Downtown Newsmagazine | Birmingham/Bloomfield

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HOMESCHOOLING MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN LONG BEFORE THE PANDEMIC CONTINUES TO PICK UP STEAM

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DOWNTOWN03.24 33 INCREASE IN HOMESCHOOLING One of the biggest responsibilities and decisions of parenting is how to educate one’s children. In a trend that began long before the pandemic but has picked up steam since, a small but growing number of families are abandoning the tried-and-true route of a public school or even a private education to learn at home through parents, guardians, a co-op of parents or in a drop-off learning center.

21 CRIME MAP A recap of select categories of crime occurring in the past month in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills, presented in map format, plus a reminder about an online interactive map with story details on public safety incidents.

24 OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL “Cease Fire' lobby targets Stevens; Ronna (Romney) McDaniel coming home; Rogers rises, Craig drops out; good news for Donni Steele; Oakland rep's antisemitic posting; update on Walsh-McCready race; plus more.

51 MUNICIPAL Birmingham lawsuit claims questioned; Bloomfield Township snow removal issues; training for a mass casualty incident; Next building architect bid; city liquor license renewals; BSD director employment ends; plus more.

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DOWNTOWN03.24 61 NEXT NOTEBOOK Next Executive Director Braun addresses the fact that despite the availability of safety nets and wrap-around services in Birmingham and Oakland County, many residents in need hesitate to ask for assistance, or simply do not know where to turn.

63 COMMUNITY HOUSE William Seaklar, President & CEO of The Community House, writes about recognition by The Knot for wedding events at the iconic institution, and previews some upcoming activities.

66 METRO INTELLIGENCER Gigi Nichols provides readers with quick takes on what is happening in the world of food and drink in the metro area.

70 ENDNOTE Our thoughts on the challenges facing the downtown retail district of Birmingham as the city looks for another BSD director; and our concerns over the new Michigan financial disclosure process for elected state officials and candidates.

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PUBLISHER David Hohendorf NEWS EDITOR Lisa Brody NEWS STAFF/CONTRIBUTORS Hillary Brody Anchill | Cris Braun | Dana Casadei | Tracy Donohue | Stacy Gittleman | Austen Hohendorf Grace Lovins | Jeanine Matlow | Gigi Nichols | Susan Peck | Carla Schwartz | William Seklar PHOTOGRAPHY/CONTRIBUTORS Laurie Tennent | Mackenzie O'Brien | Chris Ward Laurie Tennent Studio ADVERTISING DIRECTOR David Hohendorf ADVERTISING SALES Mark Grablowski GRAPHICS/IT MANAGER Chris Grammer OFFICE 970 E Maple Road / Ste. 3, Birmingham MI 48009 248.792.6464 MAILING PO Box 1630 Birmingham MI 48012-1630 DOWNTOWN NEWSMAGAZINE GOALS/MISSION The personnel at Downtown Newsmagazine bring a special commitment to the publishing effort, reinvesting in the local communities and working to make sure the Birmingham/Bloomfield area reaches its highest potential.

Our mission dictates that we strive each month to provide a solid news and advertising product that local residents look forward to reading. Our goal is to build a community of informed citizens through the efforts of our passionate team. We are innovators producing products that go well beyond what others offer.

DISTRIBUTION/SUBSCRIPTIONS Mailed monthly at no charge to most homes in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills.

Additional free copies distributed at high foot-traffic locations in Birmingham/Bloomfield.

For those not receiving a free mail copy, paid subscriptions are available. To secure a paid subscription, go to our website (downtownpublications.com) and click on “subscriptions” in the top index and place your order or scan the QR Code here.

INCOMING/READER FEEDBACK We welcome feedback on both our publication and general issues of concern in the Birmingham/Bloomfield community.

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OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

METRO INTELLIGENCER

THREATENED PLANET

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CRIME MAP

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Sexual assault

Assault

Murder/Homicide

Robbery

Breaking/entering

Larceny

Larceny from vehicle

Vehicle theft

Vandalism

Drug offenses

Arson

These are the crimes reported under select categories by police officials in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills through February 15, 2024.

Placement of codes is approximate.

Want weekly updates on public safety stories? Sign up for our weekly update email newsletter at downtownpublications.com.

An interactive version of the Crime Locator map – linking to stories about crime incidents – can be viewed online. Scan the QR code above or look for the crime map link on our home page at downtownpublications.com.

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I work at a senior living community in Bloomfield Hills called Autumn House of Bloomfield (formerly Samaritas Senior Living until December 1, 2023) and was dismayed to see our community not mentioned in the Aging In Oakland featured article (February/Downtown).

The article stated that there are seven senior living communities in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area but did not recognize ours which would bring the total to eight. Many of our residents read this article and were wondering why our community was left off your list.

We have been serving seniors since 1999. While I understand that we are tucked away and do not do a great deal of advertising, we do work with NEXT and the Bloomfield Township Senior Center to support their efforts.

For future reference, our community information is as follows: Autumn House of Bloomfield, 6257 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301, autumnhouse-bh.com.

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Local theater closing Bad news for residents of Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township as the Main in Royal Oak and now the Maple Theater closes.

These were de facto community centers for mostly seniors in our aging neighborhood, but no less in other parts of the country. It is important for Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township to help resurrect these institutions which already support senior centers.

These are expensive and inefficient – inefficient because you have to create “chronic” reservations and cannot go “when you feel like 22

DOWNTOWN NeWsmagaziNe

SPEAK OUT 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

it.”.Yes, it is relatively expensive for the cities and residents. Movie theaters in particular were vulnerable since the Covid pandemic when online and Internet streaming seem to obviate the traditional movie theaters. Owners fought back creating better audio, better screens, better images, better seats and recently with 4D which synchronizes the seat and beyond with screen images. I saw the movie “Argylle” and the seat was moving, wind blowing and drops of rain falling. You cannot have that at home, but do you really want it? I almost fell from the chair once.

The movie industry may not understand a basic reason for people who want to see movies. For them it is a social event, getting out from their home cocoon and see people, converse with friends. As a cardiologist I believe that socializing reduces dementia, improves mental and physical well being and, by inference, increases longevity. These were proved many times over.

Going to a movie must be a social event which ends up in seeing the movie, socializing before and after the movie, creating clubs where folks can drop in for a beer before going to movies or perhaps staying after.

Movie theaters are “for profit” but they can be supported by municipalities as institution which upgrade the communities as much as museums and other institutions do.

Seniors may prefer viable communities which include a movie theater and other entertaining endeavors. Theater owners on the other hand have to adjust to new realities, especially after Covid lock downs, distancing and face masks, which we know by now were of doubtful need.

Isaac Barr, MD Bloomfield Hills 03.24

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OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL 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.

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‘CEASE FIRE’ LOBBY: Third-term Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-11th District) appears to be getting the lion’s share of blowback from the crowd pushing for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Mideast. Stevens district, which sprawls from Royal Oak through Troy, Auburn Hills and Pontiac into the West Oakland lakes communities, includes Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills, where a sizable share of the Jewish population resides in the state.

Hence her strong support for Israel in the past and now during that country’s response to the Hamas terror event last October 7. In a canned response letter from Stevens’ office shared with Oakland Confidential a couple of weeks after Hamas forces STEVENS invaded Israel, the Congresswoman mentioned her concern for innocent Palestinians caught up in the current war, but she conveniently skated around a constituent’s request that she support a ceasefire. Now it appears there’s an organized effort to call out Stevens on her social media accounts, or at least on Instagram. Name the event that the Congresswoman posts about – be it meetings with Jewish Federation officials, Black History Month Alliance for Auto Innovation, or India League of American happenings – pro-ceasefire posts follow her consistently and incessantly, reminding site visitors that Stevens is ignoring calls for a ceasefire, along with criticism of her for taking election money from the Jewish AIPAC group. An organized effort? Without a doubt. We tracked the names appearing in a host of postings and many of the same names appear repeatedly. Stevens is not the only member of Congress from Michigan getting challenged on the ceasefire issue. We checked the social media sites of other Michigan Democrat House members, like Elissa Slotkin and Debbie Dingell. Once in a blue moon the organized effort of the ceasefire crowd shows up, but not with the frequency and intensity that plagues Stevens.

COMING HOME (EARLY): It looks like National Republican Committee (NRC) Chairwoman Ronna (Romney) McDaniel, a Northville resident, won’t be hanging out to finish her fourth term that was to run until 2025. Multiple media reports are predicting that the 51-year-old former graduate of Lahser High School in Bloomfield Township will be resigning shortly after the February 24 primary in South Carolina, largely because former President Donald Trump appears to be dissatisfied with her, along with rumblings from conservative party critics and some donors. McDaniel has a storied political family lineage – granddaughter of former Michigan Gov. George W. Romney, niece of former Massachusetts Gov. and MCDANIEL now U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, and a mother and grandmother who were politically active and who both ran for U.S. Senate.

McDaniel was co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015-2017. She was then elected as national party chair, with the backing of Trump following his win in 2016. To her credit was the party performance that allowed Trump to take Michigan when he first ran, and in her early tenure at the NRC she was able to hustle respectable levels of donations which is a major part of the chair’s job. McDaniel did suffer some blowback in 2021 when she attempted to expand the GOP tent with the creation of a Pride Coalition and her issuance of a statement celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride month. But of late her detractors point to state-level losses for Republicans and control of the U.S. House and Senate, along with a slowdown on the donation front. Then there’s the Trump factor.

While he doesn’t just get to name the RNC co-chairs, his opinion carries major weight when the RNC members vote on who will take her place. Trump has endorsed North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley, currently general counsel at the RNC and one of the party members who wholeheartedly bought into the election fraud nonsense still being promoted by the former prez, which some say has helped discourage direct donations to the national party operation. Also endorsed by Trump as co-chair is daughter-in-law Lara Trump to meet party rules that both a male and female serve as co-chairs. McDaniel still has plenty of supporters at the national level as well as back home, like Jeff Sakwa, co-chair with Romney McDaniel of Michigan GOP, who captured it best: “She’s true to herself. She doesn’t play games and she’s nobody’s fool. What people need to understand is it’s hard to raise money for (candidates like)

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HEAD ABOVE THE REST: The race to be the GOP stand bearer for the open Senate seat is beginning to coalesce, with not only money separating the men from the boys, but where the darts are being thrown allowing the bullseye to appear – and more and more, the target is emerging as former Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Brighton). While both Rogers and Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler raised about $1 million in the first quarter, Pensler’s all came from his own pocket – and there is nary a word being spoken about him.

Meanwhile, a lot of darts are being thrown at Rogers, from being a “corporate shill” while he was retired from politics, having made $460,000 from Nokia, $191,056 from the Mitre ROGERS Corporation, $137,000 from IAP Worldwide Services and $724,887 from IronNet Cybersecurity. He also worked as a CNN commentator, which is often perceived as the enemy camp for Republicans. Another arrow being flung is that Rogers is a “carpetbagger” because he and his wife had retired to Florida before moving back to Michigan to run for the Senate, and he previously was critical of former President Donald Trump – although he’s read the tea leaves and has now endorsed him. “He’s a quality, quality guy. He’d make a great senator,” said one political honcho. “He moved to Florida to retire gracefully and came back to rescue the Senate.” A recent Florida fundraising trip is believed to have been very beneficial for Rogers, with big names and big bucks being thrown his way, including from the DeVos family – which would leave former Grand Rapids Congressman Justin Amash, who switched from being a Republican to an Independent, adrift without his former benefactor’s support SLOTKIN just when he has said he is considering a run. Word is Rogers as the Republican Senate candidate is scaring the Democrats as well, who have pretty much aligned behind Lansing Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who grew up in Bloomfield Township and Franklin, noting the two stack up pretty equally on paper, with each having military and intelligence backgrounds as well as congressional experience, besides floating in the more “moderate” camps of their respective parties.

DOWNWARD SPIRAL: While former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Brighton) is increasingly gaining Republican support for his Senate campaign, some other Republican candidates definitely aren't ready for prime time. According to Politico, the National Republican Senatorial Committee urged one-term Congressman Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids) not to run for the Senate, while Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Jackson) pushed him to run again for his old seat instead, currently held by Rep. Hillary Scholten (D). To make matters worse for Meijer, who faces the wrath from the MAGA-base for his first-weekin-office Trump impeachment vote in 2021, Meijer faces an ethics complaint by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics for failing to file his personal financial disclosure on time. U.S. Senate candidates have 30 days from filing to run for office to file their personal financial disclosures. For Meijer, it's been over 70 days since he filed to run for Senate – and his campaign didn't requested an extension. The lack of transparency is nothing new for Meijer – our review of federal financial disclosure reports from his one term in office show he was always late in filing and we couldn't find the final report that was due when someone leaves Congress. Then there's former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who several Republicans noted would not even make the primary ballot, just days ahead of the former police chief formally withdrawing from the race. While Craig has been bemoaning the dysfunction of the MI GOP party, those in the know report he's been doing it from a familiar place seated on a barstool. His first quarter fundraising was a pathetic $60,000.

“Craig will not have the signatures again (to get on the ballot) because he cannot pay the company again,” said one politico. Another political influencer said, “Craig is lazy.”

GOOD VIBRATIONS: Michigan Rep. Donni Steele (R-54) of Orion Township got good news on a couple of fronts of late. First, a potential August 2024 primary challenger, Annette LeBaron, a Bloomfield Hills ZBA member who first filed in April of last year, has now formally withdrawn her candidacy for the district that also includes parts of Bloomfield and Oakland townships, plus part of Auburn Hills. No word as to why LeBaron, who some say is part of the farther right

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faction of the GOP, decided to opt out. Second, Steele held a promising fundraising event the first week of February at the Birmingham home of former state Representative and county commissioner Chuck Moss, whose government service dates back to 1973. Word has it that about 45 people showed up to support Steele, among them many former and current state lawmakers, including notables from the local area, like former House Speaker Tom Leonard, former Senator Mat Dunaskiss, former Representative Jim Tedder, plus current state House members Tom Kuhn and Joe Aragona, along with west Oakland lakes area county commissioner Bob Hoffman. Add to the list former STEELE Birmingham mayor and long-time city commissioner Mark Nickita and Jake German, chair of Birmingham’s Historic District Study Committee. Insiders say that the intimate get-together raised in the neighborhood of $6-$7,000. Steele could well be once again facing Democrat Shadia Martini of Bloomfield Township, based on the official candidate filings as of now.

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LOCAL 28

GOP LONE WOLF: While we are on the topic of Rep. Donni Steele, props to her for being the only Republican elected state official we could find to call out fellow Oakland County state Representative Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) for a racist/antiSemitic X (formerly Twitter) reposting from MAGAinfluencer Jack Posobiec. Days later, Steele was joined by Republican Sen. John Damoose strongly criticizing the House member. The Schriver post promoted the “replacement” conspiracy theory that the White population in America is being replaced, as part of a concerted effort, by immigrants of color, Jews or Blacks – take your pick. This conspiracy theory got its first national major exposure with the 2017 Unite the SCHRIVER Right gathering in Charlottesville (of which Trump claimed participants were “very fine people”) and it’s been in the manifestoes or public postings of those who have committed any number of mass shootings at churches, synagogues and public places. Schriver’s X social media site seems like an example of what one would expect from someone straight off the Christian nationalist mothership.

Steele was in the good company of Democrats who have TATE criticized the Schriver posting, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov Garlin Gilchrist and the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, Lavora Barnes. Said Steele: “All people have a moral obligation to speak out against hate whenever it rears its ugly head – this is one of those times.”

But the shaming seemed to fall on deaf ears as Schriver posted that he is now the victim of “racist attacks” by critics and a media crowd that is trying to “start a race war” – a wack-job response if there ever was one. His social media response may well have prompted House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) to reassign Schriver’s staff, remove him from one committee and ordered resources from another committee to be withheld from the errant House member.

TAKING SHAPE: While the filing deadline for the August primary isn’t until the end of April, the beginnings of a race is taking shape for supervisor in Bloomfield Township, which could well be the precursor to the November election. Incumbent supervisor Dani Walsh (D), completing her first four-year term after serving as a trustee, enjoys running the show and is seeking another go at the helm. According to end-of year annual finance reports for her campaign, she raised $4,469 the last quarter of 2023, a minimal amount, despite word that she had a couple of fundraisers, and has $4,200 cash on hand. Republican Mike McCready, who is a former three-term state House representative and former mayor and commissioner of Bloomfield Hills (but has been living in Bloomfield Township), filed a statement of organization to run for Bloomfield Township Supervisor, but has not yet raised any money. While WALSH initially several local Republicans were concerned about when – or if – he would get juiced up for another campaign after losing a state Senate race in 2018, he has resigned his job as economic development director for the city of Novi, is setting up fundraisers and collecting signatures to get on the ballot, watching board meetings and meeting with other party members. Word is that township gadfly Mark Antakli, a Republican who lost to former treasurer Brian Kepes in 2020, has taken out both supervisor and trustee application forms, hedging his bets.

