for sound. You guys can hear me. Thanks

for being here tonight. This is um

hopefully what I thought would show up.

We had 60 people last time this week.

It's a nice day. Welcome to the Ann

Arbor Third Ward Candidate Forum. Thank

you again for being here. We thank you

Ashley Hall and Ryan Bartholomew for

making time. Uh tonight's format is Q&A

town hall format. So, candidates, please

address the room, the people. Uh, if you

haven't gotten a chance to write a

question down, please avail yourself to

these 4x6 cards up the table. Some of

the helpers are away at you. Uh, write

your question down. I'll ask. We'll get

to six or eight questions before we run

out of time. That's the best we can do.

Let me think. I think that's it. Three

minute opening statements. We're going

to alternate order. So, Ryan, you open

first and then Ashley, you answer the

first question first. The timekeeper is

Tessia. At 30 second mark in 30 seconds

remaining. Tessia will just ticulate

wildly at you and three minutes. I will

gently break in a few. You ready? Your

lights on. Your mics on.

>> I think so. We good? All right, let's

get going.

>> Hi, I'm Ryan Bartholomew. Uh, I

currently serve as State Representative

Carrie Ryan's legislative director. I

spend most of my days working on trying

to get universal healthcare for all

Michiganders. Yep. Uh, so I encourage

folks here to look up HB4407 my care.

That's the main thing that I spend my

time working on. I also draft a lot of

progressive legislation, particularly

when it comes to standing up to

corporate power. Um, making sure that

we're standing up to the Trump

administration. Our office has really

taken the lead on um trying to codify

constitutional rights at the state

level, which I never thought I would

have to say, but we're living in the

reality that we're living in. Um, prior

to uh working with Repans in the

legislature, I was a senior health

policy analyst at the Center for Health

and Research Transformation from MI uh

Michigan Medicine. Uh, I've been an

American court vista. Um, I was an Obama

White House intern in 2015. And also I

have two degrees in public policy from

the Ford School at U of M, a bachelor's

and a master's. So that's a little bit

about me. But why did I do this? This is

a very crazy thing to do running for

office. It's it's not for the faint of

heart. Um, I did this because our city

has become increasingly unaffordable for

the workingclass people, families, and

seniors that make up this town. Um,

we've just watched for years as people

have been pushed further and further

away. My wife Carly in the front row

right there is a teacher in the Ann

Arbor public schools. Um, we watched so

many of her friends and colleagues just

not be able to afford to live here and

they're being pushed out. I think that's

wrong. I think we can do better. Um this

comes as a juxtaposition to how the

current city council and the mayor have

been handling um a lot of things with

this city. Uh we see developments like

Arbor South where the mayor and city

council who all or vast majority of them

happen to be recipients of campaign

contributions from Arbor South approved

a $350 million project

uh that's going to be our tax dollars

over 30 years. most of that money being

diverted away from the public schools to

largely build three parking garages.

That's insane. There's always money for

corporate developers, but there is never

money for the workingclass people who do

the work that make Ann Arbor the great

place that it is. Our transit workers um

and our uh ASME government employees,

the folks who do the work like the water

treatment plant, they have not had a

contract in months and they have not had

a raise in years. Maybe they should have

more money that they could donate to the

mayor in city hall.

I think that's wrong. I think we can do

better. We need to prioritize the needs

of workingclass people here and now and

not in some hypothetical way that maybe

they'll be able to afford to live here

in 20 or 30 years if their plan works

out. I'm Ryan B for W 3. I hope I can

earn your vote. We need independent

voices on city council, not ones who are

going to be rubber stamps for the mayor.

I hope to earn your vote and I'm really

looking forward to this discussion

tonight. Thank you so much for coming

out.

>> The floor is yours.

>> I haven't tested mine yet. Does it work?

>> Amazing. Hello everyone. I want to start

by saying thank you so much to Durk for

putting this event together. I know how

much work it is to do stuff like this.

So, thank you so much.

>> And I also want to say thank you to all

of you for coming out. It is 85 degrees

and sunny and beautiful. and you're

spending your day at kind of a hot

elementary school gym um hanging out

with two people who are just running for

city council. So, I really appreciate

that. My name is Ashley Hall. I'm

running for city council Ann Arbor

because I love this city. I grew up in a

working-class family. Uh my dad worked

in a print shop and my mom was a type

setter. And there's probably some young

people in this room who don't know what

a type setter is. It's a job that does

not exist anymore. Um but when I was

growing up, Ann Arbor felt like a place

that I didn't belong. It felt like a

place that wasn't accessible to me. Felt

like a place where the rich people live,

the doctors, the lawyers, the

professors. And it felt like a place

that I couldn't end up one day. But I uh

I did what millennials do and I took out

a bunch of student loans. And I went to

college. And while I was in college, I

fell in love with public service. I fell

in love with bringing together people

over a shared cause. I fell in love with

fighting for people's rights. And that

has really been the thread that has held

my entire career together. My first paid

job was as as an SEIU organizer. I

organized to get home healthcare workers

a living wage. Uh and after that I

worked for Hillary Clinton on her 2016

presidential campaign where I put my

blood, sweat, and tears into that uh

race and it was very tragic ending. Uh

after that I was lucky enough to be

Congresswoman Debbie Dingle's political

director and that's where I learned how

important it is to show up for your

community and that is what I intend to

do in this role to continue to show up

for this community. Currently I'm the

director of board operations for the

Wash County Board of Commissioners. Um

but I mean something else that's really

important about me is I live in this

neighborhood. I live in Forestbrook. My

husband Abishek and I in the back corner

bought a house on Yeah. Wave babe. Thank

you. Uh we bought a house on Lillian in

2019. I love this community. And one of

the things that I will hold together

that will hold me together if I'm

elected to city council is that I never

want anyone growing up either outside of

the city inside of the city to feel like

an inarm is a place that they don't

belong like I did when I was growing up.

