The May 7 presentation was given by three different staff: Mary Jo Callan, director of the county’s office of community and economic development; Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, which runs the Delonis Center homeless shelter; and Amanda Carlisle, director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance. Several WHA board members also attended the May 7 meeting, including former county administrator Bob Guenzel. [.pdf of presentation]

In 2013, 4,542 people were homeless in Washtenaw County – a 25% increase since 2011. On any given night, 510 people experience homelessness in Washtenaw County. Several organizations provide a total of 299 emergency shelter beds, but demand far exceeds available resources.

Callan and Schulmeister reviewed the many barriers to helping people find housing. They also provided several suggestions for addressing these issues:

• Restore funding for affordable housing projects, such as rapid rehousing, affordable housing development, and permanent supportive housing.
• Create and fund a mission-style shelter and/or a permanent warming center.
• Use county assets to advance affordable housing projects.
• Continue to stabilize existing providers, including PORT and local nonprofits.
• Provide funding for short-term motel/hotel stays to engage people in permanent housing programs.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The board voted to direct county administrator Verna McDaniel to work with community partners to address immediate needs of the homeless. [In general, McDaniel has budgetary discretion to spend up to $50,000 on professional services contracts, and up to $100,000 for any proposed goods, services, new construction or renovation.] The resolution also directs the administration to develop a plan by May 7 for updating the county’s Blueprint to End Homelessness, which was adopted in 2004 but appears to be dormant. The process of updating that plan is to be completed by Oct. 1, 2014.

The agenda item on homelessness was added after about a half dozen advocates for the homeless – including several people who’ve been staying at the Delonis Center homeless shelter in Ann Arbor – raised concerns that the shelter’s overnight winter warming center will be closing on April 6. The warming center is typically open from mid-November through March. It’s located in the shelter’s dining room, and is set up for a maximum of 65 people. Because this winter has been particularly harsh, the warming center has accommodated more than 70 people at times.

Conan Smith (D-District 9) suggested allocating $40,000 to the shelter to keep the warming center open another month. Other commissioners had concerns about throwing money at the shelter without any input from shelter staff, and without knowing specifically how the money would be used. Because the item hadn’t been on the agenda, representatives from the shelter staff weren’t at the meeting.

The county owns the Delonis Center building, but does not operate the shelter. Operations are handled by the nonprofit Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, led by executive director Ellen Schulmeister. Schulmeister had briefed commissioners about services for the homeless at their Feb. 6, 2014 working session. Her briefing had come in response to advocacy from several homeless advocates at the board’s Jan. 22, 2014 meeting, when commissioners had also discussed the need to do more.

The county budget included $51,230 for the Delonis Center in 2013 and that amount was increased to $160,000 this year as part of the regular budget approval process late last year. The county funding is set to increase again to $200,000 in 2015 and remain at that level through 2017. The Shelter Association’s annual budget is $2.583 million.

Some commissioners thought there should be a strategic plan in place before any additional funding is given – and they seemed to assume that such a plan doesn’t already exist. Mary Jo Callan, director of the county’s office of community & economic development, noted that the city of Ann Arbor and several other entities are working on this issue, in partnership with the Shelter Association.

The vote on the resolution was 6-2, over dissent from Republicans Dan Smith (District 2) and Alicia Ping (District 3), who both objected to the process. Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) was absent.

Dan Smith called it “completely and entirely inappropriate” to be making policy and budgetary decisions on the fly, in response to a few people who showed up to speak during public commentary. He supported updating the Blueprint to End Homelessness, but thought it was a discussion that should take place at a working session before taking action at a regular board meeting. Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) responded by saying that commissioners are elected to work for the people. When people come to the board, it’s important to address their concerns in a serious manner, he said.

Because of the length of the meeting, some men who are staying at the shelter missed the 9:30 p.m. curfew. Typically, anyone showing up after that time isn’t allowed inside. Greg Dill, the county’s director of infrastructure management, contacted the shelter staff and made arrangements for the men to be accommodated.

Update: McDaniel has allocated $35,000 to the Delonis Center, which has agreed to keep the warming center open through April 30. The funding will come from the county’s unearmarked reserves.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Billboard on West Huron, facing eastbound traffic, to seek support for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. The Delonis Center homeless shelter is located across the street. (Photos by the writer.)

Ellen Schulmeister, the Shelter Association’s executive director, called this season “The Winter of Great Effort,” with harsher weather and more demand for services. She described efforts to shelter the homeless in the short term, but noted that the broader goal is to find housing and provide support services to eliminate chronic homelessness.

Schulmeister reported that the county’s funding to the Delonis Center had been cut during the economic downturn, and she hoped that levels would increase. ”We need you to do that,” she said.

Washtenaw County government owns the building where the Delonis Center is located, and pays for maintenance. In addition, the county provided $51,230 for the Delonis Center in 2013 and increased that amount to $160,000 this year. The county funding is set to increase again to $200,000 in 2015 and remain at that level through 2017. The Shelter Association’s annual budget is $2.583 million.

Yousef Rabhi, chair of the county board, called the Delonis Center’s work ”inspirational,” but noted that the issue needs to be addressed by the entire community. He’s working to organize a summit, bringing together stakeholders from the government, nonprofits and other entities working to end homelessness. Rabhi said the effort should include representatives from the Ann Arbor District Library – because the downtown library serves as a de facto shelter during the day, even though that’s not the library’s purpose.

Schulmeister agreed on the importance of partnerships, adding that the barriers also include a lack of affordable housing and jobs. “It takes a community to house someone – it really does,” she said.

The Feb. 6 working session also included an update from Barbara Niess-May, executive director of SafeHouse Center, a shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. As with the Delonis Center, the county also owns the SafeHouse building and pays for maintenance, as well as providing funding for the nonprofit’s services.

Niess-May told commissioners that she’s been doing this work for 20 years, but this is the worst time for funding she’s seen for these kinds of programs. She pointed out that funding from the county has dropped to $48,000 annually through 2017, and she hoped that the amount could be increased. The total SafeHouse budget is $1.4 million.

Dan Smith (R-District 2) noted that the number of people that SafeHouse serves each year – more than 5,000 – represents almost 2% of the county’s population. He highlighted the fact that Washtenaw County has fewer domestic violence homicides per capita than any other county in the state. To him, a statistic like that directly connects to the county’s mandates because of the clear reduction of work load on the court system and jail, as well as the number of lives saved. He considered SafeHouse part of the county’s mandate for public safety and justice.

Conan Smith (D-District 9) observed that the board has discussed the option of a human services millage that would support services like those that SafeHouse offers. He encouraged Niess-May to include the county’s funding cuts as part of her communications to others in the community. It might lead them to support raising additional revenue for SafeHouse and other organizations, he said. 

Homeless Services

Andy LaBarre (D-District 7) began the presentation about homeless services by noting that at the board’s Jan. 22, 2014 meeting, several people attended to advocate for the homeless. He thanked Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, for attending the working session to give commissioners an update.

Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, talks with commissioner Kent Martinez-Kratz (D-District 1) at a Feb. 6 working session of the county board.

Schulmeister introduced the Shelter Association’s board president, Debbie Beuche, who also was on hand to answer questions. The winter has been rough, Schulmeister said, with the kind of weather that they haven’t seen for 20 years. She hoped it wouldn’t persist, but she’d heard that the next few winters are expected to be equally bad. “If that’s the case, we really have to figure out what we’re going to do.”

