Couch ban could ignite student protest at U-M

[hoosier]

Couch ban could ignite student protest at U-M

August 16, 2004

BY MARYANNE GEORGE
FREE PRESS ANN ARBOR (MI) BUREAU

Matt Grinshpun spends hours on the three couches on the porch of his big red house on Oakland Street in Ann Arbor. Grinshpun, a junior at the University of Michigan, and his 14 roommates at the Lester House co-op use them as a place to study, visit and even dine during the warm months.


"I live on this porch," said Grinshpun, 19, of Midland as he lounged last week on a dark green couch with floral cushions. "When fall starts, 15 people will eat dinner on the porch. Couches are rather central to the way things work around here."


But Ann Arbor fire officials say the couches are a fire hazard and want them removed from hundreds of front porches in student neighborhoods around campus, where they are often placed near a barbeque grill.


The couches have created a major debate in Ann Arbor as the City Council prepares to vote tonight on an ordinance to ban upholstered furniture of all kinds on outside porches and decks. Many students say the proposed ordinance infringes on their property rights and vow to mount a "save the sofa" campaign next month. The council has scheduled a Sept. 7 public hearing before taking a second vote, which is required to pass the ordinance.


Just a few doors down on Oakland, 12 people, including several U-M football players, narrowly escaped a fire in June. Investigators say the blaze was fueled by two love seats and a propane grill that ignited on the front porch.


Officials are still trying to determine the cause of the blaze, said Ann Arbor Fire Inspector Doug Warsinski. But the burning couches blocked the front door, forcing residents to jump from second- and third-floor windows. Four people, including a firefighter, suffered minor injuries.


"It was like watching a movie," said U-M football coach Lloyd Carr, who watched the house burn. "It was scary to see how fast the fire consumed that house. The fire marshal told me if they had gotten there a few minutes later it would have been a major tragedy."


Jake Long, an offensive tackle for the Wolverines, was awakened by a smoke alarm about 4 a.m. and found his room filled with smoke.


"I started to panic," Long, 19, a sophomore from Lapeer, recalled. "I put a shirt over my face and tried to open the door. But the smoke was so bad it pushed me back, so I jumped out the window."


But despite his terrifying experience, Long said he is undecided about whether the city should ban couches.


"It's tragic that the couches could fuel a fire, but it's private property and it's comfortable to go outside and sit on the couches," Long said. "I still don't know where I stand on this."


At least 10 other college towns, including East Lansing, Boulder, Colo., and Ames, Iowa, have banned upholstered furniture on porches, with fines ranging from $100 to $1,000. In East Lansing, home to Michigan State University, the maximum fine is $500.


If approved in Ann Arbor, the fine would be $100, but residents would first be given a warning to remove the couch, Warsinski said.


Ann Arbor fire officials say the risks posed by couches on porches are real.


Since 1996, 13 students, including five at Ohio State University in Columbus and three in Minneapolis, Minn., last year, have died in fires caused by couches on porches. In the last four years the Ann Arbor Fire Department has put out more than 74 outside furniture fires, including three on porches. In the last two months, they have extinguished about eight couch fires, according to department statistics. Most of the fires have been in student neighborhoods.


Couches, with foam cushions and a low flash point, burn quickly and emit toxic smoke, Warsinski said. When placed on a porch they have an unlimited supply of oxygen, which causes them to burn quickly. Because they are often placed near doors and windows they block exits in a fire. Porches are rarely equipped with smoke alarms or sprinklers. They are also a preferred place for smoking cigarettes, which can easily smolder in a couch undetected for hours, he said.


But students see this as an attempt to pretty-up campus neighborhoods by couching the issue as a fire hazard, said Jason Mironov, president of the Michigan Student Assembly, the U-M student government group.


"There's little doubt students will mobilize to save the couch," Mironov said. "A lot of students take it seriously, especially students who have lived in houses for several years. Even a porch can be flammable. This is an aesthetic reason wrapped up as a fire hazard."


