crime trends for the first six months of the year. The first six months of the year show that Part 1 crimes are down 10% compared to last year, Seto reported. [Part 1 crimes are considered the most serious, and include murder, rape, robbery, arson, and motor vehicle theft, among others.] Overall crime is down 7.5%.

Seto also reported that the department is analyzing the initial data collection from the electronic activity logs for officers. That’s significant, because the council’s success statements for public safety – adopted at a retreat in late 2012 – are defined in part on how much time officers have available for proactive policing.

The council passed a resolution on June 3, 2013 requesting that the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority consider funding three downtown police officers.

Public Safety – Kunselman

Kunselman said he very much supported the police department’s position that it needs more funding, in order to be proactive. But he cautioned that it would take a while before the city can get to that point. It’s certainly not going to take place in just a couple of years, he said, venturing that it’s going to be a number of years before the budget stabilizes enough so that the number of police department employees can be increased.

As far as DDA funding for police services, he said, that’s why an amendment was being considered for the ordinance that actually restricts the DDA TIF capture. If the amendment passes, general fund dollars that the DDA has been capturing from the city can then go to the city’s general fund budget. Kunselman stressed that the city cannot expect the DDA to fund police department expenses out of its tax increment finance (TIF) capture – because that would violate the statutory enabling legislation for DDAs, which requires that TIF sharing be agreed to by all of the taxing authorities. In this case, those authorities are the city, the library, the county, and the community college, Kunselman said.

Public Safety – Grand

Grand felt it’s important to recognize that over the last 10 years, the crime rate has gone down, especially violent crime. She was concerned that the city is not using the best possible metrics to measure the value-add of more police officers.

Grand said she supports the benefits of proactive policing and would like to see more proactive policing in neighborhoods and the downtown. But she wanted a way to measure the effect of increased police staffing. If the department increases from 146 to 152 police officers, for example, how much safer does that make us feel as a community? And how much safer does that actually make us as a community? As far as using the DDA for funding police officers, she’d like to see beat cops downtown – but only if it can be sustained. She would hate to see a situation where someone is hired into the police force, only to find there’s not funding to pay for them in the future.

Alternative Energy

In what way does the city currently use, plan to use, or should be using alternative energy sources to reduce energy consumption, expenses, and carbon dioxide emissions?

Alternative Energy – Grand

Grand said that the city is making use of alternative energy, but could always do more. She believed that Ann Arbor has been a leader in alternative energy compared to other communities in Michigan and in the country. She didn’t know specific statistics. She pointed out that the AAATA has hybrid buses. And she pointed out that the city has a sustainability plan that was developed from the different commissions and groups throughout the city. She noted that sustainability is related to alternative energy. The city has gone through a process where it’s now possible to look at what the environmental commission has recommended, what the energy commission has recommended, and she’s pleased about that.

Alternative Energy – Kunselman

Alternative energy is something that Kunselman said he thinks gets a lot of people confused – about how much is being generated and how much the city is actually going to be able to accomplish. He noted that the city is using landfill gas to generate electricity out of the landfill, but that goes right into the transmission line. So you can’t say that the city is actually benefiting, Kunselman contended, but it’s doing its part to reduce methane emissions from the landfill.

The city has solar arrays – on the farmer’s market canopy and the city’s parking kiosks downtown. The city has hydropower, though he added that he’s not sure if the dams are generating electricity. But he pointed out that there was some discussion about trying to get the Veterans Administration hospital to use Argo dam as a generator of hydroelectricity.

And recently, Kunselman continued, the city has been talking about wind power. He’d voted for a demonstration project that would use wind turbines that would, he hoped, be sited at Pioneer High School and perhaps at Huron High School. That project would at least illustrate and demonstrate the ability of wind power in our community, he said, so that others could see an example.

Community

Two questions related to interactions between the council and residents.

Community: Citizen Participation

The League of Women Voters exists to promote active citizen participation in government. Please direct your answer to an interested Ann Arbor resident. Tell her or him what steps to take to become actively involved in our city, through the neighborhoods, the council, the commissions, etc. What kind of advice would you give?

