Birmingham/Bloomfield

DESKA: FRONT/BACK 96 • GERAK: SOCIAL LIGHTS 103

DECEMBER 2016

PLUS

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP

KING OF TRASH: THE BATTLE FOR HAULING CONTRACTS RISE AND FALL: DECLINE OF OAKLAND DAILY NEWSPAPER TAX DRAGNET: HOME EXEMPTIONS AND LOST REVENUE ECRWSS Postal Customer EDDM

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Rise and Fall of an Oakland County newspaper Once considered the dominant newspaper of Oakland County in sales, circulation and news coverage, The Oakland Press has witnessed a steady decline, thanks in part to challenges facing all newspapers and a changing roster of owners.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

20

David Hohendorf writes about the “alternate reality” experienced the day after the general election and his advice to his sons on moving forward but staying involved.

Plus he provides an update on our efforts for a coal tar sealcoat ban.

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

28

Our political gossip/rumor column details the latest on a weak write-in attempt; interesting data from the November election; a possible local GOP member’s elevation to the national stage; out TSL nomination: plus more.

CRIME LOCATOR

33

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

MUNICIPAL

75

Bloomfield Township legal counsel contract; Rizzo political contributions; planned parking at Poppleton Park; Birmingham restaurant closes doors; agency competition on new city logo; new store openings in Birmingham; plus more.

FRONT/BACK

96

Katie Deska gives us the the latest on what’s happening in the front and the back of the house in metro Detroit area restaurants with a series of short takes on the latest news and gossip for the industry.

THE COVER St. Hugo Stone Chapel, on Opdyke Road in Bloomfield Hills, which served as the parish worship structure from 1936 until 1989, thanks to the original support of Theodore and Alice McManus. The architect for the Norman Gothic style church was Arthur des Rosier. Downtown photo.

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50

Battle for trash hauling The Rizzo firm, now under FBI review in Macomb County, has captured a good portion of the Oakland County trash hauling market.

63 Tax audits for homesteads Oakland County and the state work diligently to make sure that residential homeowners are not gaming – knowingly or not – the property tax system.

34

Cal Nevin

FACES SOCIAL LIGHTS

103

Society reporter Sally Gerak provides the latest news from the society and non-profit circuit as she covers recent major events.

ENDNOTE

110

The practice of no-bid, long-term trash hauling contracts needs to be reviewed by local municipalities; upcoming construction in downtown Birmingham.

34 49 55 91

Cal Nevin Judith Guest Jeffry Aronsson Rabbi Jason Miller

PUBLISHER David Hohendorf NEWS EDITOR Lisa Brody NEWS STAFF/CONTRIBUTORS Allison Batdorff | Rachel Bechard | Hillary Brody Katie Deska | Kevin Elliott | Sally Gerak Austen Hohendorf | Kathleen Meisner | Bill Seklar PHOTOGRAPHY/CONTRIBUTORS Jean Lannen | Laurie Tennent Laurie Tennent Studio VIDEO PRODUCTION/CONTRIBUTOR Garrett Hohendorf Giant Slayer ADVERTISING DIRECTOR David Hohendorf ADVERTISING SALES Mark Grablowski GRAPHICS/IT MANAGER Chris Grammer OFFICE 124 W. Maple Birmingham MI 48009 248.792.6464 DISTRIBUTION/SUBSCRIPTIONS Mailed monthly at no charge to most homes in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills. Additional free copies distributed at high foot-traffic locations in downtown Birmingham.

For those not receiving a free mail copy, paid subscriptions are available for a $12 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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FROM THE PUBLISHER ormally the morning after an election – presidential or off-year – I find myself almost in an alternate reality.

N

At the publishing group we generally work until the early hours of the morning – this year until 3:30 a.m. – waiting for election returns to allow us to send out an email newsletter blast to the several thousand plus local residents who have signed up to receive online notices about the latest news updates to our website.

Unfortunately, I am cursed. I followed national news and analysis until past 4 a.m. and called it a night, but within a couple of hours my natural body clock commanded that a new day start.

I got my first text at about 7 a.m. from a friend in the Metamora area bemoaning the elections results.

So it was no great imposition that my youngest son, Austen, phoned at 7:56 a.m. from New York to share his experience that morning about the E train ride from 50th Street uptown to Lexington Ave/53rd Street near his office. Like his older brother who lives in the Meatpacking District, and everyone else I know, we had all hung on until the wee hours to get the latest results on the presidential election. We exchanged multiple texts throughout the night as state-by-state results came in and we shared our disappointment with the Trump victory.

