AADL Talks To: Ingrid Sheldon, 59th Mayor of Ann Arbor, 1993-2000

Tue, 09/17/2024 - 8:58pm

When: February 23, 2023

In this episode, AADL talks to Ingrid Sheldon. Ingrid was Ann Arbor's mayor from 1993-2000. She was Ann Arbor's last Republican mayor and is remembered as a politician who did not stick strictly to party lines. Ingrid has also been a long time active member of the Ann Arbor volunteer and philanthropy communities who transitioned to politics after her involvement in the Ann Arbor Jaycees. She tells us about growing up in Ann Arbor township and attending its one room school, her appreciation for meeting and working with a diversity of people throughout the community, and her notable accomplishments.

Transcript

• [00:00:09] AMY CANTU: Hi, this is Amy.
• [00:00:11] EMILY MURPHY: This is Emily. Today, AADL talks to Ingrid Sheldon. Ingrid was Ann Arbor's mayor from 1993-2000. She was Ann Arbor's last Republican mayor and is remembered as a politician who did not stick strictly to party lines, seeking to work together. Ingrid has also been a long time active member of the Ann Arbor volunteer and philanthropy communities. Thank you for joining us today, Ingrid.
• [00:00:37] INGRID SHELDON: Well, it's an honor and a privilege to be here with you.
• [00:00:40] AMY CANTU: The first thing we'd like to ask you about, if you don't mind, is to take us back all the way to your childhood and tell us a little bit about -- I understand you grew up in Ann Arbor Township.
• [00:00:51] INGRID SHELDON: I did. In fact, my brother bought our home that we grew up in. He's still out there, just, I think, probably a quarter of a mile from the Ann Arbor City limits when it was a long trip into Ann Arbor while growing up. It was exciting adventure. My dad was an immigrant from Sweden. He met my mother at Vivienne Farms, which was out on Huron River Drive, right across from the community college. She worked in the kitchen as a summer student as she was going to Michigan Normal College then. They were very familiar with the Geddes neighborhood, which would be Geddes and Dixboro Road. Lots of friends there. Dad left Detroit Edison, who managed Vivienne Farms. They needed land, and so he was able to buy two acres from one of the relatives of the farmers along Dixboro Road, and so built the house at 3000 Warren Road. Built it by himself, cement blocks. My siblings, Savea and Bill were basically 10 years older than my brother Eric and myself. They helped haul those cement blocks and with the construction. They lived in the basement for a year while they could construct the rest of the house. That was 1943, and I was not born until 45. I was not part of this exercise at that time. But it's exciting to know that you were growing up in a home that your parents built literally. That was the essence of my parents. They believed in working hard. In order to achieve, you worked. I attended a one-room schoolhouse. They managed to have about 10 of us for grades K-8. We would walk to school. We were at the very edge of this little district, and we would walk to school every day until the time that the teacher in the school happened to be our next door neighbor, and we'd go over and look soulfully at her and "yes, you can have a ride to school." I would remember times with my dad who ended up working shift work at the University of Michigan in its power plant down on Huron Street, would actually walk and greet us halfway down Warren Road on our way home from school. It was a neat, different experience when you have all eight grades in the classroom at the same time. You talk about integrated learning, and I really appreciated it, because it did give us, I think, a sense of independence and being responsible for your own learning. Kindergartners would leave the school at noon, and first through fourth grade, would leave the school at 2:30, and the rest would stay on until four o'clock. We had a cleaning time at each week. We were assigned chores to be responsible for during the cleaning time. We had school government, and I was working my way through the ranks. I was in seventh grade, and I was vice president. Where, assuming that since I was the only person in the grade at the time, I would be president in eighth grade. But at that time, the School Consolidation Act was passed in the State of Michigan. Maori School went from sending its students as a tuition students into the Ann Arbor Public Schools, we were now part of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. I started Tappan Junior High as an eighth grader, which was most exciting since you went from being a student in a school of 10 to a school of 1,000. It was quite amazing. You just tiptoed around there, because the cliques were pretty well established, needless to say, and you felt very alone at the time. When I'm standing waiting for my right after that first day of school, a boy said hello to me as I'm waiting, and I just, wow, somebody knows I exist or is smiling and being friendly. I really appreciated that. Though, some of those kids are now good friends, fellow students. One of them being Marty Grimes, who is really one of our real philanthropists in Ann Arbor, a real sweetheart and a very caring individual. It's neat to really get to know some of these folks later in your life and experiences as were back in those days. My mother ended up working at the University of Michigan too as a business manager at Women's Hospital. Dad worked at the heating plan, shift work, mother is at the hospital, really, to supplement the family income. She would go to work very early, stay very late because her work ethic was that you had a job to do and you did it. You didn't rely on somebody else to pick up the slack. You were a leader, and you led by example. She had career folks that worked for her in the business office to make sure that bills are paid. I would on occasion, walk from Tappan down to the old Women's Hospital and even do some filing for her, was able to witness her do her job, be responsible. She was a great mentor in that way. Growing up out in the country for shopping, it's very interesting because we would go to basically where Joy Road intersected with Pontiac Trail. There's a little triangle corner there, and the building is still there, but it was the grocery store for the neighborhood. Well, for Northfield Township was coming in there to Ann Arbor Township. We charged our groceries. They kept a running tab, and you paid the bill when you got your paycheck at the end. Then to the Ann Arbor Co-op, basically on South Main Street. Then onto the Kroger Store on Packard Road, a stepping stone of how the city was growing, and in turn, what you did when the city changed also.
