Hash Bash 39 Mostly Stems and Seeds

YPSILANTI, Mich. - The 39th annual Hash Bash, which was held in downtown Ann Arbor on April 3, was a bit of a letdown to seasoned veterans of the event as cold weather and rain discouraged many from attending or staying long.

The clear weather in the morning brought close to 5,000 hash bash supporters to the diag to hear several speakers from advocacy groups talk about the challenges still facing marijuana legal reform as well as the benefits that have come from the legalization of medical marijuana.

Lame...

YPSILANTI, Mich.-The most obvious thing about my twitter coverage of the rock show at the Tap Room on Saturday night is its brevity; a whopping three tweets. The moral of the story is of course leave your underage friends chained to the radiator where they belong.

What could have been a night of eloquent prose delivered in less than 165 characters was scuttled right out of port by someone who was just obeying the law. I was denied the opportunity to remark on the music, which I'm sure was incredible or make fun of the hipsters, who were plentiful, because The Man gets his panties in a bunch when people under 21 want to responsibly consume alcohol.

The irony is that the person I was with who was underage ended up getting blacked out drunk and making a scene, so obviously responsible consumption wasn't his modus operandi. But it stands to argue that had we been allowed to remain at the bar his drinking would have been more limited. An article in the December 1986 issue of the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse found that people tend to consume fewer drinks at bars than at parties and they tend to have a more accurate count of the number of drinks they have consumed.

To the City of Ann Arbor: $75

YPSILANTI, Mich.-Skateboarding tickets might seem like the bane of adolescents but as more adults are turning to bamboo and wheels as a serious option for transportation or recreation many 20-somethings are finding themselves in a situation usually reserved for the under 15 crowd.

The walk through City Hall to get a skateboard out of police impound is both scary and humbling at 13, at age 21 the walk just feels ridiculous. A $50 fine for skateboarding is draconian and unnecessary especially in the city where being caught with a bag of marijuana is a $25 ticket. What makes the matter even worse is that many people aren't even clear on what the law actually says.

To Get to the Other Side

YPSILANTI, Mich.-I had a scary experience while driving through Ann Arbor the other day; everywhere I looked throngs of backpack wearing pedestrians had apparently lost the will the live. 

 I watched in horror as masses of people stoically listening to their iPods stepped into moving traffic. My knee jerk reaction was to assume that these people had been brainwashed by an evil genius and a little boy who coughs every other word and asks people if they have "connected" with themselves.

I took a deep breath and realized that my assumption was actually just the plot to the movie "Suicide Club" and that these were nothing more than jaywalking college students. The number of jaywalkers in Ann Arbor is ridiculous and presents a very real threat to public safety and yet through all the years of people complaining about it nothing has ever been done.

Driving in Ann Arbor is a hassle of congestion and overpriced and elusive parking, not to mention the stop and go that comes with city driving. Random jaywalkers only add to the difficulty by distracting or surprising drivers.

Jaywalking is considered a minor civil infraction that is not covered under state law; instead individual localities must pass and enforce their own jaywalking ordinances. Ann Arbor municipal code has jaywalking classified as a "nuisance" in chapter 106 but doesn't mention a fine schedule. This means that jaywalking is subject to the same penalty as all other nuisances; a fine up to $500.

A $500 fine would certainly discourage anybody from jaywalking, but the problem is the law is rarely enforced. According to a2gov.org the Ann Arbor Police didn't issue a single ticket for jaywalking last year and the year before that more tickets were issued for illegal beekeeping than for jaywalking.

In 2004 there was a string of accidents involving jaywalking U of M students that led to a discussion of the topic by the Ann Arbor City Council. A number of solutions were proposed including an enforcement increase and there was even an editorial in the Ann Arbor based Car and Driver magazine about what a $1000 fine might do to discourage jaywalkers in urban areas. Eventually though the buzz ended and so too did the call for municipal action. 

Even a modest enforcement effort would do wonders to bring this problem under control. Critics of jaywalking laws have argued that it is a minor offense and that attempts to fight it are draconian and unwarranted. Certainly there are instances when jaywalking is acceptable; in light traffic areas or when there is no traffic, but the problem in Ann Arbor is not people who look both ways and cross the street. The problem lies with those who disregard traffic and cross the street at random. If a few of these egregious offenders were forced to pay the full $500 fine it would be more than enough to deter others that might do the same.

 Ultimately it comes down to respect, a driver shows respect to pedestrians by following the rules of the road and trying to remain aware of their surroundings. A pedestrian can show the same respect back by being aware of vehicles on the road and waiting to cross.