And I think we do that in three ways.

First is through affordability. I agree

with Ryan. The city is not affordable

and we need to increase that workforce

housing. We need to increase affordable

housing and we need to make sure that

everyone can be able to live here.

Number two, as someone who works in

municipal government right now, those

basic city services are essential. We

want to make sure that our roads are

paved. People who live in this

neighborhood understand the roads are a

mess, right? How do we make them better?

That I will be an advocate for this

community um on city council. What's my

time? Have you given me it yet?

>> Yeah, it's 2:45.

>> Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't even see you.

Uh last but not least, I'm deeply

passionate about climate. I think the

work that's going on in the Bryant

neighborhood to make climate energy

accessible for everyone is deeply

important and that is something I will

advocate for on city council. Thank you

all for being here.

Thank you folks. Okay, first question

goes to Ashley first. We're going Ryan

Ashley ask Ryan right now. I'm sure

you'll catch me if I mess that up. And

for the audience, they knew this

question's coming. So

>> the question is, how do your priorities

on city council impact this

neighborhood, Darlington, Pittsfield,

and Forest Brook? Ashley,

>> thank you, Dirk. Okay, as I mentioned,

Abishek and I live on Lilian. We bought

in 2019. I still remember what it felt

like to like stand on our porch after we

closed on our house. We popped a bottle

of champagne, but the cork was kind of

messed up. It just kind of like fell on

the ground. Was not that exciting. Thank

you. I I I had bigger visions in my

brain. However, I remember that feeling.

I know what it felt like to feel like I

owned a piece of this neighborhood and a

piece of this community. And over those

past goodness, six years that we've

lived here, uh my husband and I have two

dogs and we walk our Huskys. If you live

in this neighborhood, you probably seen

us. We walk our Huskys from Forestbrook

to Pittsville to Darlington every day. I

know the people of this neighborhood. I

see when you go to work. I'm not like a

stalk or anything, but I see when you're

going to work every day. I see when

you're coming home. I see when you're

socializing with your children. Making

sure that I'm representing your

priorities is deeply deeply important to

me. And I want to do that in three ways,

which is interesting because I I had

this in mind as I was running and it's

what I hear on doors every day. Number

one, roads. My road is crumbling.

How can you help me ensure that my road

is repaired in a timely manner? If you

look at the city of Man Arbor road

repair website, this kind of southeast

corner of the city is all pink and red

and pink and red is the bad color. Green

is the good color. I think out I think

in the city, our neighborhood has some

of the worst roads in the city. I will

be an advocate on city council to ensure

that our roads are paved. Yoast, you

guys know where you come off of Yoast

and it is an absolute disaster right by

Victory in that is slated for repair in

2027 at least. That is in the in the

kind of near future. Oakwood is is the

only other road slated for repair in our

neighborhood. That's 2030. That seems

like far too long to wait for me. I'll

be an advocate to ensure that our roads

are repaired in a timely manner. Number

two, taxes. That is the main thing I

hear on doors. Are you going to make

sure that my that my property taxes do

not increase? I work for the Washna

County Board of Commissioners. Um, a

little wonky, but a lot of millagers are

put on the ballot by the county board of

commissioners, and every time they do

it, I sit there and I'm like, "Oh my

god, another millage." I am mill

fatigued. I feel like we have very high

property taxes, and there's a reason for

that, right? We have incredible city

services. One of the things that I want

to look at as as I get on city council

is a comprehensive overview of all the

city's millages. When are they set to

expire? Has what has the purpose of that

millillage been solved? There's a lot of

county millages. The purpose of it it's

actually we we've completed it with one

of our parks village. Can we can we

sunset some millages and make some room

in that in that Headley limit for those

uh in here know who Headley is. uh to to

make some room in our millillage cap to

to to help alleviate some of that tax

pressure on our and I didn't get to my

last one, but it's climate. Okay,

>> thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> How do your priorities on city council

impact this neighborhood, Darlington,

Pittsfield, and Porsche?

>> Thank you for the question. Um I have

been walking this neighborhood a lot. I

live directly across plat on old Boston

Court. Um, and something that I hear

across these neighborhoods, across

Pittsfield and Forestbrook, I hear very

uh commonly articulated in my home

neighborhood of Allen as well, and that

is everybody is so exhausted by how much

they have to pay for literally

everything. Um, I what I love about

these neighborhoods is that there are

people who are representative of the

people who serve the community. I've

knocked the doors of teachers, nurses,

um, and government employees in this,

uh, in this neighborhood, and I've again

heard the same thing. So, what are the

big costs that Ann Arbor has faced?

Number one, housing, of course. Number

two, child care. Did you know Ann Arbor

is the most expensive city in the entire

state for child care? Does anyone want

to take a guess at how much it would

cost to have one infant be watched in

the city of Ann Arbor? Anyone have a

guess? You want to throw it out?

>> $2,500. $2700

a month. Who can afford a mortgage

payment to have someone watch your kids?

Nobody can. Uh especially not the people

who do the work that make Ant Arbor what

it is. Um secondarily, there was a study

that came out around child care in 2023

that found that Ann Arbor was the sixth

most expensive place, sixth most

expensive place to raise a child in the

entire country. That's insane. So what I

am proposing is a municipal run child

care pilot starting with the people who

serve this community first, our

teachers, nurses, first responders,

government employees, the people who

make Ann Arbor what it is, and then

rolling it out citywide if it's

successful. We have seen 15 years of

declining enrollment in the Ann Arbor

public schools. Why is that?

Working-class families cannot afford to

live here. Let's do something about it.

Um, number two,

we obviously need affordable housing.

That's without question. I am a little

skeptical though about the way that this

current council has been going about

doing things, being very agnostic about

market rate housing, saying that we just

need housing. Doesn't matter what it is.

