MARCH 21, 2025 CONTINUED COMMONS from page 2 Council accepting those recommendations. They have refused to share storage space to help community events when they are programmed. They have certainly not volunteered any City park material, equipment or help in activation. And for the last year and more, they have refused to write a Request for Proposals to seek professional help, as agreed with the Council of the Commons. Now they spend City money and time to formulate a new plan, to annul the old vote and build a new library and many floors of market rate and affordable housing to pay for it without asking the people for taxes. The Library has been wanting a new building for a long time; they proposed a millage in 2012 to pay for it, but were defeated. They got a new idea of rebuilding themselves as a “mixed use” building in their existing space with another several floors of public library and on top of that 12 or 15 floors of housing, the equity value of which would pay for or facilitate financing of the new Library. I met with the AADL Director to explore how the new library could interface with a new Civic Center Building, envisioned over Library Lane and connecting with the Library. Rather than being kept in the loop on developments, which was the understanding I thought we had, eye to eye, the next thing I heard of was this donedeal going to the City Council to give the Library Lane Lot to the Library for housing development and Library expansion, and terminate the com MONIQUE from page 7 share of problems,” she said. “But we put the work in. He is my best friend, he’s been by my side and loves me, for me. He knows everything. For the past decade, Sean, Sheri and Bridget have been my support group.” Caldwell met Sheri Wander at the Daytime Warming Center when Sheri was unhoused. Since then, Sheri and her husband Pat have gotten themselves established with a home, Peace House, and Caldwell volunteered to help out. They’re still doing as much outreach in the community as they can. Caldwell said, “I volunteer as much as I can because service is one of the few things I can do to help the community that makes me feel good and useful.” In 2023, Caldwell’s doctors found a tumor during a mammogram. Caldwell recalled, “The radiologist was telling me results, but my ears were mons, and void the vote. Besides that there is no integrity in this deal: ignoring standing commitments, it is deceptive in its imagined benefits. When the commons was on the ballot, the “housing first" people argued, “Let the profiteers build their fancy housing, they will have to give a share of the benefit to the affordable housing fund.” So affordable housing was a benefit of the big build, though such housing would not be in the Center of the City. In this new deal, affordable housing gets little of the benefit, maybe a few units, but the vast bulk of the benefit is going to support financing needed for the new library. We have not been told the particulars of how this “no tax” plan works. Why has their mixed-use plan promoted in November expanded in February to take the whole surface? The Library did not say. One could conclude that the numbers for private housing over their current space did not yield enough equity to pay for the new library so they needed a larger footprint … so take the commons space too — which they never liked anyway — and promise the people a jewel of a new Library and housing complex with stores and programmable public space. Nowhere to be seen are the words "park" or "commons" or "user participation" in the development, or even "green." Last time the question came to a vote, the people chose to have a central park and green space and not a big, big building. I expect the people would choose so again. Their current proposal has no pictures, no numbers, no details, no ringing, like I couldn’t hear a word she said. When I walked out of the hospital and felt the fresh air, I passed out. A guy was like, ‘Are you OK?’ and I was like, ‘I think I’m going to die.’" As this article is being written, Caldwell is still following up on her tumor and is talking about how to go about removing them to see if chemotherapy is really necessary. Keep her in your prayers. Prior to finding the tumor in her breast, Caldwell’s husband Sean had encouraged her to go back to school at WCC. After paying all the school’s fines from back in 2007, she was making progress toward her degree. But the cocktail of school stress, working overnights, life stress and facing a deadly disease was more than a strong woman like Caldwell could bear. She said, “I was like f*** it! I’m getting high,” and went on a binge for a couple weeks before coming back to herself and getting sober again. In the meantime, she dropped her course load. oversight, only the gittering promise of a jewel with many imagined facets. This Library proposal should go back to the drawing boards for detailing. The Commons should continue to the consultants and last Monday's action should be called back, reconsidered and postponed until after the consultant's report, if then. It is sad when the AADL director speaks of the civic vision the community has been developing for decades and refuses to look at the actual planning and drawings that people have developed for looking forward. It would also show good faith, however belatedly, for the City Council to invite a presentation of the ideas people have developed on the Central Park development and Civic Center Building plan and commons process. The Ann Arbor Community Commons Initiating Committee could do this; it is recognized and empowered by the City Council to develop community participation in the Center of the City development. Beautiful ideas and pictures, welcoming to everyone, would be good to show. Beauty and good design is what will draw the private money and generosity of Ann Arbor to build what is envisioned. The negativity of the City Administration and the Library does not help, but it might draw forth a fairer assessment of the Commons development. Such an assessment is what the City Council should offer the public, not a sleight of hand, bait and switch, disappearance and cancellation of the Central Park, Civic Center Building and the community Commons good for everyone. Resist, Push Back. This was a bad Caldwell has seized another opportunity to return to college, this time a fresh start at Jackson Community College that offers on-site living for students, thereby offering her a place to call home. Caldwell remains optimistic, despite all that has happened. Her husband Sean is awaiting his day in court; he’s being held in jail in the meantime. Caldwell said, “I miss my best friend. That leaves me alone and sad. I cry a lot.” Caldwell’s journey has been a difficult one, but she is a living breathing work in progress who said, “I’m a survivor, not a victim.” Caldwell volunteers with Lindsay Calka, director of Groundcover News, at Weather Amnesty at Purple House on Sundays; volunteers at the warming centers in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor; and has run a women’s support group, all while being unhoused herself. Caldwell said, “Getting my mind off of me and my situation is the only way for me to remain sober. I have to be busy GROUNDCOVER NEWS 11 6/30/2025 deal that the City Council passed. Just say No! Read more about the Ann Arbor Commons Initiating Committee at AnnArborCommunityCommons.org helping others.” Asked about the future, Caldwell said she’s looking forward to focusing on education, a career in social work, addiction and mental health, while reconnecting with her adult children and living her best life with Sean. “I don’t know what the future holds,” she said. “It may never be perfect, but I keep working to be the best version of myself. I wake up every day and choose to fight for my life by doing good and not letting a hard situation beat me. At the end of the day, I’m only responsible for my reaction, not the things that happened to me. Have I made mistakes? You bet. No one wins every hand. But I’ve learned so much from my mistakes! And when I become a social worker, I’m going to be so good at my job.”
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