Community: Citizen Participation – Grand

From Grand’s service on the park advisory commission, she knew that people are very passionate about the city’s parks. And one of the reasons she’s running for city council is that she admires how engaged the community is and how passionate it is, not only about its parks but about the city as well. So there are lots of opportunities for public engagement, she said. Not everyone has the capability or time to come to meetings, but new technologies could help address that, she said. If she were elected to serve on the council, residents could read her council communications that she would send out to them, especially on contentious issues, and give her their feedback. They could also participate in a number of online surveys. As an example, she indicated that a downtown open space survey would be conducted, as well as a survey on dog parks. She concluded that public engagement can be achieved through a combination of online mechanisms, and more traditional meeting attendance.

Community: Citizen Participation – Kunselman

Kunselman indicated there are a number of opportunities, and citizens need to think about what they’re interested in. He pointed out the possibility of applying to serve on a city board or commission. He encouraged that – because he thinks it’s important that the city has a broad range of perspectives and a broad candidate pool for boards and commissions. Another opportunity he pointed out for participation were neighborhood watch programs. Another category of participation highlighted by Kunselman were events – he pointed out that a number of associations exist primarily for the purpose of putting on some sort of event. As examples he gave the art fairs and Top of the Park.

Kunselman also pointed out there’s plenty of opportunity to get involved in political organizations. As a final example of ways to participate, Kunselman suggested business organizations – saying that just recently the merchants on Washtenaw Avenue had indicated an interest in putting together an organization. He felt sure that a merchants association like that would be willing to listen to the community that is adjacent to it.

Community: Communication

As a member of city council, how would you improve council-to-citizen communication?

Community: Communication – Grand

Grand began by saying it’s a core responsibility of a city councilmember to communicate. She’s heard from people out in the community, who point out that there’s no daily paper any longer. They want to know how they’re supposed to know about policy changes. She tells those people that it would be her job to help them. She’s encouraged that the city is improving its website.

Grand said she has a health education background, and she felt there are some proactive educational steps that could be taken by providing answers to very commonly asked questions. For example: What can I do if I have flooding in my basement? Who owns the street? I see lines outside on the street – when is construction going to begin? She stated that it’s part of the job of a city councilmember to connect residents to someone at the city who can answer those questions for them.

Community: Communication – Kunselman

Kunselman called it a very difficult issue, given that Ann Arbor no longer has a daily newspaper that’s dropped at everybody’s door. It’s something the community would struggle with for some time, he said. He suggested that any resident in Ward 3 could contact him via e-mail, and or call him, and he would always reply. That’s how he worked to make sure that his constituents are informed and to provide information to them. Other than that, he pointed to the city website and the variety of news resources that the community does have. None of those is typically broad enough to hit all of the various interests in the ward – but he suggested finding a news source that you trust and go to it frequently. From there, expand out. As examples, he gave the Ann Arbor Chronicle, AnnArbor.com, The Ann Arbor Observer, and the city website. Kunselman said he even has a website, and maintains it “to some degree.” He pointed to other news organizations because they “tend to cover things a lot better than I can because I still have a full-time job.”

Closing

Each candidate was given two minutes for a closing.

Closing: Grand

Grand led off her closing remarks by thanking the League of Women Voters.

Julie Grand with supporters at the 4th of July parade.

She’s running for city council because she believes that Ann Arbor is an extraordinary community.

Ann Arbor is worthy of thoughtful leadership and responsive communication from its elected representatives, she said.

And as chair of the park advisory commission, she had adhered to a philosophy of preserving and improving upon the city’s existing resources, while looking for creative partnerships to find new opportunities.

In spite of the considerable economic challenges of the last few years, the city’s parks continue to thrive, she said.

She had worked hard to ensure that robust public engagement and transparent decision-making is at the forefront of the city’s efforts on parks, and she’d continue to make that effort if elected to serve on council.

Describing Kunselman as “my opponent,” Grand reported that Kunselman said the city is “at a political crossroads.” She agreed with that.

