Views Outlined By David Black

David Black, 24, has been nominated by the Human Rights Party to run for City Council in the fourth ward. In his campaign statement, he says: "At the time of my nomination, I was not legally qualified to appear on the ballot. Thus part of my candidacy has been a challenge to Ann Arbor's unfair election law. As it stood before my challenge, a candidate had to have been registered to vote in Ann Arbor for one year before he or she could run for city office. This restriction discriminated against people who, for whatever reason, had only recently registered and was especially unfair to young people as this year no one under 22 years old could have run for city council. "As a result of a law suit brought on my behalf, a federal court judge has ruled the one year registration requirement unconstitutional. Thus my name will appear on the ballot with the rest of the candidates. I consider this court decision a victory not only for me and the Human Rights party, but for all the people of Ann Arbor. It is one more step in opening up the political process and allowing people to vote for the candidate of their choice. "While this challenge to the unfair election law has been part of my candidacy, it is by no means all of it. I am running to give Fourth Ward residents a real alternative to the unimaginative, status quo politics of the Democrats and Republicans. By running in the Fourth Ward, a ward which has traditionally voted for conservative candidates, I am part of the Human Rights party's efforts at reaching all segments of the community. "Like the other four Human Rights party candidates, I am pledged to run on the party's platform. One basic feature of this platform is a call for greatly increased public services such as transportation, child care, health care and drug programs. Moreover, the Human Rights party is committed to work for community control of these services. I firmly believe that public agencies and services must be under the direct control of the people who are affected by them. "Community control of the Police Department is also a major need that is presently unmet. Our Police Department spends far too much time writing traffic tickets and enforcing laws against I victimless crimes s u c h as drug use and curfew violations. The police must concentrate their efforts on fighting violent and street crimes. At no time can we tolerate police harassment of blacks, young people, homosexuals, or any other group or individual. "The problem of drug abuse will never be solved through police crackdowns. In fact, present drug laws - by making drugs illegal and forcing up drug prices - tend to stimulate both organized and street crime, keep addicts from getting help, and send people to prison for using harmless drugs or for hurting only themselves. Marijuana should be legalized, the city should fund treatment and maintain program for addicts, and honest drug education programs should be initiated in the and the rest of the community. "Community growth has become a major issue in the present campaign. A 'no growth' policy is totally unrealistic. There is no way - even if we wanted to of preventing more people from moving to Ann Arbor. Thus if no more housing is built, rents and prices will continue to climb driving lower income people out of the city. Growth I is inevitable, but it must be planned and controlled by the I people of Ann Arbor. "The Human Rights party I believe that real estate developers must be responsible to the city and its people and must bear a large part of the burden of providing adequate services such as schools, sewer and water. Moreover growth must be coordinated on a regional level; Ann Arbor does not exist in a vacuum. "I realize that many of the programs in our platform will cost money. Some of these funds can be secured through a reorientation of present city priorities. But what is really needed is a change in the tax system. The Human Rights party calls for the end to non-commercial property taxes. We favor the institution of a steeply graduated income tax that would tax people in relation to their ability to pay." David Black has lived in Ann Arbor for 2 years. He has a master's degree in political science from the University of Michigan and is currently a graduate student and teaching fellow. He has been active in Ann Arbor politics, working with the Ann Arbor Tenants Union and in organizing the Human Rights Party.