March 2023
PLUS
the next target in the culture war
A recap of select categories of crime occurring in the past month in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills, presented in map format.
Macomb County has long claimed that Oakland County and its untreated sewer overflows are responsible for the pollution that shows up in the water quality of Lake St. Clair which serves as the source of drinking water for most of us in southeast Michigan but the story is a bit more complicated than officials from our neighboring county would have us believe.
One thing that has also remained constant throughout the history of sex eduction in schools – a resistance from a segment of the population. Sex education has been, and still often is, a target for political and religious opposition, especially as these programs attempt to evolve to be inclusive for students of all cultures and identities.
Lena Epstein's pandering to GOP base; Gary Peters back in charge; Elissa Slotkin and Hill Harper; Steele plants flag in Lansing; awash in cash when it's over; hidden bump in House pay; long-shot Perry Johnson back on the campaign trail; plus more
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Cannabis opt out stance could change; code of conduct for Birmingham commissioners; city manager search nears end; Host now facing ethics board; new Lavery Porsche building; new design for RH; elderly abuse lawsuit; plus more.
Here's the latest from both Birmingham Next Executive Director Cris Braun who looks at the value of intergenerational programs.
William D. Seklar, president and CEO of The Community House, updates readers on the move to expand not only the service offerings but also the campus of this Birmingham institution.
Gigi Nichols provides readers with quick takes on what is happening in the world of food and drink in the metro area.
Our thoughts on how Birmingham should handle writing an ordinance to allow for cannabis dispensaries and our recommendation for who should be the new city manager.
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I am writing regarding a Downtown Newsmagazine article titled "Police departments lacking transparency," published in the February issue.
The article states, ".. we, as a press organization which works as representatives of the public, are so concerned about the lack of communication and transparency from the Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, and at times Birmingham police departments." The article further states, "While we do receive some crime reports from the city of Birmingham, they are minimal - and often well after the fact. The January 4 downtown heinous and scary mugging and purse snatching involving a business owner was reported over a week after it happened –not because they had to keep it secret due to an investigation, either. For both other business owners and shoppers, that was news that should have been shared, pronto."
The City of Birmingham and the Birmingham Police Department take great pride in community engagement and transparency. Our efforts to ensure we have a wellinformed community are second to none, especially when it involves matters of public safety. The city utilizes multiple communication platforms to ensure we reach as many community members as possible. In an effort to be even more transparent, the Police Department utilizes a crime mapping and reporting website, Crimedar.com, to post crime incidents taking place within the city. Contrary to the allegations in your article, these posts provide detailed descriptions of incidents and are posted weekly, unlike most agencies. Additionally, information is routinely posted on both the City of Birmingham and Birmingham Police Department's Facebook pages.
I am very disappointed that the City of Birmingham was listed among other communities for lack of transparency, despite our extensive efforts to keep our community informed. In fact, your description of the alleged delay in making people aware of the incident that took place on January 4, 2023 could not be further from the truth.
The incident you referenced occurred in the evening hours of January 4, 2023 and was posted on
We welcome your opinion on issues facing the Birmingham/Bloomfield communities.
Although we do not have a fixed maximum length for letters sent to us, we recommend a maximum length of 175-200 words. We also reserve the right to edit letters for length if necessary. Opinions can be sent via e-mail to news@downtownpublications.com or mailed to Downtown Publications, PO Box 1630 Birmingham MI 48012-1630
both the city's and the police department's Facebook pages the next day, January 5, 2023. Further, when the suspect was arrested on Friday, January 13, 2023, the police department distributed a press release that same evening, which was sent to a Downtown Publications staff member and also posted via the Police Department and city's social media channels.
If you think we can do better, let me know how. I encourage you to continue to pursue transparency in crime reporting. Non-transparency of criminal activity reporting may create a sense of false security. No one wishes to read about the crimes occurring in their community, however reporting crimes informs our citizenry who will demand that we do better. Communities who are nontransparent are failing in their public safety mission. We need the public to be our eyes and ears, and they can only do that when they know what is going on.
In the future please feel free to reach out for clarification regarding our communication channels and distribution timeline. Your efforts to fact check before criticizing a department for something they have worked hard to achieve would be appreciated going forward.
Thomas M. Markus Birmingham City Manager (Publisher'snote: While we acknowledge receiving a press notice when the suspect was caught, a more effective approach would have been to send out a release to the media and store owners when the incident occurred rather than assuming a Facebook posting is sufficient.
Oakland Confidential is a periodic column of political gossip/news, gathered both on and off-the-record by staff members at Downtown Newsmagazine. We welcome possible items for this column which can be emailed to: OaklandConfidential@DowntownPublications.com. All sources are kept strictly confidential. The gossip column can be viewed at OaklandConfidential.com where you can sign up to receive updates via email.
GET THIS WOMAN AN INTERVENTION: Those in politics know if you can’t win, you pander, pander, pander. Sadly, Republican Lena Epstein of Bloomfield Township is taking that mantra to new lows. Epstein, who has run – unsuccessfully – for Congress in 2018, against Democrat Haley Stevens, who took the crown, then in 2022, for University of Michigan regent, and played with the idea of running for Senate against Sen. Gary Peters in 2020, is currently running for Michigan Republican Party chair. A video making the rounds of the Jewish Epstein, whose family are longtime members of Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township, features her in early February at the Ottawa County Patriots meeting. She said, “It is joyous to be here...with a man who actually baptized me into the Christian faith. I’m a 41-year-old Jewish Messianic believer in Christ from Oakland County.” Those who recently attended a Birmingham Bloomfield Republican Club meeting weren’t surprised – seems Epstein introduced herself there as a “Christian Jew.” A new religion? One attendee said members were taken aback. Word is her family vehemently disagrees with her – but with her currently polling seventh for the position, which was to be decided on February 17-18 at the state Republican convention, after press time, Epstein is clearly pandering for those in the Religious Right, the Evangelicals so important in the party base makeup. Here running mate for the party’s top spot is Pastor Donald Easton, senior minister of Metro Church of Christ in Sterling Heights. Expected to win was either Matt DePerno and Kristina Karamo, GOP losers for statewide office this past November.
STRONG & STEADY: Those who question the power Senator Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township) is acquiring in Washington D.C., likely underestimate the longtime politician, who has been referred to as “low-key,” like a “neighborhood dad,” and “studious.” Flying under the radar of political mayhem has worked in Peters’ favor. During the 2022 election cycle, Peters lead the Democratic campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and held every single Democratic Senate seat – as well as picking an extra one up. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did a little arm twisting, and convinced Peters to take on the DSCC mantle one more time, for the 2024 election cycle, when there is a presidential election and several senate seats up, including that of his colleague Senator Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring. In return, Peters received a seat on the Senate appropriations committee. He is also chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Slow and steady wins the race. Powerful stuff, indeed.
WORKING TO WIN: Following the early January announcement by Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow that she would retire when her term ends in 2024, there appears to be a perimeter developing between those who are toying with the idea of running to replace her, and those who are serious about becoming a candidate. On the Democratic side, increasingly the waters are parting around Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing), who prior to redistricting served Rochester, Rochester Hills and northern Oakland County, and gained loads of local admirers – including some on the other side of the aisle, who admire her centrist, downto-earth approach to governing, as well as her military and CIA-intelligence officer background. A victor in three Republican-dominated districts, she is known to reach out and connect oneon-one, especially with women, explaining her positions. She attended MLK events in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Detroit – two locales outside her district. And following the downing of a possible spy balloon in Lake Huron, she made
herself available to Michigan’s press as “someone who sits on the House Armed Services Committee.” While she provided limited clarity on the issue, she shone a light on herself. Word is Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) is contemplating a run, but a greater likelihood is to make a play in an effort to better position herself in Democratic leadership – she has condemned the current bicoastal House leadership. While Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist’s name is being bandied about, it seems an unlikely reach. Although some are viewing Slotkin’s support as a given party coronation, a new name being floated is actor, author, entrepreneur and philanthropist Hill Harper, who grew up in Detroit. He has been a full-time resident here since 2016 and lives in a former Fisher mansion he purchased in tony Indian Village. Harper was on the series “CSI:NY,” where he played Dr. Sheldon Hawkes and won three NAACP Image Awards; is currently on “The Good Doctor,” was on “Homeland,” “Covert Affairs,” “Limitless,” has had four New York Times bestsellers, and was appointed to serve on President Barack Obama’s President’s Cancer Panel in 2011. Harper currently has 439,000 Twitter followers and 542,000 Facebook friends. A new Facebook group, ‘Hill Harper for Senate,’ formed in the last month, now has 757 members, including some familiar Oakland County faces. He appeared at and worked the recent state Democratic convention at which he spoke about his run for the Senate to the Progressive Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party. Word is he is traveling the state, showing his recognizable face. He could potentially be a formidable candidate and could draw heavily from the Black vote in Detroit and surrounding areas, a critical factor in the upcoming election.
STOP SIGN: Assome are contemplating taking their political careers to new heights, others have ruled out running for the Senate. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Oakland County) announced “I am unbelievably proud to represent Oakland County in Congress, the economic engine of the Midwest. After deep consideration, I have decided that I can best serve Michigan’s working families, manufacturers, students, and small businesses in my current role.” Other Democrats also ruling out a run are Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg Republican Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller has also said, “no,” as has former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, while a Republican in the know said to expect “someone not currently in office” to announce a run.Mums the word on who this is – we could not break through the wall of silence on this one.
PLANTING A FLAG: The Michigan legislature may have flipped blue for the first time in 40 years, but that has not prevented first term Rep. Donni Steele (R-Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Auburn Hills and Orion Township) from firmly planting her conservative flag in Lansing and proudly waving it. The former Orion Township Treasurer, she is jumping into her new position with both feet, from voting against state funding to distribute one-time $180 relief checks, instead favoring a plan that would repeal the senior pension tax and increased Earned Income Tax Credit. Steele introduced legislation to ban the popular app TikTok from being installed on government issued devices, such as cell phones, stating in a release, “TikTok represents a clear and present danger to our government’s security and vital interests… TikTok is a state and national security threat that should be banned on all government devices across our country, not just in Michigan.” House Bill 4041 has been introduced, co-sponsored with Rep. Tom Kuhn (R-Troy, Madison Heights, Sterling Heights), among others, with Steele noting, “Republicans and Democrats in other states have expressed concerns about TikTok and are advancing legislation to ban the use of the app on government-issued devices.”
LEFTOVER CAMPAIGN FUNDS: No one really talks about one aspect of those who call it quits and leave public office – the left over cash on hand that candidates have amassed. Take former congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (D-Southfield) who did not seek reelection in 2020. She currently sits with $825,000 cash on hand, after paying off any lingering bills for her
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past campaign committee. And that’s after being generous in her donations (up to $2,000 per candidates by law) to a handful of Dem candidates in the 2020 contests, like Dale Kildee and Elissa Slotkin, to mention just a couple. And then there’s the Michigan Democratic Party, which received a $50,000 donation from Lawrence in the most recent election cycle. While the former congresswoman’s leftover funds seem eye-popping, consider the case of Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) who will not be seeking a return to office next year. Her cash on hand, according to the Federal Elections Commission end-of-year report, a staggering $4.45 million. But trust that no one is walking away with the spoils of a past election effort. The rules are pretty tight to prevent personal expenses from being underwritten. Paying for continuing expenses of offices and personnel are still allowed, and there is the allowed creation of a Leadership PAC, basically a slush fund which can be used to back other candidates or issues. Leftover campaign money can also be donated to charities and there’s no cap on donations to local, state or national political parties. Or the funds can just be held to accrue interest while the former office holder decides what to do with the leftover campaign donations in the future. We’ll check in periodically to see what path Lawrence and Stabenow take.
HIDDEN PAY BUMP: Members of the U.S. House got a nice surprise in early January – what amounts to a $34,000 annual pay increase under new rules adopted in late December by the House Administration Committee which also earlier raised the amount of member office budgets to allow for staff increases. House members basically get paid about $174,000 annually and spend about a third of their time in Washington D.C. during the course of a year, which means maintaining two residences – or in some cases bunking with other members of Congress or even sleeping in their offices while doing the nation’s business. House members will now be allowed to get reimbursed for rent, meals and other incidents while working in the nation’s capital. The rules change was first reported by Bloomberg News and comes as a result of a recommendation from a 278-page report generated by a four-year study conducted by the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, which made a number of wideranging suggestions from improving pay for staff to introducing more technology in Congress – you name it. Committee members found that younger House members were finding it difficult to make ends meet when trying to rent in one of the country’s more expensive rental market, leading some to surmise that only those who came to D.C. with wealth could really afford to be there. The cost of the new rule change is estimated to be $15.1 million annually. The House Administration Committee is expected to issue guidelines on the reimbursements in the coming weeks.
LONG-SHOT JOHNSON: Iowans got the first taste of potential presidential campaign candidate Perry Johnson of Bloomfield Township during the Super Bowl, thanks to a one-minute, $192,000 commercial by the self-billed “quality guru” who claims to have saved the auto industry. Millionaire Johnson, you will remember, spent $7 million of his own money in the last gubernatorial GOP primary here in Michigan until he and four other candidates had their nomination petitions rejected due to fraudulent signatures. So much for quality control, right? The mid-70s Republican swore off future state political runs but suggested then and early this February that he could well try a run for president. So football aficionados were hit with a commercial on Super Bowl Sunday in which some familiar Washington pols were portrayed as bloated figures, among them, Senate Majority Leader ChuckSchumer and Senate colleague Bernie Sanders, as well as Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and other members of the progressive squad, as they are known. The thrust of the satirical plug was to suggest Johnson has a plan, outlined in his latest book –which he never hesitates to promote – about cutting the national debt and budget. Johnson says he will be forming a campaign committee soon which will allow him to raise/spend funds. Don’t despair, his campaign says he will be booking more TV time in the coming weeks so we can all see his Super Bowl message.
Atrip into the craft store Michael’s ended up changing the trajectory of Jamie Wineman’s career.
Seriously.
“I was looking for something that would pique my interest,” said Wineman, who goes by the pseudonym WolfGangGang, a tribute to his young son. “I was thinking I would maybe start building model cars or something. But I walked past the paints, and I just stopped there, and I was like, ‘Okay, this looks fun.’”
That fun has now turned into a successful career and a tribute to his sobriety, with Wineman doing exhibitions of his work in the Chicago area, and now, an exhibit back home at the Metropolitan Museum of Design Detroit.
“Neuroplasticity” is up through March 4, with MMODD partnering with Born and Raised Detroit to benefit Brainworxx, a platform program of MMODD's that gives back to mental health, a cause that Wineman is a huge advocate for.
“My mission in life right now, aside from success… is just any way I can champion mental health, addiction awareness. It's the most important thing in my life other than my family,” Wineman said.
For those who are familiar with Detroit – including the Bloomfield area –Wineman grew up there and was a lifer at Cranbrook Kingswood, where he graduated from in 2002. Wineman has taken memories from his life, his family, old relics from the city, and put them onto canvas. Such as one piece which features Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, a place he holds near and dear to his heart. Growing up where he did became a massive influence in his art.
Which all plays a large role in why doing a show like this in Detroit is a dream come true for Wineman.
“Detroit will always be my home,” he said. “It's really just snowballed into being this large function, which I need to now live up to, which is terrifying, but at the same time, I'm actually really ready for it. I'm excited to show the new pieces, which are really representative of the city of Detroit and what I've taken from it over the years. I'm really excited to debut that.”
Other influences for his work include his grandmother, who was a huge champion of the arts in Detroit, and the city itself, one he still champions even though he’s lived in Chicago the last couple of decades.
Prior to his venture into art, Wineman had a very successful career in the music industry for almost 20 years. But then, he became burnt out as the COVID-19 pandemic continued. The music industry wasn’t conducive to the life he wanted with his wife and son, either. This decision also came with a newfound sobriety for Wineman and a need for a new creative outlet that wasn’t musicrelated.
And once he begin painting, Wineman truly found his style after the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, which was only five minutes down the road from where they lived.
“Something really changed in me, and I think I started painting more honestly after that,” Wineman said. “Once I started painting honestly and just being my authentic self, I think that's when the success really started happening.”
Wineman said he had been told by other galleries that his work was too crazy for them, but that clearly is no longer the case. He’s currently branching into fashion and has upcoming shows in Chicago and New York.
“I’ll paint on anything,” he said.
Story: Dana Casadei
It's been referred to as the birds and the bees: human sexuality; reproductive health; age of consent; reproductive rights – but whatever it is called, sexual education remains the instruction of issues related to human sexuality, and any and all subjects involved with it, from puberty to public health, sexually transmitted diseases and how to avoid unwanted pregnancies. The topics can and do fit under that very wide health umbrella. For public schools, sex education can be both a mandatory health requirement, and the opening of a Pandora's box of cultural taboos and issues.
Sex education has had many different forms since its first implementation back in 1912, per the Annex Teen Clinic. From vague pamphlets on simple hygiene education in the early 1900’s, to a more comprehensive approach following the sexual revolution in the 1960’s, most generations of teens have experienced some variety of approaches to sex ed in school and introduction to puberty at some earlier level in school.
by grace lovins
At the end of January 2023, a nonprofit organization based in Michigan, named Great Schools Initiative (GSI), made headlines after they launched a five-page, opt-out form attempting to manipulate the Michigan statute that allows parents to opt their children out of sex education classes.
This new version demands students be exempt from “rogue sex ed,” as the group has dubbed it, which they consider to be other sexual education not approved by a district's school board. GSI’s form targets the discussion of anything relating to the LGBTQ+ community, under the pretense that all LGBTQ+ topics are inherently sexual, fitting into their definition of “rogue sex ed.”
This Michigan-based effort mirrors what is taking place across the country in terms of the culture war against the LGBTQ+ community, and was initiated by three persons, including two Oakland County residents – Nathan Pawl of Walled Lake and Monica Yatooma of Commerce, a failed Republican primary candidate for the Oakland County Commission considered by some to be an ultra conservative culture warrior in the 2022 primary race.
The Michigan Department of Education addressed GSI’s perceived overstep with a statement that explained opt-out forms are specific to a sex education class, not just any topic that some in a community don’t want children learning about. This isn’t the first time – and likely won’t be the last – that sex education is being straw manned over a political agenda.
Sexual education has long been subjected to political and cultural pushback. Even though the majority of parents in the United States – roughly 98 percent, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. – want their kids to receive sex education from school, a vocal minority continues to target sex education as it becomes more inclusive to students of different cultures, sexualities and gender identities.
Stigma around sex and sex education is nothing new, and part of our culture still considers the topic as taboo or uncomfortable. While those feelings still exist for some, that doesn’t change the fact that teens and young adults are engaging in sexual activity, some as early as their freshman year of high school.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, as of 2021, about 57 percent of high school seniors, 47 percent of juniors and 34 percent of sophomores in the U.S. reported having already had sexual intercourse. Teens are engaging in sexual activity regardless of whether they receive education on how to protect themselves or make healthy choices. The one way society can make sure that young people are aware of how to take care of themselves in this respect is through the education they receive at school, the Guttmacher Institute noted.
“If we have this vacuum of knowledge, students will fill it from the internet,” said Heidi Lyons, professor of sociology at Oakland University. “So, if we have comprehensive sex ed, we can have evidence-based research and provide them correct, medically accurate information. If they’re getting it from other resources, or, even worse, from porn, then we’re in a really bad spot.”
In the U.S., there is no federal requirement to teach sexual education, and because of this not all states do. Only 38 states and the District of Columbia require that sex education and/or HIV education be taught in schools, reports the Guttmacher Institute, but of those states only 25 mandate both HIV and sex education.
Currently, according to the Guttmacher Institute, there are only two federally funded programs for evidence-based and medically accurate sex education – comprehensive sex education is both evidence-based and medically accurate, but federal funding is not set aside specifically for these programs. The first funding stream, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, supports the implementation of programs for reducing adolescent pregnancy. The second, Personal Responsibility Education Program, supports programs that aim to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) and adolescent pregnancies by emphasizing abstinence and contraception.
There are three main types of sex education, according to Advocates for Youth: abstinence-only-until-marriage, abstinenceplus, and comprehensive sex education.
“Abstinence-only-until-marriage” programs, sometimes referred to as Sexual Risk Avoidance, are centered around teaching abstinence only. This approach emphasizes that individuals should be abstinent until marriage, and that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way of preventing unintended health consequences, such as unintended pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections, said Advocates for Youth.
Abstinence-only education, as it is known today, has been the standard approach in many public schools since the 1990s, reports the National Coalition Against Censorship, but research proves that it is ineffective. A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health indicates that abstinence-only education does not delay sexual initiation or reduce sexual risk behaviors. On top of that, these programs, according to the study, naturally provide incomplete information and often neglect a broad range of students.
“Abstinence-only, oftentimes, the way that it’s implemented is abstinence only until heterosexual, cisgender marriage, which for a lot of people isn’t realistic,” said Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health, a nonprofit organization that provides support and sex education resources for teens, parents, educators and providers.
“We know that leaves out a lot of people, and what about young people who have been sexually assaulted who didn’t have the choice on whether they were abstinent or not. Abstinence-only just brings in this whole other level of shame and stigma, and young people, if they don’t feel like it applies to them, are checking out and not hearing any of the information,” she continued.
