The start of the 2011 Ann Arbor July 4th parade.

Some of them – like John Dingell, a Democrat who’s the longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives – are veterans of these events. Others are making a debut of sorts. Larry Murphy, for example, attended a candidate forum just last week where he indicated he hadn’t yet made a decision whether to run for the Ann Arbor Public Schools board of trustees. But on Monday he marched in the July 4th parade, and told The Chronicle that he’s “crossed the Rubicon” and decided to enter the race.

The parade – organized each year by the Ann Arbor Jaycees – certainly featured more than just politicos in its ranks. Kids, clowns, firetrucks, horses, pageant queens, sword fighters, baton twirlers and many others marched the route from State to Liberty to Main to William.

But Independence Day is rooted in our nation’s democracy, and in our ability as citizens to elect representatives to serve us at all levels. So with that in mind, and in keeping with The Chronicle’s focus on local government and civic affairs, we hope you enjoy this photo essay from Monday’s parade. Happy Fourth of July, Ann Arbor!

Neal Elyakin, center, greets Mike Anglin before the start of the parade. Anglin is the incumbent Ward 5 Ann Arbor city councilmember. Elyakin is running against him in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary. At the right is Tom Wall, former mayoral candidate.

Steve Kunselman, incumbent Ward 3 city councilmember, with his wife Letitia Kunselman. He's being challenged in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary by Ingrid Ault and Marwan Issa. Neither challenger had entries in the July 4th parade.

State Rep. Jeff Irwin (center, blue shirt) with his supporters on South State Street. Irwin, a Democrat, represents Ann Arbor's District 53 in the Michigan House of Representatives. He was first elected to that office in 2010, after serving on the Washtenaw County board of commissioners for a decade. He's faces re-election in 2012.

Larry Murphy, a candidate for the Ann Arbor Public Schools board of trustees, with his family. The slogan on the back of the T-shirts read: "More Teachers. Less Overhead."

Former Scio Township trustee Jean King, a Democrat, remains a political activist. She rode with the Gray Panthers of Washtenaw County. (Image links to Ann Arbor Chronicle column about a March 2011 tribute event and naming of the Jean Ledwith King Women's Center of Southeastern Michigan.)

Doug Kelley isn't running for office, but the Democratic activist is already gearing up for the 2012 presidential campaign.

U.S. Congressman John Dingell rides in the passenger seat, with his wife Debbie Dingell in back. The car is being driven by Adam Zemke, former Democratic candidate for Washtenaw County commissioner.

Washtenaw County sheriff Jerry Clayton was among the many elected officials who walked the Ann Arbor Fourth of July parade. First elected in 2008 after defeating fellow Democrat and incumbent Dan Minzey, Clayton will be up for re-election in 2012.

The Washtenaw County Republicans and the Willow Run Tea Party Caucus both had entries in the Ann Arbor Fourth of July parade.

Stuart Berry, right, is a Republican candidate for Ward 5 Ann Arbor city council. He'll face the winner of the Democratic primary – either incumbent Mike Anglin or Neal Elyakin – in November. (Notice in the background The Chronicle's name on the Michigan Theater marquee – for our sponsorship of the theater's summer documentary film series. Image links to series schedule.)

State Sen. Rebekah Warren represents District 18 in the Michigan Senate, an area that includes Ann Arbor. A Democrat, she was elected to the state senate in 2010 to a four-year term.

Brian Mackie, Janis Bobrin and Sabra Briere walk together down East Liberty. Briere (right, taking a photograph) is a Ward 1 Ann Arbor city councilmember running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Mackie, Washtenaw County prosecuting attorney, and Bobrin, the county's water resources commissioner, are also Democrats and will face re-election in 2012.

Some non-political clowns: Bob Dascola, left, with his clown pal were promoting Shakespeare in the Park, a summer series in West Park. (Image links to Blackbird Theatre website with more information.)

Just in case anyone wondered, this sign makes it clear that anything coming after these guys isn't part of the official parade. Notice the "Recall Snyder" sign in the background – supporters of the recall effort of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, an Ann Arbor area resident, were out collecting signatures for the recall petition.

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The May meeting of the University of Michigan board of regents was remarkable for a rare display of discord. It’s the only time I can recall that this particular board has publicly voiced disagreement with the administration. It’s the only time I can remember some unscripted debate unfolding among regents on a substantive issue – the issue was a resolution recognizing the right of graduate student research assistants to unionize.

Bezonki, like The Chronicle, is a different kind of beast – he's sometimes surprised by what he reads in the newspaper. This is a preview panel from the upcoming June edition of The Chronicle's comic – a monthly nod to the time-honored tradition of the Sunday funnies. Bezonki is created by local artist Alvey Jones. (Image links to Bezonki archive.)

After the meeting, I happened to be leaving at the same time as UM president Mary Sue Coleman. As we walked down the hall together, I told her that despite the tension and clearly deep disagreement on this issue, I had found it refreshing to see an actual public debate at the meeting. It simply never happens.

Whatever disagreements exist among regents – or between regents and the administration – seem to be aired privately. When tuition rates are set, some regents will read statements of polite disagreement, before casting their votes of dissent. But most action items are approved unanimously, with little if any comment. I told Coleman that I realized the meeting had been at times uncomfortable, but that I appreciated the debate.

She gave me a withering look. “I’m sure you do,” she said, crisply.

Her pointed disdain took me aback – though I should have seen it coming. From her perspective, she’d been delivered a very public defeat on an issue she is passionate about, grounded in her personal experience. She seemed weary. But her comment also revealed a view of the media that’s more prevalent and more justified than I like to admit. It’s a view of reporters as hungering for headline-grabbing, website-traffic-sucking stories – and if the facts don’t quite deliver the juice, well, there are ways to spice up reality. There’s a reason why news gathering is sometimes called “feeding the beast.”

From that perspective, Coleman perhaps heard my remarks as the comments of someone who was hungry for more drama of regents mixing it up in front of the plebeians. Ouch.

So on my drive home from UM’s Dearborn campus – where the regents meeting was held – I thought about why the exchange had touched a nerve for me. For one, I’m dismayed that elected officials and other civic leaders are so often reluctant to hold difficult discussions in public. The board of regents is not the only body that does its business like a tightly choreographed kabuki dance. But as a journalist, I’m angered when irresponsible actions by those who earn a livelihood as part of the news media give public bodies a cheap excuse to be even more closed-off.

Keeping Deliberations in Public View: Why It Matters

Any reader who  follows The Chronicle’s editorial stance – reflected in our approach to regular coverage, our columns and these monthly milestones – is likely aware that we’re relentless in pushing for openness and transparency in local government. Frankly, it often feels like a Sisyphean task. There are many more forces pressing on public officials to conduct business out of public view than there are motivations for holding all deliberations in public. That’s nothing new. You can make arguments of efficiency, or politesse, or politics – and yes, deliberating in public can be messy.

