Downtown newsmagazine | Birmingham/Bloomfield by Downtown Publications Inc.

INSIDE: FACES/OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL/MUNICIPAL NEWS/PLACES TO EAT

MAY 2021

URBAN PLANNING TRENDS BIRMINGHAM'S NEW MASTER PLAN FOR 2040 HIDDEN CONCERNS AS WORKERS RETURN TO DORMANT BUILDINGS ECRWSS Postal Customer EDDM

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DOWNTOWN05.21

Hidden concerns as workers return to dormant buildings While we have spent the last year worrying about COVID-19, the prolonged inactivity in all the buildings we normally occupy in day-to-day life has heightened the presence of another underlying hazard lurking in our man-made water systems that not even the CDC’s offices in Atlanta could evade: the presence of Legionella.

LONGFORM

The city of Birmingham is in the midst of a citywide master plan process, and while urban planning innovations and recommendations in the plan may appear novel to residents, they are part of national planning trends.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

David Hohendorf shares his concerns over the racism facing people of color, his personal motivation to push for change and what government officials are doing to address the issue.

CRIME LOCATOR

A recap of select categories of crime occurring in the past month in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills, presented in map format.

THE COVER

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

Rating local members of Congress; GOP jockeying to challenge Whitmer in 2022; James vs. Slotkin option; Ron Weiser saga; comeuppance for Macomb Prosecutor Lucido; plus more.

Cover design: Chris Grammer.

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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP | 1871 INDIAN TRAIL ROAD $3,475,000 | 4 Bedrooms | 4.2 Baths | 7,109 Total Sq. Ft. Incredible one-of-a-kind estate designed by Young & Young is certified LEED Platinum making it energy efficient & earth friendly. Complemented by an acre of private, creative, sustainable gardens, terraced outdoor spaces & set on natural pond. A reflection of contemporary design highlighted by re-harvested radiant heated teak floors & moldings. Too many special features to list on this award-winning home!

BIRMINGHAM | 780 GREENWOOD STREET $2,499,000 | 5 Bedrooms | 5.2 Baths | 6,614 Total Sq. Ft. Designed and constructed by award-winning architect, Gregory Aerts, this chic new construction home offers 6700+ sq. ft. of total living space on 4 levels. Superior craftsmanship throughout with stunning kitchen featuring high-end appliances, premium cabinetry, quartz countertops, walk-in pantry and flows to great room with wall of windows leading to patio. Fantastic location in Holy Name neighborhood.

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MUNICIPAL

New Bloomfield library director; ice arena cost overruns; how municipal golf courses fared; the latest on the RH proposal; investigation at ECC; Bloomfield water/sewer rates; plus more.

ENDNOTE

It's time for local residents to pressure members of the Michigan House and Senate to stop voter suppression bills. As the state faces another pandemic surge, we are missing the Whitmer of the past.

FACES

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The Caden Sisters Tracy Weiss Marc Garrison Lauren Withrow

CLERGERIE

T E N D E R

FROM THE PUBLISHER hen my spouse in recent months was stopped for speeding (considerably, I might add) by local police on her way to work early one morning, there were no commands from the officer for her to put both hands on the steering wheel or out the window of the crossover vehicle. She doesn't recall the officer prepping his weapon when she reached into the glove box for vehicle registration. When she presented an expired driver license (thank the SOS pandemic 'appointments only' policy), there was no command to exit the vehicle.

Of course not – she is White. And for all we know, she could have been stopped by one of the many (but certainly not all) local police departments that are light years ahead of law enforcement officials we see in videos broadcast on the evening news in which Black and Brown lives have been lost due to poor, if not criminal, policing efforts. Communities where public safety departments don't view themselves as an occupying force, if you will. An exaggeration? I don't think so. People of color, no matter their economic status, are forced to grapple with a different reality – racism – even in the supposedly enlightened communities like Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township. This assessment comes from someone who is not suddenly “woke” – coming late to the movement. I grew up watching on the evening news the civil rights battles in the South, the night stick beatings, the unleashed dogs and firehoses used on marchers advocating for civil rights for people of color, public officials standing in the doorway of the school house to keep Black students out and, as I was recently reminded by one of my sisters, the racism as a child we witnessed as the family traveled on a business trip with my GM-exec dad to Georgia, where the drinking fountains for Blacks and White were labeled by race. Progressive (with a small 'p') has long been my outlook on such issues in the public arena. I would like to think that I have consistently advocated along those lines, both in my private and professional career, be it on issues involving race, the environment, economic equity, civil liberties, voter rights, law enforcement – the list is endless. As I have stated in this space before, my mission now is worrying about the world I am leaving my sons, making sure they enjoy the quality of life and the rights to which everyone is entitled. My focus on racism is heightened further in the last couple of years as my oldest son preps for a pandemic-delayed wedding this September to a fiancée who is Black. Both are graduates of one of the private schools in this area and post-college have been making their marks in the creative field of movies/television, first in New York and now in California. When they had their belongings shipped from Manhattan so they could take a week to tour the country as they drove to the West Coast, they had to carefully plan out what states were “safe” – as an interracial couple – to visit. Don't forget, it took until 1967 for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule unconstitutional laws banning interracial marriages. Anti-miscegenation laws were not just a Southern states thing either – Western and Plains states also had such legislation on the books. A number of states even made it illegal to date someone of another race and a jail-able offense to cohabitate or have sex with someone not of the same race. But as we know, a court decision is not some magic wand that suddenly

negates the white supremacist thinking in the land. So for my son and his significant other, this will not be the last of the race considerations they will have to deal with as life goes on, among them how you prepare children and protect them from the fact that racism will always exist in some degree and it can be a threat to life for all people of color. If you wonder what Black people face on a daily basis, consider this from Jonathon Capehart, Black opinion columnist for The Washington Post, written in mid April -- “Every Black person you know goes through some form of mental calculus before they start their day. And then that calculus is adjusted depending on the locations and circumstances in which we find ourselves at any given time.” In his case he recalls being taught at an early age not to run in public, and certainly not with anything in his hands. In later years, he switched from a silver money clip to a regular wallet, lest police might react to the “glint of metal.” He always uses a vibrant colored cellphone cover so “no one thinks I'm carrying a gun.” And he never pulls out his keys in public for fear someone will think he is carrying a knife. In the evening, he always walks “down well-lit streets with lots of foot traffic. Far too many automatically deem Black people in dark spaces as suspicious.” Yes, over the last year it has been encouraging that those taking to the streets to protest police misconduct have really been a representation of all races and ages and it appears that nationwide there is general acknowledgement that this issue must get priority attention. Already several states, including Michigan, have started to address the general issue of race problems starting with the declaration that racism is a public health crisis. The CDC in just the last few weeks finally joined the chorus and made the same declaration, decades after national medical groups in the nation declared the same. In the case of Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer went a step further last August by issuing an executive order creating a Black Leadership Advisory Council and requiring bias training for all state employees. Oakland County Executive David Coulter in July of 2020 hired Robin Carter-Cooper as the first Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer as part of his administration. She is working with staff and partnering with communities in the county, where 30 percent of the population is people of color. Karen McDonald, the new Oakland County Prosecutor, made systematic racism a key issue in her platform last November, and voters chose her, so there is hope. All good starts on addressing the racism problem but the litmus test will come when the tires hit the pavement, as the adage goes, and we see programs implemented to truly effect long-overdue change. As we await the outcome, I continue to share in the exhaustion of people of color. Impatient on this and other issues. Still in the fight. David Hohendorf Publisher DavidHohendorf@DowntownPublications.com

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PUBLISHER David Hohendorf NEWS EDITOR Lisa Brody NEWS STAFF/CONTRIBUTORS Hillary Brody Anchill | Tracy Donohue | Kevin Elliott | Stacy Gittleman Austen Hohendorf | Jennifer Lovy | Jeanine Matlow | Gigi Nichols | Bill Seklar PHOTOGRAPHY/CONTRIBUTORS Esme McClear | Laurie Tennent | Chris Ward Laurie Tennent Studio ADVERTISING DIRECTOR David Hohendorf ADVERTISING SALES Mark Grablowski GRAPHICS/IT MANAGER Chris Grammer OFFICE 124 W. Maple, Birmingham MI 48009 248.792.6464 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 for a $15 annual charge. To secure a paid subscription, go to our website (downtownpublications.com) and click on “subscriptions” in the top index and place your order online 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. The traditional “letters to the editor” in Downtown are published in our Incoming section and can include written letters or electronic communication. Opinions can be sent via e-mail to news@downtownpublications.com or mailed to Downtown Publications, 124 W. Maple Road, Birmingham MI 48009. If you are using the mail option, you must include a phone number for verification purposes. DOWNTOWN 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. Downtown newsmagazine captures life in the local communities through coverage of major municipal and school issues, personality profiles, the latest news from the business community and the all important social non-profit circuit that makes these communities unique. We also devote considerable effort each month to address major issues facing local residents through our longform story-telling efforts, further setting us apart from others competing for readers' attention. WEBSITE downtownpublications.com

FACEBOOK facebook.com/downtownpublications TWITTER twitter.com/downtownpubs OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL oaklandconfidential.com METRO INTELLIGENCER metrointelligencer.com Member of Downtown Publications DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM/BLOOMFIELD

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CRIME LOCATOR

NORTH

Map key

Sexual assault

Assault

Murder

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 April 21, 2021. Placement of codes is approximate.

INCOMING A parent’s perspective

The 151 room Daxton Hotel opened its doors April 2021 in the affluent community of Birmingham. The hotel is the first hotel by the local entrepreneurial Mitchell family and the latest of Aparium Hotel Group. Renowned chef Garrison Price serves as Executive Chef of the hotel’s flagship restaurant Madam. Madam features enlightened American fare, with an everevolving menu focusing on seasonality and the freshness emblematic of California cuisine. Daxton Hotel features a minimalist-luxe design with close to 400 pieces of cutting-edge art curated by world-renowned Saatchi Art. The incredible portfolio of mixed media brings whimsical and energetic flair. Each guestroom will include at least two custom pieces of artwork from 160 artists representing 32 countries. The artwork crosses multiple mediums including painting, photography, collage, drawing, and sculpture of some of the best international, national, and regional artists, while local acclaimed muralist Ouizi (Louise Jones) will be creating mesmerizing design scrim headboard backdrops for the guest rooms.

Grand Opening Offer We'd like to welcome you to the newest luxury hotel in Birmingham with a special offer for our grand opening! Book your stay at the Daxton Hotel and enjoy a $40 daily dining credit to use at our restaurant Madam and overnight valet parking for one vehicle for each night you spend with us.

DAXTON HOTEL 298 S Old Woodward Ave, Birmingham, MI 48009 (248) 283-4200

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Lisa Brody’s in-depth article on teen suicide (April/Downtown) could not be more timely. The teen mental health crisis pre-pandemic was dangerous and disturbing, and the lockdown came and exacerbated the situation. The complete lockdown of schools and businesses in March 2020 was a reasonable starting point as a response to the pandemic based on the science we had at that time. However, what began as a school closure for maybe 2-3 weeks has continued on for a year. A year has been too long. Parents know this. Doctors know this. The American Academy of Pediatric put out a statement January 5, 2021 saying “Children absolutely need to return to in-person learning for their healthy development and well-being…” The loss of a year of in-person education has been tremendous. In addition to education, kids have suffered every day losses like social interaction, small talk, making eye contact, participating in student council or yearbook committee. Playing in high school band or orchestra. Participating in athletics, basketball or football team. Meeting new friends. Having relationships with adults they need and trust – coaches, teachers and counselors. Schools are closed. Other businesses are open. As a parent of a teen this has been one of the greatest points of tension during the pandemic. Many parents have spent the last year doing a risk/reward, cost/benefit analysis of the danger of coronavirus vs. the mental health of their kids. And they do this activity by activity. It works this way: My son is 17 years old and wants to meet a group of about 15 adults, various ages, masked, at the gym to play basketball in the evenings. He asks me if this is OK. I have made the decision that for the benefit of his mental and physical health, for the purpose of giving him something to look forward to in the evenings, a break from being on Zoom all day at school, the opportunity for some daily structure; he does his homework before basketball and has dinner after is worth the risk. But I’m not always comfortable with it. Even saying yes, the decision has been riddled with anxiety. It is no wonder why kids are frustrated and angry and parents are exhausted and everyone is anxious. All of us are worried about the kids. And many of the kids I am

DOWNTOWN

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, 124 West Maple Road, Birmingham MI 48009.

referring to are the lucky ones. They have a roof over their heads, most have a quiet bedroom to study in, access to all the wi-fi they want, endless deliveries from Door Dash and parents who are largely not at risk of losing their jobs as they can do them virtually. And they are still struggling. The kids need us. They need the adults in the room to care about their mental health and keep pushing forward for them. As we become vaccinated and our lives become postpandemic, teens need to know they and their mental health are at the top of society’s priority list. Mara Moss Bloomfield Hills

Relatable article Wow was my first reaction to Lisa Brody’s article (Suicide/April/Downtown). Not only is it relatable and comprehensive, but Brody’s writing is sensational. Congratulations. I am grateful that the public has this article to help them understand, navigate and get appropriate mental health help. Gretchen Moran Marsh, Ph.D. Licensed psychologist Franklin

Well researched, balanced I so appreciate that Lisa Brody’s articles are well researched and balanced (Psychedelics/February/Downtown). So many journalists don’t take the time to fully explore what they are writing about. Keep up the good work. Chief Robert Stevenson (Ret.) Executive Director Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police 05.21

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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: OaklndConfidential@DowntownPublications.com. All sources are kept strictly confidential. The gossip column can be viewed at OaklandConfidential.com where you can sign up to receive updates via email.

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Urban Wick Candle Bar located at 172 N. Old Woodward Ave in Birmingham, MI. open Wednesday through saturday 11am - 8pm and sundays 11am - 3pm. to make a reservation, please call the store at (248) 977-8432 or visit www.urbanwickcandlebar.com

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CONGRESSIONAL RANKINGS: Michigan’s U.S. Senator Gary Peters has been ranked as the most effective Democrat in the Senate for the 116th Congress (2019-2020) by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint partnership between Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Members of the center considered a number of factors in their assessment and noted Peters for his “coalition building” that allowed him to have at least one Republican on each of his 24 bills that advanced out of committee, 14 of which passed the Senate and 10 of which PETERS became law. Center co-director Alan Wiseman, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, put it most succinctly – “bipartisanship pays off.” From the GOP side of the Senate, the same accolade was given to Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida). As for Michigan’s other member of the Senate, Democrat Debbie Stabenow was ranked 45th out of the 45 Democrats in the Senate. Over in the House, among Democrats, Elissa Slotkin (D-Rochester, Rochester Hills, northern Oakland, parts of Livingston and Ingham counties) was ranked 106 out of 240 party members in that chamber for effectiveness. Closer to home, Andy Levin (DBloomfield Township, Franklin, Beverly Hills, Royal Oak, Huntington Woods and parts of Macomb County) was ranked 174 out of 240 Democrats, while Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, western Oakland and Wayne counties) was ranked 176 out of 240 party members in the House. Southfield-based House member Brenda Lawrence was ranked 226 out of 240 Democrats in that chamber. WHITMER RACE: Election campaigns for Michigan governor generally kick off about 18 months ahead the November balloting, so potential Republican challengers for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are now starting to jockey, as evidenced by meetings in recent weeks with representatives of the Republican Governors Association and possible Michigan candidates for next year. Chief among them was twice-failed U.S. Senate candidate John James, an Oakland County businessman who has raised notable funding in the past and performed better than expected in two JAMES state-wide runs for office. Add in Tudor Dixon, a 44-year-old conservative radio talk show host from Norton Shores on the westside of the state and a speaker at the CPAC get-together in Florida, someone who a GOP DIXON insider described as “solid” and the next Candace Owens, a conservative author and talk show celebrity. Then there’s Kevin Rinke of Bloomfield Hills, a member of the famed Rinke auto family, familiar especially to those living in the southeast part of the state. Rinke has been a consistent donor to state and national Republican candidates for office and helped develop Michigan dealer franchise legislation on behalf of state auto groups. All three, we are told, were part of recent Republican polling and the group fared well against Whitmer, including James who was only 1.7 percent behind RINKE the governor. As a side note, there are three other GOP candidates (Austin Chenge, Ryan Kelley, Bob Scott), all of whom have formally filed gubernatorial campaign committees.