Research also shows the opposite is true for comprehensive sex education – an evidence-based, inclusive approach. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that comprehensive sex education has been proven to reduce sexual risk behaviors, sexual activity, adolescent pregnancies and rates of STI’s.
Similar to the abstinence-only approach, “abstinence-only plus” programs emphasize that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method of preventing unintended health consequences, but this approach also includes information on forms of contraception and condoms, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Comprehensive sex education can encompass a variety of topics outside of what is taught in abstinence-only programs. The approach can be abstinence-based, so students still learn the benefits and importance of remaining abstinent, but comprehensive programs aim to provide students with a holistic education, providing developmentally appropriate knowledge and skills necessary to make healthy decisions throughout their life. Some topics incorporated into comprehensive programs include building healthy relationships, consent, preventing sexual abuse and partner violence, and developing media literacy and social emotional learning, said the Journal of Adolescent Health.
A comprehensive approach to sex education can begin as early as elementary school, with age-appropriate conversations about things such as consent, personal health and wellness and social and emotional health.
“I think that people get confused when we say we want to do
One thing that has also remained constant throughout these periods, though, is a resistance from a segment of the population as well as various misconceptions surrounding sex education. Sex education has been, and still often is, a target for political and religious opposition, especially as these programs attempt to evolve to be inclusive for students of all cultures and identities.
some of these topics in a developmentally appropriate way in younger grades which can be very important, like talking about consent,” Gal said.
“Consent doesn’t just need to be sexual consent – it could be ‘someone asked if they could borrow my pencil, I said no, they need to respect that,’ or, ‘they asked to give me a hug, I said no, they should respect that.’ That can be taught at kindergarten, even before,” explained Gal. “Topics around sexuality – there’s all different kinds of families, so talking about a family with two moms. There are things that can be introduced where folks can see themselves in a very developmentally appropriate way at all ages, and I think that’s important in building health relationships, bodily autonomy, and having the ability and comfort to ask questions as they are ready to ask them and understand.”
Despite over half of high school seniors reporting they’ve already had sex, only 38 percent of high schools and 14 percent of middle schools teach all of the critical topics of sex education laid out by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), reports SIECUS.
“When you look at 26 million STI cases in the U.S. every year, half of them are 15 to 24 years olds but they only represent 26 percent of the sexually active population,” said Lhauren Singleton, executive director of ASPIRE Relationship Education, a nonprofit that aims to educate and empower students to foster healthy relationships and make positive choices. “That is a staggering statistic when you think about the risk for teens, but also when you consider some of the other things that go along with that – dating violence, lack of consent, not using contraception.”
In Michigan, school districts are required to teach about communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, at least once a year for every building level, i.e. once a year in elementary, middle and high school. Sexual education, on the other hand, is not required by the state, but if school districts do choose to incorporate sex education into the curriculum, there are specific rules they have to follow.
Per the Michigan Department of Education, HIV/AIDS and sex education must stress abstinence as a responsible method of preventing unplanned pregnancies, and that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method against unplanned pregnancies, STI’s, and HIV/AIDS. Sex education material must “not be medically inaccurate” and must be age appropriate. Districts have to inform parents of the content in advance, and parents have the ability to opt their child out of sex education classes.
The state also requires that every district offering sex education establishes a sex education advisory board (SEAB), made up of students in the district, parents of students in the district, educators, community health professionals and local clergy. At least half of the board’s members must be parents of students in the district, but a majority of those parents cannot be employed by the school district.
These boards are responsible for establishing sex education programs and objectives, reviewing and recommending methods to school boards, and reporting the achievement of program goals and objectives every two years, per state statute.
Bloomfield Hills Schools’ offers sex education as part of their comprehensive health education curriculum, said Karen Huyghe, communications director of Bloomfield Hills School District. Topics in the curriculum are guided by national standards and Michigan grade-level content expectations, she said. As required by law, Bloomfield Hills Schools has a SEAB.
April Imperio, superintendent for Student Learning and Inclusion in the Birmingham Public School District, shared via email that the Michigan Merit Curriculum requires school districts to provide one health and physical education credit in high school – they must provide 50 hours of health education for each grade pre-K through 12.
The Birmingham district includes the Michigan Model for Health module on Reproductive Health in high school health courses. The health content is organized by strands, including nutrition and
physical activity, alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, safety, social and emotional health, personal health and wellness, HIV prevention and sexuality education, Imperio said.
The Michigan Model for Health (MMH), per the its website, is a comprehensive health education curriculum developed by the Michigan Department of Education and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services which targets pre-K through 12th grade students utilizing a skills based approach. The lessons are ageappropriate, focusing on the most serious health challenges students face, giving students the knowledge and skills needed to maintain healthy behaviors and lifestyles, said the website. Districts still get to decide on the implementation of the curricula.
“The MMH is something that … has consistently received investments from the state in terms of updating curriculum and adding components that maybe were not originally included –things like maybe how to prevent abuse or topics like consent – and a focus on age-appropriateness, always,” said Amber Bellazaire, policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy (MLPP), a nonpartisan policy institute based in Lansing.
MMH was first established in 1984 for grades K-12 and added pre-K to the curriculum in 2017. In 2020, according to Bellazaire, Michigan invested $3.8 million in general funds to various family health programs, including the MMH. Despite large investments and national recognition, the MMH curriculum is not used by all districts in the state.
“It feels valuable to utilize that investment if it’s something the state has over time continued to invest in and expand and improve upon. It’s a model that I think should be considered by districts because there’s been a lot of uptake and a lot of solid investment from the state. There’s consensus that it’s really valuable and it can be tailored to a specific district,” Bellazaire continued.
Although the MMH receives funding from the state, federal funds as well as funds from Michigan are not available specifically for comprehensive sex education programs.
Ambraa Redrick, CEO and co-founder of Teen Hype, a youth development and leadership organization that provides various programs to teach leadership skills, readiness abilities, how to access sexual health services and engage in healthy risk-taking, noted that a lot of the funding is centered around addressing problems as opposed to simply providing education.
“People who fund sexual health work fund it because they are problem-focused, so they want to solve teen pregnancy, they want to prevent poverty, HIV, risk behaviors,” Redrick said. “They are thinking about and trying to solve a problem, however if we really think about it, there isn’t a problem to be solved. Instead, young people just need a holistic approach and sexual health is one of 50,000 things that young people need.”
Funding from the state of Michigan is not specific to comprehensive sex education programs, but money from the state’s general fund is allocated to public school districts to support staffing and other needs for implementing sex education, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy. The lack of funding for comprehensive programs, however, is not the only factor hindering its availability.
The comprehensive approach to sex education establishes an inclusive, non-shaming learning environment for all students, regardless of a student’s identity – something that just isn’t found in abstinence-only education. Because of this, there are objection to these programs being implemented in public schools, which has
increasingly been vocalized, and is paving the way for what has been dubbed the “next cultural battleground” in Michigan.
The opposition can be boiled down to two conflicting sides that either feel comprehensive sex education either decreases risk behaviors, or that comprehensive sex education increases risk behaviors. Research decisively disproves the latter.
There are some who believe that a comprehensive approach to sex education encourages teens to engage in sex, or even go as far to say that these programs teach students how to have sex – but there is no evidence to support this. In reality, comprehensive programs do not increase the probability of students engaging in sexual activity, sexual risk-taking behavior or STI/HIV infection rates, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Culture Organization (UNESCO). Comprehensive programs provide the appropriate information and skills to help youth delay sexual initiation and protect themselves when they do become sexually active, according to Advocates for Youth.
“We know that with comprehensive sex ed, [students] are more likely to know what's going on with their bodies. They’re more likely to say what they want or don’t want. It does not increase the likelihood that they’ll have sex earlier than they would have otherwise,” said Oakland University's Gal.
Opposition doesn’t just come from misconceptions or misunderstandings about comprehensive sex education programs. Much of the vocalized objection as a result of sex education becoming a politicized topic, and Great Schools Initiative is just another recent example of this. What often gets overlooked or disregarded when sex education is inserted into the political realm is how that affects students.
“Sex ed as a parent, talking to your kids, is a hard conversation to have. Everybody wants to know how you have the talk,” said Singleton, of ASPIRE Relationship Education,. “I think it’s safe to say that this is just a hard subject, and unfortunately, it’s been politicized since the very beginning of its history. With that and all of our different approaches to further our political agendas, there are people who are impacted by the tug-of-war that we’ve been in for a very long time.”
Michigan’s patch-work system for sex education, in which education is inconsistent and changes district-to-district, opens the door for the implementation of policies or curriculums that stigmatize or excludes marginalized students, says Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. Sexual and gender minority youth, which includes LGBTQ+ youth, often do not receive sex education that discusses their needs and questions which can be detrimental, said Andrea Kelley, distinguished teacher-scholar doctoral fellow in the Consortium for Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Youth at Michigan State University.
“Sex education that is not inclusive to SGM (sexual and gender minority) students has a variety of harmful outcomes," said Kelley. “By not discussing SGM people, these students become invisible and may potentially turn to other sources of information that may not be helpful, realistic or medically accurate. Often when SGM topics are discussed, they’re often kept separate, categorizing SGM youth as an 'other,' which is not inclusivity,” they said.
“A true inclusivity incorporates SGM people, bodies, relationships and sex throughout the curriculum. It helps cisgender, heterosexual students understand their SGM peers, but it also helps to change the narrative around gender and sexuality to be more inclusive and expansive at its root,” Kelley continued.
The CDC’s 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that there are substantial health disparities among sexual minority students, which puts them at risk for negative health outcomes, like contracting HIV or STI’s. As reported by Reuters, young individuals who identify as lesbians and bisexual women are roughly twice as likely as those who identify as heterosexual to experience teen pregnancy. Sexual health educators have noted that a lack of representation or inclusivity in sexual health education plays a big role in this.
“Particularly for many marginalized communities, not being represented in the curriculum, the schools or even the staffing could really lead to alienation, being disconnected and, unfortunately, for some it could lead to harming themselves, suicide or being bullied,” said Roland Sintos Coloma, professor of teacher education at Wayne State University.
“This understanding is not just for those who are in the margins, but also those who, generally, we might consider part of the dominant. When we don’t think that some are not worth it, that they can be erased, then that means they’re disposable, that these are folks not worthy to be seen as fully human, fully citizens or peers,” he continued.
Not only do SGM students miss out on learning about their bodies and health, but those who identify as heterosexual also miss out on learning about their SGM peers. On top of this, some students may not identify as heterosexual across their lifespan, explained Dave Garcia, executive director of Affirmations LGBTQ+ community center in Ferndale. Regardless of identity, the lack of consistent, evidence-based, medically accurate information is a detriment to all, and this doesn’t just impact adolescents while they're in school – it carries into adulthood.
“This is not just a queer problem,” Garcia said. “We’ve been dealing with trying to provide scientifically accurate, culturally competent sex education for all people, queer and straight, for a very long time. It just continues to be fought mostly from the religious right and when that happens, we see increased rates of STI’s, unintended pregnancy, domestic violence and many other detrimental issues simply because we’re ignoring.
“We’re not telling young people the truth and we’re not being transparent with them, and I think young people understand far more than sometimes they’re given credit for,” he further expounded. “We have a responsibility to teach young people, from all ages that is age-appropriate, the things that they need to understand to have a healthy, safe sex life or simply understanding their bodies.”
Given it's status as a political topic, a crucial element in improving the state of sex education in schools falls in the hands of legislators. As mentioned, only half of the country requires that students receive both HIV/AIDS and sex education. Oakland University's Lyons noted that there's been a slide back since sex education was first introduced. Students today are learning less in these classes than they did back in the 1960’s and 70’s, per Planned Parenthood, but with access to a broad range of information at their fingertips, it’s imperative for all students to have a space where they know they’re going to receive accurate information they can carry throughout their lives.
“I think it is incredibly important at the state level to have bills that support the introduction and the teaching of comprehensive sex education. It is through those bills that could support the Michigan Department of Education in curriculum and curriculum standards that could then be implemented in the school district and at the school level,” Coloma of Wayne State said.
“It’s incredibly important that we have that support at the state level so that it could trickle down at the school district level, because right now what’s happening is a lot of informal work in classrooms and schools, and those are not fully protected. Any kind of complaint or backlash from a student, fellow teacher, or parents or guardians, could really muzzle and mute these kinds of efforts that are happening.”
Nowa lieutenant, Bryan Pizzuti has been with the Bloomfield Township Police Department since 2000, where he previously served as a patrol officer and as a Task Force Officer with the FBI Violent Gang & Violent Crimes Task Force. His current responsibilities include the supervision of patrol sergeants, patrol officers and civilian employees who carry out day-to-day operations for the department.
Pizzuti grew up in Pennsylvania, where he earned a degree in psychology and a master’s in social work with a concentration in child development. His first job related to law enforcement was with the Washington County Juvenile Probation Department in Pennsylvania.
Throughout his career, the most rewarding part has always been helping someone in need. “It can be something as simple as changing a flat tire for someone on the side of the road to solving a homicide,” said Pizzuti. “There is such a wide spectrum.”
The gratitude he has for the people he currently serves seems to go both ways. “In Bloomfield Township, we have a great amount of community support for public safety as a whole for the police and fire departments,” he said. “During the holidays, people drop off food and stop by to say thank you. They are always showing signs of appreciation.”
Pizzuti, who lives in Farmington Hills with his wife and two children, also works as a contract instructor for Command Presence, a law enforcement training and consulting company based in Georgia. In addition, he is a facilitator for the Michigan State School of Criminal Justice First Line Supervision Course.
Four years ago, he started 232 Training Solutions, LLC, a company focused on providing personal safety and professional development training to the public and private sectors. Courses include self-protection/defense, de-escalation training, critical decision-making and leadership.
“I believe that everybody has the right to defend themselves and the right to professional development,” he said. “Not only for self-defense, but public safety as a whole.”
Pizzutti originally taught self-defense and de-escalation courses in the police department before branching out to critical decisionmakers in Bloomfield Township like firefighters and dispatchers. Since then, he has expanded to include other cities and general community audiences, including youth groups and senior centers.
Self-defense courses for women and families are also available. Pizzuti even did a course for a sorority alumni group and he taught a de-escalation leadership course to local executives from an entertainment chain. “It’s not just for law enforcement,” he said. “It can be helpful with the everyday.”
Self-defense courses begin with a group discussion before the hands-on part of the program. “You hope you never have to use it, but it’s good to have the training,” said Pizzuti.
“It’s an empowerment course. What it comes down to is confidence. You are stronger than you think, but sometimes you need that little boost. It helps if you have a plan and develop a strategy.”
After one class, someone told him that he re-established her self-worth.
There is still work to be done on a regular basis. “Everybody is looking for a quick fix. I’m only going to give them a foundation. They have to embrace and absorb the training and they have to practice it every day. It has to be a lifestyle.”
His mission is clear. “I don’t want people to be paranoid,” said Pizzuti. “I just want them to be prepared.”
Story: Jeanine Matlow
Photo: Laurie Tennent
o make a visual statement on just how bad she sees the stormwater runoff problem coming from Oakland County that leads into Lake St. Clair, Macomb County Water Resources Commissioner Candice Miller stood at the mouth of the Red Run Drain on the shoreline at 13 Mile and Dequindre in early March of 2020.
Two months earlier, between January 11-12, the area received nearly five inches of rain, causing elevated sewer levels and the subsequent release of 774 million gallons of a combined sewerage overflow into the Red Run drain, a tributary to the Clinton River Watershed. The sewerage came upstream from Oakland County.
As the flushable wipes stuck to the vegetation along the shore and fluttered in the breeze in the background, Miller looked into the camera and implored Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner James Nash to do something to clean up Oakland County’s mess.
The incident is just one in a decades-long squabble between the water officials in Oakland and Macomb counties about what factors and sources are to blame for letting pollution enter the watersheds that feed into our main drinking water source – Lake St. Clair. When large rain events happen, such as the flooding we endured in the spring and summers of 2014, 2020 and 2021, stormwater and the debris and sewerage they carry with them cannot be completely contained in the retention basins meant to hold them, and billions of gallons flow downstream.
It cannot be helped that Macomb County rests downriver from Oakland County. But officials from Warren to Clinton feel that during heavy rains, their own sewer systems cannot keep up, much less with the added burden from Oakland County’s runoff that they say includes billions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewerage into the Clinton River watershed and ultimately into Lake St. Clair, the drinking water source for nearly four million people in southeast Michigan.
BY STACY GITTLEMAN
PHOTO: US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
In October 2022, the Macomb County Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance that stated raw and partially treated sewage is discharged routinely by Oakland County and is feeding into Lake St. Clair. The ordinance alleges that waterborne pollution coming from Oakland County is causing a host of problems including harm to lakeside property values, a decline in health to the water and therefore the people and wildlife that depend on the water, and beach closures and degradation due to the heightened presence of E. coli that also is causing unchecked growth of invasive, rancid smelling cyanobacteria (Lyngbya wollei), commonly known as algal mats.
he ordinance states that Macomb County is spending millions on their end to clean up the lake and Clinton River Watershed, and they are demanding Oakland County do the same and that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) “take a leadership role and no longer permit this situation for the residents who are forced to live with sewage continuously flowing from Oakland County, and to provide funding to help finance corrective actions.”
But how accurate are these claims coming from Macomb County, and is it true that Oakland County is in continual violation of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits? Is it true that nothing is being done and it is in Nash’s office to remediate the problem?
In order to understand the challenge of managing our wastewater stream, we must go back in history to the 1800s, when the industrialized development of our cities and outlying towns realized the importance of moving human waste away from population centers and into bodies of water.
The older systems of moving wastewater are called combined sewer overflows, or CSOs. Mostly found in older neighborhoods and developments constructed before the 1950s, CSO systems collect both wastewater –anything that goes down the drain from residential and commercial bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms, and stormwater runoff – into the same infrastructure system. Under normal precipitation patterns, all this wastewater flows to a sewage treatment plant for treatment. The treated water is discharged back into the water system and filtered-out solid waste is sent to a waste treatment plant.
However, during large rain events, stormwater overwhelms the capacity of CSOs, causing back-ups into basements and overflow into rivers, lakes, and streams. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are 33 NPDES permits for CSO discharges in the Great Lakes Basin in Michigan. Nationally, CSOs are a priority of water pollution concern for 700 municipalities across the nation that still use these sewer systems.
According to EGLE reports, addressing CSOs is a priority for Michigan with respect to wastewater infrastructure. Since 1988, the number of uncontrolled CSOs in the state has declined from 310 to 76. The 23 remaining suburban CSOs will be corrected by 2025, along with a goal to correct high-priority outfalls in the city of Detroit by 2037.
If you live in a newer suburb, the grey infrastructure beneath you is a separated sewer system, or SSO. That means that the water from your home is routed to one set of pipes that bring wastewater to a treatment plant where the water and sewerage is filtered, separated, cleansed and disinfected before it returns to our waterways. A second set of pipes carries untreated stormwater runoff into storm drains and flows directly into the nearest body of water. That’s why it matters to limit how much fertilizer you apply to lawns, keep neighborhood storm drains clear of leaf debris and litter, and to be mindful of any oil spills or leaks from vehicles. Though separated sewer systems are a better option than combined sewers, they still have their drawbacks. This is because as development expands and creates more impervious surfaces like roads, sidewalks and paved parking lots, rainfall cannot penetrate the ground but instead surges into our watersheds, carrying pollutants such as excessive fertilizer and animal waste with it.
Marie McCormick, executive director of Friends of the River Rogue, explains the importance of migrating from a CSO to a separated SSO, and why it is so complex and hard to attain for some communities. McCormick’s organization’s mission is the stewardship of the River Rogue, the 127-mile watershed that ambles through many communities in southeast Oakland County, including Birmingham.
She explained: “As we face wetter weather patterns due to climate
change, there’s just too much water for the antiquated CSOs to handle. The fact that we have paved over many pervious surfaces with impervious roads, houses and parking lots doesn’t help matters either. So, the water has nowhere to go but into our overburdened sewer system.”
She continued: “There is a direct correlation between household income and existing and remaining CSOs. They are still being used in Inkster, Dearborn Heights, Redford, Detroit and Dearborn. Municipalities like this may lack the resources and funding to separate their sewer systems. That’s why the city of Detroit is not legally obligated to separate their sewer system until 2037. While there is a lot of work to be done, we are in a remarkably better place than where we were from the 1970s as far as raw sewerage runoff.”
Environmentalists like McCormick who serve on various local watershed advocacy organizations understand that beyond the essential need to keep our drinking water supplies clean, the tributaries that lead into our Great Lakes enhance the quality of life for the millions of Michiganders who live along the waterways, from kayaking to fishing and swimming. Spanning 760 square miles from the top of Oakland County in Oxford and ambling down and through Macomb County, the Clinton River Watershed borders on some of the most populous cities in Michigan. Over 1.5 million people live near its shores, which empty into Lake St. Clair, a drinking water supply for nearly four million people. Fishing enthusiasts may know that this state-designated water trail is the last remaining cold water trout streams in southeast Michigan.
Stormwater runoff is the greatest threat to water quality to the watershed and ultimately, Lake St. Clair.
