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4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS ANN ARBOR NOVEMBER 29, 2024 10 years after A2 police kill Aura Rosser: a liberal safe haven is not so safe ALEXANDRA GRANBERG Groundcover contributor On the evening of November 9, about 60 organizers, activists and community members gathered at Liberty Plaza to remember and honor the life of Aura Rain Rosser on the tenth anniversary of her murder. In the early hours of November 10, 2014, Ann Arbor police officer David Ried fatally shot Rosser in her home within seconds of his arrival. Rosser was holding a 4-inch paring knife in her hand when the police arrived. According to her sister, Rosser was cooking to calm herself after a dispute with her ex-boyfriend. Ried shot her after Mark Raab, the other officer present, had already tased her. “Why would officer Ried shoot Aura in the heart after they had already tased her and put her down on the floor?” reflected Shirley Beckley, lifelong Ann Arbor activist who has been organizing around Rosser’s case for a decade. The Michigan State Police conducted a hasty investigation into the murder. Neither of the involved officers were interviewed, and alleged threats to the officers were exaggerated in the report. Making claims of self-defense, Ried and Raab stated that Rosser “opened her eyes very wide” and “appeared to be in a deranged state.” They also described Rosser “walking” towards them. The report instead read “confronting,” and the press release stated Rosser “came at” the officers, which the Ann Arbor News then sensationalized into “charged.” The community posed three minimum demands: an apology from the city, compensation for Rosser’s funeral costs, and for Ried to be fired. None of the demands have been met in the decade since the murder. Instead, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office exonerated Ried, who soon after was promoted to sergeant. Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor described the murder as “a tragedy of mental illness untreated.” After a sustained community campaign, the city eventually implemented an Independent Community Police Oversight Commission. However the commission has fallen short of fulfilling its purpose, with the city restricting its independence and access to information about complaints against police. The city of Ann Arbor has also rejected opportunities to build and fund non-police crisis response options which emphasize care instead of violence. Last December the city rejected a thorough proposal by Care Based Safety, the only third party to submit an application to the city’s open request for proposals. Photo credit: Emily Mills. Aura Rosser was an artist, daughter, sister and mother of three. At the vigil, Rosser’s sister Shae Ward spoke publicly for the first time since the murder, remembering her sister as a caring person. “She was my entire life and the state destroyed my life when they executed her. […] The state promised to care for us, the state taught us to respect and reverence their authority and we did.” Shirley Beckley expressed the insufficiency and lack of response from the city: “This was a brutal killing that has been ignored for ten years!” A zine detailing the flawed investigation, "People’s Retort to the Prosecutor’s Report," recognizes that Rosser’s killing and Ried’s exoneration “is part of a national pattern of disregard for Black lives” — a conservative estimate is that a Black person is killed every 28 hours. “The liberal haven of Ann Arbor is no safer for Black [people] than the rest of America,” the zine reads. Other speakers at the vigil echoed this sentiment when honoring the legacy of local activism and the continued fight for justice and dignity for all people. Among them was Donald Abdul Roberts, long-term organizer from Ann Arbor and former member of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), an organization of Black workers formed in 1968 in Chrysler’s Dodge Main assembly plant in Detroit. Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Solidarity (MAPS), U-M Safety Not Cops, and GEO Abolition Caucus organized the vigil for Aura Rosser together with family and community members. The zine "People’s Retort to the Prosecutor’s Report" is available online at radicalwashtenaw.org. The Grove at Veridian — applications open now! DAN MEISLER Avalon Housing Avalon Housing is accepting applications for residents to live at the Grove at Veridian, the new affordable housing development on Platt Road in Ann Arbor. The homes have up to four bedrooms, making the project one of the few affordable housing opportunities for families in the area. The Grove at Veridian is part of the Veridian at County Farm Park development. The Grove will consist of 50 units, 30 of which will be filled through Washtenaw County’s Community Housing Prioritization system (housingaccess.net). The other 20 units will be available for individuals or families with income lower than 60 percent of the area median income. More information and applications for tenants are available at avalonhousing.org/apply. Printed copies of the application form are available at Avalon’s offices at 1327 Jones Drive in Ann Arbor. The deadline for applications is Dec. 17, 2024. “We’re very excited to have people start moving into this amazing new community,” said Aaron Cooper, Executive Director of Avalon Housing. “The Grove at Veridian is unique for a number of reasons — its location next to County Farm Park in the heart of Ann Arbor, its inclusion in the Veridian community that includes net-zero-energy, market-rate homes, and the family-friendly units that are often very hard to find at an affordable rate.” “We expect demand to far exceed the 20 units we have available,” he continued. “Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for the Ann Arbor community — even with all the support available — to keep up with the ever-increasing need for affordable housing.” The Grove, like all Avalon Housing properties, will provide support services that help those exiting homelessness stay in their homes, including medical clinics, a food pantry, and on-site support staff. Applicants meeting the income requirements will be selected via a lottery. The household income limits for units at The Grove at Veridian are: • 1-person household: $50,220 • 2-person household: $57,360 • 3-person household: $64,560 • 4-person household: $71,770 • 5-person household: $77,460 • 6-person household: $83,220 • 7-person household: $88,920 • 8-person household: $94,680 The rents of the available units will be: • 1-bedroom: $775/month (2 units available) • 2-bedroom: $875/month (5 units) • 3-bedroom:$975/month (11 units) • 4-bedroom: units) After eligible applicants fill out the application form at avalonhousing. $1,075/month (2 org/apply, they will be contacted by an Avalon staff person in January to obtain further information. The target move-in date is April-July, 2025. The project was funded using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, County HOME funds, City of Ann Arbor Affordable Housing Millage Funds, a State Enhancement Grant, Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program funds and private donations. The land was granted to Avalon by Washtenaw County as a condition of allowing development partner Thrive to undertake the Veridian project. Avalon Housing’s mission is to build healthy, safe and inclusive supportive housing communities as a long-term solution to homelessness. Avalon owns and manages 29 sites in Ann Arbor, Dexter and Chelsea, and has 175 units in the pipeline in new projects in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. avalonhousing.org

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