DOWNTOWN

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MYSTERY DUO: While one of the Detroit dailies, followed by national political writers, noted the confabs with the trio of Michigan hopefuls, Oakland Confidential has learned that there were actually five persons who met with the Republican Governors Association reps. The party is keeping a tight lid on the names of the added pair of hopefuls, with one insider describing the two as “obvious big names.” Both were part of recent polling and one, a woman, actually outpolled Whitmer. Look here for updates. JAMES VS. SLOTKIN: While John James could run for governor in 2022, he could also pivot and run for the U.S. House, based on polling he has been doing of late. MIRS, the political and legislative newsletter from Lansing, reported in early April that James was the subject of the above-mentioned phone poll (reportedly 10 minutes in length) about both Democrats Gretchen Whitmer and Elissa Slotkin. A run for Congress has been suggested for James since his failed runs against both Senator Gary Peters in 2020 and in 2018 against Debbie Stabenow. While no one knows what the new districts will look like for 2022 until the newly empowered state redistricting committee finishes its work, candidates for congress do not have to live within the district they are seeking, so the Farmington SLOTKIN Hills-based James could take on Slotkin regardless of new district geography. A run against Slotkin would fit with the 2022 plans now being pursued by GOP recruiters in Washington, who are seeking military veterans like James to take on the challenge in over 40 targeted districts next year, the playbook Democrats successfully followed in 2018 to take control of the House. Slotkin’s past national security experience, her D.C. rep as a moderate Democrat and her growing national media profile, however, could prove tough to beat on the campaign trail, no matter how much national Republicans hope to flip this district. Another factor is money. While James has been a prodigious fundraiser, the latest FEC filing shows him to be almost $5,000 in the hole, versus Slotkin, who has raised almost a million this election cycle and has over $2.25 million cash on hand, versus James $1 million cash on hand.

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WHAT WAS HE THINKING? If John James – or any other Republican – is going to get elected to any state or local office in 2022, they need a strong party chair behind them. Many state Republicans – and Democrats – have been shaking their heads since state GOP party cochair Ron Weiser used questionable judgement in late March at a North Oakland Republican Club meeting when he called Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, all Democrats, the “three witches,” and said the only way to take out more centrist Michigan Republicans was “assassination.” While state Democrats called for him to resign, as did fellow University of Michigan regents, Weiser may have been playing to the crowd. Republican Bloomfield Township Trustee Michael Schostak noted Weiser made “Women for Trump” Meshawn Maddock of Milford his cochair because she was primed to run against him for the top spot, and with the state party inhabited with far right Trumpsters, “she would have won.” Maddock’s husband, state Rep. Matt “Maddog” Maddock (R-Milford) co-sponsored a resolution to impeach Whitmer in November 2020, which went nowhere, and tried to overturn Michigan’s electoral college vote. BACK TO THE FUTURE: Because of a weird quirk in the law, outgoing Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner is still in office – his 2016 term doesn’t end until June 30, and incoming treasurer Robert Wittenberg DOWNTOWN

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doesn’t take office until July 1. Meiser said he has hired the fellow Democrat on his staff to teach him the ropes and “so we can have a proper transition. He’s showing a real talent.” While Meisner said he is concentrating on finishing his term, after losing his primary challenge to Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter, he’s contemplating his options for a post-treasurer’s office career. With three young kids, a national office run is not in the picture, but he may not say no to running a state office in Lansing if it’s the right one. As an attorney with interests in real estate, the time could be right for him to take care of that family and put away some dough before contemplating another public service opportunity. “I went 12 for one running for elected office,” he said. “I had a great run, and (Coulter) is doing a great job. I think there will be terrific opportunities.” As for his legacy as county treasurer, he is proud he has extended the tax foreclosure moratorium another year.

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FLYING HIGH: The Aspen Strategy Group Rising Leaders Program Class of 2021 has a local connection – state Rep. Mari Manoogian (DBirmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township) is one of 31 members of the class, whose mission is to convene decision makers in non-partisan public and private forums to address key foreign policy challenges facing the United States. Manoogian said the group has met twice so far by Zoom, learning soft power and smart power theories of diplomacies, with the goal of each MANOOGIAN having a paper published in their book in November. Fellow leaders include armed services leaders, PhD candidates, authors, foreign service officers, journalists, corporate strategists, policy fellows and others, ages 25 to 35. Manoogian is the deputy minority whip in the Michigan House. LUCIDO COMEUPPANCE: Controversy has almost become the middle name for Republican Peter Lucido, now Macomb County’s Prosecutor. During his time in the Michigan Senate before returning to Macomb, Lucido had a reputation for headline seeking on legislative issues and constantly jabbing at Gretchen Whitmer. Then he became the subject of headlines because of a number of sexual harassment complaints. He was eventually stripped of his committee chairmanship and was ordered to undergo what we would assume is sensitivity training after sexual harassment complaints were filed by three women, including Birmingham’s state Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Royal LUCIDO Oak, Clawson, Berkley, Rochester and Rochester Hills) during his last year as a state senator. And recently another woman, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Lisa McCormick, joined the chorus, charging that Lucido inappropriately hugged her in 2019 when she met him regarding her nomination by the governor to become director of Michigan Office of Children’s Ombudsman, a story broke by the Michigan Advance. Now the focus is on Lucido as three attorneys (Democrats, we’re told) have filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission asking whether the prosecutor should be recusing himself from any investigation of the governor over nursing home deaths during the pandemic because of unsubstantiated claims to that effect he had been making while he was in Lansing, and continues to make while planning an investigation along those lines from his Macomb office. The gist of the issue? Attorneys are barred from making public statements that could influence legal proceedings. We can hardly wait to see the commission’s decision.

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The Caden Sisters hortly after Lori Caden had her first baby and was struggling to regain her pre-baby body and confidence, she was brought to tears in a store by an offer from a fellow shopper to help her reach a product on the top shelf because he assumed she was still pregnant. After confiding in her two sisters, Jodi and Kari Caden, they joined forces to help their middle sister (and first of them to give birth) create a solution to her post-baby body woes. After much research and development, which included investigating postpartum practices of other cultures, grassroots sample and marketing efforts and medical guidance from Lori’s OB-GYN, the Michigan-born sisters developed a postpartum compression belly wrap system which launched Belly Bandit in 2008 and later Proof, now both headquartered in California. “Heart and soul went into this first product for me. I was able to try it for my second pregnancy and it made me feel better,” said Lori. “We are mission-driven by need and develop solution-based products for women. We want women to feel better and more confident.” Founding successful companies is nothing new to the entrepreneurial Caden sisters, who grew up in Farmington Hills and attended Michigan State University. In the late 1990s, Kari and Lori moved to Los Angeles and cofounded Caden Concepts, a promotional products company that is still in operation. Meanwhile, Jodi was living in Bloomfield Hills and running her own custom cabinetry business, Caden Design Group, in Birmingham. As the Belly Bandit business grew, she commuted regularly between Michigan and Los Angeles before joining her sisters in California in 2016. “It was always our dream as sisters to work together. We’re best friends. We support each other and share the same failures, successes and feels together,” explained Lori. “Entrepreneurship is tough. During tough times, one of us is always there to pick the others up.” “We each have different expertise and knew the synergy would be amazing. Each one of us wants the other to do better – you only find that in families,” said Jodi, CEO and eldest sister. Belly Bandit specializes in maternity, postpartum and nursing support products while the Proof brand focuses on leakproof underwear for bladder and menstrual concerns. Both growing global brands offer a wide selection of products made of specialized materials specific to the functionality of each item, and, according to Jodi, “innovation and quality” set their products apart. In addition to listening to their customers and delivering useful products they believe in, both brands have benefited from positive media and celebrity buzz. Glowing testimonials from numerous celebrities have helped elevate the status of both brands, but, as youngest sister, Kari, remarked, “Women are excited to talk about products they love. We deliver top of the line products. We listen to every customer and support women in every product. Ultimately, you can’t fool women into liking a product.” All three sisters have very fond memories of growing up in the Detroit area and credit their parents for helping them understand the importance of goals, money, work and family. Kari said, “We understand the power of helping women. We pick and choose what’s important as sisters, not just business partners. When we have different opinions, we are respectful of each other’s views. We’re family and that’s sacred.”

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Residential neighborhoods in cities around the United States initially developed and grew as a hodgepodge, with single family homes adjacent to duplexes, townhomes scattered near quadplex homes. If your parents or grandparents grew up in Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland or another midwestern urban city, they likely lived in a duplex or quadplex at some point. Small apartment buildings, some a few floors, others morphing into taller structures, expanded as populations swelled, some as immigrant relatives came from abroad; others, as laborers from other states flooded into states for jobs, such as the massive influx of both white and Black workers from southern states into southeastern Michigan for automobile factory jobs during the Great Migration, transforming the landscape of every aspect of life, including housing. As neighborhoods grew in Detroit, along with historic inner ring suburbs, including Birmingham, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Northville and Dearborn, zoning was put into place to not only determine what could be built in certain areas – but what could not be. And it was often used as a means of enforcing racial segregation. Neighborhoods filled only with single family homes were meant to keep suburbs white. Currently, the city of Birmingham is in the midst of a citywide master plan process, primarily focused on its neighborhoods and how they integrate, or can better integrate, with the city as a whole. Called Birmingham Master 2040, it is in its early draft stages, but planners, city leaders and residents are currently wrestling with the potential of change, and how to deal with those changes on an urban planning level – and if they should. As Americans live longer and healthier, as today's youth may take longer to launch, as couples have fewer children, if they choose to have any at all – what are these demographic realizations portending for land use and urban planning? If people can live anywhere, how do city leaders permit housing options to retain and grow the population while maintaining values and encourage diversity? Experts explain that urban planning innovations and recommendations in the plan may appear novel to Birmingham, but are part of national trends. A key aspect is understanding zoning, which determines where things can be placed in a community, and the ordinances, or laws, that permit them. “Zoning is hugely important. Zoning shapes our cities and municipal areas – nothing is greater than zoning,” said Jonathan Levine, professor of urban and regional planning, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan. “It's invisible to most people, and yet everything in our environment is prescribed. “We have this misconception in the United States that the kinds of municipalities we get is due to the free market. It is so regulated, I wouldn't even call it a free market. The issues of sustainability, affordability, racial justice – zoning is behind all of it, and is not only the cause, but exacerbates it,” Levine continued. “Cities do not build housing – private developers do. The question is not do cities allow it or not, it's do we forbid it, and mostly we've been forbidding it. It's been a huge shaper of metropolitan areas in the United States. The question is why. “Zoning is a good tool to have – we know there would be many incompatible land uses without it. But the racial dimension is a really evil use. Zoning to separate people by race is not an accident,” Levine said. “To use tech language, it was not a bug, it was a feature. The very clear intent of single family zoning early on in the twentieth century was to keep it white. They had no problem saying 'what we need is to create spaces for white families, and single family zoning is a tool to do that because Blacks cannot afford houses in single family spaces.' Exclusionary zoning arose primarily out of racial motivation.”

“Exclusionary zoning and single family zoning helped perpetuate racial exclusion and racial segregation in the United States, and we live in a very segregated society.” Graham Cassano, sociology professor at Oakland University, explained that Michigan did not enact fair-housing laws until 1968, with legal segregation notably in full force throughout the 1940s and 1950s. “Fleeing Detroit was made easier by the Big 3 (automakers) branching out to the suburbs, and the development of the highways and freeways,” which separated Detroit neighborhoods and created an easy pathway out of the city. “In the '40s and '50s, many of the suburbs faced new issues, and developed new zoning ordinances, especially cities like Royal Oak and Dearborn, ordinances like enlarging the lot size for single family homes, so single family homes and apartment buildings could not even occupy the same block,” Cassano said. “In addition, in Royal Oak, some areas that were zoned for multifamily were rezoned for business. The argument was that people with a lower amount of wealth, ie., Blacks, would not come to the community and take their services,” he said. “The problem with these zoning ordinances are they are 'coded.' They are discussed as facts, not as if they are racial.” Levine emphasized that if you live in a single family home in an all-white neighborhood, he is not intimating you are a racist. “This is structural racism,” he said. “Single family zoning was designed to protect single family property values from uses that were less desirable – and they explicitly called out 'less desirable' uses, including apartments, and oftentimes the underlying motivation was trying to keep white neighborhoods white,” concurred Carolyn Loh, associate professor, urban studies and planning, Wayne State University. “Today, some people are saying that is the reason single family zoning shouldn't exist – but it shouldn't be the only housing choice. For example, in order to live in a town with a good school district, renting or owning, that's your ticket to the community. Higher density (than single family) allows you to split the cost of the ticket. It doesn't mean low income – it means a lower income. A duplex can provide that.” Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality divides land into various zones, each of which can have a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones can be for a single use, like residential uses or commercial, or a mix of uses. A zoning ordinance is a rule that defines how property in specific geographic areas can be used. Planning rules govern what is developed and built in a specific zone. Zoning ordinances determine whether specific geographic zones are reasonable for residential or commercial purposes, and may also regulate lot sizes, placement, density and the height of structures. Municipal leaders can develop – and often highly regulate – specific zoning ordinances to influence the nature of a district or a neighborhood. While zoning originated all the way back in antiquity – ancient walled cities were the original regulated land use, after all, with poor people left outside walled cities to fend for themselves while sovereigns, religious and civic leaders resided inside the protected sphere of the walls, and between its demarcation were unsanitary, yet necessary activities, such as butchering, waste disposal and brick firing, noted Sonia Hirt, in Zoned in the USA: the origins and implications of American land use regulation. Through the Industrial Revolution, most work took place at home, so there was little need to separate their functions. However, the cultural and socio-economic shift which led to rapid urbanization during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century resulted in the invention of urban regulations. “Industry leaving the home reshaped modern cities,” Hirt said.

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Early municipal zoning was subtle, beginning in New York City in 1916. As other urban areas grew in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, zoning was used as a method to define and control growth, helping to determine who was permitted into the community, and where homes could go versus commercial areas, or industrial. “How you use zoning and to what degree you use zoning depends upon your value structure. The rules are set by the leaders of the community and their values,” said Mark Skidmore, professor, department of agriculture, food and resource economics, Michigan State University. “Some people think you should allow market forces to let people respond, to let people do as the market forces allow. That's one framework. The other side is a very structured zoning and planning approach, so that if you have residential structures you don't have commercial, factory or other kinds of structures nearby. The challenge is balancing, having living arrangements for people all along the income strata. Some communities try to balance that; other communities say we're going to be a wealthy community. Others become low income communities over time and have continual struggles. Then, within a metro community, you end up with a mosaic of communities. “People vote with their feet and move to where they can afford, the ones with better school districts. But there you can have great disparities,” he said. An example of flexibility in determining zoning is the development of the D-4 mixed use district in the downtown area of Birmingham, following Birmingham's noted 2016 Plan, which not only permitted but insisted upon the building of a five-story mixed use building, with retail on the first floor, commercial, and residential on the top two stories, for any new buildings in the city's central business district. In the 25 years since not only was the plan adopted but zoning ordinances were changed from the previously-permitted twostory buildings, and the city has not only been transformed but revitalized as a more modern, vibrant small city. “Zoning makes all of the difference. Zoning sets prices – it tells you how many people you can split the ticket with,” explained Wayne State's Loh. “If you say the minimum lot is a quarter-acre, but you can have only single family, it's costly. If you say you can have a duplex on that lot, you've made it more affordable.” University of Michigan's Levine elaborates. “Our land use policies tend to be for single family homes, yet our regulatory policies are constraining the supply of housing in this huge job concentration” of a certain municipality. For those who live in a certain municipality, such as Birmingham, Ann Arbor, Northville, and other historic and desirable cities, the lots and single family homes are smaller and use less energy, because they do not have to drive as far to go to work and their communities are more walkable. Those who cannot afford to live in those communities, Levine said, “are pushed to higher carbon areas where they'll live, drive more, and use more energy to heat and cool their homes, using about two-thirds more greenhouse gas emissions.” Suburban sprawl. He said that “is how land use policies share our gas emissions and the environmental performance of cities.” He noted that as people move farther and farther out from a city, they may be seeking affordability, but “it is a self-defeating proposition because transportation is so expensive, with costs increasing all the time, congestion, and time – our number one commodity. There are only 24 hours in a day. Housing is the first item in our budgets; transportation is the second. That is a very limiting factor. All of these factors are how we regulate land use.” Today, urban planners are looking at the entire life cycle of individuals, as seniors age out, baby boomers continue to age, and millennials do not want to live far out from the vitality and

walkability of urban centers. A majority of homes are single family homes designed for traditional families. The latest survey from the National Association of Realtors said there is a growing demand from two-thirds of millennials, and onethird of baby boomers, to live in a walkable community. Further, it showed that the household composition has shifted in the last 20 years, with single individuals comprising fully 30 percent of all households. By 2030, one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. By 2025, 75 to 85 percent of all households in the country will not have any children in them, all while single family homes continue to be zoned for and built. MSU's Skidmore noted the proportion of young adults living with their parents is the highest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Over the century or so since single family zoning ordinances have actively been utilized to determine where residents will live, and how they can live, the pendulum has swung in different directions. Today, as the city of Birmingham works on its citywide master plan, it is looking ahead as many of its residents both age and have varying needs, and yet recognizes the necessity to plan for millennials and younger families to move into the city in order to remain vibrant and to keep its school district one of the state's best. In an interesting twist, some of the most interesting – and forward thinking – urban planning trends being incorporated into Birmingham 2040 aren't really new at all, but a fresh return to the past, when duplexes, “granny flats,” or “mother-in-law suites,” and townhouses in walkable neighborhoods – what is referred to as “the missing middle” in today's urban planning lexicon, is being sought. But some residents are reacting warily – or with downright vitriol, placing their concern on what it could do to property values. “Some people think adding multi-family, like duplexes, or accessory dwelling units, will lower their tax base and tax revenue, but actually, the opposite is true,” said Matt Lambert, planner, DPZ, out of Portland, Oregon. Lambert and DPZ are the planners handling the Birmingham 2040 master plan process. “It's usually a reaction to a perceived reaction to the population that lives in multi-family, that it lowers property values, even though that has not been born out by research. It can be a lightning rod because it's pretty well misunderstood.” In reality, infrastructure in a city like Birmingham exists and while must be maintained, does not have to be installed. But the cost to be maintained must be shared by those who live and work in the community. “The streets do not just cost what they cost to put in, but the cost to maintain them, ie., the unimproved streets that are being reviewed in Birmingham,” Lambert said, noting that less affluent communities cannot afford to maintain their infrastructure as well as affluent communities because of their tax base. “A single family home has more linear feet of infrastructure than a townhouse or multifamily, and it tends to have a lower taxable value. As a result it has less money paid into the city to maintain the infrastructure than if it was a duplex, townhouse or multifamily,” Lambert said. “So a healthy city has a mixture of all these types of housing. There is a greater demand on the infrastructure, but it is much less than the costs to maintain it. The aggregate costs of single family house versus multi-family is amortized. “A community's multi-family and commercial districts – they subsidize the single family neighborhoods,” he said, further noting, “we've built more infrastructure than the tax base can support.” Levine, of University of Michigan, elaborates. “The infrastructure is there. We're making use of what is there, so we're taking the cost and spreading it across more households – that's exactly how to keep