To catch and treat as much stormwater as possible, Oakland County operates four retention treatment basins (RTBs) in Acacia Park, Birmingham, Bloomfield Village and the state’s largest, which sits at the mouth of the Clinton River, the George W. Kuhn.
RTBs are a series of large storage tanks meant to hold and filter water streaming from combined sewers. During a large rain event, excess combined sewage gets sent to the RTB once the sewers become full. The combined sewage flows through screens that filter out debris such as sanitary trash. Then, a disinfectant is applied to allow adequate time to kill disease-causing organisms. In the basin, solids settle out and the skimming baffle prevents the discharge of floatable material and oils. Once the capacity of the RTB is exceeded, the treated overflow is sent to surface water resulting in a discharge that is protective of public health and the environment. When the rain event ends and there is capacity available in the sewer, the contents of the RTB are drained back to the sewer to be sent to the wastewater treatment plant.
The George W. Kuhn Drainage District in Madison Heights serves 14 communities, encompassing a drainage area of 24,500 acres upstream of the Red Run Drain, a tributary of the Clinton River. During dry weather, all flow is routed to the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant. But during heavy rainfall, high volumes of combined sewage exceed the outlet capacity to Detroit, causing excess flow to be diverted to the facility’s retention basins where it is stored, screened and disinfected prior to discharge to the Red Run Drain.
With retention basins that can hold 124 million gallons of stormwater runoff, the George W. Kuhn is regarded nationally as a state-of-the-art water treatment facility and is visited by water and sewage authorities nationwide to study the complex.
andice Miller maintains that the George Kuhn Retention and Treatment basin is a thorn in Macomb County’s side. She and other Macomb County officials for decades have complained that too much overflow is dumped downriver, causing everything from beach closures to algae growth and an overall degradation to the water quality of Lake St. Clair.
This spring, Miller said Macomb County has plans to embark on a study with the University of Michigan and the Army Corps of Engineers to study the quantity of the stormwater flowing from the George W. Kuhn and into the Red Run drain, as she believes there is an excess of stormwater running from this drain into Macomb County that should be allowed and is causing flooding in Macomb County.
“We can’t even take care of our own flooding because our drains are so supersaturated with what’s coming from Oakland County. We want to
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know what they are going to do about that,” Miller said.
But Laura Verona, EGLE’s Wastewater Division district supervisor of the Public Wastewater Unit who oversees Warren for Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair and Wayne counties, dispelled the false notion that any effluent from the George Kuhn RTB or the Chapaton RTB in Macomb County is being released as untreated raw sewerage.
Said Verona, “Let’s say you have a pipe in a CSO and 90 percent of the width of that pipe is filled with rainwater runoff. The remaining 10 percent of the diameter of that pipe contains sewerage from homes and commercial buildings. All that water gets screened, skimmed and all the sewerage then gets settled to the bottom. Then the water is disinfected before it is released into our waterways. Our records show that the George Kuhn and the Evergreen-Farmington Sanitary Drainage District in Oakland County, as well as the Chapaton in Macomb County have very good compliance records and are operating the way they should according to their permits.”
Verona was referring to the Evergreen-Farmington Sanitary Drainage District in Oakland County. It is part of a $68 million cross-county project announced by the Great Lakes Water authority in February of 2021, that aims to divert about 48 million gallons of stormwater mixed with sewage from making it into the Rogue River and into Lake Erie. Newly announced enhancements to Evergreen-Farmington will secure additional wet weather flow capacity into the regional wastewater system as part of GLWA’s 30 year-plan for improving water quality into the Rouge River.
During the deluge storms of June 2021, EGLE reported four separate incidents of sanitary sewer overflow into the Upper Rogue on June 25, 2021, spilling 26,135,420 gallons into the waterway from the EvergreenFarmington sanitary sewer.
Charles Hill, EGLE Water Resources Division (WRD) statewide coordinator, said when it comes to the discrepancies between Macomb and Oakland county water officials, his agency works to facilitate better solutions across the counties by sharing best practices. Regarding the ordinance that the Macomb County Commission just passed against Oakland County, Verona and Hill are reviewing the document and will address any inaccuracies they encounter.
“We want to best inform people of our position, and maybe there's a piece of public education that could help us understand what those discharges are,” explained Hill. “One common misconception is that these retention treatment basin facilities are releasing raw sewage. These retention basin facilities had to go through a design approval to meet water quality standards set by the Clean Water Act. Simply put: these are not discharges of raw sewage and these facilities are operating properly.”
Verona echoed Hill’s opinion. “Just as with the Oakland County retention basins, we have had good compliance history with Macomb County’s retention basins,” said Verona. “If there is a violation from a discharge, my staff evaluates the circumstances, and we take appropriate action.”
In comparison to the exceedingly wet summer of 2021, Verona said overall, 2022 was a dry year. Though the entire report on incidences of combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows for 2022 has yet to be released, Verona recalled that all retention basins in Macomb and Oakland counties had little activity.
“A common theme that year were a few big storms, one involving snow melt with rain in February, and others in June and August where both the Kuhn and the Chapaton retention basin in Macomb had discharges. But overall, it was a quiet year,” she said.
infrastructure for resiliency, and that includes green infrastructure,” Hill said.
“Every discussion on stormwater runoff needs to include green infrastructure planning,” stressed Verona. “The best way to prevent storm runoff is at the countless non-point sources where they start: from our roofs, lawns and suburban streets. Many can do their part by installing a rain barrel to their home downspout or create a rain garden. Municipal planning should include impervious surfaces to avoid overburdening the sewer systems.”
Though Hill maintained that separated and sanitary sewers may be a better alternative to combined sewer systems, and most who live in Oakland or Macomb’s newer developments have separated sewers, they are not without their drawbacks.
“Separate sanitary sewers are also subject to wet weather, and even though they're supposed to be designed to be tight and not accept infiltration or inflow, that's typically not the case. We deal with sanitary sewer overflows, and this is a bigger issue because now there are many more communities with sanitary sewer systems than combined sewer systems. “
erona added that in many instances, to save costs, communities may use existing infrastructure from combined sewer systems to create a separated system, leading to problems like leaks and pipe breakages down the road.
“Though EGLE has data from treated effluent from retention treatment basins, we cannot say where the problem lies when we do not monitor measure or test the untreated water flowing into separated storm sewers,” said Verona. “Whatever the stormwater picks up as it flows over the land, be it excessive fertilizer, animal waste or even animal carcasses, that flows directly into the sewer and into our waterways in a separated system."
In its 2021 annual report on Combined and Sanitary Sewer Overflows, EGLE noted there were more events than usual due to the above-average precipitation.
The annual precipitation total for all of Michigan in 2021 was 33.52 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the average rainfall ever since NOAA has been keeping records – 1895 –for Michigan is approximately 31.68 inches. The most dramatic display of projected wetter weather was the unforgettable weekend of June 25-26, when five to seven inches of rain fell across metro Detroit, causing widespread power outages, and pump station failures which resulted in significant flooding.
In 2021, there were 383 CSO events reported for a total volume of approximately 46.74 billion gallons, but 37.96 billion gallons were discharged as treated and sanitized and disinfected to protect public health in compliance with the water quality standards as set by the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act of 1994. In total, there were 28 CSO events in Oakland County in 2021, and seven events in Macomb County, most emanating from the George Kuhn and Chapaton retention basins.
EGLE in 2021 reported the following three violations from Oakland and Macomb counties due to higher than permitted fecal and chlorine counts:
Both Hill and Verona agreed that as weather patterns which deliver a very large amount of rain in a short span of time following long stretches of nearly drought conditions become more common, storm system managers and those who plan and fund infrastructure projects are going to have to plan accordingly so retention basins can minimize spillovers.
Hill said that looking towards the future, the rains we endured in June of 2021, or the late summer of 2014, will no longer be regarded as once-in-acentury storms, and unfortunately, our CSOs were designed for just that.
“Those century or even quarter-century storms, that’s what the old data sets predicted, but we need to approach how we handle water runoff with a whole new set of data points. We are keeping an eye from federal resources on how to adjust these datasets, and also rethink how we create
On July 25, 2021, the George Kuhn exceeded its (400 ml#/100mL) limit of fecal matter by reporting (1092 #/100mL). On June 27, the Birmingham retention basin exceeded its chlorine permit limit levels of 1.6 mg/L) by reporting 2.0 mg/L. In Macomb County on Dec. 11, 2021, the Chapaton RTB exceeded its chlorine permit limit levels of (1.5 mg/L) when it reported 1.58 mg/L.
In 2021 there were 294 Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) events reported, releasing 293.4 million gallons. Of these, there were 42 in Oakland County in places like Troy, with most of them coming from the Pontiac treatment facility, and four were in Macomb County.
The 2021 report also stated that the George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin discharged 3.1 billion gallons of combined sewer flow into the Red Run Drain that year, including one million gallons of raw sewage on June 26, 2021.
In reports filed by Nash to EGLE on activity in 2022 on behalf of the Oakland County Water Resources Commission, between December14, 2021, through December 12, 2022, there were 24 CSOs into the Kuhn retention basin due to rain events and snowfall. Of those overflows, 21 were
contained within the retention basin while three discharges ran into the Red Run Drain. Nash’s office in this report maintained that the Kuhn did not violate its NPDES permit in these three discharges.
Nash said Oakland County in recent years has $144 million to treat and improve the effluent coming out of the George Kuhn and to increase its storage capacity.
“Once the water is treated in a full immersion process, it has a very low count of bacteria or contaminant," said Nash. "And the volume of that water is less than one one-hundredth of one percent of the total volume of the watershed, which is 228,194 square miles which includes the Clinton River Watershed, the St. Clair River, and the Lake St. Clair Regional sub-basin drainage area, which includes Canada. I don’t understand why Miller and other leaders in Macomb are focusing on this small amount of water when they need to be looking to other sources of contamination.”
Miller also is holding fast to her claim that the runoff coming from Oakland County from the Red Run Drain contains bacteria such as E. coli that is feeding the growth of invasive algal mats. Miller said Macomb County residents, especially those who have lakeside property, are dealing with the increased presence of Lyngbya, commonly known as algal mats. An invasive species, this unwanted vegetation is clogging up bays and shorelines along Lake St. Clair. They smell like garbage and ruin shoreline property for many homeowners in the area. Macomb County water officials partly blame poor water management practices for the presence of these blooms. They allege that high counts of E. Coli running from the Red Run Basin could be the culprit.
“The only thing that happens to sewerage water at the Kuhn retention basin is that it is shocked with chlorine to kill the E. coli, and then it is discharged (instead of going to a wastewater treatment plant),” said Miller. “We believe that putting sewage into a lake, even if you shock it with chlorine, is not a good practice. It's very bad for the environment. These algal mats are growing along the shoreline right where the Clinton River meets Lake St. Clair. They are so thick you’d think you can stand on them. And they are being fed by something. We can assume that there are nutrients coming out of the sewerage that’s coming down from Oakland County. I am not saying Oakland County is completely to blame, but they are a contributing factor.”
EGLE’s Hill said the reason for the algal mat blooms has more to do with things like animal droppings, including goose droppings and dog waste not picked up as well as excessive overfertilizing of lawns that cause nutrients to run into separate sanitary sewer drains.
“Algal growth, like the mats we are seeing, are typically indicative of a high nutrient content in receiving water, such as phosphorus and nitrogen compounds. Bacteria like E. Coli is a separate matter and do not contribute to the growth of algae."
EGLE aquatic biologists explain that lake vegetation that should be naturally decaying in undeveloped natural shorelines is instead building up against shoreline “hardening” that comes with extensive development. Because dead and decaying vegetation often floats, it ends up wherever the prevailing winds and water flow deposit it. They often build up in canals, boat bays, and launches, and against solid piers or jetties.
According to EGLE, invasive species such as zebra mussels have also created a hospitable environment for the algal mats.
Jennifer Hill, executive director of Friends of the Clinton Watershed, said in some part, algal mats are more likely caused by an excess of animal waste runoff from geese and dogs as well as nutrient runoff from excessive applications of lawn fertilizer.
“Data from our ecologists conclude that beach closings in our metro beaches due to E. coli counts are more tied to avian and bovine waste and not human waste,” she said. “So, things are being put into place, such as having dogs chase geese away from the shores. Also, E. coli is sequestered into the sediment where it is naturally recycled.”
When it comes to taking responsibility, Miller said Macomb County is aware that their “hands have been dirty” and they’ve played their part of polluting Lake St. Clair.
In a 2018 report, for example, the Macomb County Health Department recorded a total overflow of 3,436,112,000 gallons of water from Retention Basin/CSOs from the county's six retention basins. A few overflows did not
meet up to the county's NDPES permit, that included a February 2018 overflow of 70,000 gallons into the Clinton Golden RTB that resulted in news reports from the time revealing that Clinton Township officials said human error was the reason tens of thousands of gallons of sewage made its way into the Clinton River.
A March 2022 report from Miller’s office of the Macomb County Department of Public Works reported that in 2021, the Chapaton Retention Treatment Basin and the Martin Drain Retention Treatment Basin discharged a total of 411 million gallons and 405 million gallons of treated CSOs, respectively, into Lake St. Clair.
“Our hands have been dirty but now we are trying to right wrongs with a multitude of infrastructure projects with the help of funding drawn from local, state and federal levels,” said Miller. “We are focused. We could have been spending this on something else, but we highly value our natural resources of the Great Lakes, and we believe this is the right thing to do. We feel strongly that we need to reduce combined sewer overflows and we are doing that.”
But she quipped: “Whatever is coming out of Macomb County’s drains and sewers, it is not being dumped on Oakland County. We want to know if Oakland County is doing the same, meaning what are they doing to control their combined sewerage overflows. Treating raw sewerage with just bleach, just because that’s what your NPDES permit says is okay, still does not make it right to then dump this bleached sewerage into Macomb County.”
verall, Miller hopes there can be better communication between her department and Nash’s department, especially during extreme weather events as in June 2021. "It would have been helpful if the Oakland WRC notified Macomb County that an overflow discharge of five billion gallons of treated discharge was headed its way through the Red Run Drain," said Miller. "While some discharge overflows cannot be helped in the most severe weather events, in the future, I am hoping for better communication, especially since the state expects more events of extremely wet weather due to climate change.
"I am hoping that Jim and I can work together because climate change is happening," Miller continued. "Our infrastructure that includes combined sewers were built decades ago and were not designed for the development we have witnessed in both our counties. We are doing our part in Macomb. We’ve separated sewer systems. We are keeping on top and educating homeowners to look after their septic tanks. We store as much of the rain flow as our retention basins can hold until the rain event has passed and then slowly release it through 68 miles of sanitary sewer lines which transport waste from more than 800,000 residents and businesses to the Great Lakes Water Authority Water Resource Recovery Facility for proper treatment.”
Miller made note of some recent costly projects to migrate away from CSOs, the source of what she believes is the largest contributor to water degradation.
“The city of Mount Clemens completely separated their sewer at the cost of $20 million assessed to their residents. Now they no longer use a CSO that flows into the Clinton River. Clinton Township had a similar issue and they spent $30 million to separate their sewer system, and the city of Warren, which experienced so much flooding and millions of damages seen to properties as well as the General Motors Powertrain plant, has spent nearly $100 million to address their issues.”
Miller continued: "I fully understand that separating sewers is expensive and disruptive, especially in our older communities. But to show our commitment to eliminating CSOs, there are only three communities left in Macomb County which still have them: Roseville, St. Clair Shores, and Eastpointe. We have had explosive growth in the northern part of our county, and up there CSOs do not exist.”
As part of its improvement projects, the city of Warren is installing a bladder-like inflatable wet-weather detention basin at the Chapaton Pump Station. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, and will reduce CSO discharges there by 40 percent.
When inflated during wet weather, the device acts as a levee to temporarily store up to 3.5 million gallons upstream of the dam without risking basement flooding. As the dam is deflated, the flow is gradually released and continues toward GLWA’s wastewater plant in Detroit for full
chemical treatment. During dry weather, the dam remains deflated to allow for normal wastewater flow to the Detroit wastewater treatment facility.
The project construction cost is $9.9 million and will be paid using federal, state, and county funding under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) with no anticipation of a sewer rate increase for residents and businesses in Eastpointe and St. Clair Shores. The 8 ½ Mile Drain Drainage District serves a total of 92,000 people in the two cities.
Similarly, a second project that will create additional storage of 3.6 million gallons of combined flow includes the installation of a weir inside the Martin Drainage District interceptor that serves 78 percent of Roseville and 22 percent of St. Clair Shores.
Other efforts to improve water include increasing green infrastructure like vegetation that holds back rainwater and acts as a natural filter. Macomb County in 2020 acquired more acres of the Anchor Bay Woods in New Baltimore, which county officials said was identified as one of the last remaining large areas with a flat mesic woodland in Michigan.
When it comes to its drain problem, a March 2022 report from Miller’s department announced that Macomb County had embarked on its largest sewer drain inspection in 2021 and it continued through 2022. The inspections included surveying 26 miles of the county’s largest sanitary sewers. An example of success as a result of this process is the retrofitting and “daylighting” of the Sterling relief drain, bringing the portion of this sewer up from underground to act as a natural stream, thus soaking up harmful nutrients and sediment from the flow before it has a chance to reach the Red Run Drain, the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair.
Though he commends Miller and Macomb County’s efforts to separate their sewers and create more flexible retention basins, Oakland County's Jim Nash continued to point to reports from EGLE, the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) and the Great Lakes Water Authority that state 88 percent of the bacteria in Lake St. Clair can be sourced from smaller storm drains in Macomb County.
“Once the water from the Kuhn hits the Clinton River, there are other inputs of pollution – from the Clinton River all the way down to Lake St. Clair. And those drains that keep bringing in pollution are in Macomb County,” said Nash. “The biggest problem and source of E. coli is from dry weather flow and smaller rainfall events, and even leaking septic tanks that let waste seep into tiny underground streams and tributaries because the drains are constantly leaking E. coli. I have approached (Miller) about this but she insists the problem continues to come from the CSOs. I'm guessing the repair of those drains will cost those who live in the area money. She doesn't want them to pay for that so she is going after us.”
Oakland County is keeping ongoing watches on the George Kuhn Drain, where dry weather screening in 2020 revealed suspected discharges into the Clinton River, according to Oakland County reports. Nash said Oakland County uses the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System to regularly investigate the condition of storm drains, which may be an open ditch, stream or underground pipe, in terms of bacteria levels and treat when levels reach unacceptable thresholds.
As they inspect the county drains, Nash suspects Macomb County water officials will find that failing and leaking underground septic tanks are contributing culprits to what’s contaminating Lake St. Clair.
Jennifer Hill, executive director of the Clinton River Watershed Council, said her organization is about to embark on a new study of leaking septic tanks in the county and is deploying a new monitoring tool that can detect underground leaks. Hill hopes to find the sources of where there might be illegal discharges that are happening either from unknowing homeowners or property owners that are illicitly discharging from septic systems.
“The Clinton River Watershed Council is very active in this area of concern, and we do a lot of research and data collection to understand how faulty septic tanks are impacting the watershed,” said Hill. “One of the potential impairments to water quality is eutrophication, meaning the presence of excessive amounts of nutrients. More data is needed to really understand how that's impacting the watershed.”
Kelly Karll, who for the past 14 years has served as SEMCOG’s manager of environment and infrastructure, said Michigan remains one of the only states in the country without a cohesive statewide sanitary code for septic systems.
“The presence of E. coli is so prevalent in all our waterways that nearly every one of them fails to meet up to the (federal) E. coli standard,” said Karll. “The issue is prevalent across the state when it comes to septic ordinances. Most people, when they go to buy a house, may not even know they are buying one with a septic system, and they don't even know what that is or what it entails. There is a huge need for educating the public about them.”
Though raw sewerage runoffs are rare and may become a thing of the past, there is still a long way to go to fix the state’s water infrastructure woes.
Karll said SEMCOG has a decades-long history of shaping water infrastructure policy in Southeast Michigan.
"SEMCOG has had a historic role in bringing people together across counties to share best practices and facilitate solutions that are not siloed into one county. Our efforts not only have an impact on water quality, but benefits to the public and the economic benefits to the region when we have good water quality. Since the 1970's we have worked very hard on policies and bringing people together to find solutions that address both regional and local problems. In the last few decades, southeast Michigan has invested $2 billion in CSO reduction,” Karll said.
At the state level, EGLE in 2020 launched its $500 million MI Clean Water Plan, which earmarks $293 million in grants for wastewater protection and improvement, clean infrastructure, septic tank remediation, and Stormwater, Asset Management, and Wastewater (SAW) grants.
EGLE’s Hill said the money is being managed through the agency’s water infrastructure funding and financing group. Deserving projects from marginalized communities with eligible projects tied to economic stability are eligible for grants that will cover from 10 percent to the full cost of a project.
Nash and other environmentalists and policymakers in the state agree faulty and neglected septic tanks are problematic for reaching cleaner drinking water supplies. According to EGLE, as of 2020, septic systems are used by approximately 30 percent of the state's households. As part of its Michigan Clean Water Plan, the state has developed a low-interest loan program and has allocated $35 million to support homeowners and communities in replacing failing septic systems or eliminating them altogether.