Austen's description that morning of the normal rush hour train ride (think noisy ruckus) to work had all the makings of a Rod Serling 'One Step Beyond” episode – considerably less crowds than normal, an eerie silence where there was no conversation whatsoever, on the subway and the sidewalks of Manhattan. I first thought of that line from Sounds of Silence – “people talking without speaking.”

His experience was much like what I encountered the day after the election as I interacted with local business people near our office in Birmingham.

As a result, I use my column this month to share some added thoughts for my sons who grew up in a household where politics and the workings of government were common topics of discussion. They have matured into young adults who are intellectually engaged with the world around them.

They probably don't need my advice, but I dispense it anyway.

The election this year for me was a bit different than others. As with all elections, voting is a question of deciding between alternatives.

For the 2016 general election, the choice was between two flawed candidates. Simple as that. One a continuation of a dynastic tradition who carried with her baggage from the past that overwhelmed any substantive discussion of policy that had been developed. The other, an uninformed media manipulator who shocked many people as he gave rise to followers taking his lead that it was now politically correct to vent publicly their hidden thoughts about race, sexual preference, women, immigrants. You name it. Lack of civility, coupled with no real knowledge of how the government works, which does not portend well for the country.

This election in my case was focused more on preserving for the benefit of my family and the coming generations certain rights and freedoms that

we all have enjoyed in our lifetime – all appearing to be in danger during the campaign, and even now as the the president-elect starts to assemble his administration.

The first thought I shared with my sons was that they were fortunate to have been raised and educated in an inclusive environment, where gay rights, women's rights, the civil rights of all populations and religions were both respected and protected. Therefore it was only natural that they, like me, were repulsed by what was heard from our next president.

But I also remind myself that even in educated communities like those served by Downtown newsmagazine, Trump still drew heavy voter support, so I suspect not everyone voting for him could be written off as part of the unholy alt-right and white supremacy crowd we would see at his rallies, although I am completely mystified how anyone could ignore the offensive and exclusionary views the campaign came to embody.

My second observation, made as we all watched the street protests outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and across the nation, was that – done peacefully – there was some value in putting the new administration on notice that claims of having a mandate with this election was just one more falsehood thrown out by the Trump inner circle. Mind you, this is a president-elect who called for citizens to march on Washington when President Obama was first elected. While Trump may have won the election thanks to the outdated electoral college system (worthy of a column by itself), he lost the popular vote by nearly a million ballots. Without an overwhelming mandate, any attempt by the incoming national leadership to run roughshod on issues such as protection of the environment, government surveillance of select populations in the country, threats to the civil rights of both people of color and members of the LGBT community, restriction of women's reproductive rights, tampering with consumer protection regulation or freedom of the press would be disingenuous at best and set off alarms.

Which brings me to my most important advice – I remind my sons that the democracy is strong and resilient and can withstand Donald Trump. But the democracy only remains strong if we are diligent and challenge the powers that be. Which means we must stay informed, involved and be willing to speak out publicly and contest what we view as not in the public's long-term interest.

COAL TAR SEALCOAT UPDATE: As noted in my column last month, we are now starting our campaign to call on elected officials across Oakland to ban the sale and use of coal tar sealcoat for blacktop driveways and parking lots due to proven threats to human health and aquatic life in the environmentally sensitive county. As you are reading this issue, we are now mailing an information packet (copies of the October Downtown longform feature on the topic; editorial opinion; publisher's column; and a sample ordinance) to nearly 600 elected officials comprising all local municipal councils members, the entire county board of commissioners and the Michigan House and Senate members who represent Oakland County.

David Hohendorf Publisher DavidHohendorf@downtownpublications.com

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INCOMING Not ‘schools of choice’ In a recent issue, you covered the critical issue of school funding (November/Downtown).

While we greatly appreciate the article and the dialogue it undoubtedly created in our community on this important topic, there was an error that we feel we need to address.

Bloomfield Hills Schools was noted as a schools of choice district, but we do not offer a schools of choice enrollment program. Bloomfield Hills Schools offers a tuition option for nonresident enrollment, but we are not a choice district.

Thank you for helping to correct this error and thank you for your reporting.

Shira Good, Director Communications & Community Relations, Bloomfield Hills Schools

Coal tar sealant Thank you for this thorough and well written article (Coal Tar Sealant/October).