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Joel Paul Reisig ndependent film producer, writer, director, actor and entrepreneur, Joel Paul Reisig, has developed an expertise in packaging, financing and monetizing independent films in the United States and abroad.

Reisig grew up in Birmingham and graduated from Seaholm High School. He then attended Hope College, where he majored in Business and English – both of which have served him well in his career.

“Growing up in Birmingham now feels like Anytown, USA, during a better time to grow up. There were no little screens. We rode bikes, played sports and drank from backyard hoses...I feel like we now talk about the '90s the way people used to talk about the '50s,” Reisig mused.

His sense of nostalgia also extends to his college years. “Attending Hope College was a really formative time for me. I formed meaningful friendships and realized afterward that I took for granted having 50 guys who lived within half a mile.” He added, “During that time, discussion and disagreement was a good thing rather than having your opinion shouted down.”

After college, Reisig worked odd jobs and backpacked in Europe, where he developed a sense of adventure and travel.

When he returned, he didn’t have a set career plan but was open to new experiences. He became a standup comedian in Chicago and considered a boxing career on the Golden Gloves circuit.

"Around that time, my friends and I would watch one bad comedy after another, and they would say that I was so much funnier than the movies we were watching, and they encouraged me to write one of these movies.”

This led Reisig to visit a local bookstore to read a guidebook on film production which inspired him to make his first film in 2008.

“I didn’t even purchase the book. Even though I never took a film class in my life, I thought ‘I can do this.’ I wrote my first movie, ‘Fraternity House’ using funny stories from college – things that happened to me, people I knew or heard of.”

Since then, the Bloomfield Hills resident founded JPR Studios which has produced a wide range of films including “Christmas at the Holly Hotel.” The movie was filmed at the Historic Holly Hotel in Holly, Michigan, a few months before the devastating fire in 2022 and subsequent rebuilding. While Reisig often films in Michigan, he has plans to travel to the Philippines, Egypt, and India for future film projects.

In addition to films, Reisig has published four adventure travel books and is in the process of writing a “realistic dystopian future” series of five books.

“My adventure travel books are true and comedic stories of my adventures, including boxing, alligator wrestling, bull riding, racing in the world’s longest kayak race, dog sled racing in the U.P., driving in a demolition derby and as a former wrangler at Colorado’s Bar Lazy J [Guest Ranch].”

The busy creator also shares his knowledge on financing and selling independent films through his company, Be Your Own Hollywood.

When Reisig is not working, he enjoys travel, hiking, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a form of martial arts. He is also a father and teaches his son’s jiu-jitsu class.

Reisig offers encouragement to future film makers, “Start actually making films.

Many people make excuses not to make their first film. There is no reason not to.

Many cell phone cameras are incredible. Buy some professional lights and start telling your stories. Especially if you are young, get your friends involved. Each film you make will get better.”

I

Story: Tracy Donohue

Photo: Laurie Tennent

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INCREASE IN HOMESCHOOLING Movement started in the 60s with the hippies, then Christian conservatives, and keeps growing

BY STACY GITTLEMAN here have all the children gone? That’s a question demographers and public school districts are wondering, especially those in Michigan who depend on “count days” to determine how many dollars a school district will receive from state per-student funding in order to determine annual budgets.

COVID money given to school districts in Michigan is drying up at the same time Michigan is facing declining public school enrollment, a shrinking and aging population and people moving out of the state instead of moving in.

One of the biggest responsibilities and decisions of parenting is how to educate one’s children. In a trend that began long before the pandemic but has picked up steam since, a small but growing number of families are abandoning the tried-andtrue route of a public school or even a private education to learn at home through parents, guardians, a co-op of parents or in a drop-off learning center.

Reasons to homeschool range from the frustration and disillusionment with public schools following disastrous attempts to teach during the pandemic, to thinking one’s local school district politics lean either too far to the left or right, to having a desire to teach from a faith-based perspective that is free from the rigid structures of standardized tests. In a stark sign of the times, some parents are home schooling their children for fear of bullying, violence and school shootings.

In October 2023, the Washington Post ran an extensive series called Homeschool Nation and investigated where K-12 schoolchildren were going in the years before, during, and after the pandemic. Their findings were based on 21 states which take a tally of public, private and home school enrollment. But there is no data from 11 states on these numbers, including Michigan.

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In the 21 states where data was available, public school enrollment fell by about 700,000 students between the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 school years. A much bigger group of students switched to homeschooling. The number of children registered for homeschooling surged by around 184,000.

Outside of the numbers of registered public, private and homeschooled students, there are an estimated 230,000 students still unaccounted for in the data. These are children who didn’t sign up for private school or home-school or move out of state.

In earlier data, according to the 2016 National Household Education Survey (NHES), 1.7 million children were being homeschooled in the United States in 2016 and these numbers are similar to a 2012 survey. However, researchers say the NHES could have undercounted this number because of discrepancies in data collection and spotty response rates from surveyed populations.

The 2016 NHES survey also revealed that 80 percent of homeschoolers were more likely to live in two-parent households and likely to have only one parent in the workforce. About 25 percent of homeschooling households had dual-income parents. Education levels of homeschool parents were on par with the general population, though homeschool parents without a high school diploma went from one percent in 1999 to 15 percent in 2016.

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ccording to the Washington Post, at its peak, homeschooling shot up by over 60 percent in the 2019-2020 school year – this a number independent from students forced to do online and distance learning through their public school district – and only went down to a 51 percent increase during the 2022-2023 school year. States that saw the sharpest rate of increase in homeschooling since 2017 were New York (103 percent), South Dakota (94 percent) and California (78 percent) and Rhode Island (91 percent).

Because there are no laws on the books in Michigan that mandate parents inform the state that a family is homeschooling their children, there is no way to be sure exactly how many homeschoolers there are in the state.

“It’s tough to get the estimates on numbers of homeschoolers that are specific to states, especially if your state doesn’t have that data,” said Nat Malkus, senior fellow and deputy director of education policy at the nonpartisan, right of center American Enterprise Institute (AEI). “California has got the data, for example, and Michigan does not.”

Malkus said though his organization has written extensively about homeschooling, it takes no pro or con position on the practice.

“Homeschooling in America is a strange marriage of origins,” Malkus said. “You’ve got your hippie movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s meshed with Christian conservatives in later decades, which is probably the strongest force in homeschooling today.”

Malkus said from state to state, there are no consistent tests or benchmarks to measure or understand if homeschooled children fare better academically than their more mainstream peers. That’s because their education takes place within the privacy of one’s home, where nothing is monitored or regulated.

“Regardless of one’s opinion about if going off the grid and attempting to educate one’s child on their own is a good or bad one, you have to admit it is a courageous decision,” Malkus said.

“Across the country, more parents are giving the idea more than a passing notion. The ones who are doing it as a reaction to the pandemic, and all the weaknesses and inadequacies they saw in public and even private school systems, they are not a small group.

Homeschooling doubled over the pandemic. There was a time that only three percent of students were homeschooled and now it is up to six percent. These numbers are going to rival the number of students in charter schools. We are not there yet, but that’s where we are headed.”

Malkus said homeschooling can be done well and effectively, but it is not a decision to enter lightly.

“Homeschooling takes a great deal of investment on the family in their time, efforts and energy as well as money,” said Malkus. “It is a restructuring of the family dynamic, and it may mean the loss of income from one parent. What I am concerned about, coming out of the pandemic, is that many homeschooling families made this decision under duress. However the decision was made, parents need to be well prepared to execute it. I don’t think the decision to homeschool is one that can go badly, but if it is done poorly, it is like walking a tightrope without a net.”

Though the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) does not collect enrollment data for all homeschools in Michigan, there are some figures from homeschooled students who volunteered to register with the state to have their children receive non-core classes or services from a local district.

In 2018-2019, there were 763 students enrolled in 306 homeschools. During the 2019-2020 school year, 581 students came from 280 home schools. The 2020-2021 school year saw the biggest jump with 14,947 students enrolled in 794 homeschools; and 700 students in 402 homeschools in the 2021-2022 school year; 678 students in 460 homeschools in 2022-2023; and finally 732 students in 508 homeschools for the current 2023-2024 school year.

MDE does not collect data related to why families homeschool their children in Michigan nor do parents in Michigan need to report to the state their intentions or reasons for making this decision. According to MDE, Michigan parents and guardians who homeschool are completely responsible for all instruction and educational decisions for their children, including providing homework, tests, grades, report cards and diplomas. Parents are not required to check in with the local school district or MDE to monitor progress, nor are homeschools required to report college applications or enrollment activities.

It is not required in Michigan to have homeschooled children taught by people with backgrounds or certifications in education, nor is there a minimum requirement of the number of days or hours per day a child has instruction. There is no required attendance or a requirement to submit an attendance record to a school district or the state.

There are state-mandated curriculum subjects to be followed by grade.

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tudents are eligible for part-time public school enrollment and extracurricular participation but that is dependent upon the district. Michigan is not required to provide special education services to homeschooled children.

All this freedom and hands-off approach is seen as liberating to some. A homeschooled child can be free to customize their education to their specific interests. Having flexibility free from the bell schedule of a brick-and-mortar school can allow elite child athletes or performing artists to pursue their goals, and allow for more family time at best. At worst, critics argue that homeschooling makes way for neglecting children in varying degrees, from not providing them with an adequate, thorough education or in the worst cases, working a hands-off system that allows for physical, verbal and even sexual abuse of children to go undetected by the general public. Some who are closely connected to homeschooling trends say there is a danger of keeping children out of the public eye of trained teachers and other educator professionals who are mandated reporters, and those who push back on any regulations understand abuses are taking place.

Though most homeschooled children live in loving households with caring and vigilant parents, some have sacrificed their own careers and shifted their lives around to be their child’s teachers,

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there have been some extreme cases in Michigan where children kept at home, and out of the public eye, have been neglected, abused and even trafficked.

In December 2023, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced 36 criminal charges against Joel and Tammy Brown and Jerry and Tamal Flore, all of Dewitt, for allegedly adopting dozens of children and neglecting and abusing them for financial gain. The children, many of them grown, were said to be homeschooled under the care of the couples. It is because of these cases that Nessel is now advocating for introducing modest regulations on home-schooling families.

In a statement emailed to Downtown Newsmagazine, Nessel said for starters, the state should know how many children are being homeschooled and where they live within the creation of a statewide registry.

“We have seen criminal cases, prosecuted in our department or published in the news, where abuse of children, or worse, is concealed or undetected, at least in part, because of the parents’ decision to homeschool,” she stated. “That is not to say homeschooled children are more likely to face abuse, but only that there are cases of abusive parents concealing their abuse by opting to homeschool their children. We have alleged precisely this in an ongoing prosecution, that alleged abuse went unnoticed, and part of what kept the abuse undetected was that the child victims were homeschooled.”

Nessel said that children educated in public schools have a daily interaction with mandatory reporters, and in many cases of child abuse the suffering and abuse is first detected by a teacher or school employee.

“Homeschooled children do not have the same encounters with mandatory reporters and sometimes have little access to other adults where they would be able to or comfortable with speaking to about their home experiences,” she stated. “If we began to account for who and where these children are we could attempt to afford that opportunity to homeschooled children without infringing on (a family’s) educational or parental rights to determine the best education for their children. Implementing modest monitoring mechanisms is crucial to ensure children receive the necessary protections.”

Nessel reaffirmed that her office is not saying that homeschooled children are more likely to be abused. However, abusive parents could choose to homeschool because it will better conceal their treatment of their children. A registration requirement and even infrequent contact with a child welfare specialist would save child suffering, and potentially a child’s life.

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eacting to the Nessel’s charges, Michigan Superintendent of Schools Michael Rice released a letter to state legislators advocating for enrolling every Michigan child, including those who are homeschooled. Rice stated: “Currently, Michigan enrolls students in traditional public school districts and academies. In recent years, our understanding of private and parochial school student enrollments has grown, depending on the interaction of private and parochial schools with particular state-funded programs.”

He said that for the safety of all students, each should be enrolled in one of the four “buckets:” public schools (including charter schools), private schools, parochial schools or home schools.

“Having a record of all children enrolled in these four buckets would provide an understanding of the children not currently enrolled in any learning environment.” The letter continued: “The issue of ‘missing children’ is a national problem with potential negative consequences for too many children. Parents should be able to choose the best educational system for their children.

However, there is a history in Michigan and across the nation of some children not receiving any education at all, in particularly egregious cases in abusive or neglected environments.”

In Michigan, the largest and most influential homeschooling group – and the strongest lobbyist against any regulations on homeschooling – is the Michigan Christian Homeschooling Network (MiCHN). Created in 1984 as the Information Network for Christian Homes and rebranded in 2019 as MiCHN, the grassroots organization operates a loose network of families through conferences and retreats, its website, and newsletters, and connects Christian families.

MiCHN founder Israel Wayne estimates that around 50,000 children are receiving a K-12 education in their homes, sourcing the National Center for Education Statistics. From that number, Wayne said that there are around 11,000 families educating around 33,000 children through MiCHN. “The reasons that people have chosen homeschooling are shifting,” explained Wayne “Twenty years ago, research showed that many families homeschooled because of religious ideology.

That would be the dominant reason even as recently as two years ago. Today, the number one reason people are choosing home education is the physical safety of their children.”

Wayne said that years of school shootings as well as bullying and abuse in school have motivated many families to opt for homeschooling.

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ayne pointed to the perceived danger and sexual assault occurring in public school bathrooms, playgrounds and school buses.

According to a 2021 report from the National Education Association and with data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, there were 14,938 incidents of sexual violence in K-12 schools in 2017 -2018 compared with 9,649 in 2015 -2016, representing a 55 percent increase.

Wayne said he was homeschooled with his siblings by his mother in Maryland in the late 1980’s until his graduation from grade 12 in 1991, at a time when doing so was illegal and homeschooled children could not even attain a state-issued high school diploma. He and his siblings would remain inside during school hours to avoid being reported by neighbors and sometimes child protective services would come to his home, which his family viewed as a government invasion. His wife was homeschooled in Arizona in the 1980’s, and together they homeschooled their 11 children in Michigan outside of Kalamazoo.

Wayne said his homeschooling hours permitted him opportunities that would not be possible in a traditional school schedule. Beginning in his early teens, he volunteered at a local radio station where he learned about editing and producing. He said he still puts these skills to use as a writer, producer, and podcaster for MasterBoooks, a line of textbooks widely used by Christian homeschoolers.

Arguing that there is much down or wasted time in traditional schools, Wayne said that homeschooled children can spend less time in instruction because things like math and science concepts are more easily processed in a one-on-one or in a smaller group setting.

“In a homeschool environment, you could spend as long or as short a time on a math or science concept depending on the child’s ability,” explained Wayne. “As a kid, I had ADHD and could not sit long in a class. But I could absorb a math concept within 10 or 15 minutes, so why would I need to sit with a worksheet drilling that math concept for 45 minutes? In homeschooling, once a child masters a concept, they can quickly move onto the next subject, saving hours of time and avoiding immense amounts of boredom that are generated in a traditional classroom.”

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Wayne said homeschooling allows for larger amounts of family time where parents can establish better values and relationships with their children during the time they spend learning.

When it comes to socializing, Wayne and others who were homeschooled also believe that the groups of children in a classroom were subject to contrived and forced socialization.

Wayne said that MiCHN students maintains social outlets through church youth groups. There are also a multitude of homeschooling Facebook groups and Michigan homeschool and co-op websites with memberships in the thousands who regularly post about signups for homeschooled athletic leagues, robotics clubs, orchestras and performing arts opportunities.

On the issue of the possibility of Lansing state legislature introducing legislation to put guardrails on homeschooling in Michigan, Wayne asserted that if there are cases of child abuse that arise in the homeschooling population, there are already laws on the books that should be enforced by the state’s Child Protective Services Department (CPS).

“If the government wants to protect children, it’s best to enforce laws that are already in the books and not collectively punish wellmeaning parents because of a few cases of abuse and neglect,” Wayne said. “The view of MiCHN is there should not be a universal presumption of guilt against parents. Culturally, we’re moving in that direction. The framers of our Constitution consistently wrote that citizens needed to be watching the government because it tended to become abusive and tyrannical. Now we have this reverse mindset put upon parents.”

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rguing that CPS cannot intervene in homeschooling situations because its laws were never updated to reflect the legality and prevalence of homeschooling in the state is Samantha Field, government relations director for the nonprofit Coalition for Responsible Homeschooling Education.

“CPS laws were created before homeschooling was made legal and they have yet to be updated,” stressed Field. “CPS policy was written in a way that CPS workers can do their job under the assumption that children exist somewhere in the public and are being seen at a school institution outside the home. That is no longer true. Homeschooling has fundamentally changed that and CPS is no longer able to do their jobs because of (a lack of) homeschool policy.”

Field said MiCHN’s Wayne is a bit “unhinged” when it comes to his call for no regulations at all in Michigan. She noted that the organization is also backed nationally by the national homeschool freedom lobbying organization called the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

“Right now. Michigan is out of step with the rest of the country in terms of homeschooling oversight,” Field asserted. “Most states have some kind of enrollment process, if not more than that.