Government leaders contend that Michigan is the only state in the union that does not have a cohesive policy or regulations on septic tanks. Instead, there exists a patchwork of local ordinances pertaining to septic tank maintenance, upkeep and inspection upon the sale of a home with such a system. Both Macomb and Oakland counties have ordinances in place that do not allow the sale of a property with a septic system until it passes inspection.
While this money will be a help to some communities, Karll, cautioned that in order to continually fix and maintain 21st century water infrastructure in Michigan, the funds are a proverbial drop in the bucket. In reality, it will cost up to $3.5 billion – every year – just for the seven counties in southeast Michigan. This is a number that dwarfs the $1 billion that is coming to southeastern Michigan’s aid in the form of the one-time cash infusion from the federal infrastructure bill.
“SEMCOG just completed a study that examined investment needs for water infrastructure in the seven-county region,” Karll said. “Conservatively, I would say that we are looking at a need of 3.5 billion annually. And that’s just for the linear piping system. That number doesn’t include treatment plans and does not include upgrading in the case of those increasing large rain events. So, when Lansing announces in its Clean Water Plan it has set aside a one-time $293 million for projects statewide, that’s not going to make much of a difference. We will need 3.5 billion for proper infrastructure, and we will need that annually. When people talk about the large number of dollars in that once-in-a-lifetime infrastructure bill from the federal government – we need that once-in-a-lifetime funding on an annual basis."
Our adorable pups are enjoying life at Birmingham’s Villa At The District. Click on the QR code below to cast your vote for Forest or Harvey. This month’s winner will receive a gift certificate to Dogtopia for a special doggie spa day.
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Two years after her father passed away, Jessica McGlory launched Guaranteed, a New York City-based company providing modern end-of-life care designed with the patient and the caregiver in mind. Half of the capital raised came from women and/or persons of color.
His death would lead to reflection. “When I thought about him being gone, I needed a moment because I was grieving, but on that two-year anniversary for some reason when I thought about everything that happened, it sparked some ideas that would lead to Guaranteed,” said McGlory, founder and CEO.
Born and raised in Detroit, McGlory went to The Roeper School before attending DePaul University, where she majored in Digital Cinema with a concentration in screenwriting. “My major helped me in my capability for storytelling, communicating effectively and creating new worlds,” she said.
In an effort to create truly inclusive hospice care for all, regardless of income, race or ethnicity, Los Angeles would become the first service area for Guaranteed, with plans to expand to other regions.
“LA has a truly diverse population in need of better hospice care,” said McGlory. “We are able to provide a better quality level of care with technology that makes things easier for the caregiver and the staff.”
Her own loss taught her a lot. “I didn’t know what hospice was until the doctor told me that my father needed it when he was in the hospital. I had worked for a technology company and direct-to-consumer agencies that create an amazing experience for a product or service. I wanted to take my background in technology and create a better experience for people. Ever since hospice first started back in the ‘80s, it’s been pretty similar to its original state,” she said.
“Our tech-enabled experience includes iPads for in-home telemedicine visits with palliative trained nurses, spiritual coordinators, social workers and
dietitians as well as incredible in-person care. In addition to that, patients can text us anytime under the sun.”
This can ease the efforts for others. “There is a lot of burden on family caregivers. This can relieve some of that burden,” said McGlory.
“As a certified hospice provider, we can also provide nurses, but the focus is around pain management and comfort care, so there isn’t a 24/7 nurse with in-home hospice care. We are a hybrid healthcare company. The nurse and the aide also have access to the technology and 24-hour communication.”
The vast majority of people are covered for hospice, so there is no out-ofpocket cost for patients or family members in that case. Guaranteed is Medicare and Medicaid certified, which is considered the highest standard in hospice care.
“It is great to be able to do that as a tech company and to not only provide hospice care, but change the conversation about dying and death in the U.S. There is an aversion to talking about those facing it, so we also provide education and resources on our website,” she said.
“We are all going to die. There is no reason for people to do so without having a sense of community and being able to express themselves through their grief.”
She believes her background paved the way to her success. “Growing up in Detroit was incredible. It was a pleasure to be exposed to people from different walks of life. That really stuck with me and I could unapologetically be myself at Roeper, which is something that has never gone away,” said McGlory.
When she first started her company, she brought former classmate, Cachet Collard, on board to help. “It was a very full-circle moment,” she said.
“Eventually, we want to expand into Michigan to provide the absolute best homecare possible.”
Story: Jeanine Matlow
The Birmingham City Commission on Monday, February 13, reviewed a drafted code of conduct specific to the commission, ultimately deciding to send the draft to a future workshop session.
Commissioners first reviewed a drafted code of conduct in July of last year after discussing the potential need for a code of conduct in January and February of 2022. In July, commissioners debated over advocacy and the disclosure of ex parte communication with citizen and business interests in the city. At the end of the discussion, commissioners took no action to approve the draft and sent it back to city staff for revisions.
According to city attorney Mary Kucharek, a commissioner code of conduct is very different from the code of ethics, and it is very common in other jurisdictions to have a code of conduct. Passing the code of conduct would make sure the expectations of the commission are clear, said Kucharek.
Before the commission began discussion of the document, commissioner Andrew Haig made a motion to postpone review given the recent decision to request an advisory opinion from the ethics board regarding the debacle with commissioner Brad Host, saying that it was an odd choice of date to discuss the document. “I feel as though it is currently inappropriate to have a discussion on a code of conduct when there is anything open in front of the ethics board … and it is only appropriate when their slate is clean,” Haig said.
In response, city manager Tom Markus stated it’s coming to the commission after the review by city staff was completed, not because it is tied to his request for an opinion from the ethics board on Host’s conduct. Kucharek noted that discussion of the code would not interfere with any decision or discussion for the ethics board as the chair of the ethics board ensures due process.
Although Haig’s motion to postpone discussion failed, commissioner Clinton Baller noted he had a variety of concerns with the draft, saying he was skeptical of it.
“We wouldn’t be discussing this if we hadn’t experienced some offensive conduct, but that said I
Birmingham City Commissioners the week of February 8 conducted public interviews with three candidates seeking to be the city manager when current city manager Tom Markus leaves his position this June, and agreed to have all three hopefuls back for a public meet and greet event the following week.
Originally six candidates for the city manager spot were scheduled to be interviewed February 8-9 but then only five were finally set for the public interviews.
On the first night of the public interviews it was announced that two candidates had withdrawn from consideration. Candidate George Lahanas, the city manager until recently for East Lansing, was hired to be the city manager in Northville, so he withdrew his application. Oak Park City Manager Eric Tungate withdrew from consideration before the Tuesday session, expressing that he no longer had an interest in the position.
The remaining three candidates were Jana Ecker, currently an assistant city manager in Birmingham; Troy Bell, who most recently was the city manager in Muskegon Heights; and Blaine Wing, who most recently was the city manager in Rochester.
When the final interviews concluded on Thursday evening, commissioners raised questions on the best way to proceed with the process of reviewing candidates. Markus informed commissioners that the city police department would conduct criminal background checks on the remaining candidates and the human resources department would run further reference checks on the three contenders.
City commissioner Clinton Baller suggested to other commissioners that he felt Jana Ecker would be the likely best choice for the position due to her years of service with Birmingham, citing the city's history of promoting from within for the city manager spot. But after discussion, it was decided that commissioners would fill out a paper ballot indicating which candidates they favored and those polling at least four votes would be invited to the public meet and greet session.
Results of the balloting showed Ecker with seven supporters, Wing with five supporters and Bell with four supporters. All three contenders were scheduled to appear at a public meet and greet event on the evening of February 15, from 7-8 p.m. in the lower level of Baldwin Public Library.
Before commissioners adjourned the session mayor Therese Longe took time to comment that the city had “run our search appropriately” using city manager Markus as head of the search rather than employing a search firm. Longe noted that the city had received 46 applications, similar to what other municipalities in Michigan and other states had received, and in most cases had received the same finalist candidates as other municipalities that have been running recent searches for city managers through national search firms.
don’t think a code of conduct is the appropriate remedy for us and I’m definitely opposed to an elaborate, new additional enforcement mechanism,” he said.
Baller noted that if they decided to move forward with the code, they need to be very careful with dictating or prohibiting certain behaviors with an enforcement mechanism, otherwise it could create further problems.
“This code, with that enforcement mechanism, amounts to a law,” he said. Eventually, Baller suggested that the commission come up with
different things that they feel should be codified, but said he felt the current draft essentially missed the mark.
He questioned whether parts of the code could be included in other documents, for instance moving a section into the ethics ordinance, but Kucharek and Markus noted that other documents aren’t specific to the city commission and set the expectations for other board or committee members in the city.
Kucharek reminded commissioners that much of the code is not already included in any other documents and
it isn’t just for the current body. “There’s a number of these subsections that do not appear anywhere else. They do not appear in the ethics ordinance. They do not appear in the rules of procedure now. They’re not part of the OMA (Open Meetings Act) or Robert’s Rules,” Kucharek said. “While today, all of you may have come to realization this is how it works, there’s future commissions that need to know and understand how things work as well.”
Mayor Therese Longe proposed that the commissioners who would like to can submit written comments to Markus within the next 14 days. From there, Markus will determine a date for a workshop session to discuss the code. The commission voted 6-0 to postpone approval of the code of conduct and hold a future workshop. Commissioner Pierre Boutros was absent from the meeting.
Bloomfield Township Public Library announced the creation of a new strategic plan for 2023-2025, defining the library's vision that is “The Place to Discover,” meaning to earn, dream, do.
According to library director Tera Moon, Bloomfield Township Public Library began the strategic planning process in the summer of 2022, hiring Fast Forward Libraries, LLC to engage in a three-phase process: Learn, Dream, Do. Library stakeholders were included in the process through surveys, focus groups, and interviews.
The stated mission of the strategic plan is to enhance the core, create responsive collections, functional and comfortable spaces and seamless digital experiences, as well as to connect the community with each other and provide opportunities to be creative through resources, technology and support. Within each of the strategic directions are respective tactical points and defined measurements of success.
“We are so proud of the work we have done on this plan,” said Moon. “I am grateful to the planning team and library board for creating a focused plan that aligns our resources with the priorities of our community.”
After the Birmingham City Commission approved an ordinance amendment allowing a D4 zoned property outside of the former parking assessment district (PAD) to request a parking waiver, the property owner leading the charge failed to convince the city’s planning board to approve plans for a new five-story mixed used building that would be short 58 parking spaces at the planning board meeting on Wednesday, January 25.
Owner of 479 S. Old Woodward, Doraid Markus, initially petitioned for an ordinance amendment last summer, with the planning board reviewing the amendment at three separate meetings between July and September. Although it was approved by the commission, the planning board, city staff and two commissioners were not in favor of the amendment.
Before petitioning for the ordinance amendment, Markus appeared before the planning board for final site plan and design review in September of 2020. Plans were approved, but the circumstances around the proposed development’s parking changed. Markus tried to get into the former PAD, which waived on-site parking requirements for the properties that chose to buy in, but he was not able to since the assessment district closed after the 20-year time limit set by the city.
Markus came back to the planning board two years later with an amended site plan that was 74 parking spaces short, and was denied approval. The board of zoning appeals (BZA) also denied his request for a waiver of the spaces. He then requested an ordinance amendment that would allow D4 zoned properties outside of the former PAD to request a waiver of parking requirements by the city commission through a special land use permit. The amendment was adopted in December of 2022.
At the meeting on Wednesday, January 25, Markus came back to the planning board requesting a final site plan and design review and special land use permit now that the ordinance is in effect. The plans presented were like those proposed in 2020, but the uses were changed. The first floor would include primarily retail, with a roughly 750 square foot space for a carry-out restaurant. Office space and a retail warehouse would be located on the second floor, with floors three through five all being residential units.
The zoning ordinance potentially allows decreased parking requirements for buildings having residential, office and restaurant uses, but in Markus’ case, he was still short 58 parking spaces. He could go back to the BZA to request a waiver, but is instead asking the commission to waive the requirements through a special land use permit provision.
Senior planner Brooks Cowan noted that – because Markus could go back to the BZA and because waiving the parking requirements for a private owner would place the parking burden on the public parking system – if the commission were to approve the plans with a 58-space deficit, planning staff recommends payment in lieu of parking, meaning Markus would need to pay a fee for each space the commission waived.
According to Markus’ counsel, Stephen Estey of Dykema Gossett, he was able to form a parking agreement with Birmingham Place apartments, which would ultimately reduce the parking space deficit from 58 to 18. The agreement was not part of the proposal and would need to be vetted by the city attorney before the board could incorporate that into their decision, planning board chairperson Scott Clein explained earlier in the meeting.
All planners concurred on the parking issue, saying none of them would be comfortable approving a plan with such a large parking deficit. Even if the plans were approved, Markus does not provide enough on-site parking to even satisfy the requirements for the first two floors, much less the residential requirement.
“I find it interesting that 39 spaces are being provided on site, and just the first floor alone, the requirements aren’t met,” said alternate board member Jason Emerine. “On the second floor, standing all by itself, the requirements aren’t met on site. Floors three through five are barely met.”
Planners voted unanimously, 7-0, to postpone a decision on the proposed development while Markus gets the parking agreement between Birmingham Place vetted by the city attorney. Emerine voted in place of Stuart Jeffares. The board is scheduled to continue deliberations on the development at the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 22.
By Grace Lovins
The Birmingham Planning Board reviewed a proposed ordinance amendment at their meeting on Wednesday, February 8, that seeks to update the potential uses of properties zoned in the B1 neighborhood business district.
The owner of 100 W. 14 Mile at Pierce Street, or the former Grapevine Market, is proposing the amendment to expand the available tenant options for the vacant space. These options, said senior planner Brooks Cowan, would include a health club or studio, specialty food store, boutique, bank, food and beverage, and fast-casual café. B1 zoned uses are established for the convenience shopping of the adjacent residential areas to satisfy limited basic shopping and service needs, but aren’t related to the general shopping of the business district, said Cowan.
Part of the planning board’s process, if they decide to continue with study sessions and consideration of the ordinance amendment, will be deciding if the existing use definitions will need to be expanded, or if separate definitions will need to be created for each use. As the ordinance is currently written, some definitions incorporate the proposed new uses but lack clarity.
While the applicant is proposing to add banks as an appropriate use, Daniel Share stated that office space, which is allowed in the B1 zone, encompasses banks in the definition. Cowan noted that office is allowed, which includes financial services including banks, but to figure that out is a lot of extra steps, so specifically adding banks to B1 uses would be better for clarity.
B1 zoned properties, under the current ordinance, are not allowed to be food or drink establishments, which restricts restaurants from opening up, but allows for bakeries and grocery stores. There are no definitions for bakeries or grocery stores in the zoning ordinance, per the meeting packet, so staff is required to interpret and distinguish the two.
“Currently, with city staff and the applicants when they come in with any kind of restaurant style or indoor dining, we classify that as a food and drink establishment, and a lot of times we look at that and say, ‘Is there indoor dining or not?’” said
Cowan. “The issue we run into is that doesn’t provide clarity on a full service restaurant like our bistros or steakhouses versus a smaller coffee shop, where you go in and buy a croissant and coffee and there’s five chairs in there.”
The size of a proposed use could be limited through chapter 5 of the ordinance, according to Cowan. He explained that for uses such as a fastcasual café – like a coffee shop or Beyond Juice – as well as health club studios, they could restrict the sizing through the definitions.
“We get a lot of inquiries about people wanting to do yoga or Pilates studios. That gets looped into the same category as a L.A. Fitness or Lifetime,” Cowan said. “If we wanted to have that kind of use in a B1 zone, that’s another thing we could restrict and say, ‘nothing in a B1 zone beyond 1,000 or 1,500 square feet.”
Michael Vogt, attorney with Clark Hill PLC, explained that the goal is to bring convenient access to the surrounding neighborhood, and the ordinance just needs to be modernized a bit. “What we’re proposing, what it boils down to, is what we feel is a very common sense update to the ordinance more so than a change,” said Vogt.
Board members Bryan Williams and Stuart Jeffares said they feel the board should study the proposed and existing ordinance, with Jeffares saying if the city wants more small businesses, he thinks they need to incorporate separate definitions for these uses. Chairperson Scott Clein noted he’d be happy to look further into this, but the board would have to see more information and context considering how this ordinance would apply to all B1 properties, not just the applicant’s.
“If supporting neighborhood retail means that there should be some additions, I’m absolutely happy to work together and try and figure out what those are,” said Clein. “I’m not going to go so far as to say any of these are comforting to me yet because we don’t know anything yet. We’ve got to look at parking, at square footage, things like that.”
Clein asked Cowan to bring a map that shows where these uses already exist in the city, such as if these uses are already in neighborhoods and show if this property would be an exception, to better understand things like parking, density and the need for different definitions. The board will look at the proposed amendment in the future, with no formal action taken.
The Birmingham Ethics Board has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, March 7, to consider a request for an advisory opinion, filed by city manager Tom Markus, relative to activities by city commissioner Brad Host in what may be contradictory behavior for an elected official,
“I am requesting an Advisory Opinion as it relates to Commissioner Brad Host for his activities since at least September of 2022 through the present time in his public statements, mail activities and social media posts as it relates to the Birmingham 2040 comprehensive master plan (“2040 Plan”),” Markus wrote in his request, noting the board has previously offered advisory opinions when it appears actions are in conflict with the city's code of ethics.
In citing previous rulings, Markus quoted the ethics board, “Accordingly, this Opinion celebrates the rights of free speech, but also addresses the self-imposed limitations thereof when one voluntarily elects to become a City Official. When one serves in the public sector, one becomes less and less ‘a public citizen’ and more and more a ‘public servant.’ This is part of the responsibilities and burdens one accepts as a public official. Being a public servant may constrain one’s activities in many ways, including the open expression of personal views.”
At issue is perceived interference with the city's 2040 master plan process, which has been underway for over four years. Host has been scolded by Markus at commission meetings for spreading false information about the 2040 Plan and attending other city board and committee meetings, but he has continued to post videos to Facebook, distribute flyers to residents, and disseminate information on the master plan which is factually inaccurate.
Beyond the spread of misinformation is that city commissioners are the final decision makers on the plan, which Host appears to preclude.
“Despite continued education in December to Commissioner Host, Commissioner Host’s current videos, even at this date, continue to contain fear-mongering and continue to advocate for specific positions on topics which will eventually be presented to the full City Commission for consideration and adoption of the 2040 Plan. Commissioner Host is in fact one of the final arbiters of this Plan. He violates the normal process of the City Commission when he, as a sitting Commissioner, publicly voices his concerns, opinions and discussions in personal forums. This is not the proper governmental channel. The proper governmental channel is at the public Commission meetings with the entire City Commission present,” Markus wrote in his complaint.
The city's code of ethics states that city officials and employees must avoid actions that might result in “or create the appearance of: Using public employment or office for private gain; Giving or accepting preferential treatment, including the use of city property or information, to or from any organization or person; Losing complete independence or impartiality of action; Making a city decision outside official channels; or affecting adversely the confidence of the public or the integrity of the city government.”
Markus states in his complaint that Host's perpetuation of misinformation, spread through videos and letters ,are a violation of the code “because they have resulted in, and created the appearance of, Commissioner Host using his office for personal gain, for losing complete independence and impartiality of action, making City decisions outside of the Commission meeting and affecting adversely the confidence of the public and the integrity of City government. This is evidenced by the communications of a citizen whereby they are reacting to misinformation. Also, the appearance of negativity in Commissioner Host’s affect, comments, and accusatory tone, particularly with misinformation, has agitated these issues and has violated and tainted the process of government such that the Planning Board members felt they needed police presence at their meeting.”
Markus also states he believes Host is adversely affecting the integrity of the city's government.
The ethics board will meet to hear both sides on Wednesday, March 7, at 1 p.m.
At a workshop meeting on Monday, February 13, Birmingham city commissioners looked at potential options they could pursue if they were to adopt an ordinance allowing cannabis businesses within the city.
City attorney Marky Kucharek briefed the commission on Michigan’s medical and recreational marijuana laws that took effect between 2008 and 2018. In 2008, the use of medical marijuana was legalized in Michigan through the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, allowing permits for people to grow for their own use or for a patient.
A supplemental act to the 2008 law came in 2016 with the passing of the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act. This act “filled the gaps” of the 2008 law and included the ability for commercial sales of medical marijuana. It also required marijuana establishments to be licensed by the state. Most recently, in 2018, the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (MRTMA) was approved by voters as Proposal 1, and took effect in December of 2019. MRTMA allows for the use and selling of recreational marijuana.
According to Kucharek, a point of concern is that Michigan state statute allows communities to opt out and not have cannabis facilities in the municipalities but also allows for people to petition to have an ordinance to be placed on a ballot if it earns signatures from five percent of local voters in the last general election for governor.. To be adopted, the proposal itself would still require a majority of votes. If a citizeninitiated ordinance were to earn a majority of votes, commissioners would not be able to amend it or make determinations on the criteria for obtaining a license, Kucharek said, and the petition does not have to be initiated by a local citizen.
