South University Student Housing Proposal
So, in the Daily, I read a bit about the proposed 26 story sky rise with four bedroom suites, built-in washers/dryers and all this good stuff. Sounds like a pretty place, I suppose. Especially if you can afford
it, seeing as Mom is a lawyer and Dad a doctor. What nice dessert after the BMW you got for your 16th birthday.

Well, on a side note, if the plan wins approval of the city's planning commission, the developers will demolish the buildings across the street from University Towers, including the Village Corner. The Village Corner, a small grocery/wine store, is the one place where I can find detergent, toothbrushes, and other basic items through late at night. Because I don't have my own BMW, I need a place I can walk to after bus hours, unless I want to pay 10 dollars for a cab (to the grocery store.) Not to mention its renowned wine selection that I'm told connoisseurs relish.


On some levels, the Village Corner is just another grocery/liquor store. Though it is also a local business that has many customers. One of the aspects of Ann Arbor I enjoy is that many local businesses thrive. It's not just another area of outlet malls with impersonal chain stores. People have the opportunity to start honest businesses from scratch and actually gain success. Just look at Big Ten Burrito and its new Cantina being built next to Charley's.

Entrepreneurs have an option not to get tied up in the corrupt corporate web. (Though, who knows? Maybe Big Ten Burrito is corrupt.)


If people repeatedly enable the demolition of local businesses that nourish Ann Arbor's uniqueness and rich local culture, then it will eventually turn into another corporate, sterile, dehumanizing, and empty place, like the one I grew up in. It is in Ann Arbor that I finally awakened after laying dormant for 18 years in a kingdom of upper middle class monotony. I don't want to lose my refuge.