HSLDA would prefer to see the entire country look like Michigan.

Culturally, MiCHN and the HSLDA are to homeschooling is what the NRA is to gun control reform.”

Unlike those organizations, the 10-year-old Coalition believes that there should be regulations on homeschooled children. The organization is comprised of alumni of homeschooling who are now in their 30s and 40s and want to uphold all that is good about homeschooling while making sure homeschooling families are accountable for giving their children a solid education, meet key developmental and physical milestones, and not using the system to hide behind to neglect or abuse children.

“We have just begun to evaluate our childhoods and see whether or not the homeschool system was beneficial for us,” Field said. “We try to represent the lived experience of homeschooled children and advocate for beneficial and not intrusive policies.”

Overall, Field said she and her sister had many positive

experiences from her 10 years of homeschooling in New Mexico, Iceland, and Florida. Her father was in the military, and her mom, who had a public school education, did the homeschooling. Her parents ascribed to what she described as an authoritarian, fundamentalist church that believed that women did not need a college education. From her personal experiences, one of Field’s missions is to make sure that every homeschooled child is seen regularly by doctors and that they all have their hearing and eyesight tested, just as public school children are routinely tested.

“My mom grew up in a world where every public school child had their hearing and vision routinely checked,” explained Field.

“She didn’t think about doing this for us. Not that she was neglectful, it just never came to mind. My sister was nine or 10 when she started wearing my mom’s castoff spare pair of eyeglasses because she said she couldn’t see anything. By the time my mom got her to an optometrist, she couldn’t even make out the big “E” at the top of the chart.” Field’s sister was diagnosed with progressive myopia that could have been caught earlier in her life if she had a routine vision test. “Every homeschooled child should have their vision and hearing checked, and to make sure that they are hitting age-appropriate benchmarks for gross and fine motor skills. And most parents are not trained in child development.”

When it comes to academics, Field said while the coalition does not advocate for standardized testing, they do recommend homeschooled students a few times a year produce a portfolio containing a body of work that they accomplished over a period that can be presented to a certified grade-level educator.

Field pointed to Pennsylvania as a state that has a good portfolio review process in place, though at times it can be inconsistent and imperfect. Families who wish to homeschool their children through high school must go through this portfolio review process to attain a state-issued high school diploma that can be used towards applying to college. For those who are not college-bound, a review of a portfolio is not necessary, Field said. She said her organization believes that the ideal homeschool setting is centered on the child’s academic and emotional well-being, where the parents educate with the goal of raising independent children who can someday join the workforce.

Field’s education disintegrated once she reached her high school years in Florida. She noticed the gap in her academics when, at age 14, she checked out a friend’s math book, one of the few friends she had who attended public school.

It was then she realized how far behind she was. “My parents were not capable of teaching me high school material,” Field recalled. “And I really wanted to go into a STEM field. That was until I looked at my friend’s math book. My friend was horrified, which horrified me. I realized that I was behind and would not be able to catch up. I did not have choices. If I was ever going to go to college, how could I get a scholarship to afford college with my grades, I wondered, because my family was poor. At that point, I realized I would not have the time or the financial freedom to take remedial classes in math. It was like there was this door that was not going to open up for me.”

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ut Field did go on to college and then earned a master’s degree. Now living in Ann Arbor, from a Michigan legislative standpoint, Field said it was too premature to talk about proposals for regulations. But she is working extensively with the education committee about the prospect of putting some guardrails on the state’s homeschooling environment.

“What we are thinking about pursuing is extremely limited and will not change anything as to how homeschooling fundamentally operates in Michigan,” Field said. “It is a basic step, but considering that Michigan has nothing as far as homeschool

regulations, any tiny step forward would be huge. In our research, we are seeing patterns in Michigan and other states with a lack of regulation, is that children are disappearing and being trafficked.”

Some parents homeschool their children when they feel their child’s learning disabilities are not being met.

Maria Confer of Birmingham said she and her husband began homeschooling their only child, X, beginning in 2020 when they lived in Boulder County, Colo. It was halfway through first grade after a few tumultuous years in preschool and kindergarten.

Confer said her son was enrolled in a reputable school district with lots of support, and people kept telling her to stick with the school, because it was best for her son. Then X was diagnosed at age seven with ADHD. Though school officials said X spent a lot of his time running in the hallways at school, he did not qualify for accommodation or services.

Confer encountered the same challenge when they moved back to Michigan in 2021 to be nearer to family. At the coaxing of neighbors, she researched accommodations at her neighborhood school, Pierce Elementary. Because of continued distance and online learning, Confer said the school principal could not meet X’s needs.

According to Dr. Embekka Roberson, Birmingham Schools superintendent, during the 2022-23 school year, nine students previously part of the Birmingham Public School system are now registered as homeschooled. Additionally, sometimes families with truant students withdraw them and state that they are homeschooling them. Over the past few years, anecdotally, Roberson said parents have shared a variety of rationale for homeschooling. These reasons include student depression/anxiety, dissatisfaction with the district’s handling of COVID-19, or needing a smaller setting and individualized pace.

Currently, there are three homeschooled students participating in elective classes in Birmingham like art and music.

Confer said she also explored X’s options at The Roeper School, where the administration asked he be further evaluated. While the results revealed that X was bright and gifted, his inability to sit with others in a classroom led Roeper administration to determines they could not accommodate X’s needs due to his disruptive nature.

X is now 10. Through trial and error, including trying to find other local families homeschooling through social media and her son’s tennis classes, Confer said she is piecing X’s education together.

“When we began homeschooling, I read every book on the subject I could get her hands on,” said Confer. “The best advice I got was to not make the homeschooling experience mimic a classroom. So we eased into homeschooling. We started with a lot of reading together and arts and crafts. Then we worked on reading, math, cursive and phonics workbooks.”

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onfer said she at first spent thousands on subscribing to homeschooling curricula materials, much of it she did not like or use, and fears that there is money to be made from homeschooling curricula companies who prey off the uncertainties and insecurities of parents going it on their own for their kids’ education.

“I think a lot of these paid curricula prey on the insecurities of homeschooling families,” Confer said. “So that’s why to me, I’ve learned to just trust my own instincts, evaluate where my son is at and then find those resources myself.”

As her son gets older, Confer said she is looking into more structured options for his education.

One of them is Homeschool Connections, a Christian, conservative-based learning resource center with five campus locations in Clarkston, Rochester, Brighton, and Clinton Township,

as well as online offerings that operates on a semester basis.

Administrators stress that it is not a school. Intended as a hybrid outlet to supplement homeschool education, parents with K-12 schoolchildren can sign up for a-la-carte instruction from everything from math to literature to science lab and foreign languages. Sample classes include civics, the History of the Underground Railroad, and Introduction to World Languages.

There are also science and biology labs, where biology is taught from a creationist standpoint.

Classes are staffed with dozens of instructors with a range of backgrounds, from seasoned homeschool parents who come to teach after their own children have grown to trained teachers who have left the public or private school systems. Homeschool Connections works in partnership and affiliation with the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and the Michigan Christian Homeschooling Network. However, Christianity is not taught and the facility welcomes children of all faiths and backgrounds.

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helly McMahon is the vice president of operations at Homeschool Connections. She and her husband homeschooled their seven children, now all adults, because they wanted to instill in them their Christian values and strengthen family togetherness.

When it was time for more advanced classes, McMahon said all her children did dual enrollment with local community colleges by the 11th grade, enabling them to complete high school while earning college credits. Several of her children went on to college and pursued advanced degrees, while another child married before age 20 and runs his own business without going to college.

McMahon said families find their way to Homeschool Connections due to dissatisfaction with public schools, whether it be ideological or religious differences or for more flexibility.

“Homeschool Connections is a place where students have resources that may be hard to finesse at home, such as labs and art studios,” McMahon said. “The organization also offers afterschool activities, a performance arts program that puts on musicals and plays, and even social events like dances. Interest in Connections, and homeschooling in general, is growing by leaps and bounds. Our Facebook group has 15,000 members and every day 30 more people ask to join.”

For its oldest students, Connections offers college counseling and transcript development. There are graduation ceremonies at the end of each school year where the parents design and hand their kids their diplomas.

“All kids have gifts and learn to use them. Unfortunately, those who cannot seem to fit into the public school model are the children who fall behind. Our students are liked by universities because they have extra things to offer like their voluntarism in the community or running their own business. College is not for everyone, but if this is what they want, we help them get there,” she said.

According to ACT data, from 2001 to 2014, scores on the ACT® test for homeschooled students have fluctuated between 22.3 in 2007 and 22.8 in 2014. Average ACT scores for homeschooled students were consistently higher than those for public school students, with the difference ranging between 1.4 score points in 2007 to 2.2 score points in 2014. Compared to students enrolled in private schools, homeschooled students have scored lower since 2003. In 2014, homeschooled students scored 1.1 score points below private school students, on average.

Compared to students enrolled in private schools, homeschooled students have scored lower since 2003, with the gap incrementally widening to 1.3 points by 2019. All three

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groups have experienced declines in mean ACT Composite score since 2017, marking the first time that scores dropped for all three groups.

There is a growing body of research focused on the culture and outcome of homeschooling, and much of it is done by people who were themselves homeschooled.

In a 2020 paper titled Homeschooling: An Updated Comprehensive Survey of the Research, (Robert Kunzman, Indiana University and Milton Gaither, Messiah College), researchers conclude that because of lackadaisical rules, or in some states as Michigan, no rules at all, it is difficult to find and analyze quantitative data on the success and progress of students who are homeschooled in the United States.

Kunzman and Gaither in the paper disclosed that they were both homeschooled.

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hey stated: “We are fascinated by it as a social phenomenon and convinced of its significance as an educational movement. We are neither indiscriminate advocates for homeschooling nor unrestrained critics of the practice; we consider homeschooling a legitimate educational option, one that can result in exemplary growth or troubling neglect. Above all, we are interested in furthering accurate, empirically grounded knowledge of homeschooling.”

The researchers pointed to the most recent National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data from 2019 found that when asked to choose their most important reason for homeschooling, 34 percent of the sample chose dissatisfaction with the environment of schools, 17 percent chose dissatisfaction with academics at schools, and 16 percent chose the desire to provide religious instruction. When allowed to select multiple reasons, 80 percent were dissatisfied with the school environment, 74 percent wanted to provide moral instruction, 61 percent were dissatisfied with school academics, and 51 percent wanted to provide religious instruction.

In summary, researchers found that there is a push-pull relationship between conventional and homeschooling methods over time. At first, parents push away from traditional public and private schools because of various dissatisfactions and see homeschooling as a second choice. Then, as they come to appreciate the benefits of homeschooling, such as greater flexibility of schedules, more quality time spent as a family, and more customized learning, they are pulled to the practice.

The researchers concluded that more systematic research into what enrichment education homeschoolers are receiving because NHES studies from the 20-teens suggest that nearly 40 percent of homeschooling households are not offering instruction in music, the arts, or foreign languages.

“Since that study came out in 2020, there have not been many major studies on homeschooling just in the fact that it is so difficult to know exactly who these people are,” said Kunzman, professor of education at Indiana University School of Education.

“It is hard to track academic achievement or other outcomes. It is hard to make any generalizations or gather any real hard data because we don’t have access to their academic outcome.

Though some argue that standardized tests are just one metric and a partial glance in measuring a child’s academic progress, we don’t have any such metric in the homeschooling environment.”

The study said that political partisanship that funds the bulk of literature on the topic skews perceptions and realities of homeschooling.

The main point of contention was aimed at the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), which for decades was the dominant player in homeschooling research and the most visible

champion of research-based homeschooling advocacy. It has become far less active in recent years, even as university-based research has increased. NHERI’s major studies were funded by the Home School Legal Defense Association. Founded by trained zoologist and biologist and former university academic turned homeschooling evangelist Brian Ray, who wrote many widely quoted studies in the 1990s and early 2000s from his homestead in eastern Oregon, where he and his wife homeschooled their eight children.

Ray described himself as the consummate quantitative researcher. He knows that homeschool populations are difficult to access because the population is disjointed by its very nature. He said he found and identified groups of homeschoolers to survey through states that keep rosters of homeschooled families and other homeschool organizations. He said since going on his own with NHERI, he “eats sleeps, and breathes” research on homeschooling.

“Homeschoolers are a small yet growing segment in our country,” Ray said. “They are becoming more politically diverse.

They are found to be more tolerant of viewpoints that differ from their own, and are more likely to comfortably socially interact with a wider age range than traditional school students. And when they arrive at college, professors find homeschooled students are often more engaged and curious in class.”

Ray said that as homeschooled kids get older, many families join forces and gather in co-ops. That way, parents can share their expertise in subjects like grammar, math, science and language with others in the group to offer kids a more well-rounded education. “Co-ops like this have existed like this since the late 1980’s. It’s just that there are more of them now and the media is starting to pay more attention to homeschooling.”

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hen asked about the homeschool-to-college path, Ray said homeschooled children will most likely take dual enrollment classes for college credit, or stay home and take courses at a community college before applying to a four-year institution of higher education. Above all, Ray said these students should be looked upon and regarded the same as those who attend what he describes as “institutionalized education.” They should be expected to submit transcripts, take college entrance exams, and write entrance essays.

“Academically they do just as well and some even better than their peers. They may also finish college at a higher rate than those who were not homeschooled,” Ray asserted.

Though Ray’s research from the ‘90s and early 2000s was widely sought after and quoted and seen as the leading authority on homeschooling, Kunzman said recent research poured cold water on his expertise because he cherry-picked the homeschooling families he surveyed, which were mostly White, rural and Christian.

“Ray over the last few decades was once widely touted as the authority on homeschooling,” said Kunzman. “The sampling of homeschoolers Ray used in his studies are not representative samples of homeschoolers from a broader perspective. I would use any conclusions that he draws with a great deal of caution. There is very little that we can learn about homeschoolers in general or generalize from that body of research.”

Professor Roland Coloma of the Division of Teacher Education of the College of Education at Wayne State University said as a researcher, he is increasingly asked to review papers that examine homeschool education. Additionally, some of his colleagues are taking this route for their children’s education.

Coloma said while there may be some WSU students who were homeschooled at some point in their academic career, through his

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decades of teaching at the campus, he could count the number of students who told him they were homeschooled on one hand.

“We do not have very good data on what the transition from homeschooling to college looks like, but anecdotally, I can tell you that some of our students who want a career in education will privately disclose that they were homeschooled.”

Roland said the body of research on homeschooling has revealed that White families give ideological and religious reasons for homeschooling. People of color, especially inner-city single mothers of Black boys, are concerned about the school environment for their children, whether it be for disciplinary and discriminatory reasons, or that their child is performing poorly academically.

“For many Black families, Black mothers in particular, there is grave concern about the kind of school environment and treatment of Black children and particularly Black boys in schools,” Coloma said. “That’s why they choose homeschooling. I think along the lines of race, there are some distinct differences in terms of their motivations. Black families in Detroit are seeking what’s best for their children when traditional options have not yielded the kinds of benefits that they see are beneficial for themselves for their children and for their children’s future.”

The fastest-growing demographic entering the homeschooling arena is urban minorities. The most dramatic shift in homeschool enrollment during the pandemic was among Black families. According to a 2020 census household survey, homeschooling among Black families in the fall of 2020 was five times higher than it was in the spring of 2020. And nowhere is this better illustrated than in Detroit and the rapid growth of a project called Engaged Detroit Homeschool CoOp. Launched with a $25,000 microgrant from the VELA Education Fund in September 2020 with about a dozen families in its pilot program, the program grew to 32 families in one week and by July 2021 there were over 70 involved parents, all receiving homeschool education coaching at no cost by trained education professionals. In the fall of 2020, the Skillman Foundation and Busy Bee Here to Help granted $15,500 to the organization to help purchase a building for its hub, Homeschool Corners located at 1485 East Outer Drive, large enough for 300 students.

Engaged is also the recipient of several 2022 YASS Awards amounting to over $200,000.

Social justice entrepreneur and Engage Detroit founder Bernita Bradley said the project is a bright spot in Detroit’s bleak academic landscape for a dedicated group of parents who can wait no longer for the Detroit Public Schools Community District to improve.

According to reports, Michigan students ranked fourth in the nation for chronic absenteeism. Detroit Public Schools Community District reported a chronic absenteeism rate of 77 percent in the 2021-22 school year. Absenteeism decreased to 68 percent in 2022-23.

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radley has been an advocate for parents in the Detroit school district since 2010, pushing back at teachers and administrators when a child’s educational and emotional needs were not being met. When the pandemic hit and exposed all the inequities Detroit’s public school students were facing, Bradley said she and other Detroit parents watched the suburban districts quickly pivot to online and remote learning while their kids lacked tablets or iPads and back at home lacked decent WIFI to get connected “When the pandemic shut everything down, all families wanted was there to be a connection between their kids and Detroit Public Schools,” lamented Bradley. “I cannot tell you how many families I knew who felt so cut off from the school from March through May of 2020. Besides going to a building to pick

up lunches, if they were lucky enough to have a school standing in their neighborhood and not miles away, they felt like they barely had a connection to their classmates, teachers, or administrators. More barriers were being created between students and their education.”