For the record, could you state who at Michigan Department of Transportation committed to this phase out of coal tar sealers? Our experience is that without transparency or accountability, these commitments don't stick.

Tom Ennis Coal Tar Free America Austin, Texas

Letter over the line Shame on you for publishing “Do Not Support Trump,” November (Incoming).

The letter writer, JM Merritt, personally attacked Cara McAllister for writing an opinion letter. The attack was way over the line of decency.

I suggest JM Merritt stick to opining on issues and leave his deplorable comments to his candidate.

Gina A. Petrak Bloomfield Township

Piston vs. turbine-engine I thought the extensive article by Kevin Elliott in the November issue regarding aircraft emissions, particularly lead, handled a very complex subject thoroughly and quite objectively.

It is unfortunate that in formatting the story, the bold headline “Removing the Lead,” subhead “Piston-Engine Aircraft Now in the Crosshairs” is illustrated by a two-page photo of a turbineengine aircraft that does not have downtownpublications.com

SPEAK OUT We welcome your opinion on issues facing the Birmingham/Bloomfield communities.

Opinions can be sent via e-mail to news@downtownpublications.com or mailed to Downtown Publications, 124 West Maple Road, Birmingham MI 48009.

piston engines and does not burn leaded fuel. This same erroneous juxtaposition appears on the index page.

Given the sensitivity and complexity of the topic, I believe it is important to avoid any unnecessary confusion among those who may automatically equate propellers with piston engines.

Bernard Robertson Bloomfield Hills

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Accountability in education The third grade reading bill (now pending in Lansing) provides schools with extra funding for diagnostic assessments of students with reading difficulties such as decoding and comprehension in order to provide these students with specific and individualized interventions.

Unfortunately, without a change in culture, we still will not see an improvement in results. Being prepared with initial reading skills before a student even starts school should be expected and required.

There are too many students reading lower than their current grade level. There needs to be an attitude at home that education and reading is important.

The impossibility of educating a student without the support of their parents is the real problem.

Education should be a partnership between students, parents and teachers.

Why are students not held back in every single grade and any subject if these interventions do not help the student meet the required standards?

If they pass the subject, they should go on to the next grade. If they fail the subject, they should be required to go to summer school or repeat the grade.

Michael Lerchenfeldt Rochester Hills DOWNTOWN

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OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL Oakland Confidential is a periodic column of political/government news and gossip, gathered both on and off-the-record by staff members at Downtown newsmagazine. We welcome possible items for this column (all sources are kept strictly confidential) which can be emailed to: OaklandConfidential@DowntownPublications.com.

Numbers count: Now that we’ve all recovered from our collective national election hangover, we’re examining the vote, looking at who voted and where the turnout was. While only 13 percent of registered voters in the city of Detroit turned out to vote on November 8, locally, voter participation was much stronger, with 79 percent of registered voters in Bloomfield Township, 76 percent of voters in Birmingham and 76 percent in Rochester Hills. It appears that straight party ticket that Michigan Republicans fought against so hard actually benefitted them more than Democrats on Election Day. In Rochester Hills, clerk Tina Barton said 10,644 people voted straight party Republican, while there were 7,953 Democrats circling the straight party oval. In Birmingham, same story – almost 55 percent of voters (3,193) were Republican straight party voters, versus just under 44 percent (2,547) of Democrats.

Bloomfield Township also had more Republican straight party voters, with 8,052, or almost 57 percent of straight party voters. Countywide, Oakland County had it flipped, with 53 percent voting straight party Democratic, for a total of 178,242 votes, and 149,861 (45 percent) Republicans voters going the straight party route. Voter turnout in Oakland County was 72 percent.

Absentee ballots were also up. Statewide, the Michigan Secretary of State reported nine percent of voters did it absentee. Almost 11,000 of the 35,212 Bloomfield Township ballots were absentee; Rochester Hills processed 13,215 absentee ballots election night out of 52,553 total ballots, and Birmingham had 4,445 out of a total of 17,412 votes cast. By the way, while Rochester Hills went for president-elect Donald Trump, Birmingham and Bloomfield Township both supported Hillary Clinton.

Movin’ on up: Far be it for us to comment on rumors, or to hesitate to check them out. So when word trickled down that Michigan Republican chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, a native of Bloomfield Hills and currently a resident of Northville, was possibly being considered as the chair of the national Republican Party, to replace soon-tobe chief of staff Reince Preibus, we were on it like flies at a picnic. Communications director for the Michigan Republican Party Sarah Anderson said, “We are not commenting on that story right now.” But a highly placed sourced said, “Of course MCDANIEL she’s being considered. Has she been offered the job yet – not yet.” Romney McDaniel is the niece of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and daughter of G. Scott Romney.