Kucharek noted that the goal with bringing this in front of the commission was to make them aware of the situation and recommended that the commission take control of the issue. Commissioners, in 2018, decided to pass a resolution “opting out” of creating an ordinance to allow for marijuana establishments within the city, she said, but that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of an ordinance being adopted if a citizen decides to petition.
In 2018, roughly 7,300 voters from Birmingham voted in favor of the MRTMA proposal while approximately 4,700 people voted against it, said Kucharek. In many other communities around the area –Royal Oak, Auburn Hills, Lake Orion, Brighton City – citizens have already initiated petitions for a marijuana ordinance.
“Part of the reason we brought this up is a bit of self-defense,” said city manager Tom Markus. “We wanted to make you aware that there is a serious possibility that an initiative could occur, and I think that is really an open democratic process rather than things normally running back through the commission in kind of a representative democracy.”
Explaining the benefits of the city deciding to opt-in, Kucharek noted that Birmingham would have control over the ordinance language, control over marijuana regulation in city borders, allow for any future amendments to the ordinance by the city, and give Birmingham time to adjust to changes on its own terms and conditions.
One stipulation with the commission deciding to opt-in is that even if the commission creates an ordinance to put on the ballot, a citizen would still be able to petition a ballot initiative with different criteria or language. For instance, if the city has a proposal for only allowing some type of cannabis businesses, like a testing facility or grow operation but not retail dispensaries, a citizen could still petition an initiative that allows for retail sales of cannabis.
“We’ve opted out – but that doesn’t protect us,” said Markus. Because the session was a workshop, the commission did not take any formal action although there was discussion of possibly having an ordinance developed.
Birmingham city commissioners voted on Monday, January 23, to declare a climate emergency and establish an ad hoc environmental sustainability committee to formulate goals for a sustainability plan.
The formation of the committee is one of many steps in shifting the city’s focus toward sustainability and reducing emissions.
Birmingham has been looking at environmental sustainability as a
future goal for the last few years. The draft of the city’s 2040 master plan includes a chapter on sustainability which makes the recommendation to enact a sustainability board. One of the top tier goals of the strategic plan that was adopted by the commission in November 2022 was environmental sustainability.
In June of 2022, the commission passed a resolution which directed city staff to bring a resolution to create a sustainability board. Several neighboring communities, including Royal Oak and Ferndale, have enacted sustainability and climate efforts over the past three years, similar to what Birmingham staff proposed. Both Royal Oak and Ferndale declared climate emergencies in 2020, have completed greenhouse gas inventories and enacted some type of sustainability plan.
Creating an ad hoc environmental sustainability committee is intended to jumpstart sustainability planning in the city and act as a sounding board for formulating goals and objectives for a formal sustainability plan, as per the report in the commission packet. City manager Tom Markus noted that beginning with an ad hoc committee gives the city more flexibility to address all the different issues that might be raised regarding sustainability.
“I think the ad hoc approach is a more stepped process rather than leaping into something that’s probably beyond our capacity to accomplish right away,” Markus said.
The committee, being ad hoc, would be a temporary committee initially intended to stand for about 18 months, said planning director Nick Dupuis. He noted that over the 18-month period the city is hoping to accomplish two main tasks: a greenhouse gas emissions inventory to set a baseline for developing reduction goals and the creation of a sustainability plan.
Included in the commission packet is an outline detailing the desired composition of the new committee, aiming for nine regular members. Preferred expertise includes energy, electric vehicles, waste, stormwater, and environmental law or environmental consulting.
The commission voted 7-0 to declare a climate emergency and establish the ad hoc environmental sustainability committee. Planning staff was also directed to facilitate the development of a greenhouse gas inventory to develop emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2050.
The Bloomfield Township Police Department is joining the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, following approval by the township’s board of trustees on Monday, February 13.
The SWAT team focuses on high-risk situations, and consists of sheriff’s deputies and officers from more than a dozen police departments throughout Oakland County to provide multi-jurisdictional responses.
Bloomfield Township Police Chief James Gallagher said the multijurisdictional team is more cost effective than each department operating their own team.
“We provide the manpower and salary if they are called out,” Gallagher said. “We pay overtime if (the officer) is needed outside of regular duty.”
Gallagher said the team responds to incidents about once a month, both inside Oakland County and assisting other agencies when needed. The team responds to incidents such as hostage situations, barricaded standoffs and other high-risk situations.
“The most recent use of the team in the township was a year ago this week,” Gallagher said. “It was the same night as the Oakland Hills fire, and there was an armed robbery out of Waterford that was tracked to Bloomfield Township, where the subjects' barricaded themselves in a home.”
Bloomfield Township Treasurer Brian Kepes commended Gallagher for bringing the agreement to the board and working with other departments.
“I think the more relationships we have with other departments, the better off we are as a community and the better off we are as a department,” Kepes said.
In addition to the SWAT team, the township participates in other multijurisdictional teams, including the Oakland County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit; violent crimes and gang task force; identity theft task force; and a special surveillance unit headed by the Troy Police Department. Gallagher said he hopes to have the department join a multi-county DEA task force in the future.
Gallagher said the partnerships provide an opportunity to the police department, as well as the individual officer selected to join the team, with career opportunity being one of the main factors of retaining employees.
Officers on the team train throughout the year, in addition to intensive summer training at Camp Grayling. Officers must go through an intensive selection process.
“We use an internal selection process with this, and they usually do their selection in May. Just because we select an internal candidate, they still have to go through a rigorous training process through Oakland County, and they don’t cut corners,” Gallagher said. “If we pick our best, and they don’t make the physical requirements or the shooting requirements, then we wait a year or until they have another selection process. These are very advanced teams, and we have to have the best of the best willing to do the work.”
The Bloomfield Township Police Department received its reaccreditation this February from the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission.
Bloomfield Township Police Chief James Gallagher said the department was accredited in 2019, with reaccreditation required every three years. To receive accreditation from the commission, departments must meet 105 standards maintained by the commission.
Accreditation is voluntary, and requires agencies to submit annual reports attesting to the compliance of specific standards. The commission’s assessment for accreditation also includes on-site visits to ensure best practices are being met.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into it,” Gallagher said. “It’s really a selfreflection of our department to say whether we can do better in certain areas. We do it on a volunteer basis, and there are 120 agencies in the process of accreditation and 60 that are accredited. There are many, many man hours involved, and you have to provide proof to all actions. For instance, there has to be proof for use
of force actions and that those are meeting the standard.”
Gallagher said accreditation results in greater accountability within departments; reduced risk and liability exposure; stronger defense against civil lawsuits; increased community advocacy; and more confidence in the agency’s ability to operate efficiently and respond to community needs.
The department began the accreditation process in December, at which time Gallagher requested comments from employees and the public that could be submitted to the commission. The commission assessed written materials, interviews and office visits.
“This is a reflection of our entire agency and all the officers who are here, as well as support staff and dispatchers,” Gallagher said. “We thank them for what they do, and appreciate the support of the board and the community.”
Bloomfield Township trustees on Monday, January 23, unanimously approved a new two-year contract with a new emergency medical billing service related to ambulance and EMS transports.
The new two-year contract with Medicount Management, of Cincinnati, Ohio, replaces the township’s current biller, Star EMS. The new contract includes a half-percent increase in the gross collection rate retained by the provider, from 4.25 to 4.75, or about $5,000 per year.
“Bloomfield Township collects an average of one million dollars per year in EMS transporting revenue,” said Bloomfield Township Fire Chief John LeRoy. “This equates to Medicount receiving approximately $43,500 annually in billing fee revenue. … This rate increase would bring the cost of EMS billing in Bloomfield Township to approximately $47,500 per year.”
LeRoy said the department requested proposals from billing providers in 2017, and chose Medicount after an extensive review.
“After reviewing the proposal comparing the new Medicount rate to rates quoted in the RFP four years ago from other billing companies, the new billing proposal rate is still extremely competitive compared to those rates,” he said. “I have also inquired with our neighbors in West Bloomfield Township and Waterford Township. Medicount’s proposed rate increase is still below the
current rate set in their EMS billing agreements.”
LeRoy said the two-year contract allows the department to lock in the rate for more than one year to help protect against unexpected increases. However, he noted there haven’t been any increases in the past four years.
The contract was unanimously approved by trustees.
By Grace Lovins
The Birmingham City Commission voted to approve an amendment to the current 48th District Court funding agreement on Monday, January 23, providing a potential solution which could deter the city from opting out of the funding agreement at the end of the month.
Funding for the 48th District Court has been an ongoing struggle for the seven communities the court serves. With the funding agreement that has been in place for several years, the funding units – Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and West
Bloomfield – are responsible for the bulk of the court’s costs while the political subdivisions are only responsible for a smaller portion of the court’s expenses.
Personnel from the three funding units and four political subdivisions met with court staff, the court administrator as well as judges Marc Barron and Diane D’Agostini on November 30, 2022, to discuss the court’s 2023 budget. According to assistant city manager Jana Ecker, during that meeting the political subdivisions conceptually agreed to enter into a new funding agreement that was more equitable for all communities.
Birmingham agreed to create a draft of the verbal agreement and, once that was okayed by the other communities, draft a full amendment to the current funding agreement. The draft was sent to the other communities on Monday, January 9, said Ecker.
Under the amended agreement, the political subdivisions – Bloomfield Hills, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake and Orchard Lake – would contribute any end-of-year distributions to offset the losses of the funding units in calendar years that the court revenues from all seven
communities does not exceed the court’s expenses.
With the way the funding agreement was set up originally, if the court’s revenues exceeded its expenses, the political subdivisions could choose to keep the end-of-year distributions and that often resulted in extra money back in their budget. Though the funding units also receive a portion of what they pay the court, Birmingham was still at a cost deficit because, as a funding unit, they pay more of the court’s expenses.
Using the totals from the court’s 2021 audit, Ecker and finance director Mark Gerber were able to calculate the financial impact to Birmingham using the 1985 funding agreement that included four funding units, the 2021 agreement that included only three funding units, and the proposed addendum to the 2021 funding agreement. With four funding units, the city’s deficit was roughly $153,400; with three funding units the deficit grew to about $189,300; and with the proposed addendum factored in, the deficit would shrink to about $164,000.
Ecker explained that the agreement will need to be approved by each community's governing body, but the
caveat is none of the communities are expected to vote on the agreement until after the deadline for Birmingham to pull out as a funding unit. The city has until the end of January to pull out of the funding agreement which, if it did, would take effect in 2024 – Birmingham would still be considered a funding unit for 2023.
Since the agreement has been sent out, Ecker said that management from all seven jurisdictions said they believed the agreement was going to be acceptable. Emails from the political subdivisions included in the commission packet indicate that the probability of all jurisdictions seems very likely, but Birmingham’s approval of the addendum is dependent on all political subdivisions approving the agreement. Without all signatures, the 2021 funding agreement remains in place and the commission will have another year to create a new agreement or decide to opt out of the funding agreement next January.
Commissioners voted 6-1 to approve the amended funding agreement. Commissioner Brad Host voted against the motion since Birmingham would still be losing roughly 24 percent of the funding given to the court.
While still in the conceptual stages, the city of Birmingham is preparing itself for potential upgrades to the physical structure of the police department and city hall due to security and safety concerns for employees, prisoners being transferred and the public, improvements that will require the city to ask voters to approve a bond for the work, although city officials are currently uncertain about the timeline and the amount.
At the Birmingham City Commission long-range planning meeting on Saturday, January 21, police chief Scott Grewe explained that at last year's long-range planning meeting, the police department first introduced the idea that they were reviewing the existing police department due to several safety and security needs that were brought to their attention during the police department accreditation assessment program with the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP). The Birmingham Police Department first began their assessment process in April 2021. Accreditation is valid for a three-year period during which time the agency must submit annual reports attesting to their continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited.
“There were a number of things that came to light during the assessment period,” Grewe said, “and if we want to be reaccredited, we need to address the concerns and have plans in place.”
Among the concerns noted by MACP were that the department does not have a Sally Port, or locked garage or secured environment to transport a prisoner.
“Officers park patrol cars in the open courtyard, remove their weapon and place it in a secure area of the vehicle. The officer then removes the defendant from the vehicle in full public view, escorts the defendant across the parking lot with the defendant in handcuffs, and walks up a ramp to the booking room door, where a dispatcher is contacted. The officer is then granted access to the building through an electronic door. This entire area is open to the public,” Grewe noted.
In addition, the adult holding cells are on the ground floor next to the clerical area, and a prisoner must be moved through public areas of city hall. Police administrative offices are on the main floor of city hall, and other
than locking the doors, there are no physical security measures to restrict access by the public.
“The last time any work was done on the police department or city hall was 30 years ago,” Grewe said. As they began the accreditation process, simultaneously there was the COVID pandemic, “and we became aware of how open our city hall is. It brought to light that city hall needs an interior design update for employee and public safety.”
Assistant city manager Jana Ecker emphasized that while a renovation and expansion is possible, “It's just in the conceptual discussion at this point. There is no time line at this point. There is no estimate for any costs. And it's a historic property – there's absolutely no thought of getting rid of city hall.”
City hall does require ADA-access to be improved, to restrict some entrance and exit points, and improvements are needed to enhance safety and security within the current structure of the building as it relates to workspaces and common areas, officials say.
A request for proposal (RFP) for conceptual architectural renderings was approved by the city commission in July 2022, and Birmingham entered into a contract with Telluris Architecture to complete an assessment of the existing building and develop conceptual designs for renovations and possible expansion. According to Grewe, Telluris is expected to deliver a completed conceptual design with renderings by the first week of February. These conceptual expansion designs will then go before the historic district commission, planning board, and city commission. After the city commission approves a conceptual plan, the next steps will include completing a RFP for an architect to complete the final construction drawings. After completing these architectural drawings, the city will create another RFP for construction services utilizing the drawings from the previous RFP for the renovations/expansion project.
In order to fund the project, the city will require a bond approved by voters. The earliest voters could be asked to approve a bond for the project is November 2023, but Ecker said she thought that may be too early considering “It's just in the conceptual stage. There is no time line at this point. I don't even have a date that it would come to the commission.” A November 2024 bond approval vote is more likely, she intimated.
“It's way too soon to know,” Grewe concurred.
The Birmingham Planning Board approved a final site plan and design, along with a special land use permit amendment, for a new Fred Lavery Porsche dealership, located at 34350 Woodward Avenue, at their meeting on Wednesday, January 25, which also acted as a catalyst for a potential reconfiguration of Elm Street.
Back in October 2022, planners discussed the preliminary site plan and design of the proposed three-story dealership. The current dealership occupies two land parcels in the city’s Triangle District, where Elm Street meets Haynes Street next to Woodward Avenue. Fred Lavery, the owner, is proposing to demolish the existing dealership to build a completely new structure.
Proposed designs showed the building would be covered in metal paneling with ribbed louvers, mimicking the grille of a Porsche, on the north and south sides. The new dealership will have a total of 155 parking spaces with a two-story parking garage to accommodate car storage.
During the October session, planning staff explained they had concerns over the preliminary site plan due to a service drive that would open facing Elm Street. Staff was worried about traffic and circulation in that area given that the placement of the service drive was close to the pedestrian crosswalk. Although the preliminary design was approved, Lavery was required to meet with the multi-modal transportation board (MMTB) to discuss alternative options.
The MMTB met in December to review those options and recommended a reconfiguration of Elm Street that would suit the proposed dealership plans and follows the Triangle District’s plan. This reconfiguration would reduce Elm Street to one southbound lane with a new bump-out extending across Elm to Woodward Avenue. This would prevent a right turn from Woodward to Elm where the pedestrian crosswalk currently is, said senior planner Brooks Cowan.
Lavery, however, submitted the plans with a different idea: Elm Street would remain two lanes and a larger bump-out would be added next to the service door, so cars would still be able to turn right onto Elm. One of the issues with this design, Cowan noted, is that cars would need to make a sharp right turn, and the pedestrian crosswalk would still be too close for comfort.
Aside from the Elm Street reconfiguration, Cowan stated that the planning department recommended approval of the plan with a few conditions, primarily for more detailed plans on proposed landscaping and streetscaping.
Chairperson Scott Clein felt that it wasn’t quite the board’s purview to impose the reconfiguration on Lavery, and that the proposed plans shouldn’t be held up while the city works with MDOT, SMART and other necessary parties to finalize a design for Elm. He suggested changing the motion language to say that Lavery must continue to work with the city regarding the relocation of the pedestrian crosswalk and potential street reconfiguration.
Board members Bryan Williams and Jason Emerine concurred with Clein, saying that the safety issue needs to be addressed but they don’t want to stall the development and impose the intersection issue on Lavery. With most planners on board, the motion language was changed to say the applicant will need to work with the city when the reconfiguration is addressed, also indicating to the city commission that they hope to see this done as expeditiously as possible.
Planners voted 6-1 to approve both the final site plan and design as well as the special land use permit amendment, with alternate member Jason Emerine voting in place of Stuart Jeffares. Before seeing the city commission, Lavery will need to obtain a lot combination for both parcels, provide updated plans for the location of a utility pole on the property, and provide updated lighting and landscaping specifications.
Board member Bert Koseck voted against both motions, arguing the dealership design does not meet the criteria for the planning board to waive architectural requirements, saying the design isn’t creative or innovative.
A lawsuit was filed by Jonathan Marko of Marko Law on Friday, February 3, in Oakland County Circuit Court on behalf of Bloomfield Township resident Peter Katapodis against Payne, Broder & Fossee; former Bloomfield Township Senior Center Outreach Coordinator Denise Kolkmeyer; her husband; and Michigan attorney John Doe, alleging that Kolkmeyer and her husband conned Katapodis out of his life savings and his home.
According to the lawsuit, Kolkmeyer used her position at the Bloomfield Township Senior Center to “prey upon a 96-year-old senior citizen, Peter Katapodis. Shockingly, this predator and her husband, deceived and conned this poor 96year-old senior resident out of his life's savings, the very home he lived in.”
The lawsuit alleges that the Kolkmeyers, along with a 92-year-old attorney, Thomas Payne, and his law firm, drafted a quit claim deed transferring the deed of Katapodis' home to Denise Kolkmeyer for one dollar in June 2022. When Katapodis suffered a stroke on December 16, 2022, and was admitted to Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak, Denise Kolkmeyer appeared at Beaumont with an alleged power of attorney, demanding to know his medical condition, and advised the hospital to not discuss Katapodis' condition with his family.
Katapodis and his family learned of her conduct, and a security feature was immediately instituted at the hospital, the lawsuit stated.
Once he was released from Beaumont, a friend of Katapodis discovered the quit claim deed taped to the side of his washing machine, according to Marko, and he consulted an attorney who advised him of the legal consequences of the quit claim deed.
“Kolkmeyer acted as a caregiver for Peter during COVID, when the senior center was closed down. He trusted her,” Marko said, noting they are concerned there could be other similar victims of elder abuse in the community.
Marko said they notified Bloomfield Township police, which has coordinated with the Michigan Attorney General's office of elder abuse, and has recommended charges to the Oakland County
Prosecutor's Office. It is unknown at this time if charges have been issued.
The lawsuit further alleges that Katapodis and his estate suffered “financial damages/loss, mental and emotional stress, physical pain and suffering, embarrassment, anxiety, fear, humiliation, exemplary damages, the loss of ordinary pleasures of everyday life, and other damages that may be discovered through the course of litigation.”
Katapodis first purchased his home on W. Maple Road in Bloomfield Township in 2002, according to records.
Bloomfield Township Senior Center Director of Senior Services
Christine Tvaroha stated that Denise Kolkmeyer has not been employed by Bloomfield Township since 2020.
Bloomfield Township Attorney Derk Beckerleg said the township does not have further comment at this time.
The case has been assigned to Judge Nanci Grant at Oakland County Circuit Court.
The Birmingham planning board moved to set a date for a public hearing on the city’s 2040 Master Plan for Wednesday, March 8, in a unanimous decision at their meeting on Wednesday, February 8, to bring the city one step closer to finalizing the draft after a four-year process.
At the board’s previous meeting on Wednesday, January 25, board members came to the consensus they would hold off on scheduling the public hearing so they could review some areas of concern relating to the draft’s language. Members were to create a list of concerns that could be quickly addressed at the February 8 meeting before setting the date for the public hearing.
The board ran through a list of concerns raised by Daniel Share, Janelle Boyce, Stuart Jeffares, Bryan Williams and chairperson Scott Clein, all relative to clarifications in the plan’s language. For instance, Share suggested clarifying the section on metered parking to specify where it should be added, and Boyce suggested adding a definition of a circulator on page 40 of the draft.
The bulk of the discussion focused on clarifying or correcting the categorization of parcels on the land use maps. Board members discussed the northeast and southeast corners
of Lincoln and Eton streets – the northeast corner is set to be categorized as a commercial destination and the southeast for activity. At the board’s previous meeting, multiple neighbors expressed their concern over categorizing the northeast corner as a commercial destination, most saying they do not want to lose that green space in their neighborhood.
Clein, reflecting on the comments previously made by neighbors regarding the southeast corner, said that he tends to agree with the neighbors in this case. Williams also agreed, saying they’d eliminate the proposed change to commercial destination and leave the space as it is now, and the rest of the board concurred.