At that point, Bradley still wanted her daughter Victoria, then an 11th grader, to return to school as soon as buildings opened although she was in touch with some families who were already taking the path of homeschooling independently from the district.

But her daughter said she could not bear her senior year of high school on Zoom or socially distanced learning.

“Homeschooling was not my forte,” said Bradley. “I just wanted to help other parents. Many frustrated families were just checking out of public school. They wanted to homeschool their kids but didn’t know how to go about doing it. And then more parents began to speak up, we formed a network of families helping each other out. We found opportunities to apply for grants to create a micro-school, and that is how Engaged Detroit began.”

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amilies connected to Engaged learn about their homeschooling rights in Michigan and how to explain to school administrators that their children were being homeschooled and should not be considered truants.

“We are not a school,” Bradley asserted. “We are a place where parents come and learn how to educate their children, and we provide the coaching tools and other resources. We have online assessments that the parents can use to track their children’s progress in math and reading, and how to keep them moving up as they succeed to avoid getting bored.”

A builder of networks, Bradley said her email inbox is exploding with requests for partnerships. But in keeping with the mission of Engaged, only those that ask within the framework of the co-op’s mission – keeping it local and benefiting the people of Detroit – qualify. Dozens of partner organizations give monetary and in-kind donations, from art supplies to science and math kits. Stand-out collaborations include the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Michigan State University School of Music and the Detroit Area Pre-College and Engineering Program.

To Bradley, her biggest challenge is to educate and persuade the public, including institutions of higher education like Wayne State University, that homeschooling is real, that children are learning, and homeschool transcripts are valid and should be accepted.

“If I am going to be totally honest, more Black children are homeschooling, and it’s because of that, the stigma remains that these Black children cannot be as smart as rural, White Christian children,” Bradley said. “It’s as if people think that our children are from families that are not affluent enough to be brilliant. I have pushed back hard on many organizations that may have made this assumption.”

Like her Christian homeschooling counterparts, Bradley is against the state proposing regulations on homeschooling.

Bradley said when a family does decide to homeschool their children in Detroit, she makes sure they notify the public schools in writing, and that the family knows their rights.

“I don’t want a (homeschooled) child counted in a seat by a superintendent who knows that you’re homeschooling and then sends that family a letter anyway to report truancy,” stressed Bradley. “And in Wayne County, a long truancy means that child can be removed from the parent and placed in custody of the county or that family loses their benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services. The county will argue they want to know what they are doing (about school). According to Michigan law, they do not have to know. All they care about is those dollars in those seats in the classroom.”

LOCAL ISSUES CAN'T BE TACKLED WITHOUT LOCAL JOURNALISM The pandemic that gripped the area and the nation in 2020 took its toll in many ways, including on the local business community, along with the field of journalism. One local newspaper temporarily suspended its publication schedule and another ultimately stopped publishing.

Thanks to the generosity of those listed on this page and the support from our partners in the local business community, Downtown Newsmagazine was able to withstand the challenge.

We describe ourselves as a multi-platform news operation, so aside from our monthly newsmagazine, we post regularly to our website (downtownpublications.com) and we send out a Weekly News Update newsletter every Friday along with special email alerts when there is breaking news of interest. During the month we also send out our political gossip newsletter (Oakland Confidential) and each month we also email our restaurant newsletter (Metro Intelligencer). On a bi-weekly schedule we send out our Threatened Planet newsletter with aggregated environment stories from publications around the world. During the pandemic, we launched The COVID-19 Diary, a daily/weekly curation of articles from over several dozen news and government sources, to keep local residents up-to-date on the crisis we were all facing.

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FACES Leslie Touma eslie Touma, owner of Bloomfield Hills-based Freekeh Harvest that launched last year, is happy to bring a unique snack to the American food scene. “We’re the first in the country to use Freekeh grain in a snack food and we have the highest protein of any pita chip in the country,” said Touma, who partnered with Maria Font Trabocchi and Chef Michael Fusano among others.

Touma, who grew up in Pleasant Ridge, has lived and worked all over the world.

With an initial focus on history and the national security arena, she earned a graduate degree in International Affairs from John Hopkins and got her start overseas working for the Pentagon followed by other impressive career moves before she switched gears.

“During COVID, I was thinking of doing something fun. On my travels, I kept seeing this grain and there really wasn’t much going on with it in the U.S.,” said Touma who asked Chef Michael to come up with an idea. “Being Italian, he did pasta and I tried to cook the grain, but the uniqueness is that it has a great roasted flavor and protein. I thought it would be better for people to rip open a bag to have a taste of it, so we tried pita chips.”

Touma also wanted the product to be locally made, so she contacted the MSU Product Center that offers food counseling for a nominal fee.

“They were fantastic, and from them, I was able to identify a product facility,” she said. “It took some time to go from prototype to tabletop, but it went very well. We went from zero to 55 stores, and we’re on track to add another 40 in February.

We’re really pleased at the reception.”

Current stores include Market Square, Market Fresh, Westborn Market and Cantoro in Plymouth, with plans to add Plum Market in March. “We are doing a lot of store demos where we usually pair the pita chips with hummus because the taste is unique,” Touma explained.

In addition to the nutty flavor, the slow-roasted ancient Mediterranean supergrain is naturally high in nutrients. “I grew up with the Mediterranean diet,” said Touma, whose Lebanese heritage comes from her father’s side of the family where frequent gatherings have always featured delicious spreads with hummus and baba ghanoush.

The baked pita chips go well with hummus and other dips. People also add them to soups and salads and include them on charcuterie boards.

Touma’s recent journey has been good so far. “Having an idea and making it a reality has been one of the rewards,” she said. “I love that challenge and it’s a lot of fun learning when you go through that process. I’ve worked with exceptional people and MSU has been great all along.”

Others in the industry have been helpful as well. “There is an esprit de corps among food entrepreneurs in Michigan,” said Touma, whose product was a finalist in the MI New Favorite Snack Competition. “As part of that, we met some great entrepreneurs and had a really nice exchange of information.” `For others who wish to pursue this path, she shares some advice. “Identify a niche that is unique,” she said. “It takes common sense and hard work.”

With such a successful start, there are future plans to expand outside the state and other products are in development. “Michigan is a great place to be a food entrepreneur,” said Touma. “Michiganders are really supportive of local businesses and there is a really strong network of support here.”

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Story: Jeanine Matlow

Photo: Laurie Tennent

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MUNICIPAL Former officer's suit called into question

By Lisa Brody

After former Birmingham police officer Yacoub Iseid sued the police department in federal court in January of this year, alleging he was discriminated by the department due to his Arab ethnicity, a position statement from the city of Birmingham in response to an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint made in 2021 by Iseid on the same charges indicate that he had never applied for promotions, he was not fired but resigned, and lied about several of the complaints made against the department in his 2024 lawsuit.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court this January, Iseid said he was repeatedly denied promotions due to his Palestinian background and had racist names hurled at him by his supervisor, among other defamatory claims. He further charged race and/or national origin were the motivating factors impeding his growth and promotion opportunities; his personal treatment; subjecting him to unnecessary evaluations; impeding his return to the force; and dismissal.

Iseid made the same allegations in an EEOC claim filed July 3, 2021, which Downtown Newsmagazine obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request to the city.

He stated, “I began working at the above-named employer in 2014. I was last employed as an officer.

Throughout my career I have been denied for promotion and subject to harassment. In July of 2019, I complained internally of my treatment, to no avail. I was sent for a Fitness of Duty. I asked Human Resources for the reason and was not given a reason. I was discharged on January 31, 2021.”

Although the city has declined to discuss Iseid's lawsuit, in its position paper response to the EEOC complaint, written by city of Birmingham labor attorney Gouri Sashital, the city stated that the allegations “are demonstrably false: he never applied for any promotions; he was never harassed; the fitness of duty complaints predated any alleged complaints; and he was not fired; he voluntarily resigned!”

Sashital laid out several examples where Iseid was reprimanded or suspended without pay, going back to 2014 and 2015, for disregarding direct orders from supervisors, attending an downtownpublications.com

Iconic Maple Theater closing its doors

By Lisa Brody

s of Monday, February 5, the owners of The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, announced they have permanently closed the iconic movie house.

Located in the rear of the Bloomfield Plaza strip center at Maple and Telegraph roads, The Maple Theater first opened in the late 1970s as a three-screen theater showing independent films and smaller art house films. Current owners Jon and Lauren Goldstein, as Cloud Nine Theater Partners, purchased the theater 12 years ago, and sought to revitalize it by adding a cafe and a liquor license.

But streaming services and the COVID pandemic were the final death knell to this smaller movie house, which sought to remain open as a bastion from large megaplexes showing mainstream Hollywood fare.

On Monday, February 5, the Goldsteins posted on Facebook that their lease had expired, “and after months of difficult deliberations, we have decided that it is time to end our run as operators of this wonderful institution. We have been honored to be stewards of the Maple Theater and appreciate all the support and patronage from the community for the past 12 years.”

The Goldsteins purchased the theater from Landmark Theatres in 2012. Landmark had acquired the theater in 1998 from AMC Theaters, and renamed it the Maple Art Theatre. It was first opened in 1977 by Suburban Detroit Theaters as the Maple 1-2-3, according to reports.

In their Facebook post, the Goldsteins thanked everyone who “bought a ticket, ate a meal, or worked a shift...Being able to own a theater in our own community was one of the great privileges of our lives.”

Jon and Lauren Goldstein are Bloomfield Township residents.

They noted in their statement that the pandemic had huge effects on independent “art house” theaters, and they are proud they stayed open, working hard to return to near pre-pandemic attendance numbers.

However, they said, they are unable to make “the financial commitment necessary to keep The Maple a first class establishment. Anything less would tarnish what we have worked so hard over these years to build.”

Gift cards and memberships can be redeemed at the Birmingham 8 Theater in downtown Birmingham through June 1, 2024.

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active shooter training in Georgia when he was explicitly ordered not to attend, causing car accidents while on duty, and other infractions. She stated that assignment to outside agencies, such as Special Investigations Unit or Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team, are special assignments, not promotions, without added pay or bonuses, and while he submitted a letter of interest, the teams did not choose him. He did not lose pay, benefits, status or rank. He was never eligible for a promotion, and there

were no openings on the force when he was eligible.

The doctor who evaluated Iseid for fitness of duty determined he was not able to perform the essential job functions of a police officer. He noted that Iseid should be in short-term psychotherapy with a therapist who specializes in anger control management and police officers, and if he is permitted back to work, his behavior should be monitored closely by his command officers.

As for charges that he had experienced racism, the city

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determined it was important to investigate the allegation. However, when a meeting was set up with Iseid and attorneys, he failed to appear.

On November 16, 2020, Iseid wrote then-chief Mark Clemence, “While it has been a pleasure to serve as a police officer of the City of Birmingham, I regret to inform you that I will be stepping down from my position. My last day will be Sunday, 1/31/21.”

He had just completed a masters in computer and information systems and, according to the report, indicated to co-workers that he was resigning to take an IT position with General Motors.

Full documentation of Iseid's file was included in the city's response to the EEOC complaint.

The final resolution of the EEOC complaint was not indicated in the documents supplied in response to the publication's FOIA request to the city.

Wayfinding, branding committee established

By Grace Lovins

Birmingham’s wayfinding and branding committee will no longer be considered “ad hoc” after city commissioners voted to establish a permanent committee during their Monday, January 22, meeting.

In a memorandum included in the meeting packet, planning director Nick Dupuis stated that an ad hoc wayfinding and gateways signage committee was established in 2022 after being presented as a concept the year prior. It started as a function of the Birmingham Shopping District (BSD).

“We on the staff side have enjoyed this committee. Over the last two years we’ve done some relatively consequential projects, the two most visible being the city logo and the work we did towards that and the city wayfinding and signage plan. The concepts were adopted by the city commission just recently in December,” Dupuis said.

According to Dupuis, the intention is for the board to act as a clearing house for all things signage and branding in Birmingham.

While the current board is composed of 12 members, the permanent board will be nine members total – six city staff members and three non-staff members, each serving a two-year term. The staff members on the board 51

Shirley-Arlington street plan moves ahead

By Grace Lovins

fter several city meetings, including a special meeting held on location, Birmingham city commissioners voted on Monday, February 5, to move ahead with proposed plans for water, sewer and road improvements on Shirley Road and Arlington Street.

Shirley and Arlington have been a contentious topic at city commission meetings for the last few months, with numerous residents expressing their opposition to the project in person, through social media and emails sent to commissioners and city staff.

Before hearing the staff presentation, mayor Elaine McLain and commissioner Anthony Long took the time to note the troubling messages they’ve received. McLain stated that she, along with other commissioners she did not name, have received professional and personal threats due to public opposition to the project.

“I have served the city for nearly 20 years. … I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed the deterioration of behavior that has occurred around this issue including personal threats, including misinformation, name calling, where city staff are insulted, where people are accused of being stupid or idiots,” said commissioner Therese Longe.

Commissioners stated they hoped for a civil discussion for the item, turning the conversation over to city planner Brooks Cowan.

According to Cowan, the road improvements are part of a final report accepted by the commission from the city’s ad hoc unimproved street study committee, which met from 2018 to 2020.

Cowan said the report provided three key recommendations: the initiation process for road improvements should come from the city instead of homeowners; to use concrete, rather than asphalt, for new improved streets; and use the same funding mechanism of paying from the general fund and recouping the cost through special assessments.

Commissioners approved an amendment to the city’s code to allow for city staff to initiate road improvements, which brought Shirley and Arlington to the city commission’s table. Cowan also explained that one of the themes of the city’s recently adopted master plan was focusing on the neighborhoods, with one of the goals being to ensure streets remain pedestrian oriented.

Shirley Road and Arlington Street were chosen by the city’s engineering department for a water main replacement and sewer improvements, stated city engineer Melissa Coatta. Noted in the meeting packet, the water main is nearly 100 years old. Birmingham fire chief Paul Wells stated at a previous meeting and explained in a memorandum included in the packet that the water pressure for the streets is insufficient for their firefighting standards.

Cowan explained that the multi-modal transportation board reviewed the project over multiple sessions and came up with the design for the streets. The roads themselves would be narrowed from a 33-foot width to 26 feet, the current city standard, to allow for sidewalk installations on both sides of the streets. The city’s engineering department would replace the water main and make sewer improvements at the same time.

Therese Longe and Anthony Long both stated that they felt Shirley and Arlington were a unique situation, Long using the comparison of a square peg in a round hole. After a long discussion, the commissioners considered a different option proposed by Long.

Long suggested that the city move forward with the necessary water and sewer repairs and to cover the streets in asphalt and new curbs.

Commissioners voted 5-1 to approve the water, sewer and road improvements without the plan for installing sidewalks and narrowing the roads. Commissioner Brad Host voted against the motion. Clinton Baller recused himself from the discussion and vote as he lives on one of the affected streets.

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come from a range of departments, including public services, communications, planning and parking systems.

In a memorandum provided in the meeting packet, Dupuis wrote that the positions for the board were based on institutional knowledge, expertise and relationships to wayfinding and branding projects in the city.

Dupuis noted that the permanent committee will only meet on an asneeded basis based on projects the city is undertaking at the time.

The commission voted unanimously, 6-0, to establish the permanent committee. Clinton Baller was absent from the meeting.

Disaster training session info provided

By Dana Casadei

Over the summer the Bloomfield Township police and fire departments came together to do a live scenario at Bloomfield Hills High School for a mass casualty training, and reported their findings at the board of trustees meeting on Monday, January 22.

The live training scenario at Bloomfield Hills High School – which took nearly a year to plan – took place over the course of a few hours, bringing together over 600 district staff and teachers who participated; as well as nursing students; 50 law enforcement personnel from 12 agencies; and 35 fire personal from seven OAKWAY fire departments.

“I couldn’t have been happier…yeah, we had some flaws there, but we can strive for perfection, and as long as we strive for it, we’re going to do it right,” said Bloomfield Township Police Chief James Gallagher, “We can always learn.”

The goal of this type of training is to see how ready police and fire personnel would be in a similar situation, testing responses over the course of the first two hours of an active situation. This was also a fluid training, so the decisions of the participants determined the outcomes.

While difficult, Gallagher said they were still able to recreate some of the stress and emotions that would be likely to happen in an active shooter situation, but mentioned it’s nearly impossible to create that in full.

There were a plethora of safety precautions put into place before the training scenario even began, making sure the area had a perimeter that

was searched and taped off; having proctors accompany active participants; and all weapons used had blanks and tags on them to indicate they had been checked.

The training scenario began with a 911 call from a school liaison who told them there was a suspicious male with a rifle near the football team. From there, the rest of the scenario played out as would an actual shooter situation, something both departments train for, and have for the last decade.

They were able to neutralize the threat within seven minutes.

“Overall, it was a really excellent response time,” Gallagher said. “I’m confident in our ability if this was to happen.”