• [00:08:01] INGRID SHELDON: I ended up working at the Kroger store when going to college. Went over to Eastern to get my undergrad degree in education because I had such fun being a teacher's aide growing up in my one room schoolhouse that I thought I would want to be a teacher, because in those days you were either nurse or a teacher, and I didn't have a nursing background, inclination, and really enjoyed my experiences at Eastern. I worked through school. I had some assistance from mother and had a $300 loan from the federal government, the National Defense for Education Act, which you would pay back over 10 years. But, if you taught school, you got to take off 10%. That, combining with working at the Kroger store, I was able to buy a car, commute from home, though I managed to live in the dorm for a couple of years, so I had that experience. It's always neat that people that lived in my hall, I would still run across again, circulating within the Ann Arbor Community later. Bought my Sunday night pizza from the original Dominos [LAUGHTER] Pizza store on Sunday nights. Got to even know Tom Monaghan, back in those very early days of his successful career. The Kroger store really is a very fond memory for me. This is the Kroger store at Maiden Lane and Broadway. I had some very influential people come through my line in those days, one of them being Letitia Byrd, who is and has been a wonderful source of leadership for the African American community, as well as for the City of Ann Arbor and her influence on public education in Ann Arbor. But she would come through my line, we had some doctors. I had some regulars, and I would even have their identification numbers memorized that you have to write on the back of their checks to know that their check would be good as they came through. But I was noted for being quick, accurate. I could calculate in my head if you're buying three items for $0.79, you charge $0.27 for the first one, etc. But I turned around one day and there is this very scrawny kid. Packing groceries during a rush hour in a paper bag, but doing it slowly, and turning the square bag into a round bag and I just [SCOFFS, LAUGHTER] Well, it was my husband to be. It was like love in the produce aisle, but where he maybe was not really successful at packing square bags. [LAUGHTER] He was very successful in banking in Ann Arbor. We married a year later in 1966, and he started out banking at the Ann Arbor Bank and had a very long career there, and then went on to a couple of other banks before finally retiring. I tell folks he made me laugh. Very dry sense of humor and really enjoyed helping people as a commercial lender and getting to know the community as well as he did. We've been married since 1966, a very long time. We have two children, Amy and Bill. They two have three children each, and they've stayed close to home. I think they have found Ann Arbor to be that kind of community that offers opportunities.
• [00:12:05] AMY CANTU: Comes all full circle with the beginning of your family, your mom and dad here, and all the way to your kids. That's really nice. Did you get married here in Ann Arbor then?
• [00:12:15] INGRID SHELDON: We were married at Dixboro, Methodist Church. My first-semester teaching was in Livonia. Ann Arbor only expected U of M teachers. Especially when I graduated mid-year mid-term. I was needing to get a job from January to June or whatever. But don't even bother applying to Ann Arbor. But Livonia was very happy to hire me and paid me even more.
• [00:12:50] AMY CANTU: There you go.
• [00:12:52] INGRID SHELDON: I taught sixth grade then came back, reapplied to Ann Arbor, and they were willing since I had experience.
• [00:13:02] AMY CANTU: Finally.
• [00:13:02] INGRID SHELDON: Finally, I had experience. Thad Carr was willing to interview me. My class size in Livonia was 36.
• [00:13:13] EMILY MURPHY: Wow.
• [00:13:14] INGRID SHELDON: So I went from a class size of 36 in a traditional elementary building to a portable where I only had 19.
• [00:13:24] AMY CANTU: Wow. Where was this?
• [00:13:26] INGRID SHELDON: At Mitchell.
• [00:13:27] AMY CANTU: Mitchell.
• [00:13:28] INGRID SHELDON: Before they had expanded and put on a wing, so all the classes were inside. But I ended up becoming pregnant, which was taboo. Then you had to give up your career of sorts in those days. It was not as friendly as it is today.
• [00:13:49] AMY CANTU: Were you disappointed having to give up your career then?
