Outreach Notebook for Sunday July 17, 2022
Defense of residents from Ypsi Twp/ County Sheriff License Plate Reader Program, Sylvan Park Day in EAA, 8/2/22 Primary Election Primer, Bric-A-Brac And Visual Side-Eye Subtweet Brigade
Welcome back everyone! What a week, eh?
If you would like to make sure to catch this newsletter every week on Sunday…
First up, Ypsilanti Township has an item on it’s Tuesday agenda to approve a contract with the County Sheriff for a “license plate reader” program. Here is the Washtenaw Sheriff’s Department justification paraphrased: “trust us, it will *only* be used for violent crime.” See this facebook live event from a few months back where the Sheriff and Deputy/ Community Outreach Manager Derrick Jackson lay out their argument in support of the license plate reader program.
Here is the draft policy that will be the topic of discussion at the Ypsilanti Twp Board of Trustees meeting at 7pm. When we looked for the agenda/packet items, we could not find an item specific to license plate reader programs, but did find an odd agenda item merely referred to as “Amendment 10.” This could be the item as Ypsi Twp will need to make an appropriation to cover the costs of any license plate reader program.
The Washtenaw General Defense Committee is mobilizing folks to attend the meeting on Tuesday July 19 at 7pm and let the Trustees know how you feel about their plans for 60 cameras pointed at our cars as we drive through our community.
Contact Ypsi Trustees via email/phone with info here:
Supervisor: Brenda Stumbo bstumbo@ytown.org 734-544-4000
Treasurer: Stan Eldridge seldridge@ytown.org [no phone given]
Clerk: Heather Roe hjarrellroe@ytown.org 734-780-4681
Trustees: Jimmie Wilson Jr. jwilson@ytown.org 734-899-0230
Gloria Peterson gpeterson@ytown.org 734-899-0226
John P Newman II jnewman@ytown.org 734-899-0231
Debbie Swanson: dswanson@ytown.org 734-899-0221
A brief reminder for EAA neighbors and fans of Sylvan Park
10am-12noon a week from today on Sunday July 24 there will be a volunteer-driven park maintenance session. There are pedestrian entrances off Darrow, Eli and Burton Roads [heads up, construction on Packard 23 underpass and nearby street pavement will prevent you from driving a car up Burton Rd to the park entrance].
RSVP here and see below for more info
Local Elections: who’s running and on which issues
If you haven’t already received an application to get an absentee ballot for the August 2 Primary that is coming in 2 weeks and some change.😳 Get it. Make a plan. Phone a friend.
What Makes Local Elections Important?
These elections will determine agenda-setting for our municipalities for the next 4 or so years [h/t EAA friend Adam Goodman for this reminder]. Additionally, these elected officials are by design community-based, accessible to many and for the most part officials go out of their ways to meet with residents to discuss issues-at-hand. Both of these factors lead to an increased ability for residents to have a direct impact on the circumstances under which they will govern themselves, create change or maintain status quo conditions.
Mechanics
*Do not* contact the county clerk to get your ballot. Your local city/township clerk is who you need to contact to get your ballot.
That said, if you haven’t already received your ballot application in the mail, it might be a good idea to either go to your city/township clerk office, fill it out and turn it in right then OR make a voting plan to get to your polling place on Tuesday August 2, 2022.
When this newsletter first began we announced our implicit biases in endorsing the campaigns of #A2Council candidates Ayesha Ghazi Edwin [Ward 3], Cynthia Harrison [Ward 1] and Dharma Akmon [Ward 4]. Aside from these endorsements and statements of support, we are going to leave it there for now.
Do you want to discuss the merits? Feel free to do so!
Candidate Research
You can research the candidates in your ward and precinct no matter your municipality in Washtenaw County by going to this document. This has not only statewide candidates running for office, but also all local county candidates, divided up by city/township. Want to know more? Google search the candidates name along with the city from which they are running for office. OR you can…
The choice is yours!
When going to the document linked to above, you can ponder why Yousef Rabhi is the only candidate for Washtenaw County Commission who filed to get on the ballot by gathering signatures on a petition instead of just paying the filing fee
That is it for this week’s ON. We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.™
Don’t want to miss our weekly newsletter?
See you next week!
ON Addendum: Bric-A-Brac And Visual Side-Eye Subtweet Brigade
FIN
Ypsi Township resident here -- resident for just under a year. Can you provide any guidance to the August primary?
Also, thank you -- I've written the trustees, *again,* expressing my opposition to the license plate readers. Do we have the option of recalling trustees? That might be a good way to reverse the decision if it goes the wrong way.
i agree with your endorsements, but i am curious what your reasons are for supporting dharma akmon from the start of campaign season. what issues that matter to you most do you think she will be excellent on? i've met her a few times and knocked some doors for her, but i don't know the specifics on policies like some others might. thanks for all your work in putting this site together, it's a great resource!