Downtown Newsmagazine | Birmingham/Bloomfield

INSIDE: BIRMINGHAM SHOPPING FOR THE HOLIDAY SECTION

NOVEMBER 2021

THE PONTIAC STORY: CITY ON THE EDGE OF A TIPPING POINT OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL POLITICAL GOSSIP | MUNICIPAL NEWS ENDNOTE: SCHAFER, LONG, MCLAIN BEST FOR BIRMINGHAM

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Plastic problem spreads to the atmosphere While the environmental problem of plastics has been recognized for decades, scientists are now realizing that plastic waste has become a problem in the earth’s atmosphere.

LONGFORM

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Pontiac is struggling to reinvent itself after decades of poverty and decay.

As quickly as it shot to stardom so too did its urban light dim, a victim of changing ideas of urban living and changing fortunes of the auto industry.

CRIME LOCATOR

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

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

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Scuttlebutt about county board changes; fallout in Birmingham election; bad week for James Craig; Peters fundraising in Europe; Slotkin and Stevens prognostications; the QAnon among us; plus more.

MUNICIPAL

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THE COVER Cover design: Chris Grammer

City attorney contract awarded; commissioner conflict issue raised; no decision on food trucks; school board prez demoted; new draft of 2040 Plan; Junior League building changes; outdoor dining stil undecided; plus more.

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Gretchen Gonzales Davidson

THE COMMUNITY HOUSE

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William Seklar, President and CEO of The Community House and the Community House Foundation in Birmingham, explains financial decisions made during the pandemic in answer to a couple of critics.

METRO INTELLIGENCER

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With the lifting of pandemic restrictions, the restaurant industry is starting to come back strong, so we have brought back our Metro Intelligencer restaurant column, with Gigi Nichols at the helm.

FACES

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Alyssa Space

Craig LaBan

Gretchen Gonzales Davidson

ENDNOTE

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We once again present our recommendations on who we think are the best choices in the Birmingham election – Katie Schafer, Anthony Long and Elaine McLain. Also, a cautionary note on food trucks in Birmingham.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: HELP WANTED MARKETPLACE / PAGES 92-93

DOROTHEE SCHUMACHER SPRING ‘22 TRUNK SHOW Thursday, November 11th Friday, November 12th Saturday, November 13th

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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 DOWNTOWN NEWSMAGAZINE GOALS/MISSION The personnel at Downtown Newsmagazine bring a special commitment to the publishing effort, reinvesting in the local communities and working to make sure the Birmingham/Bloomfield area reaches its highest potential.

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

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 political gossip/news.

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.

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.

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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 October 21, 2021.

Placement of codes is approximate.

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INCOMING Incoming letter disappointing I just went thru the October 2021 issue of Downtown Newsmagazine. It is really disappointing to see a letter to the editor (Incoming) that is so illinformed as to claim COVID is a “manufactured influenza outbreak.”

On that alone I would find publishing the letter as irresponsible.

Likewise the comment as to ID’s and voting projects the misunderstanding of the issues surrounding voter suppression. Yes, a photo ID is required. That said the changes desired would change the “acceptable” ID, as well as include ID information when seeking an absentee ballot. In an age of ID theft, the suggested requirements put personal info out in the open very carelessly. Having worked the polls a number of years, the safeguards in place are more than adequate.

The current desire to change is misguided and really a desperate attempt to “rig” the elections in favor of candidates that really wouldn’t win on their own benefits. Voting needs to be broadened not contracted.

Michael Wasielewski Bloomfield Hills

Faces profile Thank you all for reaching out and producing such a flattering piece on me (Faces/October).

I’m continually amazed by quality journalists who can take one’s ramblings and commonplace story and refine it to make the subject shine.

Charlie Parkhill Bloomfield Township

TAKE YOUR WORK HOME.

Environmental Justice piece

Maryclare Pulte 248-866-4277

Downtown email newsletters

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I enjoy receiving all of your newsletter update emails.

Today people looking for clear, honest information find it nearly impossible to locate.

For the past 50 years the publisher of this magazine (David Hohendorf) has provided Oakland County residents with in-depth local reporting not found elsewhere.

Keep up all the difficult reporting others shy away from. Thank you.

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The Environmental Justice article (October) was interesting. Thank you for writing it. I love the long form.

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OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

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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.

COUNTY PLOT THICKENS: We were as surprised as everyone else when the Oakland Republican Party sent out an email on September 22 urging its followers to attend the September 29 county board of commissioner’s meeting to protest what was billed as an attempt by Democrats, who hold a one-vote majority on the board, to make the position of commissioners a fulltime spot, with benefits to boot. Come the meeting, nothing on the agenda remotely like what the email suggested, and no mention of the issue during the fourhour session. And no reference to the issue from the 30plus audience members, who mostly had axes to grind WOODWARD over COVID masking mandates and the like during the public comment period. We queried a number of county board members, and no one was aware that the issue was under discussion, or were not willing to admit that they have been part of the discussion. One insider at the county complex on Telegraph did share that in recent weeks the word on the street was that while Democrats were angling to reduce the size of the board to 15 members (like in Wayne County) and, as the speculation goes, its members would be paid more for the extra work likely to come with larger districts. So we took the rumor to board chair Dave Woodward (D-Royal Oak), who said that among members of his party, who are charged with redrawing commission districts following the latest federal census and are in the “early stages,” there has been “no talk of full-time” county board positions and the actual size of the board won’t be determined for a couple weeks after press time. New maps must be submitted by noon on November 15. Faithful readers will remember that following the 2010 census, districts were redrawn in the summer of 2011, and then-county executive L. Brooks Patterson went to work to have state law changed so the Republican majority on the county board could redraw the districts to keep the GOP in control of Oakland, which was slowly shifting toward the Dem party. The law, written to only benefit Oakland County, provided that counties of over one million residents and with an optional form of an elected county executive could have commissioners draw the districts and at the same time limit the board size to a maximum of 21 members, although it could be much smaller. County commissioner Eileen Kowall – in the state House at the time – and thenSenator Marty Knollenberg carried water on the issue for Patterson in the GOP-controlled legislature. The bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and withstood multiple tests in the courts, after which the 25-member county board was reduced to 21 members. Was it raw politics? You bet. Are we inclined to believe that Democrats in 2021 have not talked about trimming the board further and upping the salary/benefits? We did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

PARTING OF THE WAYS: For a while it seemed like Birminghamites Clinton Baller, who was elected to the Birmingham City Commission in 2019, and perennial city gadfly David Bloom, were friends for life. They had a shared antipathy for former mayor Patty Bordman, working to unseat her and even filing a federal lawsuit in 2019 on First Amendment grounds when she erroneously prevented them from speaking during public comment. They jointly BALLER worked to defeat the reconstruction of the N. Old Woodward parking deck – perhaps now regretted by some in the community considering the immense maintenance costs the old parking structure requires, BLOOM negating the ability to replace it in the future. But it appears their bromance is now finis – and Bloom isn’t taking it well. See, Bloom is running for one of three open commission seats in November, and DOWNTOWN

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Baller is NOT endorsing him, accurately noting in a newsletter he has emailed out to followers that Bloom “has a history of going off the rails.”

Bloom has a history of screaming “corruption” anytime people don’t agree with him, and even “flipped the bird” at a resident who was not copacetic at a commission meeting in 2007. When Baller took the time to give Bloom advance notice of the other candidates he was endorsing, Bloom responded in a text: “That implies to me that things are being offered to you to get on board with the other team. Pretty nasty stuff Clinton. It implies corruption….If the other candidates need your endorsement and help to win, they must be really scared of …me. And now they should be because I am totally pissed off and I will shout corruption from the rooftops if I have to. I don’t give a shit anymore.” Baller’s response: “… crazy comments like that is why I can’t support your candidacy.”

TARGET ON HIS BACK: Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who is running for the GOP gubernatorial title in next August’s primary, is learning his first major lesson in politics – the frontrunner gets tarred and feathered. After all, politics is a dirty business. First Craig announced he really did back a “thorough audit of election results,” in an opinion piece in The Detroit News on the same day as Trump followers gathered on the lawn of the state Capitol to call for an audit. Of course, Michigan has so far done 250 audits of 2020 election results, and they have shown absolutely no hanky panky, and that President Joe Biden won the state – by around 154,000 votes versus Trump’s win in 2016 of just under 11,000 ballots. While Craig’s comments were vague as to whether he was referring to 2020 or elections going forward, a top Republican said Craig was only referring to future elections – and he will never give credence to the Big Lie, even if it means he doesn’t win the end the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who met with Craig about a month ago.

“The fringe gets all the PR but there aren’t all that many of them,” said the source, who has long been a force in state politics. Of course, Craig has to get through that fringe in the primary to reach the general public in next November’s election. Another issue Craig is facing is word, brought forth

by Republican challenger Michael Brown, a Michigan State Police captain, that he was never a certified police officer when he served as chief of police in Detroit or Cincinnati. Records show he promised in 2013 he would voluntarily become certified, a promise which was not kept. The Michigan Democratic Party has gotten into the act, filing a FOIA to see if any of Craig’s activity while chief was illegal. Adding to his not-very-goodweek, Oakland County Michael Bouchard, a staunch Republican and loyal law enforcement officer, told Oakland Confidential that while he spoke to Craig as he was considering running, he has not yet made up his mind who has his vote, and has not endorsed Craig at this point.

COURTING OVERSEAS DONORS: Democrat Gary Peters, one of Michigan’s two U.S. Senators, took to the international skies in mid-October to raise party funds in Europe as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. While he worked the expatriate donor circuit, Peters headlined an October 13 invitation-only dinner in London at which the contributing levels went as high as $36,599, the maximum allowed from American citizens living abroad. GOP critics may want to hold off – late Arizona Senator John McCain worked the expat crowd across the big pond as as part of his 2008 PETERS presidential effort. American citizens living the life of an expatriate, a growing community with the globalization of the economy, can cast absentee ballots thanks to legislation in 1975 and 1986 and have become an important part of donations to U.S. candidates and political parties. It’s common nowadays for both the major political parties to have branches or committees in other nations, both to keep citizens abroad active in the election game and to collect political donations. Democrats Abroad has committees in 42 countries and boasts a membership from 196 countries. Not to be outdone, the GOP has Republicans Overseas, with organization tentacles in 50 countries.

2022 CONGRESSIONAL OUTLOOK: Miles Taylor, a member of the Department of Homeland Security from 2017-2019, and former Republican 30

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New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman (1994-1921) caused quite a stir with an October 11 op-ed piece in The New York Times urging members of their party to vote for Democrats in coming elections to counter the extremist drift of the GOP of late and to defend democracy that is now threatened. They specifically singled out Michigan Rep Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) as a candidate that must be kept with backing from Republican voters.

Slotkin, along with fellow House member TAYLOR Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills), was recently lumped in a Cook Political Report assessment of House incumbents most at risk come the 2020 election cycle, although it’s anyone’s guess what the newly fashioned political districts will look like WHITMAN for the coming year. The districts for both Slotkin and Stevens – as proposed by the new Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission – will prove to be game-changers, no matter which of several proposed maps get adopted before the end of the year.

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EXCHANGE RATE: With Trump’s “Big Lie” continuing to prevail among some GOP factions – that he really won the 2020 presidential election, but election officials stole the election from him – a fabrication that recounts and federal lawsuits have disproven time and again, some Michigan Republicans have been making moves to ensure they’ll get their way next time around, by hook or by crook. First, in early October, metro Detroit Republican Party officials moved to replace Monica Palmer as a GOP member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. The board is in charge of certifying election results, and while Palmer initially opposed certifying the 2020 election, even receiving a phone call from former President Trump, she eventually did. While Palmer, whose term came to an end in late October, was not renominated for another four-year term, much to her consternation. Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said some Republicans are trying to populate canvassing boards with “obstructionists.” Wayne County is part of a trend across the state of GOP party officials working to replace incumbent county election officials, which are typically four-member boards, with two local Republicans and two local Democrats, ahead of the 2022 election. According to an investigation by The Detroit News, in eight of Michigan’s 11 largest counties, Republicans have nominated new officials. Count among them, Macomb County and the county of Antrim, the hotbead of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

THE Q AMONG US: Life’s getting weird when you can’t identify your state legislative official with a plain old R or D. That’s the case for folks living Lake City, Michigan, northeast of Cadillac. Don’t know Lake City? It has a population of 836 people, and is known as the “Christmas Tree Capitol” because it produces millions of Christmas trees annually. Seems it might also have bred someone with an affinity for tin foil hats. Daire Rendon, state rep for the area, was voted in as a Republican, but has lately been seen wearing a “Q” RENDON button to committee meetings and on the House floor – as in QAnon. It’s not the first time she’s operated out of the mainstream. In December 2020, she was part of the group – along with Rep. Matt (Mad Dog) Maddock (R-Milford), husband of GOP state co-chair Meshawn Maddock – which brought a slate of alternate, or fake, electors for certification to the state Capitol but were refused entrance. The QAnon acolyte was also a failed plaintiff in an unsuccessful federal lawsuit to require state legislatures to certify results of presidential elections. When asked recently what the Q stood for, she responded to a reporter, “The Q is the highest level of security in the federal government.” If you say so.

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FACES

Alyssa Space lyssa Space remembers a high school chemistry teacher she had at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, where she lived during part of her childhood. “I actually struggled with chemistry, but I really liked what I was doing,” she said. “He was able to explain chemistry to me so I could see it in my head.”

Now as the founder and CEO of Detroit-based ForHerCosmetics, Space aims to diversify the beauty industry and inspire the next generation of chemists and entrepreneurs. At her MySpaceLaboratories, she formulates all-natural lip gloss, lipstick, body shimmer, eyeshadow and highlighter made with vegan and cruelty-free ingredients.

The company hopes to empower women of all shades and backgrounds, while offering cleaner and safer beauty products. In addition, Space created a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program that teaches the chemistry behind cosmetics to retain more young girls in STEM-related fields.

ForHer has partnered with the YMCA, the Rhonda Walker Foundation, Michigan Science Center, MSU College of Natural Science and several Detroit Public Schools Community District schools to expand these efforts.

Space also created ForHerAcademy for entrepreneurs of all ages.

Through eBooks and programming, she shares every aspect from marketing to distribution. Lastly, she added ForHerLashes that offers cruelty-free lash strips, lash services and a lash growth serum.

Space, who recently moved to Detroit from Bloomfield, earned a BS in Chemistry from Michigan State University, but it was her mom who got her started on the road to success. “My mother was a serial entrepreneur. She always had a side hustle outside of her 9-to-5,” said Space. “I had an entrepreneurial spirit since I was young and I always liked to have my own money.”

She even started a dog-walking business with her brother back in middle school. After college, Space worked for Pfizer as a quality assurance chemist, where she got a taste for the corporate world and gained experience, for which she remains grateful.

When the pandemic hit, the entrepreneur had to get creative. Space added hand sanitizer to her lineup, increased her workforce and moved to an online platform for products through her website and for programming as her in-person interaction with students switched to Zoom. “As a small business owner, it’s really important to be flexible and be able to pivot,” she said.

As her business continues to grow, retailers like Amazon, Macy’s and Target are among her goals for expansion.

“I want to be a household name and have a national program for students,” Space said. “I want to show them the diversity of STEM. You don’t have to be a traditional doctor or nurse. There are other routes like architects or car designers.”

Being her own boss means she’s constantly learning and facing ups and downs. “The challenge is that I’m always going, figuring out the next move and what direction to take the business, employees and contractors in,” she said. “So, I’m always on my toes. You have to keep up with the competition and the industry as it changes and customer expectations.”

On the flip side, she has more flexibility. “I’m not a millionaire yet, but success is being able to have the freedom and the ability to move more fluidly through my life,” said Space. “I can go out of town with family or support someone. I have the ability to make my own schedule; it can be what you want it to be.”

A

Story: Jeanine Matlow

Photo: Laurie Tennent

RISING A CITY ON THE EDGE

O

BY LISA BRODY

ne hundred years ago, riding north up Woodward Avenue from Detroit to Pontiac was a voyage from one successful urban landscape to another. Set alongside the Clinton River, Pontiac was more than just the county seat of Oakland County, but a capital of the new and thriving automobile industry. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Pontiac grew and thrived as tens of thousands of autoworkers moved to the city from the American South to work in its General Motors auto assembly plants such as at Pontiac Assembly, and African Americans traveled north in the Great Migration seeking work, education, the opportunity to vote and escape oppression from Jim Crow laws of the South. Surrounding areas, including

PHOTO: JACK GRAMMER

PHOENIX AT THE TIPPING POINT

Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township and Birmingham also benefitted and grew as luxury areas where executives and management sought to settle with their families.

Fast forward to 2021, and Pontiac is struggling to reinvent itself after decades of poverty and decay. As quickly as Pontiac shot to stardom so too did its urban light dim, a victim of changing ideas of urban living and changing fortunes to the American automobile industry.

Just as Detroit has begun to reinvent itself in the last decade or so as a new model of urban renewal, so too is Pontiac working to develop itself as a new and vibrant city, one where young, creative talent will want to live, an affordable option for those who may have been priced out of neighboring towns, and where several large corporations, from Amazon to United Wholesale Mortgage, have seized upon the opportunity to relocate. The question is whether this is Pontiac's time to rise from its ashes, or if it will continue to smolder.

As of the 2020 census results, Pontiac has 61,606 residents, a slight increase from 2010’s census of 59,515 residents. It reached its highest population in 1970, with 85,279 residents.

Demographically, the city is more than half Black, with African Americans accounting for 52.1 percent of the population. Whites make up 34.4 percent of the city; Hispanics are 16.5 percent; two or more races, 4.5 percent; Asian, 2.3 percent; other races, 6.2 percent.

The average household income in 2021 is $46,015, with a poverty rate of almost 31 percent. The median age of a Pontiac resident is 32 years of age – 30.6 years old for a male; 33.5 years for a female, according to World Population Review.