The northeast corner, which is currently an open space, is the entry to the rail district, argued Robin Boyle, and “a green field with a few people playing Pilates in the summer is not the way to enter the rail district,” he said. Share disagreed, saying they could have a nice entry way with the green space and the fact that it’s underused now doesn’t mean it will be underused in the future.
“As a fully built-out city, once you give up green space, generally speaking, you’re not getting it back, so my bias would be toward leaving it as parkland,” Share said. Jeffares, along with five residents of the area who gave comments, concurred. The neighbors argued that the area already has too much traffic for a commercial use, and with a commercial use, parking will need to be provided, which, some said, would create another issue.
Nick Dupuis, planning director, said that he feels if the property were to have a commercial use it potentially wouldn’t take up the entire space and could leave enough of an area for the neighbors to still use the parcel as an outdoor activity space. Clein, in disagreement, said that by designating the parcel as a commercial destination, they’re trying to complete the fabric of the rail district, so the commercial use would be commensurate with whatever requirements are set for the district.
Eventually, the board decided to leave the southeast corner designated as a commercial destination, with Williams noting residents will have another opportunity to share their concerns at the public hearing. Board members voted 7-0 to set the date for the public hearing, with alternate member Jason Emerine voting in place of board member Bert Koseck.
Birmingham city commissioners unanimously voted to table an amendment to a tenant's rights ordinance at their meeting on Monday, January 23, following discussion from both the public and attorneys representing landlords over potential unintended consequences to adding a right to renew protection.
In 2022, former mayor and prominent Birmingham figure Dorothy Conrad received notice from the Baldwin House, an independent senior living facility, that her lease was not going to be renewed and she had until the end of the month to vacate the property. The debacle happened after Conrad, known for her outspokenness, brought to light that Baldwin House had violated an agreement made with the city in 1990, charging or overcharging senior residents for parking in the Chester Street parking structure.
Eventually, after public backlash and a protest, Conrad’s lawyer and Baldwin House’s lawyer settled with an updated lease agreement for Conrad, and she was able to remain in her home. Although Conrad’s dilemma was resolved, it opened the door for further discussion on how the city could better protect the rights of renters.
In December, the Birmingham City Commission directed city attorney Mary Kucharek to begin drafting an ordinance that would offer additional protections to renters in Birmingham. Kucharek had presented the commission with three different protections they could pursue: source of income, right to renew, and right to counsel. With Kucharek’s recommendation, commissioners decided to continue with source of income and right to renew.
At the commission meeting on Monday, January 23, Monika Koleci, associate attorney of Beier Howlett, presented the ordinance amendment that she and Kucharek had worked on, which would provide renters in Birmingham with source of income and right to renew protections. Source of income protects renters from being discriminated against for incomes like housing choice vouchers, veteran’s affairs supportive housing vouchers and social security.
Right to renew protections would prevent landlords from refusing to negotiate an agreement, says Koleci, or changing the terms and conditions
of a lease agreement, and would require the landlord to provide good cause as to why they have decided not to renew a tenant. Once the tenant is made aware of the good cause, they can decide if they want to pursue legal action.
These protections, however, would not interfere with the existing Michigan statute that allows tenants over a specific age to break their lease early, says Kucharek, such as seniors who may need to break their lease early due to health issues or change of income issues. Violation of the ordinance would be a civil infraction punishable by a fine of up to $500.
Several members of the public showed up at the commission meeting to convey their support for the amendment, saying it’s a step in the right direction towards protecting renters, but noting the work isn’t over. Others, however, were not as supportive of adding right to renew protections to the ordinance. Multiple attorneys representing landlords took issue with the right to renew protections – most arguing that choosing not to renew a lease is not a route they commonly take because of the financial burden, but it sometimes serves as a last resort to remove unruly or “bad” tenants from a building.
Many stated that landlords choose not to renew a lease in the interest of the other renters, saying that sometimes one “bad” tenant can cause enough problems to force the “good” renters out.
“You have a bully resident who’s bothering others, but no one will testify to terminate, or worse you try to terminate that tenancy and you lose,” said Matthew Miller, legislative committee chair of the Property Manager’s Association of Michigan. “That’s the worst possible case because then that resident is emboldened to make everything worse. Good residents move out, the property owner loses good people and is forced to keep the bad ones. Nonrenewal is the way that this gets addressed.”
Miller also said that one of the unintended consequences of approving the right to renew protections that gets overlooked is it would make the renting process much more onerous for all residents. “Property owners are going to be far stricter about who they decide to rent to,” he said.
Defending the provision, Kucharek explained that this amendment is intended to protect residents from
unexpectedly losing their homes without a good reason.
“We’re not suggesting that tenants are allowed to remain if they’re in violation of their lease agreement or in violation of state law,” she said. “What we’re saying is that people can’t have their homes pulled out from under them because the landlord doesn’t like them, or the landlord thinks they’re a troublemaker.”
Commissioners Clinton Baller and Andrew Haig both suggested that it might be better to hold off on adopting the amendment to have more time to think through any unintended consequences which might come from the ordinance. Kucharek eventually recommended that the commission table the discussion for a period, and she will consult one or two of the attorneys who spoke but emphasized that there is no guarantee the amendment will change before the commission sees it again.
The commission voted unanimously, 7-0, to table the adoption of the source of income and right to renew amendments.
Birmingham city commissioners reviewed a draft of the city’s new outdoor dining ordinance at their meeting on Monday, February 13, voting to postpone a decision until later in the month so city staff can make requested changes.
The city has been working on the ordinance draft for nearly three years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the planning board holding three public hearings throughout 2022 on multiple drafts. On December 14 of last year, the planning board moved forward with recommending approval of the draft to the city commission.
One of the major topics of debate was the inclusion of a sunset clause within the ordinance that would require nonconforming outdoor dining facilities to come into compliance with the new ordinance by a fixed date. The planning board debated whether the provision should be included, eventually coming to the consensus that it should be removed from the draft.
During the December planning board meeting, multiple board members stated they were uncomfortable moving forward with a sunset provision for various reasons,
one of the big ones being that if all bistros need to come into compliance at one date, the board could potentially review a dozen bistros at once. Many members also felt that it was unfair to force facilities into compliance when restaurateurs have financially invested in a facility that meets the current standards.
City attorney Mary Kucharek offered her insight into the provision, reiterating the direction she gave the planning board while they debated the inclusion of a sunset clause.
“Having either a sunset or amortization is the way to go because it’s consistent. Everyone knows it’s coming and can plan for it, and we get away from some of this esoteric ‘what is renovate, replace?’ It would be consistent. Everyone would be treated the same, and it would be from this date to whatever date,” Kucharek said.
After Kucharek’s explanation, commissioner Clinton Baller posed the question to the commission about what the goal is with an amortization clause.
“What do we want? Do we want to be liberal, for lack of a better word, and allow this to occur or are we erring on the side of allowing these nonconforming uses to go on? Or do we want the letter of the law to be followed so that we can as quickly as possible eliminate some of the nonconformities?” Baller said.
Debate between the commission shifted, analyzing specific language throughout the ordinance. Baller pointed out that the language of section B4 says owners must bring everything in at night during the winter for snow removal, but noted it is also written that the property owner is responsible for snow removal.
Commissioners and staff decided to remove the requirement that everything from the facility must be brought in each night between January and March.
Ultimately, the commission directed city staff to: include a sunset or amortization schedule that would be no less than three years from the first date of application; remove the two current subsections under the ‘Nonconforming Outdoor Dining Facilities’ section; remove the requirement that all outdoor dining facility elements be brought indoors at night between January and March for snow and ice removal; include additional language in the criteria for reviewing outdoor dining facilities that addresses utilities; and include language in the section addressing portable heating elements that says “inspections shall include but are not limited to…”
Commissioners voted unanimously, 6-0, directing staff to make the appropriate changes and to postpone a decision to adopt the ordinance until the meeting on Monday, February 27. Commissioner Pierre Boutros was absent from the meeting.
The Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees met on Monday, January 30, to discuss changes to the township’s 2023-24 fiscal year budget and to discuss how best to spend $4 million in federal coronavirus recovery funds.
Bloomfield Township Finance Director Jason Theis said property values across the township continue to increase, with the township’s total taxable value projected to increase to about $4.752 billion, up from about $4.45 billion in the current budget, which ends on March 31. Further, he said a reduction by rollback in property tax revenues related to the state’s Headlee Amendment isn’t expected to reduce overall revenues.
“There was a thought that there would be no rollbacks in most of the state,” he said.
The state’s Headlee Amendment limits local property tax increases and ties limits to the rate of inflation. That means when the assessed value of a taxing units’ total property increases more than the rate of inflation, the maximum tax millage must be adjusted to the same gross revenue, adjusted for inflation.
“We estimated a rollback of 2.76 percent, so we would give back almost three percent of last year’s millage amounts, or a reduction in property taxes by about $1.2 million,” Theis said. “Now, everything is pointing consistently that there will be no rollback in 2023. So that $1.2 million in reduced tax revenues can be worked back into the budget, and we won’t have that reduction after recalculating.”
Overall, the township expects to collect about $26 million in general fund revenues, outpacing expenditures by about $325,000, with an ending fund balance of $15.7 million by March 31. Theis also updated interest earnings received by the township by $125,000, adding in state shared revenues by $225,000 from the previous year.
“Having two or three more months of trends and seeing where T-bills and money markets are going, I’m confident we will have a similar year of earnings next year,” Theis said.
Trustees also discussed how to spend about $4.4 million in federal funds the township will receive through the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as ARPA. The funds must be spent by the end of 2024, and used in accordance with federal guidelines.
Among the potential ARPA projects discussed were developing a strategic plan for the township, as well as undertaking a groundwater study.
“We may not have the kinds of incidents or crises that other parts of the country have, but one of the things they say we are going to have is increasingly more water in terms of rain and snow and all of that,” said Bloomfield Township Treasurer Brian Kepes. “We have had areas where it is impacting the township, and I … suggest we ought to put a Chapter 20 drain study (in the budget) and it be addressed.”
Trustees agreed that a drain study should be done in the future, but were unsure on the overall cost and feasibility of the longterm project. However, all trustees supported the development of a strategic plan. However, whether such a plan relies on the federal ARPA funds was not determined.
“The strategic plan is so important, and had 100 percent support,” said Bloomfield Township Supervisor Dani Walsh. “It makes me nervous to delay it because of ARPA discussions when we have the funds available. I would ask it be included in the budget so we can plan for it.”
Walsh said prior to committing ARPA funds, the township will undertake a resident survey and a study session with the full board of trustees in March. Final determinations will be made after receiving input by the public.
The Birmingham City Commission approved an agreement with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) at their meeting on Monday, January 23, finalizing a grant award of roughly $745,700 for Drinking Water Asset Management.
The grant originally came out in 2020, according to city engineer Melissa Coatta. In October of last year, the city received notice that the state received additional funding for the grant program, giving Birmingham the opportunity to be awarded more grant money.
City staff have applied for multiple grants related to sewer and water planning and construction – at the commission's long range planning on Saturday, January 21, Coatta noted that the city will receive a total of over $2.1.4 million in grants over the next two to three years. The grant total is roughly $745,700, split between two items: $357,000 for a water asset management plan and $388,680 for water service line material verification program. According to Coatta, part of the agreement with EGLE is to have all projects completed by December 15, 2025.
The water asset management plan is categorized into ‘field tasks’ and ‘plan.’ Field tasks include identification assessments and GPS surveys of items on the water system like line valves and fire hydrants, while plan includes taking the information collected from the field tasks and running a pipe integrity analysis and risk assessment through a computer program.
The city has never had an asset management plan created for the water itself but has previously created asset management plans for sanitary and stormwater, stated Coatta. The water asset plan would help identify issues with the line valves and allow them to better plan for repairs.
“When you have a water main break, and you don’t have all the valves working and it affects the larger area,” said city manager Tom Markus. “You can isolate smaller areas for a water main break if all your valves are in good working order, but not all the valves are in good working order.”
Funds received for the water service line material verification program will be a continuation of the 2022-2023 program with the intention of covering 364 verifications. The number of verifications, said Coatta, was a requirement set by the state given the information the city provided on the assumed number of lead service lines, based on city records.
Birmingham has been working to identify and replace lead service lines in the city for about two years, and so far, has completed verifications at points two and three – before and after curb stops at the boundary line between private homeowners and public property. They still need to follow up with the verifications for point one – interior services lines inside the residences – for 189 houses.
Without the grant, funding for these projects would have been taken from water rates, said Markus.
Commissioners voted unanimously, 7-0, to approve the agreement between the city and EGLE.
Local resident, Kelechi "Kay Kay" Uchendu, was recently named Wylie E. Groves High School’s Honor Alumnus for 2023 by the high school’s Senior Seminar Committee. The 2010 graduate was chosen for her personal and professional accomplishments, which have created an incredibly interesting life journey so far.
Uchendu was born in the United States to Nigerian-born parents and grew up attending Birmingham Public Schools. She was raised in a large family with four siblings and two older half-siblings.
The Honor Alumnus has an impressive educational background. She graduated from Michigan State University in three years with a BA in political science pre-law, specializing in environmental studies. She then graduated from Vermont Law School with her JD in 2016, and LLM in 2018. Uchendu also earned a master's degree in Business of Fashion from LIM College.
While obtaining her education, Uchendu was able to travel to every continent, including Antarctica, before the age of 22. Many of her amazing travel experiences – which also included visits to Nigeria, Ireland, France, Australia, China, and Patagonia –were through study abroad programs.
“I’m so thankful and blessed for all the opportunities in my life,” she says.
While Uchendu is not currently utilizing her law degree in a traditional way, she draws on her legal knowledge in her other business pursuits. She affirms, “My law degree still serves me to this day.”
In 2016, the multi-talented achiever was working for an online fashion news company when she was motivated to recreate a stunning dress she envisioned in a dream. The process of having the dress made inspired her to further pursue a career in the fashion industry. The following year, she registered her business, Kay Kay’s World LLC, which includes her fashion brand, Kay Kay’s Fashion. By 2020, she was under contract to bring her
statement hair accessories made with sustainable, organic fabrics to Macys.com.
“I started with hair accessories because I love hair accessories,” Uchendu explains. “It really started in high school – I loved to match my headbands to my outfits.”
Since the launch of her business, Kay Kay’s Fashion designs have been featured in British Vogue and other media outlets. Her bold and colorful hair scrunchies, headbands, and chokers, made in special fabrics and patterns, are available on her own website.
“My products are designed for all hair styles and backgrounds. The silk fabrics work especially well for coarse, curly hair...The Amandla pattern on my website is sewn with authentic Mali fabric,” she explains.
Based on the success of her current offerings, Uchendu has plans to expand her business to include other accessories and related products.
In addition to her fashion brand, Uchendu is the author of Bully Friends, a short, interactive, non-fiction book about bullying in friendships that is based on her personal childhood experience. “Bully friends,” she explains, are false friendships in which someone pretends to be your friend, while using their power to bully you. According to Uchendu, the book deals with “bullying, the danger of bullying friends, and the process of healing from such friendships.”
Bully Friends was published in 2020, and is available in several Michigan libraries (including the Groves High School Media Center), as well as several independent bookstores and Amazon.
Uchendu says, “I’m open to doing talks at schools or libraries to spread the message and help students form healthy relationships...I’d love to turn the book into a movie to expand its reach.”
Story: Tracy Donohue
Photo: Laurie Tennent
Most country clubs cater to golfers and tennis aficionados. In the Motor City, there is now a country club catering to auto enthusiasts. Out Of Office Garage (OOOG) is a membersonly auto enthusiast club located in Birmingham’s Rail District at 2400 Cole Street. OOOG is the brainchild and passion of Erica and Syed Ahmed, the husbandand-wife team behind Platinum Motor Cars, a luxury and exotic car dealership also located in Birmingham. OOOG has a 16,000 square foot state-of-the-art, climate-controlled warehouse with a 2,500 square foot member’s lounge with professional-grade SimRacing simulators, a full-service coffee bar and kitchen, and a business center with multiple workspaces, vehicle storage and private event space, as well as exclusive access to invite-only events, from guided enthusiast drives and all-inclusive race weekends to auto industry vehicle previews. “It’s a space for people who like cars and enjoy all things around them,” said Syed Ahmed. He noted the car community has been asking for a club like this for years, “so we put our passion and expertise into ensuring Out Of Office Garage delivered a curated, one-of-a-kind experience for our members.” In addition to 28 custom-built, multitier auto lifts to house 80-plus member vehicles, on-site wash and detail services available five days a week, and a mezzanine with additional meeting and lounge space, the facility will offer concierge services for anything and everything carrelated. “We can handle service for our many clients with different vehicles at multiple dealerships,” Ahmed said. Numerous events will be available for members, from adult-only events to those which are family-friendly, and a quarterly supper club. Two levels of memberships are available, including one for general club access and a Founders level
membership, offering Founders level-only events, experiences and more.
Those looking for the curative properties of acupuncture and other alternative medicines can find therapeutic help at American Acupuncture Center, 4120 W. Maple Road, #104 A in Bloomfield Township. It is run by Dr. Serena LoDuca of Bloomfield Township, who is national board certified in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) and is state licensed in Michigan. “I do acupuncture and East Asian medicine – such as cupping therapy, Gua Sha, also known as muscle scraping, which is similar to cupping, and electric simulating. I am also an herbologist, and the only one in the Birmingham/ Bloomfield area.” LoDuca has extensive experience in pain management, whether it is muscleskeletal, neurological, and/or emotional. “I specialize in muscleskeletal disorders and in pain,” she said. “I can relax muscles with acupuncture needles and stimulate the body’s natural healing response.” She can help with migraines, anxiety, sciatica, menopausal symptoms, many rotator cuff issues, ringing in the ears, and many other issues. Two massage therapists are also on staff.
Jaclyn Turner is passionate about hair, and about her clients. Owner of Luxe, the Beauty Escape, 255 S. Old Woodward, Suite 12, inside Cosmo Salon Studios in downtown Birmingham, the “hairstylist for all things hair,” said her motto is “I want every woman to leave the space with an epiphany of their self-worth. What that consists of being in the forefront of the industry.” A stylist with almost 30 years of experience, she said her specialty is weaving and
extensions, and she is known for having very natural weaves. “I do a lot of local celebrities, TV personalities and newscasters, so it has to be undetectable,” Turner said. “I’m known for it to be as natural as possible for businesswomen.” Her new space is designed with businesswomen, with privacy top of mind. “Because everything is encapsulated, with WiFi, it’s all very private. It’s perfect for the businesswoman. They can even have a meeting while I’m doing their hair. I’m known for the privacy a customer deserves.”
It’s always a great day for a pie. Knowing that, Pie Collective by Achatz is opening at 1983 S. Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Township in the Village at Bloomfield. The Achatz Handmade Pie Company announced they are now Pie Collective by Achatz. “We’re “Pie Collective” By Achatz – the pie company you know and love, now with a new name and fresh look. We are the classic love story of the food world – he owned a diner, she was a waitress, and the rest is history. Five kids, a sold restaurant and several hundred pies later, Achatz Handmade Pie Company was born...Fast forward 28 years, and we bring you “Pie Collective.” Not only is it easier to pronounce – but it also embodies so much more than just the Achatz name. Pie Collective is about the people behind the pie, the people who make our dreams a reality. From our farmers who provide us with the best ingredients, to our pie bakers that bake our fresh pies each morning, to you – the pie lovers – the ones out there buying, eating and sharing our pies with the world.”
Business Matters for the BirminghamBloomfield area are reported by Lisa Brody. Send items for consideration to LisaBrody@downtownpublications.com. Items should be received three weeks prior to publication.
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Intergenerational programs are meaningful, important, and fun. They bolster a strong sense of community, and research shows that every age group is positively impacted.
Intergenerational connections promote greater understanding and respect between generations, with both groups coming together to learn from each other –and dispel preconceived prejudices. But just like any prejudice, it usually comes down to a lack of familiarity. Growing up is similar to growing older. Surprisingly, both young adults and aging adults face many of the same concerns. There are lessons to be learned from each other – and both generations simultaneously benefit.
As an example of these prejudices, think about these statements, what group do you think they apply to?
1.I hate the way they drive.
2.They are so opinionated, they think they know everything.
3.Don’t hire them, they are undependable.
4.They are always so forgetful.
5.They don’t have a care in the world.
6.They don’t understand the world around them.
What were your answers? See, not so different after all.
The positive outcomes of intergenerational programs are well documented:
There is a greater sense of connection by allowing different generations to learn from one another, form new friendships and improve communities by combating negative stereotypes.
Intergenerational programming also provides new social roles. Each individual, younger and older, is able to serve as a teacher, a mentor or even a grandparent/grandchild to someone who may not otherwise have that tie.
Intergenerational programming uniquely allows for generations to share stories with each other and pass on traditions, allowing for a better understanding of lifestyles both similar to and different from one’s own.
