4 OPINION
Thursday, May 29, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu IAN DILLINGHAM EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
STEPHANIE SHENOUDA MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
FROM THE DAILY
Amending allocations Ann Arbor had both gains and lossses in its 2015 fiscal budget
L
ast Monday, the Ann Arbor City Council reviewed 17 amendments to the $334 million fiscal year 2015 city budget. The council voted to reallocate funds to numerous areas in need of assistance such as transportation, animal management, clean energy and affordable housing. Unfortunately, efforts to redirect funds from the police force to drug rehabilitation assistance were thwarted with only two councilmembers voting in favor of the amendment. While the city council acted commendably by distributing much needed funds to road management, road repair and clean energy, failing to provide further provide resources to those suffering from substance abuse is a misstep on the council’s behalf. The city council passed two separate road amendments that are slated to enhance the Ann Arbor community for both students and local residents. The first amendment places $75,000 into services for managing deer and other animals. Michigan drivers experience 40,000-50,000 deer-vehicle collisions each year. These populations must be managed in order to promote the safety of residents. The second amendment proposes that city administrators outline a plan for alternative street repair funding. Given the consistent dissatisfaction with Ann Arbor roads coupled with the University’s bus services and commuting students, this amendment proves vital to enhancing an impactful facet of student life.
The council voted against an amendment that would invest $100,000 from the Affordable Housing Fund into a warming center for the homeless. Recently, University students have worked to increase accessibility to affordable housing for students with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. With the campus climate in support of cheaper housing, choosing to maintain the affordable housing budget could help provide students with more leverage in the conversation. Furthermore, the council intends to expand warming shelters this winter with intent to discuss suggestions with community partners deterring negative impacts to the city’s homeless populations. Unfortunately, the city council voted against an amendment to reallocate
$95,000 from police staffing toward programs that help prevent and treat addiction. The amendment would have decreased the number of new police officers being added from three to two. Nine council members opposed the amendment, believing funds were better used towards a proactive police force and court-ordered treatment. These beliefs, however, are seriously flawed. Crime rates in Ann Arbor are at historic lows while drug and alcohol use are higher than average for Washtenaw County adolescents. Instead of focusing on patrolling citizens, Ann Arbor should help further fund addiction prevention for young residents and addiction treatment in order to the enhance the mental wellness of its citizens.
I
It’s time for action
’ll say it up front: I don’t like guns. To be honest, I’m not sure if the sentiment was one that always existed, or if it rose up after various moments in my life. The first time I noticed it was when my high school went under lockdown for over four hours due to a gun on the prem- HARLEEN ises that was never KAUR found. My body seized with fear as a SWAT team patrolled our roof and state police barged through doors without warning. The time I remember most vividly though, of course, is when a neoNazi man entered my childhood house of worship, the Oak Creek Gurdwara in Wisconsin, and killed six members of the community. Since then, the sound of a gunshot, even if in a show, movie or musical, makes my heart stop. There had been moments, walking home at night in Ann Arbor, where I drove myself crazy convincing myself that any car that was driving by might try to shoot me. My fear was absolutely irrational and borderline insane. Yet, there were times when I couldn’t find the logic to convince myself otherwise. I, in part due to the media and inaction on the part of United States politicians, had allowed gun violence to become normal, an expected part of daily life. However, I’ve been able to reflect and realize the difference between a gun and the person behind it. I’ve seen that ignorance can lead to hate-driven violence, that our society accepts anger as a reaction to rejection, that some individuals are not given the proper care and facilities they need. However, most of all, I’ve seen and learned that there is not one blanket solution to mass shootings. Each shooter has had their own reasons for their actions, and although taking the lives of others is never justified, I think we have learned that simply limiting access to guns won’t be enough. So, what’s the conversation we really need to have? Is it the way that the media
chooses to prostitute the coverage of certain shootings while completely ignoring others? Is it the assumptions that are made about a shooter based on the color of his skin? White man, mentally ill; brown man, terrorist. Is it the way that we use mental illness as an excuse for killing and suffering, as if all mental illnesses lead to deadly rampages? Or, most recently, why a man felt that a gun and the deaths of many individuals was the appropriate solution for his feelings of rejection? All these conversations have happened, and yet, they’re still not the right one. Somehow, the mass shootings keep happening and we’ve yet to do anything to prevent another one. Our reality has become one of violence, death and excuses, even though our Constitution calls for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Without any real action or call for justice, this may just become the new “normal.” Richard Martinez, the father of University of California, Santa Barbara shooting victim Chris Martinez, summed up the impatience of most of Americans as mass shootings become more and more common: “Don’t call me and tell me you’re sorry about my son’s death. I don’t want to hear it from you! I don’t want to hear that you’re sorry about my son’s death, I don’t care if you’re sorry about my son’s death. You go back to Congress and you do something, and you come back to me and tell me you’ve done something, then I’ll be interested in talking to you.” It’s time to stop accepting mass shootings as an everyday reality and question how our nation even got to this place to begin with. Allowing a person to carelessly end the lives of others should never be allowed, nor should it be a consideration for anyone. And mostly, it’s time to stop pretending that we have no way to prevent these senseless murders. It was unbelievable after Columbine, it was heartbreaking after Sandy Hook and now, after the UCSB shooting, it’s absolutely absurd. We’ve been waiting for action long enough, and it’s time that Congress finally answers the call.
Stop pretending we can’t prevent these murders.
— Harleen Kaur can be reached at harleen@umich.edu.
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