What we've seen is a bunch of highrises

and million-dollar luxury condos that

workingass people cannot afford. People,

and I would love to get into this later,

and I'm sure we're going to get

questions about it. I I think that

they're misguided. I think that we all

share the goal of trying to ensure the

working-class people can live here, but

I'm not convinced that building a bunch

of million-dollar condos will make sure

that the lower income people can

actually afford to live here. Okay. Um,

and we also I I completely agree on

basic city services, but we have to

reign in the privatization. We have seen

privatization happen of our city

services for many years now. This has

made our city services more unreliable.

I think that's wrong. We've seen just a

depletion of union jobs. We need to

bring them back in house and then make

sure that our city services are better.

Um I'm assuming I saw the green.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. I figured as much. Uh and I I'm

happy to take your questions and to

discuss more about other things.

>> Thank you, Brian.

>> Of course.

>> Uh first question from the audience. And

if you haven't uh if you've got a

burning question you want to ask, please

get one of those 4x6 index cards and

hand it to Jan.

Okay.

This goes to Ryan.

>> Yes.

>> Do you support the recent CL

comprehensive land use plan?

>> Ah, there we go.

>> Aspirational goals. How would you

prioritize its implementation in

practice? And can you name one or two

points you support? And one or two

points that you would modify it or

disagree with it.

>> Thank you for the question. Um, I I

believe we do need to do reszoning in

this town. We need to ensure density.

I'm not as convinced that the

methodology in which that we're going

about it as I've said with the market

rate housing being the primary driver

and using Mayor Taylor's own words that

in 20 or 30 years from now housing will

get more affordable for teachers and

nurses. They do not have time to wait. I

was with the teachers last night. I was

with marching with the nurses before.

These folks are struggling now. We need

to build permanently affordable

publiclyowned housing that can make sure

that folks can actually live in the

community that they serve. I'm and I I'm

skeptical about the supply side

absolutism that if you just build enough

supply that's going to actually lower

the cost of housing. I think I've read

the studies that a lot of the folks in

Neighbors for More Neighbors in the Club

have cited. I'm skeptical because

they're not taking into consideration

demand specifically a couple of

variables. Number one, a lot of these

studies say that if we build luxury

housing, folks will move from their

medium tier housing to the luxury

housing. But that presupposes that

people will do that. The issue here is a

lot of folks in Ann Arbor are locked

into pre-proposal a housing. They pay

much lower taxes than I do because they

bought their house when I was 2 years

old or before I was 2 years old in 1994.

So people are paying lower taxes and

then a lot of people refinance their

homes during COVID and are paying a much

lower mortgage rate than I'm paying at I

pay 6% they're paying like two

something% now it's 7%. So I'm a little

skeptical that people are going to move

out from the lower income housing to

higher income housing and then that will

make it available which begs the

question who is the luxury housing for

because it's not for the people who

serve this community. Um, lastly, I want

to talk about Arbor South. If I have a

minute, I would like to discuss it a

little bit more. We're giving this tax

giveaway to a corporate developer who is

a donor to the mayor and to folks on

city council, diverting money away from

our public schools, as I said, for

largely for three parking garages. This

is insane. This is arguably insane. and

they say that it's for building 200

affordable housing units, except there's

a stipulation in the contract that they

can pay $20 million back to the city and

then not build affordable housing at

all. And I think that a private

corporation that wants to maximize

profit is going to do that. So, we need

to use our bonding capacity to build

publiclyowned, permanently affordable

housing. We have a lot of models around

town. We have co-ops like Colonial. We

have Arowwood. We have the community

land trust. We have things that we can

do in order to ensure that our housing

remains affordable for the people who

serve this city. And that those are the

people that we should be targeting, not

a bunch of wealthy out of town people

who might come in for six game days as

we see a lot of wealthy uh uh a lot of

the higherend housing remains vacant to

this day. And lastly, I'll add what we

have to really do as well is rein our

short-term rentals. This city council

>> I'll get more into that later. I'm sure

it'll come up. Thank you. So some

questions

you support the reason aspirational

goals prioritize this implementation in

practice and maybe name one or two

points you agree with one or two points

you modify or disagree with.

>> Thank you Dirk. Hey Tessia, can you like

wave your arm when we're at 30 seconds?

Yeah,

>> that would just be super helpful. Okay,

so I think the question that you asked

is important. Um so the question is do I

support the conference of land use plan?

What are two things I agree with? One to

two things I agree with. One to two

things I disagree with.

The comprehensive land use plan has been

one of the most controversial pieces of

policy that has run through this city in

a very long time.

And in reality, it is really, in my

opinion, it is a city's attempt to bring

us into

a a city where more people can belong,

which is really my goal at the end of

the day. So, if we're asking for a yes

or a no, yes, I am supportive of the

comprehensive land use plan. I think we

100% need zoning changes in this

community. We need more housing of all

kinds in the city of Ann Arbor. I agree.

I I I agree with my opponent here. Uh we

don't need as much luxury highrises as

we as we have right now. We need

workforce housing. We need affordable

housing. The city of Ann Arbor is

actually building 1,200 units of

affordable housing right now. 1,200

units of affordable housing that is paid

for in large part by our affordable

housing mill, but also by some of those

developers. They they throw money into

building those affordable units. I think

that is I think that's important. I

think that's something that we need to

know. The city is not just building

luxury highrises. We are building 1,200

units of affordable housing. What are

two points of a comprehensive land use

plan that I agree with? First, has

anyone in this has anyone here ever been

to Jefferson Market? Yes. I think

Jefferson Market is an incredibly

special place. I love my husband and I

love to go to breakfast there. Part of

the conference of land use plan is

changing zoning to allow more

neighborhoods to have a Jefferson market

in their neighborhood. I 100% agree with

that. I would love to be able to walk

around my corner, get a coffee. I would

love to be able to walk around the

corner and get a croissant. Um, another

piece of the land use plan that I agree

with is uh expanding our green spaces.