To which I say: Too damn bad.

That’s why laws like the Michigan Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act are in place – it’s a recognition that legal constraints are sometimes the only thing powerful enough to prompt the type of behavior that citizens of a democracy require of their government.

Openness is also a matter of degree. I was disappointed when Ann Arbor District Library board members recently rejected a proposal to begin videotaping their monthly meetings for broadcast. At their May meeting, the newest AADL board member, Nancy Kaplan, brought forward a resolution to videotape meetings. But it was defeated on a 2-4 vote, with support only from Kaplan and Barbara Murphy. (Trustee Ed Surovell was absent.) It was also disappointing that no trustees spoke publicly during the meeting about their reasons for voting against it.

Those kinds of discussions – explaining the rationale for a particular vote – should happen at the board table.

As an aside, I should point out that, unlike most traditional media outlets, it’s not The Chronicle’s typical practice after a meeting to “get a quote” from public officials on which to base our meeting reports, though we will seek clarification, if necessary. Our rationale is based on the belief that the media shouldn’t need to act as an intermediary – if someone from the rank-and-file public takes the time to attend a meeting or watch it online or on cable television, that interested citizen should have access to the same information that a journalist does.

In the same way, we don’t believe the media should encourage public officials to make statements to reporters privately instead of at a public venue – where those statements can be on the record for everyone – and challenged publicly by their colleagues if they disagree. Obviously, this does not eliminate the role of investigative reporting or basic source development.

But too often, there’s an unhealthy symbiotic relationship between a reporter and a public official as an exclusive source. Readers and viewers often attach undue credibility to journalists who seem to have privileged access to key officials, so it’s in a journalist’s interest to maintain that access. The price for that access is that journalists allow quotes from those officials to frame the public narrative. Sometimes that price is paid unwittingly, simply because an inexperienced journalist lacks enough understanding, history or context for the subject matter.

But back to the library board. I was disappointed by the board’s decision not to make their meetings more accessible – both for anyone who’s interested now, but also for archival purposes. The archival angle is one that I’d think would be especially compelling to a group responsible for the stewardship of the local public library. If no audio or visual record of the meeting is made and preserved, then for someone who is not able to attend in person, the only way to experience the content of the board deliberations is through a reliance on reports from the media, or the official meeting minutes that are available a month or two later.

The argument that it’s a matter of resources doesn’t carry much weight with me – it’s actually a matter of will and priorities. And it seems clear that for AADL library trustees and for the UM regents (whose meetings are also not videotaped for subsequent public access), most members don’t believe a greater degree of public access is important.

And in fact, there’s often not much to witness at these meetings, in terms of deliberations on action items – perhaps an occasional question, though rarely one that’s very pointed or critical. For the regents in particular, who oversee the university’s massive budget and set policy with far-reaching implications, it’s remarkable how little can be gleaned from public meetings about the rationale for their decisions – even if you’re paying close attention.

So I suppose that one argument against spending any resources on videotaping these meetings is simply that there’s not much worth recording for posterity, other than the outcome of votes. And that, I think, is a more fundamental issue.

Public Deliberations: The Media’s Responsibility

While I would certainly put the onus of public deliberations in the hands of elected and appointed officials, the media has some responsibility here, too. That responsibility is to report based on a solid understanding of the subject matter.

That responsibility lies in developing a deep understanding of what’s being discussed around the board or council table, and in providing accurate context and background information so that readers can make sense of it. What prevails, though – in much of the national, regional and local news coverage I see – is parachute-style journalism. A reporter drops in on a public meeting, plucks out the most controversial aspect of the interaction, and trumpets that controversy as if that public body accomplished nothing else at their meeting.

That’s partly an artifact of the basic approach to news as “churnalism,” which puts a premium on speed, brevity and frequency. It’s more of a reporting-as-discussion-prompt approach. Alternately, it’s reporting as a delivery device for a poll. With provocative headlines and scant facts, readers are left to fill in the blanks with comments and speculation. And it’s always easier for someone to have an opinion, if a publication serves up issues as if all a reader needs to know is Choice A or Choice B. All of that drives website traffic, which brings in more ad revenue – if you’re selling ads based on page views and click-throughs. Chronicle ads aren’t sold on that basis.

Believe me, I’ve got nothing against ad revenue – bless the local businesses and organizations that support The Chronicle’s work. And bless the generous individual voluntary subscribers to our publication. But I believe the mission of a news publication should be driven something different from a desire to generate cheap page views.

Against a backdrop of marginally informed, eager-to-hype reporting, it’s no wonder that people in the public eye – even those who might otherwise have no problem with scrutiny – pull back from putting their business on the table. And for those who aren’t inclined to do their work in public in the first place, they’re provided with an easy excuse.

This results in a “governing class” in our community, where the path to making decisions isn’t clear unless you’re member of that class or in the network of someone who is. And those who actually follow public boards closely still have only a partial understanding of decision-making – because it often doesn’t happen where it should: In a public venue.

So while I think I understand Mary Sue Coleman’s reflexive reaction to my comments, I’ll still advocate for more of that kind of candid discussion between her and the regents.

At The Chronicle, we’re committed to proving there’s another way to approach the business of reporting – one that assumes readers can be intelligent, with a sufficient attention span to digest more than a sound bite. It’s an approach that treats the work of individuals and institutions we cover as worthy of our sustained attention – for longer than just the time it takes to collect a few quotes and pound out a few paragraphs.

I believe it’s possible to breed something other than a media beast. That’s why, against some daunting odds, we’re working hard to make The Ann Arbor Chronicle a different kind of creature.

About the writer: Mary Morgan is co-founder and publisher of The Ann Arbor Chronicle.

Purely a plug: The Chronicle relies in part on regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of publicly-funded organizations and local government. 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!

From left: Washtenaw County commissioner Ronnie Peterson, Ypsilanti city councilmember Pete Murdock, and Ann Arbor Township supervisor Mike Moran, at the county board's March 17 working session on intergovernmental collaboration. (Photos by the writer.)

Their discussion comes in the context of declining property values – property taxes are the primary source of revenue for local governments. In Michigan, constraints on how local governments can generate revenues add an additional layer of complexity. For the county, commissioners and staff are weighing how to overcome a projected two-year, $20.9 million deficit – some feel that collaborating with other local governments is part of the solution.

The talk among Washtenaw County leaders about collaboration also reflects a push at the state level to encourage more such efforts. It’s been a mantra of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, an Ann Arbor area resident, who wants to use state revenue-sharing dollars as a carrot to get communities to work together. More dramatically, his administration is also advocating for legislation that would make it easier for cities and counties to merge.