• [00:13:52] INGRID SHELDON: Well, I think it was more of an expectation of sorts. There were two of us that left Mary D. Mitchell teaching in 1969, and believe it or not, the other teacher, Gail Lord, and I delivered on the same day.
• [00:14:10] EMILY MURPHY: Wow.
• [00:14:10] AMY CANTU: Wow.
• [00:14:11] INGRID SHELDON: Which I thought was quite amazing. Cliff runs home, and he calls up Gail and says, Ingrid just had a baby, Amy, and she went into labor and delivered that same day. We kept up our relationship.
• [00:14:29] EMILY MURPHY: When the time came for you to, in addition to motherhood, look for your next step. Were you considering returning to teaching?
• [00:14:37] INGRID SHELDON: Well, I did substitute teach between babies. My mother had retired, and so I hired her to be a babysitter when I was a substitute teacher. My sister was not working at the time, too. I would get the phone call, pack up Amy, and take her out to Mom and Dad's, and sometimes Savea would be there and take care of her, help Mom with her. I feel badly for women that do not have that luxury of being able to drop your kid off at your mother's, knowing that they are secure and happy and well attended to. That's why it's so important these days that there be such good preschool education because we women do have brains, and we can contribute to the greater society. But we just need good support all around us. Fortunately, I have a husband who is a partner and does not have to feel like they are chief person in the household, in fact, he might wish he were on occasion [LAUGHTER] . You talk about that changing roles of folks within our community and within our society. That's a blessing for Ann Arbor in that we are more accepting and more accommodating for the different roles that people can play.
• [00:16:12] AMY CANTU: Speaking of that, I'm not hearing that you had a particular interest in politics in there anywhere. When did that happen? When did that come in and how?
• [00:16:22] INGRID SHELDON: Cliff and I are newly married. He's from New Jersey. It's important for him as a commercial loan officer to be involved with the community. He joined the Ann Arbor Jaycees. The Jaycees are basically a leadership organization or is a leadership organization and training, and we just thrived, he just thrived. It was a pretty big organization at that time. Colleagues, members of the organization at the time where people like Lou Belcher, which would be another familiar name in Ann Arbor. Lloyd Fairbanks, another familiar name for some folks. They were involved with the Republican Party and also interested in recruiting and Cliff had kind of demonstrated leadership, but also a level-headedness that is not necessarily prominent with all folks. He was recruited to run for city council, and he was elected and this is in 1978. Up until that point we were busy doing our Jaycee routine and got more involved in active Republican politics. I want to reassure everybody that the Republican Party in those days was and is, maybe I can't say, is, was nothing compared to how it is perceived to be today, and maybe even could be considered is today. The Ann Arbor Republicans tend to be just, you know, they were evolving from being the small-town farmer type, representative government from even the 50s, where this community was starting to grow and to take, I think a greater role in society because of the university being here. The university was growing, taking on a different personality, and the community at the same time was growing and taking on a different personality where we could live together in our new roles. Change is always occurring. But you considered yourself a little bit more pragmatic and practical. You probably tended to be a Republican versus a Democrat. In fact, I have visiting with a very prominent activist because we were both members of AUW. I think Cliff was serving on council, and we were known within certain circles, and so I'm sitting there in her dining room and the phone ring she goes, "Excuse me, Ingrid." [IMITATES PHONE CALL] "Oh, I'm here talking with Ingrid Sheldon" going on and trying to ignore. Then she gets off the phone, and she says, now, Ingrid, do the state Republicans think the Ann Arbor Republicans are as crazy as the state Democrats think the local Democrats are? I said, yes. [LAUGHTER]
• [00:19:47] INGRID SHELDON: Then we went on with our AUW discussion. Cliff served for four years, two terms, 1982. It was just Lou getting him involved. Then Lou appointed me to the Recreation Advisory Commission, which was a joint body between the city and the schools. Which gave me experiences. That would have been in, the very early '80s. I was very interested in school politics and ran for school board twice during the '80s, and would always come in forth by a little teeny tiny bit. Really, the Democratic Party ran the elections, even though they were nonpartisan in those days, so to have gotten as close as I did... But I was appointed to the Excellence Committee which, schools were coming to the conclusion that they had to reorganize. Northside Elementary was almost 100% African American at the time. There were really some issues in how distribution of resources... And what were the goals of what you wanted your schools to be? So I was appointed to -- because I'd come in so close, I was considered maybe an okay person-- appointed to this cross-section of Ann Arbor that was just amazing group of people. Melinda Morris, who ended up being a circuit court