There's a large part of the competency

land use plan that is about preserving

green spaces and expanding them in the

city. It is not just about building

luxury highrises. Um, and I think it's

important. It's very dense, but I think

it's important that everyone when they

can take a chance to try to understand

what it actually says instead of

listening to talking points about what

it doesn't say. What is one of the

things that I don't actually agree with

in the comprehensive land use plan? Um,

it has a lot of focus on maintaining

downtown Ann Arbor and continuing to

invest in downtown and Arbor. Downtown

and Arbor is amazing. I think we've

invested in it enough. I think we to

invest in outside of downtown and

neighborhoods like Darlington, Forsburg,

Pittsfield um and across the city of Ann

Arbor. Thank you.

>> Thank you, Ashley. We tried to turn off

my sound in the back. I hope you can

hear me. Thanks, Andy.

Follow question from the audience.

Affordable housing, who will pay for it?

those of us who are working class and

have owned our own homes, more taxes.

What's wrong with an Ipsy or Pittsfield

Township? And I think we go to Ashley

first.

>> Can you just say it one more time, the

last part?

>> What's wrong with I think they mean

building in Ipsy or Pittsfield Township?

>> So, affordable housing.

>> Affordable housing will pay a for those

of us who are working class and owner

own homes. More taxes.

>> Yep. what's wrong with a building in

Ipsy or Pristo,

>> right? Um, so there was a Ann Arbor area

Community Foundation did a a housing

study last year and largely what it

found was that the city of Ipsellani and

Pittsville Township essentially act as

Ann Arbor's affordable housing options

that is already in existence. Um, so

that is that is already what's

happening. Um really truly uh if if you

if you can't afford to live in Ann

Arbor, you buy a house in Iceland, you

buy a house in Pittsville Township. That

is already happening. Who pays for it?

The city has an affordable housing

village. So everyone pays into it. Yes,

that means working-class people. That

means, you know, my husband and I, that

means everyone who everyone in this

room, you pay into an affordable housing

village, and that's what helps build

that affordable housing. But also, you

know, when we give those

when we give those, you know, developers

the ability to to build these highrises,

part of what they're part of what

they're paying for, they pay into that

affordable housing village. If they're

not going to put affordable housing in

their development, they give money to

pay to help pay for those 1,200 units of

affordable housing that we're building

right now in the city. On top of

affordable housing, I'm a large

proponent of what we're of what Annor is

doing right now with the uh community

land trust. Has anyone heard of the town

homes? This is so people that are

workforce housing, people that are

teachers, nurses, can actually afford to

live in the city. Um, and these houses

are specifically for people who work

here to be able to live here. If I was

elected to city council, that's

something I would I would want to give

more money to. Um, and that's something

I would want to continue to expand and

allow for more workforce housing in the

city of Ann Arbor. Thank you.

Would

you would you just repeat the question?

>> I think I'll repeat the question.

>> Affordable housing, who will pay for it?

Those of us who are working class,

haven't owned and have owned our own

homes, more taxes. What's wrong with

building in Ipsy or Pittsfield Township?

Three months.

>> Thank you. We're already paying for it,

obviously, with the affordable housing

village, but we're paying for it where

the people who serve this community

can't live here. I think we need to

change that. Um, we have a billion

dollar bonding capacity in this city. We

have a lot of money at our disposal. We

should use it.

So, there's my answer to how we're going

to pay for it is largely through um

bonding out through our billion dollar

capacity permanently uh publicly

affordable housing, publicly owned

affordable housing. Um, as I mentioned,

we have the co-ops and land trusts. Now,

something that I'm really um skeptical

about is the number of affordable units

that the current council and the mayor

site 1,200. We just heard um there are a

lot of units that were of set to be

affordable that didn't materialize. I

don't know if folks here are familiar

with the Klein's law. The Klein's Lot

was slated to be affordable housing.

What happened? Sold to a private

developer, just came out recently. How

much do you think one of these was going

to be an affordable housing unit is now

going to go for? 750 ft. Anyone have a

guess?

$4,000 a month. Who's that for? That is

not for the workingclass people of this

city. I am tired of hearing these

numbers cited as, oh well, we're just

going to build a bunch of luxury housing

and then affordable housing is going to

be a side effect. That's the wrong way

of thinking about this. We should be

prioritizing affordable and missing

middle housing, not giving in to this

supply side absolutism. As I mentioned,

demand is a huge issue. People are not

going to buy luxury housing. People are

not moving right now because they are

locked into a lower tax rate and they

are locked into a lower mortgage rate.

My taxes became uncapped when I bought a

home from a n the estate of a

90-year-old woman and we're paying about

$400 more a month, $500 more a month

than she was paying in taxes. A lot of I

talked to a lot of older folks in town.

They do not want to move or I'm sorry,

they do want to move but they feel

constrained that they are locked into

their homes that they cannot move. This

is something that we need to address.

Also building more senior housing,

senior community living. This is

something that we hear uh often from a

lot of seniors that they would like to

downsize and live in a place where they

have a lot of activities and other

things that they can do. So building

more affordable senior housing is

something that we also really need to

prioritize. Um, I love Pittsfield. I

love Ipsy, but my priority is ensuring

that we can keep the workingclass people

of this city here. So many of my wife's

friends and colleagues used to live

here. They no longer do. Uh, also, shout

out to giving teachers a contract that's

not was city hall, but I'm always going

to say that. Um, so please support the

teachers. Please support our nurses.

Please support the other working-class

people who make this city what it is. Um

I I believe that is time and I answered

the question but yes we

>> good enough. Thanks. Thanks for

>> Okay, great. Thank you.

>> We have a nonhousing question for you.

>> Okay. I appreciate road diets adding

cycling infrastructure and enhanced

pedestrian safety. However, in my Allen

school neighborhood near Packard Plat,

the amount of cutth through traffic

continues to increase. No problem with

drivers who dress little and respect

that children and older adults dog

walkers need to be safe in their

neighborhood. But what can the city do

specifically about this issue? I think

they're referring to the the cuts and

travelers.

