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Ryan Bartholomew launches Ward 3 bid, highlights childcare and publicly owned housing
Summary
Ryan Bartholomew announced he is running for Ann Arbor City Council Ward 3, citing affordability challenges and proposing a municipal childcare pilot and permanently affordable publicly owned housing; he criticized council tax incentives for developers and asked for votes by Aug. 4.
Ryan Bartholomew announced his campaign for Ann Arbor City Council in Ward 3, saying he is running "because I love this community." He laid out a platform focused on affordability, including a municipal childcare pilot and the construction of permanently affordable publicly owned housing, and urged voters to support his bid by Aug. 4.
Bartholomew said his ties to Ann Arbor run deep. "Ann Arbor is where my wife, Carly, and I went to school and fell in love," he said, noting his work as a community organizer on disability access at the University of Michigan and his role as policy director for Rep. Ryan Gans. He framed his campaign around improving basic city services and addressing the cost of living for working-class residents, families and seniors.
On local finances and development, Bartholomew criticized the current council's approach to incentives. "Something like giving a corporate developer a $350,000,000 tax giveaway to largely pay for the construction of 3 parking garages or selling off public land to build luxury condos," he said, arguing the city should prioritize residents over large developer subsidies. Those figures were presented as his characterization of recent development deals; no vote or council action was recorded in this transcript.
Bartholomew described economic pressure on essential workers, saying some employees who keep services running "are delivering DoorDash at night and selling their plasma to put food on their table." He called the situation "unacceptable" and said a new council should "lead with listening" and center the needs of working-class people.
As policy priorities, he urged the council to restore basic services such as road repairs and to pursue a municipal childcare pilot and publicly owned permanently affordable housing to address housing insecurity. He described these proposals as alternatives to what he called the status quo of large developer incentives.
Bartholomew closed by asking for support in Ward 3 and directing listeners to his campaign website, ryanbforward3.com. "I hope I can earn your vote by August 4," he said.
The remarks were a candidate announcement and policy outline; the transcript records no formal endorsements, votes or responses from other officials during this segment.