This kind of weather puts a huge focus on individuals who are homeless and out in the community. She knew there had been news reports and people talking directly to the board, and she wanted to clarify what the Shelter Association and the Delonis Center actually do.

The Delonis Center, located at 312 W. Huron in Ann Arbor, has been around for 10 years. It’s owned by the county and run by the nonprofit Shelter Association, under a subcontract with the Washtenaw Housing Alliance. The Delonis Center was built to house 50 beds, Schulmeister said, but there have been 75 beds since 2009.

The Shelter Association’s mission “to end homelessness one person at a time,” Schulmeister said. The association’s residential program is focused on working with people to get them into housing, she added, so that they leave the shelter successfully. The residential program has a success rate of over 50%.  There are case managers working with 18 or fewer people at a time, in addition to mental health case managers, medical case managers, and a housing coordinator. They all work together with the goal of finding housing for people, she said. They focus on finding people income, and finding housing. Every year that the Delonis Center has been open, they’ve housed about 200 people annually.

Last year, given the demand for the shelter’s residential program, they added a “vulnerability screening” during intake to make sure that the most vulnerable people were getting into the shelter. As a result, that means it sometimes takes longer to move people out of the shelter and into housing, she explained, so there’s lower turnover.

In addition to the Shelter Association’s residential program, the Delonis Center building is used to provide services to as many people as possible, Schulmeister said, both residential and non-residential. So the services are available to people who are homeless – whether they are living in tents, or couch-surfing with friends and family, or living on the street. Anyone can walk in and sign up for services, including food, showers, laundry, help finding housing and jobs, and a variety of other services. In this way, the Shelter Association serves between 1,200 to 1,400 people each year, Schulmeister reported.

Delonis Center at 312 W. Huron in Ann Arbor.

In fiscal 2012, 239 individuals were housed and services were provided to 1,262 people. In FY 2013, 190 people were housed, with services provided to 1,463 people. Year-to-date in FY 2014, 108 people have been housed and 1,081 people served. The Shelter Association also manages a housing voucher program through the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for about 40 people.

The non-residential homeless population is about double the size of the people in the Shelter Association’s residential program, Schulmeister said, “so we want to make sure that we are helping to keep people from freezing to death outside, because nobody deserves to do that, regardless of what their situation is.”

To help do that, a church rotating shelter provides sleeping space for up to 25 sober men. The men report to the Delonis Center, take a breathalyzer test, shower, have dinner at the shelter, then are picked up by churches to spend the night at a church. At 7 a.m. the next day, volunteers pick them up to take them to breakfast at St. Andrews.

In addition, the Delonis Center operates a warming center in its dining room, for a maximum of 65 people. The warming center is open from mid-November through March. There is no drug testing, but people are given a breathalyzer test and can’t get in if their blood alcohol level is over .10 – above the legal intoxication level of .08.

In the last few weeks because of the brutal weather, the warming center has had over 70 people, Schulmeister reported, and one night there were nearly 90 people. People are staying in the residential floors, in hallways, and in common rooms. The staff hasn’t turned anyone away due to being full, she said. They’re also encouraging people with high blood alcohol levels to go to the Home of New Vision’s engagement center or to the hospital to detox before they return. “We have not turned anybody away,” she said.

The center has relaxed its sobriety requirements, she added, and has allowed some people to stay there who are on the center’s “trespass list.”

Schulmeister told commissioners that the center is stretching its capacity, but that’s not unusual during bad weather. “It’s just that there’s been a lot,” she said.

The Delonis Center is intended to be a working place, Schulmeister said, where people were working to end their homelessness. Residents are allowed to be on the second floor, and non-residents are allowed to be there when they’re receiving services. “But they are not allowed to hang out at the shelter,” she said.

So one service that the Delonis Center doesn’t offer is a day shelter, where people can spend the day. “We don’t have that because we were asked not to have that,” she said.

Felicia Brabec (D-District 4).

However, whenever there’s bad weather – including freezing temperatures, snowstorms, thunderstorms, or tornadoes – the center allows people to come in and spend time during the day. The temperature in the winter for this “weather amnesty” is 10 degrees or less during the daytime, either wind chill or temperature. That’s when it starts to get dangerously cold, Schulmeister said. That number was based on the policy used by the Center for Homelessness in South Bend, Indiana, which served as a model when the Delonis Center was being built.

Last year, there were five weather amnesty days. So far this season, as of early February, there had been 35 weather amnesty days, Schulmeister reported. On those days, over 50 people have stayed in the dining room during the day – a couple of days, there were over 80 people, she said.

The staff is “pretty fried,” Schulmeister said, but that’s what happens in the winter. This has been an unusually bad season, she added. “My manager calls it The Winter of Great Effort, and that’s exactly what it is.”

The Shelter Association’s annual budget is $2.583 million. All government funding, including the federal housing voucher program, accounts for about 57% of the budget. County funding accounts for 6% of the budget, not including the building and maintenance. The coordinated funding allocation from the community comes from the city of Ann Arbor and United Way, not the county. The city’s funding accounts for 9% of the budget, with the United Way providing 3%.

The association also gets state funding, and some funds from the Federal Emergency Management Act (FEMA). There’s also funding for setting aside 10 beds for veterans.

All of that accounts for about $480,000. The remaining $2.103 million is raised from donations, foundation grants, and contributions from corporations. The board and the association’s development staff works hard to raise those funds, Schulmeister said. They focus a lot on major gifts, but also do mailings, fundraising events, and one-on-one solicitations. “It is gratifying to know that our community supports our shelter in the way that it does,” she told commissioners.

The association’s regular fundraising goal is around $955,000 but has been stretched to $1.1 million in order to prevent them from tapping reserves. Costs are increasing too, she noted. For example, Schulmeister said she’s happy that the Affordable Care Act is in place, but one result is that costs for the Shelter Association are increasing by at least $50,000.

A few years ago during the economic downturn, when the county board had to cut its budget, funding for the Shelter Association also was cut, Schulmeister noted. Some of that was restored for 2014, she added, and she hoped the board would restore more in coming years. “We need you to do that,” she said.

The county provided $51,230 to the Delonis Center in 2013 and increased that amount to $160,000 this year. The budget is set to increase again to $200,000 in 2015 and remain at that level through 2017.

Homeless Services: Board Discussion

Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) told Schulmeister that the discussions in the community on this issue are good to have, “because we need to raise the profile that what is going on this winter is not unique to this winter. … We need to continue to fight for those that are homeless and those that are suffering through this winter right now.”

He noted that he participated in a great conversation recently with three clients of the Delonis Center warming shelter. Hearing their stories about trying to get back on their feet were eye-opening, he said. One was a teacher who got laid off during the bad economy. She had applied for a job as a substitute teacher, and had gone to apply with all of her belongings in her car. Because the employer could tell she was homeless, she wasn’t considered for the job, Rabhi said. Another client was a man with a minimum wage job who pays for a gym membership so that he can have a place to shower, Rabhi said. The man has to walk over a mile from the nearest bus stop to get to the gym in the morning, then walk back to take the bus to work.

Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) and county administrator Verna McDaniel.

“The barriers that are in place for the homeless are immense,” Rabhi said, telling Schulmeister that the work of the Delonis Center is “inspirational.”

