Ann Arbor Aspires Higher Than Mere Bedroom Status

THE HORROR ofAnn ArWr losing its vaunted character and becoming merely another suburb of Detroit now is a possibility publicly raised and out in the open. Ann Arbor is more or less studied to death, but the report just released by the city planning staff seems bbund to make a big impact. The outlook for Ann Arbor, while by no means bleak, isn't altogether cheering, either. On the good side, more professional people still are finding Ann Arbor an enjoyable place in which to live. Their jobs, however, increasingly are taking them out of Ann Arbor. The study describes these people as outcommuters, and they account for one-third of the population growth from 1960 to 1970. These semi-citizens of Ann Arbor are largely responsible for changing the city from the popular image of a university town to one of university townbedroom community. And while there are some pretty fashionable, even posh, bedroom communities in America, Ann Arbor certainly has higher aspirations than to become known as a bedroom suburb - a place for a certain class of people to use as a prestige address. THE planning staff study tends to confirm the feeling that the futures of Detroit and Ann Arbor are linked. Completion of the M-14 expressway makes the link stronger, as does Super Sewer, if plans for the regional interceptor fall in place. Actually, the whole study and that of a follow-up report deal with the problem of growth. It is on this problem that the community is confused and divided. Even those in town who agree that growth is inevitable divide on the shape it should take and the lirtïftsfhe city ought to place on growth. The University's growth has stabilized for the moment, the study points out, and since Ann Arbor's growth has been tied to the University's, this leveling off will have an impact on the city. The U-M wil] slow its growth rate but the number of out-commuters will rise. Crime is up in Ann Arbor and the study also spoke ominously of "city pricing encouraging expansión beyond s e w e r and water system's optimal size and premature development of land at the urban-rural fringe." # THERE'S MORE of course, but it all points to a town which is changing f aster than people think. Ann Arbor is unique and it does have a character it ought to preserve, but now it would appear we need fewer studies and more good planning. The failure of the planning process in Ann Arbor is one which is being remedied but slowly. Citizen input in the planning process is a desirable thing, but there is a real danger in permitting the ad hoc groups to paralyze long range planning. It's true that the city is only as good as its neighborhoods working and living together, but there will come times when the benefits to the city as a whole will have to take precedence over a particular neighborhood. The important thing is for the city's diverse groups to agree on the larger issues that affect Ann Arbor. The development of the Huron River, with its dams and green areas and recreational features, is an example of good planning which will benefit Ann Arborites for years to come. We need that kind of foresight in housing, in traffic control, in the outward extensión of the city's boundaries, to name a few.