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costs low. In many cases, communities have excess capacity of water and sewer, because the population has decreased, kids have moved out. Another factor is that appliances are getting much more efficient. Oftentimes we have built for one set of toilets, dishwashers, washing machines’ capacity, and new technology uses much less. New housing can make use of that existing infrastructure while adding to the property tax rolls.” The old-is-new idea of “granny flats,” “motherin-law suites,” “nanny suites” are part of a classification called “accessory dwelling units” that have become a national planning buzzword for small residences within a single family lot with a larger, primary dwelling. It is an independent living space, with its own kitchen or kitchenette, bathroom and sleeping area. And it can be located within a single family home, such as in a basement or lower level or above a garage, or as a separate structure on the same property. It could be a pool house, a guest suite, a backyard bungalow or that “office” above the garage you sometimes sleep in. You may have an accessory dwelling unit without realizing it, or without officially having it permitted. According to AARP – which enthusiastically support accessory dwelling units – they can help older residents remain in the community and age in place, and are a more appealing option than moving into an apartment or into an age-restricted community. It keeps family close by, and for some, if zoned appropriately, can provide rental income. “Zoning can make adjustments and help you accomplish what you need,” Skidmore said. “It's a trade-off. Do you want to make a choice of having an elderly family member close by, or an adult child living near you? People say what's going to happen to my property values? Possibly more people may choose the community because they have more options, (increasing values). It's a choice people and communities make.” “Accessory dwelling units are very useful and they're going to be part of the solution – not the solution,” said Levine. “It's a way of alleviating housing shortages and it's a way of creating a diversity of housing options for diverse populations. It opens up the possibility to other options than single family housing.” “In the early 1900s, you could pick up a Sears, Roebuck catalog and have a duplex, quadplex, sixplex delivered to your curb,” noted Daniel Parolek, of Opticos Design in Berkeley, California, and author of “Missing Middle Housing.” “We've come a long way in the wrong direction.” Lambert said that “right now a lot of housing that was historical, and then was made illegal, is making a comeback. Birmingham has historical smaller housing.” Parolek said he, and national urban planners, define the missing middle “as housing in scale with multiple units in walkable neighborhoods. Just because you're adding more units to a house does not mean you're adding size or scale. It's hidden density. “We created the concept of missing middle housing about 10 years ago to help communities frame housing choice, and it's everywhere now,” he said. “The concept of missing middle housing has been a very successful way of communicating the need for more housing choices, without negative connotations with residents.” “In American cities generally, we've done a lot of single family housing and a lot of bigger multi-family housing complexes that are higher density,” said Mark Nickita, architect and urban planner with Archive DS and a longtime Birmingham city commissioner. “We tend not to build the middle – the duplexes, quadplexes, row houses, townhouses, garden apartments. In Birmingham, an example of missing middle housing is all those units on Brown Street built in the '80s, and the smaller apartments built in the '60s.”

They later were disallowed through zoning changes. “The reason why the middle is important is like so much good city planning you want to offer a wide range of circumstances,” Nickita said. “Some cities are micro-focused – we just do single family. We want to have multi-generational, multi-demographicalfocused housing stock so we can accommodate people at all ranges of their life. We want to have younger people, singles, families, empty nesters and seniors. “That doesn't mean all cities have to be all things to all people, but you want to provide some or all of those things. You want to be able to have some kind of housing that would accommodate a person throughout their life,” Nickita continued. “The missing middle is everything from empty nesters to singles to seniors to young couples.” While a vocal minority who have commented on Birmingham 2040 have focused on the missing middle proposal, which recommends additional mixed housing over the next 20 years – not next year – for the approximately additional 2,000 residents Birmingham is projected to acquire, in other communities around the country, the concept of the missing middle and accessory dwelling units are being legislated into being, including the entire state of Oregon, Berkeley, California and Ann Arbor, where they are being encouraged as an additional housing option. “I think right now there's a recognition across the country of a housing trend – with the emphasis of across the country – of more affordable housing, and how you fit that into a community,” said Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus, noting that the reality of the high land prices in Birmingham means that what is “affordable” for Birmingham is high anywhere else. “It relates to housing being one of the primary needs, especially for a family with children, needing stable housing. Having strong school systems and needing to maximize your investments is critical to families, and a highly desirable reason why people move into your community. Everybody benefits from diverse populations in schools.” Adding housing options can encourage empty nesters to move out of the single family homes into alternative housing in the community, allowing families in, keeping not only the community vibrant but schools as well. Professor Loh of Wayne State University points to two metro Detroit municipalities which have not successfully offered housing alternatives to homeowners – to their detriment. “If people do not feel they have anywhere to go, they tend to stay in their home, and the young family doesn't have any place to move into near those good elementary schools,” she pointed out. “That's what's happening in Farmington Hills and Grosse Pointe. The populations are aging and the schools are dying and closing. Those were really good school districts. “There are all these people in their 60s and 70s who want to stay in their community but don't want to stay in the house they raised their kids in – they're too large or impractical now,” she said. “But people don't want to leave their communities. They have their friends, their church, their clubs.” As for members of communities – including some residents of Birmingham who are concerned about their property values as they look at Birmingham 2040 – providing a variety of housing options and the ability for people to move within the city, not only do property values not plummet, but property taxes often increase as homes which have been “frozen” at a certain level for years become unlocked by the sale and reset at the current, higher rate – adding significantly to the tax rolls, along with more housing stock utilizing properties. DPZ's Lambert pointed out it has been a common practice across

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the country to freeze property taxes, “which simply results in cities not being able to maintain the infrastructure they already have. People stay in their homes longer to not have increases in their property taxes, and that impacts schools. But if you don't have new families moving in, schools close.” “If you have more units, an increase in residential units in the city, you have more tax revenue,” Birmingham's Nickita said. “We're always looking to be as fiscally responsible as we can. The goal is not to increase tax revenue – that's a subset goal. The goal is to make the city stronger, to fix things that are not there. What are the best things for the city going forward using the best principles of the day. Just as the goal of the 2016 Plan in increasing the height of the buildings was not the goal of increasing the tax base – but that is inherently what happens when you create land use in a better way for the community.” “Planning research tells us that communities with greater housing diversity do better when there is an economic shock because not all their eggs are in one basket,” Loh noted. “It can help them be a more resilient community.” Lambert said a consistent refrain they heard during initial planning meetings in Birmingham was that people want to leave their single family homes, but they want to stay in the city “and because there's not enough smaller residences, less costly housing stock, they're not moving.” A notable recommendation in the first draft of Birmingham 2040, following national planning trends, is to completely give up residential parking requirements for the downtown area because they can add significantly to the costs of development. “Our recommendation is to allow residential to use the parking garages at night,” Lambert said, noting there would still be fees and permits for users. “It's called unbundled parking, where your unit is not included in the parking and you pay a parking permit fee. When you bundle the parking, it becomes very expensive. We recommend the city try with a couple hundred units, ease into it, and see how it works.” “You absolutely have to consider eliminating or reducing parking requirements to make missing middle housing feasible, especially if you are focusing on walkability,” said Missing Middle's Parolek. A concern of not having enough parking if developers are not required to provide it is not bearing fruit in cities like Buffalo, Cleveland and Hartford, Connecticut, as well as Oakland and Berkeley, California, where residential parking requirements have been ended. Eric Jaffe said in a new study of Buffalo, for the Journal of American Planning Association, that developers shared more parking in residential and mixed-use developments, and adaptive reuse projects became more viable. “Simply put, by removing parking requirements, Buffalo unlocked the creation of more than 1,000 new homes and a variety of transit-accessible businesses and restaurants – many of which might never have existed given the high cost of creating new parking,” Jaffe said. While Birmingham is actively working on a new master plan and evaluating housing options, in Bloomfield Township, the master plan, from 2007, was last reaffirmed by the board of trustees in 2017, Patti Voelker, director of planning, building and ordinances, said. She noted that while the township is incorporating some newer national planning trends, “not all apply to Bloomfield Township.” While Bloomfield Township is 80 percent residential, and primarily comprised of single family homes, she said there are apartments, condominium clusters and site condominiums in the community. “What the township has, when needed, is looked at subarea plans (of the master plan), if an area needs to be addressed for additional consideration,” she said, such as the redevelopment of

the former strip mall at Squirrel Road and South Boulevard. “A more contemporary issue is housing – and a variety of housing.” She also noted that the township has an agreement with the city of Pontiac, called a joint development agreement, for the Village of Bloomfield, on Telegraph Road north of Square Lake Road, where 432 one, two and three-bedroom apartments are in various stages of development. “Some are in the finish stage,” Voelker said. “Redico, the developer, heard the cry of the missing middle need, which has been lacking in the community. “Twenty years ago, there was a need recognized for senior housing in the township,” she said, and Sunrise Senior Living has since built two facilities in the township, one north of Square Lake Road, the other on Telegraph south of Maple. Recently, First and Main developed and opened a continuum of care facility on Square Lake Road. “The township has been responsive to changes in demographics and allowing development to occur and being supportive of that niche,” Voelker said, noting it came on the heels of the development of the township's popular Senior Center about 20 years ago. Another development was the shift to a more walkable community, highlighted by its safety path program which has been consistently supported by residents through renewed millages. “It provides important connectivity, to neighborhoods, and to Birmingham and West Bloomfield,” she said. “We're continually expanding those links. We have larger lots and not the smaller platted neighborhoods of Birmingham, but it allows us to still be connected. It's providing us linkages, connectivity and health benefits.” As for the introduction of accessory dwelling units on some of the larger single family lots, Voelker said so far it has not been a topic of conversation or inquiry. If there have been improvements made to the interiors of some homes to take care of aging parents, “we're not aware of that.” David Hendrickson, city manager of Bloomfield Hills, knows his residents would not be permitted to have a second dwelling on their properties. He said the goal of the city's master plan is to “preserve the integrity of the established land use pattern; retain the current residential density levels; maintain the character of residential neighborhoods, particularly the sizes of homes and the extent of accessory structures.” “With regard to future land use, as a well-established community, Bloomfield Hills neither foresees nor desires significant change from the land use pattern or community character that exists today,” he said. As Bloomfield Hills luxuriates in existing larger estates, neighboring Birmingham is tasked this year with refining the drafts of the master plan, narrowing the core and emphasis, while remembering it is really an outline for future zoning and planning guidelines – for over 20-plus years. “Plans aren't built for tomorrow – that's a part of it. There are pieces to be worked on over years,” noted Birmingham city manager Markus. “The easy stuff gets done in the first half. The hard stuff happens in the second half, when the serious planning decisions are made. “The people who are most worried about the plan likely won't still be living in Birmingham – and different people will be making the decisions about the plan then,” he pointed out. “People are very afraid, and often are the ones who will not be around to deal with the issues in 20 years,” said Levine. “I like the phrase, 'People prefer known problems over unknown solutions.' I think a lot of our neighbors fit into that category.”

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Tracy Weiss n 2009, Bloomfield Hills native Tracy Weiss was a 30-year-old newlywed living in New York City when she received her cervical cancer diagnosis. Within a matter of weeks, she discovered she’d need radiation, a hysterectomy and a lymphadenectomy. One doctor mentioned, in what seemed like an afterthought, that Weiss should consider freezing her eggs in order to preserve an option of having biological children one day. When she called her insurance company, she discovered that they would not cover this procedure, considering it elective. “I didn’t elect to have cancer. I didn’t choose to have my uterus removed,” Weiss reflects, still flabbergasted. She says she was lucky enough to pay for an egg freezing cycle – which averages between $15,000 and $20,000 – herself, but she knows most young women are not in that position. There is also a limited time between receiving a cancer diagnosis and beginning treatment, and she says that many “women go for less intense treatments to preserve their fertility, which increases the risk of recurrence.” Weiss met Amanda Rice, a three-time cancer survivor, who had experienced similar challenges. Rice and Weiss, along with a group of other women who had “all seen cancer from different perspectives, wanted to help women in the waiting rooms with the overwhelming crushingness of a cancer diagnosis who then potentially would never be able to be a biological mother.” In 2017, they founded The Chick Mission. To date, the non-profit has given out approximately 125 Hope Scholarships to women between the ages of 18 and 40 with new cancer diagnoses in order to assist them with

the costs of egg freezing. The average age of an applicant is 31-years-old. Much of what Weiss does as The Chick Mission’s executive director is education and advocacy work. She describes how “most people are shocked to hear that this isn’t covered by insurance when infertility is now a direct side effect of the treatment that will change your life. It’s a side effect of your disease.” The Chick Mission works in six states and with more than 30 fertility partners. Currently, 10 states have incorporated new laws to assist women newly diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, Michigan is not one of them. In fact, Michigan is now one of only two states where paid gestational surrogacy is illegal, and there “has been no proposed legislation in the past three years to have fertility preservation challenged.” Weiss hopes to bring more attention to this issue in October, when she brings The Great Egg Freeze – a “family-friendly polar bear plunge” – to Detroit. “I’m a 10-year survivor with a clean bill of health. Every woman that I’m able to help in real time makes me remember how scared and frustrated I was when I was in their shoes. That they don’t have to worry brings me so much joy. Even though I have incredible friends and incredible family, cancer is this shitty club that no one wants to join. We speak a language that no one else can speak. “The fact that I’m able to do that for young women makes me feel that I went through all of this misery, despair, and hardship for a reason.” Story: Hillary Brody Anchill

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NEW CONCERNS AS WORKERS HEAD BACK INTO LONG-DORMANT SPACES

cross the nation, schools, businesses, and office spaces are embroiled in what is known as “hygiene theater” to assure the public that indoor spaces are safe to return to work, learn, shop, exercise and dine in once the pandemic ebbs. Back at the office, workspace experts are trying their best to implement guidelines from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), repartitioning and reconfiguring layouts to maximize physical distancing of desks, installing plexiglass barriers and posting oneway foot traffic signs around workstations. Some schools and businesses have deployed high-tech devices for temperature checks as the world figures out how to get back to a new, post-pandemic normal. But prolonged inactivity in all the buildings we normally occupy in dayto-day life has heightened the presence of another underlying hazard lurking in our man-made water systems that not even the CDC’s offices in Atlanta could evade: the presence of Legionella. In August 2020, the CDC itself shuttered some of its office space because Legionella, a pathogen that exists naturally in surface waters but causes a deadly strain of pneumonia and other flu-like illnesses once it is allowed to grow in indoor water systems, was discovered due to a prolonged pandemic shutdown. It is a warning to any building or facility manager that buildings were built to be used and run continually. Months of inactivity in office buildings have created an ideal environment for the growth of Legionella, which spreads in airborne water droplets that come from drinking fountains, hot tubs, sinks, toilets, sprinklers, showers, and air-conditioning systems. Although there are plenty of guidelines on how to assess and manage the risk of Legionella in a building’s water system from

professional standards associations and state and federal government agencies, they offer inconsistent advice. What's more, there are no government regulations mandating inspections to make sure building managers are properly putting these guidelines into action. Only New York has Legionella legislation that mandates regulations for healthcare buildings in their state. Public health officials from the federal to the local level insist that practicing risk management to prevent Legionella is essentially a voluntary exercise for school districts, office buildings, gyms and the hospitality industry. “Research shows that most office building owners do not test for Legionella, and the older the building, the likelier the bacteria is to show up, especially if buildings have been closed since the pandemic started,” said Jasen Kunz, commander of environmental health officer for the Water, Food, and Environmental Health Services Branch at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. “The temporary shutdown or reduced operation of schools and buildings, along with reductions in normal water use, can create hazards for returning students and staff.” Kunz said that unless a cluster of cases arise, there is usually little to no testing in building settings for the pathogen. Sources from epidemiologists to environmental engineers agree that Legionella outbreaks and their numbers are even more challenging to pin down because Legionella is a form of pneumonia. The name Legionnaire’s Disease (LD) was coined in 1976 when guests of the Philadelphia Stratford Hotel attending an American Legion conference contracted an unusual strain of pneumonia after being exposed to the Legionella bacteria, resulting in 34 deaths and 221 additional cases of the disease.