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C’mon on down: While scare tactics may have worked at the top of the ticket, it didn’t seem to have worked for Republican treasurer candidate John McCulloch, whose campaign mailers repeatedly stated that county treasurer Andy Meisner, a Democrat, “has been working to bring Syrian refugees to Oakland County,” referring to a Pontiac housing project Meisner supported, but which did not come to fruition. Meisner said the development was like a lot of others he supported – finding owners to buy tax foreclosed properties.

McCulloch brought along county exec L. Brooks Patterson, who has had some nasty things to say about immigrants, including in September that he’d sue the federal government to stop Syrian immigrants from being settled in Oakland County – although he claims to love other immigrants who bring foreign investment to the county. McCulloch also quoted Sheriff Mike Bouchard as not being a fan of the current vetting process of refugees. Turns out Bouchard, who along with Patterson was reelected on November 8, and is of Lebanese descent, told the House Committee on Homeland Security on September 21, 2016, “The current vetting process for refugees is entirely insufficient...All refugees allowed to enter the U.S. should be closely monitored by the federal government,” noting that the wife of the San Bernardino attacker had fraudulently entered the country on a fiancee visa. Just a note: according to the U.S. Department of State, there have been a whopping total of 482 Syrian immigrants settled so far in Oakland County. As an aside, Meisner noted that he never heard from McCulloch after he won. Not classy, John.

Money matters: Nearly a half-million dollars was spent during the 2016 election cycle on Oakland County’s 39th District state legislature seat, one

DOWNTOWN

12.16

Democrats have been trying unsuccessfully to overturn since 2012, when it fell under Republican control, won by incumbent Klint Kesto. The race was the most expensive in Oakland County this year, and the 11th highest of all Michigan’s House races, according to a spending analysis of 110 districts by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. About $484,958 was spent on the race, with roughly $410,410 spent on Kesto’s side, and $74,548 in documented spending on Democrat Mike Stack’s campaign. Those amounts, which include broadcast television spending, candidate fundraising and disclosed independent spending reported to the Federal Elections Commission by the candidates or other committees on their behalf, are expected to increase in the coming months as additional spending is disclosed, said Craig Mauger, who heads up the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. “The money tracked there wasn’t as high as expected,” Mauger said, citing the $734,000 spent on the 39th District seat during the 2014 election.

Mauger noted spending in Birmingham’s 40th District, by comparison, was virtually non-existent. Still, the 6.96-percent margin of victory reached by Republican Michael McCready over Democratic challenger Nicole Bedi made that race one of the closest state House seats in the county.

Oakland County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Houston said Stack’s bid for the 39th District seat was a top target of the party at the state level. “From an Oakland County party perspective, we wanted to make sure our countywide positions were re-elected, which they were by good margins, and wanted to make sure we had a competitive candidate against Brooks (Patterson), which we did with Vicki Barnett.” The party also targeted the Oakland County Commission’s 5th and 14th districts. “Those were targets, and Stack was a top target.”

Spending was also heavy for the state’s 8th Congressional District, where about $2.512 million was spent on Republican Mike Bishop’s and Democratic challenger Suzanna Shkreli’s campaigns. Bishop, who won his second term in Congress, raised about $2.1 million through the election cycle, with just $165,694 raised in the quarter before the election. Shkreli, whose campaign was launched in July, raised $411,421 in the quarter prior to the election. In total, candidates and supporters spent the third highest amount of any congressional race in the state, behind the 1st and 7th district seats.

Mickey Mouse election: In the “count ‘em contentious” category, the guy who lost the election to be the Republican candidate for Bloomfield Township supervisor, Dave Thomas, in the August primary to incumbent supervisor Leo Savoie, decided to register as a write-in candidate for November. Problem was, it was so late in the game – Thomas filed on Thursday, October 27, as a write-in candidate; the final date to register was Friday, October 28 – that most people were unaware he was even running. Savoie handily won re-election (there were no Democrats on the entire THOMAS township slate), receiving 17,459 of the 18,100 votes cast.

Thomas had 161 write-ins in 32 precincts, said township clerk Jan Roncelli.