Partnerships are at the core of being able to provide these services, Rabhi said, and such efforts need to be better coordinated. It’s been a while since there’s been a community discussion about how to support the homeless, he noted, and how to work on some of the barriers that exist.

He supported having a summit about homelessness. He also noted that the downtown library serves as a day warming shelter, even though that’s not its purpose. It’s important to have the Ann Arbor District Library director and a representative from the AADL board at the table in having these discussions, he said.

Schulmeister noted that the library serves this role all year round, not just during the winter. Having computers at the library is great, she said, because it’s an important resource for people. It provides access to information that people who are homeless wouldn’t otherwise have.

Schulmeister said the community conversation also needs to address the difficulty of housing people in Washtenaw County. There’s the “landlord factor,” she said, as well as issues with drugs, alcohol and mental illness. A lack of jobs is another issue, as well as someone’s felony background. Some people are working hard and are being helped by the Shelter Association, but still can’t find housing. “That is one of the saddest and worst things that we face. It takes a community to house someone – it really does.” It takes an employer who’s willing to take a chance, she said, and a landlord who’s willing to take a chance.

People who are homeless are a non-homogeneous population, Schulmeister said. Some people are working hard and take personal responsibility, and others don’t. Some people don’t want to spend their money on housing because it’s too expensive. They’ll choose not to be housed, and instead spend their money on other things. “Trying to give them better choices is what we have to strive for,” she said.

The barriers are reflected in the Delonis Center, because it becomes difficult to turn over the beds there. At that point, “we’re not a flow-through – we’re a collection agency,” Schulmeister said. “We’re just collecting people and keeping them there. That’s not useful for them or for us.”

Rabhi said it’s also important to address state and federal assistance, with cuts to food stamps and income tax credits. The barriers are becoming greater, he said, “because poor folks aren’t being prioritized any more.”

This community has all the pieces to help address this problem, Rabhi said, and it’s time to talk about taking the next steps.

Rabhi also pointed out that because of Washtenaw County’s services, people come here from other counties seeking help. So homelessness is a global issue that needs to be addressed in a global way. He hoped that Washtenaw County could coordinate with entities in nearby counties to address the issue regionally.

Schulmeister agreed. She noted that Detroit has shelters, but not enough to house all the homeless there. There aren’t any shelters in western Wayne County or Livingston County. There are some shelters in Monroe County, but those are mostly focused on families. “There just is not enough supply for the demand,” she said. “And even if we got everyone into a shelter, then what?”

SafeHouse Center

The Feb. 6 working session also included a presentation from Barbara Niess-May, executive director for the SafeHouse Center. She briefed the board on the status of this nonprofit, which provides support services and shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The center serves over 5,000 women, children and some men each year. While the center is probably best known for its shelter services, she said, they also provide legal advocacy, 24/7 response, support groups, counseling, and prevention/awareness activities.

Barbara Niess-May, executive director for the SafeHouse Center.

She told commissioners that she’s been doing this work for 20 years, but this is the worst time for funding she’s seen for these kinds of programs. In the mid-1990s, the federal government prioritized funding for these programs to make our communities safer, she said. In Michigan, about 100 women die each year because of intimate-partner homicide, and half of those are murder suicides, she noted. “It wracks communities for decades.”

If commissioners were wondering why they don’t hear about this kind of violence in Washtenaw County, she said, it’s because SafeHouse partners with law enforcement. “Because of the work that SafeHouse Center does, we are a safe community,” she said, with fewer domestic violence homicides per capita than any other county in the state.

She had come to the board because of funding losses that SafeHouse has experienced. The center has lost about 10% of its budget. The SafeHouse shelter budget alone is about $300,000 per year. The U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) cut $100,000 in funding for SafeHouse’s shelter budget, she said – a third of the shelter’s operation budget. That supports about 300 women and children each year.

Niess-May said that earlier in the evening she had a SafeHouse board meeting and told the board that if they can’t raise $100,000, they’d have to make changes in operations.

She said some people might wonder why SafeHouse isn’t publicizing its financial situation. “The primary reason is because I don’t want survivors to think that there isn’t a place to go. It’s not safe for me to start ringing the cow bell and saying we are in big trouble.” The last thing she wants is for some assailant to tell a survivor that they don’t have the option of going to SafeHouse because of budget cuts, she said.

SafeHouse staff, board and volunteers are taking their fundraising effort very seriously, Niess-May told commissioners. In the first quarter of their current fiscal year, SafeHouse raised more money than they’d ever raised before – yet still fell short of its first-quarter goal by $35,000, she said. Niess-May added that she’s worried about sustainability, because funders aren’t providing long-term commitments.

About 12 years ago, she told commissioners, the county approached SafeHouse and asked the nonprofit to support sexual assault survivors in this community. SafeHouse took on that role, under the assumption that it would be revenue-neutral. At that time, SafeHouse received an annual grant of $120,000 for those services. Now, funding from the county is $48,000 a year. Her understanding is that the county’s four-year budget from 2014-2017 keeps funding at that same level. “That concerns me, and I felt strongly about sharing that in this forum.”

SafeHouse is in a really difficult situation, she said. They had to add almost $200,000 to the nonprofit’s fundraising goal, which was about a 50% increase from last year to this year, she said. “I am hopeful that the county can help us at some point.” She said she deeply appreciates the county’s support and partnership, saying it’s made a tremendous difference in the lives of survivors.

SafeHouse Center: Board Discussion

Dan Smith (R-District 2) noted that the number of people served by SafeHouse each year – more than 5,000 – represents almost 2% of the county’s population. He was also impressed with Niess-May’s report that Washtenaw County had the lowest per capita number of domestic violence homicides in the state. He noted that the board often talks about its mandates for providing services. To him, a statistic like that directly connects to the county’s mandates because of the clear reduction of work on the court system and jail, as well as the number of lives saved. He thanked Niess-May for her work and presentation to the board.

Commissioner Andy LaBarre (D-District 7), chair of the board’s working sessions.

Niess-May said this work is done with 23 staff members and 150 active volunteers who provide 15,000 hours of service every year. SafeHouse is trying to leverage every resource as creatively as they can, she said.

Conan Smith (D-District 9) said everyone needs to be aware that the county has cut funding to SafeHouse, and that there are consequences to their investment decisions. In general, Smith said the public trusts county government, so a lot of people probably assume that the county is helping in the way that it always has. “They need to know we’re not,” he said. The resources haven’t been there to support SafeHouse, he added, while the need has increased.

C. Smith noted that the board has discussed the option of a human services millage that would support services like those that SafeHouse offers. He encouraged Niess-May to include the county’s funding cuts as part of her communications to others in the community. It might lead them to support raising additional revenue for SafeHouse and other organizations, he said.

Niess-May noted that over the last 10 years, SafeHouse has seen over $1 million in total funding cuts.

Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) thanked Niess-May for her work, and said the community is fortunate to have an organization like SafeHouse that stands up for people who need help. He noted that he wanted to understand SafeHouse’s situation, noting that financial strain is coming from multiple sources.

He clarified with Niess-May that the $300,000 budget she’d mentioned in her presentation is only for the shelter portion of the operations. The entire SafeHouse budget is $1.4 million, she reported. The county’s line item of $48,000 includes a small portion for the shelter, but most of it is for support services.