>> Yes. Yes. Uh thank you for the question.

So this is something that I hear on

doors often. So both in the Allen

neighborhood and here in the Pittsfield

Forestbrook neighborhoods. I have heard

that because of the road diet on Packard

and also I live literally or on Plat

rather. I live right off of Plat. When

it the bike lanes came in and it went to

one lane on each side, it is bumper to

bumper at 5:00. So, what happens is that

people will drive through the

neighborhoods recklessly going 50 miles

an hour, endangering our children,

senior citizens. This is crazy. I talked

to a gentleman on Parkwood last week and

he said since the bike lanes went in, he

has witnessed seven accidents from his

window, including a woman being pulled

out via the Jaws of Life.

>> Yes. Um I believe Parkwood and uh some

of the streets um in the neighborhood

don't have any stop signs either, so

people just don't. Um I am all for bike

lanes, but what I want to ensure is that

they were well thought out. And

something that really bothers me is the

way that the mayor and city council

actually funded these bike lanes. I

don't know if a lot of people are

familiar. We have many millages. That's

true. One of them is the public safety

and mental health millage. That's where

a lot of the bike lane funds came from.

Ironically endangering some of the

public safety.

>> I think that the funds that we allocate

should or the that we vote for should go

to those services. So how do we reform

it? I think we think through regionally

for our transit. We need to have

obviously better uh public

transportation. I still am a proponent

of bike lanes, but ensuring that it is a

good path like maybe we have one

concrete path that goes from our

neighborhoods here in Ward 3 downtown

and then we maybe you know fix the road

diet, particularly here on Plat. It it's

a big issue, but we really need to worry

about public safety. Um we've seen speed

bumps installed, but that has not been a

deterrent. So we need to really think

creatively here about what we can do to

a increase modes of transportation or uh

different types of transportation. We

want to decrease our carbon footprint

while also ma maintaining the safety of

our children and our senior citizens. So

that that is uh how I feel about road

diets. Thank you.

>> Thank you Ryan. Absolutely

question. I appreciate road diets adding

cycling infrastructure and enhanced

pedestrian safety. However, in my Allen

school neighborhood near Bagger Plat,

the amount of cutthrough traffic

continues to increase. I have no problem

with drivers who dress slowly and

respect that children, older adults, dog

walkers need to be safe in their

neighborhood. What can the city do

specifically about this issue?

>> Uh, thank you for always repeating the

question, Derek. I very much appreciate

that. So, the thing about Ann Arbor, we

are we're a job center, right? There are

I mean I I think it's like a 100,000

people drive into our city every day to

go to work and those people have no

other way to get into the city of Ann

Arbor other than their car because we do

not have a regional transit system. So

they have to drive into our city. How

can the people who live here, all the

people in this room, how can the city

make it possible for us to get to our

jobs if we if we work and live in Ann

Arbor without having to take our cars?

How can we increase our bus routes? How

can we build more bike lanes? Um, how

can we increase mobility options so that

we can decrease that car congestion?

That's something I'm very interested in.

Um, I so I live on Lillian Road. Does

anyone remember when Packard and

Carpenter was closed? They were putting

in the sewer lines and it was closed for

I it felt like a year and everyone, like

I said, my husband and I walk our dogs

down Yoast every day. People were

zooming down yoast and we don't we don't

have children but I was concerned. I

became the woman who yelled at cars who

were speeding down the road

>> because it's it's very scary. I

completely agree with this. It's it's

incredibly scary and there has to be

something that we can do at the city to

make to help that. I I I know that um so

Yos does have speed bumps. Is there a

different terminology for those? I'm not

sure. Speed bumps seems right. Um, Yos

does have speed bumps and but guess

what? People go 40 miles an hour and

then slow down and go over the speed

bump. Then they go 40 miles an hour,

slow down, go over the speed bump. Um,

I, you know, I I feel like I keep saying

this, but I agree with Ryan here, like

we have to we have to think really

innovatively. We have to think really

transformationally.

Um, the city right now is currently

doing a a transportation comprehensive

plan. I I I'm really interested to see

what comes out of that because I do

think a lot of our engineers and the

folks who work at the city do a really

good job and and and care deeply about

safety. Uh so the city has a

transportation plan called vision zero

which envisions that zero people are

killed through you know vehicle

accidents in the city of Ann Arbor. We

we we have not reached that. um how can

we put more resources and money into

something like Vision Zero to ensure

that we reduce those pedestrian deaths

um and that we can slow down people on

our roads and protect our children and

our dogs. Thank you.

>> Thanks, Ashley. This actually ties into

cycling, but I'll make it a little more

generic. How will you be responsive to

neighborhoods concerns when they're

counter to the city's development plan?

And I think Ashley's first this time.

So, one of the one of the I I've done um

constituent work for a long time. If

you're if you're not familiar with what

constituent work is, it means I work for

an elected official and when someone

calls the elected official and needs

help with something, I'm usually the one

to to do that thing. Um and elected

officials often hire very good staff to

do that thing. I am incredibly

accessible. Uh my husband might

complain, I am on my own constantly.

People are calling me. I am emailing. I

am always trying to be responsive to the

needs of the people in our community. Uh

that will be incredibly important to me

as a city council person. City council

people don't have staff, right? And and

it's part-time. So, how can you how can

I as someone who works full-time um also

having a part-time job if I was to win

city council remain as responsive as

humanly possible to everyone in this

room? And I can make that commitment to

you today. You want my cell phone

number? Have it. Uh, I I want to be

accessible. I want to be able to be

someone that you can call when you have

questions. Um,

can you remind me what the question was?

>> How will you be responsive to

neighborhoods concerns when they're

counter to the city's development plan?