judge. George Goodman, who was initially the mayor of Ypsilanti but moved to Ann Arbor and was head of the Michigan Municipal League. Chuck Kiefer, one of our local activists. Griff McDonald, Pat Chapman. It was just a wonderful opportunity to meet so many neat people that really came together to reorganize the Ann Arbor Public Schools. We met weekly, but it was just such a challenging experience and just a real growing time for me personally. With my father being an immigrant, we were very empathetic to maybe those folks that did not have the advantages that the more established folks had. But because my dad was very blonde and blue-eyed, we were able to work our way through them more easily. But it was still a neat experience to try to come to some reconciliations of how we needed to rethink how schools would be in Ann Arbor. I can remember this was just when Apple computers were coming to age. I had just bought an Apple so that my son could have it for school. He kind of basically needed it. Apple 2E with an extended extra drive dual disk drives, etc. We get numbers from the school district, and I went home one weekend, and I created an Excel spreadsheet and took it back, for a little sub room meeting, and there was Bob Mosley going, "Ingrid." He's got somebody online, in the next room with his Apple 2E computer, who's going to help us. I'm running in with all these sheets of paper, and distributions, and Excel spreadsheet, not Excel but spreadsheets, and so, but looking at how we could redistribute folks. But we ended up creating the superpair. Really, looking at how we could make the system a little more inclusive and gave our report to the school board, and they did tinker with it. It wasn't totally accepted, but it really led the pathway, and I think the public could feel good about what we accomplished during that year. That was really a wonderful experience for me. I became a Jaycee woman. We had our own leadership. We had wonderful projects that really preceded what the junior league would be doing in these days. Community-wide efforts, painting kitchens for low-income people to move into homes. It was just really very neat and mind-opening, and renting out infant car seats from my garage because baby safety was new on the horizon.
• [00:25:04] AMY CANTU: Wow.
• [00:25:05] INGRID SHELDON: An Ypsilanti Jaycee auxiliary member's husband had a Ford dealership in Ypsi and was able to get the new car seats. We bought 40 of them, and I think we got a grant with him, worked with him, and they arrived in my garage, and then I would just rent them out. Then you turned them in after nine months because they didn't have the child seats that you could from birth to age 5, that you can convert in those days. You needed one for just a little bit of time. Then you went out and bought the new car seat, but it was really some neat experiences. I worked my way through the Republican ranks of sorts. In 1986, the ward that we lived in was traditionally -- had been -- I don't want to say gerrymandered, but the lines that were drawn in Ann Arbor were such that the Second Ward would tend to be Republican. The gentleman that was serving at the time for that election probably assumed or took for granted that he would succeed. But the other gentleman, ????? Shorn, just worked a little harder. His appeal, he was a moderate guy and presented himself at least that way, and he was elected. He was a faculty member for the U of M, but taught maybe in Dearborn. Now we have to find a candidate to run against an incumbent. Nobody wants to do it, of course, but when you're ward chair, you get stuck with it. Cliff had managed, 10 years beforehand, so what the heck? I took it on and just knocked on enough doors, and I think had enough experiences within the community that I was legitimate, maybe. The tendency of the ward to be more Republican helped me, I'm sure. I was elected. I served two terms as a council member. I was elected in '88 with Liz Brader and another group, and we had a Republican majority, but lost that majority. Well, we had a smaller majority in 1990, and I like to say, I may be my husband's wife, but I'm also my mother's daughter. She was an activist in her own little small way of helping people whatever way that she could. I've got very moderate feelings about life and fairness and how I interpret fairness. I am not an extremist, and I want the world to be just down here in the middle with the pendulum swinging back and forth. Just a little bit, self correct. Now, going swinging way out, and then having to go way out the other way to correct for what is happening. I did probably, I know, angered.
• [00:28:37] INGRID SHELDON: Gerry Jernigan, who was the current mayor at that time, frustrated, maybe angered. There was one vote he says, "Ingrid! You did not vote the right way," and I said, "Well, Gerry, you have to talk to me." He sputtered and turned around. But just pointing out, how we have different expectations for each other. I read a book about how women and men will communicate expectations, and I could say, well that explains it. Neat guy, though, who passed away way before his time. Really, I'm so happy that he had a chance to work with Washteanw Community College and be a real leader there and also with the Willow Run Airport revitalization. A lot of neat people that have contributed much to Ann Arbor and lots of different little ways. The tradition was to serve two terms. Gracefully leave.
• [00:29:46] AMY CANTU: But you didn't do that?