“There were all kinds of write-ins, Donald Duck, their whole family. It’s anyone’s right to put in their own name, or anyone else’s. But we’re not going to tally it,” she said. Sorry, Mr. Thomas. You got outvoted by a whole motley crew of characters.

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TSL: State Senator Marty Knollenberg’s vote in late October against a pair of bills intended to stop bicyclists from being hit by passing vehicles on the road earned his return to the list this month. However, we must give the senator props for breaking a pattern of non-communication by returning our call and offering a thoughtful explanation of his vote. Introduced by Dearborn Heights Democrat David Knezek and Kalamazoo senator Margaret O’Brien, the bills are two of several introduced in response to the fatal crash that killed five bicyclists this year in Kalamazoo. Specifically, the two bills would require motorists to give bicycles at least five feet of clearance when passing. On October 20, Knollenberg was one of only two senators to vote against the bill, which passed the chamber 34 to 2, with one senator excused from voting. An avid cyclist himself, Knollenberg supported an associated bill to increase driver education and instruction on bicycle awareness, but said the five-foot rule would be impractical from an enforcement standpoint. “It would have been easy to vote yes and feel good, but from a practical perspective, I don’t think it’s practical. How will an officer measure it? It creates a lot of confusion,” he clarified. “These injuries are unconscionable and shouldn’t happen. Usually, they are the fault of a distracted driver, and that scares me more than anything else.” downtownpublications.com

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Cal Navin irmingham native Cal Navin had kept her lifelong interest in art a secret to most of her co-workers in the automobile industry for nearly two decades, until one of her director's learned of her talents in the fine arts field, and her two careers merged in 2000.

"My family, we are all artists in one nature or another, either as musicians or visual arts, or something," Navin said, who began working in the automotive services industry at General Motors in 1978. "I was kind of a hobbyist. As far as sculpture, I was a basement sculptor. I did art, but it was more of a hobby."

In 1998, Navin's hobby caught the attention of a co-worker who saw her artwork in a group art exhibit at the Allen House in Birmingham. The show eventually led Navin to join the company's design staff and pursue a formal degree in fine arts from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit. Today, she works as a sculpting model manager in General Motors' performance studio during the day while maintaining a schedule of fine art exhibits in her free time.

"It happened by chance, when the secretary of a director had gone to one of my art shows in Birmingham," Navin said. "I remember him saying to me, 'I hear we have an artist among us. I didn't know you were an artist.' I said I was a hobbyist, and he said he would love to see my work. We had lunch the next day and I brought some photographs."

After seeing her work, Navin said the director encouraged her to join the company's design staff. When the opportunity presented itself a month later, she jumped, and was hired as a design sculptor.

"It was a dream come true," she said.

The following year, Navin began attending CCS to earn her fine arts degree in sculpture and painting.

"Prior to any formal training or attending art school, I worked mostly with clay and crafts," Navin said. "From an early age, whether it was an early desire or an instinctual gut level, I've considered myself an artist. Early on I learned, that like Pavlov's dog, art equals praise. It rewarded me. Art has always given me a sense of self."

Since 2000, Navin's fine artwork has been shown dozens of times at exhibitions. In 2014, she produced a series of toy sculptures as a way to honor her brother's passing, earning her a best in show award at a recent CCS alumni show. More recently, Navin produced a series of photos focusing on Detroit's blighted neighborhoods, in which she manipulated colors to contrast the feel-good revival of the city and the forgotten areas hiding in plain daylight.

Taking her Detroit series to the next level, Navin said she will be molding scale models of some of the historical buildings in the city that have been left to waste.

"I have to make art â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it might be my reason for being. I have decided for 2017, I'm never going to stop my Detroit series because I think it's very, very important for me," Navin said, who moved to Detroit's historic Mies van der Rohe townhouses 11 years ago from Birmingham. " I live in the city of Detroit, and as an artist, I think I have a responsibility to bring attention to social issues that concern me."

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Most people might not consider being hospitalized with an unexpected heart condition a stroke of good luck, but Frank Shepherd, former owner of 21st Century Newspapers and The Oakland Press, said a three-day stint at a cardiac unit near the end of 2003 was just that.

At 62 years of age, Shepherd had amassed one of the largest newspaper companies in the country, buying 129 newspapers in five years, starting with The Oakland Press, which had a daily circulation of about 90,000 and was making nearly $20 million a year in profits. He had successfully battled The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press for advertising dominance in Oakland and Macomb counties, but Shepherd, like few in the newspaper business, could foresee the impending recession and how it would decimate ad revenues. Nor were they aware how the online and digital revolution would eat into their subscriptions and swallow their classified sections. But in October of 2003, while being treated for a heart issue at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Shepherd read a book his wife had bought him from the gift shop that put the writing on the wall.