In terms of its downtown area, “Currently, the downtown retail availability rate is 17 percent, with an occupancy rate of 83 percent,” said Jared Friedman, managing director, Friedman Real Estate. ontiac was founded in 1818, the second EuropeanAmerican organized settlement in Michigan in close proximity to Detroit, after Dearborn. It was famously named after the Native American Indian Chief Pontiac, a war chief of the Ottawa people, who had lived in the area prior to the Europeans. Two years after its founding, Pontiac was designated as the county seat of Oakland County.

The Pontiac Company, which consisted of 15 members, was chaired by Solomon Sibley of Detroit, who along with Stephen Mack and Shubael Conant, developed the town, and Sibleys and his wife, Sarah, largely financed the construction of the first buildings.

In 1837, the same year Michigan became a state, Pontiac became a village, and in 1861 was incorporated by the legislature as a city.

Situated on the Clinton River in a county which features an abundance of lakes, Pontiac was the first inland settlement, according to George Newman Fuller in Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan. The river provided transportation, and later power, as the city attracted professionals, including doctors and lawyers, and became an early center of industry, with woolen and grist mills making use of the Clinton River as a power source.

As the century turned, several carriage manufacturing companies which had established themselves evolved into the new automobile industry, and Pontiac soon became a capital of this new business. The city was best known for its General Motors automobile manufacturing plants of the 20th century, which became the basis of Pontiac’s economy and contributed to the wealth of the entire region. Pontiac’s plants included Fisher Body, Pontiac East Assembly, also known as Truck Coach/Bus, which manufactured GMC products, and the Pontiac Motor Division.

Pontiac grew as the industry grew – and suffered as it did.

The buildup of the defense industry and conversion of the auto industry during World War II were great for the city, as were the first postwar years, but as vets benefitted for the GI Bills and developers built suburbs and people began commuting to work, Pontiac, like other larger cities, lost residents to newer housing.

Businesses left following those residents and vacancies in the city’s downtown became legendary.

“People were leaving core cities and going to easier places they could park, places closer to their homes. Cities were declining. Newer things were being built in suburbia. It was a time of prosperity, so people had cars and roads were new and good,” explained Mark Nickita, an urban planner and architect who is president of Archive DS, as well as an outgoing city commissioner in Birmingham. “Office parks, shopping centers, subdivisions were all considered new and preferable and the place you wanted to be, and cities were the old the thing, the places to leave.”

Leaders of the city and developers attempted to staunch the outward flow, with the creation of a new football stadium for the Detroit Lions, which was first conceived of in 1965 in a push by city leaders and resident and developer C. Don Davidson, which ultimately became known as the Pontiac Metropolitan

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Silverdome, an 80,000 seat stadium which began construction in 1972 and opened in 1975.

While it didn’t drive significant urban renewal, the Silverdome became a sports and entertainment landmark for decades, until the next new best thing came – with the Lions eventually moving back to Detroit, to Ford Field, in 2002, and the Silverdome became an albatross. It was sold for $583,000 – after being built for $56 million – at a real estate auction in 2009 by Canadian company Triple Investment Group. They attempted to sell the site for $30 million, without success.

While Mayor Deirdre Waterman hailed the purchase by Triple Investment Group at the time, hoping the city would see development dollars, eventually Pontiac had to sue the company, finally reching an agreement to raze the site.

In 2019, Amazon was announced as the tenant of a new $250 million fulfillment center for the property, which opened in September 2021, employing over 1,200.

Another ‘70s idea which was an attempt at urban renewal was known as the “Pontiac Plan,” to bring office, residential and a transportation center in an attempt to revitalize the city which was struggling with a declining population and loss of jobs. The initial phase of this plan included the Phoenix Center, three office buildings, a transportation center and a high rise residential complex. Initial renderings for the plan were done by developer Davidson and his University of Detroit architecture class. The goal was to benefit the city and the entire region around it, according to Davidson’s blog, to be built in three phases – although only part of phase one was eventually built, the multilevel parking structure, three office buildings, a senior apartment high rise and the transportation center. This development came to be known as the Pontiac Phoenix Center.

Other developments on the site, such as an art museum, performance center, an 8,000 seat sports arena, restaurants and a convalescent center for the elderly, hotel, commercial shopping center and park plaza, remained only as drawings.

“The remaining phases of the Plan would never come to fruition due to, not only bureaucracy and financial restraints incurred by the early 80’s recession, but primarily due to incompetence and a lack of vision from past and present city leaders,” Davidson wrote on his blog. Davidson died in 1987, with his dream of a revitalized Pontiac unrealized. hile part of the Pontiac Plan, the Phoenix Center, was built, it ended up not being the catalyst for growth and development for the city. If anything, the parking deck became a multi-million white elephant and for over a decade, it sat empty as city finances crumbled, debt grew and Pontiac governance was overtaken by an emergency manager appointed by the governor.

“As downtowns were dying, there was this cycle of ‘big ideas,’” said Nickita. “Planners were creating grand catalysts – ‘phoenix’ or ‘renaissance’ for cities. So Detroit got the Renaissance Center, Pontiac got the Phoenix Center. In Birmingham, we got the 555 Building, a brand new gleaming complex from the messy area of the city with cheap land. It was the great new thing. It would ‘rise from the ashes’ and create a new injection of money and excitement and stop the economic slide.

“There was a lot of hope and excitement and rethinking, believing it was a fresh view,” Nickita continued. “But all of these things had issues because they deviated from core issues of the city.”

He said the original plan for the Phoenix Center was centered around the belief that the city was antiquated. “The big big plan for the Phoenix Center was a parking deck with everyone rising above the city,” he said. “All the pedestrians, residents and business were to be above the city. The parking decks have two spots designed to hold buildings – there are foundations set for four buildings, not two – to take over the entire downtown with the Phoenix Center.”

While it hurt Pontiac’s fortune’s for a generation, from a planner and urbanist’s point of view, Nickita is glad it didn’t work. He is now working with Dirt Realty, which bought the Ottawa Towers on the site, adjacent developable land as well as

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the parking deck portion of the parking structure. One tower is currently 85 percent leased, while the other tower is still vacant.

The city retains ownership of the top deck.

“Why it didn’t work from my perspective as an urbanist is because cities thrive on human perspective, connected to human scale and the way we live, work and play – and we’ve been doing that for millennium. Why do we think cities built in the 1800s are still great? Because they’re built on community and interaction.

Cities that are time-tested, they work time and again, there’s history. It’s great to be innovative, but you need to understand how things work for many years. You can have innovative ideas but there’s an adherence to these fundamental principles of design. Why are we reinventing the wheel when we know the wheel works so well?”

Nickita takes it further. “So why did we go to Pontiac and build this parking structure and line it with parking and lift everything away from the streets, away from the pedestrians, everything else in the city – 50-feet in the air?” he asked. “It was to separate people from their cars, an idea of the ‘60s and ‘70s, instead of having them work comfortably together, interacting.”

Pontiac has what he calls “good bones” – “a great downtown grid, blocks and street grid, a good pedestrian network, a lot of civic buildings, a lot of towers that are gorgeous, with art deco architecture. It has a lot of very good things going for it. Its physical condition is very good. Pontiac’s housing stock has a lot going for it. There are lot of traditional homes in some good neighborhoods, some are in great shape, others in foundational that could be improved. The location is incredible, in the center of the entire county, located convenient to Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills. It has great proximity to freeways and streets and is accessible to city buildings.

“Frankly, few cities in the metro area have the bones of Pontiac that have already been there.”

Nickita believes the key to turn Pontiac into a city people want to come to is “you need the private sector and the public sector to start rowing in the same direction. Historically, it has been one side or the other rowing, but not at the same time,” he said. arolyn Loh, professor of urban planning at Wayne State University agrees, noting that one of Pontiac’s biggest challenges is “the hollowing out of the city government that has happened over long periods of time, exacerbated by the periods of emergency management. In Pontiac, one of the examples of the legacy of that is they cut almost all of their parks and recreation departments. A community group has raised money to fix up their parks. That is where their money is coming from because the city didn’t have the money.

“So if you offer people the choice of where they can live, if you have a city that can’t fulfill the mandates of city government, it’s a less desirable place to live,” Loh said. “The city government has to really focus so people see and feel the benefits and improvements – so the grass is mowed at the playgrounds, no glass is broken. It lays the foundation for families to move into neighborhoods. It’s a longer term aspiration.

“I don’t want to discount the people who are there and are heavily invested. It really matters that they’re there, but with a community that’s lost population, it’s imperative that it grows,” Loh said.

Former Governor Jennifer Granholm first placed Pontiac under an emergency manager in 2009, and former Governor Rick Snyder appointed two more, in further attempts to stabilize the city’s rocky finances. The city finally exited emergency management in 2016, having cut total spending from $55.2 million in 2008 to $28.2 million in 2015.

Among the many cuts made was in public safety, outsourcing its police and fire to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and Waterford Fire Department, respectively, to save money. Public safety expenses were cut from $30 million in 2008 to $19.7 million in 2015. The contract with Oakland County Sheriff saves the city $2.2 million a year, and the fire

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department contract saves the city $3.6 annually. The city also sold its sewage plant to Oakland County for $55 million.

Another benefit of the sheriff’s department contract was a significant increase in safety and a decrease in the crime rate.

“We took over just over 10 years ago. Initially there was a lot of hesitation and resistance,” recalled Oakland Sheriff Michael Bouchard. “There were some who said we would be an invading police force – and some of our biggest opponents are now our biggest supporters.

“When we assumed operations, 911 response times were about 80 minutes,” Bouchard said. “Now it’s six minutes. Violent crimes are down dramatically across the board. There’s been a huge growth in the business community, and many tell us it’s in no small part to people feeling safer. There’s United Wholesale Mortgage, Amazon, Williams International, M-1 Concourse – tons of employees and investment. All those employees need to feel safe and protected. Home values are rising for the first time in decades. People want to live in Pontiac. With my next budget, early next year, I’m planning on adding new deputies on foot patrol downtown.

“When we took over operations, Pontiac was in the top 10 most dangerous cities in American. Now, it’s not even in the top 100.” ouchard said the sheriff’s department is working well with Pontiac’s administration, both the mayor’s office and the city council – both of which will see turnover come November 2, election day, with former state Rep. Tim Greimel facing off against Alexandria T. Riley for mayor, as incumbent Deirdre Waterman failed to garner enough votes in the August primary to move forward for a third term. Waterman did not respond to numerous requests for an interview.

Greimel, who represented Pontiac for six years as a state representative and another six years as a county commissioner, said, “I was very proud of the resources I was able to bring to the community for 12 years. But there is a lot of important work to still do, from improving city services, youth recreation and enrichment services, and trying to bring investments and jobs to Pontiac.”

If elected in November, a major focus, he said, will be to translate some of the increased tax revenue from the increase in employees from major companies such as Amazon, Williams International and United Wholesale Mortgage, into an increase in city services, job training and apprenticeships for city residents.

“Voters actually approved a youth recreational millage three years ago, for $1 million a year,” Greimel said. “So the city has collected $3 million, but we have nothing to show for it so far – and it’s inexcusable,” blaming constant bickering between Waterman and Pontiac City Council which has led to gridlock that has ground the city to a halt.

Another example of his – and many others – frustration is medical marijuana licenses which voters approved in August 2018 – but which city hall has yet to issue a single license.

Many developers bought up properties in anticipation of opening marijuana dispensaries, and there has been total stagnation on the part of both city council and the mayor, with Waterman yet to appoint an administration appeals board, a requirement before licenses can be issued. Recreational marijuana has not yet been approved in Pontiac.

A new wrinkle arose recently when Waterman announced that the city clerk had hired an attorney to assist in the process, but it’s the same attorney some applicants had hired, setting the entire process back to the starting gate.

“People in the city are aware of the dysfunction at city hall and want competent, qualified elected governance, and want the mayor and city council collaborating, and we haven’t seen that in many years in Pontiac,” Greimel said. He believes his background in government makes him that person.

He also believes his long-term connection with county, state and federal government will benefit Pontiac in the short-term and long-term.

Oakland County Executive David Coulter believes the signs

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are there for Pontiac to benefit – partially because if President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda passes, “The amount of federal funds coming to our state, our county, is unprecedented, maybe since the New Deal. So if we have the right plans, then we have the resources to make the right investments. Previously, Pontiac was in receivership, and there just wasn’t the resources. We can hopefully leverage that appropriately to make plans happen.

There’s a real opportunity.”

He, like others, sees the progress being made. Already, he noted, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) employs about 9,000 people at a renovated building on South Boulevard.

“UWM moved its headquarters to Pontiac in 2017 because it was rapidly outgrowing its previous building in Troy. As a company, we wanted to find a campus that we could grow into and make a positive impact. Since moving, UWM has grown from 2,100 to now 9,000 people, and is continuously finding ways to stay involved and help the local Pontiac community and beyond,” said Laura Lawson, UWM’s chief people officer. “By having all 9,000 of us in the office, our team members are also frequent customers at different restaurants and shops throughout the community, further supporting the growth of local businesses.”

Coulter is also excited about M1 Concourse, where events like the recent MotorBella is a model for future auto shows.

“The folks behind MI Concourse, they’re business people, just like Mat Ishbia (UWM), just like Amazon – they make decisions without the passion of history but only for financial reasons,” Coulter said. “We’re seeing developers making financial decisions to choose Pontiac. M1 Concourse is on an old factory site. I feel like I’m on the mountaintop. It’s the old Pontiac.

Those old factories were outdated, much like Pontiac itself – it’s reinventing itself, like Pontiac, like many Rust Belt cities must.”

Critical for the success of a resurgent Pontiac is a vital downtown, safe, stable neighborhoods and a better school district. All three are in progress.

Alan Bishop, who created and owned Mr. Alan’s Shoes for decades before selling the chain and retiring from the business five years ago, turned his talents and interests to Pontiac instead of finding a lounge chair in the sun. He originally invested in residential homes, including a historic 100-year-old renovated home on Ottawa for himself.

“I originally began investing in homes to improve the neighborhoods and improve the property values in the surrounding neighborhoods,” Bishop said. In the five years since he began, “these properties have tripled in property values. I’m renting them out, doing land contracts so people can have home ownership.”

He has also purchased several downtown properties, but the big kahuna is his recent purchase of the former Oakland Press building in February of this year.

“I was a paper boy for them,” he recalled. “When I bought the building, I was working with (developer and builder) Robertson Brothers to do townhouses on the property, but we couldn’t get enough property around it to be cost effective and make it work for their numbers. I put it up for lease – it’s 75,000 square feet. There are many offers for purchase or to divide it up.”

Bishop would like to renovate it as mixed use commercial/residential, although he does have an offer from a company who would like to buy it. urrently, he is leasing three sites, one to a new creative company he has started with partners, called M.A.D.E. Partners, which he said will be “Pontiac’s version of Shark Tank.” He has leased another site to a business his daughter, Stacy Bishop, has started, a yoga and wellness studio called Bloom Wellness, and an office for a new Pontiac Farmers Market.

“I landed in Pontiac because I loved the eclectic, unique, creative feel of the people,” Stacy said, who had worked with her father for 20 years at Mr. Alan’s.

In addition to the yoga and wellness space, over the last six months, Stacy co-founded the Pontiac Farmers Market with

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Max Maine in April, “with a mission to be more than a standard farmers market, but to be able to provide educational, nutritional food access, because Pontiac is a food desert,” she said.

This season, the farmers market did a series of pop ups at various locations, with the final one scheduled for Halloween weekend at the Oakland County Historical Society Museum.

They are working on funding sources for a permanent location for 2022.

Maine, a partner in Anytime Fitness gym in Pontiac, also owns a juice bar and food truck, and Stacy said she and Maine hit it off when they met, and “we came together to try to figure out what to do in the pandemic, because Pontiac is the wild west.”

They first produced virtual wellness videos, then pivoted to the idea of the farmers market when they met Pontiac resident Vernita Duvall, who “opened her house and kitchen for us to do virtual cooking classes. Now she’s on our farmers market board because she believed in us so much.” All three are involved with M.A.D.E., “to help small local retailers grow in collective spaces.

We will be able to help market them.”

As a small scale creative merchandiser, Stacy Bishop believes that if the red tape of city hall can be dissolved, “and more people can work together as a community and grow organically, then Pontiac can really thrive. I have seen so many creative, quality, unique organizers and individuals, that if we could come together and grow Pontiac, then it’s a no-brainer.” he Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership, founded by the Pontiac Founders Collaborative through the Community Foundation, has brought together stakeholders to look at these social and economic challenges and began meeting with community members about a year-and-a-half ago, as the pandemic was just about to begin.

“Pontiac has a history of operating in silos,” said Dr. Samino Scott, executive director of Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership, noting that at its beginning, groups were not working together. “Now we have landed on a series of outcomes that we think will improve the lives of those in Pontiac. We have two focuses: one, thriving neighborhoods; and two, cradle-tocareer education. We have been intentional about making sure our outcomes are aligned.”

The focus around thriving neighborhoods centers around safety, blight and public spaces. “When we talk about stable housing, one-third of Pontiac resident are impoverished or below the poverty line. We want to make sure those who are homeowners have grants for maintenance,” especially elderly, so homes do not go into blight situation.

He said stable housing also factors in safety, walkability and access to friends, shopping, restaurants and fresh food.

Scott said the second priority, education, is critical because, “It wasn’t just our city that hit rock bottom – our schools had hit rock bottom.”

Pontiac Superintendent Kelley Williams, who has been with the district since she began as an elementary teacher in 1995, became interim superintendent in 2013 – and then learned the district had a $52 million deficit. “We had to develop a plan to say how we were going to eliminate the $52 million deficit,” she said, noting it was a “very dysfunctional board, which had gone through eight superintendents in seven years. Once I began with Lansing, they said you need to stick around. We did not have an emergency manager, but a consultant with the state working alongside the district as a liaison. I had to get out into the community and gain their trust and explain the plan because it was essential we pass a bond – and Pontiac Schools had not passed a bond or sinking fund in 30 years.”