In addition to the $100,000 in cuts from HUD, other cuts mentioned by Niess-May include:

• $7,633 cut in funds from the Victims of Crime Act, which resulted in eliminating SafeHouse’s translation services for survivors who don’t speak English, as well as professional development for staff and staff mileage reimbursement.
• $7,000 cut from the city of Ann Arbor’s Grant to Encourage Arrest Policy funding, which resulted in a loss of salary and support expenses for legal advocacy.
• $3,600 cut in Legal Assistance to Victims funding, which also resulted in less support for legal advocacy.

Niess-May also cited higher expenses, including health insurance and keeping up with the city of Ann Arbor’s living wage. In total, all of this has created a budget gap of about $200,000. As a result, SafeHouse has raised its fundraising goal from $400,000 to $600,000.

Rabhi asked what the consequences would be if SafeHouse doesn’t raise the additional $200,000. Niess-May replied that she couldn’t speak for her board, because in the end it would be a policy decision. But the options that staff have looked at include closing rooms at the shelter, and reducing response to calls from law enforcement. “We’re running lean,” she said.

Rabhi asked Niess-May to explain the full extent of the county’s support, in addition to the $48,000 line item. SafeHouse also gets about $100,000 from the coordinated funding process. Those funds are awarded through a competitive application in which several funding agencies participate – including the county, city of Ann Arbor, and United Way of Washtenaw County.

County administrator Verna McDaniel also noted that the county owns the building where SafeHouse is located. SafeHouse pays rent and utilities, but the county pays for upkeep on the facility.

Commissioner Dan Smith (R-District 2).

In response to a query from Andy LaBarre (D-District 7), Niess-May reported that when the facility was built, the understanding was that SafeHouse would be providing residential and non-residential services to survivors of domestic violence. That’s in the language of the lease, she said, and was in the ballot language for the bond that’s paying for the building, which voters approved in 1992. Later, about 12 years ago, the county also asked SafeHouse to also provide services for survivors of sexual assault.

Dan Smith, responding to a comment earlier in the discussion about a possible human services millage, said he didn’t consider SafeHouse as a human services provider. Rather, he considered it part of the county’s mandate for public safety and justice.

Felicia Brabec (D-District 4) praised SafeHouse, and noted that residents had approved the bond to pay for the building. That reflects the fact that this is a community value, she said, and it’s important to keep that in mind. Brabec agreed with Dan Smith that SafeHouse provides public safety services, but she also felt that it fit into human services as well. In terms of the county budget, SafeHouse touches on many of the community impacts that the county is trying to address. “We have the opportunity to impact and change lives,” Brabec said.

Niess-May said she was sensing an undercurrent that she’d stay away from, but she noted that Washtenaw County is the only county in the state where an organization like SafeHouse has partnered with every law enforcement agency in the county. Whenever there’s a domestic violence or sexual assault call in the county – and there are about 2,000 every year – the law enforcement agencies call SafeHouse. Of those, 1,700 are for domestic violence, she said, resulting in 250 people who get convicted. “So the rest of them are still out there.”

“Most men are good men,” Niess-May added. “Ninety percent are good men. It’s the 10 percent that offend and keep re-offending.”

Washtenaw County and SafeHouse have a model that’s unique in the state, she concluded. “And it’s paying off in huge dividends.”

Addressing Niess-May’s comment about an undercurrent in the discussion, LaBarre noted that it’s far easier to make the case to fund public safety. “You don’t theoretically need human services if you’re dead,” he said. So commissioners are considering how to think about SafeHouse in that context.

Present: Felicia Brabec, Andy LaBarre, Kent Martinez-Kratz, Yousef Rabhi, Conan Smith, Dan Smith.

Absent: Alicia Ping, Ronnie Peterson, Rolland Sizemore Jr.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The ways & means committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [Check Chronicle event listings to 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 commentary is held at the beginning of each meeting, and no advance sign-up is required.

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Of that operating budget, $600 is spent on utilities for laundry, and the rest compensates shift workers paid $12.57 per hour, and a half-time case worker, who is paid $15.96 per hour.

The warming center, located in the Delonis Center on Huron Street on the western edge of downtown Ann Arbor, can accomodate up to 50 individuals. It is open December through April, or any time the temperature (or wind chill) falls below 35 F degrees.

Closure of the warming center was part of the Shelter Association’s strategy to remain financially solvent in the face of cuts in funding from Washtenaw County, the state and federal government.

A number of specific negative impacts have been cited by Shelter Association staff that would result from a closure of the warming center: more police calls; increasing frustration among business owners; increased vandalism; backlash against homeless people; increased crime by desperate people; untreated mental health problems; increased use of emergency rooms for non-emergency care; and overcrowding of jails and court system.

The $25,000 allocated this year could be analyzed as follow-through on recent previous investments made by the Ann Arbor city council in the specific mission of the warming center.

For example, at its Nov. 5, 2009 meeting, the council passed a resolution that awarded a $30,500 contract with the Shelter Association and a $129,000 contract with Interfaith Hospitality Network, which operates a family shelter. The money was to provide case management and staff support for 25 additional beds at the Delonis Center and 25 additional beds in the rotating shelter program, as well as housing vouchers for eight families.

The council had received a presentation on the homelessness crisis at its Oct. 19, 2009 meeting from Mary Jo Callan, head of the county/city office of community development. She had alerted them to the likelihood that a funding request would be coming to them at a subsequent meeting. [Other Chronicle coverage: "Increased homeless sheltering effort needs volunteers"]

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, at its Nov. 4 2009 meeting, had authorized $20,000 to cover the “hard costs” – i.e., the actual beds – in connection with the initiative, which was seen as a short-term solution in the face of approaching winter weather.

Although it was not earmarked specifically for the warming center, on Oct. 6, 2010 the DDA authorized a $218,050 grant from its housing fund to the Shelter Association for improvements at the Delonis Center. The money paid  for new washers and dryers, lockers and chairs, an emergency generator, energy conservation measures, medical equipment and software.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Left to right: DDA board chair Joan Lowenstein, and board members Gary Boren and Roger Hewitt. (Photo by the writer.)

Another main topic of discussion was transportation, which came in the context of recent transportation committee talks with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The discussion with AATA dealt with the possible return of a downtown circulator service [formerly The LINK] and improved service to Ypsilanti, as well as an initial study of bicyclist habits in the downtown area. Related to bicyclists, the board heard from one downtown merchant during public commentary about dissatisfaction with the “art” bicycle hoops, as one example of the DDA’s lack of success in considering the end user in some of its decisions.

The board also mulled over a possible restructuring of its committee structure – currently the board has a transportation committee, a partnerships committee, an operations committee, and a capital improvements committee.

Restructuring those committees is being considered in the context of the possibility that the DDA could begin to take a more active role in development of city-owned surface parking lots downtown. That more active role is one possible outcome of the ongoing city-DDA discussions about the parking agreement under which the DDA operates the city’s parking system. The new structure under discussion would add an economic development and communications committee, while merging the operations and capital improvements committees.

Shelter Association Grant

During the time allotted for public commentary, Diane Neering of The Shelter Association of Washtenaw County told the board that she was available to answer any questions about the grant that the board would be considering.