She then filled her remaining allotted time with a criticism of Kunselman:

Voters are being given a choice this election between a proven communicator – who’s exhibited thoughtful leadership – and an elected official who promotes an us-versus-them mentality, that focuses on creating problems rather than solving them. It’s time for a change in city politics – by electing someone who is fair, thoughtful, and balanced, rather than re-electing a man who admitted he doesn’t come prepared to his own city council meetings.

As a constituent of my opponent, I have never received a proactive e-mail, newsletter, or knock on my door. You heard him tonight say, “Go to your local papers.” That’s outrageous! It is your job on city council to help communicate what the issues are to your constituents. One of the main reasons I got into this race is because my opponent and I have a fundamentally different idea of the level of constituent communication that is required of a councilmember. As a resident of the Third Ward, I deserve better. All of us in the Third Ward deserve better. I hope that you will join me in moving our city in a positive direction by voting Grand on Aug. 6. Thank you.

Closing: Kunselman

Grand’s criticism didn’t appear to cause Kunselman to veer from the text of his prepared closing statement. So he led off by thanking the LWV and Grand for making the Democratic primary election competitive.

Stephen Kunselman at the 2013 4th of July parade.

It had been an honor and privilege to serve the residents of Ward 3 as a city councilmember for nearly six years, he continued. He felt that ward residents would agree that he’s held the position with trust, dignity, respect and honor, and he had worked to gain their trust. He called himself a strong, assertive and effective voice for the residents of Ward 3 and for all Ann Arborites.

With residents’ support, the effort had been won to keep existing fire stations open. Other accomplishments on the council highlighted by Kunselman included changes to the public art ordinance, which ended the practice of transferring restricted utility and millage funds to the public art fund. The recently adopted fiscal year 2014 budget had added staff to the city’s public safety department. And the city was hiring a broker to sell the old Y Lot – a pledge he’d made in his 2011 re-election campaign.

If re-elected, Kunselman said, he’d continue to work cooperatively and graciously with his colleagues and would emphasize vigorous and open debate on all issues “facing our great city.” He’d continue to advocate for investment in neighborhoods, in order to stabilize property values. For too long, he said, the neighborhoods have been neglected while politicians and political appointees have been speculating on how to build big buildings downtown. It’s time to focus on the city’s neighborhoods and repair and maintain the city’s aging infrastructure.

Kunselman said he’d continue to press the board of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to show some fiscal discipline. He cited the DDA’s recent vote to spend $200,000 on consultants to develop a streetscape plan, while they were “whining” that the DDA is expected to help pay for replacement of rusted-out streetlight poles on Main Street. It illustrated just how “out of whack” the DDA’s fiscal priorities are, Kunselman said.

Kunselman said he was proud and humbled to have the support of prominent Ward 3 county commissioners Yousef Rabhi and Andy LaBarre. He thanked his supporters over the years for their infallible commitment to his efforts to restore the public trust in city government. He concluded by asking residents for their vote.

Coda: Preparation for Council Meetings

Responding to an email query from The Chronicle about her claim that Kunselman had “admitted he doesn’t come prepared to his own city council meetings,” Grand pointed to remarks made at the Democratic Party forum held on June 8, 2013. She indicated that her claim was based on her own and others’ memory of Kunselman’s remarks about reading the council information packet before the meeting: “My memory of Steve’s comments at the Ann Arbor Dems re: not reading his packet has been confirmed by various members in the audience that day. In fact, Sally Petersen and I had a conversation about this comment when I ran into her reading her packet in preparation for a meeting later that week.” [Petersen, a Democrat, represents Ward 2 on the city council.]

The Chronicle transcribed Kunselman’s remarks about reading the council’s information packet from an audio recording of the forum. Kunselman’s remarks came in the context of a question posed to candidates that invited them to comment on areas where they thought the council could improve, including how to deal with factions within the council.

I appreciate Julie’s comments talking, you know, about the need to not to go toward divisiveness and polarization – and that’s what we are, have accomplished with the changes as of December 2013. If you recall, or December 2012, sorry.