Local government officials had been invited to the March 17 meeting to participate in the discussion and air their views on the possibilities for collaboration, as well as roadblocks they anticipate, like issues of cost or control. Many cited the need for better communication, and commissioners indicated a desire to get more involved in existing forums, such as the CEO Group – a monthly meeting of township supervisors led by Dexter Township supervisor Pat Kelly – and the Saline Area Sustainability Circle, which also meets monthly.

Representatives from Ann Arbor Township, Salem Township, Saline and Ypsilanti attended the working session. However, no one came from local governments of the county’s largest population centers – Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Township or Ypsilanti Township – though those areas are also represented by county commissioners. Several people at the meeting expressed the hope that similar sessions would be held in the future, with the additional hope that more local officials would get involved.

Introductions, Framing the Discussion

Typically, working sessions for the county board entail presentations on one or two topics related to the county’s work, with the opportunity for commissioners to ask questions. But the March 17 session on intergovernmental collaboration had a different tone. Yousef Rabhi, chair of the working session, began by asking everyone in the room to introduce themselves, and he invited leaders from other local governments to sit at tables in the front with microphones, where they could participate directly in the discussion.

In addition to some county staff and a few members of the public, local officials at the meeting included Mike Moran, Ann Arbor Township supervisor; Todd Campbell, Saline city manager; Salem Township supervisor Robert Heyl; Salem Township treasurer Paul Uherek; Janis Bobrin, Washtenaw County water resources commissioner; and Gene DeRossett, 14-A District Court administrator. Pete Murdock, an Ypsilanti city councilmember, arrived about midway through the session.

Rabhi pointed out that one of the county’s guiding principles speaks directly to collaboration:

Provide leadership on intragovernmental, intergovernmental and intersectoral cooperation and collaboration aimed at improving services to County citizens.

He noted that at the March 16 board meeting, commissioners had approved a set of priorities and principles to guide the 2012-2013 budget. During that meeting, they’d talked a lot about intergovernmental collaboration, he said. One of the guiding principles that they’d approved dealt directly with that issue:

Guidance Four: Integrate efforts across agencies to meet strategic priorities. The Board seeks to substantively elevate the County’s role in providing leadership on intragovernmental, intergovernmental and intersectoral cooperation and collaboration aimed at improving services to County citizens. Partnership and collaboration are essential components of every County program. [.pdf file of 2012-13 strategic priorities and budget decision principles]

“This is part of that process,” Rabhi said. The county is already collaborating in a variety of ways, he noted, which they are documenting. [.pdf file listing current county collaborations] Examples include the sheriff’s office combining its dispatch operations with the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti; the county morgue contracting with the University of Michigan Health System to use UM facilities for autopsies; and the county providing IT services for the Dexter fire department, Chelsea police and the city of Ypsilanti.

What followed was a wide-ranging discussion among commissioners and leaders of other local governments. For purposes of this report, the discussion is organized by topic.

Is Collaboration a Priority – And at What Cost?

Rabhi observed that at the March 16 board meeting, some commissioners had indicated they didn’t want to collaborate if it cost the county money. So he posed a question: Should collaboration be a priority, regardless of its expense?

Washtenaw County commissioner Yousef Rabhi, left, who chairs the board's working sessions, talks with Salem Township supervisor Robert Heyl prior to the March 17 working session on intergovernmental collaboration.

Conan Smith, the board’s chair, made some additional points to frame the conversation. They have an interesting opportunity, given the state’s economy, to re-examine how government services are provided, he said. One of the key questions is: At what level is a service optimally provided, and what entity should provide it? Issues that affect the character of a neighborhood probably aren’t a county government responsibility. But perhaps providing a payroll service to local governments is a service the county could offer.

He also pointed out that many issues cross jurisdictional boundaries – like the work of the county’s water resources commissioner, for example. Environmental issues should be looked at from a regional or metro area perspective, he said – or even on the scale of a watershed.

These aren’t necessarily clear-cut decisions, Smith said. And it’s complicated by the fact that different units of government have different authority. Police services and roads are examples where there’s overlapping entities involved. All of these factors should be part of the discussion, Smith said, and should help shape their legislative agenda.

Returning to Rabhi’s question, Barbara Bergman said that any collaboration they do should be cost neutral to the county. Though they should look for opportunities to collaborate, as a steward of public funds, she said, she felt strongly that they shouldn’t use general fund dollars to pursue collaborative projects.

No government wants to collaborate and end up paying more, Smith replied. But there’s recognition that kicking off a collaboration might cost money initially – the idea is that those upfront costs will yield a payoff down the road. The distinction is between one-time costs and longer-term costs, he said.

Bergman responded that if there are start-up costs that don’t result in savings within six to eight months, that would be hard to support.

At that point, Mike Moran – Ann Arbor Township supervisor – approached the podium to speak. He told Bergman that her view is very short-sighted. There are several examples of collaborations that have paid off, but that aren’t necessarily cost neutral, he said – pointing to the Washtenaw Metro Alliance and the Urban County, which both have relied on county staff. And some things didn’t save money, but were worth doing anyway, he noted. The Metro Alliance, for example, came up with a comprehensive open space plan – they didn’t start out with that as a project, but it became a valuable endeavor, he said.

Secondarily, Moran said, a lot of collaboration is happening that might not be officially considered as collaboration. He cited as examples the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) and the criminal justice collaborative council (CJCC), on which he serves – those aren’t included on the county’s list of collaborative projects, he noted, but they should be.

Moran also reported that Ann Arbor Township now requires that every development project be vetted by the staff of the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner. That’s not a county requirement, he noted, but another example of two local government entities working together.

Ann Arbor Township supervisor Mike Moran and Janis Bobrin, Washtenaw County water resources commissioner.

Finally, Moran expressed skepticism that any money will be forthcoming from the state for local governments. If there’s a funding pool, it’ll be more like a “baby swimming pool,” he quipped.

Bergman replied that she also serves on the CJCC – when it started, the county was able to fund its start-up costs. But they’re facing a different economic climate now. “I wish now was then,” she said. “But now is now.” Bergman also noted that Janis Bobrin, the county’s water resources commissioner, can manage her budget however she sees fit, “regardless of my comments regarding cost neutrality.” [The water resources commissioner is an independent, elected position. The budget for that office is set by the county board.]

Later in the meeting, commissioner Dan Smith observed that cost savings are the main reason driving collaboration. Over the years, local governments have developed the attitude that they want to deliver the best service possible, and the best way to do that was to do it themselves. But they don’t have the luxury of doing that anymore, he added, and they’re looking to collaborate to save money.

That might be true, commissioner Wes Prater said – the need to save money might have brought collaboration to the forefront. But there’s other value to collaboration, beyond savings. They also need to take into account that each of the local governments have different responsibilities, he said – the trick is to find collaborations that bring value to all involved.

Commissioner Kristin Judge said it was important to remember that the county is a member of SEMCOG (the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments). They pay dues for that membership, she said, and should take advantage of SEMCOG staff who could support collaborative projects – SEMCOG staff is providing that kind of support to a regional IT collaboration that Judge participates in.