>> Okay, that's what I thought. I just

wanted to make sure that I was hitting

that that piece. Number one, I'm going

to be I'm going to be accessible. Number

two, um I am not 100% in agreement with

everything that the city is doing right

now. I do like the idea of the

comprehensive land use plan. Um, I am

supportive of it, but I am, one of the

things I like to say about myself is I

am a curious human. Um, I never want to

enter a conversation with someone and

them feel like my mind is already made

up. I think there's always room for

growth and there's always room for

compromise. And that is how I will lead

if I'm elected to city council. And if I

am your city council person, I want you

to feel comfortable reaching out to me

even if you think I'm going to disagree

with you because, as with most things,

the truth is usually somewhere in the

middle. So, thank you.

>> Thanks, Absolutely. Brian, how will you

be responsive to neighborhoods concerns

when they are counter to the city's

development plan?

>> Thank you, Jerry. Um, something that I

hear a lot on doors is that folks are

concerned with the direction that the

city's been going in. They think that um

folks have not been listening. I I've

heard all over W three that they have

not been able to get in contact with any

either of our city council members. Um I

also pledge to be accessible. I also do

constituent services work. I work for a

state representative. We pride ourselves

on that. We have a h coffee hour or

happy hour all over her district which

spans from West Ann Arbor to Jackson uh

just outside of Jackson. Um we do that

once a month. I'm going to move around

the district um or the ward, make sure

that um folks in every part of it can uh

attend the events and also uh ensure

that I'm again responding to folks. But

something that I'm very concerned about

is the direction that the city council

has been going, as I've said, I've heard

this a lot, that everyone on city

council rubber stamps what the mayor

wants.

I am not as convinced that uh folks who

are touting the mayor's endorsement and

the endorsement of everybody on city

council are going to be able to

withstand the pressure to vote the way

that the mayor wants. I'm somebody who

is an independent voice. I am my own

person. I am not endorsed by the mayor

or anyone on city council. I'm here for

you and I'm going to listen to you and

be responsive to your needs. This is

very important to me that all of you

know this because this town is ready for

change. I hear it everywhere. We all

feel it. This is the election that

progressives are going to come in and

actually make Ann Arbor into the

progressive beacon that we know it can

be.

It's time that we actually have change

and we have people in this town who are

going to be receptive and lead from the

bottom up from the grassroots and not

tell you how it is from the top down.

Thank you.

>> We have a ground swell of questions

about downtown businesses. I'm going to

try to combine them. How do you plan to

protect small businesses in the face of

rent and uh land value inc pressures?

What are your thoughts for improving the

downtown environment like vagrancy, pan

handling, etc. And a little more

pointed, downtown is dying. Recently,

we've seen businesses closing. Uh, if we

don't have businesses, we don't have a

town. What will you do to save the soul

of our city?

>> And Ryan, I think you're first.

>> Thank you. That's a great question. Uh,

I I like many of you, I was very

saddened to see Tio's closed this week.

Um, I had uh just I lived right around

the corner in college from Teos. I had

many great memories there, some not so

great. Um, I had a bad first date there.

We don't talk about it. It's fine. Uh,

but Tios was a lovely place. The best

carrot cake I've ever had. Um, something

that I'm concerned about the club is the

um the the um the multi-use zoning where

stores would be underneath high-rise

apartments or other buildings. Um, mixed

use zoning. Sorry, that's the

terminology. Um, I'm not against mixed

use zoning, but what we've seen is that

uh the rent becomes so prohibitively

expensive that businesses are pushed

out. Something that is a big part of

Ward 3 is the Packard corridor and all

of the lovely immigrant-owned businesses

along the Packard corridor.

>> They deserve to stay here. I want to

ensure that we are not building

highrises on top of them and pushing

them out,

>> right?

>> So, we need to ensure that any mixed

zoning that we do is keeping them here.

They are the lifeblood of our community.

And at a time when there's a bunch of

anti-immigrant hate, we need to ensure

that the immigrants that live in our

community are able to stay here and that

we protect them.

>> So yeah,

>> I and then an example of mixed use

zoning that didn't materialize is the

George.

>> They just a grocery store was there

previously.

>> We all have been hearing a lot about we

want walkable neighborhoods. We all want

walkable neighborhoods. We all want to

be able to get a croissant and coffee,

which you can at DJ's Bakery. Fun fact.

Please check it out.

>> Yep. Shout out to DJs. They're great. Uh

great blueberry uh donut. Um so the

George was buil as we're going to put in

a grocery store on the main floor and

still have the luxury housing above it.

Where's that grocery store now? It's not

there.

I'm very concerned about all of the

things for our downtown, but I'm also

really concerned about the DDA and their

just ability to do um of they are not

responsible or they are not responsive

to the voters. They are an unelected

board. I'm concerned of the decision

that they're making with the amount of

money that they have.

>> We need to ensure that we can re them in

and make sure that they're accountable

to the voters.

>> What's DDA

development authority?

>> Thank you.

>> Downtown development. downtown

Development Authority. Um,

>> okay. So, um, basically where I stand on

this is also to I I guess the other

thing to mention is that the

construction downtown has been been very

nonsensical. They've been building a

bunch or doing a lot of construction

without actually thinking it through.

That has been preventing people from

going downtown to be able to frequent

our businesses that make Ann Arbor what

it is. people out here might be more

inclined to go to chains, but we need to

make sure that we can uh divert people

downtown so they can frequent the

businesses that make Ann Arbor what it

is. Thank you.

>> I completely failed. I've lost which

car.

>> I believe in you,

>> Ryan. Can you repeat the question?

>> Sure.

The question was about uh reviving our

downtowns. Uh making sure that

businesses aren't uh pushed out.

>> Oh yeah, that's right. There's like

three of them.

>> We have vagrancy problem downtown. The

prices are going up.

>> Uh downtown is dying. Okay. City

council, do your help. Thank you.