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Pontiac fever, a non-fatal form of legionellosis, was discovered in 1968 in Pontiac, Michigan, when several Oakland Country health department workers were struck with a flu-like illness traced back to the pathogen. ccording to the CDC, people older than 50 and those with underlying comorbidities, are most susceptible to infection, including current and former smokers, heavy drinkers, those with compromised immune systems, or with chronic lung disease. Most healthy people do not – or will not – get sick after being exposed to the pathogen. The CDC estimates annual cases of the disease tally at 25,000, but only 5,000 cases are reported, because of its nonspecific signs and symptoms. Ten percent of those who become infected with Legionnaire's Disease will die from the infection. Legionnaire's Disease in children is not common and the disease is not transmitted from human to human. Domestic cases have grown ninefold since 2000, though the CDC states it is unclear if this growth is due to an aging, more susceptible population or other factors. To complicate matters, Legionnaire's Disease’s symptoms – cough, shortness of breath, fever, and chills – present the same way as COVID-19 and have a similar incubation period. While COVID-19 testing is determined with a nasal swab, Legionnaire's Disease is diagnosed through urinalysis. At the state level, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Public Information Officer Lynn Sutfin said Legionnaire's Disease cases have been on a downward trend since the start of the pandemic. Before the 2020 shutdown, the state reported 52 cases as of March 31, 2020. The latest statistics show that as of March 2021, there have been 34 reported cases. In 2019, there were between 479 and 554 cases in the state, with 77 of those cases concentrated in Macomb County. To understand the tricky nature of Legionella and why it is so difficult to remediate once it colonizes in a plumbing system, University of Michigan Microbiology and Immunology Professor Michele Swanson said the issue needs to be looked at from the molecular level. Legionella exists in the natural world in bodies of water. Once it gets into manmade water systems like the plumbing of a large building, it favors stagnant water at tepid to lukewarm temperatures. Eventually, microbial colonies of Legionella adhere to another form of bacteria known as a biofilm, which forms a sticky mat that nestles inside pipes, especially ones that are corroding and leaching lead, copper, or iron. Swanson said flushing a water system with biocides or extra chlorine may kill the Legionella floating in a water stream, but it is harder to rid pipes of Legionella clinging to the sticky biofilm, especially if it is in the pipes of a remote section of a complex, multistoried building. Water pumped at the necessary high temperatures (between 120-140 degrees F) may remediate the problem, but that may also be damaging to a building's plumbing and water heater. Also, pumping a water system with high levels of chlorine or other disinfectants cannot be done safely when the public is in a building. Swanson said within a school setting, it is not young children who are vulnerable but any staff member who may have a compromised immune system. Though Legionella has an airborne nature, she said it does not grow in heating or air conditioning vents and is strictly found in waterworks. In 2018, Swanson and eight mostly Michigan-based researchers authored a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) paper, Assessment of the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak in Flint, Michigan (2018). The work chronicled an 18-month study that determined that the city drastically worsened its water quality and risk for Legionella. Between 2014 and 2015, public health officials reported 90 Legionnaires' cases in Flint and at least a dozen people died of the illness. The bulk of the cases stemmed from McLaren Flint Hospital, which had been a hotbed of the disease for nearly a decade. The NAS paper concluded that the risk of Legionella exposure in Flint jumped as much as 80 percent in some neighborhoods when water sourcing was switched from the Detroit system to the Flint River with reduced chlorine levels as a decontaminant in its water infrastructure. Swanson also pointed to other examples of deadly Legionnaire's Disease outbreaks at the Quincy Veteran’s Center in Illinois between 2015-2018, as a reason why there should be more conversation, and then legislation, to regulate Legionella risk management practices. “There are many guidelines from different levels of government but

putting the practices into place the right way to prevent Legionella outbreaks is voluntary in all states,” said Swanson. “Only New York State has some limited regulations in place involving prevention of Legionella (in water cooling towers). One of the lessons we can learn from Flint is that we need to have more conversations about this in Congress. “ Shawn McElmurry, an associate professor of environmental engineering at Wayne State University, who also authored the NAS paper, said that Flint’s long-lasting water crisis is an example of the importance of understanding the intersection of water supply and public health and the need for transparency and reporting Legionella detection once it is found in a water system. “The more that drinking health systems seamlessly interact with public health systems and infrastructure, the more resilient both can be in keeping the general public healthy,” said McElmurry. McElmurry said he and other public health experts in academia viewed the stay-at-home orders of the pandemic as a major challenge to facility management. Buildings that ordinarily get a great deal of usage during the work and school week have their water systems flushed and moving with hot and cold water and disinfectants and anti-corrosive chemicals that keep both people and pipes healthy with daily use. When the flow came to a halt at the onset of the pandemic, McElmurry said building and facility managers should have been more proactive in establishing flushing routines and water maintenance plans as recommended by OSHA, the CDC, the EPA, and waterworks associations such as the American Water Works Association. Wayne State University is no stranger to Legionella woes. In 2018, during a routine inspection, the microbe was detected in three water cooling towers and in three bathrooms at the WSU campus, and one employee was diagnosed with Legionnaire's Disease. In all, testing at WSU in 2018-2019 revealed significant Legionella blooms in the water systems of 25 buildings across campus, all of which were treated. As a result, McElmurry said WSU took a “very aggressive” stance in Legionella monitoring and established its water safety program. Each week, campus building managers inspect, test, sample, and monitor the campus water system to ensure it is acting within federal, state, and local guidelines. The team works to monitor water quality and implement measures to ensure the safety of the Wayne State community. Soon after classes at WSU went online during COVID, McElmurry said the university’s water safety committee “stepped up its water flushing routine.” Building management staff went floor to floor flushing sinks and faucets in buildings and reminded students to do the same in dorm bathrooms. “I cannot stress enough the importance of initiating a flushing routine as a preventative measure and this should have been happening before students, staff, and workers return to buildings,” said McElmurry. “There needs to be assessments of water systems before people return to inperson work and school. It is much more difficult to rid a system of Legionella and the whole point of having a water management plan with routine and regular flushing is to prevent it from happening in the first place.” ost sources interviewed in this article pointed to standards written by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) as the authority on Legionella risk management. ASHRAE standards document detailed prevention, testing, flushing requirements for building water systems and in detail describe environmental conditions that promote the growth of Legionella. Available for free online and specifically written to tackle COVID-19 questions, ASHRAE Standard 188 developed guidance for precautions building owners and operators should take before reopening buildings. Many of these precautions are specifically addressed toward the prevention of Legionella exposures. In addition to establishing a flushing regimen that is customized to a building's specifications, ASHRAE advises that a building's water supply must be kept at an optimal temperature. Legionella favors tepid water (70-110 degrees), so the CDC and OSHA recommend buildings keep hot water tanks set at 140 degrees so hot water at this temperature can consistently reach all water fixtures. Any water in a looped water system must be kept at 120 degrees. Among the associations providing detailed recommendations to its water authority clients, including the Oakland County Water Resources

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DOWNTOWN

05.21

Commission and the Great Lakes Water Authority, is the American Water Works Association (AWWA). Noting that it takes time, institutional support, funding, and personnel – things that may all be in short supply during a pandemic – to develop a water management plan – the AWWA for its members authored in October 2020, Responding to Water Stagnation in Buildings with Reduced or No Water Use. The free, 30-page paper is authored by national experts on waterborne illnesses and gives detailed instructions based on how buildings of different sizes and functions should properly maintain building water systems and respond to any detection of legionella – important advice for large and small commercial buildings where employees have been working virtually for over a year. “Water is oftentimes the last thing people think about when returning to an office or school building,” said Bonnifer Ballard, head of the AWWA Michigan Section. “The AWWA provides guidance and resources to our members, many of them who are water authorities, but even individuals who own second or summer homes, if they have not been in those homes for a while, really need to be vigilant and flush their water lines thoroughly if they have not been used in a while.” Ballard said when it comes to water management in interior environments, it is incumbent that commercial building managers have a direct partnership with health departments at all governmental levels, and hopes in the future that the Michigan state legislature will pay better attention to this issue by calling for requirements to test for the microbe. Philadelphia-based Tim Keane is an environmental engineer and consultant for Legionella Risk Management. He was one of the authors of the 2020 AWWA response paper and an original author of ASHRAE 188 Standard. He has studied Legionnaire's Disease outbreaks all over the country, including Flint and Quincy, Illinois. Keane said more can be done by municipalities to better flush main lines that feed into underutilized buildings. “Michigan (and what happened in Flint), is a good example of what can happen to a building water system that has issues and is exposed to changing levels of disinfectant in a city water supply,” said Keane. “McLaren Hospital was the source of the outbreak in Flint, and the hospital was located in a part of the city’s water system with historically low disinfectant residuals. If Legionella is detected, it is recommended – but not mandated by law – that the public be notified, according to the CDC. Once Legionella cases are diagnosed and identified, they are reported to the CDC, which publishes an ongoing database of case numbers of infectious diseases by state and updates it weekly. hough guidelines are ample, officials in municipalities and school districts, as well as private building managers, say there is a lack of cohesion or guidance or a coordinated effort as to how to implement best practices to prevent the Legionella bacteria from growing. Because no two buildings are alike, creating a customized water management and Legionella prevention and mitigation plan requires hiring consultants and engineers that can be a cost private building managers or school districts may not want to take on. City of Birmingham Engineer Jim Surhigh said the municipality hopes for a more cohesive plan from county and state officials as to how to take a proactive approach to prevent legionella cases as buildings once again become more populated. “We should be getting better direction and advisories from public health agencies to advise us and a more proactive and coordinated, science-based response is needed,” said Surhigh. “It seems that each community is doing something different.” Farmington Hills-based Friedman Real Estate manages 15 million square feet of commercial space in the metro Detroit area, including one million square feet in Southfield’s Galleria Office Centre. Scott Shefman, Friedman executive managing director, said the firm's janitorial costs since the pandemic has risen from $1 to $1.50 per square foot to properly maintain its buildings. “Our clients have a constant concern about the spread of COVID,” said Shefman. “While we have doubled our efforts, we have had a few outbreaks, but we have never had an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in our properties. Through the pandemic, we have been vigilant in flushing the water systems in our properties and followed guidelines from ASHRAE, the CDC, and state health departments, as well. We never shut

down any water system because shutting things down completely would not only be unhealthy but very costly." Shefman said that even before the pandemic, Friedman would take precautions against Legionella by flushing biocides through the system and following ASHRAE guidelines for proper flushing and keeping hot water at 140 degrees. hen it comes to COVID-19 precautions, Shefman said in order to safeguard interior environments, the firm in its buildings is also following ASHRAE recommendations by switching air filters to a higher filtration rate – although he said that could cause problems down the line for a building's HVAC system, and will also increase freshly circulated air from 10 to 15 percent, though this may raise utility costs for heating and cooling the buildings. Downtown newsmagazine also reached out to other real estate companies that manage large amounts of office space but they all declined to comment. While there is concern about water quality once it enters a building’s water system, other experts caution that attention should also be paid to water leading to these buildings through municipal main lines, especially in downtown areas that went quiet during the pandemic. Legionella Risk Management's Keane said while most building owners look to a building’s water-cooling tower as the most probable location for Legionella contamination, Keane disagrees. “Eighty percent of Legionnaire's Disease outbreaks in buildings are caused by a building’s potable water system that is typically not being designed, treated or maintained to minimize the risk of Legionnaires' disease,” he explained. He said risks arise when building designs become increasingly complex, or taller, making it harder for water flow to evenly distribute levels of biocides, disinfectants or anti-corrosive chemicals through a water system. Keane added that inactivity in water main lines that have flowed to a trickle in the nation's downtowns because of the pandemic have presented a whole new problem. "What happened in Flint is eerily similar to what's going to happen in many downtown areas that have come to a standstill because of COVID," said Keane. "You've got downtown offices and hotels running below 50 percent capacity, or are completely shuttered, and you've got all those water mains that supply those buildings with water just sitting there not moving the water. The water is not moving, and neither are the disinfectants that municipalities add to keep a building’s water systems risk of pathogen growth to a minimum. “ It's not only work spaces and schools that are of concern. The hospitality and fitness industries, both shut down for long periods, are equally vulnerable. Visit a Lifetime Fitness center, like the ones in Bloomfield Hills or Troy, and there is constant evidence on how staff is working to keep COVID-19 at bay through precautions such as temperature screenings, overnight deep cleanings and mask mandates. Lifetime spokeswoman Amy Williams said that the company’s facility operations team is not concerned about an increase of Legionella in any of their facilities. “We are following all CDC recommendations, including regularly flushing our systems during the time in which our clubs were closed to the public,” said Williams. “While our clubs were closed to the public, we maintained operations within the buildings to ensure the integrity of the asset. As a reminder, our indoor pools have also been in use since our clubs reopened in June 2020.”. Mark Hansell, of the Oakland County Health Department, said as the state’s businesses and schools make strides to return to in-person work and school, there has not been an increase of reported Legionnaire's Disease cases, although inactivity in these buildings are a cause for concern. “Oakland County, MDHHS and EGLE are taking this risk very seriously and we are collaborating across government agencies to provide as much communication and recommendations as possible for prevention and if necessary, remediation,” he said. Hansell said the three agencies have placed a special focus on notifying school districts and reminding them of guidelines to establish water management plans. Under EGLE’s School Drinking Water Program, as stated on its website, the state environmental agency recommends –

but cannot enforce – that all schools and childcare centers develop a drinking water quality maintenance plan. “The state has had multiple meetings with superintendents of the school districts and we make sure we have as much guidance as possible available, but these guidelines are not enforceable,” said Hansell. “Keep in mind that these are guidelines and they are not enforceable by anyone though (risk management to prevent Legionella) is certainly the right thing to do. Some healthcare systems are mandated by federal regulations – especially if they participate in Medicaid or Medicare – to have water management programs in place. But across the board, outside of the health care systems, there are no mandated rules or testing requirements.” Hansell said in responding to the Legionella outbreak at the school level, Birmingham Public School District’s response to remediating detected Legionella after it was discovered in some of its school buildings beginning in October 2020, has been “proactive and transparent.” In December 2020, further samples collected by a contracted water testing consultant found unsafe legionella levels at Quarton and West Maple elementaries, and Groves and Seaholm high schools, among other schools. Birmingham Schools spokeswoman Anne Cron said the district has been working to remediate detectable levels of Legionella and has shut the water supply to showers, water fountains, and water bottle filling stations. An online report on the district’s website that offered details of discovered Legionella levels stated that because the school’s pools are regularly treated with chlorine, they are not considered a threat. The district has installed specially designed shower heads in its locker rooms recognizable by their purple color. In another measure to remediate the problem, all pipes in all buildings are now flushed daily and water is being heated in boilers to the recommended 140 degrees. Full remediation will take place beginning June 15, when students begin summer recess. Elin Betanzo, founder of Safe Water Engineering, is one of the contractors working on the Birmingham Schools remediation process. She said one of the simplest ways to prevent growth of Legionella is to keep water moving by regular and routine flushing. “My goal for Birmingham Schools, or any other school district, is to really be involved and proactive when it comes to regular flushing and monitoring of their water systems,” she said. “The older the school building is, the greater the risk there is of also finding lead levels in the water system’s plumbing. But at the same time, even the newest school buildings carry the same risk of Legionella if water is left to stagnate in the pipes.” Betanzo said she is relieved that the CDC in February 2021 updated its water management guidelines in buildings and facilities to include information on how to best prevent a Legionella outbreak. “Before this, there really was no clear guidance (from a federal level) of how to manage water systems to prevent an outbreak,” she said. “It’s like (building and water quality managers) have been making it up as they went along. As water management professionals, we are starting to get better guidance and are moving in the right direction with updated CDC resources, but overall, better management of water systems within buildings is needed to address many hazards, not just Legionella.” To maintain water and air quality, Ken Vavruska, assistant director of physical plant services for Bloomfield Hills Schools, said the district participates in the School Drinking Water Quality Reimbursement Program administered by the Michigan Department of Education and EGLE. his program, made possible by a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for lead testing of drinking water in schools and day care facilities, requires that schools submit proof of public notification of the number of fixtures providing water for drinking or food preparation, testing results, number of fixtures replaced, and other corrective action plans before reimbursement. “As part of this program, we instituted a protocol of running water regularly, a practice set by EGLE, to avoid (Legionella) issues that other districts have had,” said Vavruska. “While many districts completely