Peter Murdock, an Ypsilanti city councilmember, observed that Ypsilanti has been involved in collaborations for decades – he cited the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority (YCUA) and the Ypsilanti District Library as examples. The city, which has its own police department, is also talking with Ypsilanti Township about providing police services for the township, he said. Ypsilanti Township currently contracts with the county sheriff’s department for police services.

They’ve already done a lot of cost cutting, Murdock said, and the next few years will be difficult. Collaboration and consolidation might be part of the solution, but Murdock indicated that strategy alone likely wouldn’t be enough to solve their problems.

Collaboration: Communication Is Key

Prater urged local leaders to think of Washtenaw County as one community. Each district is a little different, he said, but everyone is concerned about quality of life and public safety – they know those are crucial for economic development. There are other things, like transportation and good roads, he said, but fundamentally, public safety is the most critical thing for a good economy.

Commissioner Rob Turner said he comes to the discussion from the perspective of public schools – before being elected to the county board, he was a school board member for the Chelsea public schools. School boards throughout the county have a collegial relationship, he said, and collaborate via the Washtenaw Intermediate School District. Many service-sharing initiatives emerge from their discussions, he said, including collaborations related to food services and transportation. He said he didn’t see anything similar among township supervisors or other local government leaders – people just coming together and talking, as they were that night. He wondered if there were meetings taking place that he just wasn’t aware of.

County commissioners Wes Prater and Kristin Judge.

Judge mentioned the CEO Group, a monthly meeting of township supervisors and other local government officials – it’s led by Dexter Township supervisor Pat Kelly. Former county commissioner Mark Ouimet previously served as an informal liaison between the county board and the CEO Group, she said. So the mechanism exists, Judge said – they just need to figure out a better way to take advantage of it. She suggested that perhaps the work of the CEO Group could be better publicized.

Prater noted that former Ann Arbor mayor Liz Brater had started the CEO Group in the early 1990s, when Prater served as supervisor of Ypsilanti Township. Initially, only a few people attended, he said, but now it’s a strong group and provides a forum for local governments to communicate.

Turner observed that county commissioners or staff would benefit from being more than just an occasional guest at those meetings. Judge recalled that when she was first elected to the county board, taking office in late 2008, she was invited to the group. At that time, there was distrust against the county related to a dispute over how townships and other municipalities were charged for sheriff deputy patrols, she said. A lot of work has been done to heal those relationships, she added, and now it seems that members of the CEO Group are more open to working with the county.

Those kinds of animosities generally stem from a lack of communication, Turner said. Moran agreed that the CEO Group meetings have been helpful in leading to more understanding among the different entities, which he said has benefited everyone. At one point he had suggested that each head of the county departments come to the CEO Group meetings to explain to the group what they do, and what their concerns are. A few department heads did that, he said, but it would be helpful to hear from more of them.

Moran also identified the county board’s public commentary rules as a constraint against better communication. During the two opportunities for public commentary at each of their meetings, speakers are limited in time – five minutes at the regular board meetings and working sessions, and three minutes during the Ways & Means Committee meeting.

It’s hard to have a dialogue when you’re limited to speaking for five minutes, Moran said. Also, given the way the county operates, by the time a resolution has reached the board for a vote, the decision about it has already been made, he said. Moran suggested more meetings like this working session would be valuable.

Rabhi noted that there seems to be interest in coming together like this. When he sent out an email invitation to local government leaders, he’d received a lot of responses from people who couldn’t come, but who told him they were “overjoyed” that the county was holding this kind of meeting.

Ronnie Peterson asked other local government leaders to weigh in – what did they want from the county? What are their feelings about how the county currently interacts with them? How can the county enhance existing collaborations? It might be as simple as sharing a dump truck or an office that’s unused. He said the county needs to look for partners to help deliver services to its residents, but some communities want to be isolated – they don’t want to be bothered with collaborative efforts.

Todd Campbell, Saline’s city manager, thanked the board for holding the working session, and said he hoped there’d be more of these meetings in the future, and that more people would attend. For his community, it’s all about providing quality services – and collaboration is key for the future success of all communities, Campbell said. He mentioned ways that Saline is already doing that, citing the work that the Saline police department does with the county sheriff’s office.

Todd Campbell, city manager for Saline, and county commissioner Alicia Ping. Prior to her election to the county board, Ping served on the Saline city council.

Campbell noted that there are 62 employees in Saline city government – 10 fewer than there were eight years ago. At some point, you can’t do more with less – you do less with less. And generally, of the ways to cut costs, they’d already picked the low-hanging fruit.

But there are times when other factors come into play, he added. For example, he said that Saline has a strong city assessor who’s fair and helps educate the public. [Saline's assessor is Catherine Scull.] It doesn’t make sense for them to outsource that job, he said, because she provides such a quality service.

Campbell also stressed the importance of communication. He pointed out that the Saline Area Sustainability Circle has been very helpful – its discussions tend to focus on land-use issues, but other topics are addressed as well. [The group, which Campbell chairs, includes Saline, the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce, Saline Area Schools, Lodi Township, Saline Township, York Township, and Pittsfield Township. Its meetings, held at different locations on the third Tuesday of each month, are open to the public.]

Addressing the topic of barriers to collaboration, Campbell noted that in the town where he previously worked, they talked about those barriers as turf, taxes and tradition. Efforts to collaborate can result in issues of local control, of revenue and of the loss of identify – he cited an example of two school districts that were asked to consolidate, after their sports teams had been bitter rivals for decades. These are some of the challenges.

Alicia Ping, a former Saline city councilmember who now serves on the county board, suggested that the county needs to communicate better with other local governments about the services it already provides. She noted that several years ago, Saline was looking to outsource inspection services. Now, they contract with the county’s water resources commissioner for some of those services – it’s fee-based, she said.

Turner said he’d like to see the county board continue the kind of forum they were having at this working session, perhaps holding them on a quarterly basis. They needed a time when they could just come together and talk with leaders of other local governments.

Moran pointed out that there are a lot of local governments that don’t want to engage with the county, but they should – more people need to attend these meetings, he said.

Campbell also said future forums like this were critical. Often at the state and national level, directives are handed down to local communities, he said – local governments are told what to do and how to do it. A better approach would be to invite local leaders to tell the county what their needs are, he said. That would be crucial – to find out what the ailment is first.

Barriers to Collaboration

Prater said he wanted to talk about why local governments don’t collaborate. All too often, it’s because people have always done things a certain way, he said – change isn’t easy, and it requires people to go outside their comfort level. A lot of people in government don’t want to think about new ideas, but they must, Prater said.

Collaboration also requires good, productive management, Prater said. They need to set performance measures, gather data, and look for efficiencies – it’s not easy, he said.