>> Um

yeah, Timas is the greatest place on the

planet. Tas must be protected at most

costs. Um must be protected at all

costs. I also love Monty's. Bonties. Uh,

>> everything that's happening at Packard

and Plat I love. My husband and I

frequent Bombay grocery store. Not sure

if many of you have been there. Very,

very good prices on vegetables. Um,

that is the soul of our city. Uh, also,

fun fact, at the county we have these

large department head meetings and I did

a blind taste test with DJ's Donuts and

Dom's Donuts and everyone was like, "Oh,

Dom's going to win." DJ's wine made like

a lot. DJ's better than Dom's. Uh, I'm

going to say it. So, I mean, that being

said, um, what can we do downtown? Not

only have we lost Tio's, we recently

lost Ginger Deli. Um, I used to get a

bond meme at Gender Deli once a week.

Um, we also lost an Aaholic. We've lost,

which was a chain, but still own local.

Um, protecting our downtown businesses

is something that's important to me. Can

we enforce rent restrictions on the

businesses downtown? something I'm very

interested in exploring because ensuring

that the people who have held businesses

downtown for as long as they losing

downtown home and garden it felt like

felt like a soul crushing blow to me. Um

it's where we got our plans. It's where

we got our pots. Um how can we ensure

that we're protecting those kind of

landmark band institutions? Uh I'm

interested in in looking at what rent

restrictions looks like on on

businesses. Um vagrancy downtown. So, I

I work for the county. Uh what the

county is really responsible for is uh

health and mental health largely and and

and we have a sheriff and public safety,

but um I think that the city needs to

partner closely with our community

mental health to inc to kind of get more

folks out. So, the county has what we

call a path team and a crisis team. So,

if someone is experiencing a mental

health crisis, the county has a team

that responds usually within 30 minutes

to an hour.

um how can we add more funding to that

team so that when folks on our streets

are are having, you know, emergencies,

mental health emergencies, we can help

them. Uh I I I work downtown. Um I I

experience this on a daily basis. It it

is something that I think we need to

think about as we continue to preserve

the city. Um, I would be very I'd be

very supportive of increasing the the

kind of like the partnership between the

city and the county in terms of mental

health to help the folks downtown. Um,

dying downtown vagrancy businesses. Feel

like I got it. Thanks, guys.

>> And I think you were the first one for

this next question. I told you I would

get out of place. Do you support the

Hanover Hanover Republic Power Project

andor the SCU? If so, please help please

discuss how they would be planning it.

Nashville,

>> uh, this is an excellent question and a

question I was expecting to be asked

today. Um, does does everyone know what

an arm for public power is?

>> So, it is essentially an attempt for the

city to municipalize our power system.

Um, which would mean purchasing all of

the infrastructure that DTE owns and

having it run by the city.

There is likely going to be a ballot

initiative um in November that would

create a leadership. I I believe it's

like um a board that would run Anna for

public power. Um I am very interested to

see how the city votes on this proposal.

I I am someone who I'm hearing every day

when I'm when I'm knocking doors, how

can you ensure that my taxes are not

going to go up? I I worry that if we

municipalize it will be very expensive.

So, um I was talking to Linda, did I get

it right? Uh about Boulder, Colorado.

Boulder, Colorado is a really

interesting kind of case study

counterpoint for the city of Ann Arbor.

Boulder, Colorado has has gone through

they started the municipalization

process. They've gone through what it

looks like. They spent a lot of money on

lawyers and at the end of the day they

actually decided not to municipalize

because of the cost and because of the

cost it would be on the taxpayers in the

city. Um that is something I'm very

cognizant of. That's something that I

care a lot about making sure that the

people of the city are not paying for uh

are not paying a billion dollars having

a billion dollars added to the tax

rules. Um, however, I will say, um, DTE

is trash and 100% we have to hold DTE

accountable. Um, I think I think one of

the things that we also learned from

Boulder is as they went down that

municipalization path, they actually

gained some power from their from their

monopoly utility. I'm not exactly sure

what the name of their utility was. Um,

so going down the path could actually be

advantageous to the city. I am

personally interested to see number one

how the city votes on the ballot

initiative because I'm very interested

in supporting with the voter support.

Number two, I'm worried about the cost

of Anarch for public power. Thank you.

>> You don't need to repeat the question.

Um I'm going to start with agreeing with

my opponent. DT is trash, but I'm uh

really skeptical when I hear you repeat

their talking points. Um they've funded

>> speak this is not a debate.

>> Fair enough. Uh DTE thinks it is though.

They uh have invested 1.8 million into

an effort to stop us from municipalizing

because they know that it will save us

money in the long term.

>> Spoiler alert for folks who couldn't

tell. I am supportive of public power

and I do carry the petition. But it is

going to be cheaper in the long run for

us. We can even bond out for this. And

basically the model of how it would work

is even if it is a billion dollars, we

would pay the the city and then extra

money beyond just the cost of the energy

would go into another pot that could pay

down the bond. And it's been projected

that we could do this in about 10 years

and then we would permanently own our

infrastructure, which is very important.

I work in Lancet. DTE likes to throw

their money around. DTE is the biggest

um donor to both sides of the aisle. In

Democratic trifecta, we could not hold

them accountable because they literally

gave to everyone, especially our speaker

of the house who actually told us we

could not do anything to reign them in.

So, I think that at the local level

where we have the capability of doing

it, we should do it. And not only that,

it would facilitate the switch to green

energy much faster. We care about the

environment here in Ann Arbor. That's

part of our character. We should

facilitate the switch to green energy

100% renewable as quickly as humanly

possible. So I am supportive of this

effort. Uh the SEU a little less so.

There's a DTE executive that's on their

board. Little rubs me the wrong way. Um

we as a community though um have this

within us to do. It's it's not the the

vote as Ashley was saying is going to be

establishing a board that would um work

through the specifics of the plan. So we

would have half of them would be elected

and half of them would be appointed

thereby making them accountable to us

and that is the most important thing

that we can do is democratize our

processes. We the people of Ann Arbor

know better than a giant corporation

that seeks to just maximize profit and I

think over time it'll bear it out. And

then then lastly, I'll add 40

municipalities in Michigan already run

their own utility, including Lancing.