If you recall, prior to that, yes, there wasn’t divisiveness or polarization, there was ‘Groome-ing’, there was isolation, there was a hostility, behind the scenes. There were councilmembers that were attacking others, stabbing them in the back, talking about them, e-mailing them during council meetings. That was hostile. And that is no longer the case, that is gone and it will be gone forever as long as I serve on council, alright? We need to have openness, transparency, have these diverse opinions. [The allusion to "Groome-ing" was to former Ward 1 city councilmember Kim Groome, who resigned from the council in 2005. According to Kunselman, she had been isolated by other councilmembers.]

When I go into a meeting these days, I don’t necessarily know which way I’m gonna vote, because I want to hear the opinions of my colleagues. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have all the time to meet with staff and to understand all the intricacies. I do have the experience of working in government and understanding that, so I do have at least the advantage of not having to read 800 pages of a council packet, because I understand a little bit more of the intricacies of what staff has been talking about having served as that staff member, alright? But I need my colleagues to help inform me, and that is where we are now are going.

The idea of divisiveness and polarization was the past, that’s not present. And that’s where we need to keep forward, and keep looking forward, and keep our direction going, and I will help bring that if re-elected in Novemb… or in August, and also in November.

[.mp3 file of Kunselman's June 8 remarks. The clip also includes Grand's remarks in response to the same question, which immediately preceded Kunselman's response.]

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From left: Julie Grand (Ward 3 challenger), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3 incumbent), Jack Eaton (Ward 4 challenger), Mike Anglin (Ward 5 incumbent), Kirk Westphal (Ward 2 candidate), and Sabra Briere (Ward 1 incumbent).

In the Aug. 6 Democratic primary, only two wards offer contested races. In Ward 3, Democratic voters will choose between incumbent Stephen Kunselman and Julie Grand. Ward 4 voters will have a choice between incumbent Marcia Higgins and Jack Eaton. Higgins was reported to have been sick and was unable to attend.

The format of the event eventually allowed other candidates who are unopposed in the Democratic primary to participate: Mike Anglin (Ward 5 incumbent), Sabra Briere (Ward 1 incumbent), and Kirk Westphal, who’s challenging incumbent Jane Lumm in Ward 2. Lumm, who was elected to the council as an independent, was in the audience at the forum but didn’t participate. The event was held at the Ann Arbor Community Center on North Main Street. The Chronicle’s coverage is presented in a multiple-part series, based on common threads that formed directly in response to questions posed to the candidates, or that cut across multiple responses.

This final installment of coverage from the June 8 city council candidate forum focuses on the remarks candidates made that were overtly about the campaign – to the extent that those remarks weren’t included in one of the previous reports on this forum.

The fact that the forum was hosted by the Ann Arbor Democratic Party meant that party politics was an obvious potential topic. State representative Jeff Irwin set that tone early as he addressed the audience with a legislative update. And Ward 2 candidate Kirk Westphal, who’ll face independent Jane Lumm in the general election, stressed that he is a Democrat.

Part 1 of this series focused on the candidates’ concept of and connection to Ann Arbor, while Part 2 looked at their personal styles of engagement and views of how the council interacts. Part 3 reported on the theme of connections, including physical connections like transportation, as well as how people are connected to local government. And Part 4 covered the theme of downtown and its role in the life of the city. Chronicle election coverage is tagged with “2013 primary election.”

The League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area will be holding its candidate forums for Ward 3 and Ward 4 primaries on July 10 at the studios of Community Television Network. Those forums will be broadcast on CTN’s Channel 19 and will be available online.

The Campaign

Julie Grand led things off by saying she had truly enjoyed the opportunity so far of “getting out in the community, listening to your concerns, listening to your solutions.”

During her closing comments, Grand added that if people at the forum had other questions about her campaign, they could look at the literature that had been placed on tables in the back of the room. Her website would be live shortly, she said. [Grand's website] She offered to talk after the forum or when people saw her out in the community – as she was not taking any vacation over the next couple of months.

Grand felt she has a strong record of public service to the community – one that she said has been characterized by hard work, transparency and strong public engagement. That’s what she’d continue to do, she said. [Grand is chair of the Ann Arbor park advisory commission, on which she's served since 2007. She has served on several task forces during that time, including one that's currently focused on the North Main/Huron River corridor.] Grand said she is looking forward to the opportunity to continue listening to people’s ideas and working hard for them.