Moran asked how they would measure a collaborative project, with regards to cost neutrality. Would they measure it at the first dollar that’s spent? Ventures like the Metro Alliance might take a couple of years to pay off, he noted. Judging whether something is cost neutral is meaningless unless there’s a timeframe attached, Moran said.

Planning is key, Prater replied. If initial planning reveals issues that might result in a collaboration not working, then you stop it. These days, he said, it’s all about the revenues – or lack thereof.

Leah Gunn said it’s not just about the county’s revenues – declining property tax revenues are an issue for all local governments. Foreclosures are happening in all districts, including hers, she noted. [Gunn represents District 9, which covers a portion of Ann Arbor.]

In the end, collaboration will pay off, Gunn said. She called the list of current collaborations “amazing,” noting there are others – like the Metro Alliance – that aren’t listed. Her understanding is that the Metro Alliance, which has been inactive recently, is being reconstituted, which she said is a good thing. Recent collaborations among some of the county’s fire departments stemmed in part from the Metro Alliance’s request that fire chiefs to attend one of their meetings, she said.

From left: Salem Township treasurer Paul Uherek, Salem Township supervisor Robert Heyl, and county commissioner Conan Smith of Ann Arbor.

Later in the meeting, Salem Township treasurer Paul Uherek told commissioners that after the last snowfall, it took the county road commission three days before the road was plowed in front of his house. It would be useful for commissioners to ask why some local governments didn’t want to engage in collaborations, he said.

Judge later clarified that the county board isn’t responsible for clearing the roads – the road commission is a separate entity, although the county board is responsible for appointing the three road commissioners who oversee that operation.

Peterson noted that sometimes, people feel their concerns get lost. To say that the road commission is a separate entity ignores the role that the county board plays in appointing road commissioners, he said. Other local governments need to feel they are members of the team, he said, and at the end of the day, people want to be able to pick up the phone and get something done. And at the end of the day, he said, the county board is responsible for the road commission. It’s all about trust, he said – unless the county government has the trust of all municipalities throughout the county, they’ll never get to where they need to be in streamlining operations and cutting costs.

Turner noted that he served as a board liaison to the road commission, and he offered to follow up on the Salem Township issue. He asked them to contact him if there are any problems in the future. Referring to a statement made earlier in the meeting – that most communities have already picked the low-hanging fruit of cost savings – Turner said they’ll need to stand on each others’ shoulders to get at the higher-hanging fruit. “We’re here to help you,” he said, “and that’s what we want to do.”

Moran said he now knows who to call at the road commission, and how to get results – but 10 years ago, when he was new to office, he didn’t. He suggested coming up with a list of important contact information that could be distributed to all local governments.

Dan Smith said it’s true that most communities have already picked the low-hanging fruit. Now, as they brainstorm ideas for collaboration, they’ll face some serious roadblocks.

For example, consider the idea of a countywide fire department – though Smith stressed he wasn’t advocating for this. Residents don’t care where firefighters get trained or how many fire chiefs there are. They just want firefighters to respond when there’s a fire – they care about how quickly firefighters respond. It’s possible for this service to be delivered by a countywide entity, with lots of substations. But working through the details of that would be very difficult, he noted, given that there are currently multiple fire departments across the county.

Potential Areas of Collaboration, Next Steps

In looking at specific areas of possible collaboration, Conan Smith noted that the budget priority document the board approved on March 16 includes two outcomes that were relevant to the current discussion:

• Reductions in cost or duplication of the provision of “invisible” services; and
• Increased support for discretionary services that are board priorities.

Invisible services would include things that aren’t directly seen by residents, such as payroll or human resources. Smith asked if opportunities for collaboration existed in that area.

Campbell reported that from Saline’s perspective, they already contract out for their payroll services – they no longer do that in-house. He said that he heads up the city’s HR, because everyone wears many hats.

Murdock said that Ypsilanti had previously looked at the possibility of outsourcing some of those services, like HR and payroll. At the time, it didn’t make sense – or cents – to pursue, he said. Those aren’t big-ticket items like police or fire, where they could see significant savings from changes.

Conan Smith observed that one consistent theme had emerged that evening – the importance of dialogue and conversation. He said they needed to enter a process of discovery, cataloging all the existing opportunities and reviewing how the county board might participate in them. For example, they haven’t been active in the CEO Group – they could increase their engagement in that. They could also have a representative attend the Saline Area Sustainability Circle, and the Eastern Leaders Group.

Bergman added the community health collaborative to that list, saying they could put more muscle into its activities.

Judge suggested creating a menu of services that local governments could provide to other entities. For example, if there are services that one community provides particularly well – like Saline’s assessor – then perhaps other local governments could contract with them for those services.

Peterson said that for their next meeting on collaboration, they should solicit input from a broader range of elected and appointed officials throughout the county. How do they think the county can work better with their communities?

Washtenaw County administrator Verna McDaniel, left, and county commissioner Leah Gunn. The working session was held on St. Patrick's Day – thus the high percentage of green clothing on display.

Picking up on an idea mentioned earlier in the meeting by Moran, Gunn suggested creating a list of contact information for county services. When you’re new to office, there’s a steep learning curve, she said. Bergman proposed posting this information on the county’s website. She also said it was important to get more input from other local governments about how to continue this dialogue.

Peterson felt it should be more than just a list of numbers. New county commissioners get an extensive orientation regarding county services, which includes the opportunity to meet with heads of departments and programs. Something like that might be helpful for leaders of other local governments.

Conan Smith cautioned that it seemed they were on the verge of creating a new project, and he was sensitive to the constraints on their budget and staff time. He asked for some commissioners to look into how much it might involve, and to bring back a report to the board. Rabhi, Bergman and Peterson volunteered for that task.

Peterson then noted that they’ve invited members of other local governments to the table, and that long-term relationships like this might bring some costs. “Let’s not ask for a date if we can’t afford to take them out,” he said.

Judge also expressed concern over creating a new project, noting that other forums already exist, including the CEO Group and the Metro Alliance. In addition, the board’s budget priorities, which they had approved at their March 16 meeting, include a priority to market the county’s services to other entities – that’s something they’ve already asked the county administration to do. She’d rather see them simply add to whatever already exists, not develop something new.

Turner said he understood Judge’s position, and if they can work with existing forums, that’s fine. However, he noted that so far, that hasn’t seemed to work very well – there are still significant communication gaps. They might need a different venue to do that, with a more comfortable atmosphere.

Robert Heyl, Salem Township’s supervisor, said he liked what he heard that night. He noted that each commissioner represented different parts of the county, and they could reach out to other local government leaders within their districts. Meeting one-on-one with other elected officials in their districts would be helpful, he said. The forum that night had been a good start, he said, and he hoped it would continue.

Rabhi wrapped up the working session by saying the discussion had opened a lot of doors, and that they’d hold more meetings like this in the future. The county is eager to work with everyone to best serve the residents, he concluded, “because that’s what we’re all here for.”