And are we really going to let them be

better than us?

>> Go Blue.

>> I know that was pandery, but go blue.

>> Thanks, Ryan. I think we've got time for

one more round of three more questions.

So, this last one's a little feisty, and

I'm going to reward it. Whoever wrote,

"What are you doing to protect us from

ICE?" I'm going to bring that down to

Ann Arbor level. I apologize. I

apologize in advance for rewarding our

police officers. I consider them quite

good, but police officers association of

Michigan, their union is very pro ICE.

The union contract is up at the end of

the year. What can city council do to

get a better uh better relationship, a

better union, better representation for

our officers here at work?

>> Oh, yes. I would be first.

>> Sorry, I logged in. All right. So, uh,

I'm very, um, interested in finding

unique ways to hold ICE accountable. I

was a little disappointed to hear Mayor

Taylor's response at the forum with, uh,

mayoral candidate Ysef Robbie. He

effectively said, "Look, there's only so

much we can do." Like, we we need to

stay within the confines of the law.

Even though this lawless organization is

just disregarding the Constitution and

barging into people's homes and taking

them, we need to be creative. We need to

use the resources that we have at our

disposal. We have snow plows. We can

schedule uh road repair. We can be just

we can impede ice as much as we can. And

also the current city council has let

ice into particular buildings. They

banned them from some, but not entirely.

We need to take a lesson from the

county. They stood up to ICE. They are

being sued by the Trump administration

for their bravery. We should do the same

in Ann Arbor. We yeah

we

have this in us to do but we just need

the will. We also can learn from

Minnesota's example. Uh Minnesota really

did a neighborhood by neighborhood

approach. We should do the same thing

all over W 3. I'd like to see signal

chats of folks um who are actively

communicating whenever they see ICE. Um

there

>> yes,

>> but it's not widely publicized and we

need to get as many people on it as

possible. There was an incident that

just happened at Scarlet um where a

parent was taken. And I will also say

this in my job I have been combating ICE

as much as I can. I actually talked with

some of the first people who were

imprisoned in Baldwin and released. Um I

sitting with people who were victims of

ISIS brutality um really shook me to my

core. I started writing legislation and

introducing it uh with my boss in the

legislature to hold ICE accountable. We

introduced a law to ban 287g agreements.

Uh this would prevent local uh police

departments uh from um uh entering into

contracts with ICE. Um we did this in

conjunction with Sheriff Alicia Dyer who

ran on that platform of we are going to

prevent ICE from taking our neighbors.

Um we've uh introduced legislation to

codify the Fourth Amendment. Didn't

think I'd say that, but they released a

memo saying, "Hey, we can just barge

into your home." Um, we need to be as

creative as humanly possible because

part of what makes Ann Arbor so great,

the largest part of what makes Ann Arbor

so great are the people that live here.

And I'll be damned if this federal

government is going to take them away

from us. They are integral to our

community. We must do everything in our

power to keep them here. Thank you.

What What are you going to do to protect

us from ICE? that I'd like to point out

are why our police officers are quite

good. They're represented by a union

that is very proise and that union's

contract is up at the end of the year.

Is there anything city council do can do

to encourage a better relationship with

union or get a better union?

>> Thank you, Derek. Um, this is a personal

question for me. I am married to an

immigrant. Um, I think it hits different

when you see immigrants being dragged

through the streets and you're married

to one. It feels very personal. Um, my

husband and I had a very serious

conversation when he was up to become an

American citizen about whether or not we

actually believed enough in this country

for him to become an American citizen.

His citizenship hearing was actually the

day after Trump got shot at that rally.

And when we saw that, we were like,

"Holy this man's going to win. Do

we want do we want to further invest in

this country?" Um, I work at the

Washington County Board of

Commissioners. Uh, I work for them. I've

been with them every step of the way as

they've been sued by the Trump

administration. The Trump administration

sued my bosses uh to get our county ID

information, which is largely for our

undocumented friends and our immigrants.

Uh, they sued the county for our I-9

information. So, that the the actual

biographical information of everyone who

works at our county. We had a meeting

where 400 people in our community came

and they gave public comment telling my

bosses to stand strong and I was with

them every single step of the way.

They're also currently being sued again

by the Trump administration for the ICE

reszone resolution that they passed

which prohibits ICE from entering any

county building. I am 100% supportive of

passing that exact same resolution for

the city. Um, I do not want the city to

have access. I I know what I used to

have access to any city properties. Very

similar to what the county did. And

guess what? If we get sued, bring it on.

Right. Nothing like we have the money

and we have the will and we have the

value to stand up to ICE in this

community. I've seen it at county. I

know that we would do the exact same

thing at Ann Arbor City Council. When it

comes to the police union, um

we do have great local police officers.

Um and we also our our our Ann Arbor

police chief is great and I and one of

the things that he's really helped

advance is um an unarmed response unit.

Um which I am also very much in support

of. Um

I think that Chief Anderson is very good

at what he does. I am someone who firmly

believes if I'm not a subject matter

expert, let's talk to the subject matter

expert and find out how they think we

should do something. I believe that

Chief Anderson as a as a chief of police

is the best person to help create that

stronger relationship with the police

union and help Ann Arbor police and the

union actually represent our values more

strongly and to make sure that we keep

federal agents, mass agents, and ICE out

of our community. Thank you so much.

Well, folks, first, thanks again for

being here. This is a great crowd.

Unfortunately, we are out of time

because we have to pack up. If you'd be

willing to carry a chair over to the

wall on my left, that'd be great. Thanks

again for coming. Thank you.

>> Thank you for coming, everybody.

>> All right. Thank you so much for

grabbing on the way out for the