LWV Questions Contesting Fifth Ward Candidates

When Ann Arbor voters go to the polls for Monday's primary election only those in the Fifth Ward will vote in a contested race. Shelia M. Robertson, 32, a secretary who lives at 1045 Westaire Way, and Paul L. Brown, 35, a senior editor for University of Michigan publications A who lives at 2006 Alice Dr., are seeking nomination as the Democratic candidate to City Council. Ann Arbor League of Women Voters members, as is customary, contacted each candidate to ask three questions: 1- Explain briefly your qualifications for public office? 2- What do you believe are the most pressing problems in your ward? 3- Do you support the two city charter amendments ($5 marijuana fine and rent control) which will appear on the ballot in April? Candidates were limited to 250 or less words in their answers which follow. Shelia Robertson - My qualifications for this office are those of a taxpayer outraged, the City Council is Ann Arbor's seat of government and what do we the citizenry of Ann Arbor see happening? Only tonight reading The Ann Arbor News with regard to the proposed Packard Platt Plaza; are the citizens of the area being regarded? No! The majority on the council but not in the city are railroading it through. For the record I was educated in Connecticut where I went to college, I do not have a formal degree, my background has been in business and the community. Before working at City Hall, I was in real estate. In 1972 I was elected a Precinct Delegate for McGovern and for one year was Z.P.G. Political Action Chairwoman. Some of the more pressing problems here in the Fifth Ward are I believe (1) Maple-Dexter public housing and (2) the great need for a Child Care Center. While I do not condemn smoking marijuana neither do I condone it personally, my thoughts on this subject are colored right now because a 17-year-old girl in Hillsdale County is sitting in jail. This is wrong and immoral. While it may not be right to smoke one should not be jailed for it either. I support the Marijuana Ordinance. As noted in The Ann Arbor News I do support the need for a Rent Control Ordinance since here in the Fifth Ward are to be found the highest rents in the city. Paul L. Brown - 1- I became interested in city government as a newspaperman and have remained active and interested as a citizen of Ann Arbor. My training is in political science and journalism. My job now brings me into daily contact with materials and energy shortages and finding solutions to them. I have a special interest in the problems of our older citizens. 2- Ann Arbor has a money crisis that is going to affect every decision made in the next year - decisions about how dollars are saved and spent. We need members whose goal is government, who will not use City Council to further private ambitions or flaunt personal ideologies. The Fifth Ward and the city have a transportation problem. Voters gave Teltran overwhelming support before the energy crisis - the gas shortage increases the need for public transportation. With HUD money, the Housing Commission can attack problems at North Maple Park and other sites. Leadership from Council will be needed to see that action is taken rapidly .and wisely, to make the city a responsible landlord or to take it out of slum housing. Neighborhood groups and individuals are trying to solve recreation and crime problems in the Fifth Ward - they need support, not indifference, from Council. Above everything else, the Fifth Ward needs a representative whose wallet is flat, whose mortgage is long, and whose concerns as deep as those he represents. 3- I do not support either ballot proposal as an amendment to the City Charter.