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn, Kristin Judge, Ronnie Peterson, Alicia Ping, Wes Prater, Yousef Rabhi, Conan Smith, Dan Smith, Rob Turner.

Absent: Rolland Sizemore Jr.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

Definition of bedraggled: Ann Arbor Chronicle publisher Mary Morgan, with White House Press Pool credentials, after a long day at Michigan Stadium. (Photo by Julie Weatherbee)

On Saturday, along with more than 90,000 other people, I was in Michigan Stadium amid the spectacle of the University of Michigan commencement, with the heightened drama surrounding the presence of President Barack Obama.

Despite standing in the rain for two hours, I was glad to be part of the orchestrated pageantry – it’s a perk to living in a city that’s got the pull of a major university, while still being small enough to score access to something that draws national attention. As the day wore on, the event also helped further crystallize for me some aspects of The Ann Arbor Chronicle’s journalistic mission. And because this is our publication’s 20th monthly milestone message, it seems a good occasion to reflect on that.

The most obvious point of clarity on Saturday was the difference between what The Chronicle typically does and what other media oranizations do – whether they are traditional or newly-emerging enterprises. The second observation is linked to some advice in Obama’s speech: Pay attention.

The Media Pen

If you’re a regular Chronicle reader, you know that our focus on local government coverage leads us to extended hours sitting in uncomfortable seats, listening to elected officials. In this way, our typical day (or often, evening) is not unlike the eight hours spent in Michigan Stadium on Saturday – uncomfortable seats, elected officials.

Of course, what differed dramatically from our typical work – ok, other than the fact that Barack Obama was 50 yards away – is that more often than not, we’re the only journalists in the room. These are meetings where the public’s business is conducted, but the public isn’t clamoring to attend. There are no murmurs of anticipation beforehand, no eruptions of applause when someone enters the room, no tight security.

It’s not glamorous stuff. It does not enhance social standing to say you just returned from covering a park advisory commission meeting – most people just tend to offer pity-filled stares, or tell you straight out that you’re a wing nut.

So it’s unusual to find us amid the crush of a media throng, as we were on Saturday. There’s an entire culture to it – and to the “handling” of the media that takes place as well. It’s a caste system, in part, made even clearer when the national media comes to town. I remember it clearly from my days working at The Ann Arbor News, but I had forgotten how much I’d disliked that aspect of the circus. [Funniest aside: Overheard complaints by some Washington media who apparently chose Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner on Friday, and who found the wine list there lacking in diversity. Heads up to BWW corporate management: A letter with suggestions about wine could be headed your way.]

That said, I’m glad I had the experience of hearing Obama’s speech in person, and of witnessing the excitement of the day. This will be a touchstone event for many, and I’m glad I was able to share in it.

I’m glad I could spend some time with photographer Myra Klarman and her husband Rich – Myra graciously agreed to shoot photos for The Chronicle, and one of the best things about the day was the chance to get to know her and Rich a little better. I’m even glad I had the experience of standing next to a grizzled photographer – not Myra – who, to my surprise, joined in as the UM graduates sang their alma mater, “The Yellow and Blue.” It wasn’t clear that anyone really knew the lyrics, including him.

But the day also served to remind me that there’s a reason we chose a different path when we launched The Chronicle, and affirmed for me the value in doing so.

Paying Attention

Obama began by describing some cute questions he’d received from a kindergarten class, segued into a discussion of “niceness,” and linked that to the historical context of our nation’s often raucous political discourse. Throughout, Obama threaded the theme of what it means to live in a democracy, and how as citizens, we have a responsibility to participate. He acknowledged that people might be turned off by the name-calling we witness on a regular basis, but cited the danger of turning away [From The Chronicle's annotated version of Obama's speech]:

…when we don’t pay close attention to the decisions made by our leaders; when we fail to educate ourselves about the major issues of the day; when we choose not to make our voices and opinions heard, that’s when democracy breaks down. That’s when power is abused. That’s when the most extreme voices in our society fill the void that we leave.

Obama was speaking to the national arena, but the sentiment is even more applicable, I believe, at the local and state levels. There are exponentially more sources of information and analysis of national issues than you can find about issues and the actions of public bodies in Lansing or locally. And generally, people are likely to know more about how their Congressman voted than who their city councilmember or county commissioner is, or what decisions they’re making.

One reason we founded The Chronicle in September 2008 was because we thought much of our local community wasn’t “paying attention” – and we wanted to do something about it. We believe, despite what many media pundits assert, that readers care about more than the quick-hit, sound-byte story. We trust readers are smart enough and care enough to value our approach, which pretty much lays out the minutiae of what’s happening in local government. Readers who make the modest investment of time to read our reports will have an understanding of how things work. In fact, I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that Chronicle readers may be better informed on our local issues than public officials who don’t invest time to read The Chronicle.

Obama also talked about how participation in public life doesn’t have to mean running for public office. “But it does mean that you should pay attention and contribute in any way that you can,” he said. “Stay informed.”

I admire individuals who do this locally, even if I don’t always agree with their positions. People who are engaged in their communities, who take the time to try to understand how things work, who draw their own conclusions from the information they gather – they’ve taken on a Herculean task. And it’s a task that’s not universally appreciated. It’s easier for people in power to have a disengaged public – it can be messy and time consuming to respond to “the public,” whom some of our local officials mock as “the hive.” I get that. And I get that there are people who twist facts to align with their own worldview. The Chronicle’s  job would be “easier,” too, if no one ever showed up at meetings for public commentary – that’d sure be less for us to have to write up. But our community would be poorer for it.

Absent a robust public engagement, we might as well live in a benevolent monarchy. And the more access we have to information, the more able we are to evaluate it and make our own informed decisions, and to influence others to share our views. That’s why we’re unrelenting advocates for openness in government.

The Confluence of Community

Back to Saturday’s commencement. One of the things I cherish about living here is the fact that it’s a small enough town to find connections – if you pay attention. And because our profession takes us out into the community every single day of the week, we’ve been able to meet a pretty interesting range of people.

A fair number of them were also inside Michigan Stadium on Saturday – and running into them amid the thousands of strangers really grounded the event for me. Some were volunteering – like Kathy Griswold, a “regular” at many public meetings, and Anna Ercoli Schnitzer, a frequent Stopped.Watched. contributor to The Chronicle.

Wendy Woods, a former city councilmember who serves on the planning commission, passed by and said hello while we were waiting in the pre-dawn line outside the stadium. She works at UM with the Michigan Community Scholars Program – I’m pretty sure she knew more graduates on Saturday than we did.

On the field, I spotted Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputy Blackwell, who was working security – I’d seen him just last week at the new location of Camp Take Notice, talking with that group of residents who are homeless.

In the stands, I chatted with Doug Kelley, probably the most affable, consistently upbeat person I know – we’ve met him in many different venues, including others with an Obama connection – and I was glad to add another one to my mental archive.