The grant is for $218,050 to be awarded from the DDA’s housing fund to The Shelter Association of Washtenaw County for improvements at the Delonis Center on Huron Street. By board policy, the DDA housing fund receives an annual $100,000 transfer from TIF. The money awarded to the shelter will pay for new washers and dryers, lockers and chairs, an emergency generator, energy conservation measures, medical equipment and software. The recommendation to award the grant came from the DDA’s partnerships committee, which discussed the issue at its last meeting.

At the partnerships committee meeting, the consensus reached by members was that they should proceed with the recommendation for the $218,050 worth of improvements, while holding in abeyance the approval of more than $113,210 for installation of solar panels and for computer hardware at the shelter.

Committee members had concerns about the length of the payback period for the solar panels, which appeared to be much longer than the kind of payback on investments the DDA is familiar with in connection with its energy saving grant program. That’s a program to help fund energy audits for downtown property owners, as well as various energy improvements. In his update on the energy saving grant program at Wednesday’s meeting, Russ Collins summarized the program as 64 energy audits completed, with another 27 underway. He said 21 buildings having implemented improvements as part of the second phase of the program. The average payback on those improvements, Collins said, is 3.1 years.

During deliberations on the grant, mayor John Hieftje noted that the grant was in keeping with past practice, and noted that the DDA had awarded additional money to the shelter last year to allow the purchase of additional beds to add spaces to the shelter’s warming center.

Joan Lowenstein stressed that the money being allocated was to fund infrastructure improvements, not operations. In response to a question from DDA board member Bob Guenzel, about whether Washtenaw County had been apprised of the grant request, Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the shelter association, rose to the podium and told Guenzel that the county had been consulted. Lowenstein quipped that “You can take the boy outta the county, but you can’t take the county outta the boy” – an allusion to Guenzel’s longtime service, until earlier this year, as Washtenaw County administrator.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the grant for the shelter for $218,050 worth of improvements.

Economic Development

The theme of economic development serves to tie together three separate meeting items.

Economic Development: Library Lot

Part of every DDA meeting includes a report from DDA board members who are representing the DDA on other task forces and committees.

At Wednesday’s meeting, John Splitt told told the board that the Library Lot RFP review committee had not met since the last board meeting. At the September DDA board meeting, Splitt had reported that the committee had not met since the spring, but that the recent hire of a consultant meant that the two proposals were still being considered – out of six that were submitted. From September’s Chronicle meeting report:

[Carsten] Hohnke’s suggestion, made at a Democratic primary election forum, was that consideration of the Library Lot be restarted as a blank slate, with no preconceptions. An underground parking garage is currently under construction on the parcel, and a city-led committee is handling the review of proposals that were submitted for the lot last year. [Chronicle coverage: "Hotel/Conference Center Proposals Go Forward"]

At Wednesday’s DDA board meeting, John Splitt reported out from the committee that’s reviewing proposals for development of the parcel above the underground parking garage – he represents the DDA on the committee, which includes city staff as well as councilmembers Margie Teall and Stephen Rapundalo. Rapundalo chairs that committee.

Splitt gave essentially the same kind of update on the committee that Rapundalo has given his city council colleagues at recent meetings. The committee has not met in about four months, Splitt said. A consultant [Roxbury Group] has been hired and is doing due diligence on the two proposals that are still under consideration. The consultant’s meetings with the proposers should be concluded in time for the committee to meet sometime towards the end of September, Splitt said.

Economic Development: City-DDA Mutually Beneficial Discussions

Roger Hewitt reported out from the ongoing conversations between the city and the DDA about the parking agreement under which the DDA manages the city’s parking system. Hewitt’s remarks were parallel to those of Ward 3 councilmember Christopher Taylor, at the council’s Oct. 4 meeting two days prior. Hewitt said that executive director Susan Pollay and the DDA’s legal counsel, Jerry Lax, would begin drafting amendments to the current parking agreement. There is general agreement on the idea of the DDA playing a more active role in the development of downtown city-owned parking lots, Hewitt said. Taylor’s remarks, as reported in The Chronicle:

At Monday’s council meeting, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) who serves on the council’s committee that is engaged in the negotiations, gave an update on their status. He said the conversations have moved away from the idea of the DDA taking responsibility for enforcement of parking regulations to focus on reworking the language of the existing agreement and the idea that the DDA would become the implementation engine for development of city-owned surface parking lots in the downtown. He alerted his colleagues to the likelihood of a city council work session when the DDA would present their concept for implementation of DDA-led development.

On the DDA’s side, the idea of DDA-led development has increasingly included some notion of “economic development.” [Recent Chronicle coverage of the ongoing city-DDA negotiations: "DDA: Dogged Enough for Development?"] As the DDA prepares for the possibility of taking a more active role in the redevelopment of downtown Ann Arbor, the board has also begun to consider how to accommodate that role in its committee structure.

Economic Development: Committee Structure

Board chair Joan Lowenstein presented for initial discussion – not for any kind of final decision – a possible restructuring of the board’s committees. Currently the board has a transportation committee, a partnerships committee, an operations committee, and a capital improvements committee.

Out of the board’s retreat held last month came the idea of including an economic development committee in the mix. But Lowenstein drew an analogy to her household’s approach to purchases made at the Ann Arbor art fairs – if you buy something, something else has to go. So adding an economic development committee is intended to be offset by a merger of the operations and capital improvements committees.

There has also been recent discussion of adding a communications committee, so the idea is to charge the new committee with the responsibility of economic development as well as communications issues. The resulting committee configuration would be:

• merged operations/capital improvements committee: review financial statements; formulate budget; oversee parking operations; oversee parking agreement with the city; oversee construction.
• transportation committee: review getDowntown projects; personal transportation issues (bicycle parking, scooter parking, walkability); mass transit projects (coordination with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority).
• partnerships committee: oversee DDA projects involving other entities like the city of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan; housing fund expenditures; energy saving grant program; coordination with city council and the city’s planning commission.
• economic development/communications: background research for downtown redevelopment; inventory of city-owned sites; hiring of real estate experts and other consultants; facilitate process for development (public process and with the city council); assemble information on downtown’s assets for inclusion in promotional efforts of Ann Arbor SPARK.

Board member Russ Collins said the sketch of the committee structure Lowenstein had provided sounded reasonable. He cautioned that the committee structure needs to match the resources of staff. John Mouat stated that he was “thrilled” with it, and echoed Collins sentiment that there needs to be adequate staff support for that structure and it needs to be implemented step by step.

A merger of the capital improvements committee and the operations committee would mean that the chairs of the two committees – John Splitt and Roger Hewitt, respectively – would need to work something out. The idea of using co-chairs was discussed, which is parallel to the practice of the current partnerships committee, which is co-chaired by Sandi Smith and Russ Collins. Hewitt quipped that he’d like to name the merged committees the “bricks and money” committee.

In connection to the function of the communications committee, John Hieftje asked what the publicity efforts had been like for the “early bird special” parking deal on the very top of the Fourth and William parking deck. [After the meeting, Mark Lyons, general manager of Republic Parking, explained to The Chronicle that the rate for the deal is $5 if someone comes in before 9 a.m., with a departure between 3-6 p.m.] Susan Pollay, executive director of the DDA, indicated that the DDA had not increased publicity efforts for the deal, but rather was anticipating that the DDA would engage the city council more fully on the topic of parking strategies after submission of its parking report at the council’s April 19, 2010 meeting.