shut down in March and April 2020, BHS continued to have essential crews working throughout the district running water regularly and checking boilers. Since May 2020, we have had our full custodial staff working in all buildings.” Vavruska added as a preventative practice against the spread of COVID-19, Bloomfield Hills Schools is following CDC recommendations to increase airflow and circulation within all buildings. The district changes air filters in all its schools three times per year and buildings exchange inside air with outside air up to four times per hour. The district has also purchased numerous air purifiers for all buildings as an extra precaution during the pandemic. Unlike commercial properties or school districts in wealthier areas like Oakland County, not all public school districts can afford to fix problems such as Legionella or lead once they find them. Like everything else in public infrastructures, the pandemic has shone a harsh light on inequities and vulnerabilities in efforts to detect and mitigate against Legionella outbreaks and maintain school buildings. amela Pugh, chief public health advisor for the city of Flint and vice president of the Michigan Board of Education, pointed once again to Flint as an example of how the priority of making sure safe water and building systems are available to the poorest and most vulnerable parts of Michigan’s population through adequate funding keeps getting put on the back burner. “When we finally get to the other side of COVID-19, we will assess the lives lost, the lingering health impacts, but we will also examine the toll that this disease has taken on our children, especially our Black, Latino, and Indigenous children,” said Pugh. “Unfortunately, it looks like it will be at this late hour that policymakers will be forced to admit that a more urgent and overt push for adequate and equitable measures to mitigate risk exposures due to long-standing inadequate building maintenance and indoor air quality conditions should have been a primary response to this deadly and life-altering disease as well as in preparation for the next airborne diseases to come." Pugh said in the summer of 2020, the Trump Administration and then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos pushed for the opening of schools with no thought to the conditions of the school buildings. “You have to look at inequality and injustice,” said Pugh. “Not every school district can afford to have someone like (Elin Betanzo) come in and consult and remediate its water system, and many other school districts, with all the barriers to learning that are going on due to the pandemic, barely have the wherewithal to think about the physical health and upkeep of their facilities.” Pugh explained that for many districts, discovering they had a lead or Legionella problem thanks to getting funds for testing was only half the battle. They also lacked funding to hire trained personnel or outside consultants, facility managers, and engineers to do the necessary repairs and remediation. “In Flint, we learned that we need more than the manuals and guidelines to show us how to properly flush and test and monitor our water systems. We needed the personnel, the engineers, and the expertise of facility managers, so it becomes a human resources problem too,” said Pugh. “Now, engineers are investing their time in businesses, not schools. And while the Biden Administration is finally pushing funds our way, we have yet to receive the funding that was given to us by the Trump Administration.” Pugh said that Michigan state House Bill 4048 forced schools to return to in-person learning by March 22, to receive certain funds at a time that could have been spent “implementing a more well thoughtout water management plan.” Pugh said there is still $841 million being held up by the state legislature that is meant to go towards helping schools with their reopening plans until Governor Whitmer turns over her executive powers to issue mandates like stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. “Here we are in the most horrific health crisis that we have experienced collectively, and our state legislature lacks the humanity to appropriately address the problem or allocate funding so we can finally address the physical infrastructure of our schools,” said Pugh. “Unfortunately, the buildings where our children will be spending the most of their time once again comes in last priority.”

Michigan's #1 Family of Real Estate John, Bridget, Jack and Mary Clare Apap Cell 248.225.9858 japap@signaturesothebys.com www. TheApapRealtyGroup.com

415 S. Old Woodward | Birmingham, MI 48009

Top Producing Agent ON

420 Frank Street Birmingham - The Bristol-Residence 302 ON

1431 Pilgrim Avenue

663 Shirley Road

Birmingham

Birmingham - $1,899,999

Lara J. Forte Senior Loan Officer NMLS # 1169665

lara.forte@tcfbank.com

TCF Bank, Mortgage Division

248-284-5178 2301 W. Big Beaver Rd. Suite 525 Troy, MI 48084

Michigan's #1 Family of Real Estate John, Bridget, Jack and Mary Clare Apap Cell 248.225.9858 japap@signaturesothebys.com www. TheApapRealtyGroup.com

415 S. Old Woodward | Birmingham, MI 48009

Top Producing Agent

3777 Orion Road

733 Wimbleton Drive

Oakland Township - $2,499,900

Birmingham - $1,799,900

893 W Glengarry Circle

600 W Brown Street

Bloomfield Village - $1,575,000

Birmingham - Unit 410 - $1,099,000

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1140 Lone Pine Woods Drive

4410 Charing Way

Bloomfield Hills - $724,900

Bloomfield Hills - $599,900

248-228-4805 2301 W. Big Beaver Rd. Suite 525 Troy, MI 48084

TCF Bank, Mortgage Division

Lynn Wiand Vice President | Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS # 394920

lynn.wiand@tcfbank.com

Michigan's #1 Family of Real Estate John, Bridget, Jack and Mary Clare Apap Cell 248.225.9858 japap@signaturesothebys.com www. TheApapRealtyGroup.com

415 S. Old Woodward | Birmingham, MI 48009

Top Producing Agent

600 W Brown Street

2575 Lamplighter Lane

573 N Old Woodward Avenue

Birmingham - Unit 407 - $439,000

Bloomfield Hills - $495,000

Birmingham - $389.000 IN

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955 Larchlea Drive

379 Tilbury Road

5941 Miller Way E

Birmingham - $1,499,900

Bloomfield Village - $1,149,900

Bloomfield Hills - $1,299,000

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1770 Hillwood Drive

1844 Cole Street

1606 Humphrey Avenue

Bloomfield Hills - $1,250,000

Birmingham - $1,040,000

Birmingham - $949,900

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275 Hamilton Road

3423 Chickering Lane

100 Linda Lane

Bloomfield Village - $825,000

Orange Lake Frontage – Bloomfield Hills - $990,000

Bloomfield Hills - $849.000

734-464-4171 734-464-1213 (f) 9Ζ&725 3$5.:$< 68Ζ7( /Ζ921Ζ$ 0Ζ

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Michigan's #1 Family of Real Estate John, Bridget, Jack and Mary Clare Apap

415 S. Old Woodward | Birmingham, MI 48009

Cell 248.225.9858 japap@signaturesothebys.com www. TheApapRealtyGroup.com

Top Producing Agent LD

865 Tottenham Road

2763 Hunters Bluff

856 Lakeview Avenue

Birmingham - $514,900

Bloomfield Hills - $659,900 Birmingham - $1,095,000 co-listor Jim Remski

Birmingham - $1,095,000 co-listor Jim Remski LD

23 Pine Gate Drive

3370 Morningview Terrace

560 Fox Pointe Court

Bloomfield Hills - $1,549,900

Bloomfield Village - $1,149,900

Bloomfield Hills - $749,900 LD

660 Woodland Street

2587 Bradway Blvd

2609 Covington Place

Holy Name Area - Birmingham - $719,900

Bloomfield Village - $724,900

Bloomfield Village - $1,799,900

1825 Maryland Blvd

879 Lake Park Drive

1021 Pilgrim Avenue

Birmingham - $1,294.900

Birmingham - $3,499,000

Quarton Lake Estates – Birmingham - $1,149,000

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FACES

Marc Garrison hile Birmingham resident Marc Garrison has spent much of his career in the food service industry, he has always made time for his lifelong passion of creating art. Garrison started out with an interest in digital and abstract photography and later in life returned to school for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and printmaking at Wayne State University. “My art combines digital and natural art mediums with my passion for the natural world,” he explains. Garrison’s art features a mixed media approach combining his love of printmaking and painting with digital photography. He also likes to work with wood and utilizes local wood suppliers to create his own frames and wood foundations which help reduce his costs. In addition to original artwork, he creates custom projects and can print on paper, plastic, metal, and canvas. His expressive art collages utilize a time-consuming layered approach which combines digital art with natural paint and drawing tools – and he usually works on multiple projects simultaneously. He strives to continually refine his approach and methods. “Having my home studio is a real advantage as it allows me the flexibility to really throw myself into my work. My art has a lot of steps and layers so as a piece develops and evolves, I can return to it often any time of the day or night.” While Garrison’s vibrant artwork style is abstract, he focuses on specific design elements and a well-balanced and blended color scheme – “color triads” – to create a cohesive, visually attractive finished work of art. “I work intuitively. My art is abstract with a focus on layering and line. I

start with a print I like and use lots of geometric shapes, especially circles and triangles. I like using color,” said Garrison. “I am also at times inspired by nature and like a forest-setting feel. I get a lot of my inspiration from the Cranbrook Educational Community. They have a great art museum, library and grounds which have been a tremendous resource for me. I love everything they offer – it is a gem in our community.” Garrison’s artwork has been showcased at local art shows and galleries, as well as places such as Detroit Foundation Hotel, The Art of Custom Framing and Michigan Design Center. He recently donated a piece of art to the Bloomfield Township Public Library. His artwork collection can also be seen via his website’s online gallery where he sells prints, apparel and other items featuring his original designs. In his free time, Garrison also enjoys tennis, golf, and Pilates, but his true passion is creating art. “I am inspired by everyday life. I’ve had a good life and have been blessed with a great wife and family situation and more recently with extra time to devote to my artmaking skills,” said Garrison, “Art is a good addiction. I put feelings down on canvas. I can work with my hands and really connect with myself. It is so absorbing and takes you to such a good place. I have to make art – it’s so much a part of my life and DNA.” For more information on Marc Garrison’s art, check out his online art gallery at marcgarrisonartist.com and follow him on instagram.com/marcdgarrison. Story: Tracy Donohue

Photo: Laurie Tennent

CHRIS

PERO

A s s o c i a t e B r o k e r

cgPEro@yAhoo.com 248.797.0784

275 S. Old Woodward Downtown Birmingham

THe #1 IndIVIdual agenT In MICHIgan By SaleS VOluMe - www.realtrends.com

1250 Vaughan - Bloomfield Hills - $2,050,000

Elegant 6 bedroom, 5.2 bath estate on 1.61 beautiful acres near Cranbrook. Dramatic 2 story foyer and great room. Large kitchen and generous bedrooms. Inground pool. 4 car garage.

1779 Woodgrove – Bloomfield Twp - $1,499,900

Wonderful 2004 built 4 bedroom, 4.2 bath home on a private .85 acre lot in the Birmingham school district. Amazing new kitchen in 2017, finished walkout lower level with 2nd kitchen.

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1222 Fairfax - Birmingham - $1,499,900

2000 custom built Quarton Lake Estates colonial on an 80 ft wide lot with 4 bedrooms, 4.2 baths. Soaring ceilings and luxury finishes.

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3300 Burning Bush - Bloomfield Twp - $1,479,900

Expanded and beautifully renovated Bloomfield Village 4 bedroom, 4.1 bath colonial with mudroom and finished basement on a large .62 acre lot.

659 Overhill - Bloomfield Twp - $1,299,900

Five bedroom 3.1 bath Bloomfield Village colonial on an oversized fenced lot. Gourmet kitchen, quality finishes, custom millwork throughout. Finished lower level.

1650 Henrietta – Birmingham - $1,199,900

Quality built exceptional brick and stone 4 bedroom, 4.1 bath home. Gorgeous kitchen and custom woodwork throughout. Finished lower level and studio above garage.

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860 Hidden Pine - Bloomfield Twp - $999,900

Five bedroom, 4.2 bath custom crafted home. Updated throughout on a beautiful .8 acre lot with a pool. Four car garage.

312 Hupp Cross - Bloomfield Twp - $949,900

Spacious Bloomfield Village 4 bedroom, 4.1 bath colonial on a beautiful half acre lot. Master suite with vaulted ceilings. Second floor laundry. Large finished basement.

624 Foxhall - Bloomfield Twp - $699,900

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Four bedroom 2.1 bath colonial in Bloomfield with Birmingham schools. Gorgeous remodeled kitchen and renovated baths. Finished rec room in basement.

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5744 Woodwind - Bloomfield Twp - $535,000

Sharp colonial located on great half acre plus lot with 4 bedrooms, 3.1 baths. White kitchen with center island. Large finished lower level. Mudroom. 3 car garage.

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590 Riverside - Birmingham - $399,900

Last vacant site remaining in Riverside Place - exclusive development of 8 detached condos steps from downtown Birmingham.

487 Smith - Birmingham - $439,900

Beautiful fully renovated move-in ready cape cod with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. New white kitchen with quartz counters. First floor laundry. New roof and siding.

MUNICIPAL Early Childhood Center investigation By Lisa Brody

A special investigation into the Early Childhood Center (ECC) at The Community House in Birmingham was conducted by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) following complaints in July 2020 by a staffer that other staffers were acting aggressively and inappropriately against babies and toddlers left in their care, and when the then-director of the ECC, Melissa Rejc, was alerted of the behavior, she did not take any appropriate action. Violations were established in three separate areas: for violating staff, volunteer requirements, that all staff shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times; for not reporting allegations of inappropriate contact by a childcare worker against a child to parents or LARA; and for not providing adequate quiet activities for a child who did not want to sleep during rest period. A corrective action plan has been implemented, following approval by LARA, and the child care center is now operating under a provisional child care license. The Community House (TCH) anticipates receiving its regular operational child care license in August. “It's awful,” said William Seklar, CEO and President of The Community House. “We take it – I take it – very seriously. We've taken swift action based on fact (after receiving the report a month ago). I'm confident we've taken appropriate action.” According to a release from TCH, “The investigation was initiated in response to an anonymous allegation by a former employee. The allegations were investigated, a

Madam opens in Birmingham Daxton Hotel adam, the restaurant in the new Daxton Hotel in downtown Birmingham, opened on Thursday, April 1, along with a soft opening of the hotel. The restaurant is open daily for breakfast, as well as for brunch on Saturday and Sunday, and lunch Monday through Friday. Dinner is served daily starting at 5 p.m. “Our goal with Madam is to express the best qualities of simple, beautiful products while also encouraging a sense of spontaneity and playfulness,” says Executive Chef Garrison Price. “Meals here are created with a great deal of attention and thought, from the sourcing to the preparation. We want our guests to come in knowing that we’ve put the utmost care into who we collaborate with so they can sit back and enjoy.” Madam showcases Price’s approach to enlightened American fare, with locally sourced ingredients where available. Entree selections include cedar roasted Steelhead Trout with grilled leeks and charred lemon, the soon-to-be-signature large format dry aged Duck for Two presented with lettuce wraps, house pickles and smoked chili nuoc cham. Superbly executed desserts include Gianduja Tart devised of chocolate custard, hazelnut praline, hazelnut sorbet, and buckwheat shortbread or final courses meant to be shared like the Rhubarb Layer Cake for Two with its poached rhubarb, puff pastry, candied ginger and ginger ice cream. Multiple options allow for Madam to act as a local hub for the community suitable for quick meals as well as grand celebratory occasions set in a dynamic and stunning setting. Madam can seat up to 80 guests in its dining room. An adjacent bar and lounge feature a unique geodesic dome, and opens daily at 11 a.m. and continues service until one hour after the close of the dining room.

report was drafted and the investigation was closed. The Community House was not notified by LARA when the final report was published, nor were we permitted to discuss the investigation. The investigation concluded there was not a violation of abuse or neglect. “We are extremely troubled by the allegations outlined in the recent LARA report and take them very seriously. The Early Childhood Center's goal is to provide a safe, friendly and nurturing program for all children. We have a zero-tolerance

Birmingham Pub opened at S. Old Woodward site fter the long winter, and even longer days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there's a new bright spot in downtown Birmingham, with the opening of the Birmingham Pub in the former locale of the Triple Nickel, 555 S. Old Woodward, with a new menu, a freshened interior and casual approach to daily dining as it opened on Wednesday, April 14. Last October, The Joe Vicari Restaurant Group, owner of the Andiamo restaurants and Joe Muer Seafood in Detroit and Bloomfield Hills, announced they had purchased the Triple Nickle

policy as it relates to any claims of abuse or neglect. As soon as we learned of these allegations, we took swift action to address the situation, including removing all staff cited in the report.” According to the partially redacted reports on LARA's website, on July 24, 2020, “the child care licensing division received a complaint alleging that right before COVID, child care staff member 1 (CCSM 1) was throwing babies across the floor and into cribs. She would shove pacifiers in their faces to try to get them to

restaurant in downtown Birmingham following its permanent closure, which they would rename The Birmingham Pub, offering homemade, from scratch comfort food. “It's casual gastropub dining. It's casual and approachable,” with moderate pricing, said Vicari. “There's something for everyone.” Among the menu's dinner choices are “Pub Specialties” which include braised brisket of beef; toad in a hole, or Yorkshire pudding, traditional sausage, roasted onion, duck fat potatoes; fried chicken and waffles; Ora salmon; cedar planked whitefish with everything bagel seasoning; and Grey Goose shrimp and penne. Other offerings

“shut up.” The toddler staff member saw this, as well as the other infant staff member in the room. The other infant staff member reported it to the boss [Melissa Rejc] who said she would keep an eye on CCSM 1 but did not fire her. The staff member who reported CCSM 1 because of it. Afterwards, CCSM 1 was more careful but is still swearing at the infants and shoving plates in their faces.” In the report, the inspector said they were assigned the case on December 3, 2020, and made an unannounced visit on December 16, following another inspector who had visited on July 27 and interviewed CCSM 1, who admitted being frustrated, but denied hurting, yelling, or swearing at the children. Other child care workers told the inspector they had seen the accused individual “call an infant a 'fat bitch,' and has told the infants to 'Shut the fuck up,' and has shoved pacifiers into babies’ mouths and has shaken them.” Another child care worker concurred, but said she “never saw marks or signs of injury on the infants. I asked her why she did not report these incidents to Children’s Protective Services. She said she told the lead caregiver about it because management only wanted to meet with the lead caregivers, and she believed she was following the chain of command.” Another caregiver once saw the accused caregiver bounce a child in an infant seat by pressing on his face, and heard her say things like, “I want to punch all these fucking kids in the face,” and “You’re so fucking annoying,” and “I really wish you’d shut the fuck up.” She documented her concerns and gave them to Melissa Rejc. She also spoke to Rejc about her concerns two or three times in November or December 2019. She

include steaks, salads, burgers, soups and small plates. Sandwiches, burgers, and salads fill the lunch menu, along with small plates, starters and soups. Vicari said the new restaurant will serve lunch and dinner daily, with “brunch coming down the road.” Minor interior improvements, such as new tables and some new seating arrangements, were made. Birmingham Pub will be open Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. until 10 p.m.; Friday from 11:30 a.m. until midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m. to midnight; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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went into Rejc’s office and closed the door. She said Rejc was too emotional to discuss it with her. “ The LARA investigator reported that Rejc said no one had ever told her CCSM 1 was rough with infants and children, or swore. When shown handwritten notes and reports of the complaints, Rejc responded that she did not report allegations to LARA or parents because there were no injuries or physical mistreatment, and “now understands that any allegation of inappropriate contact must be reported regardless of her assessment of the allegation.” While Seklar would not directly confirm, it is believed that Rejc is no longer employed by TCH.

