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Students for Higher Rents

A student Livejournaler regurgitates townie talking points about spoiled, pampered students destroying the character of the city:

So, in the Daily, I read a bit about the proposed 26 story sky rise with four bedroom suites, built-in washers/dryers and all this good stuff. Sounds like a pretty place, I suppose. Especially if you can afford it, seeing as Mom is a lawyer and Dad a doctor. What nice dessert after the BMW you got for your 16th birthday.

The new apartments might take pressure off the rental market, but what’s that compared to the opportunities for self-discovery provided by the current state of A2? “It is in Ann Arbor that I finally awakened after laying dormant for 18 years in a kingdom of upper middle class monotony,” she writes. Wait, sorry, what was that? We’ve been asleep for the last 6 years.

15 Responses to “Students for Higher Rents”


  1. “Pressure” off the rental market is a good thing if the result is lower rents for the apartments & houses close to campus. But, a mgea-dorm located well outside of walking distance most likely won’t impact students or landlords near campus. The “pressure” will be on the existing apartment complexes that are further away, and they already have a vacancy rate they don’t like. The only self-discovery at the proposed site is going to be how loud the Interstate traffic outside their window is. No restaurants, shops, bars, movie theatres, clubs, or anything else within walking distance of South Maple — but that’ll be fine, since the BMW will get them downtown to look for parking, which means increased need for a new structure, which means, um, well, more monotony!

    posted by Young Westside on January 9th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

  2. South Maple and South University are a couple miles apart. Y’all are talking about two completely separate projects.

    posted by Larry Kestenbaum on January 9th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

  3. I would think a “mega dorm” on the corner of South U and Forest would be considered walking distance to most all of the things you mentioned Young Westside. Not sure what you’re talking about on Maple, but I don’t believe there are plans for a 26 story mega dorm in that area.

    I agree with the comments that followed the opinon piece that hoped VC could find a place in the new building since it is the closest thing to a real grocery store most students can get to by walking.

    posted by Andy on January 9th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

  4. Isn’t 18 a little young to be that bitter?

    posted by Nick on January 9th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

  5. It’s true, though. The university town is seen as being salvation for those of us from solid, but boring, upper middle class suburbia/exurbia.

    It would make excellent sense for the new building to include a grocery store. Other developments in other university towns (Champaign, Illinois comes to mind) are doing this.

    posted by JAL on January 9th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

  6. Ann Arbor is an escape from boring, upper-middle-class suburbia? A lot must have happened since I moved.

    posted by Nick on January 9th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

  7. Hey, if I was 18 and never lived within walking distance of anything resembling a downtown, I’d be thrilled too. Where I’m from, a tiny strip mall was the only thing walkable. There was no downtown. It was just a couple of subdivisions linked by said strip mall and a small, crappy hospital. There were no sidewalks, little public transportation. My guess is that this sort of town is what she’s comparing ann arbor to. Granted, if you leave downtown AA, you’re in the same position as I was growing up WRT strip malls and lack of decent public transportation.

    Plus, if this person’s from a really segregated area (most suburbs tend to be), it must be thrilling that there are black people AND white people AND Asian people and ohmygod there are people speaking a language other than english! Wow, it’s so diverse!!!

    posted by ex-suburbanite on January 9th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  8. Perhaps that is the “rich local culture” to which the writer refers, although I assumed she meant “wealthy local culture,” or possibly “dairy-intensive local culture.”

    posted by Morbidly Midwestern on January 9th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

  9. My point was that anyone living in Detroit would probably get a chuckle out of the idea that someone moved to Ann Arbor to avoid the trappings of upper-middle-class suburbia and rub shoulders with the hoi polloi.

    posted by Nick on January 10th, 2008 at 1:26 am

  10. Nick, you know perfectly well that 18 isn’t too young to be that bitter.

    posted by mucho gusto on January 10th, 2008 at 8:58 am

  11. So, wait, they’d get rid of the VC? That seems a shame, even to get more housing in.

    posted by js on January 10th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

  12. Ahh, the rebels of the late 1960s and early 1970s have spawned a bunch of rich, annoying offspring who want to be pampered and unencumbered by concerns about war, or the poor, or some other world class problem.

    I’m not surprised.

    posted by Just a homeowner on January 10th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

  13. Where is all the football talk on this site? Lame.

    posted by Joe Football on January 10th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

  14. Is the writer spending all of her money on pot? Because that’s the only way she could think that the housing in Ann Arbor is remotely livable. Aside from the housing density issue, the author is also just plain wrong in thinking that you can maintain a vibrant downtown with local businesses without decent housing. Enough people other than students move out of the downtown area because there is no affordable decent housing in the area, even if you’re not looking for a suburban family home. What is left is college students — not exactly “rich local culture” when it’s the same thing you can find in a dorm. If you don’t have housing in the area, I know from experience in other college towns that people won’t brave downtown traffic and students crossing the street when they can patronize businesses out in Briarwood-type areas that have free parking.

    Plus, I lived in that area for more than a year without a car, and I resented having to go to Village Corner if I didn’t want to take the bus for a gallon of milk. Village Corner is overpriced, has crappy service, and extremely limited. I avoided the produce like the plague because, well, I was kind of afraid of getting the plague and various other communicable diseases from it. If its wine selection is so good I’m sure that it will be able to thrive in another location, that’s the miracle of the free market. Otherwise, I’d be thrilled to see a decent, healthy grocery store catering to the student population and others downtown.

    All of which I would write if I wanted to register for livejournal, but as it is, I hope this girl looks at this entry after 10 years, or after a basic economics class, or once she gets a job (and we all know she will) at one of those “corrupt corporations,” and I hope, nay, know, that she will cringe in embarrassment.

    posted by Beth on January 11th, 2008 at 5:05 am

  15. White Market. On William. Too late for you now, it seems, but maybe someone else will get valuable info.

    posted by Clem on January 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

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