This exercise also strengthened the partnership with the school, which was among the many who reported back that this training session – one of the biggest of its kind in the area – was incredibly informative.

Even though there was plenty that went well, both chiefs said that multiple areas of improvement were found for each department.

Gallagher said that they learned there wasn’t consistent terminology between the two departments; some sites were two close together; and one of the biggest takeaways was recognizing the importance of evacuating building administrators, who know the building better than anyone, but in this scenario, stayed hidden for over an hour before they could come out.

For Fire Chief John LeRoy, the training showed him that the fire department needs to make some changes and stop solely focusing on rescue task forces, but instead put the appropriate personnel in command positions. They also need to get more personnel inside with equipment and get people off site faster to take less away from patient care, Leroy said.

There was also some major issues with how the hospitals were notified.

After going through their areas of improvement, trustee Chris Kolinski, a firefighter, thanked them for their work and their honesty about what they could have done better too.

“You don’t know you don’t know until we have it, so being honest about it and making it better just makes our township have the best services available,” he said.

LeRoy said they hope to continue doing one of these live training sessions each year moving forward, not just at schools, but in other large venues as well.

Speed mitigation efforts reviewed

By Grace Lovins

Birmingham Police Chief Scott Grewe talked about the city’s current speed mitigation efforts during the city commission meeting on Monday, February 5, with a report that led commissioners to bring the item back for further discussion on February 12.

The focus on Birmingham’s speed mitigation came after commissioner Clinton Baller asked city staff to bring the board information on what the city is currently doing to reduce speeding.

In Grewe’s report included in the meeting packet, the chief addressed the department’s current use of speed boards, speed humps, grant funding, enforcement and speed mitigation design to help alleviate the issue.

The department is involved with traffic study reports, said Grewe, so the department can keep count on the traffic of areas throughout the city.

Currently, the city has six permanent speed boards around town and four temporary speed boards placed where they’re needed. Grewe’s report stated that the temporary speed boards were placed in 22 different locations in 2023, ranging from two weeks to two months.

Commissioners have previously discussed the option of adding speed humps or speed bumps throughout the city, however, Birmingham has been found to not meet the generally accepted standards that show a need for them.

According to Grewe, police along with the city’s multi-modal transportation board (MMTB) and traffic consultants looked at the possibility of adding speed bumps throughout the city by reviewing the policies of other municipalities. He said that streets where the 85th percentile of speeds is over 10 mph above the speed limit are where it is common practice to implement the bumps.

Birmingham does not have any streets that match the requirements laid out in other municipalities’ policies and the 85th percentile measurement, said Grewe. The MMTB also determined that Birmingham doesn’t have any streets that would qualify for speed bumps.

Police officers are also very active in enforcement, said Grewe. Of all the municipalities that feed into the 48th District Court, Birmingham is the third largest but, according to Grewe, outranked all of them in terms of traffic enforcement.

After Grewe’s presentation, Baller asked the commission if they were

satisfied with the status quo or if they wanted to give any direction to city staff. It being almost midnight, commissioner Anthony Long suggested that the board bring speed mitigation to another meeting as a formal agenda item for further discussion and decisionmaking.

Birmingham city commissioners revisited discussions on speed mitigation during the Monday, February 12, meeting.

During the previous meeting on Monday, February 5, Birmingham police chief Scott Grewe gave a presentation to commissioners about the department’s current initiatives for mitigating speed issues. Grewe explained that the Birmingham Police Department is highly active when it comes to traffic enforcement, noting they are the leading municipality in the 48th District Court for traffic tickets despite being only the third largest municipality.

Birmingham also employs speedboards to help mitigate speeding in residential areas on top of working with traffic consultants and the multimodal transportation board to help with speed mitigation in street designs.

At the last meeting, commissioner Clinton Baller took issue with the fact that the city itself does not currently have a set of standards and criteria for the placement of speedboards. He offered that the city should look at two things: speedboards and speedboard placement, and enforcement.

Typically, speedboards will be placed in certain areas if the city receives complaints about speeding, Grewe mentioned on February 5, but Baller said he believes residents shouldn’t have to complain to place more of the boards. He noted his specific concern is residential streets and streets that get a lot of cut through traffic.

Commissioner Brad Host questioned if the department could place more speedboards around town. Currently, the city has six permanent speedboards and a handful of temporary speedboards. According to Grewe, the cost of a permanent speedboard can range from $8,000 to $10,000, which has been budgeted by the department to maintain the speedboards they currently have.

The commission voted 7-0 to task city staff with gathering more information for the board about placement, quantity and cost of speedboards, a report detailing what enhanced traffic enforcement would look like and engage with the city’s communications director to help communicate to drivers they should be going the speed limit.

Township experiences snow removal issues

By Dana Casadei

hile there was only one public comment about how disastrous the snow removal was over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees had plenty to say, starting with supervisor Dani Walsh, who came prepared with a statement at their meeting on Monday, January 22.

“I’ve been here 51 years, I never left, this is my home, and I’ve also never seen the county’s response to this issue be so bad,” Walsh said.

So, what caused the havoc, and led to major roads in Bloomfield Township being buried under snow and ice for days?

According to Walsh, unfamiliar dispatchers and equipment breakdowns.

Over the course of Friday and Saturday, Bloomfield Township police called the Road Commission of Oakland County (RCOC) over 40 times to say that they were ready to help with the snow and ice removal from the quadrant on 14 Mile to Long Lake Road, Quarton to Lahser.

But the new dispatchers were unfamiliar with the fact that Bloomfield Township is the only township in the state who could legally step up and help because they’re the only township with a road department, but said they weren’t legally allowed to help.

The RCOC didn’t give the township permission to do anything about the snow and ice removal on those county roads until Monday, long after the winter storm had left its havoc.

Since that weekend, Walsh said she has spoken with the RCOC, who has mixed up the dispatchers so all of the new ones aren’t in the same area, and given Bloomfield Township permission to call them directly should something like this happen again, instead of going through the dispatchers.

While Walsh has confidence that with these changes nothing like this will happen again, others highly disagreed, notably trustee Neal Barnett.

“This is the worse I’ve ever seen, and I received the most complaints I’ve ever gotten from residents,” Barnett said. “This was poor leadership from RCOC and a huge safety issue for something we all knew was coming.”

Barnett didn’t think the RCOC was the only one who handled this poorly, but the township as well. He noted that previous township supervisors had taken control of the situation and enlisted the township's road department, and done it legally, without excuses.

The RCOC did also have issues with four other surrounding areas that weekend due to low staffing and equipment issues.

Since that weekend the RCOC has taken responsibility for what one township resident called “a colossal failure,” and broadcasted a statement indicating the fault laid with their Waterford garage.

The lone bright spot in all of this was the work of the department of public works, which was able to clear 50 of the trees that fell on county roads and cleared all of the neighborhood roads – which the township can do because of their agreement with the RCOC – leading to more neighborhood roads clear than the county roads over the weekend.

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Commission reviews plans for the future

By Grace Lovins

Project plans were the topic of Birmingham’s long-range planning meeting on Saturday, January 20, during which city commissioners reviewed plans and project concepts for the 2024 year.

Commissioners started the day with a review of the city’s five-year financial forecast developed by finance director Mark Gerber and Plante Moran, the firm responsible for conducting the city’s audits.

A five-year forecast is a tool to help the city review what revenues and expenditures could look like using estimates and assumptions, according to Gerber.

Spencer Tawas from Plante Moran stated that the city’s revenue has increased nine out of the last 10 years, mostly from a growth in property taxes. Nearly 70 percent of Birmingham’s general fund revenue comes from property taxes, he said.

Tawas noted a seven percent growth in revenue from 2023.

While the general fund revenue increased, Tawas explained that a significant portion of the funds will be used in 2024 for capital improvement projects planned by various city departments.

Following Gerber and Tawas’ presentation, director of public services Scott Zielinski briefed the commission on the department’s plan for implementing the newly adopted Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

The city has already gotten a start on trail improvements and improvements at Booth Park. Now, they are determining which projects they are going to prioritize next.

Zielinski stated that the department is going to be working on revisiting Poppleton Park, developing a master plan for St. James Park with Birmingham NEXT and improving the playgrounds around town.

Overall, Zielinski explained that the city will be looking to add restrooms where they can, how they can incorporate mixed-age developments within the parks system and where new additions might fit, such as a community garden and updated playground equipment.

City engineer Melissa Coatta gave a presentation about changes to stormwater management and the anticipated capital improvement projects for 2024. According to Coatta, the city is looking to adopt 54

BSD Executive Director position open

By David Hohendorf

irmingham Assistant City Manager Melissa Fairbairn has been named the interim director of the Birmingham Shopping District (BSD) following the exit on February 1 of Cristina Sheppard-Decius, who has held the position since September 2022.

The announcement of change in BSD leadership was included in the Manager's Report that was part of the February 12 city commission agenda packet released on Friday, February 9.

No reason was given for the management change and the city manager's report only referred to a “separation of employment” for Sheppard-Decius. Although one local official noted that there had been “conflict” between the departed executive director and members of the city administration, no one was able to say whether the change was actually a firing or a resignation.

Sheppard-Decius brought considerable experience to the BSD position, having most recently been the manager of the Dearborn Downtown Development Authority (DDA) from August of 2015 until taking the position with Birmingham. She had also worked with a number of communities in similar management positions, including over 15 years as the director of the Ferndale DDA. Sheppard-Decius was hired by Birmingham following the resignation of BSD Director Sean Kammer, who held the position for about one year.

Kammer now holds a similar position with the city of Pontiac. Prior to Kammer, Ingrid Tighe was BSD Director from April of 2017 to December 2020, when she took a position with Oakland County.

The Birmingham BSD is funded through a special assessment on all commercial, non-residential property in areas of downtown and other business districts of Birmingham. The executive director works with merchants, business owners, retailers, landlords, and commercial real estate brokers.

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the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner (OCWRC) standards for stormwater management that satisfy the requirements laid out by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. These include channel protection, water quality control and detention and flood control.

The OCWRC standards would apply to all city sewer systems.

Exemptions were already established in the standards for developments less than one acre, single-family detached dwellings not a part of a common development and resurfacing paved areas where the base aggregate is not exposed, said Coatta. The city is also able to adopt the standards and remove exemptions.

Coatta also walked the commission through a number of capital improvement projects planned for 2024 through 2026. Most of the projects included improvement programs for sidewalks, streets and water and sewer mains.

This year, residents will see sidewalks improved through the city’s Concrete Program and Trip Elimination Program as well as

streets through Asphalt Maintenance Program, Cape Seal Program and Street Selected Projects. The city will also be improving sewer structures through the Sewer Rehabilitation Program.

Next up on the agenda, planning director Nick Dupuis walked the commission through the city’s plans for historic preservation. Birmingham has 82 designated historic resources, said Dupuis, most of which are residential, followed by commercial and then public property.

Dupuis said staff, along with the city’s historic district commission, are hoping to move toward a more proactive and holistic approach to historic preservation through a historic preservation master plan. The plan will include lots of data and public input, said Dupuis, similar to any other master plan that is created in the city. To kick off the process, Dupuis stated that a survey went live last week on Engage Birmingham to gather resident input on historic preservation.

The Birmingham Shopping District (BSD) also presented a long-range plan for economic growth presented

by BSD executive director Cristina

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Sheppard-Decius. According to Sheppard-Decius' presentation, the BSD will focus on increasing the value of the district, expanding regional tourism, and diversifying the balance of businesses and products, among other goals.

With these goals, the BSD is planning multiple projects to improve pedestrian accessibility, safety and beautification, starting with the Pierce Street alleyway.

Residents can plan to see several updates throughout the city’s parking system. Parking director Aaron Ford explained that the city has taken over the parking pass operations, which was previously outsourced to SP+, and sent out the first invoices this month. Although Ford said there is a learning curve with the system, the city is anticipating the investment will be worth their while.

Another subject of note was the discussion surrounding the potential renovation of city hall or the relocation of the city’s police department offsite. Birmingham police chief Scott Grewe revisited what the commission had previously looked at relating to updates to city hall and offered considerations for potential offsite locations.

The updating of city hall had been talked about during multiple meetings in 2023, with concerns about the safety and security of employees and the public. Grewe noted that increased safety precautions are one of the top priorities for renovations along with security and accessibility.

Commissioners did not take any formal action during the long range planning session. Clinton Baller was absent from the meeting.

Architects chosen for senior center project

By Grace Lovins

Birmingham city commissioners reviewed bid proposals for the facility assessment and conceptual designs for the city’s future Senior Center during the Monday, February 12, meeting, selecting a global architecture firm to fulfill the city’s bid request.

The city issued a request for proposal (RFP) on November 17, 2023, according to a memorandum included in the meeting packet, for sealed bids regarding the renovation or expansion of the recently purchased YMCA property. Birmingham purchased the YMCA building located at 400 E. Lincoln back in July of 2023 for $1.5 million with the intention of it serving 03.24

Township investment policies okayed

By Dana Casadei

loomfield Township Treasurer Michael Schostak presented three different investment policies – general investment, pension trust investment, and retired employees’ healthcare benefits trust at the board of trustees meeting on Monday, February 12, all of which were approved by the board.

The first policy brought up, general investment, dictates how Bloomfield Township’s surplus funds can be invested, and the policy proposed will conform their current policy to Public Act 20. It currently does not. Conforming the policy to the public act will allow for the township’s policy to automatically change with it.

“I appreciate you bringing it to us now…we’ll continue to be abreast in the best way to do things,” said trustee Chris Kolinski, who made the motion to approve the general investment policy.

Next on the agenda was for the board to consider the approval of the pension trust investment policy, which was also passed unanimously.

This category of investments focuses on the pension trust, and sets certain criteria for the different asset classes Bloomfield Township can hold, as well as how much they can hold of certain asset classes. All of this is dictated by Michigan Public Act 314.

Schostak said they’re a little hamstrung with this specific policy not because of the law itself, but because of a contract signed decades ago by former township supervisor Homer Case regarding the guaranteed deposit account (GDA).

The GDA accounts for roughly 60 percent of the total pension trust, and was contracted with Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, now Empower Annuity Insurance Company. Because of this, the township has no control over what the GDA money is invested in or what the return will be.

While they don’t have control over what’s in the GDA, thanks to Public Act 314, the township does have control over the investment of additional funds they’ve put into the trust – including the bonds sold 10 years ago – that totals about $100 million, roughly 40 percent of the total pension trust.

The biggest change within the approved policy about the pension trust is the addition of the basket clause. Said clause allows the township to put alternative investments into the portfolio which may have a higher risk and into the asset class allocation schedule.

Alternative investments are less liquid and potentially offer higher yields.

Currently, Schostak has only put five percent in alternative investments for the pension trust, and because the township only has control of 40 percent of said trust, it actually only amounts to two percent of the entire trust.

Much like the approved general investment policy, the approved pension trust policy will automatically be adjusted if there are any amendments made by the state legislature.

“We’ve come a long ways from originally how vanilla it was as far as the options that you had for the policy,” said trustee Neal Barnett. “I’m glad to see we’re compliant and making some progress where we have some other opportunities to make investments.”

The last policy discussed by Schostak focused on the healthcare benefits trust for retired Bloomfield Township employees.

This trust has its own law, Public Act 149, and allows for the township to fund a health care investment plan to support promises made for retiree health care. Anything related to the investments goes back to Public Act 314 though. The two policies are virtually the same because they rely on the same law. The only difference between the pension trust and the retirees’ trust is that since there is no GDA type investment for healthcare, they’ll have to be more cognizant of their investments.

“It’s keeping us informed with the state law that governs these vehicles but also gives us a little bit more of a conservative bend,” Schostak said.

B as the new home of Birmingham Next.

According to city manager Jana Ecker, eight proposals were submitted ranging in price from roughly $54,000 to about $187,000. A selection committee made up of internal city staff reviewed the proposals and gave individual evaluations based on the proposals’ cost, timeline, references, project team and personnel qualifications, among other items.

Ecker explained that after the reviews, two proposals were found to be the best potential options from the bids submitted. The two firms, Krieger Klatt and Norr, LLC, were invited to the meeting to discuss their proposals with the commission.

Krieger Klatt is a Royal Oak based architecture and interior design firm that has been around since 2011. For the proposal, they partnered with Spark 43 Architects, a Grand Rapids based architecture firm that focuses on sports and recreation facilities. Jason Krieger, owner of the firm, stated that their architects have experience with municipal buildings, having worked on Royal Oak City Hall and currently working on a project for the city of Lansing.

Norr, LLC, is a global architecture and engineering firm with an office based in Detroit. The firm’s website lists projects for cities around the globe ranging from schools, residential buildings, courts and hospital centers.

Both firms gave presentations to the commission based on the proposals that were reviewed by the internal committee of staff. Following the presentations, commissioners noted that they would have liked to be more informed of the proposals submitted earlier on in the process.

Commissioner Therese Longe stated that, after listening to the presentations, both were excellent, however Norr, LLC. had the upper hand when it came to cost, personnel and public engagement.