Grinshpun said he'll help lead the charge to save couches.


"Regulating porch furniture is not a state function," he said. "If a law is passed it would be funny to see couches appearing at city hall. Ann Arbor has a long history of an activist student body on issues as remote as sweat shops in foreign countries. When it affects our front porch you can expect students to be pretty active."

[Kevin]

It needs to definitely be against the law to smoke in bed -- or even in your house. How about smoking should be illegal except for in approved fireproof and properly ventilated rooms?

We also need to make candles illegal. Heck, that's just asking for trouble. I mean you have basically deliberately started a fire in your own home! Again, only in approved fireproof rooms.

Fireplaces will just have to go.

So will electric blankets.

Electrical systems on homes should be no more than 15 years old before they are completely redone.

---

Fire codes sometimes get a little nonsensical. This, I think is one of those times.

It threatened football players though, so it really needs to be passed.

[Tom Earp]

ktsnake, I love ya Dude! Pre Law Mind at work!

LXA at our General Assembly tried the No Smoking in Houses.

Everytime I walked out of the Hotel, I yelled Smokers and Chewers Unite.

My Man Jeff frpom Central Mo U. stood there with a chaw in His Mouth that He go from another Brother From Alaska and Stated" I Move This be tabled Indefintealy"!

Hell, I almost ran over and Hugged Him for that!

Oh, I paid my fare because I own a Tobacco Shop!

They would not recognize me as I was going to say, how far are Nationals going to Legislate Morality!

[PsiU_EN]

You can have couches on porches in East Lansing, just cant have them on ur front lawn.....the police are scared that they would be set on fire and a riot will start

[ADPiAkron]

Couches were banned on porches at The University of Akron (Ohio) because during May Day the students would light them on fire!! And then I think they used the excuse of fire hazards to not piss off the students! But I guess you can honestly say they were fire hazards at Akron!!

[Tom Earp]

Does Morons Come to mind??>??

Da, I am pissed at my Town or College, so lets light the Couches afire on Our Front Pourch!

Forrest Gump. in personification!

Dont mean to bad mouth Forrest G!

Just The Dumb Asses who did it!

[AGDee]

When my brother was at the U of Mich, they had a couch on their porch. In the summer though, they ended up bringing it in the house because some homeless guy decided it was his bed every night! That was back in the early 80's when there was a big push to get the mentally ill out in the community out of the state psychiatric hospitals. With a hospital in Ypsilanti combined with Ann Arbor's generally very liberal community, they all just hung out in A2. I'm not sure that's as a big a problem now as it was then...

Dee

[Allie]

Originally posted by PsiU_EN
You can have couches on porches in East Lansing, just cant have them on ur front lawn.....the police are scared that they would be set on fire and a riot will start

Couches on the porch are considered a violation and PACE will issue you a citation. We were lucky and were outside when they come by, our neighbors not so lucky, they did recieve a warning to move the couch inside instead of a $500 ticket. We did ask our landlord about it and he said it is a city ordanince, I guess go to City Hall and inquire, because they will issue citations.

[Tom Earp]

What is PACE?

Well, in East Michigan, from seeing some of the things they do, they ought to all be in jail.

Close down the school. Let the Town dry up and die.

Throw away the students, cuff them, put them in jail get rid of them!

Hell, met a House Mother from there, she couldnt take it, moved to LXA at U Ks. Loved it!

It just seems that those that act like lice are treated as such. Wonder why?

That seems to become the norm at U-M?

I will get even, I will destroy my stuff along with everyone elses!

[DeltAlum]

I know this is slightly off the subject, but at some houses you see sofas and chairs on porch roofs or other high flat places on the structure.

You should strongly discourage that.

According to a Risk Management session I attended at our recent international conference, the number ONE cost in terms of insurance claims for fraternities is due to falls from high places. Almost all of these claims were alcohol related.

In other words, potentially someone is sitting on a coach on a high part of the structure drinking, and falls off.

Ouch.

[Allie]

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