• [00:29:48] INGRID SHELDON: I gracefully left and because then in 1991, Liz Brater had been elected mayor, and it was not a pleasant year for me. Though, we had started out on council together and really had very similar attitudes about the big issues of that day, were housing, were solid waste was a huge issue because we needed to close our landfill at Ellsworth and Platt, but there was just a different way of managing the issues. I think we as Ann Arbor, and now even Washtenaw County as a whole, tend to be very liberal, thoughtful, intelligent, realizing, that you do have to do things. But how can we do them so that more people are on board? You can sometimes end up with a better product if you sit back and maybe have to wait for some other people to understand, it'll be okay. I don't know who she listened to, but evidently she was told that she had to make sure that she ran, that she should be very tough and... not a happy year. When Amy is getting married in 1992, I could use that, "I guess I'll just play mother of the bride role" and enjoy that. I do have a part time job and other volunteer activities. It worked out. But when I picked up the newspaper one day, and I think it was Kirk Dodge, who had said, "I thought about running for mayor next year, but I have decided not to. But the only two people I can think could possibly do it, be a candidate to run against Liz would be Ingrid Sheldon and Joe O'Neil." It was nice and neat to be mentioned in the same sentence as Joe.
• [00:31:59] EMILY MURPHY: Sure.
• [00:32:00] INGRID SHELDON: Because of his prominence in the community and all the wonderful things he's doing, Kerrytown, convincing the community that, really, we can expose the Allen Creek and have this pathway around town. I ended up running for mayor, and I thought, what the heck? I really think she is doing a disservice, her leadership style, and the fact that it was kind of cutting out people, and I ran and under a theme of working together for Ann Arbor, and I was successful. In the meantime, the Democratic Party had put on a charter amendment to change our elections from spring to occur during the general elections in November with the anticipation that with students and straight ticket voting that they would always have Democratic majorities. I was elected the first time as mayor in a spring election. You did need to get out there and really present yourself and campaign on local issues. This charter amendment did pass with help from Republicans because they were told they would save $25,000 every other year by going to fall elections. A good Republican, 25,000. Some of us would shake our heads and go, "But these council members make decisions within hundreds of thousands of dollars and what a council do you want if you're really talking fiscal management and fiscal self control?" I was elected in a spring election, but had to run for re-election in a fall election. Elected in spring of '93, but had to run again in the fall of '94. That first term was shorter, but would you believe? I actually won. Again. I think Bill Clinton got 70% of the vote, and I, 51, but just enough. People do look at their local elections differently. There are only four cities, if that, in the state of Michigan that have partisan elections, Ann Arbor being one of them. It's sad because you do look at, least in the '90s, people really did think of their local issues as being different and manageable. I managed to be re-elected two more times after that. I served until the fall of, well, November of 2000. I could tell when you make these decisions about whether or not you're going to run or not, you make them early in the term because you're organizing --or just mentally and emotionally about how you approach it all. You have to make the decision. In 1998, I have a dear friend who has always been my campaign manager. Very efficient, very organized. Jean Wilkins, her dad was the editor-in-chief of the Ann Arbor News. She had a lot of feeling for the community, though you would never think of Jean as being activist, but she's definitely very determined, smart. Her husband is connected around the other little circles in Ann Arbor. But she said, "Okay Ingrid." So this is 1998, I said, "We're going to run, but this will be the last one time." She said, "Okay, we're only going to work hard enough to win."
• [00:36:15] INGRID SHELDON: And we did. Just by... We eked it out. But you could tell the community was changing and the progressiveness that we really are feeling today, and it was starting to really foment and at that time. I was very sensitive. Like I say, the issues were important, but just how do you approach them and what is happening? I had my veto protected, and so that kept the lid on everything because they knew I wasn't going to respond well to anything that was too far off. If you're going to really be sensitive to the community, you have to accept it. I was happy that we did as much as we did together all those years.
• [00:37:10] AMY CANTU: How would you describe your leadership style when you were mayor?
• [00:37:16] INGRID SHELDON: Remember, I was a minority mayor. You can only really negotiate when you've got a source of strength. Like I mentioned before, I am a moderate. I would prefer to be collaborative. I know I present my case and if I could not achieve what I wanted, I could maybe influence what the outcome would be. But that everybody has a voice at the table, and that doesn't make you any less important or more important than the next person. There was one council table, we always had the tradition of Larry Hunter sitting in the first seat would vote first. We'll have a roll call vote. I just said, "You know, we're going to rotate the roll call vote. We're going to start out, and with every meeting, we'll move down one person. We'll start with you, Larry. Then the first ward person, and just around the table." And the eyes got really big.
• [00:38:22] AMY CANTU: He didn't like that.