Matt Hampel passed by the media risers in his cap and gown – he’s been active in the community for so many years that I’d forgotten that he’s just now graduating. Talk about an engaged citizen – Matt’s a role model for that.

In some ways, all of this is really just a long-winded way of saying that I draw great satisfaction from the fact that we’re able to make a living at what we’re doing here at The Ann Arbor Chronicle. Thank you, subscribers and advertisers!  I’m glad that our work has allowed us to cross paths with so many others who call this community their home. We’re glad they’re paying attention to what we’re doing, and find value in it. We hope you do, too.

About the writer: Mary Morgan is publisher and co-founder of The Ann Arbor Chronicle.

Panelists at the Sept. 23 Michigan Peaceworks forum on the local economy, from the left: Tom Weisskopf, University of Michigan economics professor; Ellen Clement, Corner Health Center executive director; Jeff McCabe, People's Food Co-Op board member; Lisa Dugdale, Transition Ann Arbor; Michael Appel, Avalon Housing executive director; John Hieftje, mayor of Ann Arbor. (Photo by the writer.)

When The Chronicle entered the lower level meeting room of the downtown Ann Arbor library, the first things we noticed were three large trays of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut into bite-sized wedges. As public forums go, this was an offbeat gnoshing choice.

It turned out that the sandwiches – and apples, soft drinks, potato chips and other food – were all sourced from Michigan, in keeping with the theme of Wednesday night’s event. The panel discussion focused on the state’s economic crisis, and how the community can respond to it.  Buying local products is one example.

Starting a local currency is another possibility – the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority is funding a study to look into that. Generating  electricity locally is also an opportunity – Mayor John Hieftje told the group that he didn’t think the dam at Argo Pond would be removed, in part because it might be used for hydropower in the future.

The forum – “Michigan’s Economic Situation: Crisis or Opportunity?” – was hosted by Ann Arbor-based Michigan Peaceworks and Washtenaw Voice, a coalition of local nonprofits that are working together to increase voter turnout and bolster the community in other ways. Michigan Peaceworks is the lead agency in this effort, part of the broader Michigan Voice initiative.

State and national issues were part of the discussion, but most of the six panelists focused on how the local community can take action in specific areas, including food, health care, housing and the environment.

The Panelists’ Perspectives

Laura Russello, executive director of Michigan Peaceworks, moderated the panel. She began by announcing that state Rep. Rebekah Warren, a Democrat whose district includes Ann Arbor and who was originally scheduled as a panelist, got stuck in Lansing and sent her regrets. (The legislature is trying to resolve a projected $2.7 billion budget deficit by the start of its fiscal year, on Oct. 1.) The others who spoke at Wednesday’s forum represented a cross-section of the community, including academia, nonprofits and the government. Here’s a sampling of their comments.

Tom Weisskopf, University of Michigan economics professor

Weisskopf, who served as director of UM’s Residential College from 1996 to 2005, compared the current economic crisis to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Though not as deep as that decline, today’s economy faces unprecedented challenges, he said.

“We really need a transformation, not just a recovery,” Weisskopf said.

He described the Solidarity Economy, an international movement that rejects profit-centered values and embraces cooperation, equality and local control. He listed several examples of ways that this movement is taking shape. Community land trusts – nonprofits that provide “truly affordable housing,” he said – are cropping up across the country, and have lower foreclosure rates than the general housing market. One successful example is the Champlain Housing Trust in Burlington, Vermont.

Community-owned corporations, with locally elected boards and shares sold to local investors, are another example of the solidarity economy.  In Ann Arbor, People’s Food Co-op fits this model, Weisskopf said. Other “solidaristic” examples include worker-owned cooperatives like Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, community development financial institutions, and the green jobs movement, with efforts like the Green Collar Jobs Corps in Oakland, Calif.

Ellen Clement, Corner Health Center

Clement began by noting that she’d worked for over 20 years in public health – earlier this year, she resigned as health officer for the Washtenaw County Public Health Department to take the job as executive director at the Corner Health Center, a Ypsilanti clinic for teens. “Believe me, it’s an eye-opening change,” she said.

Responding to the question of whether the economic crisis can be turned into an opportunity, Clement said that for health care, dramatic change won’t happen without a crisis. That crisis has arrived, and it’s time to make sure that health care is seen as a right, not a privilege, she said. “There’s just, to me, no excuse for not having health care for all.”

But providing health care alone won’t be enough, she said – it’s also about keeping Americans healthier, with policies and incentives that focus on preventive care and promote healthier lifestyles. Clement cited efforts like the Ann Arbor Non-Motorized Transportation Plan and the Ann Arbor YMCA’s Pioneering Healthier Communities, which focuses on providing recreational programs to youth in Ypsilanti.

She noted that as they listen to the panelists, the audience would see that all of the topics are interconnected – that’s what sustainability is all about, she said.

Jeff McCabe, People’s Food Co-op and Friday Mornings @ Selma

McCabe contends that food is taken for granted, more so than even air or water. There were moments of crisis regarding the quality of our air and water that prompted policy reforms, he said. “In food, we haven’t seen that change yet.”

Americans still want their food fast and cheap, McCabe said, and the locavore movement – with its focus on eating locally grown and produced food – hasn’t even taken one mile out of the 1,500 miles that food travels, on average, to get to our table.

About 1% of food consumed by residents of Washtenaw County is actually produced in the county, McCabe said. What if that were increased to 10%? Assuming that local residents spend over $1 billion annually on food, increasing consumption of locally grown food could put $100 million into the local economy, he said. Demand would drive an increase in local farming, potentially generating thousands of jobs.

McCabe cited Eliot Coleman of the Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine, as a model of a small-scale, year-round venture that could work equally well in Washtenaw County. McCabe supports local efforts toward that goal – proceeds from Friday Mornings @ Selma, a weekly breakfast salon run by McCabe and his wife Lisa Gottlieb, help fund hoop house projects in this region.

“We vote with our wallets every day,” McCabe said. “Think about that when you buy your food.”

Lisa Dugdale gets ready to pour a cup of Faygo, one of the Michigan products served at Wednesday's forum. The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were made from Great Harvest bread (of Ann Arbor), Velvet Peanut Butter (of Detroit) and American Spoon jelly (of Petoskey). (Photo by the writer.)

Lisa Dugdale, Transition Ann Arbor

Dugdale, a founder of Think Local First of Washtenaw County and now a project manager for the Clean Energy Coalition, said the current economic crisis was really an inevitability. She described the Transition Town movement as a response to the challenges of global warming, peak oil and economic instability. [See previous Chronicle coverage of Transition Ann Arbor. Dugdale is one of the group's organizers.]

There are concrete actions that individuals can take, Dugdale said: Buying less, repairing or repurposing items you already own, buying from locally owned businesses that will keep money circulating in this community.