After three tries, Williams succeeded. The district passed a sinking fund of $30 million in March 2016, and then was able to pass $147 million bond in March 2020.

Williams turned the balance sheet from $52 million in the hole to a $7.9 million fund balance. “We have been able to add programs,” she said.

Among the programs are scholarships for graduates, including to Harvard University and Alabama State University, whose

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“We’re working to bring the community back together through our schools because we recognize we’re the cornerstone,” she said.

They’re also an opportunity for growth, for as schools improve and public safety remains strong, those who may have been priced out of the residential housing market in neighboring communities will have the opportunity to choose Pontiac.

Next, it’s to create a thriving, bustling downtown.

One long-term obstacle is getting clearance. Timothy Russell Hodge, assistant professor of economics at Oakland University noted that “when Pontiac became a place people stopped going to, in the 1970s, I-75 was completed. Instead of people going to Pontiac, people were going around Pontiac. I-75 literally goes from Troy to Clarkston, right around Pontiac.

“It’s not a unique story. Most urban areas that struggled had highways cut through or off their communities,” he said.

“Infrastructure helped people avoid the city.”

Another issue was a rerouting of Woodward in a loop that to this day confuses people with various one ways.

County Executive Coulter announced to Downtown Newsmagazine that “the city and county have been talking with MDOT so (Woodward) is not just a road to avoid but to get into Pontiac.

“MDOT has committed $20 million to redesign the Woodward Loop,” he said. “It is slated to be in the 2023 construction season, to make it two-way traffic with more and easier ingress and egress into downtown 21st century technology. I’m thrilled. I think that could be transformational for Pontiac.”

“I’m more excited now than three years ago because I know change is going to come, and it will be business-friendly and community-oriented,” Alan Bishop said. “No question in my mind Pontiac can be a magnet in the community. I just know from the people. It still appears a destitute community, but it’s all temporary.

There’s such a shortage of places to live. As soon as apartments are developed, they lease them. There are apartments and houses coming.

“The first people in line are the winners.”

current college presidents are natives of Pontiac. At Harvard University, President Lawrence Bacow has established a scholarship where if a household makes less than $34,000 a year, the student maintains a 3.0 GPA and meets the required SAT score they will receive a four-year scholarship. Alabama State Univeristy President Quinton Ross established a scholarship with the same requirement, but the student must maintain a 2.7 GPA. Locally, Oakland University in Rochester Hills offers the Wade H. McCree Incentive Scholarship Program, for students who maintain a 3.0 GPA and have at least a 1060 composite SAT score, will receive a four-year scholarship.

The Pontiac Promise Zone Scholarship offers a variety of scholarship opportunities to Michigan schools if students meet required criteria.

“These are excellent opportunities,” Williams said. “These are really transformative opportunities. Several students have taken advantage of the Oakland University opportunity, and two have taken advantage of the Harvard opportunity. The Alabama scholarship is fairly new.”

Buildings built in the ‘50s are finally being renovated, Scott said.

Of special pride to him, a product of Pontiac schools and a resident, is that in October, for Pontiac High School’s homecoming, for the first time in over 30 years, a Pontiac high school team was able to play on their home field. “For over 30 years, Pontiac schools played all their home games at Wisner Stadium, miles away from their home campus.”

It was a $5.1 million upgrade to the stadium.

Williams said slowly but surely the district is seeing their census numbers increase to those from prior to the pandemic. In addition, “there are absolutely some of the creative, millennial parents who are moving their families into Pontiac. Those are definitely beginning to increase.”

Williams understands the pivotal role schools play within neighborhoods, and has made sure all of the school playgrounds and basketball courts have been upgraded.

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FACES

Craig LaBan raig LaBan, restaurant critic (James Beard award finalist) and columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1998, didn’t intend to write about food for a living. While teenage summer jobs included making pizzas at Little Caesar’s and as a busboy at Phoenicia, the Bloomfield Hills native and Cranbrook alum’s early passion was music.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, LaBan moved to Paris.

He had spent time abroad as an undergraduate, and returned hoping to be a jazz promoter. While freelancing as a music writer, LaBan got a job that would ultimately shape his career trajectory, that of a translator at a bilingual culinary school. In exchange for translating and cleaning, LaBan earned his culinary degree. While he says that he “tried cooking and did enjoy that, I really wanted to write about it.”

When he returned to the U.S. in the early 1990s, LaBan used his gastronomical knowledge to carve out a niche as a food writer in Boston.

He then honed his craft at Columbia University’s Journalism School, and from there, spent time as a general reporter. He had been working in New Orleans at the Times-Picayune for only a few months when their restaurant critic left. The job was his.

“Writing in a city like New Orleans with an incredible food tradition and a reading public that is so knowledgeable about its institutions was an incredible, magical opportunity for me.”

Shortly thereafter, the longtime restaurant critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer retired, and LaBan has been documenting Philadelphia’s – and the nation’s – evolving food scene ever since.

“There wasn’t the same sort of mass, pop interest in the food world as there is now,” LaBan recalls, citing the introduction of the Food Network

C

as a seismic shift in the cultural perception of the cooking world. Social media has made it possible for everyone to be an amateur food critic, and LaBan laughs that he is no longer alone in taking pictures of all of the meals he eats, a necessity for someone who (pre-COVID) ate out approximately 350 meals a year.

“It’s sort of democratized food culture. It’s no longer just an elite experience of going out to eat fancy French cuisine with white linen cloths and rich, meaty sauces. We’ve experienced a cultural awakening and a diversification of what it means now to go out to eat. In the 2000s, eating out became entertainment. In the last decade, it’s become what those of us who live in cities with thriving dining scenes do. It’s just how we live.

Neighborhood restaurants express our communities, and they have become public spaces in a way that 25 years ago they weren’t so much.”

For the past year and a half, reviews and rankings have taken a backseat, as LaBan’s focus has instead turned to the importance of the restaurant industry – economically, culturally, and socially. He, however, prefers to remain anonymous.

“It’s not really about the cloak and dagger. It’s just one tool in my toolbox,” he says, remembering that “there have been pictures of me in kitchens since before the Internet. Some very famous chefs hired private detectives to take pictures of me, and those pictures were faxed to chefs in Philadelphia from New Orleans.”

For him, though, “the story’s not about me.” It’s about “really covering the world and the places we live through the lens of what we eat, where we eat, and who we eat with.”

Story: Hillary Brody Anchill

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Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s

enjamin Braddock, the protagonist in the classic 1967 movie The Graduate, played by a young Dustin Hoffman, is led to the poolside for a private conversation by Mr. McGuire during his college graduation party to discuss his future. The middle-aged man, putting his arm around Benjamin, had one word of advice: plastics.

Mr. McGuire was, unfortunately, a little too accurate in his prediction.

Plastic, that flexible, moldable, and infinitely useful product that was ironically first hailed by conservationists as a consumer goods material substitute for ivory and then as a lighter, cheaper substance that could save our forests from becoming shopping bags, are today in nearly every product we purchase.

We've learned the most harmful and the fastest accumulating plastic has become our consumer addiction to single-use plastics found in wrappers, water bottles, and iced coffee cups. According to the Sierra Club, single-use plastics account for 50 percent of the 380 million tons of plastic waste we throw away every year. Used sometimes for only a few minutes, they are not as recyclable as we have been led to believe and have the staying power of decades. Only about nine percent of what we separate from our garbage is in actuality recycled. The rest winds up in conventional landfills or is exported to Asian countries like Thailand and then burned.

While the environmental problem of plastics has been recognized for decades, scientists are now realizing that plastic waste has become a problem in the earth’s atmosphere.

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BY STACY GITTLEMAN

According to data from the United Nations, there have been 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic produced since 1950. By 2050, the mass of plastic in the oceans will outweigh that of fish. Instead of disintegrating back into a natural state, these materials, made from fossil fuels, break into ever smaller parts that are becoming the planet’s least understood pollutant in terms of how it impacts organisms and human health: microplastics.

A

ccording to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), microplastics are any bits of plastic as small as five millimeters in size – about the footprint of a pencil eraser. Although not yet widely quantified in research, the substances’ even smaller relative, nano plastics, can be as tiny as one micron and are extremely difficult to detect without advanced scientific equipment.

Microplastics come in two categories: primary sources such as tiny pellets or beads once found in personal care products or craft or decorative glitter strewn on a tablecloth to add sparkle at a party, or secondary sources such as the shreds of plastic torn off from a strewn grocery bag or water bottle. Over time, bits of these improperly disposed plastics that we see strewn along the side of a road, or tangled in a tree, make it into a body of water. Waves and currents break down the plastic into ever smaller parts that are ingested by fish and wildlife and ultimately humans.

It has been widely studied that plastic has infiltrated the planet’s rivers, lakes, and oceans. Environmentalists have warned us all about plastic islands the size of Texas floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. According to a 2018 European study, most of the seabeds all over the world and in the Mediterranean Sea are made of plastic.

Some microplastics are so small and light that they adhere to salt and other sea minerals and get swept up by wind currents. So in only the last five years, scientists have begun to turn their research efforts to begin to examine the most remote places around the globe, and are discovering that microplastics are being carried great distances, over continents via wind currents. There are now discoveries of microplastics massing in Arctic ice, the Sahara Desert and falling as snow on European mountain tops.

In one 2019 study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists over a five-month period traced and discovered the presence of microplastics on the peaks of the Pyrenees Mountain Range between France and Spain 100 kilometers from the nearest city. In their samples, the authors each day found remnants of single-use plastics.

They determined that daily, an average of 365 plastic particles sifted down from above into the square meter surface of the collection device. If comparable quantities of airborne microplastic fall across the rest of the country, the researchers estimate roughly 2,000 tons of microplastic cover France each year.

In another 2019 study, Italian researchers from the University of Milan reported that a sample from an alpine glacier, containing 131 to 162 million pieces of microplastics, was carried and deposited by the wind and was at the same level of concentration as what has been found in sediments in the oceans or coastal plains.

A July 2020 study from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research estimated that about 10 million metric tons of microplastics are emitted into the atmosphere each year, which is similar to the annual amount of black carbon emissions.

An April 2020 study by researchers from China and Scotland discovered that microplastics coming in a variety of shapes and polymers were falling over European and Asian skies regardless of the weather. The abundance of particles in the air, per square meter per day included: 118 (Paris) and 275 (Hamburg); in Dongguan, China, the number of particles ranged from 175 to 313 particles. This study also revealed that the air quality in terms of microplastic levels in these cities was even worse indoors than outdoors. Samples of indoor microplastics were likely sourced from fibers shed from carpeting, furniture, and synthetic clothing.

In the United States, the few studies conducted on atmospheric microplastic distribution that have garnered attention have been under the leadership of Janice Brahney, associate professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University.

In her June 2020 paper, Plastic Rain on Protected Areas of the United States, Brahney and her team of researchers collected samples in 11 national park locations in the western United States over 14 months. They analyzed the number of particulates of microplastics from wet samples of rain and snow and dry samples of soil. The researchers estimated that between 1,000 and 4,000 tons fall into these supposedly pristine regions each year – equal to 100 to 400 million plastic bottles.

Realizing that the title of her paper may have been a bit misleading, Brahney clarified that plastic is constantly falling out of the sky even without precipitation.

“Actually, more plastic falls from the sky when it is sunny outside,” noted Brahney. “When it rains, the rain scrubs the atmosphere below the cloud level, but we also detected plastics moving much higher in the atmosphere, above the clouds, so there is plastic falling from the sky pretty much all the time.”

In April 2021, she was the lead author of Constraining the Atmospheric Limb Of The Plastic Cycle, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Brahney and her research team examined how plastic fragments between five millimeters and one micron (to put a micron’s size in perspective, the thickness of one strand of human hair is 70 microns) – are emitted into the atmosphere and end up traveling around the globe in a process akin to the water cycle. They concluded that most atmospheric plastics are derived from legacy plastic production that over the decades has accumulated in the environment. Roads and rural stretches of highway dominated the sources of microplastics (84 percent), followed by oceans (11 percent), and agricultural fields and dust emissions (five percent).

At the current rate of a four percent increase of plastic production per year, the researchers concluded that understanding the sources and consequences of microplastics in the atmosphere should be a priority.

“If you’ve ever been traveling on a dusty road or highway, and that car in front of you kicks up a plume of dust off their tires – some of that dust going into the air could be microplastics,” Brahney said.

“We did not find cars in cities churning up a lot of microplastics. because there tends to be a lot of buildings and disruption of wind flow and so there’s not a lot of wind energy to move plastics high enough into the atmosphere to be transported a long distance. Our sampling sites were in very remote parts of the country far away from any large city.”

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rahney said while microplastics that fall with rain or snow are sourced locally, those that fall with no precipitation may have drifted as far away as another continent, propelled by the oceans and then wind currents.

Brahney explained that microplastics are not part of the water cycle because they cannot evaporate into a gaseous state. However, the same churning of the seas that aerosolizes sea salt also does the same to ocean microplastics.

“When you have a lot of wave action that moves tiny liquid droplets into the atmosphere and then dries out, whatever was in that droplet – be it salt or a microplastic – becomes a particulate in the air.

That is the mechanism that is producing microplastics from a marine environment,” she explained.

Brahney concluded that plastics are creating their own lifecycle in their permanence in the environment. Though she said there have been researchers who have hypothesized that microplastics were becoming so tiny that they could become aerosolized, studies, such as the ones coming from her lab, are just now trying to catch up with those predictions.

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“Most countries measure atmospheric particulates that are smaller than 10 microns and stop there because that particle size is harmful to human health,” she said. “It is what creates that visible haze. But most of what’s floating around in the atmosphere is much larger than 10 microns and that is not monitored anywhere but in the United States right now, and that monitoring is happening through my lab, and only in discreet locations and finite amounts of time.”

T

imothy Hoellein, associate professor, Department of Biology at Loyola University Chicago, studies the uptake of microplastics in aquatic food webs in urban settings and how microplastics are processed through raw sewerage wastewater treatment plants in and around Chicago. Though study samples show that 99 percent of the microplastics found in raw sewerage are filtered out of the wastewater effluent, the captured microplastics in that sewerage sludge either end up in a landfill or are spread on agricultural fields as biosolids for growing crops. Unlike other pollutants such as mercury or lead, the many kinds of plastics in our waste are not registered as a regulated pollutant, so plastics can go out into the waste stream, and the wastewater treatment plants are still operating under the law without committing any environmental violations.

Backing up Hoellein’s findings is a 2020 report from the Sierra Club, which estimates that each year, 107,000 to 730,000 tons of microplastics are dumped onto agricultural soils in the U.S. and Europe. From that statistic, 21,249 tons of microplastics are released to U.S. agricultural lands from sewage sludge annually. The Sierra Club goes on to state that the physical and chemical properties of microplastics can potentially change the soil composition, disrupt natural microbial communities, damage the digestive tracts of earthworms, alter water holding capacity, and other properties that influence plant development.

“A wastewater treatment plant that is releasing microplastics is not doing anything wrong,” said Hoellein. “While it is true that wastewater systems retain a lot of that microplastic from initially going into the wastewater effluent going back into our streams and waterways, where that filtered microplastic goes, we don’t know. It goes into a landfill or is spread on a field as fertilizer, it goes back into the environment anyway. It’s not a closed loop system. “ Hoellein said though it may seem like a small dent, individuals can lessen the impact of microplastics by making sure there is less litter along roadsides or coastal areas, which can prevent bottles and bags from breaking down and floating off into the air.

“Picking up litter really makes an impact. But ultimately, we need to think longer term about the lifecycle of the plastic materials that we produce and the pathways these plastics get into our waste streams and ultimately the atmosphere.”

Hoellein said he is encouraged when scientific discoveries lead the public to a change in policy such as the implementation of the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015. Under the law, manufacturers had until July 1, 2017, to stop the manufacture of products and July 1, 2019, to stop their delivery.

Academics urge that more funding and better methodology needs to show how, or how much, these microplastics are getting into our bodies, either bu digesting or inhaling them, and how they are affecting our health.

Like any dust particles, the human pulmonary system has ways of ridding the body of most microplastic invaders by sneezing or coughing. Scientists however are concerned that the smallest nano plastics – those below five microns – are capable of getting stuck within lung tissue. While most larger particles can be extracted from the lungs when we cough or sneeze, if microplastics become encapsulated in mucus that we swallow, there is a potential for them to enter our digestive system.

In 2019, a study by engineers from Denmark and China simulated the anatomy and function of a lung within a mechanized mannequin

within three apartments in a 24-hour period and found that up to four percent of all the particles the mannequins inhaled were made of polyester.

In an April 2021 Florida State University study, a team of researchers exposed human lung tissue in a petri dish with bits of polystyrene microplastics, the materials most used in disposable cutlery and takeout boxes. They found that though the plastic didn’t cause cell death, it caused some abnormalities in cellular activity.

After only a few days, the cell’s metabolic processes had slowed down, cell proliferation was inhibited, the shape of the cell morphed and the delustering had occurred.

Professor Donna Kashian at Wayne State University’s Department of Biology said while studies such as these does not mean there is a direct correlation between inhaling microplastics and serious diseases like cancer, microplastic atmospheric distribution is something the general public should be concerned about because of its ubiquitous nature.

“When we talk about other contaminants, such as overuse of pesticides or lead in our drinking water, these are problems but not as visible as the number of plastics that are getting thrown out and winding up in the environment and the atmosphere,” said Kashian. “All you have to do is take a walk in your neighborhood, go to a beach and see that plastic Starbucks cup in the sand, or the use of disposable plastics at the next event you attend, and know it is breaking down and getting into the food chain to the point that we could be consuming about a credit card’s worth of microplastic each week.”