The conversation on the “early bird special” had actually begun during the report out from the operations committee, when Mouat had also inquired about how it had been publicized. Hewitt indicated that it was being promoted through the getDowntown program, and through handouts at the payment booths at other parking structures. Splitt quipped that the program was also being promoted by their board meeting, alluding to “the thousands of people who are watching this.” [The DDA board meetings are not broadcast live, but are taped and can be viewed online via CTN's video-on-demand service.]

In making the case for an economic development committee, Lowenstein said the idea had been reinforced for board members who had attended a recent International Downtown Association convention in Fort Worth.

IDA Convention

In past years, the DDA has budgeted $30,000 for attendance at the International Downtown Association convention. This year, it reduced the allocation to $15,000, by not funding attendance by city councilmembers or representatives of downtown merchant associations. Those who attended the conference in Fort Worth from Oct. 1-5, funded by the DDA, were executive director Susan Pollay and board members Gary Boren, Joan Lowenstein, Keith Orr and Sandi Smith. According to an email sent by Pollay in response to a Chronicle question, cost estimates per person, including conference fees, hotel, and flight were $2,400 each, for a total of $12,000.

Separately, the State Street Area Association paid to send a staff member and three SSAA board members to the IDA conferance: Tom Heywood, Bob Livingston, Rich Bellas and John Splitt. Splitt is a DDA board member, but his costs were covered by the SSAA, not the DDA.

Transportation

The conversation on transportation included discussion of partnerships with the AATA, as well as a study of bicyclist habits.

Transportation: AATA – Ypsi and The LINK

In his report out from the transportation committee, John Mouat said that the transportation committee had had conversations with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority on two specific initiatives.

The first is enhanced service between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. The AATA has developed a set of different service enhancements, ranging from more frequent service on existing routes, to express service that would reduce travel times on existing routes. Mouat described the challenge of enhancing service as “very complex.” What would the DDA be trying to accomplish – more frequent service, service on weekends, service later in the evening?

Mouat said that Ypsilanti Township has more residents who work in Ann Arbor than does the city of Ypsilanti – that has an impact on how you approach creating a hub, Mouat said. He also stressed that it was important to work with partners on the service enhancements – Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw Community College, and the University of Michigan. Mouat noted that UM is the AATA’s biggest customer.

Susan Pollay, executive director of the DDA, noted that the ridership on Route #4 between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti indicated that there is a clear demand – twice the demand on any other route. Mouat added that service enhancement between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti would be viewed by the AATA in the context of the countywide transit master plan it is currently developing.

Mayor John Hieftje noted that there is a ballot initiative on the city of Ypsilanti ballot on Nov. 2 for a millage to support transit. [The city of Ann Arbor has a transit tax levied at roughly 2 mills. Service to other communities is provided by AATA through purchase of service agreements (POSAs). Shortages in the city of Ypsilanti budget resulted in the AATA's use of federal money to make up the difference in what Ypsilanti paid and the cost of operating the service.] Hieftje expressed an interest in seeing transit speeded up for individuals between the two communities.

Hieftje also expressed his optimism about the future of east-west commuter rail. He gave essentially the same update he’d given at the city council’s meeting two days prior. From The Chronicle’s meeting report of the Oct. 4, 2010 city council meeting:

Hieftje expressed his optimism about the project eventually becoming a reality, based on the amount of money the federal government is investing in rail transportation through the ARRA stimulus program. At SEMCOG’s Oct. 28 meeting – to be held at 4:30 p.m. at the Henry Ford, Hieftje announced, the refurbished railcars to be used for the service will be on display. They’re double-decker stainless steel cars.An excursion service would be offered to Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day parade, as well as to the Big Chill, a hockey game at Michigan Stadium between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, scheduled for Dec. 11. Hieftje also mentioned the possibility of excursion trains scheduled for the Ann Arbor art fairs. He cautioned, though, that there would not suddenly be commuter rail service – it would be built layer by layer.

Mouat also reported that Roger Hewitt and Keith Orr had sketched out a concept for a fairly robust service for a reconstituted LINK – a circulator service that previously was operated in the downtown area. That service was funded in a collaboration between the DDA, the University of Michigan, and the AATA. [Chronicle readers may remember the purple vehicles that provided the service.] The robust concept sketched by Hewitt and Orr, Mouat said, included service at 5-minute intervals, 12 months a year, 18 hours a day, and the cost estimates that had come back from the AATA were equally robust. They are now thinking about what modifications to the concept could be made.

Transportation: Bicyclist Study

Mouat also reported out from a study done during the spring and fall of 2010 by a DDA intern on bicycle use in the downtown. Among the findings of that study:

Far more bikes were counted on hoops/racks than on other street features – 1,249 of 1, 565 bikes counted (80%).

When asked how much do you plan on spending today – the average response was $21.43.

When asked how often in the last month have you ridden your bike – 88% reported riding multiple times a week or daily downtown.

When asked why they use their bikes instead of another mode and why they choose bike parking locations – the majority of respondents reported convenience.

When asked how often do you ride on the sidewalks – 80% reported riding only sometimes (for example, when on the Diag), rarely, or never. Those who reported riding always or frequently cited fear of riding in the roads due to cars traveling at high speeds, poor bike lanes, and a lack of confidence in their own abilities.

Russ Collins took the occasion of Mouat’s report on the bicycling study to note that the DDA tried to approach things in a statistical way, not relying only on anecdotal reports. He noted that decisions are based not on the “whim of a board” but rather on data and research.

Collins was responding to some comments that came during public commentary that had criticized the “art” bike hoop initiative, among other DDA projects. Collins said he appreciated the speaker’s point of view, and it’s taken very seriously by the board. He concluded that it is not only the statistical or only the anecdotal reports that are important.

Critique of DDA Initiatives

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Ali Ramlawi, the owner of Jerusalem Garden, gave the board his perspective as a downtown business owner and a Ward 5 resident of the city, on some of the DDA’s work. Noting the “civil engineering project” that was going on next to his restaurant – the Fifth Avenue underground parking garage – he said he felt a little slighted about the process. He told the board that he and many others he talks to are increasingly unhappy with the direction downtown Ann Arbor is going. He told the board he thought they had the best intentions, but that they were not always successful.

Ali Ramlawi, owner of Jerusalem Garden, leafs through his notes before addressing the DDA board.

As examples, Ramlawi gave the “art” bike hoops, saying that they are not practical. People lock their bikes to trees, poles, and sign posts, instead of the new bike hoops, he said. The new ePark stations are another example of an unsuccessful project, he said. He’s on the street, he said, and hears from hundreds of customers every day – the new ePark stations are confusing, he said. With the old meters, it was simple – you pop a few quarters in the meter, then go do what you need to do. Now there’s typically one person who’s never used the new stations before and you have to wait in line to use the station.

Ramlawi’s four minutes of speaking time expired as he was critiquing the new bump-out on the northwest corner of Liberty and Division streets. He reiterated his feeling that the board has the best intentions, but the result is not necessarily successful.

Ramlawi’s Jerusalem Garden was a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in August 2009 about the Fifth Avenue underground parking garage, which is now under construction. That suit was settled without going to trial, with the city committing to the completion of an environmental study.

