GOP Rips Into 'Dilly- Dally' Democrats

A platform which blasts the current Democratic administration and calls for a return to "normalcy" under a Republican regime has been adopted by the City GOP Committee. Republicans said the first year of Democratic control "brought deficits, deterioration and discouragement" while the second brought more of the same "plus debility, dilly-dally and double talk." Specifically, Republicans said Democrats have "broken faith with our citizens" on capital improvement projects voted in 1966, including the Packard-Beakes bypass route and the Forest-Observatory extension. "These projects are the key to a comprehensive plan for the rejuvenation of the Central Business District, but the majority of Democrats, in a time of steeply rising construction costs, have succeeded in delaying them to the point where the funds originally voted are no longer sufficient to complete them." The GOP said Democrats have vacilated on the annexation issue, and said Democrats "have not hesitated to use the police as a convenient whipping boy in their attempts to appease what they believe to be their own radical constituency." Further, the GOP chastised Democrats for bringing national issues to the floor of council. "We reaffirm the principles and proposals of the Ann Arbor Republican platform of 1970. We think that our citizens can be trusted to make the right decisions when given the facts, and we think City Hall can do a much better job of getting the facts to the citizens. Some hard decisions on spending are going to have to be made in the next two years, and we think that the taxpayer should have his say on how they are made," Republicans said. The GOP cited its past record, stating unprecedented gains were made in the field of human rights and housing for low-income persons under a Republican council. "Furthermore, progress was made without the sharp polarization that the present administration has generated between police and students, blacks and whites, young and old." It was also charged Democrats over-budgeted for programs in anticipation of enactment of an income tax. "We must restore fiscal responsibility to City Hall before we can expect the voters to support any new source of revenue as comprehensive as a city income tax," the GOP said. Republicans said the Model Cities program is not serving the people of the north-central area. "It is the Republican position that the Model Cities Program must establish definite, measurable goals and should be subjected to periodic review and report by the city administrator as to both its fiscal operations and its record of achievement toward those goals." The Republican platform endorsed the scattered site concept for public housing units, stating such housing should "neither establish nor perpetuate a ghetto." Republicans endorsed completion of street programs included in the 1966 bond issue, called for immediate review and updating of highway construction standards and street maintenance procedures, and called specifically for improvement of Hill St. "The Republican party suggests that the city actively pursue a continuing program to determine and alleviate the 10 highest accident locations in the city each year. We further support a program aimed at alleviating traffic congestion at the two worst intersections each year through the installation of traffic actuated signals or routing changes, whichever solution proves the most promising."Along this same line, the Republicans called for more cooperation with the county and townships concerning road maintenance programs. The GOP platform placed heavy emphasis on the environment. "As Republicans, we dedicate ourselves to the protection and enhancement of our heritage of woods, streams and open space. We urge the creation of a permanent city environmental impact commission to provide long range environmental planning for our city and to give informed direction to public and private development in terms of the quality of the environment we wish to retain and to achieve. It also called for a policy to perpetuate greenbelts around the city, and also called for protection and enhancement of the central business district. "We must recognize our responsibility that, as inhabitants of this planet where what is stored here now for our use is all we will ever have, we must preserve and augment this heritage, not destroy it." The GOP called for recycling processses "so that the waste of our civilization, instead of burying us, can be reclaimed as a resource." The platform said programs for the betterment of the city can best be achieved through citizen participation, and urged government to work with individuals and groups. On the crime issue, the GOP called for cooperation among all existing police agencies to battle the ever-increasing crime rate. Republicans urged the state to enact laws reducing penalties for marijuana possession, but did not endorse the local ordinance which achieved this. They said the local ordinance only creates conflicts between law enforcement agencies. Republicans also urged the state to enact a parental responsibility law, and condemned the proposed consumer protection ordinance supported by Democrats. "The Republican party and its candidates pledge a vigorous city-wide program to reduce the level of crime and violence in the community. In particular, we pledge aggressive leadership from the mayor's office. Action which aids and abets peddlers of drugs, filth and similar pollutants of our society will not be tolerated by Republicans." The platform also called for continued efforts to improve police-community ... the problems of drug abuse -- education, law enforcement and expanded treatment facilities for drug addicts.