City planners reject riverfront restaurant By Kevin Elliott

A proposed bistro along the edge of the Rouge River in downtown Birmingham was rejected on Wednesday, April 14, by the city’s planning board, leaving the fate of the potential restaurant up to the Birmingham City Commission. Planning board members lauded the design concept presented for Vinewood Kitchen and Cocktails, 720 N. Old Woodward, during the board’s meeting. Designed by Birminghambased architects Ron & Roman, the proposed bistro would feature a semioutdoor Wintergarden and outdoor seating in the rear of the restaurant, adjacent to the Rouge River and parking lot number 6. However, a laundry list of concerns about potential nuisance issues leaves approval highly unlikely. Vinewood was selected by the Birmingham City Commission in October as one of five bistro applications to move forward to contend for one of two bistro licenses that may be approved each calendar year. In February, the planning board postponed a review, citing concerns with the proposed Wintergarden, deliveries, dumpster configuration, lack of a clear floor plan and comments by city staff. City planner Nick Dupuis had noted in February that while the proposed Wintergarden is technically located outdoors, in doesn’t entirely meet the conditions of an outdoor dining area. Plans indicate that the area would include drywall and a covered seating area, while the outdoor patio area wouldn’t. Per the city's bistro ordinance, an outdoor patio or outdoor seating is required, downtownpublications.com

Police get new car and body cameras loomfield Township trustees unanimously approved a proposal to replace the current police in-car video system with an updated state-ofthe-art system along with body worn cameras, for a five-year cost of $378,799.15, at their meeting on Monday, March 22. Captain Jeff Nolan explained the proposal was to replace their current Panasonic in-car video system, which is now nine-years old. “The cameras, mics are starting to fail. It's at life cycle fail,” he said. “We are now looking to add body work cameras to the system.” Nolan explained that with the changing climate in law enforcement for transparency, body worn cameras (BWC) are being required by departments in addition to the in-car video system. “The use of body cameras will enhance law enforcement professionalism during citizen contacts and provide transparency during those contacts. BWC's will be an effective means of protecting our organization from potential liability by recording events as they occur,” he said. Over the last three months, the department has tested out and evaluated three different systems, and recommended they go with the system from AXON, which is used by 65 different police departments in Michigan, and comes with a five-year warranty, and is the only company with a website for cloud storage. Nolan said their quote of $378,799.15 can be spread out over five years. Included in their quote, he said, is that at two-and-a-half years, they send new batteries to replace old ones. Supervisor Dani Walsh said the cost is already budgeted for. Trustee Michael Schostak asked what happens after year five, and Nolan said the equipment is the department's, to maintain or to upgrade.

with the goal to invigorate sidewalks and streetscapes and encourage walkability. “Although the space is indeed open to the air, it would likely not be as harshly effected by some of the more tolerable months during the outdoor dining season,” he said. “Furthermore, enforcement of the permitted outdoor dining season (April-October) would be difficult due to the patio and Wintergarden’s placement at the rear and lower level of the building, which is not at all visible from the street, and may not even be evident from any vantage point in parking lot 6,” Dupuis said. If approved, outdoor dining beyond the prescribed season would require an additional outdoor dining permit, and require the business to move all outdoor tables and chairs inside each evening. While planning board members praised the design and concept of the bistro, they questioned if it met the bistro ordinance and said it would be a problematic location. Further, they indicated the proposed hours of operation, which were given verbally during the meeting, would need to be scaled back, as it would be open as late as 1 a.m. most nights. Board members struggled with many of the same questions raised by staff. Further, several residents from

the Brookside area, adjacent to the river, strongly opposed the restaurant. Resident Kristen Tait, who lives on Brookside across from the proposed location, supplied the board with photos of the building at night from her home office. Tait said she was more concerned about the noise that would come from the bistro than any potential light pollution. Other residents also voiced concerns about noise, the potential for flooding in the area and how that could impact the river, and the attraction of wildlife and pests from food service trash. “I disagree with pushing the downtown into this area,” Tait said about the location. “You’re leaving a rather decaying core at this point, and there are four vacant storefronts in the area owned by the applicant. It’s kind of depressing walking by those in the morning on the way to work. I suggest filling those, rather than trying to fill a parking lot overlooking a dumpster.” John Roselli, who owns the property next to the proposed bistro location, said he was concerned the layout would be problematic for his tenants, which include two residential condos. “The current dumpsters can't handle the waste used by the tenants and buildings. I have personally cleaned around those for years,” he

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said. “There are animals and rodents there already, let alone if we supply restaurant waste and spoils in that area.” In addition to the opposition due to potential noise and other issues, Vinewood would need right-of-way permission from the city, as the proposed outdoor eating area would encroach into public property. While planning board members praised the concept of the project, they all concluded the issues raised by residents, a public property conflict, and a general failure to meet the spirit of the city’s bistro ordinance, prompted them to recommend the city commission reject the proposal. “I do love this project, in a vacuum,” said planning board chair Scott Clein. “I think the idea of dining while overlooking the river would be unique to this community and wonderfully executed by these people and this plan. It’s a matter of the location and it’s a matter of the simple fact that the city would be providing a bistro license, as well as agreeing to the use of public property. … there are so many issues regarding how this interacts with nature, how close it is to nature – we’ve heard about it in a positive way, but there are also negative ramifications.” Planning board member Robin Boyle said he was able to walk the proposed property prior to the meeting and noted the proposal calls for dining about nine feet from the river. Considering climate change and increased storm intensity, he said the location appears to be problematic. “I hear tonight that there’s been a modification, but I’m not convinced in any way that this issue has been given the attention that it absolutely deserves,” Boyle said. “I know this is taking us away from the lighting and other concerns, but this is a land planning issue, and there’s nothing more important than these issues on the impact of development on the Rouge River, and vice-versa.” Planning board member Dan Share said while he praises the concept and design, the spirit of the bistro ordinance is to activate pedestrian pathways. “Whether or not the pedestrian pathway (here) extends five feet or 30 feet past the property, it’s really not a public pedestrian way. There’s no public access. Nor would the construction of this facility activate the pedestrian way if there is one farther up the street. The topography there doesn’t work that way,” Share said. “I’m inclined because it doesn’t 69

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Bloomfield Township BLOOMFIE LD HILLS HIGH SCHO Lettered in OL Football, Baske Student Coun tball (captain), Field cil, schoo l newspaper and Track, Takes speci . al pride in having helpe student news d redesign paper and our being part newspaper of team that twice monthly awards in student public won ation comp national Taking next etition. year off to travel addressing climate chang and work with a non-profit e in east coast of Accepted America. for entrance to NYU in fall of 2022 semester.

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meet the spirit of the ordinance, and the issues of noise, trash and resident conflict with parking next door, are all additional reasons to not recommend approval.” Board members voted unanimously to forward the issue to the Birmingham City Commission with the recommendation to them that it be denied.

New salon confronts parking space denial By Kevin Elliott

A proposed beauty salon at the southern end of Birmingham’s downtown area is facing parking challenges following the city commission’s decision on Monday, April 12, to deny the owner’s request for additional permissions. Frank Jarbou, owner of Vibe Salon Suites, plans to open a Vibe Salon location at the former Detroit Trading Co., 670 S. Old Woodward. The salons offers private studio spaces for independent salon owners within a larger building that is designed for beauty professionals. Jarbou started the business in 2018, with its first location in Plymouth and additional openings planned for Birmingham, Shelby Township and Dearborn. Because the building isn’t located in the city’s parking assessment district, it must provide on-site parking for use by the building. Although the site has an off-street parking facility with 24 parking spaces available, city code requires two off-street parking spaces per chair, booth or bed, requiring a total of 46 spaces under the proposed plan. Jarbou requested the city commission allow the salon to use eight metered parking spaces in front of the building in the city’s right-ofway along S. Old Woodward to assist them in meeting the parking requirements. Jarbou said he wasn’t aware of the parking issues when he started the process of bringing the salon to the city, but said he was looking for ways to satisfy the city’s requirements. “It fell through the cracks, but the blame falls on my shoulders,” he said. “We didn’t investigate hard enough or fast enough, but we were also teetering on losing the deal.” Birmingham City Planner Nick Dupuis said Jarbou reduced the number of chairs originally proposed, thus reducing the number of parking spaces to 46 from 64. He said Jarbou also included a parking agreement with the 555 building for the lease of DOWNTOWN

15 spaces. However, those spaces are too far from the building to count toward the parking requirement. Jarbou said he included the agreement in the parking request to show good faith in attempting to meet the requirements. Despite the efforts, commissioners rejected the request, citing concerns that the agreement would set a precedent for others and have the potential to create a parking problem in the area. Commissioner Clinton Baller made a motion to approve the agreement, following Jarbou’s agreement to provide additional parking requirements on those working at the salon. However, the motion failed to gain support. Commissioners then passed a motion to deny the parking request, with Baller casting the lone 'no' vote.

Ice arena to remain in city's general fund By Kevin Elliott

A potential plan to create a city enterprise fund to manage and operate the Birmingham Ice Arena was put on hold Monday, March 22, as the Birmingham City Commission voted unanimously to keep finances for the arena within the city’s general fund. Capital improvement needs at the ice arena, including more than $3 million in upgrades from a recently approved parks and recreation bond, has resulted in increased interest by the city commission and the public in operations of the ice arena, and how much is being subsidized by property taxes. Currently, the arena’s operations are recorded in the city’s general fund, along with other governmental services. As a result, the operations of the ice arena aren’t readily determinable. On March 8, the city commission held a workshop to discuss whether ice arena operations should remain in the general fund or move to a separate enterprise fund. Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus said both he and the city’s financial staff recommended against creating an enterprise fund, as he said the desired accounting can be done without transferring funds out of the general fund. “In order to move the ice arena operations to an enterprise fund, several things would need to be done,” Markus said. “First, assets and liabilities would need to be identified and recorded. As demonstrated in the 05.21

workshop, this would likely result in a deficit unrestricted net position. State law does not allow a city to have a negative unrestricted net position, therefore an operating transfer from the general fund would be needed to correct this. Unless revenues are generated sufficient to offset the costs, the transfer of funds from the general fund to the enterprise would need to be done on an annual basis.” Additionally, Markus said additional allocations would be needed from the general fund, as it is doubtful the arena would be profitable. Rather, he said, most public ice arenas aim to break even, rather than turn a profit. “In total, establishing an enterprise fund for the ice arena will likely result in more property tax funding to support it than if it were left in the general fund,” Markus said. “In addition, creating and maintaining an enterprise fund would be significantly more administrative time to setup and maintain, however, it would provide the most accurate and detailed information on the operations.” Commissioners unanimously agreed to forego the creation of an enterprise fund and instead chose to have an annual finance report on operations to the city commission provided by October 31 for the preceding fiscal year.

$5.8 million city ice arena contract set By Kevin Elliott

Birmingham city commissioners voiced concern about construction costs overruns on Monday, April 12, while approving $5.8 million in construction work contracts for the city’s 47-year-old ice arena. The project – which includes relocating the arena’s main rink, replacing the facility’s refrigeration system, expanding locker rooms and other improvements – is part of an $11.25 million parks and recreation bond approved by voters in November. Commissioners split their votes 4-3 last year over whether to put the bond language before voters. The city’s parks and recreation bond was approved in November by more than 70 percent of voters. However, some city commissioners have questioned whether voters were fully aware how much of the bond would be spent on the Birmingham Ice Arena, 2300 E. Lincoln Road. Those concerns were voiced again, as commissioners were made aware of a downtownpublications.com

nearly $700,000 increase to the project, which will be absorbed by the parks and recreation bond revenue. “This was pushed through,” commissioner Stuart Sherman said, referring to the 4-3 vote last year on the bond proposal that split the commission. “Now we will spend about $700,000 more than what we originally said would be spent on the ice arena. I have serious reservations about this, and I wonder if we are going to get other surprises that we aren’t even prepared for.” The Birmingham Ice Arena serves the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association, and is home to Birmingham High School Hockey (Birmingham Unified); the Birmingham Hockey Association; and the Figure Skating Club of Birmingham. The facility follows a “pay-to-play” model in which clubs and organizations pay an hourly rate to rent the ice. The arena also offers skating lessons and public open skate sessions. The majority of all revenue received at the arena is from ice rentals with organizations. In 2018, the city hired Plante Moran Cresa to conduct an assessment of the arena to serve as a road map for future capital projects. Recommendations included shifting the main ice arena to the east to accommodate ADA requirements; the addition of unisex and referee locker rooms; a high school team locker room; enlarging the existing locker rooms; and a new studio rink observation area. A 2018 total estimated project cost was $5.1 million. Birmingham Public Services Director Lauren Wood said six alternative plans were made to the plans for a total reduction of $405,800, with the most significant reduction being the studio rink infloor piping, totaling $380,000. “What this means is the new mechanical system will be in place serving the studio rink, but the infloor piping will not be replaced,” Wood said. “The ice will need to be removed, as done currently, for approximately four months during the summer. This portion of the ice arena operation does not generate revenue currently, to justify this added expense. Other revenue sources such as creating a multi-purpose space can be deployed in this section of the rink. It will provide many options as a rentable space in conjunction with the new party room or it will serve as a separate rental area.” The lowest bidder for the project

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was C.E. Gleeson Constructors. Charles Gleeson, which was awarded the contract, is a former Birmingham city staff member who worked at the city’s outdoor ice arena in the 1970s, Wood said. With a base bid of nearly $5.3 million, it was reduced to $4,891,200 with the removal of some items. Additional costs, including engineering and contingency costs bring the total estimate to $5,797,606, or nearly $700,000 over the original estimate. With $2 million already budgeted for the improvements, the shortfall would come from the parks and recreation bond proceeds. Several members of the public spoke in support of the work that will be done at the ice arena, as well as the current state of disrepair. The commission at 10 p.m. approved extending the length of the meeting, as the number of public comments in support of the work threatened to extend the commission’s meeting past its time constraints. Gary Piotrowicz, former president of the Birmingham Hockey Association, said now is the best opportunity to move work at the arena forward, as it will only be more expensive in the future. “This is the right time to do this,” he said. “The rinks are down while COVID is going on, and it won’t get better. It’s sorely needed. I would like to remind everybody, this is a pay-toplay place. The people involved, even if they are from outside the city, pay money – a lot of money – to use this facility. This isn’t something that they are freeloading on. There’s a lot that goes into this. I hope we have a positive outcome tonight because we could have a wonderful facility by the fall.” Commissioners approved the contract by a vote of 6-1, with Sherman voting against.

