City Council addresses antisemitic flyers and discusses new housing developments

Ann Arbor City Council met at Larcom City Hall Tuesday evening to unveil Ann Arbor’s new flag, address recent antisemitic and anti-Israel messages left in Ann Arbor residential neighborhoods and provide updates about future housing plans in the Washtenaw Avenue area.  

Mayor Christopher Taylor opened the meeting by revealing the chosen design for Ann Arbor’s new flag, along with its creator, Ann Arbor resident Dennis Scherdt. In celebration of Ann Arbor’s 200th anniversary, the city announced a contest for a new flag design in September 2023. In May, five finalists were put up for selection through a public vote. Taylor said the decision to redesign the flag symbolizes the changes Ann Arbor has undergone over the past 200 years. 

“We are 200 years old, at least, dated on back to when the village was incorporated back in 1824,” Taylor said. “That is the beginning of the history that we were counting with respect to our bicentennial. And we have a lot to reflect upon, and a lot to be excited by, and a lot of pride in our city. And everyone also knows that a great city deserves a great flag.”

During the public hearings section of the meeting, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, spoke about flyers left in Ann Arbor residential neighborhoods Sunday morning following the killing of six Israeli hostages in Gaza. According to Lopatin, the flyers were allegedly placed around Ann Arbor neighborhoods by members of the Goyim Defense League, a neo-Nazi hate group.

“Sunday morning, as the Jewish community began to absorb this shock and this heartbreaking news, residents of multiple Ann Arbor neighborhoods woke to find antisemitic flyers left on their driveways by member of a small network of virally antisemitic provocateurs called the Goyim Defense League,” Lopatin said. 

Lopatin thanked the council for denouncing those who spread antisemitic messages in the flyers and called for a united front among the community against such actions.

“We’re so grateful for the City Council that you have condemned that behavior,” Lopatin said. “But I hope that our City Council can once again call on the good citizens of Ann Arbor to reach out and love one another and be sensitive to one another and feel the pain and the vulnerability of Jews and non-Jews alike and condemn these vicious acts of hatred that have no place in our community or our society.” 

City Councilmember Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, D-Ward 3, condemned the messages in the flyers and expressed hope that the Ann Arbor community will remain strong in the face of division and hate. 

“I condemn the antisemitic events to its fullest extent, horrifying to hear,” Ghazi Edwin said. “I condemn all hate to the fullest extent. And I think it’s really tragic right now to see the pain that’s being felt by our Jewish neighbors, by our Palestinian neighbors. I hope that we can come together when things like this happen, to really show support for each other.” 

City Council then moved to discuss an ordinance that would rezone 59 land parcels on Washtenaw Avenue, East Stadium Boulevard, Manchester Road and Platt Road. The ordinance, which passed unanimously, would designate the rezoned land as  Transit Corridor 1. The corridor will create space for new housing developments to be situated in the area and will achieve goals outlined in City Council’s Comprehensive Plan, according to City Councilmember Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1. 

“TC-1 better achieves a variety of different goals that are listed in the current Comprehensive Plan than the current zoning does, and the overarching goal is for already developed areas of the city to work more efficiently and for a broader range of customers,” Disch said. 

Disch emphasized the anticipated positive environmental impacts of TC-1, including a move away from the car-centric infrastructure. 

“Features of TC-1 include enabling higher density land use and requiring smaller footprints, so greater efficiency to support pedestrian-friendly landscapes,” Disch said. “There are shorter distances between destinations, and those distances can be more comfortably crossed by foot than the existing large parking lots from a previous era.” 

City Councilmember Linh Song, D-Ward 2, expressed her support for the rezoning. Song emphasized how the expansion of housing density space will allow commuters to relocate to Ann Arbor. 

“It gives us options to understand how people, who are now commuters or service workers, can live closer to work in a more affordable area, close to transit,” Song said. “I would hope that we can capture a generation of folks who would be considering living in the city and staying in the city, and not waiting for the parcel owners to figure out how to reimagine it. We can reimagine it to be more timely and be more responsive.”

City Council then discussed a resolution to consider allowing more flexibility for home occupations in residential neighborhoods. The resolution, which passed unanimously, makes it easier for residents to utilize their current housing units to conduct business transactions. 

Song, one of the primary sponsors of the resolution, said the bill would aid in the creation of new local businesses as well as assist current home-run businesses. 

“In graduate school, I used to run a program called International Families Outreach Project, and because of how visas are, a lot of academic spouses aren’t allowed to work,” Song said. “So, one of the activities that spouses had was baking and cooking classes, and these were extraordinary. … Food really brings people together, and I’m hoping that we can overcome these divisions and know each other in our neighborhoods.” 

Daily Staff Reporter Claudia Minetti can be reached at cminetti@umich.edu.

The post City Council addresses antisemitic flyers and discusses new housing developments appeared first on The Michigan Daily.


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