• [00:38:23] INGRID SHELDON: He did not like that because you were supposed to vote if you were a good Democrat the way he voted. He would not be able to lead the charge. It would be another person that could be the first one out of the gate and have to make the right decision at the right time. It was, "We're going to share," and it was kind of sad. There was one particular resolution that was really stu-- I may have --had been required to veto this one. I'm talking to David Stead and Chris Kolb. I said, "this is really dumb." "We know, Ingrid." I expected them to vote no. Go right around the table, the partisans, so you think, we have it bad today, it was back then in the '90s. They were very good Democrats, and they voted yes. I got out my veto pen. I had to work a little harder on that one. I think I expected more independence, and it just wasn't necessarily there, but I knew I could depend on my Republican friends. They didn't necessarily always tow the line. But we worked. Jane Lumm was on counsel at that time and talk about a hard working soul and doing the research and coming up with the persuasive arguments. She was just a real contributor to good policy and fair policy. She has a particular leaning, but it's always been for the good of the community. And not for some personal agenda or personal vision of what life should be. It was realistic.
• [00:40:27] AMY CANTU: How does it feel to be the last Republican mayor?
• [00:40:31] INGRID SHELDON: Well, some people probably never thought I was a Republican to begin with. [LAUGHTER] You just have to sit back. I have not and somewhat deliberately been involved in politics in the community, because when I left office, I was truly exhausted. This whole concept of change and evolving. I would have to say one of my greatest disappointments had been that there was enough of majority to vote to put a charter amendment on the ballot for nonpartisan elections, so that when you vote in November, you know, some people just swipe down the party label, they would be forced to have to think, to turn the ballot page over and to vote for someone they truly knew for a local municipal office. It was very disappointing that Chris Taylor vetoed that resolution, not even giving all of his Democratic cohorts, and being a pretty Democratic community, the opportunity to make that decision for the community. He was trying to identify as only Democrats know good government. I was really kind of sad. I will have to say that only because the people that I dealt with at least had the community at heart or were willing to reconcile that we are a diverse community, and there are diverse thoughts. But yet I think if we're willing to live within the city, we come to Ann Arbor to live or live in one of our surrounding communities that support us so well. That we can come up with very good and favorable decisions. It may not be as fast and grandiose as you would like or can convince nine or 10 others, but it will still be very good and very good for the community, and it can change and evolve as time goes on.
• [00:42:46] EMILY MURPHY: Looking back over your time as Mayor, what are some things you're particularly proud of?
• [00:42:52] INGRID SHELDON: Well, I've been trying to reconcile that because I went in every day. What were the issues for the day? Tackle what needs to be done. I made some sort of a little list here, and I'll read down through it. The environmental bond was approved, and we have just done so much with that, built our own MRF, closed off the landfill. That's going back early in my 10 years as a council member. Water supply, we ozonate our water. That's always, and will continue to be, as the Gelman Plume travels further into our community. We're going to be dealing with that and so we were dealing with that back in the late '80s. The Ann Arbor Township Peace Treaty, I would go out for lunch with Ann Arbor Township supervisor, and Libby and I were reconciling it. We have agreements with Scio Township, Pittsfield Township about how far we will formally extend and incorporate, and it's basically been 94 and 23. But Ann Arbor Township is different because we had to go through some properties to get to the wastewater treatment plant and different kinds of provisions, and if we used, as a guideline, the expressway system that surrounds Ann Arbor, it had different implications about extension of services, and it's not cheap to extend services. But what would in the future be? Today, on Pontiac Trail, all of the new projects and construction going on out to that, new 23 going around Ann Arbor, which is envisioned to be part of the system, at least up to Dhu Varren. It's amazing. We're filling in all those empty spaces that we talked about more than 20 years ago, so that's been good. The Commission On Increasing Safety For Women as a response to a serial rapist. It was a pleasure to watch all of the community organizations come together to recognize the issue of sexual assault, sexual abuse that we needed to attend to it as a community. Then I had two gentlemen, very important in the end of a political scene, come to my office one day and say, "Ingrid, we would like to change the name of Huron Parkway to the Guy C. Larcom Parkway." I am --only because I had just witnessed some name changing implications because they wanted to change the name of a little street in North Ann Arbor off of Pontiac Trail to I think John Woods Drive, and the implications of what it means for changing addresses, and the people -- and I'm going, "No, That's a major deal." I'm sitting back in conversation. I said, "Well, Guy was very important to our history. Longest serving, city administrator, one of the first administrators, and really set the tone for what we really do not necessarily have a strong mayor system. I refer to it as a hybrid. But he was very important to how we governed ourselves, when going back to the 50s, etc. I said, "I know he's very important. Let's see. How about maybe, we rename a city building, maybe. [LAUGHTER] City Hall." "Oh, Ingrid, that's a wonderful idea." [LAUGHTER] It's, I mean, much more meaningful because it really related him to a structure that we will always have, and we could admire, the two together.
• [00:47:03] AMY CANTU: You were able to do that right on the spot? You were able to think of that and switch it around?