Water, sewer rates rise in township By Lisa Brody

In a split 4-3 vote, Bloomfield trustees approved increasing the rates the township charges for water, sewer and ready-to-serve, their operating expense, as of April 1, 2021, at their meeting on Monday, April 12. Olivia Olsztyn-Budry, township engineer, explained “the township owns, operates and maintains the water system that delivers the water to the customers and the sewer system that collects the wastewater 72

Commonwealth Cafe bistro application By Kevin Elliott

he Birmingham City Commission on Monday, April 12, approved one bistro license application, by existing business Commonwealth Cafe, to move forward, and paused on two new applications. Under the city of Birmingham’s bistro license application process, the city may approve two new bistro licenses each year and up to two to establishments which have been open in the city for at least five years. Applications are required by October 1 each year, with a follow up application open April 1 if the two new bistros are not filled. In October of 2020, the city commission forwarded initial screening applications to the planning board for a full review. Those applications included Bloom Birmingham, 239 N. Old Woodward; Sushi Japan, 176 S. Old Woodward; Vinewood Kitchen & Cocktails, 724 N. Old Woodward; and one existing applicant, Whistle Stop Diner, 501 S. Eton. Birmingham Planning Director Jana Ecker said all three new applicants have submitted materials to the planning board, with just Vinewood being complete, as of Wednesday, April 14. Three new bistro applications were received by the city for the spring application period. Those bistro applications received included Commonwealth Cafe, Maple & One, proposed by the owners of The Mad Hatter for the adjacent storefront; and The French Lady, which opened on N. Old Woodward last fall. “As three new bistro applications are currently in the planning review process, the city commission may not wish to consider any new bistro applications at this time, pending decisions on the three applications,” Ecker said. However, she said the commission may want to consider the application for Commonwealth, as other than Whistle Stop Diner, no other existing establishments have submitted applications in more than five years. The commission voted unanimously to move the Commonwealth application forward to the planning board for full review. A date has not been set.

from each customer. The water and sewer system consists of over 500 miles of buried pipe throughout the township that is operated and maintained by the township. In order to determine the township’s charges for water and sewer to the customer, the water and sewer systems’ estimated expenses are added to the estimated water and sewer purchases from Southeast Oakland County Water Authority (SOCWA) and the Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner’s Office (WRC). These costs are then divided by the estimated volume of water to be sold to the township’s customers.” On March 22 the township held a study session to discuss how the water and sewer rates are calculated and to review and gather input from the board on the selections of variables that are included in the final water and sewer rates. “Ready-to-serve (RTS) costs represent 80 percent of operating expenses for the township to operate its systems,” Olsztyn-Budry said,

with a recommended quarterly water rate of $5.92 per 1,000 gallons of water used, up from $5.86 last year, and $10.04 per 1,000 gallons for the sewer variable rate, up from $9.56. “Water usage is down to the '80's usage, despite additions of residents and commercial growth, so we're not generating enough revenue,” OlsztynBudry said. The proposed flat rate ready-toserve water rate for fiscal year 20212022 is $43.50 per quarter, up from $42.50. The flat rate ready-to-serve sewer rate per is $44.20 per quarter, up from $43.50. Those customers choosing to pay a combined flat rate water and sewer ready-to-sewer charge would pay $87.70 this fiscal year, up from $86 last year. Supervisor Dani Walsh explained the township is a customer of SOCWA, versus a member, like Birmingham, Royal Oak, and 10 other communities, meaning the community's rates are higher because they are not an owner. “People in the '50s made a

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decision to save money, and that's why you aren't in SOCWA, and we're not part of it,” she said. “We're reaching out to SOCWA now and saying you have 12 communities, how about 15? Or 20? It's a long-term plan because they're not writing a contract for at least three years. But that's why people in other communities are paying less. It's a longer term goal. The biggest issue ahead is 70 percent of people use 30 percent or less.” She said she would not support the increase in rates. Treasurer Brian Kepes pointed out that, “We did make a big change going from Detroit Water and Sewerage (DWDS) to becoming a customer of SOCWA. We have made changes. We get good service and good quality water. We get it as efficiently as possible.” Kepes, clerk Martin Brook, and trustees Neal Barnett and Val Murray voted to approve the increase in rates, while Walsh and trustees Stephanie Fakih and Michael Schostak voted against.

New Starbucks with drive-thru approved The Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees unanimously approved a site plan and special land use to build a new Starbucks with a drive-thru at the CVS shopping center on Woodward at the southeast corner of Square Lake Road, at their meeting on Monday April 12. Andrea Bibby, deputy director of planning, building and ordinance, explained Starbucks was looking to construct a standalone Starbucks at 42934 Woodward Avenue in front of the CVS shopping center. They would demolish 4,024 square feet of the existing shopping center and construct a 2,289 square foot standalone Starbucks specialty beverage building with a drive-thru operation located along the Woodward Avenue frontage. Hours of the proposed Starbucks are 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The township does not permit operations before 7 a.m., necessitating the special land use provision. A curb cut at the front of the shopping center was endorsed by Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), Bibby said. The incorporated drive-thru lane would allow nine vehicles to stack up, she said. New lights and 05.21

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plantings would be added, and they will be restriping and redoing the entire parking lot, Bibby said. “To have to drive around the parking lot (to get out to Square Lake Road), I don't know, something seems less than ideal. I'm seeing problems,” said trustee Michael Schostak. However, he voted to approve along with the rest of the board.

City moves new master plan forward By Kevin Elliott

Birmingham city commissioners and planning board members met for about three hours on Monday, April 19, to iron out perceived wrinkles in the city’s 2040 master plan process that hinges on housing density and use. Master plans are documents that guide long-range planning, and are written and adopted by local planning commissions. As Birmingham has a planning board, rather than commission, the board provides only recommendations on approval, with the city commission making final decisions. The two boards met to discuss the first draft of the city’s master plan and provide direction to planning consultants with DPZ CoDesign, which will pen the second draft of the plan, as well as a third and final draft. The long-range planning document serves as a citywide plan coordinating area-specific plans (such as the Triangle or Rail districts) and topic-based plans (parking or multi-modal), and provides an opportunity to re-evaluate recommendations. The first draft of the plan includes proposed future policies and actions to be undertaken by the city. In March, the city commission scheduled the joint meeting with the planning board in order to discuss public input on the plan and how that helped to shape the direction of the master plan. Matthew Lambert, planning consultant with DPZ, said the planning team received about 320 individual public comments through the project website and via email. Public input was also collected during 11 public meetings. Additional feedback was collected in a survey following the first draft release, with 210 responses and 142 comments in the open-ended questions. The report reflected the community’s overwhelming opposition to the “neighborhood seams” approach, which they felt took too many bold changes in regard to housing density. “Seams should be significantly reduced in location, intensity and building types 74

Police assessed during accreditation By Lisa Brody

A team of assessors from the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission (MLEAC) came on April 20 and 21 to examine all aspects of the Birmingham Police Department policies and procedures, management, operations, and support services, Chief Mark Clemence announced, and the public is invited to offer comments. The Birmingham Police Department is undergoing accreditation by the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, under the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP), a three-year period during which time the agency must submit annual reports attesting to its continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited. The MACP, through its Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, is the legitimate authority and accreditation agency in the state of Michigan. In order to achieve full accreditation, the department must comply with 105 standards. “Verification by the team that the Birmingham Police Department meets the Michigan Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission’s 'best practice' standards is part of a voluntary process to achieve accreditation, a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence,” Clemence said. “Accreditation results in greater accountability within the agency, reduced risk and liability exposure, stronger defense against civil lawsuits, increased community advocacy, and more confidence in the agency’s ability to operate efficiently and respond to community needs.” “The assessment team is composed of law enforcement practitioners from similar Michigan law enforcement agencies,” said ret. Chief Neal Rossow, accreditation program manager for the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. “The assessors will review written materials, interview agency members, visit offices and other places where compliance with the standards can be observed. Once the assessors complete their review of the agency, they will report to the full commission, which will then decide if the agency is to be granted accredited status.” As part of this final on-site assessment, employees and members of the general public were invited to provide comments to the assessment team, Clemence said, by telephone or email.

allowed, and be thoughtfully located in the limited areas where they may be appropriate,” the report said. At its core, the “seams” concept aims to fill the “missing middle” housing demand, as a national trend of housing shortage has been noted for middle income families that are being priced out of neighborhoods, such as Birmingham. The plan looks to fill in some areas with a mix of new housing, such as apartments, townhouses and multi-family homes in some of the city’s busier areas. Lambert said the concept isn’t to strictly promote multi-family housing, but to prepare for an expected increase in population over the next 20 years, and to provide more affordable housing. However, he said many members of the public saw the concept as a way to increase multi-family, low-income housing. “The planning board understood that, but the public understood it as a way to insert multi-family homes in new

areas, and that wasn’t the goal,” Lambert said. The concept comes as President Joe Biden pushes a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that would offer municipalities tax incentives and grants to change zoning laws to encourage more affordable housing. Further, zoning that favors only single family housing has become known as “exclusionary zoning,” that encourages class separation, arguably compared to redlining practices of the past. It was clear from some public comments at the joint meeting that embracing such zoning changes aren’t favored in Birmingham. “I’ve heard a lot of words here tonight, and this isn’t going to effect my wife and I, but we are concerned on the basis of principle, and the words I didn’t hear are ‘promoting low income, subsidized housing,’” said resident Tim P. Duerr. “When you use euphemisms like seams and all the rest of it, the people in Birmingham – the ones I’ve

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spoken to and there have been several – are concerned about that very thing. It’s glossed over. “I’m all for diversity,” he continued. “I don’t agree with some of the platitudes that you can’t have a healthy community unless you have a mix of diversity – but I believe in it. What I don’t believe in is government directed diversity, and that’s what we are seeing here.” The master plan doesn’t include any provisions for subsidized housing, a point that Birmingham Mayor Pierre Butrous explained to the caller. “I can assure you, that’s not what we are talking about,” Butrous said. Planning Board Chair Scott Clein said seams, while sounding like a new concept, isn’t much different from what the city has been doing for decades. “Personally, I don’t care if seams stays or goes,” he said. “What I do care about is that we actually plan. To do that, you have to understand this is a 20-year outlook. You have to understand what surrounding communities are going to do so you can understand growth pressures. If we don’t look at where this community is going, we aren’t doing our jobs.” City commissioner Mark Nickita recommended the master plan take into account potential changes for ADUs, or accessory dwelling units, such as carriage houses and other buildings that could be used for a second, on-site home or dwelling. Nickita said the plan should clarify the definitions of an ADU and what its uses may be. City commissioners Clinton Baller and Therese Longe expressed interest in allowing ADUs to be used by family members as a residence, but not as a rental or vacation property. “Would we consider someone living there, whether they are part of a family or not?” Longe said. “I don’t think we should reject that out of hand. Is there a way we can allow that in a limited way?” Commissioners unanimously approved directing DPZ to prepare the second draft of the 2040 Plan and include the commission’s comments and planning board recommendations.

Schools investment rating downgraded Birmingham Public Schools has been notified by Moody's Investors Service that they have downgraded the district's general obligation unlimited tax rating from Aa1 to Aa2, school officials announced. Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is a bond credit rating business providing 05.21

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international financial research on bonds issued by commercial and government entities. The company, founded in 1909, ranks the creditworthiness of borrowers using a standardized ratings scale, running from Aaa at the highest to C at the lowest, which measures expected investor loss in the event of default. BPS said it was informed that Moody's changed rating methodology for schools, emphasizing financial performance, fund balance, enrollment and overlapping debt levels. Moody's is in the process of reviewing over 600 districts nationwide based on its updated rating methodology. “The district’s general obligation unlimited tax rating has been downgraded from Aa1 to Aa2, and reflects the district’s debt-like obligations without consideration of any pledge, security or structural features. The Aa2 issuer rating does reflect our affluent service area. A factor in this change included the moderately decreasing student enrollment, average fund balance, outstanding debt and unfunded retiree benefit liabilities,” reported district spokesperson Brielle Blackwell.

She said moving forward, the district will continue to focus on increasing enrollment, reducing deficits and building upon programming that increases revenue to improve the fund balance. “BPS has spent the last two years addressing budget concerns and eliminated $3.5 million from the annual budget in 2018-19, and was on a path to continue these budget reductions in 2019-20 prior to the pandemic,” Blackwell said. “COVID mitigation measures that increased spending were the focus this fall and have begun to level out as we head into the end of the 2020-21 school year. Additionally, revenue-generating programming was halted during the pandemic in many areas and is now beginning to ramp up once more, with anticipated growth as we move into a more stable environment this fall.” Anne Cron, Birmingham Public Schools Director of Communications, said the new rating should not impact the district's first sale of bonds, which took place last summer. They were for $52.13 million worth of school building and site and refunding bonds, the first in a series of bonds following the

March 10, 2020, approval of $195 million bond proposal to address facility needs and funding enhancements through 2026.

Art fair, Village Fair nixed over safety By Lisa Brody

With safety top of mind, Birmingham city officials announced spring events such as Art Birmingham fair and the Birmingham Village fair will not take place this year, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the state. Other upcoming events will be evaluated on an ongoing basis, officials said. The Art Birmingham fair is typically held over Mother’s Day weekend, and the Birmingham Village Fair had been planned for June 2-6 in Shain Park. It is anticipated the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services order prohibiting outdoor events with more than 300 in attendance will be extended due to the recent increase in cases.

“The Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber is disappointed to have to cancel this event for the second consecutive year,” said chamber president Joe Bauman. “We know how important this iconic fair is for local residents and the crucial role it plays in pumping economic development dollars into the downtown, but we must always place the health and safety of our staff, volunteers, residents and guests first and foremost.” The four-day event is a longstanding community tradition and a critical fundraiser for more than 20 local non-profit organizations. In addition to being the chamber’s major fundraiser, representing about 25 percent of the chamber's annual budget, Bauman said, local nonprofits like the Birmingham Lions Club, Birmingham Youth Assistance and Birmingham Rotary Club also receive proceeds from the fair through grants. He noted they also receive great visibility from volunteering. “We have been donating more than $20,000 a year to local nonprofits each year for the last 10 years,” Bauman said.

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He said the chamber looks forward to the fair returning to Shain Park in 2022. While many residents and businesses have asked them to reschedule it to the fall, he said it's something they can't do as it takes months to plan, recruit businesses and volunteers for. In addition, “We're part of the carnival circuit. They have a date set for you, and when you lose your date, you lose your year.” In an email to the Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Fire Chief and Emergency Manager Paul Wells cited a potential extension to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services emergency order that limits attendees at events and an increase in statewide hospitalizations along with the spread of additional variants of the COVID-19 virus as reasons for cancelling the event. A permit to hold the fair was previously approved by the Birmingham City Commission, pending further review. “At this time hospitalizations are on the rise, along with COVID-19 variants in Michigan. This decision is in the best interest of keeping Birmingham residents and visitors safe,” said Wells. “We hope to offer these events when case numbers are down and the public has full access to the vaccine.” “Safety is our top priority as we consider upcoming activities in the city. I applaud this decision by our emergency manager and hope these treasured community events may safely return soon,” said Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus.

City golf courses show business increase By Lisa Brody

Despite a global pandemic and partial lockdown for part of the year, golf memberships and rounds played at public golf courses in Birmingham were the highest in years. The city of Birmingham operates two municipal golf courses. Lincoln Hills is located at 2666 W. 14 Mile Road at Cranbrook, and Springdale is located at 316 Strathmore Road. Nationally, rounds of golf increased about 13.9 percent, according to the National Golf Foundation. Locally, the number of memberships increased 10 percent from 2019, while total rounds of golf increased more than 29 percent at the two golf courses, with 49,583 rounds in 2019 and 63,027 in 2020. Rounds played hit a record number in 2020, with the closest combined DOWNTOWN

rounds in 2004 with 59,522. “We did experience a few rainy days that hindered some weekend play during the summer months, but we were fortunate to have such favorable weather during this time,” Birmingham Golf Manager Jacquelyn Brito said in her annual golf report. “It truly would have been a different outcome if Mother Nature played a bigger role.” The increases came after the governor opened golf courses on April 24, 2020, with Lincoln Hills opening the following day, and Springdale on April 27. “2020 was one of the most challenging and unexpected years in many of our lives,” Brito said. “However, despite all of the craziness, golf thrived in the COVID world. It provided one of the only activities that people could do in a safe manner without numerous state restrictions.” With the uncertainty at the start of the season, the city offered a $25 COVID-19 discount off of nonresidential and business memberships. The discount was applied to 918 memberships, totaling $22,950. Despite rounds of golf and memberships being up, revenue from food and beverages, beer and wine were all down in 2020, as food services struggled everywhere to comply with state-mandated restrictions. While food, beer and wine revenues were all up in 2019, $44,184, $44,342 and $2,661 respectively, food revenues dropped to $33,509 in 2020, with beer totaling $34,190 and wine $2,018. “Considering the circumstances, we did OK,” Brito said. “We do anticipate to grow this back in 2021, but it will depend on the pandemic. We are optimistic and will offer items that we requested from our 'end of the season' survey.” Revenues for the year totaled about $1.37 million, up from $1.19 million in 2019, with increases at both golf courses. Conversely, total expenditures dropped from $407,085 in 2019 to $348,490 in 2020. Looking forward, Brito said the focus will remain on membership. “The main focus always revolves around membership,” she said, “and with the abundant new members during COVID-19, we need to create activities, tournaments, leagues and lessons to connect these new golfers to the game. We will then capture the attention and excitement of each golfer in ways that will create a golfer for a lifetime.” 05.21

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Planners reviewing initial RH proposal By Kevin Elliott

Preliminary plans for a four-story Restoration Hardware, known as RH, building at S. Old Woodward and Brown streets, will be discussed by the Birmingham Planning Board on Wednesday, April 28, after planning board members on Wednesday, March 22, began the preliminary site plan review for a proposed 49,624-square-foot building. The plan, designed by Birmingham architect Victor Saroki, calls for reconstructing the 1.2 acre area where the current Capital Tiitle/Lutz building, Frank’s Shoe Service/Roche Bobois, and Coldwell Banker Weir Manual parking lot are located. In place of the three existing buildings would be the four-story RH gallery with a fourthfloor restaurant that would incorporate RH indoor/outdoor furnishings. “The restaurant and liquor license are extremely important. This is a formula and model we have followed,” said RH President and Chief Real Estate and Development Officer Dave Stanchak. “We believe it’s emotional value. It’s such a romantic atmosphere – it’s a brand builder. Could we have done it without a restaurant? Sure, we could have, but we probably wouldn’t do the project. If that’s the thing we have to consider, what works for us. About 80 percent of our customers are female at the restaurant, and the combination of food and a wine vault, that atmosphere creates our brand and is really important to us.” The proposed restaurant would incorporate RH furnishings and other offerings into its decor, serving both as an extension of the retail gallery and a service to customers. RH will be seeking an economic development license from the city, which is a liquor license offered by the municipality to businesses putting $10 million or more of investment in the city, or improving property value by 500 percent. Stanchak, who was raised in Birmingham, said the interior of the building will incorporate a vertical design, similar to that of its gallery in New York City. Overall, he said the goal is “to create an 80