Norr, LLC’s proposal was $25,000 less than Krieger Klatt’s and included one more public engagement session.

Most commissioners agreed that while both firms would be capable of taking on the project, Norr, LLC. seemed the best option due to cost and public engagement.

Norr’s proposal provides an anticipated end date of June 28, 2024, with a presentation given to the city.

Phase one of the proposal would include tenant and community surveys, field investigation and a feasibility study. Phase two would include a community presentation, concept design and test fit, and the final deliverable, according to the report.

Commissioners voted unanimously,

7-0, to approve the bid proposal from Norr, LLC. Ecker noted towards the beginning of the meeting that the commission will likely begin laying out the process for the project in March.

Hearings for annual liquor licenses set

By Grace Lovins

Following the annual review of liquor license renewals during the Monday, February 12, meeting, Birmingham city commissioners voted to set a public hearing to consider objections for 11 liquor licenses.

Alexandria Bingham, Birmingham City Clerk, explained that the liquor licenses for Birmingham restaurants are reviewed annually, typically starting in November or December.

During the meeting, commissioners approved the renewal of 28 liquor licenses since they were compliant with the city’s liquor code upon review by city staff. The other establishments were found in violation of the code for various reasons.

Two of the bistros’ issues were resolved, said planning director Nick Dupuis. Elie’s Mediterranean and Tallulah Wine Bar & Bistro still have their outdoor dining areas set up for use, said Dupuis. After clarification, city staff were able to confirm that the bistros’ outdoor areas are considered a legal nonconforming use based on the permits they hold. Outdoor dining can remain for roughly another month and a half, he said.

An additional two places had issues that, said Dupuis, could be resolved soon. Sidecar, Slice and Shift had an unscreened dumpster but was recently approved for a permit to fix it. Bistro Joe’s inside Papa Joe’s had issues with the parking lot, but Dupuis noted the owner, Tony Curtis, said the parking lot will be resurfaced and restriped in the spring.

Commissioners Clinton Baller and Andrew Haig both stated that they want city staff to bring information to the public hearing on the bistros that are “repeat offenders.”

“On the list, I counted seven frequent fliers on the objections list, and I only went back two years,” said Haig.

“One of those last year was a third or fourth strike already, so this is the fourth or fifth strike for the exact same issue.”

The commission voted 7-0 to approve the renewal of the liquor licenses for the 28 compliant restaurants, and set a public hearing for the commission’s Monday, March 18, meeting.

2025 safety path routes get go ahead

By Dana Casadei

While 2024 has just begun, the Bloomfield Township Engineering & Environmental Services Department (EESD) is already looking ahead to 2025 projects for the Jan Roncelli Safety Path Program, and came to the board of trustees at their Monday, January 22, meeting with a proposed path that would run along W. Maple Road.

The board voted 6-0 – trustee Valerie Murray was not in attendance – in favor of the suggested path, which is Route 25 on the 2008 Safety Path Master Plan.

With the board’s approval, the EESD is now authorized to proceed with the design this year, with the bidding and construction to follow in 2025.

Corey Almas, P.E., director of the EESD, informed the board that his staff considered multiple routes in the master plan for construction, and ultimately, Route 25 made the most sense for the next phase of the project.

This particular route will run along the north side of W. Maple Road from W. Surrey Road to Franklin Road, and will include 3,500 linear feet of safety path, connecting the path already existing at Surrey Road and extending westward to Franklin Road.

The preliminary cost for Route 25 is $1,050,000; with $800,000 for construction and an additional $250,000 for engineering.

This proposed route will give residents additional access to the Jan Roncelli Safety Path, safely connecting to side streets, and will allow for those walking to access another existing path of the safety path on the south side of Franklin Road, as well as the path along Telegraph Road.

The board also approved to incorporate the 2024 and remaining 2023 safety path program to the 20242025 safety path budget, at a cost of $2.6 million for those projects.

The remaining 2023 Safety Path projects to be constructed this year take place on the west side of Lasher Road, from Quarton Road to Maple Road; and the east side of Franklin Road, from Kendry Drive to Freemont St. The 2024 project that still needs to be completed is along the west side of Telegraph Road from Humphrey Avenue to Clinton River Trail.

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Lavery Porsche dealership revamp okayed

By Grace Lovins

red Lavery Porsche, located at 34350 Woodward Avenue in Birmingham, will officially be getting a revamped look and size after city commissioners approved a lot combination, final site plan and special land use permit for the dealership during the Monday, January 22, meeting.

The dealership currently sits where Woodward Avenue meets Elm and Haynes streets in the city’s Triangle District. A neighboring lot, 911 Haynes Street, that Lavery also owns is currently home to a two-story commercial building.

According to city planner Brooks Cowan, Porsche is heading towards an all-electrical vehicle fleet and is requiring their buildings to be updated which started Lavery’s application process.

Lavery is proposing to demolish the existing dealership and the twostory building on Haynes to construct a new three-story dealership using both of the lots. A lot combination was requested to do so.

Plans for the new building, said Cowan, fit the six code standards for a lot combination: it fit the Triangle District master plan, it was consistent with the area, there were no unpaid taxes and the development will not negatively impact neighbors. Cowan noted that two of the six standards only apply to single-family residential developments.

Aside from sporting a metallic exterior with louvers to match the design of a Porsche 911, the new dealership will have a large vehicle service area and a parking garage at the back of the building. The dealership will also have four electrical vehicle charging stations, with two along Haynes for public use.

While the dealership was being reviewed by the city’s planning board last year, concerns around a proposed garage door opening up to Elm Street led planning board members to suggest reconfiguring the street altogether. Lavery's plan was sent over to the multi-modal transportation board (MMTB) for them to review concepts for the street included in the Triangle District Plan, as noted in the meeting packet.

During the meeting, Cowan explained that the MMTB went with a design that would make Elm a one-way street southbound with a new pedestrian crosswalk and pedestrian courtyard.

Commissioners voted to approve the lot combination for Lavery’s two lots in a 6-0 vote as well as approve the final site plan and design and special land use permit in another 6-0 vote. Clinton Baller was absent from the meeting.

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New township safety path contract awarded

By Dana Casadei

The 2023 Jan Roncelli Safety Path retaining wall repair and fence repair contract was awarded to Italia Construction, Inc., after a unanimous vote at the Monday, February 12, meeting of the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees.

Italia Construction, Inc. was one of three companies to bid on the project, and was the lowest bid at $761,641.22.

Bloomfield Township has worked with Italia Construction, Inc. numerous times, including multiple retaining wall and safety path projects. They were also the

contractor for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 safety path projects; the 2023 Safety Pair Repair Project; and the ADA Ramp Improvement Project.

There are 13 total locations across Bloomfield Township that fall under this retaining wall and fence repair program. Seven are existing segmental block retaining walls that need to either be reconstructed, repaired or completely removed, including one located in front of the 48th District Court House on Telegraph Road.

The additional six locations that will be worked are existing spilt rail wood fences that will be replaced with commercial grade aluminum fencing.

According to Corey Almas, director of engineering & environmental

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services department (ESSD), the site work will vary across locations, and include clearing, removal of existing walls and regrading, sidewalk removal and replacement, reconstruction of existing segmental block retaining walls, drainage improvements, landscaping and associated restoration.

The approval of this contract will give the Bloomfield Township EESD the authority to approve up to a 10 percent increase to the contract if need be, which would be based on the actual quantities needed to complete the project of conditions discovered in the field. The EESD and consulting engineers would need to confirm this before the 10 percent is given.

Originally in the proposal anything above 10 percent would need approval from only Supervisor Dani Walsh. After some discussion from the board, this was edited slightly, so that Walsh could approve anything on her own, if desired, if a contract went over between 10-15 percent. There was also an additional amendment that anything above 15 percent would need approval from the board of trustees.

Workshop provides meeting lessons

By Grace Lovins

Elements of effective city meetings were the topic of a special workshop session on Monday, February 5, with the Birmingham City Commission, during which Michigan Municipal League Parliamentarian Eleanor “Coco” Siewert provided a presentation to commissioners.

Siewert, formerly the Birmingham mayor and commissioner in the 1980s and 1990s, provided a detailed presentation on the parliamentary procedures of municipal meetings, highlighting the objectives of the procedures and best practices that she has observed.

The beginning of the workshop was spent reviewing the “Funnel of Laws,” as Siewert put it, that the commission has to follow starting with the constitution, trickling down to Robert’s Rules of Order.

During her presentation, Siewert talked about the recording of minutes that is required of municipalities for public record. She stated that it’s common practice for most municipalities, and good practice in her opinion, to only include a succinct description of what happened during the meeting rather than a detailed 03.24

explanation of everything that took place and what was said.

She explained that describing what was said and the position a commissioner or member of the public took during the meeting means the clerk has to interpret what the person was saying. Siewert affirmed that the commission is currently using good practices in terms of how they record their meeting minutes.

The discussion about the recording of the minutes brought commissioner Andrew Haig to question the record retention for the city’s paper minutes and video recorded meetings. He asked what the retention policy was for the video records.

According to city attorney Mary Kucharek, there is no legal requirement under the Open Meetings Act or Robert’s Rules for the retention of the video recordings, only for the recorded written minutes. “What’s required under law is what we’re already doing,” she said.

After Siewert’s presentation and discussion, commissioners moved onto talking about the city’s ethics board attending a meeting to provide a presentation. Kucharek told the commission that the board was looking for some details before providing a presentation.

The ethics board wanted clarification on what the commission was looking for in terms of how the presentation should be formatted, who their target audience is, and if there would be an expectation of accountability, said Kucharek.

It was suggested by commissioner Brad Host that the commission give Kucharek a written response for her to accept and bring to the ethics board.

The commission approved the idea in a 7-0 vote.

Township tackling archiving documents

By Dana Casadei

Bloomfield Township Clerk Martin Brook gave the township an update on the document management system (DMS) project at the board of trustees meeting on Monday, January 22, explaining the project is one of the many scheduled to be completed through the $4.5 million awarded to the township through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

“If we do this right, we’ll be more efficient… we’ll have better access to records,” Brook said.

The DMS project will include creating a framework for how and where almost 200 years of documents, downtownpublications.com

both paper and digital in various storage areas, will be combined and made easily accessible in one place, improving speed and accuracy of responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and also simply finding records if needed.

Figuring out that framework, and identifying a vendor with the best DMS for all departmental records and integration with internal and external software tools, is Security Archives Data Management, a Detroit-based company which provides record management consulting services and commercial off-site document storage services, Brook said.

The company has been around for nearly 40 years and has tackled projects like this for decades, including a very similar project they recently completed for the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department retention manual, and a reorganization of Grosse Pointe Public School’s system management records program.

Bill Saffady, lead project manager, discussed the five phases of this project via Zoom, and said the township's project is pretty straightforward.

The five phrases include meeting with township project managers, stakeholders, and IT; interviewing department units; putting together a needs assessment and implementation plan; RFP and vendor selection processes, and finally, implementation tasks and services.

The RFP will have to be customized so for right now the team’s main focus is learning more about the township’s operations.

“So far, so good, no one has thrown us out of their office,” Saffady joked.

Taylor Lydon, president, Security Archives Data Management, said that they’re on track to finish the project within its projected timeline of 12 months, and to have most consulting work done in six months, if not slightly sooner, due to the high incorporation of the township’s different departments.

These meetings consist of finding out what kind of records that department has, what they’re doing with them, and in what ways they would benefit from a DMS. Three departments – clerk, finance, and engineering – have already met with Security Archives Data Management to discuss their needs, and nearly every other department has a meeting on the books with them.

“Usually, there’s a lot of issues scheduling meetings, which can hold things up,” he said. “That has not been the case here.”

In total, the cost for this project is expected to be $169,000.

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FACES

Annaliese Wilbur ust like the main character, Fanny Brice, in “Funny Girl,” it was a fantasy come true when performer Annaliese Wilbur took the stage recently in the Broadway touring cast of “Funny Girl,” at the Fisher Theater – which will continue performances nationally through December.

The Bloomfield Hills native saw their first Broadway show, a production of “The Lion King,” at the iconic theater as a child and was mesmerized by the whole experience. “I knew from that very moment I wanted to be up on that stage,” Wilbur recalls.

Wilbur’s family encouraged them in another direction, and after graduating from Bloomfield Hills High School in 2018, they studied neuroscience, attending college in Syracuse, New York. The childhood dream still alive, they added a minor in musical theater and that soon became a major – finishing up with a BFA at the prestigious Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music on a merit scholarship.

A testament to their multi-faceted talent, after graduation they were scooped up by an agent and sent on Broadway auditions – quickly garnering the role in “Funny Girl.” Wilbur reverently credits university teachers and mentors for their early success. “Without my phenomenal training at Boston Conservatory I would never be where I’m at now in my career,” said the 24year-old, who now resides in New York City when not touring. “Under tutelage there I developed my dance, singing, choreography, piano, violin, guitar and acting skill sets.”

As a swing cast member in the current “Funny Girl” production, Wilbur must be ready to fill in – or under-study – for every female performer in the cast, memorizing dance, lines, singing and partner work if there is an emergency or low coverage. “Whenever you see a note in your playbill that

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says a role will now be played by a different performer, just know it’s a ‘swing’ like me giving it their all,” the animated and energetic thespian said.

While loving every aspect of live theater, tap dancing in particular, is a consuming passion for Wilbur. They are a member of the current wave of young tap dancers bringing a resurgence and revitalization to the historical dance form.

“I’m so honored to be working in a show that pays homage to tap’s Black history and feel a responsibility to keep the importance of tap dance alive.

I’m also fortunate to be led by a female-heavy artistic team who are my career idols including, choreographers Ellenore Scott and tap dancing choreographers Ayodele Casel and Dre Torres,” said Wilbur. “These talented women give 'Funny Girl' a depth and resonance to the empowering female storyline. The women on this team – especially the queer, Jewish, Black and Latina women – have been the greatest gift the Broadway industry could have given to this show.”

To further inspire support for the art of tap dancing, Annaliese founded BoCo/Berklee's Premiere Tap Dance Showcase, which has been invited to perform at the Berklee Performance Center for the last two years – the first ever student Tap Showcase to perform at the center.

During their recent stint back home Wilbur felt the love from those who support her burgeoning Broadway career. After the “Funny Girl” performances at the Fisher Theater each day, they exited the stage door to be greeted by a throng of admiring family, friends and classmates. “One night there were 45 people there seeing the show and supporting me,” said Wilbur. “Performing on a hometown stage was nothing short of a lifetime dream.”

Story: Susan Peck

BUSINESS MATTERS 20 years of style

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970 E MaplE Road / StE. 3 BiRMinghaM 48009 248.792.6464

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Despite rumors of its demise, My House of Style, 574 N. Old Woodward, Birmingham, is not only NOT going out of business, the eclectic boutique is celebrating its 20th anniversary offering shoppers fine and fashion jewelry, personal accessories and home accents. “The original concept was a fine and fashion jewelry store,” explained owner Diane Harris. “Over the years, it evolved, and now it’s more of a lifestyle boutique. We still have fine and fashion jewelry – it’s my first love, I have a gemology degree and 20 years prior experience and I blended it into what I believe a store should be.”

Over the years, Harris has added unique one-of-a-kind leather bags, handwoven scarves, travel accessories, hand blown glass accessories, pottery, and other home décor, “to turn your house into a home with unique, not cookie-cutter accessories. I generally order only one or two pieces from an artist.” As Harris begins her third decade with My House of Style, she is on the verge of a new concept, bringing in artists’ paintings on canvas to add to her mix. “I’m always trying something new, and what strikes my fancy and that’s what I offer my customers. I want my customers to fall in love.”

New design services Right above My House of Style at 574 N. Old Woodward in Birmingham Green & Co. has opened its doors, specializing in bespoke interior design for workspaces, living spaces, and meaningful spaces in between.

Heather Greene, owner, said the design shop is authentically focused on holistic wellness, engaging experiences, and how place impacts the way we feel and our ability to thrive. Together with their clients, Greene & Co clients creates awardwinning designs that inspire people to design their best lives.

Fun haircuts for kids Looking for a safe, fun environment for your child’s haircut needs? Look no further than Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids, 42934 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Township. Their mission is to create an entertaining experience for kids ages 0-14 by providing a superior haircut with warm, experienced hair stylists who understand children. And the environment is all about fun. Children can sit in a Dodge Police Cruiser, Barbie Jeep, Frozen Jeep, Lightning McQueen Race Car, Buzz Light Year, Hummer, Fire Engine, #8 Dale Earnhardt NASCAR Race Car, and/or

Mini Cooper while watching their favorite cartoons or Netflix – all while they’re getting their locks snipped.

Older kids will love the chance to play XBox One or PS4 on 40-inch screens while getting their haircut. Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids is a national chain that is the brainchild of Linda and Scott Sharkey, who used to take their kids to get haircuts in “uninviting, unexciting salons.” They felt there should be something better. They set out to create a unique salon that catered to children of all ages – a place that is prompt for those on-the-go parents, fun and entertaining for their children, and reasonably priced for their wallets. And Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids was born October 1, 2002, and in 2005, the first Sharkey’s franchise came into being.