Kashian said the microplastics-cancer connection is a difficult one to answer.

She described cancer as a vicious beast. There are a multitude of toxins in the environment that may trigger cell receptors to cause cancer to emerge and grow. While some carcinogens trigger cancer receptors in some people, it may not do so in others, and some cancers can skip generations within a family, she clarified.

“It is difficult to pinpoint and affirm that (microplastics) cause (cancer). There has been research done to see how cell tissue reacts and is triggered by exposure to plastic, but you don’t know how long a timeline that takes or the amount of the material that will trigger it, so it is very complex,” she said.

Other studies examined how microplastics can affect the health of infants and human fetuses.

A recent study by researchers from Trinity College Dublin discovered how those high levels of microplastics are released from infant-feeding bottles during the sterilization and preparation of baby formula. The research, published in the Nature Food journal, found that polypropylene infant feeding bottles can release up to 16 million microplastics and trillions of smaller nano plastics per liter. The authors recommended that infant formula should be prepared with water at 70 degrees in a nonplastic container, cooled to room temperature and then transferred into a high-quality plastic sterilized infant feeding bottle.

In a more disturbing study that was published in January 2021 by Italian researchers, about a total of one dozen microplastic fragments between five to 10 nanometers were found in placental tissue donated by six consenting pregnant women. The tissue specimens were viewed through micro spectroscopy and most likely originated from polymers that are used for man-made coatings, paints, adhesives, plasters, finger paints, cosmetics and personal care products.

W

eighing in on these studies is University of Michigan Professor Allen Burton, who teaches a graduate level course, Microplastics: Human and Environmental Risks. He has researched the impacts of microplastics in marine environments since 2013. He attributed the reason for a low number of studies on atmospheric microplastic due to the bigger perceived threat to human health from marine microplastics that are disrupting the food chain. Burton said the greater potential danger from

microplastics are those we ingest and drink, not those that we inhale.

Allen said in spite of the FSU research that directly aggravated human lung tissue with microplastics, he believes it is not conclusive that microplastics can cross into the lung tissue with enough frequency to trigger cancer.

According to Burton, concentration of combustion related particulates – bits of carbon that contain known carcinogens – pose a far greater health concern and are more abundant in the air than airborne microplastics.

“If you compare the number of microplastic particles that would be in the air, say, in an urban environment, versus these other really combustion-related particles, it would be much smaller,” he said.

“Just as with most chemicals, the primary concern is how humans and other organisms in the food chain ingest microplastics through water or food, so that’s where most of the funding for research is happening right now.”

Burton said there is an emerging body of research coming out on the effects of human consumption of microplastics.

“This year alone, there are 30 studies being conducted. That may not seem like a lot, but that’s double from last year, and last year’s studies are double of the year before that. So the bodies of research are growing almost exponentially,” he noted.

Burton expressed concern that microplastics were crossing through placental tissue from the mother to the fetus. “Now that we know that these particles are found in human placenta, and these particles are crossing tissue linings adjacent to the fetus and once this happens, there is reason to be concerned.”

In more startling news involving exposure to microplastics in infants, a September 2021 study from researchers at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and Nankai University in China, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, tested feces samples in adults and newborn infants for two types of microplastics and found babies had excreted higher concentrations of the toxin, perhaps due to the fact that they are drinking formula that was warmed in plastic bottles made with a plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate, or putting plastic toys or bits of fabric made of plastic fibers in their mouths.

Burton said, alarming as it sounds, finding microplastics in the soiled diapers of infants can be slightly encouraging.

“Though it is not at all good that these babies were exposed to these particles, finding them in baby feces means that these particles were too large to pass through and get absorbed across a tissue barrier,” he explained. “These particles then will not stay in the body long enough to do any intestinal damage. What worries (researchers) are nano-sized particles that are so small, most researchers cannot even detect them. And the smaller the size of the particle, the higher the levels of them can stay in the body.”

John Meeker, professor of environmental health sciences and senior associate dean for research at University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, contends that there is little research so far on how exposure to microplastics are impacting human health. It is nearly impossible to create a population control group that has experienced the same level of exposure to the same kinds of microplastics over the same duration of time.

M

eeker has spent his career conducting studies of known or suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as phthalates, BPA, pesticides and flame retardants. Looking forward, he has been recruited by Northwestern University’s Institute of Sustainability and Energy to collaborate on a multidisciplinary initiative that will study the lifecycle of commonly used consumer plastics and how they affect the well-being of human and environmental health. He said what needs to be considered is not only the plastic polymers, but the chemical additives to plastic products that make them flexible, flame or UV resistant, and how and

at what rate these chemical additives leach off the plastic when they are heated in a microwave oven or degrade in landfills or in the ocean.

“At this point, all we can do is hypothesize what some of the concerns might be based on what we’re seeing so far,” he said. “We also must consider physical properties of the microplastic both in their toxicity or the actual shape and size of the microplastic particles and fibers. And even if we are able to detect and quantify the presence of microplastics in a controlled group of people in waste or blood samples, we would not know where the source of the microplastics is coming from. Would it be coming from their diet? The air? The plastic products themselves? Those unknowns are a big limitation right now in this type of research.”

Meeker continued, “If these particles are small enough to penetrate the deep recesses of the lungs and then get trapped, they could cause scarring of the lungs and fibrotic lung disease, like cases of those who were exposed to asbestos or silica dust. I’m not saying that’s what’s going on here but that would be the worst-case scenario. Because of the wide range of varieties of microplastics, we really don’t know at this point what we were up against.”

O

ther researchers, accepting society’s dependence on the convenience of plastics in modern life, believe that better waste management, and creating plantbased plastics that are compostable and biodegradable for single use applications and finding markets for used plastics in a circular economy are the way out of the microplastics dilemma.

Professor Ramani Narayan, with Michigan State University’s School of Engineering and Materials Science, said in order to manage the number of plastics that “leak” into the atmosphere, there must be greater responsibility, starting with the individual level all the way to corporate and government levels.

A 2015 study, written by Narayan and others, showed the world had between five million and 12.7 million tons of “mismanaged” plastic waste, most of it found in southeast Asia. If nothing is done to manage the waste, there will be 618.7 million tons by 2025 – 200 million which will wind up in the oceans, he said.

Narayan pointed to states like California with composting programs that have had limited success with collecting food waste served on compostable plastics in office and college campus cafeterias and sporting stadiums.

Though not ideal, he also emphasized the importance of creating polymers for plastics that are plant-based and compostable and make it less economically feasible for package designers to use new plastic resin polymers created from fossil fuels.

“All the materials used for food packaging, all the products that we use for very short amounts of time and need not be durable, could be made from molecules that can be compostable,” said Narayan. “They can be completely removed from the environment by microbes.

Finding new ways to make plastics and make them from natural products is the most realistic solution, because society has grown too used to the convenience and versatility of the material, not to mention the unparalleled way plastics preserve food for a growing population.”

Environmental professionals, however, say we cannot recycle our way out of this problem, and we need to rethink moving away from disposable single use plastics altogether.

“For decades, we just thought plastic was either going to forever live in our landfills or float around in the water,” said Sonya Lunder, Sierra Club senior toxics advisor. “Now, this new level of exposures to atmospheric microplastics and threats to human health are startling reminders that we haven’t been looking at the right angle of the plastic crisis. There is a lack of research in what the effects of all that microplastic consumption and accumulation in our bodies might be.

It leaves us with more questions than there are answers.”

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FACES

Gretchen Gonzales Davidson or a diverse mix of music, Gretchen Gonzales Davidson had to do a little digging while growing up in Flint. “There was one place that you could go to for all-ages shows called Capitol Theatre. This probably started me on the path of seeking out something a little different.”

Today, she and her husband Ethan Daniel Davidson – son of the late Bill Davidson, former owner of the Pistons – have three sons and live in Birmingham, help pave the way for others as arts advocates and musicians.

Gretchen was recently appointed to chair of the Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs, a state agency dedicated to ensuring that every citizen and community in Michigan enjoys the civic, economic and educational benefits of arts and culture.

“I would love to help advance the transition from STEM to STEAM in Michigan’s educational system, bringing more access to art for all children,” she said. “I’m focused on increasing the exposure of opportunities the council offers Michigan residents. I’d like to help strengthen lines of communication from the community to government leaders to help those opportunities grow.”

Gretchen serves on many boards, including Cranbrook Art Academy, BasBlue, REBOOT, Henry Ford Health System and Detroit Children’s Fund.

She is also active at Michigan Opera Theatre, where Ethan is chairman of the board.

In addition, she founded El Studio 444, the company that encompasses all of their productions, such as events, records and books, and has a reputation for unique friendraisers and fundraisers. Some of their favorites include Bizarre Bazaar for Center Galleries at the College for Creative Studies and Banger in the Hanger, a dual anniversary party and release show for Detroit’s own Adult and her band Universal Eyes in the hangar at City Airport.

They also hosted a 2016 Hillary Clinton fundraiser event with a surprise performance by Aretha Franklin. “We had about a week to plan it and somehow pulled it off!!” said Gretchen. “Aretha and her band were over-the-top unbelievable and played RESPECT and Natural Woman. It's still hard to believe she played in our house on our piano.”

Gretchen plays lead guitar and sings backup vocals with Ethan. “It’s a little more of a folk or Americana sound that we call Ethan Daniel Davidson and sometimes Seedsmen to the World,” she explained.

She also improvises on guitar in a stream-of-consciousness band called Infinite River with Joey Mazzola of Sponge and Warren Defever. And she records on a homemade tabletop guitar in an experimental group called Universal Eyes with John Olson and Nate Young of Wolf Eyes. El Studio 444 helped put on their free music festival,s called Trip Metal that showcased improvisational and other outsider music.

Threshing Floor is a recording project she is working on that just released a single-sided LP after coming together for an online all-night festival called DAWN for REBOOT, an organization that reimagines and reinvents Jewish culture and traditions. She and her friend, David Katznelson, REBOOT CEO, put together a group of musicians, including Universal Eyes and Threshing Floor, to rescore the film “The Golem” which premiered October 28th.

Her musical influences are many. “I’ll listen to just about anything… from Turkish psychedelia like Erkin Koray to Coltrane to Flatlanders or the Byrds and anything in between! I just saw Detroit Opera Theatre’s production of BLISS, which replayed three sublime minutes of The Marriage of Figaro with the same cast and orchestra without pause for twelve hours, noon to midnight, in the old Michigan Theater that was transformed into a parking garage,” said Gretchen.

“It was everything I care about as an art activist. The tickets were paywhat-you-can, making it accessible to all, the setting was magnificent, and the sound would bring a tear to anyone’s eye.”

F

Story: Jeanine Matlow

Photo: Laurie Tennent

MUNICIPAL

No action taken on outdoor dining

By Kevin Elliott

embers of the Birmingham City Commission and Planning Board met on Monday, October 11, for a joint workshop meeting to discuss the future of outdoor dining in the city, and whether some restrictions will be lifted this winter.

Outdoor dining restrictions had been relaxed in Birmingham during state restrictions on indoor dining. Restrictions were reinstated in July, once the emergency was lifted, despite demand from the public and restaurant owners to allow for an extended season and lax restrictions on seating and placement, including outdoor enclosures. In response, the city commission directed the planning board to develop a new outdoor dining ordinance to meet demands, while maintaining enforceable regulations.

Birmingham Planning Board Chair Scott Clein said at the workshop that the board won’t have an ordinance finished by the time the current outdoor dining season expires on November 15. Businesses may apply for an extended outdoor dining permit, which requires furniture to be brought inside each night, and has more restrictions.

City commission members questioned whether the planning board supports a temporary expansion of outdoor dining regulations for the 2021-2022 season.

“In my opinion, that’s a city commission issue,” Clein answered.

“That is a policy decision that you have to make. We will not have an ordinance ready next month. We won’t. That’s not how this city has ever operated, and it’s not in our best interest, I believe, to come up with something that is half-baked that is going to get changed. That’s for you as a city commission to decide. Do you allow them to roll and approve what they have now without bringing things back inside, or not?”

Overall, members of both boards agreed that expanded outdoor dining throughout the year would be beneficial. However, elected officials concurred that outdoor dining shouldn’t include fully enclosed structures that remain in place throughout the year.

Mayor pro tem Therese Longe also said she would like to see an outdoor dining policy that allows year-round dining, but prohibits fully enclosed accessory buildings. Further, she said she supported efforts to retain current bistro requirements. However, she said she is most concerned about what will happen this year when the current outdoor dining season ends.

“I don’t want to see outdoor dining or the existing dining platforms go away on November 15,” Longe said. “Is it possible for us to extend our current rule and roll forward with the current conditions through April 15? We should figure out what we can do by November 15.”

Commissioner Rackeline Hoff noted the expense to business owners to facilitate outdoor dining. She said the city should make sure costs associated with temporary provisions aren’t incurred a second time because of policy changes. Further, she recommended the future ordinance prevent outdoor furniture from encroaching on public sidewalks and property.

Commissioner Clinton Baller recommended the commission address the issue and decide whether an extension of outdoor dining could be granted prior to the November 15 deadline.

Staff reports from the city’s department of public works and fire department recommended against retaining dining decks in the street through the winter, citing concerns about snow removal.

City Manager Tom Markus said while a temporary expansion may be possible, enforcement will be difficult without a set of real regulations.

For instance, if wind screens are permitted, it’s likely some restaurants will be on a mission to take permissions a step further.

“The difficult part is the staff interaction when you don’t have a set of rules to follow, and that’s what a temporary (provision) will be,” Markus said. “We know it’s not just going to be windscreens. The public has spoken, and they are cold and want to be outdoors. It’s going to creep, and the amount of mission creep I see out there is a problem… I know you want to go with this temporary route, I’m just saying I know where it’s going to come back to, and you commissioners don’t get to deal with that.”

The discussion ended with no official action.

M

City workshop mulls food truck decision

By Kevin Elliott

Taco trucks and other rolling food vendors may one day be dishing it up in Birmingham, as Birmingham City Commissioners and Planning Board members met on Monday, October 11, at a workshop meeting to discuss the operation of food trucks in the city.

Long known for its downtown dining scene, Birmingham dismissed the notion of food trucks operating in the city in 2011. At the time, city commissioners discussed potential locations for trucks or mobile food carts in the city, but received negative feedback from brick and mortar restaurant owners.

The issue returned to the city commission in June of 2021, when commissioners discussed the potential of expanding the city’s ordinances to allow for food trucks.

Birmingham Planning Director Nick Dupuis said a food truck survey was conducted on the city’s Engage Birmingham website, which shows many divergent opinions about allowing food trucks to operate in the city.

More than 550 people participated in the survey, including 387 residents, as well as people who work in Birmingham or own a business in the city. Of those participating, 16 people said food trucks shouldn’t be on public property, while 57 said there should be no change to the current ordinance. Overall, 88.7 percent of participants said they would patronize a food truck, while 8.6 percent (36 individuals) said they don’t like food trucks.

As to where food trucks should be allowed to operate, 291 people said food trucks should operate in public plazas; 289 said in public parking lots; 232 want food trucks at all parks. The most requested type of cuisine for food trucks were Mexican (364); Mediterranean (304); Barbecue (298), with items like elephant ears (72) the least popular.

Respondents had mixed reactions in their comments.

“Birmingham has developed to become an upscale, quiet community,” one responder wrote.

“Food trucks do not enhance that image. Food trucks as the city states offers cheap food quick (sic). year round, outside dining need to be offered to all sit down restaurants in town. It’s amazing the outside structures had to be taken down but yet food trucks are being considered.”

Others were more open to the idea.

“Food trucks are a great compliment to the city’s offerings,” one person wrote. “Don’t let overregulation or restaurants prevent them from being successful.”

Birmingham Planning Board member Stuart Jeffares said one restaurant owner he spoke with was in support of food trucks.

“Rents are up and workers are harder to come by. The number of lighter, cheaper alternatives has dried up,” he said. “There are more people in my office doing Door Dash. Eleven years ago, it was a competition issue.

I’m not sure it’s as competitive… (the owner) said he thinks it will bring more people in and be a plus for the city.”

The survey also questioned the degree that current restaurant operators should be involved in the operation of food trucks.

“Please ask every Birmingham restaurant owner about this question,” one person wrote. “They’re already struggling. Let’s not make their hard job even more difficult.

What would Birmingham be without fine restaurants. I’d love to enjoy food trucks from the likes of Greek Islands, Elie's and more.”

Overall, 34.5 percent of survey respondents said current brick and mortar restaurants should be offered the opportunity to operate food trucks in the city first, while 52.5 percent said operation should be open to anyone.

Birmingham City Commissioner Clinton Baller suggested bringing in food truck operators to speak with to determine their needs and whether operating in the city would be in their interest. Commissioner Mark Nickita agreed.

“I think food trucks are excellent,” Nickita said. “We need density and events for them. I agree with commissioner Baller. Let’s see if there’s interest from the food truck operators. First thing is to get to the bottom of demand and interest.”

The commission instructed the planning board to take up the issue and investigate food truck operations further.

Dupuis said ordinance amendments would be needed to both the business ordinance and the city’s zoning ordinance to accommodate food trucks.

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MUNICIPAL City parking system subject of workshop

By Kevin Elliott

Birmingham City Commissioners on Monday, October 4, met for a special workshop to discuss the future of the city’s parking system and whether it may be further developed to incorporate the city’s Triangle District.

The workshop follows a previous meeting in May, when city staff provided background information on the city’s parking system, which includes parking meters, city-owned lots and five parking structures. Staff on October 4 addressed key questions from the previous meeting, including questions about the existing parking assessment districts; whether businesses outside a district may buy into a district to meet on-site parking requirements; and whether the Triangle District should have its own district or be an extension of the existing downtown parking district.

Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus started the discussion by explaining that all of the special assessment districts created to build the parking decks have since expired and the related bonds have been paid.

Further, the city’s special assessment

district ordinance limits parking assessments to 20 years, with any additional properties included in a district required to join it within the 20year timeframe. As all the parking assessment districts have expired, Markus said additional properties shouldn’t be added, per the city’s own ordinance.

“What we have is a parking system and it covers a geographical area, but there are no outstanding assessments,” Markus said. “The bonds have been paid off.”

While Markus said the assessments are complete, he said there have been instances where former city commissions permitted properties to be added to an assessment district outside of the 20-year timeframe, including the school district’s former building and the former downtown post office.

Birmingham developer Doraid Markus – who is planning a five-story, mixed use building, including underground, onsite parking – took issue with other properties outside of the district being added, but not allowing others such as himself.

“How is that fair,” he asked.

“Looking back, I would say it’s a mistake,” Markus said. “But, I’m not sure how you correct that mistake, and it

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shouldn’t be used as a precedent for further mistakes to be made.”

Birmingham Finance Director Mark Gerber explained there is no real existing way to buy into the expired assessment districts. Rather, he said a new district would have to be created, which would require new public improvement, such as a parking deck.

“There is no real parking assessment district, so if you create one, it will be new,” Gerber said. “You can determine the boundaries, but it has to be a direct benefit to the property owners in that parking assessment district.”

Markus expanded on the idea of connecting the system across Woodward, noting that funds from the city’s parking fund could be used to expand the system, to a degree.

“We are trying to give you advance warning as to how you use those funds,” he said. “If you used $10 million to form the Triangle District, I think you would be faced with an angry mob. On the other hand … maybe to appease objections, maybe the downtown district fronts the money in terms of a loan that eventually gets paid back. You can do that right now. Instead of issuing bonds you can loan it from the general fund or the parking fund, if there are sufficient funds.”

Markus said such a movement would require a connection that could connect the city across Woodward Avenue.

“My goal would be to have one system and have a nexus between the two,” he said. “Woodward is a huge dividing line, like a river running through the community and it’s hard to cross.

Maybe that nexus is that we go back and think about bridging, and maybe we bridge that to another deck so there is a connection between the two. An obvious nexus. Right now, there’s a theoretical nexus. If in fact there is a real nexus that exists today, then we missed something because we should have been assessing in the Triangle District for the improvements that were made on this side of the road.”

Commissioner Mark Nickita said he and other urban planners typically oppose skywalks and second-floor bridges, as they tend to move pedestrian activity off of the first floor.

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Legal firm retained with some debate

By Kevin Elliott

The former plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in 2019 against the city of Birmingham for violating their freedom of speech rights had differing opinions on Monday, October 4 at the Birmingham City Commission meeting on whether the city should retain the law firm at the center of the case, which was approved on a 6-1 vote, with commissioner Brad Host opposing the retention motion.

The case involved now-current Birmingham City Commissioner Clinton Baller and November commission candidate David Bloom, who sued the city after being denied an opportunity to speak at a July 2019 meeting. Former city attorney Timothy Currier, then chief executive officer at Beier Howlett, advised the city commission that Bloom and Baller weren’t permitted to speak because he considered their statements to be political speech and not permitted at the meeting. The men subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against the city.

On Monday, October 4, Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus requested the city commission approve a six-year contract with Beier Howlett for legal services to retain interim city attorney Mary Kucharek, an equity partner at the firm who has represented the city for the past nine months.

Under the city’s charter, the city manager is responsible for appointing the city attorney, with the advice and consent of the city commission. Markus said a formal request for proposal process for appointing a city attorney hadn’t been done in many years. Eight firms submitted proposals, with three moving to a second round of consideration.

Markus said the recommendation was made following an extensive search and interview process, in which he found the Beier Howlett to be the most qualified and knowledgeable about city operations and issues requiring legal services. City staff, including the police chief, assistant city manager, assistant to the city manager, finance director and human resources manager, were involved in selection process. Staff also made videos of the interviews and data available to city commission members for consideration.

Markus said he specifically asked Kucharek about the lawsuit, and whether she agreed with the former attorney’s decision to stop residents from speaking.

72

Building eyed for Junior League site

By Lisa Brody

mixed-use three-story building is planned for the former Junior League of Birmingham site, and has received preliminary site plan approval by the Birmingham Planning Board.

The new building, to be located at 460 N. Old Woodward, received unanimous recommended preliminary site plan approval from the planning board in late July, with conditions that must be met by final site plan approval, which is scheduled for December. The conditions include a full design review; that the applicant comply with requests from all city departments; provide a six-foot wooden gate to match the brick of the screen wall or building or request a variance; submit specifications for all rooftop units; and provide a full streetscape plan, inclusive of city-standard benches, bike racks and waste receptacles.

According to developer Ron Boji, the new three-story building, demolition and construction of which he anticipates in April of 2022, will consist of a bistro on the first floor; an office use on the second floor; and residential on the third floor, consisting of two residential units. He is hopeful that restaurateur Samy Eid, of Phoenicia and Forest in Birmingham and Leila, in Detroit, will open a bistro on the first floor.

According to Birmingham Assistant City Manager and then-Planning Director Jana Ecker, a rooftop terrace for residential tenants is proposed above the third floor with access via an elevator and staircase. The proposed new building includes 6,771 square feet of retail and commercial space, and 2,485 square feet of residential space on the third floor.

The new building is designed by Victor and Alex Saroki of Saroki Architecture in Birmingham, and will be constructed by John Kelly of Kelly Building & Development Company in Birmingham.

An adjacent property owner, Stephen Frank, representing 450 N. Old Woodward, stated at the planning board meeting he was interested in working with Boji on an easement agreement that would allow 450 N. Old Woodward to build to the property line. The two properties currently share driveways.

A

“No, I do not agree at all,” Kucharek wrote in her response. “The right to speak out against one’s government and the right to freedom of speech is the First Amendment for many reasons.

The writers of the Constitution protected people’s ability to speak and think freely, most particularly, speak out against its government because prior to the Constitution, one would be tried for treason and killed for such an act.

“One’s ability to speak out against their government’s opinions and actions is the cornerstone of our nation.

I absolutely think and believe, and many of my colleagues agree with my opinion, that every person should have been able to speak freely and openly at that meeting. No one’s rights to speak should have been stopped.”

Baller said he was pleased with the recommendation, and he personally made the commission’s motion to authorize the contract.

“I totally support your decision, and had I been charged with making that decision I probably would have made

the same decision,” Baller said to Markus.

Despite Baller’s approval, commissioner Brad Host said he couldn’t vote to approve the motion, referencing the 2019 court case.

“Your firm took away our Constitutional rights,” Host said. “The public lost total trust in that commission, and to get it back I would assume we would have done an RFP with an outside firm because the leadership and staff was in doubt.”

Host said he further arranged for the commission to have outside council control of the RFP process conducted

by Markus, rather than an internal process, which he said wasn’t transparent.

Commissioner Stuart Sherman took issue with the comments.

“I find it so interesting that the commissioner who is directly effected by those comments is in full support, and an individual who was not present at the meeting is relying upon statements that were made by others to create an impression that doesn’t

DOWNTOWN

exist,” Sherman said. “The same person who went outside of the scope of his duties to bring in others to do the job that is prescribed by charter to our city manager.”

Sherman continued to press the issue, questioning whether Host had actually reviewed the information provided to the commission.

“This keeps happening, and I don’t understand what the problem is and why there seems to be a disconnect in understanding that as a sitting city commissioner, you have certain obligations,” Sherman said. “Between this and the continual rhetoric of dividing the community, it’s sad. It’s really sad and it’s not in the best interest of this community.

Commissioner Baller laid out that he has reviewed this. We have watched the videos and watched the interviews.

We have read the materials and we are very comfortable with the discussion.

Our current city attorney Mary Kucharek was specifically asked to address this issue, and that’s not even sufficient. For you to bring up these types of comments during this meeting, I question whether you even read the materials.”

Commissioner Mark Nickita echoed some of Sherman’s concern.

Specifically, he trumpeted the city’s successes, to which he credited present and past elected and appointed leaders.

“I find it really perplexing, this lack of recognition of the value of our team, and the depth of our team and the depth of their understanding of what we’ve done and how we are a model community,” he said. “There is a consistent view of Birmingham as stepping up and showing a high level of success and value… this idea of questioning what we have done and the value of our team, whether it's an elected part or our staff or consultants, shows an incredibly high level of naiveté.”

While Baller supported the contract, Bloom said from the audience he didn’t agree.

“The firm should have been fired on the spot and wasn’t,” Bloom said, who also noted he was personally offended

by Sherman’s comments about Host and asked such speech not be tolerated. “We shouldn’t be entertaining bringing this law firm in.”

Candidate Bloom is one of seven seeking three open spots on the city council, along with Andrew Haig, Stephen Konja, Anthony Long, Elaine McLain, Katie Schafer and Lynda Schrenk.

11.21

Second draft of 2040 Plan to be reviewed

MUNICIPAL

By Kevin Elliott

he second draft of Birmingham’s citywide master plan for 2040 is scheduled to be reviewed by the city’s planning board over the course of four meetings in the coming months, the planning board announced at its meeting on Wednesday, October 13.

The 2040 Plan sets out long-range planning goals for the city and its various zoning districts and serves as a guide for future development and land use. The plan specifically addresses ways to manage growth in the city while retaining neighborhood quality and supporting mixeduse districts. The plan also addresses sustainability practices, regarding streets, parks and infrastructure.

The Birmingham City Commission and Planning Board acknowledged receipt of the second draft of the plan, which will undergo another review and revision in 2022 before a final draft is prepared. Public review sessions hosted by the city’s planning board are scheduled for November 10, December 8, January 12 and February 9. The review then goes to the city commission for final approval, before being returned to consultants with DPZ CoDesign who will draft a third version of the plan, repeating the process.

“This is the second draft,” said Birmingham Planning Board Chair Scott Clein. “Certainly, there are things they didn’t pick up, and we will discuss those over the course of four meetings. We will come back with recommendations and edits to get to draft three. It’s still an ongoing process.”

Feedback on the first draft of the 2040 Plan include more than 300 comments from the public. Areas of greatest concern included the concept of neighborhood “seams,” accessory dwelling units, open space and density.

The seams concept looks at each zoning district as a fabric, with the edges of those fabrics considered “seams.” The plan shows instances where fabrics can be woven together or better utilized.

Birmingham Planning Director Nick Dupuis said seams have been drastically reduced in the second draft.

“The focus has shifted heavily to connectivity,” he said. “The seams are dedicated as the edges of planning districts now. They recognize that these edges are on larger roads and should have more consideration for non-automobile users. Medium- and high-intensity seams are also reduced and most are located where there are already high intensity and multi-family developments.”

Dupuis also noted the plan addresses accessory dwelling units in specific zoned areas, which doesn’t include single-family districts. The plan also encourages the preservation of open space in each of the zoning districts.

The first review meeting with the Birmingham Planning Board is scheduled for November 10, where board members will discuss the introduction of the plan and the first chapter, regarding connectivity in Birmingham. On December 8, the board will meet to discuss managed growth; on January12, the board will discuss the plan’s chapter regarding retaining neighborhood quality; and on February 9, the board will discuss mixed-use districts and sustainability.

The public is invited to each of the review meetings, which include a required public hearing. The public may review the second draft of the plan and provide comments at thebirminghamplan.com online.

Birmingham Planning Board member Bryan Williams instructed staff to update the plan with more detailed maps.

“The most visually troubling part of the draft is the lack of street names in the maps. …We can’t expect the public to look at this diagram and figure out where their street is and where their location is, particularly those that relate to proposed seams. I looked at this, and it took me a half-hour to get through one map,” Williams said. “By November 10, I want these pages replaced with maps that are bigger and more decipherable by street names.”

Board member Bert Koseck agreed, asking for color coding among districts to be updated with more contrasting hues.

Dupuis said staff plans to update the maps, and encouraged board members and members of the public to contact city staff with any questions or comments.

T

Kolin removed for violation of duties

By Lisa Brody

Bloomfield Hills Schools Board of Education President Paul Kolin was removed from his position by his fellow board members, effective immediately, at the board meeting Thursday, September 23, following actions he independently took in his position as board president to inform police of a list of parents who are allegedly “anti-maskers” that was posted to Facebook by another parent.

Trustee Siva Kumar made a point of order at the beginning of the meeting, requesting to amend the agenda before public comment, “to remove Paul Kolin as board president and all board offices, effect immediately, and restrict his participation to any office participation or any committee chairman for the period of one calendar year.”

The motion was quickly seconded, but before it could be moved on or discussed, Kolin made a lengthy statement, saying that he had received a list of individual Bloomfield Hills School District anti-mask parents that had apparently been circulating on social media “and I was asked to send the list to the district and the police liaison since this was viewed by some members and individuals as a hate crime against 97 families who were on the list. At that point I sent the whole list … and there was an investigation by the police… The community person who created the list admitted to starting the list and publicly disseminating it with no malice intended to do so. She said she had justification for a lawsuit against myself and wanted me to apologize to her. Two board members called me and demanded that all information provided to the liaison officer be sent to them. I refused – it was part of a current investigation. These board members said I violated the board operating policy and requested a closed door meeting prior to the meeting today.”

He said he also informed and provided all information to district superintendent Pat Watson.

He went on further to assert he followed school bylaws, board policies and operating procedures, “and these are the facts… Threats of a lawsuit are frivolous and chilling to any whistleblower that asks for any determination of an act. It's amazing we tell our students, 'If you see something, say something,' but we don't expect the opposite.”

He said that board members requesting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the police on the report “troubling.”

Kumar responded that he wished to emphasize to the community that the action was extremely necessary, as Kolin's actions in the previous weeks had made him question his leadership.

“To be clear, we're not talking about the list of community members.

We're talking about our president's actions. The board was neither informed nor was its concurrence sought before our president sought to contact law enforcement,” Kumar explained. “After nearly two weeks of going to the police and not informing us, our president has yet to share the details of this communications with all of his fellow board members despite repeated requests...when you join a school board it is a board of seven and none of us has the ability to act alone. Before taking any action, the board must be provided with all relevant information and the opportunity to deliberate in a meeting open to the public. Violations can result in serious consequences for the district, our students, staff, and fellow board trustees. By your unilateral action you have violated multiple board policies, our board operating procedures, our code of ethics and our trust in you. Your actions have taken the focus off substantial matters, put more division into the community and have exposed the district to potential legal liability, in addition to unwarranted press scrutiny.”

Other trustees echoed Kumar's comments.

Kolin repeatedly asserted he was acting as a “whistleblower,” and protecting a member of the community who perceived an “imminent danger.”

“If they're in imminent danger, don't they need to go to the police, not the school board president?” asked trustee Lisa Efros. Kolin said he wouldn't answer that.

Board vice president Jennifer Matlow said after the police investigation was closed, the board asked him to share his interactions, “and you refused, and still refuse.

What is the reason for that?”

“I have an expectation of privacy under the Whistleblower Act,” Kolin responded.

“Whisteblower?” questioned trustee Howard Baron.

“You keep referring to yourself as a 'whistleblower.' I don't know what you mean by that, but I do want to say that… when you receive such a thing

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(list) – and you've yet to say what this imminent threat is – why did you need to send it to the police? Why didn't you call 911? If it was immediate, it was immediate. If it wasn't, you could have consulted the board for discussion,” said trustee John VanGemert.

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 is a federal law which protects federal employees who work for the government and report the possible existence of an activity constituting a violation of law, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety from retaliatory actions.

“At no point did we hear from you.

We had to hear about it from frantic parents who were being investigated by police,” Kumar said.

“We received emails, phone calls, all from very concerned parents,” Baron said. He noted that the completed police report said there was no threat, “so there was no immediate threat.”

To challenges by Kolin of how they would have acted if they had been informed, all of the trustees answered they didn't know because they hadn't had the facts.

The board voted 6-1 to remove Kolin, with Kolin voting against the measure.

Matlow, as vice president, will act as acting chair of the board of trustees.

Requests for comment to Watson were declined, but a statement for the district was sent via communications director Karen Huyghe. “The Board of Education, with a majority vote, voted to remove Paul Kolin from the position of President. The Board of Education is independently elected by the community, and has a set of operating procedures that they follow, which includes Bylaw 1001 Organization and Functioning of the Board. As the administration of the district, it is our responsibility to serve our students and families and focus our attention on student learning. We remain fully committed to our incredible students and to our responsibility of providing high quality education for all students.”

Following the meeting, a group titled “Coalition 4 Common Sense,” began posting on social media with a call to action to Bloomfield Hills parents, targeting Matlow, Baron and Efros for replacement, whose terms, in addition to Kolin's, all expire in 2022.

“We are concerned parents troubled by the actions of community members blacklisting families who 78

Village Fair raises conflict questions

By Kevin Elliott

n effort to provide a day of fun for those in need at the annual Birmingham Village Fair ended with questions about a potential conflict of interest involving a city commission member at the commission meeting on Monday, September 20.

The issue came up when commissioner Clinton Baller requested Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce’s permit application be pulled from the consent agenda to discuss a special sponsorship opportunity.

Baller said the return of the Village Fair brings with it a sponsorship opportunity for a person or organization to provide a pre-party day at the fair on June 1, the day prior to the public opening of the fair. Baller said the day could be used to provide access to those in need. The idea is similar to the Troy Daze fair, which provides special early access to special needs children.

Chamber President Joe Bauman said the day had been used in the past by United Shore Mortgage as an employee appreciation day. More recently the Young Presidents Club used the opportunity.

The discussion prompted fellow commissioner Stuart Sherman to ask whether Baller has a financial relationship with the chamber, and whether that had been disclosed.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Baller said.

Commissioners have traditionally recused themselves from voting or weighing in on matters in which they have a potential conflict of interest.