Operations: Parking

The main event for the operations committee report each month is typically the set of parking numbers. [.pdf of parking numbers extracted from the board's meeting packet] The board reviewed August 2010 compared to August 2009. System-wide this year for the month of August showed revenues of $1,142,086, compared with $1,155,723 last year, for a decrease of $13,638. The number of hourly patrons decreased to 178,940 from 188,373 for a drop of 9,433.

The fact that the Library Lot, with its 192 spaces, is not currently available for parking accounts for some of the decreases. The Fifth Avenue underground parking garage is currently under construction on that lot. Last August those spaces accounted for $37,741 in revenue and 20,780 hourly patrons.

Hewitt attributed the decrease in revenue from meter bags to the completion of construction on the university’s North Quad dormitory at Huron and State. Meter bags – which are literal bags placed over the heads of parking meters, preventing parking there – are commonly paid for in conjunction with construction projects, which need guaranteed open parking spaces for construction site deliveries and the like.

John Mouat inquired whether it is now possible to track usage of on-street meters by the length of stay and the hours they are in use, and Hewitt confirmed that is the case. Asked what percentage of ePark users paid with a credit card, Mark Lyons, general manager of Republic Parking, indicated it’s roughly 50% who pay with a credit card.

In response to a graph depicting increasing revenues for the parking system from just under $12 million in 2005 to more than $14 million in 2010, board member Gary Boren asked how much of the increase can be attributed to the rate increases compared to increased patronage. Hewitt replied that it’s important to note that the initial rate increases during that period for street parking were offset with decreases in the structure. In response to Boren’s question, Hewitt said if he had to guess he’d say it was 50-50 – half the revenue increase could be attributed to rate increases, and half to increased patronage.

Another graph included in the packet showed an increase in hourly patrons from 214,218 in 2008, to 392,412 in 2009, to 486,204 in 2010. Susan Pollay, executive director of the DDA, pointed out that this trend, together with the increased number of bus rides taken into the downtown by users of go!passes – a program that subsidizes bus rides for downtown workers – showed an overall increasing demand for people to be downtown.

Capital Improvements: Update on the Hole

John Splitt reported out from the capital improvements committee that the earth retention work for the Fifth Avenue underground parking garage is now complete. That means that the giant auger used for drilling the holes for the vertical steel is now offsite, he said. The “mass excavation” is now 85% complete, he reported. De-watering of the site has been “somewhat of an issue,” he said, but that’s being worked on with the city.

Splitt reported that 16 additional on-street parking spaces had now been created on Fifth Avenue in connection with the Fifth-Division streetscape improvement project. Construction work on that project would be complete for the season on Nov. 15, he said.

Downtown Citizens Advisory Council Report: Panhandling and Peace Corps

Ray Detter reported out for the Downtown Citizens Advisory Council. The group meets on the Tuesday evening before the monthly board meeting of the DDA, which falls on the first Wednesday of the month.

CAC: Panhandling

Detter told the board that the CAC was pleased with the re-establishment of the panhandling task force by the city council. [The council established the task force at its Sept. 20, 2010 meeting and added two additional members at its Oct. 4, 2010 meeting. The task force is charged with working for six months to identify cost-effective ways of enforcing the existing ordinance and of providing appropriate assistance to those who are panhandling.]

Detter said that the creation of the task force had already started discussion in the community. He noted that much of the issue involves perception, but pointed out that perception usually has an element of reality. He said that the task force would not be starting with the assumption that the solution is to have more police. He reported some discussion at the meeting of the possibility that the state law had changed with respect to panhandling and that it might be possible to ban it outright.

By way of background, Ann Arbor’s ordinance restricts locations – it’s not allowed near ATMs, for example – and the manner in which people can be approached:

9:70. Solicitation.
Except as otherwise provided in Chapters 79 and 81 of this Code, it shall be unlawful for any person to solicit the immediate payment of money or goods from another person, whether or not in exchange for goods, services, or other consideration, under any of the following circumstances:
1. On private property, except as otherwise permitted by Chapters 79 and 81, unless the solicitor has permission from the owner or occupant;
2. In any public transportation vehicle or public transportation facility;
3. In any public parking structure and within 12 feet of any entrance or exit to any public parking structure;
4. From a person who is in any vehicle on the street;
5. By obstructing the free passage of pedestrian or vehicle traffic;
6. Within 12 feet of a bank or automated teller machine;
7. By moving to within 2 feet of the person solicited, unless that person has indicated that he/she wishes to be solicited;
8. By following and continuing to solicit a person who walks away from the solicitor;
9. By knowingly making a false or misleading representation in the course of a solicitation;
10. In a manner that appears likely to cause a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities to feel intimidated, threatened or harassed;
11. Within 12 feet of the entrance to or exit from the Nickels Arcade, located between State Street and Maynard Street; the Galleria, located between S. University and the Forest Street parking structure; and the Pratt Building, located between Main Street and the Ashley parking lot; or
12. From a person who is a patron at any outdoor cafe or restaurant.

Before the start of the Thursday, Oct. 7 meeting of the Main Street Area Association, in conversation with The Chronicle, MSAA executive director Maura Thomson and Ward 2 city councilmember Tony Derezinski indicated they were looking at what other cities are doing with respect to panhandling. Derezinski said he didn’t think the state law had changed anywhere at the statutory level, but that perhaps there’d been new court cases that potentially had a bearing on the issue. He said that mayor John Hieftje had asked him to do some background research on the question – Dereziski’s professional background is in municipal law.

Thomson has gathered some other communities’ ordinances on panhandling: East Lansing, Petoskey, Birmingham, Royal Oak in Michigan, as well as Madison, Wisc. Excerpts from those ordinances:

[E. Lansing]
Sec. 26-52. Prohibited acts.
No person shall: …
(5) Beg in any public place.

[Petoskey]
Sec. 12-2. Begging.
Any person who wanders about and begs in the streets, or from house to house or sits, stands or takes a position in any place and begs from passerby, either by words gestures or by the exhibiting of a sign shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

[Birmingham]
74-2. Begging
It shall be unlawful for any person within the city to beg in a public place from passersby, either by words, gestures or by the exhibiting of a sign.

[Royal Oak]
§ 278-45 Loitering.
A person commits the offense of loitering if he or she:
A. Loiters, remains or wanders about in a public place for the purpose of begging;

[Madison, Wisc.]
H.12 MENACING OR AGGRESSIVE PANHANDLING PROHIBITED.
(4) In or near any thoroughfare or place open to the public, no person either individually or as part of a group shall procure or attempt to procure a handout from another in an aggressive or intimidating manner. Among the circumstances which may be considered in determining whether such purpose or behavior is manifested are the following: that such person is a known panhandler; that such person continues to beckon to, accost or follow or ask passer(s)-by for a handout after the passer(s)-by has failed to respond or has told the person “no”; that such person engages in a course of conduct or commits any act which harasses or intimidates the passer(s)-by: or that such person utilizes or attempts to utilize bodily gestures or physical contact to impede the path of any passer(s)-by, including but not limited to unwanted touching or blocking the path or impeding the free movement of the passer(s)-by. The violator’s conduct must be such as to demonstrate a specific intent to induce, solicit, or procure from another goods or money by aggressive or intimidating behavior. No arrest shall be made for a violation of this subsection unless the arresting officer first affords such person an opportunity to explain such conduct, and no one shall be convicted of violating this subsection if it appears at trial that the explanation given was true and disclosed a lawful purpose.