Among other treats, Sharkey’s offers special “Glamour Day” birthday parties.

New Mexican eats La Montana Mexican Grill has opened an outpost at 2442 Franklin Road in Bloomfield Township, offering mouthwatering Mexican dishes. “At La Montaña Mexican Grill, we take pride in crafting mouthwatering Mexican dishes that are true to their roots. Our menu features an array of Mexican classics, including tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and more, all prepared with the finest ingredients and the utmost dedication to authenticity,” they state on their website. “We don’t just serve food; we create an immersive cultural experience. Our restaurant is adorned with Mexican traditions, vibrant decor, captivating imagery, and the melodic tunes of Mexican music. We invite you to dine with us and not only enjoy the delicious cuisine but also immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of Mexican culture.”

New real estate options Two local realtors have launched their own real estate firms in downtown Birmingham recently. Ashley Crain has opened Crain Homes at 320 Martin Street, Suite 200, along with partner Jill Laskey. They realized they had the entrepreneur fire while working as realtors at The Agency Hall & Hunter. “It was great being there, but we wanted to have our own firm,” Crain said. “We felt there was a niche in the market to fill. A lot of our clients have a very curated experience, and we wanted to provide that bespoke experience.” While most of their listings are in the Birmingham/Bloomfield market, they also work in Royal Oak, Rochester, recently sold a couple of Lions players homes in Northville, and have a few

doWnTOWN nEWSMagazinE

listings Up North. Crain said what sets them up from others is the six realtors at Crain Homes work in different areas of the market, with fingers on different pulse points. “Between country clubs, sports teams, the younger market – that’s our superpower,” she said, noting they’ve done a lot of off-market deals in the last few years. Dade DiMaggio has also opened a new firm in downtown Birmingham, as principal broker/owner of House of May at 191 N. Old Woodward Avenue, above Paris Baguette. “We look to differentiate ourselves in the market by providing all the amenities the other agencies do at a much lower cost,” DiMaggio said.

DiMaggio, who was a realtor with KW Domain for 11 years before becoming managing partner of ReMax Eclipse, decided to open House of May because he wanted “build on why I was successful as an independent broker.”

House of May currently has five licensed agents besides himself, and DiMaggio said he does not hire anyone without at least three years of experience or $3 million in sales volume. “We are creating a firm of quality agents. We like to keep agents close to their clients. I believe in having real relationships with my clients.” He has invested in an inhouse media company that will provide all marketing and social media for the agents. “I’m looking to create a niche market to elevate my team.”

Time to relax Lifestyle brand Steele Angel has closed its doors in downtown Birmingham, at 150 W. Maple, leaving another vacancy along the W. Maple strip. Owner and curator of the shop, Wendy Van Alstyne, opened the boutique in January 2020, focusing on athleisure for women and men, accessories, baubles, items for children, and gifts for the home. At the time, it was her second Steele Angel location, after opening her first in Aurora, Colorado. She opened in downtown Birmingham after her husband was transferred to metro Detroit, and she knew the area was the right spot for another Steele Angel.

Van Alstyne, who closed the Colorado location in 2023, announced a retirement sale on Facebook in early February, closed the doors in Birmingham on February 3, promising a new website soon.

Business Matters for the Birmingham Bloomfield area are reported by Lisa Brody. Send items for consideration to LisaBrody@downtownpublications.com.

Items should be received three weeks prior to publication.

03.24

NEXT NOTEBOOK You have heard the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child” – the same can certainly be said for our older, most vulnerable residents.

Despite the availability of safety nets and wrap-around services in Birmingham and Oakland County, many residents in need hesitate to ask for assistance, or simply do not know where to turn.

Compounding the problem – many of us who are very busy keeping our own families on track may not recognize when our neighbors could use a little help.

Our area is viewed by many as a place where residents do not need assistance to live comfortably. But in fact, according to the 2022 US Census, 5.5 percent of Birmingham residents are at or below the poverty line. Most often, these are our seniors who are on fixed incomes while their expenses continue to rise.

Cris Braun

Just one recent example–a few months ago, the Birmingham city attorney made a call that set into motion a very transformative action plan. She called Stuart Sherman, former city commissioner and attorney, about a resident on the verge of losing his home due to back taxes. Stuart did not hesitate to reach out to this resident, but quickly realized his problems went much deeper.

This older resident was indeed about to lose his home, but he had also been living without running water, heat, or an income to even cover his most basic needs. When I first met this gentleman, I asked what his most immediate need was. His answer, a hot shower.

Seems basic and simple enough for most of us, but not all of us.

Stuart Sherman is a good friend to Next and has supported our work in the community for years. He was familiar with the services we offer and together we tackled many of this resident’s most pressing issues. First and foremost, Stuart arranged for the back taxes to be paid through Next’s Foundation for Senior Residents and then quickly filed paperwork for a homestead exception for future filings. He also applied for and received Oakland County grants for income qualified residents.

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Then we continued down the list. Jay Reynolds, an adept Next computer volunteer and board of directors member, worked with the resident to resolve Social Security issues so he could begin to receive his earned payments. Through Birmingham’s Community Development Block Grant program administered through Next, repairs were made to his furnace and plumbing, and arrangements were made to renew his driver’s license so he could find employment. All the while, Stuart was making frequent visits and handling several day-to-day concerns that cropped up.

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Thankfully, this case ended well but we know there are many senior residents that could use a little support to make their daily lives better This is where the “village” comes in.

Please look out for your neighbors. If you see an older resident that could benefit from the services that Next and the city can provide, please help them reach out, or call us, we will take it from there.

A society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable.

By looking out for each other, together we can make Birmingham a wonderful place to grow up – and grow old.

Cris Braun is Executive Director of Birmingham Next downtownpublications.com

Loan approval is subject to credit approval and program guidelines. Not all loan programs are available in all states for all loan amounts. Interest rates and program terms are subject to change without notice. Visit usbank.com to learn more about U.S. Bank products and services. Mortgage, home equityand credit products are offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Deposit products are offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Member FDIC. ©2022 U.S. Bank

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TAX TIME LET US TAKE AWAY YOUR CONCERNS Trust the team of experts at

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THE COMMUNITY HOUSE BEST OF THE BEST! The Community House takes great pride in offering the absolute “best” when it comes to our food and beverage as well as the service staff that present them.

Don’t take our word for it…take the word of our clients who have so generously reviewed us on The Knot and have nominated The Community House “Hospitality” Program 2024’s Best of Weddings. The Best of Weddings award is prestigious recognition given to venues that consistently maintain a high rating, and high volume of positive reviews. Fun fact — The Community House received 63 reviews, all at the maximum of 5 stars. This award is so important to us because it means we are meeting our goals of striving for excellence and serves as the highest independent client ratings one can receive in the industry.

STUDENT ART TOWN In conjunction with OUR TOWN, The Community House proudly presents the 34th annual Student Art Town on April 12 and 13, a special exhibition spotlighting the achievements of local student artists in the tri-county area.

Recognizing the pivotal role of art education in schools, this program provides a platform for students and educators to celebrate and encourage budding creativity.

The Student Art Town program is a testament to The Community House’s commitment to empowering young artists. Over the years, Student Art Town has left an indelible mark on thousands of students, offering them the honor and opportunity to display their artwork at The Community House.

Programs like OUR TOWN and Student Art Town are not just events — they are cultural benchmarks that ripple through communities, leaving a lasting impact on the artistic landscape of Michigan.

Bill Seklar

What is the Knot? The Knot Worldwide are champions of the power of celebration. The company’s global family of brands provides best-in-class products, services, and content to take celebration planning from inspiration to action. The Community House is extraordinarily proud and humbled to have been recipients of this hard-earned, but well-deserved honor for years 2019-2024.

Even more noteworthy, it was just announced that The Community House’s Hospitality Food and Beverage Program has now been inducted into The Knot Hall of Fame. This honor and recognition are quite elusive and exclusive and reserved for venues that achieve the Best of Weddings status for over three consecutive years. Folks often ask me if The Community House has turned into a wedding destination – the answer is yes and no.

Weddings, showers, mitzvahs, graduation parties, corporate events, memorials, community gatherings and outreach is a large and important part of the legacy of The Community House and of families throughout our local community and beyond.

Events after events, gatherings after gatherings happen at the historic Community House daily, weekly, and monthly – not because of slick marketings and advertising – but because of decades and decades of families in our community, particularly Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills – whose families held their milestone events at The Community House throughout the last 100 years. To us, we see this as a true testimony to our constant outreach and service to those who came before us, who laid the foundation, and to those families yet to come, especially the many who seek to dance and sing, reminisce, honor, and celebrate — at the very place their ancestors walked and commemorated life. ‘l’chaim’ SPRING HAPPENINGS OUR TOWN Art Show & Sale For almost four decades, The Community House’s OUR TOWN Art Show & Sale has been a beacon of artistic expression, showcasing the incredible talent of Michigan artists. The weekend-long celebration encompasses an opening night VIP Reception and awards ceremony on Thursday, March 21, free public viewing on Friday and Saturday, March 22 & 23.

The heart of OUR TOWN lies in its juried art show, featuring works in various mediums and genres such as watercolor, oil, photography, sculpture, and jewelry. Jurists from the prestigious Detroit Institute of Arts curate the exhibition, creating a gallery setting accessible to everyone. This inclusive approach makes OUR TOWN a unique and enriching experience for emerging and professional Michigan artists, offering them a valuable platform to display their work to our community. Reservations for the VIP Reception may be made by clicking on communityhouse.com/event/ourtown/.

BREAKFAST WITH BUNNY Celebrate the joyous season of Easter with a sumptuous Breakfast with Bunny. Indulge in an array of delectable dishes meticulously crafted by our talented culinary team, featuring mouthwatering classics and innovative twists that will tantalize your taste buds. From savory delights like fluffy eggs, bacon, sausage, savory quiches to sweet treats such as freshly baked pastries and decadent desserts, there’s something to delight every palate.

Savor the flavors of the season while enjoying the warm ambiance of our venue, where every bite is infused with love and care. $49pp Adults, $25pp Children ages 3-12, Under 3 free. For more information, please visit communityhouse.com. Hurry, Bunny only comes once a year.

PROGRAMS & ENRICHMENT Early Childhood Center – Late Winter & Spring Registrtions The Community House’s Early Childhood Center is excited to announce we have a rare, limited number of spots available for our preschool program.

With the use of the nationally recognized Highscope curriculum, our amazing teachers are ready to set the foundation of your child’s academic success. Our curriculum uses a whole-child approach to learning, where the child is encouraged to create and execute their plan through hands on classroom exploration. Our program encourages independence, decisionmaking, and conflict resolution and students graduate from The Community House ECC ready for kindergarten with confidence and the ability to creatively problem solve.

Additionally, the Early Childhood Center has created a new program to help fill an educational need in our community. Our Junior K+ program will enrich and challenge young five’s students that have completed Pre-K but are too young to start Kindergarten. Junior K+ stops the regression of repeating a second year in a program by providing and exclusive environment with enhanced focus on phonetic awareness and sound blending, developing sentence building, independence and self-help skill sets, science exploration, and critical thinking skills.

With the school year ending coupled with the graduation of our Pre-K and Junior K+ students – we are now accepting Fall 2024 openings in our award-winning, High-Scope Early Childhood Center. Registration is now open. We are accepting applications for ages 0-4. Please contact our Senior Director/Head of School, Ms. Sarah Schuster, at sschuster@communityhouse.com or call (248) 594-6411 to learn more about our program, to arrange a tour, or to secure your child’s spot.

For reservations, sponsorships or more information about booking gathering and meeting space for 2024 and beyond - please go to www.communityhouse.org or call 248.644.5832.

The historic Community House is a solely independent nonprofit 501(c3) charitable organization. TCH is not and never has been supported by tax dollars or millages.

William D. Seklar is President & CEO of The Community House Association, and Board Chair, President & CEO of The Community House Foundation in Birmingham. downtownpublications.com

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PLACES TO EAT 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.

Birmingham/Bloomfield 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. Breakfast & Lunch, Wednesday-Sunday, Lunch, Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations Liquor. 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, weekends, Lunch, Wednesday-Sunday, Dinner, daily.

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. Brunch, weekends, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

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 Dax: American. Breakfast, daily, Lunch, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 298 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.283.4200. daxtonhotel.com Café ML: New American. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 3607 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield, 48301. 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

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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. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & Dinner, daily. 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, Thursday-Sunday, Dinner, TuesdaySunday. No Reservations. Liquor. 575 S. Eton Street, Birmingham. 248.712.4050. griffinclawbrewingcompany.com Hazel’s: Seafood. Brunch, weekends, Lunch & 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 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

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METRO INTELLIGENCER 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.

Brunch Buffet back at Whitney Can you really think of a more beautiful place to indulge in Sunday brunch other than The Whitney in Detroit? Although The Whitney suspended their brunch buffet service for a period of time, it has recently returned, featuring all their signature favorites, plus a few Whitney surprises, including prime rib and Dearborn honey glazed ham carving stations. The Sunday Brunch at The Whitney offers several courses served tableside along with a lavish buffet. A few of the options include: specialty pancakes; poached salmon over couscous with lemon hollandaise; lemon-artichoke chicken; and rice and seafood sautee. A decadent “desserts carnival,” located throughout the second floor ballroom, features cinnamon roll bread pudding with whipped cream; chef’s fruit cobbler with ice cream; flaming Bananas Foster; and pastry trio served tableside. The Whitney buffet is $69 per person and includes a Mimosa and non-alcoholic beverages.

“Detroit is the place to be. The city’s cultural, entertainment and sports venues are booming, and people are looking for great places to dine or enjoy a cocktail,” said Patrick Liebler, The Whitney’s executive director. “We have an authentically Detroit venue that offers a one-of-a-kind ambiance and memorable dining experiences that are the perfect complement to any Detroit experience.” The Whitney’s Brunch is served every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. throughout the year. 4421 Woodward Avenue, Detroit thewhitney.com

Special European Wine Dinner The Statler French American Bistro in Detroit has launched a monthly European wine dinner which runs through November of 2024. This month’s adventure on March 20 is themed “Dall’Italia Con Amore,” and will take participants on a wine and food journey to Italy. The organizers point out that “pairing food with wine doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Basically, what grows together, goes together. In this fun and educational voyage, we’ll guide you through three distinct regions of Italy via glass and plate.” The first course includes an antipasto board complete with Chef Vince’s house-made focaccia bread. The board is paired with Ferrari Brut Rosé, Trentino. For the second course, guests will enjoy carbonara tagliatelle-a crispy pancetta with peas and Pecorino Romano that is paired with Mastroberardino Greco di Tufo, Campania. The third course features braised short rib with wild mushroom and truffle risotto paired with Carapace Montefalco Sagrantino, Umbria. Please note that menu items and wine selections are subject to change. Tickets are $99 per person, tax and gratuity not included. To learn more, visit statlerdetroit.com. 313 Park Avenue, Detroit statlerdetroit.com

New role for Clarkston chef Clarkston’s farm to table restaurant, The Fed, has promoted Michel Agustin to executive chef. Agustin may be new to the role, but he’s been at The Fed since the beginning. He helped open the restaurant back in 2017, working as the lead line cook. And over the past six years, he’s been promoted three times

by Fed owners Sarah and James Schneider. Rather than introduce a slew of new dishes, Agustin and his team are focused on refining the ones customers already love. “Our menu is a greatest hits list,” he says. “Simple dishes executed to the very highest caliber.” Fan favorites include the crispy cauliflower, chicken limone, and locally-foraged mushroom toast with housemade ricotta. Another focus for the new executive chef is The Fed’s incredible weekend brunch. With a roaring fire, live music and unique menu items, brunch is one of Agustin’s passions. Inspired by the Brennan family of Louisiana, whose restaurants helped kickstart the brunch craze in the mid20th century, Agustin loves the cozy, familial nature of the midday meal.

“We’re paying homage to the original brunches of the U.S. south,” he says.

“Shrimp and grits, house-made sausage, fresh-baked Challah French toast, German Dutch babies – we like keeping things as simple as possible, but with complexity of flavor and texture.” 15 S. Main Street, Clarkston thefedcommunity.com

Farewell to a favorite Bacco Ristorante has been a mainstay in the Southfield community for 22 years. The upscale establishment is known for its fresh Italian fare, an elegant

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. Brunch, weekends. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 298 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.283.4200. daxtonhotel.com Mare Mediterranean: Seafood. Brunch, weekends. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

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 MEX Mexican Bistro & Tequila Bar: Mexican.

Brunch, weekends. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 6675 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301. 248.723.0800. mexbloomfield.com Middle Eats: Mediterranean. Lunch and Dinner, daily. No reservations. 42967 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield, 48093. 248.274.328. middleeats.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 Phoenicia: Lebanese. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 588 S. Old Woodward Birmingham, 48009. phoeniciabirmingham.com Planthropie: Vegan. Dessert and Cheese.