Baller explained he runs a credit card processing business and has been a vendor of the chamber for many years. While he said the chamber is a customer, he said he didn’t consider it a conflict because he said he pays more in fees than he makes on the account.

Bauman said the chamber pre-sells wristbands to the fair, and that patrons may use credit cards to make those payments.

“It goes more in the other direction because the fees I pay for membership far more offset the fees we derive from the sale of some wristbands,” Baller said. “You’re talking pennies.”

While Baller maintained there is no financial gain on his part from the event, he abstained from voting on the fair permit.

Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus said the matter will be looked at outside of the public meeting.

“This matter is referred to the city attorney to make that decision, not to do it on the fly when she doesn’t have the opportunity to query what the engagement is, how much it amounts to and if there is any financial transactions,” Markus said. “Don’t push the answer at this meeting; let her review the facts and come back with a finding. That’s the point. Now that we are aware of it, we have to pursue it, and we will.”

Commissioners approved the permit for the fair by a vote of 6-0, with Baller abstaining.

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have a difference of opinion on county COVID policies,” the posting read.

“We support optional masking and vaccines but do not feel it is appropriate to force these choices on families who may have a different view.

“Bloomfield Hills School board members Jennifer Matlow, Howard Baron and Lisa Efros are a part of a Facebook group targeting parents who disagree with them and we are committed to replacing them with fairminded leaders.”

Circa Lighting to open in former Rojo space

By Lisa Brody

A premier national lighting store showroom, Circa Lighting, will open in the former Rojo Mexican restaurant location on Merrill Street in downtown Birmingham around the first of the year, landlord Jim Esshaki's office confirmed.

Circa Lighting offers architectural lighting design services and light

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fixtures for ceiling, wall, floor and table tops as well as outdoor lighting and ceiling fans.

According to their website, “We are the premier source for Visual Comfort & Co. family of brands.

Visual Comfort & Co. is the industry leading resource for decorative and premium architectural lighting and fan collections. Our extensive product assortment is available in every style, every application, addresses every environment and fits every budget.”

Circa Lighting has showrooms in New York City; Scottsdale, Arizona; Los Angeles, San Francisco, Laguna Niguel, California and soon San Diego; Denver; Greenwich, Connecticut; Miami; Chicago; Boston; Houston and Austin, Texas; Seattle; Nashville; London; and several other cities.

The new Birmingham showroom will be located at 250 E. Merrill Street.

Zana restaurant to fill Vinotecca site

By Kevin Elliott

One of the largest restaurant spaces in Birmingham is planning for a spring opening, as Zana was cleared by the city’s planning board on Thursday, September 23, to take over the former Vinotecca location at 210 S. Old Woodward.

Restaurateur Mario Camaj said Zana will feature modern, contemporary American fare, offering a variety of salads, sandwiches, burgers and pasta for lunch, while the dinner menu will feature steaks and pasta with a Mediterranean flavor.

The restaurant will be the third for Camaj, who purchased Tallulah Wine Bar & Bistro in Birmingham in 2013, and opened BESA Detroit in 2018.

Raised in Albania, Camaj moved to Michigan and started working as a bus boy before working for and purchasing Tallulah from Mindy Lopus. Both BESA and Zana draw upon Camaj’s roots, offering a taste of the Adriatic. He said the name Zana refers to Albanian folklore in which “zana” are mythical mountain fairies.

“My background is Albanian,” he said. “Obviously, I know that type of cuisine very well, and I think it is received well in this city.”

With seating in the space for nearly 250 people in the former restaurant space for Vinotecca and The Bird and the Bread, owners had opted to split the space, utilizing 11.21

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about 130 of the seats as a banquet facility. Camaj said plans include adding a second kitchen for the extensive seating areas.

“One thing I asked when we took over the existing space was to leave the existing kitchen to run the back of the house, and build another kitchen to make the front of the house a little smaller, a little more intimate and cozier so the restaurant can function better,” Camaj said.

“Previously, with Vinotecca or Bird and the Bread, it was just logically hard to run a 250-seat restaurant out of one kitchen. We know the nature of Friday and Saturday night, and it’s just not doable. One thing we are changing is that.”

On the exterior of the building, a set of accordion-style Nano doors will be added to the front to allow for more open dining in the warmer months. Existing outdoor seating on the terrace will be removed to allow for the changes.

Birmingham Planning Board member Janelle Whipple-Boyce said she was disappointed about the loss of the seating.

“I believe that was one of the best things about this location,” she said.

“I was so excited for this project to come tonight, and when I saw the terrace was closed up I couldn’t believe it.”

Camaj said the decision to add a second kitchen uses a good portion of space, leading the design to optimize space that could be used throughout the year.

“We know seasons are short when it comes to patios, and it’s a matter of utilizing the space the best we can,” he said.

Planning board member Stuart Jeffares questioned if another Nano door could be added to the design to increase airflow and ventilation, which may be a concern to diners during COVID. Board members also had concerns about how the banquet facility would be managed. Previously, the building was home to South Bar, which closed in 2012, following a spate of violence at the nightclub.

Prior tenants used the space as special banquet and event spaces.

Camaj said the restaurant will oversee all events, with safety a main concern. He said he plans on a midnight closing on the weekends, 80

Safety path projects approved for 2022

By Lisa Brody

loomfield Township trustees unanimously approved projects for the Jan Roncelli Safety Path Program for the 2022 construction season at their meeting on Monday, October 11.

Bloomfield Township Director of Engineering and Environmental Services Olivia Olsztyn-Budry explained the department comes before the trustees every fall for approval of the next year's proposed safety path routes. She said new for 2022, they are recommending filling in the path along Woodward between Manor and Maywood roads, which is partially completed. Along this stretch there are businesses, parking lots and driveways, and they would work around those.

Also in 2022, the department would construct the previously approved route for the Telegraph and Square Lake Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant program. Olsztyn-Budry explained the approved path route starts at the existing path on the south side of Square Lake Road at Franklin Road, traverses south on Franklin and around the commercial property at 2555 Telegraph. It will then cross Telegraph Road along the south side of Square Lake Road and connect to the existing safety path in front of 2510 Telegraph Road. The safety path will also be constructed along the north side of Square Lake Road from Franklin Road west and then north along the east side of Telegraph Road. A pedestrian crossing is to be installed in front of the Villages at Bloomfield on the west side of Telegraph at Bataan Drive.

The total costs for the 2022 program is $2,836,914, with reimbursement for the TAP grants at $955,505.

Construction along the west side of Lahser Road between 14 Mile and Lincoln roads, which could not be completed this season, will be done in the spring.

Other work to be completed is maintenance and repairs of flatwork and retaining walls.

In addition, trustees unanimously approved the development of an ADA compliant master plan for the safety path program, as the safety path program began in 1998, with the plan updated in 2008 and 2018.

Newer paths have incorporated ADA-compatible ramps and crossings, but with over 70 miles of safety paths, 82,000 square feet of retaining walls and 25,000 feet of fencing, Olsztyn-Budry explained there were many areas that need updating and compliance.

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with the kitchen remaining open until the close of the restaurant.

“I have an existing business in town and I like to welcome anyone and everyone through my doors, but at the same time my priority is the safety of our guests, the safety of my staff and the people around me, and myself,” he said. “There is money to be made, but in a fair way that ensures everyone goes home at the end of the night, and is safe.”

Camaj said he plans for a March 2022 opening. Board members recommended the Birmingham City Commission approve the project’s site plan, design review and special land use permit. The matter is expected to go before a new city commission for final approvals in November.

Dick O’ Dow’s set for facade updates The Birmingham City Commission on Monday, October 4, gave final approval for seating updates at popular downtown pub and restaurant Dick O’ Dow’s, 160 W. Maple.

Commissioners praised Dick O’Dow’s owner Mitch Black for previous renovations and efforts to activate the Willits Alley by adding a second outdoor patio in 2020. Black had received special approval for expanded dining during both the reconstruction of Maple Road and when the city temporarily expanded outdoor dining options during the pandemic.

Birmingham City Planner Nick Dupuis said Black would like to gain

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permanent approval for the rear dining patio, as well as incorporate a new facade at the front of the building along Maple Road. Plans include installing sliding nano walls that will open the front of the building to the sidewalk.

The new front space will contain five tables and 20 chairs, with the existing entrance moved inside the existing vestibule area. The plans and a special land use permit were recommended for approval in August by the Birmingham Planning Board.

Commissioners raised questions about tables and furnishings adjacent to the sliding wall, specifically, what could be done to ensure tables and chairs wouldn't be moved to the sidewalk and in the public right-of-way.

“Do the tables stay outside during the winter or is there a 12-foot setback to the front of the building?” commissioner Stuart Sherman questioned.

“It’s never been done before, so we aren’t sure,” Black responded.

“The expectation is that (open) dining would be used year-round, but on cold, snowy days that may not work. We think because it’s heated, it will be year-round. That’s the idea, but it will be the patrons’ choice.”

Sherman then questioned whether there would be markings or a barrier to stop furnishings from migrating out of the permitted space.

Commissioner Rackeline Hoff supported the idea, noting that other establishments with outdoor dining also provide such barriers.

“We have experienced encroachment on the sidewalk at other locations, and the proprietor may not be aware that customers move them around,” Hoff said. “It’s not a good situation when pedestrians have to go around.”

Commissioners agreed to add a special condition to the permit approval to require some form of barrier to ensure table and chair placement. Commissioners also permitted an opening at the barrier to allow ingress and egress into the dining area from the sidewalk, at Black’s request.

Commissioners approved the permit and site plans by a vote of 60, with mayor pro tem Therese Longe abstaining, citing a potential conflict of interest.

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BUSINESS MATTERS 30 years of building, design Thirty years in business for any company is a significant milestone, but in local real estate, it’s monumental. In 1991, Steve Ramaekers, the CEO and president of MainStreet Design Build, 555 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, never could have imagined the legacy he and his wife, company vice president Christine Ramaekers, created. “It was always my vision to uphold our promise to deliver innovative designs and quality construction while walking people through the entire design and construction process. By doing our job right, we would earn our clients trust and develop long-lasting friendships,” Steve said. MainStreet Design Build is a full service, luxury design build firm that caters to homeowners in Oakland County who value a high level of comfort and trust in knowing that their home remodeling project will be done well while fitting their budget, lifestyle, comfort level and the architectural detail of their home. The residential design and building firm takes clients right from concept through architectural designs to interior design all the way through construction.

“We’ve worked hard to make sure all our departments are well-run and we have the best people in them,” said Christine, whose background and specialty is design, spaces and selections while Steve oversees operations and is the creative director of architecture and sales. “We are very happy we have cultivated the very best people.” Since 2013, MainStreet has grown to a staff of 22, plus their trade partners. “It’s always been very important to not lose our culture – that’s the number one thing for our company and our customers,” Christine said. Steve concurred, “We have always operated under the ‘clients for life’ motto.”

Orthodontic move Dr. Maureen Kuhta, formerly of Michigan Smile Design on Big Beaver in Bloomfield Hills, has moved and reopened her orthodontic practice in Birmingham, renaming and rebranding the female-owned practice as Aligned, House of Orthodontics, 2101 E. 14 Mile Road in Birmingham. Dr. Kuhta is excited to remain a part of the Birmingham community at her new office location. She is a mom of three boys and built the new office to service the needs of families and those looking for exceptional orthodontic care in a modern facility with all the technological advances her profession offers. Dr. Kuhta said she is passionate about leadership and downtownpublications.com

entrepreneurship – as she continues to serve the community at large as an orthodontist, she hopes to inspire young women in the pursuit of their own business development.

Menswear moves Men looking for fashionable duds have two great new options in the local market. After originally planning to close the store due to the retirement of the original owner, L’Uomo Vogue Clothiers, 4145 W. Maple Road in Bloomfield Township is staying open under new management. As planned, Bruce Goldman retired, and the store is now being run by Michael Goldman, Bruce’s son, Douglas Hoffman and Ian Albin. Expect the same high quality European and American fashion L’Uomo Vogue has always been known for. New to the market is State & Liberty, opening November 1 at 141 W. Maple Road in downtown Birmingham, offering athletic fit, performance quality menswear. Offerings include dress and casual shirts, pants, suits, coats and jackets, with a “true athletic fit” designed for the “V”-shaped body.

Growing pains Women’s wear store Evereve is so popular in Birmingham it has opened a larger store – right next door. In the beginning of October, Evereve moved to new digs at 138 S. Old Woodward, where they can offer even more great jeans, leggings, pants, tops, sweaters, jackets, leisurewear and shoes and accessories. The contemporary fashion and styling store for women receives new arrivals all the time, making it a go-to destination for local fashionistas. Evereve offers customers a curated experience, with in-store, online and other shopping options along with personal styling services like the innovative “Trendsend” and “Dressing Room to Go.” “Its official, we’ve moved next door! Our new, elevated store design gives us room for more fun and fashion! Our customers are loving the modern fitting rooms and upscale product assortment,” said Evereve Market Manager Elizabeth Gross. “If you are in the area, stop in to get styled – we have new fall arrivals dropping daily.”

For lingerie lovers The Great Eros, a lingerie, clothing and accessories store from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has opened at 245 W. Maple Road in downtown Birmingham, offering bras, panties,

thongs, t-shirts, shapewear, dresses, tops and bottoms, jumpsuits, socks, fragrance and body oil, sunglasses, jewelry and candles by Lola James.

The Great Eros offers a luxury lingerie experience, utilizing beautiful quality materials and designs for women of all ages and shapes. The store partners with family-owned factories and studios in Italy, China, Japan, Peru and New York to ensure their garments uphold their values of ethical and sustainable production.

Health switch Fitness buffs waiting for a local Soul Cycle to open in Bloomfield Township, we have disappointing news for you. The national indoor cycling workout studio declined to open at Bloomfield Medical Village on Telegraph, just north of Maple Road, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The location has now been filled by IEP Urgent Care Bloomfield Hills, 6405 Telegraph Road. IEP Urgent Care is open daily until 8 p.m., with certified emergency medicine-trained physicians. Patients may walk in, or appointments are available, and masks are required.

Home health care supplies A locally owned and operated home health care company, Sun Medical Equipment and Supplies, opened a Birmingham location in the city’s Triangle District, 34164 Woodward Avenue. “Our goal is to offer ‘physician recommended’ products and provide peace of mind service to all our clients. We extend a high level of personalized care, compliance and customer service with a knowledgeable and friendly healthcare team, who truly care that all your medical needs are achieved.

We realize there are many healthcare choices for you and your loved ones, Sun Medical Equipment and Supplies is the best choice,” the company said. They offer oxygen and respiratory therapy, ambulatory equipment, bathroom safety, wound care safety and care, enteral nutrition, pain management equipment, orthotics, wellness products and supplies, and aids to daily living among other products and customer service.

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THE COMMUNITY HOUSE FOR THE RECORD Recently, an article was published as a front-page story in a local newspaper, with an attention-grabbing headline about how the historic Community House, a non-profit, charitable organization itself has left area civic organizations “reeling” while officials with The Community House implemented a post-COVID financial survival plan for the charity to stay afloat. Fact: It is true that as a direct result of COVID-19, TCH Leadership needed to establish and implement a necessary financial “survival” plan to keep its doors open. It is also true that as soon as we learned how dire our situation was, The Community House Leadership notified all civic group leaders – the groups that met regularly at TCH preCOVID – 17 months in advance – advising them that TCH was struggling financially (directly related to the pandemic) and would need to urgently modify its decades-old business model to survive COVID-19. Fact: Each civic group, many nonprofit Bill Seklar groups themselves (that can raise funds for their own mission, while also charging their own members’ dues) were given 17 months advanced notice.

Regardless of our efforts to give these groups as much advance notice as reasonably possible, most chose to wait out the pandemic to object, to plan or to react. Fact: Certainly avoidable.

Naturally, as delegated stewards, our priority must be to TCH. Throughout the last eighteen months, TCH’s Leadership’s overriding priority was to underpin the financial foundation and the mission of this treasured organization. Nothing in our 99-year history has challenged The Community House and its mission like COVID-19. Fact: The Community House has suffered 40-50 percent top line revenue losses for the last two fiscal budgets.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. We were hemorrhaging. Half of our revenue generating streams were closed or partially closed – several still today. At the height of COVID, nearly 90 percent of our dedicated and loyal staff were furloughed or laid off. Many never returned, only to change professions, stay on assistance or worse. Unbudgeted sanitization and PPE costs now regularly exceed $5,000 per month. Fundraisers and events canceled. And our historic building in need of care. We were experiencing the perfect storm.

Incredibly, recently while we continue to struggle to keep our heads above water, one civic group president went so far as to call out (via the press) the said budgetary moves by

TCH fiduciaries as “harsh.” Adding “they clearly don’t care about the community. They’re clearly geared towards profit.” Fact: These are irresponsible and harmful words that could have been avoided - if only the time was taken by this civic group and one other to be truly informed. Geared towards profit – nonsense. Responsible stewards trying to keep this nearly century old institution’s doors open – absolutely. These regrettable words have negatively impacted our mission, our donors, and our ability to recover.

Regrettably – these same two civic groups who used to meet at The Community House pre-COVID - supposedly “reeling” from the change in The Community House’s own business survival plan, grew louder and louder, insisting that they were to be treated exclusively at the exclusion of others – history entitled them (regardless of the pandemic, our situation and other groups and citizens in our community now needing help from TCH as well.) Fact: The Community House has not pushed any groups out – all remain welcome – we simply asked these few exclusive groups to pay a fair share (50 percent) of the retail cost to gather and break bread together post-COVID at TCH – with The Community House underwriting the other 50 percent of their actual cost (as part of our own non-profit mission, while we struggle.)