[A "known panhandler" is defined by the city code as: "a person who within one year previous to the date of arrest for violation of this section has been convicted in a court of competent jurisdiction of any civil or criminal offense involving panhandling."]

In his remarks before the DDA board on Wednesday, Detter said that based on conversations with organizations responsible for meeting the needs of homeless people, and for providing food to those who need it, he didn’t think that anyone needed to go hungry in the community. Soliciting money on the street based on hunger, he concluded, is a misrepresentation. He concluded his remarks on the topic by saying, “We’re not out to get anybody.”

CAC: Peace Corps

Detter also called the board’s attention to an event on Oct. 14 at 10:30 a.m. – a 15-minute program in front of the University of Michigan Union to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a speech given by John F. Kennedy in the early morning hours of Oct. 14 in 1960. The speech is pointed to as outlining the basic concept behind the Peace Corps. [The university is also planning a 1 a.m. event, one at 2 a.m. as well as one at 11 a.m.] Detter noted that the event would be receiving national attention, and that Gov. Granholm would be in attendance.

The 10:30 event will be a dedication of the installation of a new historical street exhibit on the east side of State Street, across from the Michigan Union, commemorating Kennedy’s speech. Ann Arbor’s historical street exhibits are coordinated by Detter – new exhibits are installed on an ongoing basis. Some of the exhibits are affixed to building walls, while others are constructed of etched glass panels mounted between poles.

In a phone interview with The Chronicle a few days after the DDA board meeting, Detter estimated the cost of a single street exhibit at $15,000. He noted that the DDA had provided $30,000 several years ago to help get the program started and that the county had contributed around $6,000 in connection with one of the exhibits involving the county government – county commissioner Leah Gunn and then county administrator Bob Guenzel had been instrumental in that, Detter said.

Present: Gary Boren, Bob Guenzel, Roger Hewitt, John Hieftje, John Splitt, Leah Gunn, Russ Collins, Keith Orr, Joan Lowenstein, John Mouat

Absent: Newcombe Clark, Sandi Smith

Next board meeting: Noon on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010, at the DDA offices, 150 S. Fifth Ave., Suite 301. [confirm date]

Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association, was honored at Thursday night's awards dinner. Behind her, from left, are Diane Davidson, Bob Guenzel, Judy Rumelhart and Chuck Kieffer.

It takes a community to end homelessness – that message was repeated like a mantra at Thursday night’s dinner for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County at the Michigan League ballroom, which brought together many of the people responsible for working toward that goal over the past 25 years.

Foremost among them was Ellen Schulmeister, the association’s executive director, who was honored at the event – much to her surprise.

“They got one over on me this time,” she said, just after being given an award by the board’s chair, Judy Rumelhart, and its president, Karen Andrews.

Schulmeister recalled a reception that was held when she was hired 10 years ago to lead the organization. At the time, she said, she told that gathering, “We can do it as a community, and really, that’s the only way we can do it.”

The same sentiment was often repeated in remarks made by 13 other honorees, all people who were instrumental in strengthening the nonprofit and in building the Robert J. Delonis Center, which opened five years ago. There was clearly deep affection among many of those who’ve worked closely together. Schulmeister called Bob Guenzel “my No. 1 hero.” Guenzel, Washtenaw County’s administrator, in turn praised Frank Cambria, who served as the county’s chief operating officer and deputy administrator before retiring in 2006. Guenzel credited Cambria with leading the fight for the Delonis Center, which faced opposition from neighborhood groups and others reluctant to build a shelter close to downtown. Cambria is now vice president of the Shelter Association board.

Two elected officials – county commissioner Leah Gunn and former city council member Jean Carlberg – were also honored for their work in helping push the bodies on which they served to fund the center. “This is not a journey that began with a lot of community support,” Gunn told the crowd on Thursday. “But I want to tell you, the board of commissioners hung in there.” She said the commission took 37 different votes related to the center, “and 37 times we voted yes.”

Lloyd Carr spoke briefly at the Shelter Association dinner. The event was attended by several UM officials, including President Mary Sue Coleman and her husband Ken Coleman, a Shelter Association board member.

Others honored before the crowd of about 250 people were:

• Diane Davidson: She served as the first executive director for the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, a coalition of nonprofits, and helped develop the countywide Blueprint to End Homelessness.
• Del Dunbar: Schulmeister said, “Everything I know I learned from Del.” He was instrumental in raising money for the Delonis Center, and served on the Washtenaw Housing Alliance’s fundraising steering committee. He’s currently a WHA board member.
• Garry Faja: The president and CEO of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, Faja embraced the vision of Sister Yvonne Gellise and maintained St. Joe’s involvement in the Washtenaw Housing Alliance.
• Joe Fitzsimmons: Known for his golden Rolodex and fundraising prowess, Fitzsimmons was part of the committee that raised over $8.7 million to build the Delonis Center. After working on the project, he said, “I know more about floodways and floodplains than I ever imagined.” Of the 250 people they tapped for significant contributions, “would you believe 183 of them gave us the money?”
• Sister Yvonne Gellise: The former CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Gellise marshaled support for the Delonis Center and made St. Joe’s the lead institution in forming the Washtenaw Housing Alliance. She urged the crowd to remember that the community needs to invest in programs that actually end homelessness, “not simply soothe our conscience.” She serves on the WHA board.
• Pam Horiszny: Along with Dunbar, Fitzsimmons and Rumelhart, Horiszny worked on the Washtenaw Housing Alliance fundraising committee. She is a Washtenaw Community College trustee, chief financial officer of the Ann Arbor YMCA and former executive director of the Washtenaw Red Cross.
• Barbara Penrod: The executive director of Neighborhood Senior Services was chair of community leadership at St. Joe’s, working with Sister Yvonne Gellise on the homelessness issue. Schulmeister called her “an unsung hero and a woman who weaves compassionate caring into everything she does.”
• Judy Rumelhart: A philanthropist who is deeply involved in many community nonprofits, Rumelhart helped lead the fundraising effort for the shelter and serves on the boards of the Shelter Association and the Washtenaw Housing Alliance.

The final honoree of the evening was Sue Delonis, wife of the man for whom the shelter is named. Her poignant remarks described how Bob Delonis, former chairman of Great Lakes National Bank (now part of TCF), championed the effort to build a center in the late 1990s. His talent for coalition building was crucial in getting community support for the project. He died in 2001 after a long battle against kidney disease, but lived long enough to see funding for the shelter secured. The last public meeting he attended was at city council, where they approved funds for the project, she said, and Bob Guenzel sat next to him to keep him warm. Delonis was 48 years old.

Sue Delonis noted the irony of celebrating an organization that everyone would love to see put out of business, and she urged the audience to remember: “If we stick together, we can do anything, and in the end, it takes a community.”

Honorees assemble for an official photograph (not this one) following the Nov. 13 Shelter Association dinner. From left: Diane Davidson, Pam Horiszny, Jean Carlberg, Joe Fitzsimmons, Sister Yvonne Gellise, Sue Delonis, Ellen Schulmeister, Frank Cambria, Bob Guenzel, Judy Rumelhart, Barbara Penrod, Del Dunbar. Hidden from view: Leah Gunn and Garry Faja.