Tuesday-Sunday. 135 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.839.5640. planthropie.com Roadside B & G: American. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 1727 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield, 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, daily. 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 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. (remove Brunch) 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 French Lady: French. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. 768 N. Old Woodward, 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, Friday & Saturday. 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, ThursdayWednesday; Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. 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. Lunch, Tuesday-Sunday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6608 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301.

248.949.9999. zaojunnewasian.com

Royal Oak/Ferndale 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-Saturday, Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

No reservations. Liquor. 22651 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220. 248.548.0680. anitaskitchen.com Bandit Tavern & Hideaway: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 419 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067.

248.544.6250. bandittavern.com Beppé: New American. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor.

703 N. S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067.

224.607.7030. eatbeppe.com Bigalora: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 711 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.2442 bigalora.com Cafe Muse: French. Breakfast & Lunch,

Wednesday-Monday. Reservations. Liquor.

418 S. Washington Avenue, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.4749. cafemuseroyaloak.com Coeur: New American Small Plates. Brunch, weekends, Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 330 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale, 48220. 248.466.3010. coeurferndale.com Como’s: Pizza. Brunch, weekends. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 22812 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, 48220.

248.677.4439. comosrestaurant.com 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 HopCat: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 430 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.744.2544.

HopCat.com Howe’s Bayou: Cajun. Lunch & Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. 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, daily.

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 Masala: Indian. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. 106 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.850.8284. food.orders.co/royaloakmasala Mezcal: Brunch, Sunday. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor.

201 East 9 Mile Road Ferndale, 48220.

248.268.3915. mezcalferndale.com Pastaio: Italian. Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 208 W. 5th Street, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.565.8722. eatpastaio.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 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, Tuesday-Sunday.

Dinner, Wednesday-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. Lunch, TuesdaySaturday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

7799 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

Troy/Rochester Cafe Sushi: Pan-Asian. Lunch, Tuesday-Friday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

Liquor. 1933 W. Maple Road, Troy, 48084.

248.280.1831. cafesushimi.com Capital Grill: Steak & Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2800 W. Big Beaver Road, Somerset Collection, Troy, 48084. 248.649.5300.

CK Diggs: American & Italian. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 2010 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.853.6600. ckdiggs.com Firebird Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 4845 Rochester Road, 48085. 248.289.9650. firebirdtaverntroy.com Grand Castor: Latin American. Lunch, Thursday-Sunday, Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 2950 Rochester Road, Troy, 48083.

248.278.7777. grancastor.com Kona Grille: American. Brunch, weekends, 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-Sunday. 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 NM Café: American. Lunch, Monday-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,

yet comfortable ambiance, and an extensive selection of wines. Chef Luciano DelSignore announced in a press release that the restaurant would be closing its doors on March 23. “I am deeply appreciative for the incredible talents and team that have made Bacco an unforgettable adventure,” said DelSignore. “I reflect on the relationships and the vibrant community we’ve built while delivering unmatched hospitality and simple Italian cuisine elevated with the finest ingredients to multiple generations.” A post on the restaurant’s Facebook page alerted customers that “due to overwhelming demand from our guests who wish to enjoy Bacco before we close, we will now be open on Mondays for lunch and dinner beginning February 5th.” DelSignore will continue with his other restaurants, which include Casa Pernoi in Birmingham and Bigalora Wood Fired Cucina with locations in Royal Oak, Southfield, Plymouth and Ann Arbor. In addition, the press release hints that details on “the fresh and inspiring ventures that lie ahead” will be revealed soon. Stay tuned for new developments. 29410 Northwestern Highway, Southfield

Hamilton’s opens in Corktown The new Godfrey Hotel Detroit (Curio Collection by Hilton) has opened its full-service restaurant, Hamilton’s, a vibrant neighborhood tavern focused on providing the community with an approachable, yet refined dining experience. Hamilton’s is a collaboration of Detroit-based Chickpea Hospitality and international real estate Oxford Capital Group. Chickpea Hospitality owns and operates several restaurants in the Metro Detroit area including Leila in Detroit, and Phoenicia and Forest in Birmingham.

Hamilton’s food and beverage offerings highlight local and seasonal ingredients along with a thoughtful beverage program while staying focused on classic American fare. According to Samy Eid, co-owner of Chickpea Hospitality Group, “When we were asked to collaborate with Oxford and the Godfrey team, we wanted to deliver a restaurant that was very approachable and would make people feel very comfortable. We wanted to open a restaurant where people from the community would feel as welcome as the hotel guests.” Hamilton’s notable menu items include appetizers such as: burrata with tomato, basil, cucumber and toast; tuna tartar with crispy rice and spicy tuna; hamachi with serrano ponzu; and oysters on the half shell.

Entrees feature salmon; fish and chips; Sunday roast for two; vegan mushroom and lentil spaghetti; filet; and hanger steak. For the design of Hamilton’s interior and menu, the team leaned on Groundswell Design Group with Swiss Cottage Designs for its brand identity. “The working dynamic – from the style and features inside Hamilton’s to our crafted menu –has been an incredible collaboration between Chickpea Hospitality and Oxford,” said Eid. Hamilton’s accommodates 93 guests in its dining room and bar, and 38 on its ground floor outdoor terrace along Michigan Avenue, allowing guests to enjoy the modern, urban aesthetic of Corktown. The Godfrey Hotel Detroit also features an indoor-outdoor lounge (I|O Rooftop) with expansive views of downtown Detroit and Corktown that serves craft cocktails and bites as well as a 5,100 square foot ballroom that will accommodate events of more than 300 guests and a welcoming hotel lobby bar for guests and locals. 1401 Michigan Avenue, Detroit godfreyhoteldetroit.com

More Mootz to enjoy Mootz Pizzeria + Bar (Mootz), the Detroit pizzeria renowned for its authentic New York pizzas, pastas, and appetizers, has announced a 2,100-square foot expansion into the space adjacent to the restaurant on Library Street. This new space, named Bar Mootz, will bring additional bar seating, patio, and private event space. Set to open in late March 2024, Bar Mootz can accommodate up to 50 people between the bar and patio. Designed by Carmine Martone of Martone Design Studio and constructed by Columbia Construction, the space offers an intimate and chic setting, and when not reserved for private events, overflow from Mootz will be accommodated in the new private dining area. In addition, Bar Mootz will introduce a unique selection of high-end cocktails and small plates, which can only be ordered at the new bar and on the patio. “Since opening five years ago, our growth has been truly remarkable, and it’s all thanks to the support of the Detroit community and our incredibly talented team,” said Lisa Walters, operating partner of Mootz Pizzeria + Bar. “With the Bar Mootz expansion, we’ll now be able to service the larger parties and private events that we’ve had increased demand for in recent years.” 1230 Library Street, Detroit mootzpizzeria.com

48309. 248.375.9200. oceaniainnrochesterhills.com Ocean Prime: Steak & Seafood. Lunch, MondayFriday, 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. Lunch, Monday-Friday, 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 RH Social: Pizza/Sports Bar. Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 6870 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48306.248.759.4858. rochesterhillssocial.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, Monday-Saturday.

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 Aurora Italiana: Italian. Dinner, WednesdayMonday. Reservations. Liquor. 6199 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.782.3000. auroraitaliana.com 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. 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, TuesdaySunday. 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, TuesdaySunday. 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.

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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. redcoattavern.com Shangri-La: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, Wednesday-Monday. Reservations. Liquor.

Orchard Mall Shopping Center, 6407 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township, 48322.

248.626.8585. dineshangrila.com Stage Deli: Deli. Lunch, & Dinner, TuesdaySunday. 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 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, & Dinner, daily. 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, Lunch, Saturday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 15 S. Main Street, Clarkston, 48346. 248.297.5833. thefedcommunity.com Via Bologna: Italian. Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

No reservations. Liquor. 7071 Dixie Highway, Clarkston, 48346. 248.620.8500. joebologna.com Union Woodshop: BBQ. Lunch, Saturday & Sunday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 18 S. Main Street, Clarkston, 48346.

248.625.5660. unionwoodshop.com

Detroit Alpino: Alpine cuisine. Brunch, Sunday. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1426 Bagley Street, Detroit, 48216. 313.524.0888 alpinodetroit.com Ash-Bar: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 1509 Broadway Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.277.4736. ash.world/hotels/the-siren.com Bar Pigalle: French. Brunch, weekends, 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 Coriander Kitchen and Farm: Farm to table. Lunch and Dinner, Wednesday-Monday.

Reservations. Liquor. 14601 Riverside Boulevard, Detroit, 48215. 313.338-9466. corianderkitchenandfarm.com

Cuisine: French. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 670 Lothrop Road, Detroit, 48202. 313.872.5110. cuisinerestaurantdetroit.com The Eagle: American. Lunch, Friday-Sunday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

3461 Woodward Avenue Detroit, 48201.

313-334-4530. eaglerestaurant.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 Leila: Lebanese. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 1245 Griswold Street Detroit, MI. 48226. 313.816.8100. leiladetroit.com Le Supreme: French. Brunch, Weekends, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

1265 Washington Blvd, Detroit, 48226.

313.597.7734. lesupremedetroit.com Mad Nice: Coastal Italian/American. Lunch, Wednesday-Sunday, Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 4120 2nd Avenue, Detroit, 48201.313.558.8000. madnicedetroit.com Mario’s: Italian. Lunch, Saturday & Sunday, Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

4222 2nd Avenue, Detroit, 48201.

313.832.1616. mariosdetroit.com Mezcal: Mexican. Brunch, Weekends, Lunch and Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

51 W Forest Avenue, Detroit, 48202.

313.974.7441. mezcaldetroit.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 PAO Detroit: Asian Fusion/Pan Asian. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 114 W. Adams, Detroit, 48226. 313.816.0000. paodetroit.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, WednesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 555 E. Lafayette Street, Detroit, 48226.

313.309.2499. hollywoodgreektown.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, Wednesday-Monday. Reservations.

Liquor. 3921 2nd Avenue, Detroit, 48201.

DOWNTOWN NeWsmagaziNe

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 Supergeil: Berlin Doner. Lunch, Friday-Sunday.

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

2442 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, 48216.

313.462.4133. supergeildetroit.com Tap at MGM Grand: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

1777 Third Street, Detroit, 48226.

313.465.1234. mgmgranddetroit.com The Apparatus Room: New American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 250 W. Larned Street, Detroit, 48226.

313.800.5600 detroitfoundationhotel.com The Block: American. Brunch, Weekends, Lunch & Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations.

Liquor. 3919 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.0892. theblockdet.com The Dime Store: American. Breakfast & Lunch, Thursday-Tuesday. No reservations. Liquor. 719 Griswold Street #180, Detroit, 48226.313.

962.9106. eatdimestore.com The Peterboro: Chinese American. Dinner, 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 Selden Standard: American. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 3921 Second Avenue, Detroit, 48201. 313.438.5055. seldenstandard.com Sullivan’s Steakhouse: Steakhouse. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1128 Washington Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48226.

313.591.2495. sullivanssteakhouse.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: Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 1538 Center Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.732.WINE. verticaldetroit.com Vigilante Kitchen + Bar: Asian/French influenced cuisine. Dinner, WednesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 644 Selden St, Detroit, 48201. 313.638.1695. vigilantekitchen.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. Brunch, Friday-Sunday, Tea Service, Saturday & Sunday, Dinner, TuesdaySunday. 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 Zuzu: Asian Fusion. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 511 Woodward Ave suite 100, Detroit, 48226. 313.464.7777. experiencezuzu.com

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ENDNOTE

Cooperative vision needed for downtown s we went to press with this issue, we learned that Birmingham Shopping District (BSD) Executive Director Cristina SheppardDecius had left her position as of February 1, and Birmingham Assistant City Manager Melissa Fairbairn has been named the interim director. A small notation of the leadership change was included in the February 12 city commission meeting packet in the city manager's report. No reason was given for the management change and the city manager's report only referred to a “separation of employment” for Sheppard-Decius.

A local official has referred to “conflict” between the former executive director and members of the city administration, but no one has been able to say whether the change was actually a firing or a resignation.

While some merchants have long bemoaned what they perceive as the lack of involvement between whoever has been the executive director and the retail community, the BSD actually is an involved partner with merchants, building owners and the public. The BSD creates events which bring in the public, help market and advertise the downtown area, and connect business and the public. Think past restaurant weeks, the farmers' market, Winter Markt, Spring Stroll, and you're seeing the BSD in action. The BSD also works to help fill retail vacancies when they arise.

Landlords of retail and commercial spaces pay an assessment to support the BSD, which is

A

usually passed on through rent, based on where in the downtown the business is located. The heart of downtown Birmingham at Maple and Old Woodward commands a higher assessment than a location at N. Old Woodward close to Oak Street, for example. Residents and their taxes do not support the BSD in any way, shape or form.

The BSD currently is comprised of nearly 300 retailers, from national to regional and locallyowned, including a diverse assortment of fashion boutiques, gift shops, jewelers, furniture stores, interior designers, salons, spas, movie theaters, art galleries and restaurants, along with an office space component that faces a changing future in a post-pandemic remote work world. Birmingham supports a thriving business district, and supporting the myriad of interests can at time conflict.

Then throw in landlords of all the various individual buildings in the different locations in Birmingham, each with their own interests.

Which is why the loss of the executive director of the BSD – the second one in two years – comes at a particularly difficult time. As anyone living or visiting downtown Birmingham can see, due to a variety of factors, there are currently a number of vacancies in downtown, notably along West Maple Road. Some are due to market conditions, some appear self-inflicted. But together they present the image of a formerly vibrant and inviting shopping area that is now challenged.

Several of the downtown landlords, according to real estate brokers, desire rents that many consider “stratospheric.” A few national retailers are willing to pay those rents but often at a hidden price – the eventual loss or exclusion of smaller independent businesses that help to make the city a unique destination for local residents as well as those who visit. In other instances, it can lead to long-term vacancies as some landlords prefer to allow their spaces to remain vacant as they await their magic price.

Coupled with unrealistic rent prices are other landlords who are not responsive to tenant complaints, which eventually leads to even more churn in the business community.

Previous BSD directors and executive boards had the foresight to attempt working together with landlords, including hiring a retail consultant who worked with real estate brokers, building owners and the BSD to help find the right “mix” of retailers and businesses so that certain categories were not oversaturated in the downtown area.

Leadership in the city, the BSD board and cooperation on the part of the landlord community are all needed to preserve downtown Birmingham as an attractive retail center. It's an essential quality to be pursued when searching for the next director of the BSD – the ability to bring all partners to the table to retain a strong reputation for the downtown as a worthy destination.

The ongoing tests for financial disclosure ext month the Michigan electorate will witness another test of the financial disclosure concept they approved in 2022 when adopting Proposal 1 as a constitutional amendment requiring financial disclosure by elected state officials and candidates for those offices.

On April 15 financial disclosure forms are due from all members of the state House and Senate, as well as from the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Candidates for state offices in this election cycle who have either received more than $1,000 in contributions or spent more than $1,000 will also be required to file as well.

Members of the state legislature for decades have avoided the issue of financial disclosure despite the fact that on a number of occasions lawmakers of both parties have put forth bills to address this ethics issue. Too often opponents of financial disclosure have hidden behind the existence in both the House and Senate of ‘ethics’ rules which lacked the force of law and did not address financial disclosure.

If anyone needs a reminder as to why detailed financial disclosure is needed, just look at the recent criminal investigations in Lansing involving

N

lawmakers who have abused the system for their own benefit.

The logic behind Proposal 1 was to bring more transparency to the process of governing by giving the public and the press ready access to personal financial information as a deterrent against conflict of interest on the part of those either writing the laws of the land or those officials charged with administering the laws.

Unfortunately the House and Senate lawmakers responsible for adopting legislation to enact the specifics of Proposal 1 failed the first test in this process. They wrote far less than perfect laws that provide too many loopholes which can be exploited to circumvent the wish of the voters, the most glaring of which include failing to mandate that specific financial information from spouses and immediate family members as they are required each year to file some general information as part of this process.

The second test will come in mid-April when the first set of disclosure forms are due and state residents will be able to determine who thumbs their nose at the requirements by either not filing at all or not providing detailed information as required.

The third test of the disclosure requirement will

come on the enforcement front. The department of state is charged with enforcing the law and policing information that is put on file. The penalty for failing to disclose as required by law or for willfully filing inaccurate income information is $1,000, a mere pittance for someone intent on not complying with the law.

Some observers like to reference the regulations for members of Congress where the detail of information demanded is much more specific, spouses and immediate family member disclosure is much more detailed and fines for filing late or violation of other regulations range from $200 to as much as $50,000. But even then the enforcement situation is lacking, as evidenced by U.S. House candidate Peter Meijer who has yet to file the required disclosure forms months after the deadline and, when we last checked, had yet to be fined for violation of the rules.

Let’s hope elected leaders pass the test, and if not, that the state department does its job.

State residents have been given a poor substitute for what was originally sought when it comes to transparency as it applies to potential conflicts of interest by elected state leaders. We can only hope that other test results will be better.

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