Many accepted our responsible offer. Sadly, these two groups did not and continue to loudly resist. And mischaracterize our conversations, our pleas, our transparency. Nevertheless, COVID-19 taught us that we must try to help more at the same time, the demand for our services exceeds our dwindling resources. We must also remember the poor, the hungry, the lonely, the sick, the disenfranchised in our community, county and region. We must stay the course. We will succeed. Fact: The Community House did not leave these exclusive groups reeling – COVID-19 did. The world has changed, so must we all. And as difficult as it has become – we will continue to deal in facts and truth, not harmful self-serving rumor or inuendo.

Our mission is to serve. Nothing less, nothing more. Short of an unexpected lifeline, we will continue to struggle. Unlike so many historical institutions, universities, medical centers, noble causes – many donors do not think of The Community House as a place to make large transformational gifts to. But we pray that they take a second look. We’re worth it. Community Houses across our nation are rare, cultural, educational and philanthropic gems. They fill a need; they fill a gap that so many depend upon. Pre-COVID, over 200,000 people entered through our doors annually. After nearly a century of service, we must have been doing something right. Yet help is needed now – than at any time before. Thank you.

Stay safe, be well.

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

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PLACES TO EAT

TWO IMPORTANT HOLIDAYS CELEBRATE WITH FABULOUS FOOD PARTY TRAYS • HOT DINNERS • TERRIFIC HOLIDAY TREATS STEVE’S GOURMET TURKEYS & HAMS

The Places To Eat for Downtown is a quick reference source to establishments offering a place for dining, either breakfast, lunch or dinner. The listings include nearly all dining establishments with seating in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area, and then some select restaurants outside the immediate area served by Downtown.

Birmingham/Bloomfield 220: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday- Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 220 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.2220.

5th Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2262 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.481.9607.

Adachi: Asian. Lunch & Dinner daily.

Liquor. Reservations. 325 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham 48009.

248.540.5900.

Andiamo: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 6676 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301.

248.865.9300.

Bangkok Thai Bistro: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 42805 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Township, 48304. 248.499.6867.

Beau's: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

No reservations. Liquor. 4108 W. Maple, Bloomfield Hills, 48301.

248.626.2630.

Bella Piatti: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 167 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.494.7110.

Beverly Hills Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Liquor. No reservations.

31471 Southfield Road, Beverly Hills, 48025. 248.642.2355.

Beyond Juice: Contemporary. Breakfast & Lunch daily; Dinner, MondaySaturday. No reservations. 270 West Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.594.7078.

Big Rock Chophouse: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 245 South Eton Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.647.7774.

Bill's: American. Lunch & Dinner, Daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 39556 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.646.9000.

Birmingham Pub: American. Lunch and Dinner, daily. Weekend Brunch.

Reservations. Liquor. 555 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham.

Birmingham Sushi Cafe: Japanese.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 377 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.593.8880.

Bistro Joe’s Kitchen: Global. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Sunday brunch. Liquor.

Reservations. 34244 Woodward Ave., Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.0984.

Bloomfield Deli: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, Monday-Friday. No reservations. 71 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.645.6879.

Brooklyn Pizza: Pizza. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Liquor. No reservations. 111 Henrietta Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.258.6690.

Café ML: New American. Dinner, daily.

Liquor. Call ahead. 3607 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Township.

248.642.4000.

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Casa Pernoi: Italian. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 310 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009.

248.940.0000.

Churchill's Bistro & Cigar Bar: Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

116 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.4555.

Cityscape Deli: Deli. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations.

Beer. 877 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.540.7220.

Commonwealth: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 300 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.792.9766.

Dick O’Dow’s: Irish. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 160 West Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.642.1135.

Eddie Merlot's: Steak & seafood.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

37000 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.712.4095.

Einstein Bros. Bagels: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 4089 West Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.258.9939.

Elie’s Mediterranean Cuisine: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations.

Liquor. 263 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.2420.

Embers Deli & Restaurant: Deli.

Breakfast & Lunch, daily. Dinner, Monday-Friday. No reservations. 3598 West Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.645.1033.

Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: American. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 323 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.723.0134.

Forest: European. Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 735 Forest Avenue, Birmingham 48009.

248.258.9400.

Greek Island Coney Restaurant: Greek.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 221 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.1222.

Griffin Claw Brewing Company: American. Dinner, Tuesday-Friday, Lunch & Dinner, Saturday and Sunday. No Reservations. Liquor. 575 S. Eton Street, Birmingham.

248.712.4050.

Honey Tree Grille: Greek/American.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, daily. No reservations. 3633 W. Maple Rd, Bloomfield, MI 48301.

248.203.9111.

Hunter House Hamburgers: American.

Breakfast, Monday-Saturday; Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 35075 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.7121.

Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse: American. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 201 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.4369.

IHOP: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2187 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301. 248.333.7522.

Joe Muer Seafood: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner daily; Sunday brunch.

Reservations. Liquor. 39475 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.792.9609.

Kaku Sushi and Poke': Asian. Lunch &

DOWNTOWN

BREAKING NEWS

Steve’s Deli is helping to make your Thanksgiving 2 different ways!

(STEVES’S WILL BE CLOSED THANKSGIVING DAY)

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THANKSGIVING TURKEY DINNER Fresh Roasted Turkey - 22 lbs.

Serves 10 - (Whole or Carved)

FRESH ROASTED TURKEY WITH STUFFING

Serves 10 - (Whole or Carved) Mashed Potatoes & Giblet Gravy • Stuffing & Cranberry Relish • Green Beans & cherries OR Sautéed Corn with Parsley • Challa Dinner Rolls Please present coupon when ordering. No Digital coupons accepted.

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Celebrate the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

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DINE-IN/CARRY-OUT/CATERING

87

METRO INTELLIGENCER Metro Intelligencer is a monthly column devoted to news stories, tidbits and gossip items about what's happening on the restaurant scene in the metro Detroit area. Metro Intelligencer is reported/created each month by Gigi Nichols who can be reached at GigiNichols@DowntownPublications.com with news items or tips, on or off the record.

Go west without leaving home Hazel, Ravines and Downtown co-owners Beth Hussey and Executive Chef Emmele Herrold have announced a new seasonal and holiday menu inspired by the Pacific Northwest. Herrold makes the most of fall flavors in comforting dishes like Walla Walla onion soup, the wild, wild west salad, rich crab Louis and spicy mussels and sausage. This season also marks the return of Pacific Northwest crab rolls and appetizers such as classic escargot and cheesy Astoria clown bread. Diners won’t want to miss the Seattle hot dog, an essential food of the Pacific Northwest, which is topped with cream cheese, caramelized onions and jalapenos. Due to popular request, Hazel’s will still offer some tried-and-true favorites, like its hot or cold lobster rolls, token burger and fried chicken. Cocktails will feature regional ingredients and are inspired by the location itself. Expect fresh drinks named for Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia. Guests can also enjoy wines from Washington state and beers by award-winners like Alaskan Brewing Co. and Deschutes Brewery. Northwest Seafood runs throughout the fall and holiday season until Dec. 30, 2021. 1 Peabody Street, Birmingham. hrd.kitchen.com

Two doors close, another one opens Craft Work, a neighborhood favorite bar/eatery in Detroit’s West Village, officially closed its door in March of 2020. Around the same time, Chefs Brendon Edwards and Hailey Enszer of Corktown’s Gold Cash Gold saw their popular restaurant shutter as well. The good news is that Edwards and Enszer are back to work with the opening of Metropolitan Bar & Kitchen, located at 8047 Agnes Street, Detroit – the former home of Craft Work. “This space has been serving food to the community for over 100 years,” said Edwards. “It began as an apothecary and then became a small café in the 1920’s.” Edwards says the historic apothecary cabinetry still remains behind the bar area. Half of the former Craft Work space will be transformed into the Metropolitan Variety Store – a boutique neighborhood market offering an array of high quality products along with spirits and socially conscience zero percent proof selections. Metropolitan Bar & Kitchen’s dining area will have seating for 50 customers. Edwards says the menu will focus on Modern American and Latin American cuisine. “The menu is very vegetable-centric,” claims Edwards. An early November opening is planned. The market will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The restaurant and bar hours are 4-11:00 p.m. Thursday-Monday. metropolitanvariety.com

TCH gets new executive chef The Community House at 380 Bates Street, Birmingham plays host to hundreds of events and celebrations each year including business events, weddings, birthdays, showers, class reunions – you name it. Recently, The Community House appointed Ryan Friedrich as its new executive chef. In his new role, Friedrich oversees operations of The Community House kitchen, including food preparation, menu planning and the supervision of cooking and kitchen personnel. Friedrich is no stranger to the Birmingham scene. His extensive professional experience includes serving as executive chef at both Market North End and Streetside Seafood in Birmingham. He began his professional career as a personal chef to LeBron James and his family, preparing daily meals for the family and guests. When asked about changes he may make at the helm of food services for the nearly 100-year-old institution, Friedrich has many ideas. “I want to bring in a younger crowd by creating some new events for wine tastings and bourbon tastings. I plan on modernizing the menus and to work in partnership with local food sources and made in Michigan suppliers,” he said. communityhouse.com

Quick serve vegetarian cafe Inn Season Kitchen is a quick-service casual offshoot of Royal Oak’s Inn Season Café, which closed during the pandemic and is now undergoing renovations. The new eatery had a soft opening this summer, but is now officially open at 32867 Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak. Plant-based food fans will remember this location as the former home of GreenSpace & Go. Inn Season Kitchen’s vegan and vegetarian menu is basically a shorter, greatest hits version of the original Inn Season Café. Popular menu items

Dinner. Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. No Liquor. 869 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.480.4785, and 126 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009.

248.885.8631.

Kerby’s Koney Island: American.

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2160 N. Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.333.1166.

La Marsa: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner daily. Reservations. 43259 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.5800.

La Strada Italian Kitchen & Bar: Italian.

Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 243 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.480.0492.

Leo’s Coney Island: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 154 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.593.9707. Also 6527 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301.

248.646.8568.

Little Daddy’s Parthenon: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 39500 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.647.3400.

Luxe Bar & Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily; Late Night, 9 p.m.closing. No reservations. Liquor. 525 N. Old Woodward Ave., Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.6051.

Madam: American. Breakfast, MondayFriday, Brunch, weekends. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 298 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009.

248.283.4200 Mandaloun Bistro: Lebanese. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, Daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 30100 Telegraph Rd., Suite 130, Bingham Farms, 48025. 248.723.7960.

Market North End: Mediterranean.

Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 474 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.712.4953.

MEX Mexican Bistro & Tequila Bar: Mexican. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Liquor. 6675 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301.

248.723.0800.

Nippon Sushi Bar: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner daily. No reservations. Liquor.

2079 S. Telegraph, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.481.9581.

Olga’s Kitchen: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2075 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.451.0500.

Original Pancake House: American.

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 33703 South Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.642.5775.

Phoenicia: Middle Eastern. Lunch, Monday-Friday; Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 588 South Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.3122.

Planthropie: Vegan. Dessert and Cheese. 135 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.839.5640.

Qdoba: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Also 42967 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Township, 48304.

248.874.1876

Roadside B & G: American. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 1727 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.7270.

Salvatore Scallopini: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 505 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.644.8977.

Shift Cocktail Bar: Small plates. Dinner.

Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.2380.

Sidecar: American. Lunch and Dinner, daily. Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.2380.

Slice Pizza Kitchen: Pizza. Lunch and Dinner, daily. Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.3475.

Social Kitchen & Bar: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations, parties of 5 or more. Liquor. 225 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009.

248.594.4200.

Stacked Deli: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, Monday-Saturday. Delivery available.

No reservations. 233 North Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009.

248.593.5300.

Stateside Deli & Restaurant Deli.

Breakfast, Lunch, Sunday-Monday.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. No reservations.

653 S. Adams Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.550.0455.

Steve’s Deli: Deli. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 6646 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield, 48301.

248.932.0800.

Streetside Seafood: Seafood. Dinner, daily. Liquor. 273 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.645.9123.

Sushi Hana: Japanese. Lunch, MondayFriday; Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 42656 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.333.3887.

Sy Thai Cafe: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 315 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.258.9830.

Sylvan Table: American. Dinner daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 1819 Inverness Street, Sylvan Lake, 48320.

248.369.3360 Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro: American. Dinner. Monday-Saturday.

Sunday brunch. Reservations. Liquor.

55 S. Bates Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.731.7066.

The Franklin Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 32760 Franklin Rd, Franklin, 48025. 248.865.6600.

The Gallery Restaurant: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & wine. 6683 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.851.0313.

The Moose Preserve Bar & Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2395 S. Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.7688.

The Morrie: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 260 N. Old Woodward, Birmingham 48009.

248.940.3260.

The Rugby Grille: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 100 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.5999.

Toast: American. Breakfast & Lunch,

daily; Reservations. Liquor. 203 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.258.6278.

Tomatoes Apizza: Pizza. Lunch & Dinner daily. Carryout. 34200 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham 48009.

248.258.0500.

Touch of India: Indian. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

No reservations. 297 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.593.7881.

Townhouse: American. Brunch, Saturday, Sunday. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 180 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.792.5241.

Whistle Stop Diner: American.

Breakfast & Lunch, daily; Liquor. No reservations. 501 S. Eton Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.566.3566.

Zao Jun: Asian. Lunch Monday-Friday; Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

6608 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301. 248.949.9999.

Royal Oak/Ferndale Ale Mary's: American. Weekend Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 316 South Main St., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.268.1917.

Anita’s Kitchen: Middle Eastern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 22651 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, 48220. 248.548.0680.

Assaggi Bistro: Italian. Lunch, TuesdayFriday. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 330 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale, 48220.

248.584.3499.

Bigalora: Italian. Weekend Brunch.

Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily.

No Reservations. Liquor. 711 S. Main Street, Royal Oak, 48067.

The Blue Nile: Ethiopian. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

545 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale, 48220. 248.547.6699.

Cafe Muse: French. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 418 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.544.4749.

Cork Wine Pub: American. Sunday Brunch. Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 23810 Woodward Ave., Pleasant Ridge, 48069. 248.544.2675.

Due Venti: Italian. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 220 S. Main St., Clawson, 48017. 248.288.0220.

The Fly Trap: Diner. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. Dinner, Monday-Friday. No reservations. 22950 Woodward Ave., 48220. 248.399.5150.

Howe’s Bayou: Cajun. Lunch, MondaySaturday. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 22949 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, 48220.

248.691.7145.

Inyo Restaurant Lounge: Asian Fusion.

Weekend Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 22871 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, 48220.

248.543.9500.

KouZina: Greek. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

No reservations. 121 N. Main St., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.629.6500.

Kruse & Muer on Woodward: American.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 28028 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.965.2101.

Lily’s Seafood: Seafood. Weekend Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 410 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.591.5459.

Lockhart’s BBQ: Barbeque. Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, MondaySaturday. No reservations. Liquor. 202 E. Third St., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.584.4227.

Oak City Grille: American. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 212 W. 6th St, Royal Oak, 48067. 248.556.0947.

One-Eyed Betty: American. Weekend Breakfast. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 175 W. Troy St., Ferndale, 48220. 248.808.6633.

Public House: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

241 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale, 48220. 248.850.7420.

Redcoat Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

31542 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, 48073. 248.549.0300.

Ronin: Japanese. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 326 W. 4th St., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.546.0888.

Royal Oak Brewery: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

215 E. 4th St., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.544.1141.

Strada: Italian. Dinner, Wednesday Sunday. Liquor. No reservations. 376 N. Main Street. Royal Oak, 48067.

248.607.3127.

The Morrie: American. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 511 S. Main St., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.216.1112.

Toast, A Breakfast and Lunch Joint: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily.

No reservations. 23144 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, 48220.

248.398.0444.

Tom’s Oyster Bar: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

318 S. Main St., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.541.1186.

Trattoria Da Luigi: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

415 S, Washington Ave., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.542.4444.

Twisted Tavern: American. Dinner, daily.

No reservations. Liquor. 22901 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, 48220.

248.545,6750.

Vinsetta Garage: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

27799 Woodward Ave., Berkley, 48072. 248.548.7711.

Troy/Rochester Capital Grille: Steak & Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Saturday. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 2800 West Big Beaver Rd., Somerset Collection, Troy, 48084. 248.649.5300.

Cafe Sushi: Pan-Asian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1933 W. Maple Rd, Troy, 48084.

248.280.1831.

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

Reservations. Liquor. 2010 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.853.6600.

O’Connor’s Irish Public House: Irish.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

include everything from tempeh burgers and stir fries to smoothies and fresh juices. “I’m so pleased to be able to offer some of Inn Season’s fan favorites like our Budapest mushroom soup, the Big Baprawski burger, desserts, gluten-free items and more in a fast-casual format, and to carry on the plantbased tradition at this location,” says Inn Season Café owner Nick Raftis.