Tera Moon named township library director By Lisa Brody

ollowing the retirement of long time Bloomfield Township Public Library Director Carol Mueller and a national search to find her replacement, the library's board of trustees announced that Tera Moon, assistant library director, would become the new director of the library, effective Monday, May 3. The Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees announced at their meeting on Tuesday, March 30, that Moon was offered and accepted the position of library director of the Bloomfield Township Public Library. Moon has been the assistant library director of Bloomfield Township Public Library since 2013. Before that she held several positions at the Southfield Public Library. In December, Mueller announced that she will be retiring from her position effective May 1, 2021, after 43 years in the library profession. The board began a formal national search for a new director in January, with director finalist interviews on March 30. Library board President Judy Lindstrom said, “I want everyone to know that it was a unanimous choice of the trustees to select Tera to step into this role created by the retirement of Carol Mueller. The trustees have every confidence that Tera will maintain the integrity of the library and bring it to new levels of excellence. We could not be happier about this decision. I applaud the library board and staff for being part of this process.” Moon said she is very excited to begin her new position. “I am honored and thrilled that the library board of trustees has chosen me to lead this already-great library through its next chapter,” she said. “I look forward to leveraging the skills and ideas of the creative, talented, hard-working staff, trustees, and volunteers into excellent service to the Bloomfield Township community.” Moon is the second local assistant library director in recent months to ascend to library director following the retirement of a long-time library director. In December 2020, Baldwin Library Associate Director Rebekah Craft was selected as the library's new director upon the retirement January 16, 2021 of former library director Doug Koschik.

architecturally inspiring gallery with artistic installations of home furnishings in a gallery setting and a rooftop restaurant and wine vault that blurs the lines between residential and retail, indoors and outdoors, home and hospitality. One that activates all of our senses and attracts luxury customers to our home furnishing and design business.” The proposed building would include underground parking to house 24 vehicles. No additional parking is required, as the proposed project is within the city’s parking assessment district. While additional parking isn’t required, Birmingham resident Paul Reagan said the project should require additional parking because the city is facing a shortage of parking in downtown. In May 2019, RH signed a letter of intent to anchor a building on Old Woodward Avenue in front of a new

parking structure for the proposed Woodward Bates project in downtown Birmingham. The project was to include a 55,000-square-foot building with a rooftop restaurant. RH has similar stores in West Palm Beach, New York City, Chicago, Denver and Seattle. In August 2019, Birmingham voters rejected the parking structure bond proposal in the amount of $57.4 million in order to secure financing for demolition and rebuilding of a new parking structure to replace the N. Old Woodward structure and an extension of Bates Street, which would have included the RH Gallery store proposal. Birmingham Planning Director Jana Ecker said the current proposal won’t require any vote of the people, as all of the proposed development is on private property and being done with private funds. The new project does face a

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series of additional requirements before moving forward. The site currently consists of three different parcels, which RH is proposing to change by splitting and combining in order to create one usable parcel. The site also requires rezoning of the overlay district from D3 to D4 in order to accommodate the fourthfloor restaurant and additional height. Further, RH is requesting the project be placed in an economic development zone in order to qualify for an economic development liquor license. The proposed building would be directly across Brown Street from the new Daxton Hotel, which is slated to open at the beginning of April. Ecker said a four-story building will provide a good transition from the five-story Daxton, with streetscape components such as benches, trees and lighting to encourage activity in the area. The proposed development also would serve as an anchor for new development in the area along S. Old Woodward, as prescribed by the 2016 Master Plan. “The proposed retail, gallery, design services and restaurant uses all work together to provide a significant retail anchor at this location, activating this area,” she said. Despite positive feedback, board members did question some of the information provided by RH in its traffic study, conducted by Flies & Vanderbrink. As such, board members tabled any action on the preliminary plan until its April 28 meeting. Additionally, board members also tabled until its April 28 meeting a community impact study presented to the planning board. A community impact study looks at both architectural factors, as well as how the development will impact local businesses, residents and the city overall. The study takes into account traffic studies, utility uses and other factors. In addition to the preliminary site plan and community impact study, planning board members on April 28 will consider whether to amend the city’s economic development map to allow the project to qualify for an economic development license. The board will also consider whether to rezone the area from D3 to D4 to allow for a fourth-floor restaurant. 05.21

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From Champagne Cheers to Committee Chairs… Experience The Community House’s Van Dusen Terrace, a premier outdoor gathering space in the heart of downtown Birmingham. Whether you’re creating the perfect climate for your next meeting or an inviting atmosphere for entertaining friends and family, the Van Dusen Terrace has a picturesque view of Shain Park and holds up to 200 guests. And our award-winning culinary team is sure to impress. For more information or to book your safe, stress-free event, contact The Community House event team at 248.554.6588 or events@communityhouse.com.

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FACES Lauren Withrow oments before the start of a March 11, 2020, basketball game between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder, team officials hurried to the court with an urgent message. The players returned to the locker rooms, and confused fans were informed that the game would be postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances." Later that night, we learned that a player had tested positive for COVID-19, and the NBA season would be suspended. This series of events marked the first time fans began to see and feel the impact of COVID-19 on sports. With the postponement of professional sports and almost all other organized sporting events, scores of people making a living in sports broadcasting suddenly found themselves without jobs. Bloomfield Hills native and Cranbrook Schools alum Lauren Withrow was working at a Chicago Blackhawks game when she got word of what just happened in the NBA. She told her co-workers, 'this is going to be us tomorrow.' Withrow managed to keep busy, even though all her in-person sports reporting work was canceled. To fill her time and the void fans felt without sports, she created Going Pro, a podcast featuring interviews with former and current professional athletes, broadcasters, and sports executives. "It was difficult to come to terms with working so hard to finds jobs after graduation and then watch the world of sports essentially shut down," said the 2019 University of Michigan graduate. "It ended up being great for me because I had an opportunity to step back and work on myself by working with a talent coach. Now, things are falling into place and working out in a better way than I thought." Withrow, 23, shifted her job search to digital and remote reporting jobs, and in June, Sports Illustrated Fan Nation Network hired her as a host and feature writer. She currently covers the University of Michigan, University of Illinois, West Virginia University, and the Carolina Panthers for SI. Withrow got a big break in February with an offer from ESPN to work as an analyst for ESPN3/+, the network's digitally streaming platform. Her first gig had her covering Eastern Michigan University women's basketball. It was an exciting career jump to put on a headset and call a live basketball game for two hours. When the season ended, she switched to volleyball. It was a sport she knew little about, but listening to her call an EMU volleyball match, a viewer would never know because of Withrow's extensive research before her first game. In addition to calling the EMU games, ESPN3/+ had her working as an analyst for the Loyola Chicago men's volleyball team. In mid-April, Withrow switched sports again, this time working as an analyst for the mid-American Conference swimming and diving championship at Eastern Michigan. As a former swimmer with diving experience, she knew enough about the sport to focus her research on the athletes and not learning the ins and outs of diving. However, the broadcast was canceled due to COVID restrictions for the media. There's a lot of pre-game work that goes into being an analyst, from watching game film to collecting and analyzing team and player statistics, as well as pre-game interviews with the coaches. It's about 20 hours of work for a two-hour game. "It's like rehearsing for a play. Once the game starts and the cameras are rolling, if you've prepared well, you can just sit back and call the game. That's the easy part," she said.

Story: Jennifer Lovy

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BUSINESS MATTERS Under new management Longtime Birmingham menswear store Claymore Shop has reopened in its same location – 908 S. Adams Road, but it’s under all new management, after longtime employee Kurtis Williams purchased the store along with partner David Mietty, who handles the back office end of the business. Williams, who lives in the Grosse Pointes, said he found “a home” at the Clamore Shop seven years ago, even growing into a buyer for the store, along with former owner J.J. Benkert and Al Skiba, store manager, about four years ago. In purchasing the store, Skiba, who has been part of the store’s fabric for 41 years, “agreed to stay on. That was a big part of the decisionmaking,” Williams said. They’ve reopened the store with all new spring merchandise, which will include most of the same product lines with the addition of new seasonal lines, their own line of Claymore Shop suits made in the U.S. and new British lines of suits and sports coats. The store was renovated top-to-bottom to bring it up to date after Benkert sold late husband Bob’s cache of antiques, after asking Williams if he wanted them. “We brought in other antiques, refinished fixtures in the store, put up wallpaper and recarpeted,” he said. “When the store was cleaned out, we were able to see the space with a fresh eye.” Traditional customers, and ones who are just discovering the store, will be pleased the new Claymore Shop is still “the same warm store with the same level of service known in the past,” Williams said. “Heritage is super important to me. We’re at year 56 now. Getting to year 100 is very important.”

Cut and a shave When long-time Birmingham Barbers owner Jim Farhat passed away, Anna Canisz, a barber at the shop for the last 23 years, wasn’t going to let the place close. Instead, she bought it. As of January 1, 2021, Canisz is the owner of the Birmingham Barbers, 725 S. Adams, Suite 110, Birmingham, which is celebrating 55 years in business taking care of hair. “He (Farhat) opened it in 1966,” Canisz said of the shop she shares with four other barbers. After taking over the barbershop, they remodeled, added a coffee machine – which is still on hold during the pandemic – passing out free water, and offering free beard trims with their $18 haircuts. Birmingham Barbers also offers women and children haircuts, and happily does house calls for homebound individuals. “We have lots of free parking spaces, and there’s lots downtownpublications.com

that are handicapped accessible,” Canisz said.

Bloomfield Hills branch The law firm of Warner Norcross + Judd has opened a Bloomfield Hills office, its ninth in the state, at 40701 Woodward Avenue, with attorneys and firm partners Nazli G. Sater, Roquia K. Draper and William C. Lentine operating out of the office. Sater is chair of the family law practice group; Draper represent clients in all aspects of family law as well as mediation and arbitration of all related issues; and Lentine serves as a business and tax attorney guiding clients in general business law, taxation and trusts and estates matters. The new Bloomfield Hills office space features flexible, collaborative layout, spacious conference rooms, convenient, on-site parking and access to a large reception area to host gatherings and social events. The firm said it anticipates significant growth in this new office.

Healthy options Bloomfield Township residents will soon have another healthy eating, juicing and smoothie option. Beyond Juice will be opening another outpost at 1987 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, in the Village at Bloomfield, with an estimated opening of Friday, May 21, barring unexpected delays or setbacks in construction. Loyalists will enjoy their smoothies, bottled juices, juice by the cup, wellness shots, healthy wrap sandwiches and salad bowls. But Bloomfield Township devotees of Drought Juice will have to look a little harder for their favorite raw juices, as the company announced the closure of all four of their retail stores, including the Drought Juice at 4078 W. Maple Road in Bloomfield. In a release the company announced it will be focusing on wholesale operations, with customers welcome to their Berkley factory and storefront.

Saying goodbye After almost 50 years of dressing men to look their most stylish, Bruce Goldman has decided it’s time to hang up his tuxedo and close L’Uomo Vogue Clothiers, 4145 W. Maple Road in Bloomfield Township. “This pandemic really made the decision for me,” Goldman said, who originally opened the store in 1979 specializing in men’s European fine fashions, from formalwear to casual as well as accessories, on Northwestern Highway for 24 years before moving to Bloomfield

Township, right next to the Maple Theater. He was later joined by his son and co-owner Michael Goldman, who he said is semiretired from the business, working on other ventures. He noted in his decades of scouting designers and bringing them to metro Detroit, he often was the first to discover new designers. “I was the one to bring the Armanis to this town, then Neiman’s put them in,” he said. L’Uomo Vogue plans to be open through the summer, until the end of August, “and they can get some good buys,” Goldman said. He’s been very touched by all of his customers, past and present, who have reached out with accolades since the announcement of his retirement. And he said, “The world could change by September – there are a couple people looking at taking it over under new management.” As for Bruce, “It’s time for someone else to take over. But come by. Ask for Bob, Bruce or Doug. We’re here to assist you.”

Lay it down For Tina Smart, the COVID-19 pandemic was “one door closing and one door opening.” Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, she had been brought up in a family rug business focused on modern, trendy with an emphasis on durability. The family opened its first large showroom in 2010, and has since grown to four large retail stores in Ontario. “In 2016, I fell in love and married a Michigander,” Smart said. “I never thought I’d leave Canada – it was one of the toughest decisions of my life.” After commuting for a couple of years from her home in Shelby Township, she had a daughter in 2019, and then, in 2020, came the pandemic, and with it, closed borders to Canada. “I decided to open something of my own,” she said. Strolling around downtown Birmingham, she fell into vacant space at 202 E. Maple Road – right next to lululemon. In late March, she had a soft opening for Area Rug Store, with a May 1 grand opening planned. “What I carry, they have to be durable and easy to clean, but bring in a modern taste,” Smart said, noting there are many contemporary designs, along with some that are more traditional.

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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.

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442 S. OLD WOODWARD AVENUE | BIRMINGHAM, MI 48009

THE COMMUNITY HOUSE BUILDING THE FOUNDATION ONE DONOR AT A TIME On January 1, 2018, The Community House Association’s Board of Directors announced the creation of a new and separate entity; The Community House FOUNDATION to act as a supporting organization to The Community House ASSOCIATION. This was a transformational announcement. With this historic announcement we learned that the mission of the new Community House Foundation was to generate, and secure supplemental philanthropic funds needed to fulfill our promise – to families and to the Community – who depend on us to deliver a variety of quality programs and services throughout the region. Robust philanthropy supports a wide range of programs and services, today and in the future that benefit the community. In addition to securing supplemental funding to maintain quality programming and services at TCH, Community House Association’s leadership also mandated that The Community House Foundation dedicate itself to raising funds and awareness for the preservation and perpetual care of The Community House Association’s historic building and nearly century-old plant.

• Barbara Hertzler, Past Chair • Deric Righter, Treasurer • Jacob Taylor, Secretary • Mallory Kallabat, Member • William D. Seklar, President & CEO Their service, advice and counsel helped shepherd The Community House Association and Foundation through these uncertain times, protected its mission and assets and helped provide the Foundation – a philanthropic road map for the future. Non-profit foundations that do stewardship and fundraising well – can draw upon their endowments for important initiatives, particularly as revenue declines and expenses grow. The Community House Foundation is no different. Fortunately, over the last 11 months, charitable donations and estate/legacy gifts at The Community House Foundation continued to come in – despite the pandemic. Of special significance, much of this giving occurred through several transformational planned gifts – gifts made after a donor’s death.

Bill Seklar

In setting up the new foundation we were reminded that historic preservation is a critical movement in planning – designed to conserve old buildings and areas in order to permanently tie a place’s history to its population and culture. With these goals in mind, much of The Community House Foundation’s initial efforts have focused on assessing, educating and carefully pairing passionate and caring donors with the immediate and emerging needs of The Community House Association – critical needs over and above its normal day to day operations. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the philanthropic work of The Community House Foundation became even more pivotal as the nation entered a new era of COVID-19. With half of its profit centers closed since March 2020, a third of its staff furloughed or laid off and our doors shuttered, The Community House (Association) leaned heavily on the Foundation, its staff and leadership to provide relief and grant support during these unparalleled times.

When establishing The Community Foundation, we learned that planned giving is key for non-profit, charitable organizations to build up their endowment funds and to fund ever pressing capital needs. Bequest programs are typically the centerpiece of robust planned giving. About one-third of foundations offer gift annuities, and many others offer charitable trusts, and donor – advised funds. We also learned that legacy programs constitute an important means for all non-profit charitable organizations to cultivate donors and a vehicle to provide some ongoing donor benefits. We learned that only 38 percent of the foundations have legacy programs. 2020 taught us that a robust Legacy and Planned Giving Program must become the centerpiece of our philanthropic endeavors going forward. It is, therefore, timely and vital that The Community House and The Community House Foundation plans to roll out its most comprehensive Legacy and Planned Giving Program in its 98-year history – in the next month. Andrew Carnegie once said, “I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious task of wise distribution.” May we all heed his words one day.

The separate non-profit charitable organization/entity, the Community House Foundation was steadily governed by an independent Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers.

Should you be interested in learning more about estate planning, legacy and planned giving, major gifts or naming opportunities at The Community House, please contact The Community House Foundation at 248.554.6597. Be safe, stay well.

2020-2021 Community House Foundation Board Members include: • Bradley J. Wolf, Chair

William D. Seklar is President & CEO of The Community House and The Community House Foundation in Birmingham.

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