• [00:47:07] INGRID SHELDON: Oh, yeah. It's you sometimes think, did they plot [LAUGHTER] when they came in here? "We really want to rename City Hall [LAUGHTER]. What do we have to do? We'll have something so impractical." That was fun. Another was, the Habitat for Humanity, a phone call, "Ingrid" -- This was a former council person, turned realtor -- "I have this land off of Maple Road, I want to sell." Trying to get affordable housing in Ann Arbor. My mind's clicking. Habitat for Humanity was always looking for a way to get into Ann Arbor, affordably, because they have to fundraise. Then I knew that our Community Development department had some extra money dedicated for affordable housing. So I thought let's see if we can cut a deal. Basically, connected this property that she had, which was adjacent to some other affordable housing on Maple Road. Habitat humanity, who was looking for a site, and a funding source that was not enough, but would make a substantial contribution to the affair. We ended up with five or six units of single family housing off of Maple Road. Very successfully. I got to go and cut a ribbon, and I would always take with me -- I refer to it as a needle nose shovel -- and a snow shovel, as personal gifts from me to the new home owner, as "Welcome! You're going to need both of these." You'll love the shovel because it will cut through the Ann Arbor clay. It's small and narrow and you can dig down deep. My son says, "Mom, it's not a needle nose shovel [LAUGHTER]. It's a post hole digger shovel," or something like that. But I said, "you need it for clay." Glacier Way finally got paved. The Broadway Bridge was replaced. Another thing I'm proud about is, we did have some diverse.. I really looked for diversity in my appointments that I would make and looking for not only skill sets, but also people where it was a meaningful... they're part of the communities. I was able to expand the Human Rights Commission. Of course, somebody reminded me that it was not written into the human rights by laws, but I did it anyway. We have such wonderful qualified folks. I mean, that's one of the linkages and the connections and getting to know, the more you're willing to learn about other people or know people the easier and better your life is, and you're able to feel more successful. There were these little victories. I did not have large, overwhelming projects of sorts. But little things in the 90s. I think, statewide, locally, they were good times.
• [00:50:36] AMY CANTU: Did you have fun, as mayor?
• [00:50:40] INGRID SHELDON: Well, and to be frank, yes. Just only because it was the neat people, the neat ways that you could try to combine things. I did all these marriages.
• [00:50:55] AMY CANTU: Talk about that a little bit.
• [00:50:57] INGRID SHELDON: I've always joked that... You know, talking about roads not taken earlier in our conversation. We talked about the fact that in my day you were the nurse or a teacher. But as time evolves, and you've had more experiences, I wished I could have been a civil engineer. I would have loved to have been an engineer. I always would appoint myself to transportation [LAUGHTER]. I would have loved to have been an attorney, contracts and dealing, negotiating that whole process. I thought about even being a minister, but I thought, I love my church. I love being involved with it. I have good friends that are ministers, but maybe I'm just quite good enough at research into the Bible and whatever. But there are some things that ministers do, and my greatest ambition was to be a Broadway musical comedy star.
• [00:51:56] AMY CANTU: Oh wow. [LAUGHTER].
• [00:51:56] INGRID SHELDON: Had done a couple of civic theater plays, and that was great fun. When I learned I had the opportunity to perform marriages, I said, okay. We can put into effect [LAUGHTER].
• [00:52:11] INGRID SHELDON: I can be a "minister" [LAUGHTER]. I figured, that this role is meant to be, in my interpretation of being a mayor of Ann Arbor, not only did you need to know the issues, but you were also a public relations person for the city. When people called up and wanted me to perform a ceremony, I said, sure [LAUGHTER], and we had a little, the Michigan Municipal League at a Manual for, ceremonies. In fact, when I went out campaigning, I called up friend, and she said, "Ingrid, the only reason I'm going knocking door to door in this messy horrible weather is that I want you to perform my marriage" [LAUGHTER].
• [00:53:02] EMILY MURPHY: Well, you did hundreds, didn't you?
• [00:53:04] AMY CANTU: I did 600. I couldn't believe that I got that, over the length of time. Each one cost those couples $25. That meant it represented $15,000 for the city. I would get the budget documents, and it would come, different departments, and there would be, revenue for the department. There would be this one that would be, because everything would be in thousands, but there'd be one as revenue for the mayor's office [LAUGHTER]. I would generate $1,000 for the city. But they were just, you know, one fellow, we did the little ceremony on the rooftop of City Hall out on where you could go in those days. We finished the ceremony. We're leaving to go inside, and the groom's going, "Now I could have gotten married in Ypsilanti for only $10. [LAUGHTER] But to be able to say I was married in Ann Arbor by the mayor was worth every penny of the 25."
• [00:54:12] AMY CANTU: That's great.