Stephen Kunselman said he’s seeking re-election. Back in 2011, he noted, he’d campaigned on the tagline of a “strong voice, bold vision, an honest ethic and a new direction.” This year, his tagline is “experienced, effective, ethical leadership you can trust.” [Kunselman's website]

Kunselman thanked Grand for throwing her hat in the ring. Campaigning is not easy, he said. He allowed that it’s a good time because you meet a lot of people – but it’s not that much fun. He thanked other candidates who stepped forward, because it really does give the city a broad representation of interest in the dialogue that’s going to be taking place in the next couple of months, he said. He repeated his tagline for this year: “Experienced, effective, ethical leadership you can trust.” He’d be going door-to-door over the next couple of months, he said.

He’s accomplished a lot during his service on the city council that he’s very proud of, Kunselman said, working with councilmembers Sabra Briere and Mike Anglin. As an example, he gave the public art ordinance that was given a major revision at a recent council meeting. The revision to the public art ordinance meant that the city would no longer be transferring restricted monies into pooled funds for public art.

As another example, he gave his service as the council appointee to the taxicab board. When there were complaints about limo drivers assaulting University of Michigan female students, he had stood up to make sure that the police department was addressing that issue, he said. When there was a proposal to close fire stations in the last year, he’d opposed that with others on the council, and added FTEs during the last fiscal year. About the former YMCA site – a city-owned property at Fifth and William – he noted that he’d campaigned in 2011 on the idea of selling it. A broker is now being selected by the city administrator, so that the city can be put back on the tax rolls again.

Kunselman commented on the houses along Main Street – across from the Ann Arbor Community Center, where the forum was held. He noted that the dilapidated houses, which had been part of the demised Near North affordable housing development, had now been demolished. [Demolition had been delayed, in part because the city expected that federal funds could be used to cover the cost, but that proved not to be the case.] Where did that money for demolition come from? Kunselman asked. When he’d been returned to the council by voters, he said, he’d used his experience working in local government. And because of that experience, he said, he’d pushed not for using the city attorney’s office to deal with blight in the community. Instead, he’d said: Let’s use the building department. He’d previously run a dangerous buildings program in a prior position, and he knew that the building department could be effective.

There’s a tremendous difference between playing poker politics and putting the cards on the table for all the public to see, Kunselman said. He gave forum attendees information on his campaign kickoff event.

Jack Eaton said it’s time now to turn attention “from stopping the bad ideas to a positive agenda.” He said it’s important to revisit the idea of protecting the city’s parkland from misuse. “We need to address our infrastructure needs. We need to address our unfunded liabilities. I want to help rebuild our police and fire departments,” he said. He’s running because he wants to be responsive to Ward 4 voters. But he also wants to represent the interests of the entire city. [Eaton's website]

Eaton reported that when he goes door-to-door talking to voters, he hears repeatedly that people really like it when he talks about commonsense priorities. It’s not that difficult to understand that public safety is more important than some of the other things the city spends money on, he said. It’s not that difficult to understand that when roads are in horrible condition, the city needs to address those problems. It’s not that hard to understand that neighborhood flooding should have been addressed a long time ago and we have just ignored the symptoms, Eaton said.

Sabra Briere ventured that she’d been “annoying my spouse lately” because every time she goes through a neighborhood and sees the sidewalks being repaired, she says, “If I have accomplished nothing else, I’ve done that.” She described how the first thing she did after she was elected to the council was to object to the method of paying for sidewalks. At that time, it was an individual’s responsibility as a property owner to pay for the sidewalk adjacent to your property. She was really happy that the community was asked to approve a millage for that, and had agreed to pass a millage to pay for sidewalk maintenance.

“Infrastructure is my big deal,” Briere stated. Her other big deal, she said, was a focus on affordable housing and human services. She’d been working on that “more quietly perhaps than some people might like, but it is making a real change in the budget.” She pointed out that this year the council was able to allocate $100,000 to the city’s affordable housing trust fund, when that had not been done in the last several years. That’s important because it’s a community value, she said.