For several years, Next has been involved with school age students as young as third grade through high school. Currently, each week Next hosts more than 75 Seaholm High School students in three different programs participating in round-table conversations with Next members from age 70 to 97. Topics range from very personal conversations, to broader topics about the world around us. Next members share what their experiences were like when they were young, from living through wars, a void of current technologies, to the new freedoms of the 60’s and 70’s. Students are able to share their accomplishments and their challenges in a time when there is so much pressure, discourse, mental health and safety concerns. But much more often than some of those difficult subjects, there is a lot of laughter, lively conversations and enthusiasm heard throughout the hallways of Next.
Our community is enhanced by the growing population of elders. Older volunteers possess a lifetime of experience, skills, and knowledge. Their passion and wisdom can improve the academic, health, and social conditions of a child, teenager, or young adult through cultivated friendships.
With intergenerational programs, there is so much to learn, understand and takeaway from both generations, creating a stronger, more inclusive community.
Learn more about Next at BirminghamNext.org , stop in any time at 2121 Midvale, Birmingham or call at (248) 203-5270.
Cris Braun is Executive Director of Birmingham Next
In January 2023, The Community House turned the page on its first century of service and begin an exciting new chapter. Befitting such an auspicious and historic milestone, The Community House is playing host to a variety of celebrations and functions to recognize its humble beginnings, commemorate this once in a lifetime milestone and look towards a new and exciting future. To launch The Community House’s second century of service, The Community House Foundation hosted its 7th Annual Bates Street Society Dinner and Awards Celebration on Saturday, February 11. It was a smashing success.
During the evening, The Community House Boards of Directors, and yours truly, took this very, very special occasion to announce an exciting and incredibly important change – now incorporated into The Community House 2.0’s existing vision and mission.
For those of you unable to attend the 2023 Bates Street Society Dinner, I’d like to share an excerpt of my remarks with you:
“As I shared with many of you last year in preparation for us turning the page on The Community House’s first 100 years of charitable and dedicated service – staff and leadership spent the year busy reflecting, studying and assessing what current community programs and services are still viable/impactful (post-COVID) and what new programs and services may now be required of us in today’s society? While continuing to climb out of COVID, we took a measured look and solicited feedback from those that we currently serve (now totaling 272 zip codes) and welcomed/solicited feedback from others yet to be served.
Through ongoing analysis, we confirmed that nearly 1.3 million charitable nonprofits feed, heal, shelter, educate, inspire, enlighten, and nurture people of every age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status, from coast to coast, border to border, and beyond. They foster civic engagement and leadership, drive economic growth, and strengthen the fabric of our communities.
We learned, it’s easy to see a nonprofit’s mission in action when our families or neighbors are direct beneficiaries—such as when nonprofits provide food for the hungry, life-saving care, tools to survive or shelter.
It’s harder to recognize the full impact of the indirect benefits nonprofits provide us. For example, the mission of the “Friends of the Baldwin Public Library” might be to promote reading, but taxpayers also benefit when the nonprofit raises funds to buy books and equipment. Nonprofits play a fundamental role in creating more equitable and thriving communities.
In the nonprofit world, missions, not markets, are the primary magnets attracting essential resources—from donors inspired by organizations’ audacious goals; from board members, who not only volunteer their time and expertise but also often serve as major funders; and from employees, who accept modest paychecks to do work they care passionately about. But missions are typically better at providing inspiration than direction. Sometimes both.
It is in the spirit of both that The Community House is called upon to expand and deliver new programs and services to improve the health of our neighbors, our city, and beyond holistically through improved health literacy, health behaviors, nutrition, and exercise. Adding to the unprecedented urgency, there is a national wellness and mental health crisis in our country, our communities, in our own backyards. There is a battle going on. All hands are needed on deck.
Our planned expansion of programs and services aim to decrease the risk of developing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, breast
cancer, heart disease, and depression. Lifestyle, good health and wellness. We are particularly alarmed at current statistics related to depression, loneliness, eating disorders and suicide - especially amongst our young people and seniors. Greater action is needed. Our schools, our hospitals, our centers of health & wellness need our help. We want to help.
When it comes to increased rates of youth suicide and suicidal ideation, numbers don’t lie. Since 2007, suicide rates have more than doubled among individuals 10 to 24 years old. The National Vital Statistics Reports collected data about suicide rates among young people, showing that the suicide rate went from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 10.7 per 100,000 in 2018. That’s an increase of 57.4 percent. This report also found that 42 states saw significant increases in youth suicide rates, with most seeing an increase between 30 to 60 percent.
All this data was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which has had an even more detrimental effect on students’ lives, thrusting them into remote learning environments and isolating them from friends and family. With these alarming trends, the need for a modern districtwide suicide awareness, prevention, screening and case management program has never been so vital.
In order to deliver these crucial services and underpin our existing programs and services, The Community House will need to expand its campus to professionally serve all those wishing to take advantage of our new life, health & wellness programs, existing classes, summer programming and camps and early childhood education. Even our 100-year-old building is deserving of some gentle help and wellness.
In our effort to make the right decisions on hosting these new programs and services, we have consulted with healthcare and dietary professionals, educators, fitness experts, governmental agencies, city planners, architects, and others to formulate a plan to physically expand our services, our impact, our campus. Never before has the modest Community House dared to take on such a daunting capital project or secure the necessary outside funding from a new generation of selfless visionaries to help take us over the financial finish line. We will need time, talent, and treasure like never before to achieve success. We dare to be great. We must not be deterred.
I wish to thank Saroki Architecture, architect, founder and past Pillar Victor Saroki, wife and co-founder Michelle and their very talented son and architect Alex, who have put in countless hours studying, researching and designing this amazing life, health and wellness center to host a myriad of new and vital programming and services for our community, and who are expertly shepherding this vital project through the rigorous approval process to build. I thank the Saroki family for believing in The Community House, and for their belief in our goal, our expanded mission to reach, educate and care for others in our communities longing for good health and wellness – a better quality of life.
We have come to believe, that advocating, welcoming, and connecting others with trained professionals on our beautiful campus, in a safe environment, utilizing the beautiful grounds and facilities gifted to us by selfless visionaries a century ago remains in line with our founding principles and mission – perhaps like never before. We will never discard our core services or principles, that is who we are, but, like any sound business, 100 years old, we must evolve with the times and with the needs and realities on the ground.
While lifestyle, health & wellness have been added to our mission, it is the impact we wish to make that will be the true measure. We must not sit idly by. If you would like to learn more, and I hope you do, please feel to reach out to me. I’ll be waiting for your call. If we can save one life…
For more information about our vital expansion to our existing programs or services or for booking gathering and meeting space for Spring 2023 and beyond, please go to communityhouse.org or call 248.644.5832.
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The Places To Eat for Downtown is a quick reference source to establishments offering a place for dining, either breakfast, lunch or dinner. The listings include nearly all dining establishments with seating in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area, and then some select restaurants outside the immediate area served by Downtown.
220: American. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 220 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.2220. 220restaurant.com
5th Tavern: American. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2262 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.481.9607. 5thtavern.com
Adachi: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner daily. Liquor. Reservations. 325 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham 48009. 248.540.5900. adachirestaurant.com
Andiamo: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6676 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301. 248.865.9300. andiamoitalia.com
Beau’s: American. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 4108 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.626.2630. beausbloomfield.com
Bella Piatti: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 167 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.494.7110. bellapiattirestaurant.com
Beverly Hills Grill: American. Brunch, weekends, Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Liquor. No reservations. 31471 Southfield Road, Beverly Hills, 48025. 248.642.2355. beverlyhillsgrill.com
Beyond Juicery + Eatery: Contemporary. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 270 W. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009; 221 Cole Street, Birmingham, 48009; 3645 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301; 4065 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301; 1987 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. beyondjuiceryeatery.com
Bill’s: American. Breakfast, Saturday, Lunch, Thursday-Saturday, Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 39556 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.646.9000. billsbloomfieldhills.com
Birmingham Pub: American. Brunch, Sunday, Lunch, Tuesday-Friday, Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 555 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham. thebirminghampub.com
Birmingham Sushi Cafe: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 377 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.593.8880. birminghamsushi.com
Bistro Joe’s Kitchen: Global. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Liquor. Reservations. 34244 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.0984. bistrojoeskitchen.com
Bloomfield Deli: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, Monday-Friday. No reservations. 71 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.645.6879. bloomfielddeli.com
Brooklyn Pizza: Pizza. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Liquor. No reservations. 111 Henrietta Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.6690. thebrooklynpizza.com
Café ML: New American. Dinner, daily. Liquor. Reservations. 3607 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Township. 248.642.4000. cafeml.com
Casa Pernoi: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 310 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.940.0000. casapernoi.com
Churchill’s Bistro & Cigar Bar: Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 116 S. Old
Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.4555. churchillscigarbar.com
Cityscape Deli: Deli. Lunch & Dinner, MondaySaturday. No reservations. Beer. 877 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.540.7220. cityscapedeli.com
Commonwealth: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 300 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.9766. gocommonwealth.com
Dick O’Dow’s: Irish. Lunch & Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 160 West Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.1135. dickodowspub.com
Eddie Merlot’s: Steak & seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 37000 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.712.4095. eddiemerlots.com
Einstein Bros. Bagels: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 4089 West Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.258.9939. einsteinbros.com
Elie’s Mediterranean Grill/Bar: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 263 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.2420. eliesgrill.com
EM: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No Reservations. Liquor. 470 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 947.234.0819. embirmingham.com
Embers Deli & Restaurant: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, Tuesday-Sunday. Dinner, TuesdayFriday. No reservations. 3598 West Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.645.1033. embersdeli1.com
Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: American. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 323 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.723.0134. flemingssteakhouse.com
Forest: European. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 735 Forest Avenue, Birmingham 48009. 248.258.9400. forestbirmingham.com
Greek Islands Coney Restaurant: Greek. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 221 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.1222. greekislandsconey.com
Griffin Claw Brewing Company: American. Lunch, Friday-Sunday, Dinner, TuesdaySunday. No Reservations. Liquor. 575 S. Eton Street, Birmingham. 248.712.4050. griffinclawbrewingcompany.com
Hazel’s: Seafood. Lunch, Saturday & Sunday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 1 Peabody Street, Birmingham. 248.671.1714. eatathazels.com
Honey Tree Grille: Greek/American. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, daily. No reservations. 3633 W. Maple Rd, Bloomfield, MI 48301. 248.203.9111. honeytreegrille.com
Hunter House Hamburgers: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 35075 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.7121. hunterhousehamburgers.com
Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse: American. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 201 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.4369. hydeparkrestaurants.com
IHOP: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2187 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301. 248.333.7522. Ihop.com
Joe Muer Seafood: Seafood. Dinner daily. Reservations. Liquor. 39475 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.792.9609. joemuer.com
Kaku Sushi and Poke’: Asian. Lunch, MondayFriday & Dinner daily. No reservations. 869 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.480.4785, and 126 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.885.8631. kakusushipoke.com
Metro Intelligencer is a monthly column devoted to news stories, tidbits and gossip items about what's happening on the restaurant scene in the metro Detroit area. Metro Intelligencer is reported/created each month by Gigi Nichols who can be reached at GigiNichols@DowntownPublications.com with news items or tips, on or off the record.
Detroit’s legendary Whitney restaurant closed shop for one week in January for kitchen upgrades and early spring housecleaning. The restaurant reopened on January 19 with new menus, new programs and key new staff. Executive Chef Mark Donovan joins The Whitney team after more than a decade with Walt Disney properties in Florida. A graduate of Schoolcraft College’s Arts and Hospitality program, Donovan is a native Detroiter who’s “happy to be back home in Detroit with friends and family and proud to be part of The Whitney team.” Danny Hochrein, also a native Detroiter, joins The Whitney as its new Certified Sommelier. Longtime Whitney sous chef, Gary Jones, will lead the culinary team in the mansion’s popular third floor Ghost Bar where special Prime Rib dinners will make a comeback starting on Wednesday nights, possibly expanding to more nights later in the year. The Ghost Bar’s happy hours are also returning from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday nights, plus 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday evenings, with reduced prices on food and drink. Happy hour will feature a new bar menu plus The Whitney’s “Witching Hour” martini, the Witch’s Hat Brewery’s “Ghost of the Whitney” IPA, and the Whitney’s “Sparkling Celebration” wine from the Mawby winery in the Leelanau Peninsula. The Whitney dinner menu in the restaurant’s first and second floor dining rooms has been revamped to offer complete three course dinners. In addition to the regular menu, Chef Donovan and Sommelier Hochrein have created unique collaborative high value three-course dinners that will include wine pairings and special services. The collaborative menus will change seasonally throughout the year to take advantage of the freshest foods and zestiest wines available. “We’re excited about what we accomplished in a tough year last year and think what we have planned for this year will keep our past diners coming back and new ones coming in,” says The Whitney’s owner, Bud Liebler. “The Whitney has been an iconic Woodward Avenue landmark for nearly 130 years and one of the city’s most popular restaurants for nearly 50 years. We want to keep both of those records going.” 4421 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. thewhitney.com
Avalon International Bread has announced that they are embarking on a new chapter for the company which first opened in Detroit in June of 1997. The company has reduced their Bakehouse footprint and closed their Detroit flagship cafe at 422 W. Willis. The operation moved into a new home at 411 W. Canfield, Detroit inside Jolly Pumpkin, creating a shared space that Avalon assures will maintain the unique strengths of both businesses. In a letter to their customers, co-founder Jackie Victor said, “Every year has brought new challenges and investments to an aging building that we do not own. When it became too crowded, we extended into a larger manufacturing space on the eastside of Detroit and we were able to spread the Avalon spirit to other communities in downtown Detroit and Ann Arbor. In the past two years since COVID hit, we have worked endlessly to restart and retool the entirety of the business. Our dedicated staff and partners have invested enormous resources: time, money, heart and soul. This new economy demands collaborations, partnership, increased efficiency, a reduced carbon footprint, and shared resources. The economy has shifted and now, so must we. On February 14th, when we greet you from our iconic Avalon counter, some things will have changed, but we will work to bring you the same warm hospitality, with sweets baked in-house throughout the day and our espresso machine serving up rich cappuccinos. There will be some of Avalon’s fan favorites, additional seating, new menu options and weekend brunch.” 411 W. Canfield Street, Detroit.avalonbreads.net
Founded in 2011, The Hudson Café was born in the heart of Detroit just before the city’s much-publicized revival began. Located on Woodward Avenue between Grand River and State Street, the name is a nod to the iconic Hudson’s department store, which was located directly across the street on Woodward Avenue. The café temporarily closed at the end of January for some much-needed renovation. The newly designed space will
Kerby’s Koney Island: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2160 N. Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.333.1166. kerbyskoneyisland.com
La Marsa: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner daily. Reservations. 43259 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.5800. lamarsacuisine.com
La Strada Italian Kitchen & Bar: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 243 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.480.0492. lastradaitaliankitchen.com
Leo’s Coney Island: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 154 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.593.9707. Also 6527 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.646.8568. leosconeyisland.com
Little Daddy’s: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 39500 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.647.3400. littledaddys.com
Luxe Bar & Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 525 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.6051. luxebarandgrill.com
Madam: American. Breakfast, Monday-Friday, Brunch, weekends. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner daily. Reservations. Liquor. 298 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.283.4200. daxtonhotel.com
Mare Mediterranean: Seafood. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 115 Willits Street, Birmingham 48009. 248.940.5525. maremediterranean.com
Market North End: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 474 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.712.4953. marketnorthend.com
Nippon Sushi Bar: Japanese. Lunch, MondayFriday, Dinner daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2079 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.481.9581. nipponsushibar.com
Olga’s Kitchen: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2075 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.451.0500. olgas.com
Original Pancake House: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 33703 South Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.5775. oph-mi.com
Planthropie: Vegan. Dessert and Cheese. Tuesday-Sunday. 135 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.839.5640. planthropie.com
Roadside B & G: American. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 1727 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.7270. roadsidebandg.com
Salvatore Scallopini: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 505 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.8977. salsbirmingham.com
Shift Kitchen & Cocktails: Small plates. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.2380. shiftbirmingham.com
Sidecar: American. Lunch and Dinner, daily. Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.2380. sidecarsliderbar.com
Slice Pizza Kitchen: Pizza. Lunch and Dinner, daily. Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.3475. slicepizzakitchen.com
Social Kitchen & Bar: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Brunch, Saturday & Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 225 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.4200. socialkitchenandbar.com
Stateside Deli & Restaurant Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 653 S. Adams Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.550.0455. statesidedeli.com
Steve’s Deli: Deli. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Breakfast and Lunch, Sunday. No reservations. 6646 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield, 48301. 248.932.0800. stevesdeli.com
Streetside Seafood: Seafood. Lunch, Thursday & Friday, Dinner, daily. Liquor. 273 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.645.9123. streetsideseafood.com
Sushi Hana: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 42656 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.333.3887. sushihanabloomfield.com
Sy Thai Cafe: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, Monday and Wednesday-Sunday. No reservations. 315 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.9830. sythaibirmingham.com
Sylvan Table: American. Brunch, weekends, Dinner daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1819 Inverness Street, Sylvan Lake, 48320. 248.369.3360. sylvantable.com
Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro: American. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 55 S. Bates Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.731.7066. tallulahwine.com
Thai Street Kitchen: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. 42805 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Township, 48304. 248.499.6867. thaistreetkitchen.com
The Franklin Grill: American. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 32760 Franklin Road, Franklin, 48025. 248.865.6600. thefranklingrill.com
The French Lady: French. Lunch, TuesdaySunday. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. 768 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.480. 0571. zefrenchlady.com
The Gallery Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & wine. 6683 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.851.0313. galleryrestaurant2.com
The Moose Preserve Bar & Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2395 S. Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.7688. moosepreserve.com
The Morrie: American. Dinner, ThursdaySaturday. No reservations. Liquor. 260 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham 48009. 248.940.3260. themorrie.com
The Rugby Grille: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 100 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.5999. rugbygrille.com
Toast: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily; Reservations. Liquor. 203 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.6278. eatattoast.com
Tomatoes Apizza: Pizza. Lunch & Dinner daily. Carryout. 34200 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham 48009. 248.258.0500. tomatoesapizza.com
Touch of India: Indian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 297 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.593.7881. thetouchofindia.com
Townhouse: American. Brunch, weekends. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 180 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.5241. eatattownhouse.com
Whistle Stop Diner: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily; Liquor. No reservations. 501 S. Eton Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.566.3566. whistlestopdiners.com
ZANA: Modern American. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 210 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.800.6568. zanabham.com
Zao Jun: Asian. Dinner and Lunch, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 6608 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301. 248.949.9999. zaojunnewasian.com
Ale Mary’s: American. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 316 South Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.268.1917. alemarysbeer.com
Anita’s Kitchen: Middle Eastern. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 22651 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.548.0680. anitaskitchen.com
Beppé: New American. Lunch, Saturday & Sunday. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 703 N. Main Street in Royal Oak, 48067. 248.607.7030. eatbeppe.com
Bigalora: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 711 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.2442 bigalora.com
The Blue Nile: Ethiopian. Dinner, ThursdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 545 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale, 48220. 248.547.6699. bluenileferndale.com
Bohemia: Mediterranean. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 100 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.268.2883. eatatbohemia.com
Cafe Muse: French. Breakfast & Lunch, Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 418 S. Washington Avenue, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.4749. cafemuseroyaloak.com
Como’s: Pizza. Brunch, weekends. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 22812 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.677.4439. comosrestaurant.com
Cork Wine Pub: American. Brunch, Sunday, Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 23810 Woodward Avenue, Pleasant Ridge, 48069. 248.544.2675. corkwinepub.org
Crispelli’s Bakery and Pizzeria: Italian. Lunch and Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 28939 Woodward Avenue, Berkley, 48072. 248.591.3300. crispellis.com
The Fly Trap: Diner. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. No reservations. 22950 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale 48220. 248.399.5150. theflytrapferndale.com
Howe’s Bayou: Cajun. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 22949 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.691.7145. howesbayouferndale.net
Imperial: Mexican. Lunch and Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 22848 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.691.7145. imperialferndale.com
Inyo Restaurant Lounge: Asian Fusion. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 22871 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.543.9500. inyorestaurant.com
KouZina: Greek. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 121 N. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.629.6500. gokouzina.com
Kruse & Muer on Woodward: American. Lunch, Monday-Saturday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 28028 Woodward Avenue, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.965.2101. kruseandmuerrestaurants.com
Lily’s Seafood: Seafood. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 410 S. Washington Avenue, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.591.5459. lilysseafood.com
Lockhart’s BBQ: Barbeque. Brunch, Sunday, Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 202 E. Third Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.584.4227. lockhartsbbq.com
Mezcal: Brunch, Sunday. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 201 East 9 Mile Road Ferndale, 48220. 248.268.3915. mezcalferndale.com
Pearl’s Deep Dive: Seafood. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor.100 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.268.2875. pearlsdeepdive.com
Oak City Grille: American. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 212 W. 6th Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.556.0947. oakcitygrille.com
One-Eyed Betty’s: American. Breakfast, weekends, Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 175 W. Troy Street, Ferndale, 48220. 248.808.6633. oneeyedbettys.com
Otus Supply: American. Brunch, Sunday. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 345 E. 9 Mile Road, Ferndale, 48220. 248.291.6160. otussupply.com
Pop’s for Italian: Italian. Brunch and Lunch, weekends, Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. 280 W. 9 Mile Road, Ferndale,48220. 248.268.4806. popsforitalian.com
Public House: American. Lunch & Brunch, weekends, Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 241 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale, 48220. 248.850.7420. publichouseferndale.com
Redcoat Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 31542 Woodward Avenue, Royal Oak, 48073. 248.549.0300. redcoat-tavern.com
Ronin: Japanese. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 326 W. 4th Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.546.0888. roninsushi.com
Royal Oak Brewery: American. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 215 E. 4th Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.1141. royaloakbrewery.com
Sozai: Japanese.Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. 449 West 14 Mile Road, Clawson,48017. 248.677-3232. sozairestaurant.com
The Morrie: American. Brunch, weekends, Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 511 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.216.1112. themorrie.com
Three Cats Cafe: American. Brunch, weekends, Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 116 W 14 Mile Road, Clawson, 48017. 248.900.2287. threecatscafe.com
Tigerlily: Japanese. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 231 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale, 48220. 248.733.4905. tigerlilyferndale.com
Toast, A Breakfast and Lunch Joint: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 23144 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.398.0444. eatattoast.com
Tom’s Oyster Bar: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 318 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.541.1186. tomsoysterbar.com
Trattoria Da Luigi: Italian. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 415 S, Washington Avenue, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.542.4444. trattoriadaluigi.business.site.com
Vinsetta Garage: American. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. No reservations. Liquor. 27799 Woodward Avenue, Berkley, 48072. 248.548.7711. vinsettagarage.com
Voyager: Seafood. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 600 Vester Street, Ferndale, 48220. 248.658.4999. voyagerferndale.com
Capital Grille: Steak & Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2800 West Big Beaver Road, Somerset Collection, Troy, 48084. 248.649.5300. thecapitalgrille.com
Cafe Sushi: Pan-Asian. Lunch, Tuesday-Friday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 1933 W. Maple Road, Troy, 48084. 248.280.1831. cafesushimi.com
CK Diggs: American & Italian. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 2010 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills,
include a new layout which will allow the restaurant to decrease wait times and increase productivity in a modern and welcoming dining room. A post on the restaurant’s facebook page states, “When we first opened in downtown Detroit, we took a big risk. Over the years, however, your love and support has not gone unnoticed. This renovation is a good problem to have, and it’s our turn to give back to you.” The Hudson Café also will add a secondary restaurant at 6 Mile and Haggerty Road in Northville. According to owner Tom Teknos, the Northville café is slated to open in mid-February and the Detroit location will reopen by the first week of April. 1241 Woodward Avenue, Detroit. hudson-cafe.com
On March 9 and 10, Detroit’s Oak & Reel will be wrapping up their threeseries Culinary Collective, which offers a dinner of a lifetime for many foodies, who will be able to experience a world-class meal without leaving Detroit. The series, presented by Motor City Seafood, offers a unique dining experience by Oak & Reel’s Chef Jared Gadbaw and his team, where they host and collaborate with celebrated chefs from around the country. On March 9 and 10, the Culinary Collective presents Erik Ramirez, the chef and partner behind New York City’s hit restaurants Llama Inn and Llama San and newly opened Llama Inn Madrid. Ramirez, who is Peruvian-American, began his culinary journey 20 years ago and still considers it an honor and privilege to create through food. The event includes a six-seven course dinner with beverage pairings (including a non-alcoholic beverage pairing option).