“It’s good timing given that Inn Season Café has been closed for renovations since early last summer. We look forward to bringing delicious plant-based food to both loyal and new customers.” Inn Season Café in Royal Oak plans to be reopen by March 2022, until then, enjoy Inn Season Kitchen. innseasonkitchen.com

Eminem opens Mom’s Spaghetti Rap artist Eminem has opened a walk-up spaghetti window within the new Union Assembly, Detroit. The restaurant’s name plays a humorous homage to a lyric in “Lose Yourself,” for which the Detroit rapper won a Grammy award. The outlet is a partnership between Eminem and Union Joints restaurant group, owner of Union Assembly as well as Clarkston Union, Vinsetta Garage and several other suburban restaurants. “We’ve had a lot of fun putting this project together with the folks at Union Joints, and the response from fans has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Paul Rosenberg, manager for Eminem. “We are really pleased to announce the arrival of the walk-up restaurant and adjacent upstairs store, called The Trailer, where fans can experience a uniquely-curated environment and obtain merch and other items from Eminem and his new pasta operation.” The quick serve menu definitely caters to late-night concert goers from the neighboring Fillmore as well as hungry fans from Comerica Park. The eatery’s offerings include, you guessed it, spaghetti (plain, with meatballs or with vegan “rabbit balls”) and s’ghetti sandwiches. Mom’s Spaghetti is located at 2131 Woodward Avenue in the alley between Union Assembly and The Fillmore. momsspaghetti.com

New chapter for Eddystone Hotel The team behind Four Man Ladder Management has announced that they have been selected by Olympia Development of Michigan to operate an allnew dining concept in the former Eddystone Hotel in Detroit. The Four Man Ladder team owns and operates Grey Ghost and Second Best on Watson Street in Midtown. The operation includes Chefs John Vermiglio and Joe Giacomino, along with Will Lee (Beverage Director) and Michael Gray (Director of Operations). Chef John Vermiglio commented on his team’s excitement to embark on another venture with Olympia Development. “As we look to continue the expansion of our family of restaurants, the Eddystone concept immediately stood out to us as a great opportunity given the beautiful architecture of the building and the location within The District Detroit. We are looking forward to starting construction and sharing more details as we progress,” said Vermiglio. Restoration of the historic Eddystone continues to move swiftly and will bring 92 apartments with 20 percent set aside as affordable units, just steps from Little Caesars Arena. The 5,000 square foot restaurant will comprise 85 seats split between the dining room, bar and lounge. Projected grand opening is spring of 2022. The Eddystone is located at the corner of Sproat Street & Park Avenue, Detroit.

Fond Farewell to Big Rock Chophouse As a community, we were both surprised and saddened by Norman and Bonnie LePage’s announcement that they would be closing their beloved Big Rock Chophouse at year’s end. In 1984, the LePage restaurateur team converted Birmingham’s Tudor revival style train station, which had sat vacant since 1978, into Norman’s Eton Street Station. It wasn’t until 1997, when the LePages and their partners, Ray and Mary Nicholson, officially transformed the space into Big Rock Chophouse. The restaurant has made its own history over the past two decades. From the large boulder that signifies its name to the unmistakable Colorado-inspired interior to the signature American fare and attention-to-detail service, Big Rock Chophouse firmly established itself as a premier dining destination in metro Detroit. And who can forget that Big Rock was also the birthplace of Griffin Claw Beer! In 2010, on a whim, Big Rock Brewmaster Dan Rogers sent a couple of IPAs to the World Beer Cup. He named the beers Norm’s Raggedy Ass IPA and Bonnie’s Raggedy Ass Imperial IPA, after his bosses. Both beers won top prizes, respectively, for best IPAs in the world and the rest is history. Thanks for the memories, Big Rock. We will miss you!

Liquor. 324 S. Main St., Rochester, 48307. 248.608.2537.

Kona Grille: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 30 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, 48083. 248.619.9060.

Kruse & Muer on Main: American.

Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 327 S. Main St., Rochester, 48307. 248.652.9400.

Loccino Italian Grill and Bar: Italian.

Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily.

Liquor. Reservations. 5600 Crooks Road, Troy, 48098. 248.813.0700.

The Meeting House: American.

Weekend Brunch. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. No reservations. Liquor. 301 S. Main St, Rochester, 48307.

248.759.4825.

Miguel’s Cantina: Mexican. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 870 S. Rochester Rd, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.453.5371.

Mon Jin Lau: Asian. Lunch, MondayFriday. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 1515 E. Maple Rd, Troy, 48083. 248.689.2332.

Morton’s, The Steakhouse: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 888 W. Big Beaver Rd, Troy, 48084. 248.404.9845.

NM Café: American. Lunch, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 2705 W. Big Beaver Rd, Troy, 48084.

248.816.3424.

Oceania Inn: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. The Village of Rochester Hills, 3176 Walton Blvd, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.375.9200.

Ocean Prime: Steak & Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 2915 Coolidge Hwy., Troy, 48084. 248.458.0500.

Orchid Café: Thai. Lunch, MondayFriday. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

3303 Rochester Rd., Troy, 48085.

248.524.1944.

P.F. Chang’s China Bistro: Chinese.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. Somerset Collection, 2801 W. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, 48084.

248.816.8000.

Recipes: American/Brunch. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

134 W. University Drive, Rochester, 48037. 248.659.8267. Also 2919 Crooks Road, Troy, 48084.

248.614.5390.

Rochester Chop House: Steak & Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

306 S. Main St., Rochester, 48307.

248.651.2266.

Ruth’s Chris Steak House: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 755 W. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, 48084. 248.269.8424.

Silver Spoon: Italian. Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 6830 N. Rochester Rd., Rochester, 48306.

248.652.4500.

Too Ra Loo: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 139 S. Main St., Rochester, 48307.

248.453.5291.

Northwestern Highway, Southfield, 48034. 248.356.6600.

Beans and Cornbread: Southern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

29508 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, 48034. 248.208.1680.

Bigalora: Italian. Weekend Brunch.

Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily.

No Reservations. Liquor. 29110 Franklin Road, Southfield, 48034.

The Fiddler: Russian. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Thursday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 6676 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.851.8782.

Mene Sushi: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine.

6239 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322.

248.538.7081.

Meriwether’s: Seafood. Lunch, MondaySaturday. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 25485 Telegraph Rd, Southfield, 48034. 248.358.1310.

Nonna Maria’s: Italian. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 2080 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, 48323.

248.851.2500.

Pickles & Rye: Deli. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 6724 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.737.3890.

Prime29 Steakhouse: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 6545 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.737.7463.

Redcoat Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 6745 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.865.0500.

Shangri-La: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. Orchard Mall Shopping Center, 6407 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.626.8585.

Sposita’s Ristorante: Italian. Friday Lunch. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 33210 W. Fourteen Mile Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322.

248. 538.8954.

Stage Deli: Deli. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

6873 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322.

248.855.6622.

Yotsuba: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 7365 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.737.8282.

West Bloomfield/Southfield

North Oakland

Bacco: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 29410

Clarkston Union: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

54 S. Main St., Clarkston, 48346.

90

West Oakland Gravity Bar & Grill: Mediterranean.

Monday – Friday, Lunch & Dinner, Saturday, Dinner. Reservations.

Liquor. 340 N. Main Street, Milford, 48381. 248.684.4223.

It's A Matter of Taste: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

2323 Union Lake Road, Commerce, 48390. 248.360.4150.

Volare Ristorante: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

48992 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393.

248.960.7771.

248.620.6100.

Holly Hotel: American. Afternoon Tea, Monday – Saturday, Brunch, Sunday, Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 110 Battle Alley, Holly, 48442.

248.634.5208.

Kruse's Deer Lake Inn: Seafood. Lunch & dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

7504 Dixie Highway, Clarkston, 48346. 248.795.2077.

The Fed: American. Lunch and Dinner daily, Brunch, Saturday and Sunday.

Liquor. 15 S. Main Street, Clarkston, 48346. 248.297.5833 Via Bologna: Italian. Dinner daily. No reservations. Liquor. 7071 Dixie Highway, Clarkston. 48346.

248.620.8500.

Union Woodshop: BBQ. Dinner, Monday – Friday, Lunch & Dinner, Saturday – Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 18 S. Main St., Clarkston, 48346.

248.625.5660

Detroit Bucharest Grill: Middle Eastern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 2684 E. Jefferson, Detroit, 48207. 313.965.3111.

Cliff Bell’s: American. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

Liquor. 2030 Park Ave., Detroit, 48226. 313.961.2543.

Cuisine: French. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 670 Lothrop Rd., Detroit, 48202.

313.872.5110.

The Detroit Seafood Market: Seafood.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 1435 Randolph St., Detroit, 48226. 313.962.4180.

El Barzon: Mexican. Lunch, TuesdayFriday. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 3710 Junction St., Detroit, 48210. 313.894.2070.

Fishbone’s Rhythm Kitchen Café: Cajun. Breakfast, daily. Sunday Brunch. Lunch, Monday-Saturday.

Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

400 Monroe Street, Detroit, 48226.

313.965.4600.

Giovanni’s Ristorante: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 330 S. Oakwood Blvd., Detroit, 48217.

313.841.0122.

Green Dot Stables: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

2200 W. Lafayette, Detroit, 48216.

313.962.5588.

Jefferson House: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 2 Washington Blvd., Detroit, 48226. 313.782.4318.

Joe Muer Seafood: Seafood. Lunch, Monday- Friday, Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 400 Renaissance Center, Detroit, 48243.

313.567.6837.

Johnny Noodle King: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 2601 W. Fort St., Detroit, 48216. 313.309.7946.

Mario’s: Italian. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 4222 2nd Ave., Detroit, 48201. 313.832.1616.

Midtown Shangri-la: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 4710 Cass Ave., Detroit, 48201. 313.974.7669.

Motor City Brewing Works: American.

DOWNTOWN

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Beer & Wine. 470 W. Canfield St., Detroit, 48201. 313.832.2700.

Prism: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 555 E. Lafayette St, Detroit, 48226. 313.309.2499.

Red Smoke Barbeque: Barbeque.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. Trappers Alley Shopping Center, 573 Monroe Ave., Detroit, 48226.

313.962.2100.

Selden Standard: American. Weekend Brunch. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily. Liquor. Reservations. 3921 Second Ave., Detroit, 48201.

313.438.5055.

SheWolf Pastifico & Bar: Italian.

Dinner, Tuesday through Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 438 Selden St, Detroit 48201. 313.315.3992.

Sinbad’s: Seafood. Sunday Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 100 St Clair St., Detroit, 48214. 313.822.8000.

Slows Bar BQ: Barbeque. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

2138 Michigan Ave, Detroit, 48216.

313.962.9828.

Tap at MGM Grand: American.

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 1777 Third Street, Detroit, 48226.

313.465.1234.

Taqueria Nuestra Familia: Mexican.

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 7620 Vernor Hwy., Detroit, 48209. 313.842.5668.

The Block: American. Sunday Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 3919 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.0892.

Tom’s Oyster Bar: Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 519 East Jefferson Ave., Detroit, 48226.

313.964.4010.

Traffic Jam & Snug: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

511 W. Canfield, Detroit, 48201.

313.831.9470.

24grille: American. Sunday Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, 1114 Washington Blvd, Detroit, 48226. 313.964.3821.

Union Street: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

4145 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 48201.

313.831.3965.

Vince’s: Italian. Lunch, Tuesday-Friday.

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

Liquor. 1341 Springwells St., Detroit, 48209. 313.842.4857.

Vivio’s Food & Spirits: American.

Saturday Breakfast. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2460 Market St., Detroit, 48207.

313.393.1711.

The Whitney: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & High Tea, Monday-Friday.

Sunday Brunch. Dinner, daily. Liquor.

Reservations. 4421 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 48201. 313.832.5700.

Wright & Co.: American. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations.

Liquor. 1500 Woodward Ave Second Floor, Detroit, 48226.

313.962.7711.

11.21

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HELP WANTED MARKETPLACE The Help Wanted Marketplace appears toward the back of each monthly issue of Downtown Newsmagazine, reaching over 40,000+ readers.

Ads are grouped so readers can access more easily all job openings in the businesscommunity. Four color is available for all ads at no additional cost.

A

All job openings appear as display ads which are available in four sizes. Downtown Newsmagazine is offering discounted ad rates for the Help Wanted Marketplace.

Krystyna’s European Spa, in Beverly Hills, MI, is seeking experienced and talented nail techs, estheticians, and massage therapists.

3

For further information, contact Mark Grablowski by email or phone (O:248.792.6464 or C: 586.549.4424) MarkGrablowski@downtownpublications.com.

Space reservation for the October issue is Friday, September 17.

248.540.0600 Beverly Hills, MI

RESEARCH PROJECT FOR DOWNTOWN NEWSMAGAZINE Downtown Newsmagazine needs someone for a temporary, short-term research project.

Please call 248.540.0600 to schedule an interview.

We are still working remotely until later this fall so this will be a remote work project also.

We look forward to meeting you!

Good hourly pay.

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Resume or note explaining work history to Jobs@DowntownPublications.com Please, no phone calls.

124 West Maple Road, Birmingham 48009 92

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11.21

HELP WANTED MARKETPLACE The Help Wanted Marketplace appears toward the back of each monthly issue of Downtown Newsmagazine, reaching over 40,000+ readers.

Ads are grouped so readers can access more easily all job openings in the businesscommunity. Four color is available for all ads at no additional cost.

WE’RE HIRING!

All job openings appear as display ads which are available in four sizes. Downtown Newsmagazine is offering discounted ad rates for the Help Wanted Marketplace.

For further information, contact Mark Grablowski by email or phone (O:248.792.6464 or C: 586.549.4424) MarkGrablowski@downtownpublications.com.

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93

ENDNOTE

Our choices for Birmingham commission esidents in Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills are being asked to choose candidates to fill seats on their city commissions this election day, Tuesday, November 2. In Bloomfield Hills, there are five candidates to fill five open seats. In Birmingham, seven candidates are seeking to fill three open seats.

Downtown Newsmagazine invited all seven of the candidates in the Birmingham nonpartisan race to answer questions via a questionnaire which our editorial staff felt were important and relevant to the job of city commissioner. Candidate answers are available on our website, downtownpublications.com, to allow residents of Birmingham to read and review as they make their determinations for either absentee ballots or at the polling places.

With some candidates we conducted Zoom meetings to ferret out further the answers that were submitted because we have done this for decades and know the inherent failings of the questionnaire process.

We offer our endorsements on this page, reached after thorough, thoughtful and careful deliberation with the acknowledgement that we are just one voice of opinion in the community, although one backed up by an inordinate amount of time covering city issues.

Among the criteria we sought was knowledge of the issues confronting the city at this point in time and the ability to work collaboratively with six other commissioners, rather than just acting as a disruptive force, as well as with members of the administration

R

who carry out the daily business of the city.

At this point in time, with three long-term commissioners retiring, we also believe it is a time for new vision and new blood, those who can bring independent voices to the commission table, which unfortunately has a couple of very weak members. We looked for voices who will not be part of a coalition or established voting block. While much institutional wisdom will be lost with this election as three long-term members did not seek another term, it is also an exciting opportunity to vote for individuals with fresh personal viewpoints, talent and skills.

Also taken into consideration was the fact that not everyone who actively participates in city meetings as a resident or currently holds an appointed board spot is qualified to be a commissioner, nor are individuals who have not yet served on a committee or board less competent or qualified to make city decisions.

Lastly, we don't always agree completely with recommended candidates on all issues but this is the best field from those appearing on the ballot.

KATIE SCHAFER, a pediatrician who is managing partner at Birmingham's Bloom Pediatrics, whose passion for issues in her own neighborhood led to her involvement with the multi-modal transportation board as a pedestrian advocate and the ad hoc unimproved streets committee. Her inquisitive mind reflects an understanding of the critical issues Birmingham is facing, from the master plan process to development surrounding the

city's Triangle District, as well as the latest issues the city is facing with parking. We were most impressed with Schafer.

For our second choice, we are excited to recommend ANTHONY LONG, an attorney with 26 years legal experience who is a partner and general counsel at a Royal Oak law firm.

Long demonstrated both a command and logical approach to the issues in his written answers and our follow up discussion with him.

He has the basic listening and communication skills once elected to productively participate in presenting his viewpoint and negotiating compromise when necessary. Long has the potential to be an independent voice and a strong addition to the commission, one that would not involve a long learning curve once elected.

Our third choice was a bit tougher to make but we think voters would be best to cast their lot with ELAINE MCLAIN, who has served well on the Birmingham-Bloomfield Cable Board, although we have some reservations, as we did with the other remaining candidates, so we make the following recommendations.

McLain has the underpinnings of knowledge relative to the issues facing the city today. Her written answers to our questions lack specifics, although she improved in a follow up Zoom session. If she can master the art of listening, then she could well prove an asset on the commission.

Food trucks trial before final commitment

T

rial and error. According to the MerriamWebster Dictionary, it's a process of finding out the best way to reach a desired result or a correct solution by trying something out and by noting and eliminating errors or causes of failure.

It's a wise adage, and one that should be followed more frequently in public ordinance. An example is a desire by some in Birmingham to have food trucks serve up more diverse dining options. More than 550 people participated recently in a public opinion poll on the city's Engage Birmingham website, where 88.7 percent of participants said they would patronize a food truck. There was a divergence of opinion as to where to place the food trucks in town, as well as types of food to offer.

As we stated in our July editorial, years ago we were opposed to bringing food trucks into downtown Birmingham, but have changed our opinion, at least as it applies to some short-term trial run. Our original position was primarily as a protective measure for the brick and mortar establishments in town. Five months ago when

we supported a test run of food trucks, as recommended by one of the authors/planners involved with the 2016 Plan, we envisioned just that – a test prior to a final decision by city officials. As businesses slowly began to bring workers back, many of whom are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, with limited lunch hours and budgets, the reality of Birmingham was that there are fewer and fewer affordable lunch spots available.

But then the spread of the Delta variant took on a new life, sending workers and diners scurrying back home, perhaps for the unforeseen future. The reality is, the pandemic is still with us. That means brick and mortar restaurants are continuing to suffer.

We still think there is an opportunity for the city commission and planning board to finesse a test of food trucks for next spring or summer, perhaps for a four-week period, in a predetermined area of the city, like Shain Park.

Details such as costs to clean up the area during and after offering the food trucks can be worked out, what to charge food trucks for the privilege of

coming into the city, how many days to offer food trucks, and other issues, could be researched and dealt with in advance and assessed after the test – and then re-evaluated in order to rewrite city ordinances if it turns out food trucks are popular with the public.

If they aren't, or if many businesses and their employees in town don't return to offices and stay working remotely, then a trial run is a great determinant. Established restaurants will also be able to see if they are significantly impacted by food trucks – a consideration that must be part of the decision process.

By making preparations in advance, it also allows the city's planning department to do research on other similar municipalities, such as Royal Oak, Ferndale and beyond this county, which have allowed food trucks, to see if they are a benefit or a detriment to their communities.

Trial and error. Better than a full bore rush to offer food trucks and failure.