"It was written by a woman who was an auto writer for The Ann Arbor News. I still have the book and underlined parts. Basically, her thesis was that the auto industry was going away, and the Japanese were taking it over, and it would go to Mexico and the South, and business would go in the shitter," he said.

"I said, 'I think she's right.'"

Faced with health concerns and convinced his business would be facing a major downturn, Shepherd decided to sell his publications and retire. That November, he went to New York City to tell his creditors he wanted to put the company up for sale. In the spring, 21st Century Newspapers was on the auction block and sold to the Journal Register Company for $415 million.

"At the end of the day, I wasn't that good – I was lucky," Shepherd said of his decision to get out of the business. "The timing of my heart problem was lucky. I was only 62 and wasn't ready to retire. I was looking to expand.

The health problem and the book triggered it. I got lucky.

"When we closed the deal in 2004, and they closed the books in September, it was the first time that 21st Century Newspapers and The Oakland Press missed their revenue estimates.

I don't think they ever recovered."

About four years after the sale of the business – which included The Oakland Press, The Macomb Daily, The Royal Oak Daily Tribune, The Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, and more than 100 other newspapers across Michigan – the Journal Register Company

declared bankruptcy for the first time. In 2012, the owners of The Oakland Press filed for bankruptcy a second time, eventually merging with Denver-based MediaNews Group, owner of The Detroit News. Today, the company is operated by Digital First Media, which became the business name of MediaNews Group, which had also filed for bankruptcy protection in the past.

Once considered the dominant paper of Oakland County in sales, circulation and news coverage, The Oakland Press has witnessed a steady decline, with daily circulation plummeting to slightly more than 23,000, according to the most recent figures from The Alliance for Audited Media.

As print circulation continues to plummet, so goes its associated revenue from the sale of papers and advertising. Faced with declining profits, the paper has been forced to slash employees, leaving its sports and news departments with a skeleton crew of editorial staff.

A review of one week's worth of editions of the Oakland Press reveals that advertising by local retailers is weak at best and some weekdays, nonexistent. The Sunday edition is still beefy, in large part thanks to advertising from auto dealers and preprints or advertising inserts, a huge profit item for most newspapers, numbering from 12-15. The classified want ad section, which in its heyday ran 40 pages or considerably more, is now down to just several pages.

"That is just sad. That is just very sad," Jack Lessenberry, head of journalism faculty at Wayne State University and senior news analyst for Michigan Public Radio, said about the paper's circulation number. "They have had a lot of good people and reporters that are now scattered around."

While Lessenberry credited many of the paper's staff for its quality of work, including current local news editor Julie JacobsonHines, he said The Oakland Press has become a "sort of wretched" paper that employs "huge headlines and no content, with some reporters working out of their homes rather than coming into the newsroom.

"They clearly don't have money to add staff," he said.

Requests for comment from the current executive editor and the publisher of The Oakland Press weren't returned. However, interviews by Downtown newsmagazine with several previous editors, publishers and Detroit-area newspaper veterans since the paper was sold from ownership of the Fitzgerald family in 1969 tell a story of a once strong paper in a state of decline.

"This was a very good paper, and the staff was moving into the southern part of the

county. Then disaster happened," Lessenberry said. "All newspapers have been in trouble, and a lot of their problems might have happened anyway, but it was exacerbated by corporate greed and people that didn't have an interest in journalism."

Once employing more than 100 people in its newsroom, today The Oakland Press has less than 20 editors, reporters and multimedia journalists listed on its editorial staff. Those that remain must find ways to do more, while new hires must focus on ways to increase digital content, which includes finding and promoting news that will bring traffic to its website and mobile platforms.

Industrywide, the trend has many journalists tracking web statistics in order to meet production and readership quotas to help drive digital profits in the face of declining print revenue. Regardless of increasing gains in digital revenue, income from the printed product remains the largest source of revenue for newspapers, industrywide.

Declines aren't necessarily unique to The Oakland Press. Daily newspapers across the country have all witnessed their print circulation wither since the 1990s. The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have both lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers. In 2015 alone, the average weekday newspaper circulation, including print and digital readership combined, fell seven percent from the previous year, the greatest decline since 2010, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. Likewise, the trend of cutting staff in order to achieve profitability has emptied newsrooms throughout the nation, with staffing losses of about 39 percent over the past 20 years, or about 20,000 positions.