Tickets to the event are $400 per person and benefit Forgotten Harvest – a non-profit that works to fight hunger and food insecurity in our community. Reservations can be made by visiting Oak & Reel’s website. 2921 East Grand Boulevard, Detroit oakandreel.com
When co-owners Beth Hussey and Emmele Herrold opened Hazel’s in 2018 they couldn’t have predicted that the restaurant would shift its full focus to become the fresh-caught in-season seafood spot it is today. Herrold and Hussey took another step toward reflecting their restaurant’s true experience by investing in a major renovation project which took place in mid-February. As for the changes, the restaurant’s front grotto on Birmingham’s Peabody Street remains fully intact, but the interior entryway has been reconstructed to feature an airlock – necessary to better warm the space during these colder months – as well as coastal-inspired details. The small bodega that once greeted guests upon arrival has been removed to make way for a more seamless seafood restaurant experience. Hazel’s hostess stand has been moved farther along the hall and against the entry’s north wall. The entire airlock is clad in copper and portholes salvaged from actual ships will adorn the entry. Some portholes peer into Hazel’s vast kitchen. Others are backed with shadowboxes to create coastal scenes. “It’s going to feel more like a seafood restaurant for sure,” said Hussey. “The staff is so excited. It’s going to be an impactful change. Not only will the renovation aid in creating a warmer, more insulated interior, it will provide a more cohesive and memorable experience for guests at Hazel’s.” 1 Peabody Street, Birmingham. eatathazels.com
The evolution of modern American cuisine continues to unfold at Public House in Ferndale, as executive chef Darius Hamilton combines downhome cooking and gourmet standards to introduce an eclectic new menu. Hamilton previously served as executive sous chef for Townhouse in Birmingham, and positions at Prime + Proper, and the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe. Focusing on high-quality foods and scratch recipes, the new vegan and carnivore offerings build on the variety of diverse flavors that define American cuisine. From southern soul food to Italian-inspired entrees, each new dish at Public House starts with simple ingredients melded together to create complex and unique flavors. “I was taught to create flavor profiles,” Chef Hamilton said. “That means picking ingredients for their natural flavors and highlighting what is important to the dish to complement the palate.” “We really went off of customer reviews to see what people were asking for,” continued Hamilton, who was tasked with elevating the location’s separate vegan and carnivore kitchens. “We aren’t using any soy-based, pre-made items. Everything is from scratch, with the vegan side more vegetable forward.” 241 W. 9 Mile Road, Ferndale. publichouseferndale.com
48309. 248.853.6600. ckdiggs.com
Grand Castor: Latin American. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 2950 Rochester Road, Troy, 48083. 248.278.7777. grancastor.com
Kona Grille: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 30 E. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 48083. 248.619.9060. konagrill.com
Kruse & Muer on Main: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 327 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.652.9400.
kruseandmuerrestaurants.com
Loccino Italian Grill and Bar: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Liquor. Reservations. 5600 Crooks Road, Troy, 48098. 248.813.0700. loccino.com
The Meeting House: American. Brunch, weekends, Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 301 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.759.4825. themeetinghouserochester.com
Mon Jin Lau: Nu Asian. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1515 E. Maple Road, Troy, 48083. 248.689.2332. monjinlau.com
Morton’s, The Steakhouse: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 888 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 48084. 248.404.9845. mortons.com
Naked Burger: American. Lunch, TuesdaySunday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6870 N Rochester Road, Rochester, 48306. 248.759.4858. nakedburgerdetroit.com
NM Café: American. Lunch, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 2705 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 48084. 248.816.3424. neimanmarcus.com/restaurants
Oceania Inn: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. The Village of Rochester Hills, 3176 Walton Boulevard, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.375.9200. oceaniainnrochesterhills.com
Ocean Prime: Steak & Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2915 Coolidge Highway, Troy, 48084. 248.458.0500. ocean-prime.com
O’Connor’s Irish Public House: Irish. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 324 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.608.2537. oconnorsrochester.com
Orchid Café: Thai. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. 3303 Rochester Road., Troy, 48085. 248.524.1944. orchid-cafe.com
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. Somerset Collection, 2801 W. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, 48084. 248.816.8000. pfchangs.com
Recipes: American/Brunch. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 134 W. University Drive, Rochester, 48037. 248.659.8267. Also 2919 Crooks Road, Troy, 48084. 248.614.5390. recipesinc.com
RH House: American. Brunch, weekends, Lunch and Dinner, daily. 2630 Crooks Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. No reservations. Liquor. 2630 Crooks Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.586.1000. rh.house.com
Rochester Chop House: Steak & Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 306 S. Main St., Rochester, 48307. 248.651.2266. kruseandmuerrestaurants.com
Ruth’s Chris Steak House: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 755 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 48084. 248.269.8424. ruthschris.com
Sedona Taphouse: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 198 Big Beaver Road, Troy, 48083. 248.422.6167. sedonataphouse.co
Silver Spoon: Italian. Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 6830 N. Rochester Road, Rochester, 48306. 248.652.4500. silverspoonristorante.com
Too Ra Loo: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 139 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.453.5291. tooraloorochester.com
West Bloomfield/Southfield
Bacco: Italian. Lunch, Tuesday-Friday, Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 29410 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, 48034. 248.356.6600. baccoristorante.com
Cornbread Restaurant & Bar: Southern. Lunch & Dinner, Thursday-Tuesday. Reservations. Liquor. 29508 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, 48034. 248.208.1680. cornbreadsoulfood.com
Bigalora: Italian. Brunch, weekends, Lunch, Monday-Saturday, Dinner, daily. No Reservations. Liquor. 29110 Franklin Road, Southfield, 48034. 248.544.2442. bigalora.com
The Fiddler: Russian. Brunch, Sunday, Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 6676 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.851.8782. fiddlerrestaurant.com
Mene Sushi: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 6239 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.538.7081. menesususi.com
Nonna Maria’s: Italian. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 2080 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, 48323. 248.851.2500. nonamariasbistro.com
Pickles & Rye: Deli. Lunch, & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. 6724 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.737.3890. picklesandryedeli.com
Prime29 Steakhouse: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 6545 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.737.7463. prime29steakhouse.com
Redcoat Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 6745 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.865.0500. redcoat-tavern.com
Shangri-La: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. Orchard Mall Shopping Center, 6407 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.626.8585. dineshangrila.com
Sposita’s Ristorante: Italian. Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 33210 W. Fourteen Mile Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.538.8954. spositas-restorante.com
Stage Deli: Deli. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 6873 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.855.6622. stagedeli.com
Yotsuba: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 7365 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.737.8282. yotsuba-restaurant.com
West Oakland
Gravity Bar & Grill: Mediterranean. Lunch, Monday – Friday, Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 340 N. Main Street, Milford, 48381. 248.684.4223. gravityrestaurant.com
Volare Ristorante: Italian. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 48992 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.960.7771. ristorantevolare.com
North Oakland
Clarkston Union: American. Breakfast, Sunday, Lunch, Wednesday-Saturday, Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 54 S. Main Street, Clarkston, 48346. 248.620.6100. clarkstonunion.com
Kruse's Deer Lake Inn: Seafood. Lunch &
Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 7504 Dixie Highway, Clarkston, 48346. 248.795.2077. kruseandmuerrestaurants.com
The Fed: American. Brunch, Sunday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 15 S. Main Street, Clarkston, 48346. 248.297.5833. thefedcommunity.com
Via Bologna: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 7071 Dixie Highway, Clarkston. 48346. 248.620.8500. joebologna.com
Union Woodshop: BBQ. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. No reservations. Liquor. 18 S. Main Street, Clarkston, 48346. 248.625.5660. unionwoodshop.com
Detroit
Bar Pigalle: French. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2915 John R Street, Detroit, 48201 313.497.9200. barpigalle.com
Barda: Argentinian. Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 4842 Grand River Avenue, Detroit, 48208. 313.952.5182. bardadetroit.com
Basan: Asian. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2703 Park Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.481.2703. basandetroit.com
Bucharest Grill: Middle Eastern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2684 E. Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, 48207. 313.965.3111. bucharestgrill.com
Cash Only Supper Club: American. Dinner, Friday & Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 1145 Griswold Street, Detroit, 48226. 248.636.2300. cashonlydetroit.com
Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails: Seasonal American. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 15 E Kirby Street, Detroit, 48202. 313. 818-3915. chartreusekc.com
Cliff Bell’s: American. Dinner, WednesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 2030 Park Avenue, Detroit, 48226. 313.961.2543. cliffbells.com
Cuisine: French. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 670 Lothrop Road, Detroit, 48202. 313.872.5110. cuisinerestaurantdetroit.com
El Barzon: Mexican. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 3710 Junction Street, Detroit, 48210. 313.894.2070. elbarzonrestaurant.com
Fishbone’s Rhythm Kitchen Café: Cajun. Lunch and Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 400 Monroe Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.965.4600. fishbonesusa.com
Freya: Price fixed. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations, Liquor. 2929 E. Grand Boulevard, Detroit, 48202. 313.351.5544. freyadetroit.com
Giovanni’s Ristorante: Italian. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 330 S. Oakwood Boulevard, Detroit, 48217. 313.841.0122. giovannisrestaurante.com
Green Dot Stables: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2200 W. Lafayette, Detroit, 48216. 313.962.5588. greendotstables.com
Joe Muer Seafood: Seafood. Lunch, MondayFriday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 400 Renaissance Center, Detroit, 48243. 313.567.6837. joemuer.com
Johnny Noodle King: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2601 W. Fort Street, Detroit, 48216. 313.309.7946. johnnynoodleking.com
Mario’s: Italian. Lunch, Saturday & Sunday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 4222 2nd Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.1616. mariosdetroit.com
Midtown Shangri-la: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 4710 Cass Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.974.7669. midtownshangril-la.com
Motor City Brewing Works: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 470 W. Canfield Street, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.2700. motorcitybeer.com
Oak & Reel: Italian Seafood. Dinner, ThursdayMonday. Reservations. Liquor. 2921 E. Grand Boulevard, Detroit, 48202. 313.270.9600. oakandreel.com
Parc: New American. Brunch, Saturday & Sunday. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 800 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 48226. 313.922.7272. parcdetroit.com
Prime + Proper: Steak House. Brunch, Weekends. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1145 Griswold St, Detroit, 48226. 313.636.3100. primeandproperdetroit.com
Prism: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 555 E. Lafayette Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.309.2499. greektowncasino.com
Red Smoke Barbeque: Barbeque. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. Trappers Alley Shopping Center, 573 Monroe Ave., Detroit, 48226. 313.962.2100.
Selden Standard: American. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 3921 Second Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.438.5055. seldenstandard.com
SheWolf Pastifico & Bar: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 438 Selden Street, Detroit 48201. 313.315.3992. shewolfdetroit.com
Sinbad’s: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 100 St. Clair Street, Detroit, 48214. 313.822.8000. sindbads.com
Slows Bar BQ: Barbeque. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2138 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, 48216. 313.962.9828. slowsbarbq.com/locations/corktown
Tap at MGM Grand: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 1777 Third Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.465.1234. mgmgranddetroit.com
The Block: American. Brunch, Weekends, Lunch & Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 3919 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.0892. theblockdet.com
The Peterboro: Chinese American. Dinner, Friday-Sunday. Take-out, Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 420 Peterboro Street, Detroit, 48201. 313.462.8106. thepeterboro.com
The Statler: French. Brunch, Sunday. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 313 Park Avenue, Detroit, 48226. 313.463.7111. statlerdetroit.com
Townhouse Detroit: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 500 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 48226. 313.723.1000. townhousedetroit.com
Smith & Co: American. Dinner, WednesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 644 Selden Street, Detroit, 313.638.1695. smithandcodetroit.com
Supergeil: Berlin Doner. Lunch, Friday-Sunday. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 2442 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, 48216. 313.462.4133. supergeildetroit.com
Symposia: Mediterranean. Dinner, WednesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor.1000 Brush Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.962.9366. atheneumsuites.com/symposia
Vertical Detroit: Small Plates & Wine Bar. Dinner, Wednesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 1538 Centre Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.732.WINE. verticaldetroit.com
Vivio’s Food & Spirits: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2460 Market Street, Detroit, 48207. 313.393.1711. viviosdetroit.net
The Whitney: American. Tea Service, Saturday & Sunday, Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.4421 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.5700. thewhitney.com
Wright & Co.: American. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. No reservations. Liquor. 1500 Woodward Avenue, Second Floor, Detroit, 48226. 313.962.7711. wrightdetroit.com
Michigan voters in 2018 approved Proposal 1, the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, to legalize recreational cannabis in the state by a vote of 56 to 44 percent.. Oakland County voters approved the proposal by 59 percent. In Birmingham, 62 percent of voters supported the proposal. Yet, initially, most local communities – including Birmingham – opted out of permitting cannabis businesses in their municipalities, despite the opportunity for revenue to be returned to the community.
In fiscal year 2021, Michigan had over $1.3 billion in marijuana sales for recreational use, and $481 million for medical cannabis which has been allowed since 2008. More than $111 million was collected and returned to communities from the 10 percent adult use marijuana excise tax in 2021. In 2022, combined recreational and medical cannabis sales reached $2.3 billion, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency.
Slowly, more and more local municipalities are permitting dispensaries and other cannabis businesses, either in order to take advantage of the money flowing in, or because petitioners who want to place a recreational marijuana facility in a community are either putting the issue on the ballot or suing communities and prevailing.
Between January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2023, there were 89 different licenses issued by the state, and zero requested licenses denied. But that is a double-edge sword. In June, 2022, there were over 470 recreational dispensaries in the state, supported by 1,000 growers, leading to a flood of
supply in the marketplace and a massive drop in price – those in the know say prices have plummeted more than 74 percent since 2019, making it a deal for purchasers, but less so for purveyors, some of whom have resorted to weekly specials, 'raffles on Wednesdays,' pizza tie-in deals, and numerous other ways to move product. But the market will have to sort out the issue of supply and demand.
On February 13, the Birmingham City Commission held a workshop to look at marijuana ordinances, as a preemptive move on the part of city manager Tom Markus, who is crossing items off his 'to do' list before he leaves the city June 30. Markus, who spent 22 years as Birmingham City Manager before moving on in 2010, is ever mindful of the city he will leave behind. He fully comprehends the work that will be needed to keep Birmingham humming on full cylinders, and is cognizant of what is going on in other metro Detroit towns.
Markus knows that if the city continues to opt out of permitting recreational marijuana facilities, there is the possibility Birmingham will get hit by a petitioner who will write a ballot proposal to be passed by voters, and the city will have no say in how the local ordinance is structured. Better to be proactive and write an airtight local ordinance to control the permitting process and where such facilities can be located, for example.
That is not to say that residents necessarily want a recreational cannabis dispensary in Birmingham. Many who enjoy cannabis products
can easily access them via a short car drive to Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Waterford, Walled Lake, among others, or can have the products delivered. But city officials say that every month someone calls to see if the city has decided to opt back in on the cannabis issue. No doubt there are many retailers who envision being part of the attractive Birmingham market and it's only a question of when someone, not necessarily a local resident, starts the ballot petition process allowed under the state law.
While we can buy into the logic that the city needs to be preemptive on this issue, we also know that writing an ordinance that can withstand a legal challenge has become a specialized field nowadays, one that requires that the city employ outside counsel beyond the standard municipal law firm. It would be money well spent to get this right the first time around.
Second, some commissioners suggested testing the community support of cannabis facilities by placing it on the city's Emgage website and running a poll, but we believe that has the potential to be flawed, as it can be manipulated by those who feel one way or another. Further, elected and appointed officials know all too well that it is only a question of when Birmingham will have to deal with this issue, so it's one of those decisions that begs for and defines leadership in a community.
Start the work now on an ordinance and make sure you get it right so the city remains in control of the process.
Birmingham City Commissioners are now approaching a decision on who to employ as the next city manager when current city manager Tom Markus leaves at the end of this June. Markus has run the search for his replacement and the commission is following a game plan that involved narrowing down a field of over 40 applicants to six better qualified contenders, a round of public interviews, a public meet and greet session, further interviews, all the while encouraging public feedback. A final decision will be made sometime this spring.
The final field of applicants has now been reduced to three persons, two of whom we are most familiar with – Blaine Wing, until recently the city manager in neighboring Rochester, and Jana Ecker, currently the assistant city manager under Markus in Birmingham.
As both a local business and, for some of us, local residents, at Downtown Newsmagazine we are in a unique position to make a recommendation on who would be the best fit for the city of Birmingham as the next city manager. Individually, and cumulatively, we bring over four decades of experience covering all forms of
government in Oakland County, and for the past 12 plus years, we have more closely followed than other observers the workings of government in Birmingham.
We have some knowledge of Wing from a period of a few years in the last decade when we covered the Rochester government. His resume and experience on the job certainly qualify him to be one of the finalists for the Birmingham post of city manager.
But we think there is a strong case for the city commission to give its support in the final vote for Jana Ecker for this important post.
We make this early recommendation based on two areas of consideration – past professional track record and an understanding of the sense of place for the community at a most crucial time for Birmingham
On the professional side of the equation, Ecker, an attorney, brings some 26 years in both municipal law and local government, 20 plus years right here in Birmingham itself, having spent time as a city planner, then head of the planning department; 18 months in an understudy position of assistant city manager
under Markus; eight months as interim director of the Birmingham Shopping District. She checks all the boxes necessary to be the city manager: long range planning; personnel and labor relations background; parks and recreation knowledge; multi-modal experience; time spent working with other government units; budgeting and municipal finance, to highlight just a few areas of her expertise. She is a forward thinking public servant, well versed in the contemporary trends that are shaping local communities for the future, and has been mentored most recently by one of the best city managers in the profession.
Equally important is her understanding of the sense of community here in Birmingham. Ecker is well grounded in the history of the community, its people and institutions, both where we have been and where we need to go in the future for the community to remain an attractive place for residents and businesses.
We understand the city commission's desire to follow the game plan laid out when this search started months ago, but the quicker the better when it comes to naming Jana Ecker the next city manager for Birmingham.
