Annarbourites ask, “Why can’t Ypsi(lanti) just take all of our poor?” Consultant explains.

[KamaAina]

http://markmaynard.com/2015/01/annarbourites-ask-why-cant-ypsi-just-take-all-of-our-poor-consultant-explains/

“So, why isn’t Ypsilanti a good long-term solution for Ann Arbor’s affordable housing issues?”

That’s how the story in today’s Ann Arbor News about the work of a consulting firm brought in by the County to assess where we stand relative to affordable housing begins. The onus, it would seem, is on Ypsi. The question isn’t, “How can we better serve the poor?”, but “Why can’t Ypsi just deal with it?” And, yeah, that kind of ticks me off. As we’ve discussed before, I don’t much like the suggestion on the part of some Annarbourites that our community exists primarily in order to keep those they see as undesirable out of their beautiful neighborhoods and away from their successful, well-funded public schools....

I would have thought that a proudly liberal community that once rallied against apartheid in South Africa might be better at picking up the telltale signs of segregation under their own noses, but maybe it’s harder to see when you’re in the middle of it, when it’s your property values and school rankings that you’re concerned about… Sure, in theory, you love the poor, but why can’t that new affordable housing complex be built in Ypsi, right?

So the folks to our west are seriously asking, “So, why isn’t Ypsilanti a good long-term solution for Ann Arbor’s affordable housing issues?” Why, in other words, can’t we live in the paradise that we deserve, with good schools and streetlights that work, while the poor live on the other side of 23, sending their kids to questionable charter schools in darkness?

Looks like NIMBYism is not confined to Silicon Valley.

[SheilaT]

1. NIMBYism is everwhere. Always has been.

[safeinOhio]

2. Yes, Ypsi can use a little help and yes

A Squared can afford to help.

I've lived in both.

[muntrv]

3. I am from Ann Arbor. The poverty rate has shot up in Ypsi since the GM Willow Run plant closed.

That's the elephant in the room, a lack of a major employer in Ypsilanti.

[muntrv]

4. Too many of my fellow Ann Arborites associate affordable housing with crime,

based on posts in M-Live Ann Arbor.