Today, there are an estimated 33,000 employees working in newsrooms across the nation.

The most recent assessment of the industry found that print advertising losses are falling much faster than expected, which is likely to spur even more cuts to already struggling newsrooms, according to Ken Doctor, a national news analyst and author of Newsonomics.

"Almost all reported double-digit losses in print advertising this quarter compared to the third quarter of 2015," Doctor said of the three largest publicly-owned newspaper companies and those private companies that shared information. “That's swamping any other progress these companies have made. Digital First Media is in that same place. They have done steady reductions of staff over time, and I anticipate more of those in 2017."

Despite the industrywide trends, some former publishers, editors and newspaper veterans say the demise of The Oakland Press

Once considered the dominant paper of Oakland County in sales, circulation and news coverage, The Oakland Press has witnessed a steady decline, with daily circulation plummeting to slightly more than 23,000.

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With less than eight months on the job, McIntyre sent the entire news staff into the field to cover the first day of school in Pontiac. The coverage gained national attention and the staff became a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. has been accelerated by various corporate ownerships over the years. Particularly, the former Journal Register Company, which has a reputation for practicing what Forbes once labeled "cheapskate journalism," as well as the current Digital First Media, which some media experts say is in the process of bleeding its papers of profits until they can be sold to the highest bidder.

Denver-based Digital First Media, which owns both The Oakland Press and The Detroit News, is among the three largest newspaper companies in the industry, behind Virginiabased Gannett, which owns the Detroit Free Press, and New York-based GateHouse Media.

Digital First Media is owned by Alden Global Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that invests heavily into distressed businesses and property.

Digital First Media previously invested heavily into digital expansion of its newspapers under former CEO John Paton â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including the creation of Project Thunderdome, a high tech, national newsroom in Manhattan that could output digital content to the company's papers across 15 states, which was closed in 2014 as part of a cost-cutting initiative to save more than $100 million, In May of 2015, Alden Global Capital ended talks with Apollo Global Management to purchase Digital First Media for a reported $400 million. Former Digital First CEO John Paton left the company after the deal floundered. Today, the company holds 67 daily newspapers and 180 non-daily publications. In Michigan, Digital First Media owns five daily newspapers, including The Detroit News, The Macomb Daily, The Morning Sun, The Oakland Press and The Royal Oak Daily Tribune. It also owns The Source in Clinton Township; The Press & Guide in Dearborn; The Voice News in New Baltimore; MI Prep Zone; Go & Do Michigan; The News Herald in Southgate; and Morning Star Publications in Traverse City.

"I haven't heard that they are actively shopping it as they were before, but there's no doubt for the right offer that Alden would sell in a heartbeat," Doctor said of Digital First Media's holdings. "It's a financial investment.

What they are calculating, just as they did when they let the Apollo deal go, is that 'if we hold on for three years and cut as needed, how much can we take out of these papers for the next three years versus selling them.'"

Meanwhile, Doctor said Digital First Media is in "milking mode," or working to squeeze profits without making significant investment in its newspaper products.

"They are very much in milking mode, more so than others," he said. "On a curve, it's an affliction for the whole industry, but they have

done it longer and deeper than others, and it doesn't show any sign of slowing up."

As Digital First Media and others in the industry continue to make cuts in an attempt to stay profitable, those in the industry say the quality of many newspapers, including The Oakland Press, have dwindled, which in turn hurts the value of the product.

Michigan State University journalism professor Stephen Lacy said that diminished quality at a paper also contributes to declines in circulation.

"Part of the problem is, and there's plenty of documentation on this, is that circulation is a function of the quality, and the investment in the newsroom," he said. "Over time, you cut your newsroom and your circulation. And as you reduce circulation, you're less of an advertising target. Now that print is declining as a percent of revenue, digital revenue goes up, but it's not at the pace to keep up with those losses.

"The smart newspapers are trying to squeeze as much revenue out of their print products that they can until it becomes cost prohibitive."

Lacy said quality and accuracy also impacts readership, overall.

"One problem is that when you reduce the quality, which can be as simple as spelling words correctly and getting names right, is that you lose credibility. As quality declines, and I mean that broadly, you're losing your credibility, as well as running off readers.

People stop trusting their local paper.

"Twenty years ago, surveys found people didn't like the media, as defined by Washington D.C., and New York City, but they liked their local newspaper and news station.