Briere said she’s really tried over the last few years to be open and available to the public – to benefit from other people’s viewpoints as much as possible. Sometimes she’ll play devil’s advocate, she said – countering somebody’s view with someone else’s view to see how well they can defend it. Yes, she has a website, Briere said, and yes, you can e-mail her. But she pointed out that you can also talk with her – every Monday morning at the Northside Grill at 7:30 a.m. She stays until at least 9 a.m., she said. Some of the candidates and councilmembers at the forum had come to visit her there. She’s there to hear what anybody has to say. If nobody shows up, she has other stuff to do while she’s sitting there – adding that Northside Grill makes “a decent cup of coffee.”

Democratic Party

As a gathering of members of the city Democratic Party, it was not unusual to hear partisan talk at the June 8 candidate forum.

Democratic Party: State Politics

Jeff Irwin – representative for Michigan’s 53rd House District, which includes most of Ann Arbor – led off the morning by filling some time until moderator Mike Henry was able to arrive.

Irwin described how progress had been made on the possibility of Michigan adding LGBT individuals [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] as a protected class under its civil rights law. Based on an NPR news story he’d heard, Irwin indicated that Republican Rep. Frank Foster would be willing to introduce the necessary changes to Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen civil rights act. “This is something we have been working on in Lansing as Democrats for at least a decade,” Irwin said.

Michigan is one of only a few states that does not have that language in its civil rights act, Irwin continued, so Democrats have been working on this issue for years and years, trying to get LGBT protection inserted into Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen act. Explaining why it’s a Republican who’s bringing the proposal forward, Irwin explained: “When those of us like myself get to Lansing and see the Republicans control everything, we realize very quickly that, you know, the best way [to move the issue forward] is to get a Republican to lift up the banner and carry it across the finish line.”

So a number of Democrats had been working behind the scenes with Republicans to try to encourage them, particularly younger Republicans, Irwin said. “… [I]f they want to have a political career in Michigan, that if they want to survive in politics, they need to understand that the politics of this issue is moving so fast that they are going to get run over and flattened if they don’t get on the right side of it.” If the Republican Party wants to maintain its “bigoted position” on marriage, he said, then the Elliott-Larsen change would be a way to mollify that and “save themselves.” Irwin thought a number of Republicans had been convinced that a change to Elliott-Larsen is a good move for the Republican Party in the next couple of years.

And in response to a question from local attorney David Cahill about Democratic Party prospects statewide in 2014, Irwin took the opportunity to heap criticism on the most recent Republican U.S. president. Michigan Democrats are looking at 2006 as a model for how to achieve success, but one part of the 2006 success had been the fact that George W. Bush was in office – something that couldn’t be repeated, Irwin noted, describing Bush as a “buffoon.”

Democratic Party: Candidate Forum

The candidate forum also touched on partisan themes. In particular Kirk Westphal asserted his Democratic Party credentials. Although he’s unopposed in the Ward 2 primary, he’ll face incumbent Jane Lumm in the general election. Lumm is running as an independent, though she ran for mayor in 2004 as a Republican and served in the mid-1990s on the city council as a Republican. Lumm attended the June 8 forum and sat in the audience. She told The Chronicle she had no expectation of participating in the candidate forum, and that she was there just to listen.

In his remarks, Westphal noted that he’s unopposed in the August primary by saying, “I’m the only Democrat running for the seat in the Second Ward – so I’ll keep my remarks brief and mostly focused on personal background.”

Later, Westphal stated, “I’m a strong Democrat,” and went on to list out where he stood on basic issues. He believes in a strong government role in the environment, the arts, transit, affordable housing and in successful cities overall. He wanted to bring those values to the Ward 2 council seat.

Westphal characterized the local government as the face of the community. Some folks think that a local government should play a very small role, he allowed, He felt, however, that the local government captures the personality of the community. He added, “And I’m frankly running because a lot of my wardmates and I have not seen progressive Democratic values reflected in this council seat. And we believe that these values are important to the future, both locally and nationally.”

The other explicit mention of the Democratic Party came from Sabra Briere, who told the audience that she’s sorry there’s no Democratic primary in Ward 1 – saying that’s not her doing.

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