• [00:54:15] INGRID SHELDON: If I can bring some happiness, that is all right. My second assistant, I had one assistant then another. There was a ceremony I had my little black book tucked in, and I couldn't understand why my ceremonies were just, like, matter of fact. I thought no, that's not nice. Then I understood what she was doing. She had arranged, "would you do this wedding?" "Yes." It could be out several weeks, not days, but several weeks, a month. If she did not hear a response back from the couple, she would assign them a particular ceremony. I had the basic, medium, and very thoughtful. I would see it was like tucked in this and she said, "Well, yes Ingrid. They have to respond. If they don't, I just give it." I said, "Well, if that's the case, would you please prepare a ceremony that I will enjoy giving, like the thoughtful one." We had somebody coming up that day and it happened to be a situation where there was imminent health issues for the bride, and she said, "Oh, do you want me to redo it quickly?" I said, "No, but now you understand. You don't know exactly what the circumstances are." And it doesn't hurt if you don't have peer counseling beforehand, as many of us did in our marriages. But at least I can feel good about telling them what good marriage needs to be. But this particular situation would have appreciated a more sincere, more elaborate little ceremony. So from then on...
• [00:56:16] EMILY MURPHY: I would love to hear a little bit about what you think about how Ann Arbor has changed over your lifetime, since you were Mayor, how things have developed.
• [00:56:25] AMY CANTU: How about challenges, too that you see.
• [00:56:28] INGRID SHELDON: The change, because I've been wrestling with this. I talked before about going out Pontiac Trail and all of the new development. To be honest, I think I'm a little disappointed, a little sad because my old Ann Arbor and the reborn Ann Arbor are not easy for me. I am a few years older, but I still consider myself somewhat agile. But it's almost frightening to try to come downtown because of the changes that are accommodating a newer, younger generation that love to ride their bikes. If I could make my tires go around because of my knees, I'd ride a bike. In fact, I did have my official city bike parked in front of city hall. But, it makes it more difficult and why? Back in the '90s, we wanted -- really encouraging downtown residential growth so that there would be that core group of people that could support businesses downtown. But what's happened, talk about the pendulum swing, and I thought, well, that's okay because of these old rental houses that can be our affordable housing. The city can buy them up and... but no, they're being bought up, knocked down and sky scrapers. The university snuck in a few thousands, tens of thousands maybe, students on us. We are almost as a downtown, when you think of Ann Arbor, your focus is always on the city center, and it's almost become a dormitory for the University of Michigan. That essence of "old" Ann Arbor is somewhat being lost. "We're meant to be a progressive community." And I'm going, well, maybe that explains why some of our surrounding communities are becoming more attractive. The Saline's and the Dexter's and the Ypsilanti's, and out to Chelsea, they're becoming more progressive because there is this cloud that hangs over Washtenaw County that does eke out being fair and, looking at good ways of doing things. I'm proud of that, proud of us for that, but just getting around. It's just not the old. I love the venues for downtown. I have my little ways that I can get to parking so I can go to Power and Hill and get here, but I always hold my breath because people don't always like to walk on the sidewalks. It's just there is this changing that is occurring, and it's just a little bit sad. But remember, I'm the age I am. My kids do not live in proper downtown, very close. It's going to be interesting as we evolve. I'm considering putting panels on my roof too to catch the sun. I think my garage would accept them, so I'm definitely going to explore them. So it's not that I am anti change because I think we have to. We just cannot continue to use fossil fuels. But how do we accommodate a multiplicity of needs and we are fortunate that we can afford to pay the taxes that are associated with it or, up until this point anyway. That's the royal we, community we. I love the fact that we are taxing ourselves for certain items, but then, it makes it even more difficult and more expensive to be purely Ann Arbor. It's a conundrum, so I am a little sad. It's not like the good old days, and it doesn't feel as easy to get downtown, which is what it was. It was always downtown was the center, and now, I think some of us are looking at other ways to structure our social life or our community, not necessarily with the downtown being a focus. I think with the pandemic, it has also changed how we're looking at it, and I hold my breath. Ann Arbor has had such wonderful traditions, and thank heavens we've had the Susan Weinberg's, and others, remind us of those historical moments because we do need to keep in mind the foundation of why and who and what we are. Because if it hadn't been for those early settlers and the people that had the vision to build a brewery or a foundry or invite the University of Michigan to resettle in Ann Arbor versus downtown Detroit, we would not be enjoying all of that today. I'm still willing --and happy -- to call Ann Arbor my home, but I'm very happy that I live in a county that recognizes some of the values that I think are important, a little bit more progressive, but pragmatic at the same time.
• [01:02:49] AMY CANTU: Thank you so much.
• [01:02:51] EMILY MURPHY: Yeah, this has been wonderful.
• [01:02:52] AMY CANTU: Yeah, it's been a great interview.
• [01:02:58] EMILY MURPHY: AADL Talks to is a production of the Ann Arbor District Library.