More broadly, the community could do an “economic leakage” study, Dugdale said, looking at sectors that drain the most money out of the community, then focusing economic development efforts in those areas. Food production might be a sector that fits this category, she said.

Creating a local currency is another way to keep money in the community, Dugdale said. Think Local First was recently awarded a grant from the Downtown Development Authority to analyze the feasibility of starting a local currency, she said.

The Chronicle made a follow-up query to Susan Pollay, the DDA’s executive director, who said that the $6,000 grant was authorized earlier this month. Some of the questions that the study will address include:

1. How strong is the demand for a local currency program?
2. How would a local currency program be different than gift certificate programs to local businesses (such as the former Ann Arbor Gold program run by the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce) and how are those differences articulated?
3. If a local currency program were created in Ann Arbor, would it involve coordination with a local bank? If so, how would that bank be selected?
4. Can a local currency program be managed by an existing organization (e.g. Think Local First) or is a separate agency needed?
5. What kind of longevity are other local currency programs experiencing?
6. Is it anticipated that local businesses would see revenue increases as a result of a local currency program? Are there other benefits one might see from such a program?

The study will likely take three to four months to complete, according to Pollay.

Michael Appel, Avalon Housing

Appel explained how housing has become more than just shelter. For many, it’s an asset that creates inter-generational financial stability, even more so than income. People were frightened by the recent housing crash because the dramatic drop in their home’s value meant they were losing the value of a long-term asset, he said.

These personal financial difficulties turn into community crises, as entire neighborhoods are hit by foreclosures. Ann Arbor is less affected than some communities, Appel said, but some areas of Washtenaw County are suffering dramatic foreclosure rates. Foreclosures also displace renters – when their landlord loses the house through foreclosure, the renters are forced to move, even if they’ve been paying rent. This affects some of the poorest in the community, he said.

The housing crash also affects the nonprofit that Appel runs. Their model relies on private investors, who in turn receive tax incentives for investing in Avalon projects. [The group's most recent project, Near North, received approval from the Ann Arbor city council on Monday.] But real estate is no longer seen as a secure investment, he said. Further, if a corporation – and potential investor – isn’t profitable, tax credits would be of little value to such an entity. These factors have curbed the amount of equity available for low-income housing projects.

There are still some opportunities, Appel said. Much of the federal stimulus money is going into the housing sector. The irony, he said, is that the government’s “cure” isn’t focused on helping people find a place to live – it’s focused on fixing housing as an investment. In general, he said, it’s worth considering whether housing should be viewed as a way to build financial security.

Any investment in housing should stress energy efficiency, Appel said, as well as coordination with transportation and jobs. We’ve seen how the suburbs can leave the local economy vulnerable, he said.

John Hieftje, mayor of Ann Arbor

Hieftje said he was a member of the Michigan Climate Action Council, which released a report in March of 2009 that included several policy recommendations related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental issues. However, the state has been slow to act on those recommendations, he said.

Hieftje spoke about various environmental initiatives undertaken by the city of Ann Arbor, including the installation of LED street lights, the addition of bicycle lanes and the goal of using 30% renewable energy for municipal operations by 2010. As an example of areas that are doing even more, he pointed to Ontario, Canada, which has large-scale wind farms and two major solar plants. Public policy in Canada and Europe – including the use of feed-in tariffs – makes it easier to promote renewable energy in those countries, he said.

One of the things that Michigan can do to promote economic recovery is to refocus on making cities the kind of places where people want to be, Hieftje said – the business will follow.

Audience Q&A

The audience asked a range of questions. Here’s a sampling.

Q: How does the city reconcile the seemingly contradictory goals of encouraging alternative transportation while building a new parking structure? Hieftje said that although the city supported alternative transportation, they weren’t trying to create a non-motorized downtown. They’ll be losing at least 700 parking spaces in the coming years, he said, and the new underground parking structure on Fifth Avenue – a project which will be breaking ground next week – is only replacing the parking they’re losing. He added that Google wouldn’t have located in downtown Ann Arbor if there hadn’t been parking available. Insufficient parking simply drives business to the suburbs, he said.

Q: Can Ann Arbor’s dams be used to generate local electrical power? Can Ann Arbor establish a city utility? The city already produces electricity at Barton and Superior dams, Hieftje said. The dam at Gallup has a 50% greater capacity for generating electricity than Argo dam, he said, with about a 35-year payback on investment. But new technologies might make it possible to tap the water flow in ways that aren’t yet possible, Hieftje added. That’s why it might be smart to keep the dam at Argo, he said: “I don’t really see Argo Dam going away.” [See previous Chronicle coverage of an Ann Arbor Energy Commission meeting that discussed the issue of hydropower at the city's dams.]

Because of changes at the state level, it’s harder to establish a municipal utility now than in the past, Hieftje said. The city hasn’t given up on that possibility, but it isn’t easy.

Q: It seems that the organic and local food movement is elitist. How can these movements affect food availability for people with less money? Jeff McCabe said it’s a matter of prioritizing. Do you spend money on a box of cereal or spend time cooking a healthy grain? Those are choices that people make. He noted that commercial food is subsidized, making it more difficult for smaller, organic producers to compete on price. Ellen Clement said that there’s some relationship between the price that people charge and their customer base, citing the example of dramatically lower prices at the Ypsilanti Farmers Market, compared to the market in Ann Arbor.

Q: What are the political roadblocks to building green communities? Hieftje blamed the Republican-controlled state Senate for a reluctance to give up old ways. Policies need to change in Lansing that affect what local municipalities can do. He added that he thought the locally elected legislators did a good job.

The Q&A was followed by breakout sessions, focused on food, health care, housing and the environment. Later, in wrapping up the evening, Russello said they’ll be taking the information and feedback from the forum and using that to identify projects for the Washtenaw Voice coalition. They’ll be launching a website with a calendar and blog.  It will be progressive, she said, adding that organizers are still trying to define exactly what “progressive” means in this context.

Groups Involved in Washtenaw Voice

The following local groups, or the local chapters of these state and national organizations, are part of the Washtenaw Voice initiative. The coalition is not affiliated with the Washtenaw Community College student newspaper, which is also called the Washtenaw Voice.

The Ecology Center

Michigan League of Conservation Voters

Working America

The Women’s Center of Southeast Michigan

Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice

University of Michigan Labor Studies Center

Michigan Peaceworks

Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan

Clean Water Fund

Chelsea Community Hospital

March on the Vote (no website available)

Health Care for Michigan

Center for Michigan

Transportation Riders United

Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength

Partners in Personal Assistance

Laura Russello, executive director of Michigan Peaceworks, with Larry Horvath, one of the nonprofit's volunteers. (Photo by the writer.)

One of four breakout groups at Wednesday night's forum. This group was discussing the issue of food production. (Photo by the writer.)