In the experience of the founders of the New West Side, college towns are places where students are unfortunately marginalized and maligned in local politics.  Despite being a group of enduring presence in the community, and often having enduring interests, students hardly figure into the local political equation -- so it goes in Ann Arbor.  Meanwhile, homeowner associations play an important role in local politics -- lobbying council members, organizing community efforts, and influencing the debate on many issues -- despite often being outnumbered by students and renters in their neighborhoods.

Why is this, and why are students disparaged as "temporary" residents, passionate and irrational?  The individual transience of students, along with their lack of place-based identification, has kept them from forming the kinds of associations -- personal and organizational -- that tie them to a neighborhood and help them form enduring relationships that translate into community mobilization and political influence.  Ann Arbor's political structure is ward-based, a geographical means of allocating political power, meaning since students have not engaged in place-based politics, they lack the influence that it produces.

However, the advent of communications tools like Web pages and blogs have helped students share information and become more aware of issues that affect them all over the city.  Students are realizing that what they thought were isolated impressions of the city are actually commonly held ideas.  Now that these tools are being used to form relationships and connect people and ideas, it remains to attach these community-wide and cross-community patterns to specific places.  It is time for the development of place-based student and renter organizations like the New West Side in order to realize the potential political power that we as a group hold.  Though some council members have claimed to address student issues, none has had to face a consciously organized student vote in their ward; students have thought of themselves as campus-based or dispersed throughout the city and have not directed their significant presence to the polls.

This effort will redraw the map of Ann Arbor's West Side as an area where students live, work, shop, pay taxes, and contribute to the cultural life that makes Ann Arbor and other college towns such desirable places to live.  It will remind students of their importance in their neighborhoods and will remind the Ann Arbor community that students are the lifeblood of the city.

The first, most important steps that you can take to aid in this effort are the following:

1. Register to vote in Ann Arbor.  You have to be able to vote in order to influence the outcome of elections.

2. Join the New West Side Association.  Send $5.00 along with the member information sheet  and volunteer to canvas, to spread the word about this organization, and to participate in events that will build a student alliance on the New West Side.

Activities

Coming this fall the NWS will be holding a thorough slate of activities focused on community building, informing the electorate of local issues and events, and political mobilization.  These will include, among others, a voter registration drive in the NWS; a candidates forum for city council elections; meetings with city planners and planning commissioners to talk about how the future plans for Ann Arbor will affect you; and social events at the Madison House.

Contact us:

New West Side Association
106 W. Madison
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
(734) 717-6384
director[at]newwestside.org

Please note that this Web page employs material from the public domain.  Any similarity between this Web page and others is for the purposes of political commentary.