David Sinclair Running

] David Sinclair, 1520 Hill St, i has announced he is a candiI date for city council frora the I Second Ward in the Feb. 19 Human Rights Party primary. Sinclair will face Lisa R. North, Franklin W. Schoichet and Alexander J. Stevenson in ' the primary. In his opening campaign statement, Sinclair said, "I'm running to win the HRP primary, unseat the Democrats in the Second Ward, and to work as a Human Rights Party council member to implement concrete programs that will serve the needs of the people of the Second Ward and the community at large." . Sinclair said, "it is essential that candidates and council members go to their constituents to find out what their ideas, needs, complaints, demands and desires actually are. I plan to do this by means of regular, open, nonparliamentary meetings in the dorms and neighborhoods of the Second Ward." Sinclair stressed that he hoped his candidacy would . "help lead the Human Rights Party in a new direction, . away from the abstractions that have dominatedd it in the past, and toward more concrete methods of dealing with people's problems. "Based on what people have said to me and on my own four and a half years experience in struggling for day-to-day necessities in Ann Arbor, the most basic issues seem to be the need for good food within reach of our budgets and our homes; warm, sturdy, comfortable clothing that won't cost outrageous prices; medical care that will help us, not send us to the poorhouse, and unsuppressed health information, particularly for women; the .need for enough good housing space to live in comfortably at a reasonable cost; public transportation for inexpensive mobility, public safety, and cleaner air; s o 1 i d , self-determined educational programs for young and old; and the need for justice for the people against the increasing pólice power of the government." As a member of council, Sinclair said he would work energetically to implement the Human Rights Party platform, and specifically to: "1) Publicize people's rights. Those who have the most concrete need to know their rights are provided the least amount of information a b o u t them. Consequently, people are illegally denied jobs, housing, due process of law, and their basic consumer rights. "2; See that City revenuesharing funds go entirely to the benefit of poor people. fhis money was ripped-off by N i x o n f rom federal - poverty funds. What has got to come first are things like low-cost housing, child care, food co-ops, community centers, and I controlled educational pro grams for poor people in this community. "3) Work for salary cuts for city employés earning over $14,000 a year. ; " 4 ) Work for revenui! sharing and or general budget f u n d i n g of neighborhoodcontrolled child care and health information minor treatment centers. "5) Implement community control of the pólice. I know how pólice in this town treat certain kinds of peopte, I cause I'm one of those I tain kinds of people' myself. I I've been stopped lots of I times, held up for 30 minutes, I and had my car illegally I searched while a cop checks I mii out for some fictitious I reason. If the city were to I pay the minimum wage to I people for every hour they're I illegally detained, it would go I broke in a week. I will list I citizen complaints at council I meetings and demand 1 gations, and will work to see I that HRP establishes a I tral pólice complaint phone I n u, m b e r until a functional I community control mech-I anism can be established. ■ Sinclair is finance officer of the Rainbow People's Party, and he has lived at the HUI Street address since 1968. He has basn a laborer, college student, draft-resister, poet, editor, and is now a fulltime community worker and organizer. Part of his biography includes a degree in English from Dartmouth College, a key organizer of the nonprofit Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, the Free John Sinclair movement, the Ann Arbor Voter Registration Drive, the free summer concerts, local ant-iwar rallies, and many legal defenses and defense funds. Sinclair is a I member of the City Cablecasting Commission.