Today, we find that applies to local as well.

This disinvestment had an impact on circulation and content."

Retired newspaper man Bill Thomas, who served as managing editor of The Oakland Press from 1985 to 1998, said the decline of the paper began years before it was sold to The Journal Register Company, but that the severe cuts to the newsroom's senior staff and corporate influence of how to provide local news coverage essentially destroyed the paper.

"The downfall of the news side was under Journal Register Company, and whatever else it started to call itself," Thomas said. "One of the things that (former owner) Capital Cities did was that they let their papers run autonomously. There was no central control. In today's newspaper industry, corporate decides.

They tell you what the paper is going to look like. When that happens, everything starts to fall apart because there isn't one cookie-cutter approach to journalism."

When major cuts started hitting the

newsroom, the staff that was let go took with them decades of journalism history. Today, Thomas said he's disenchanted with much of what is happening in the newspaper industry and infuriated about what has happened to his former newspaper and its staff.

"It's not endemic to The Oakland Press, but I think it's a case study in what happens when you pay too much for an organization, for a newspaper, and you don't have the resources or ability to make sure its success continues," Thomas said. "I think that's what happened under the Journal Register Company with The Oakland Press."

The origin of The Oakland Press dates back to the mid-19th century, when J. Dowd Coleman established the Pontiac and Oakland Gazette in 1843, according to the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. In 1854, the newspaper was acquired by ZB Knight, who renamed the paper The Pontiac Gazette. In 1906, the paper was absorbed by The Press, which was formed in 1900, and renamed The Press Gazette. Finally, in October of 1914, the paper was sold to Howard Fitzgerald, George Gardner and Harry Fitzgerald, of Flint, who expanded the paper and later renamed it The Pontiac Daily Press. In 1953, the paper was renamed The Pontiac Press.

The Fitzgerald family continued to own and operate the paper until 1969, a year after Capital Cities Broadcasting entered the publishing industry and purchased The Pontiac Press as its first daily newspaper and published the paper as a six-days per week daily. The paper didn't change its name to The Oakland Press until 1972.

About the time of the sale of the paper by the Fitzgerald family, Capital Cities appointed Dan Burke, former head of Detroit radio station WJR, as president of the company. Burke, who spearheaded the purchase of the paper, then appointed Phil Meek as publisher of the paper, who had previously worked in Ford's central finance department. In 1971, Meek released the paper's editor and replaced him with Bruce McIntyre, who was made publisher in 1977 and remained at the paper until 1995.

From his start, McIntyre said the paper quickly earned a reputation as an essential news source for Oakland County.

"The first thing we ran into was the busing crisis," McIntyre said, recounting some of the coverage that earned the paper its solid reputation. "Unless you were there, you can't understand what it was like. The Ku Klux Klan came in and bombed the school buses a week before school opened. It was a nasty period."

With less than eight months on the job, McIntyre sent the entire news staff into the field to cover the first day of school in Pontiac.

The coverage gained national attention and

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DOWNTOWN

12.16

the staff became a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

"We cleaned the building out of people," he said. "By that, I mean we sent everyone in the editorial department, except for someone to answer the phones, on the streets. Sports writers. Everybody. All over town. All the schools. Every school that we could get to, to report what was going on. It was quite a day."

As the county seat, Pontiac at the time was the largest city in the county. The surrounding communities hadn't yet gained their current stature, and in 1972, The Oakland Press was the only daily newspaper in the county, albeit six days a week, without a Sunday paper.

As the events of 1971 influenced residents to leave Pontiac, many settled in the surrounding communities, causing the paper's circulation to spread into much of the northern part of Oakland County. As new residents moved into the growing municipalities, so did the newspaper's circulation.

Throughout his time at The Oakland Press, McIntyre said daily circulation peaked at about 75,000 to 80,000. When two of the labor unions went on strike at the paper in 1977, McIntyre said The Oakland Press continued to publish by bringing in outside help, allowing the paper to add a Sunday edition to its publishing schedule.

"We had been negotiating with the unions back in 1976 on the renewal of contracts.

Those negotiations stalled and we weren't getting anywhere," McIntyre said. "In 1977, right after the time I became publisher, we brought in some outside pressmen."

Initially brought in to assist with problems happening with the paper's pressroom, where the paper is printed, the move caused issues with the union members that were already working there. On December 29, 1977, the pressman's union went on strike.

"That's an odd time to strike," McIntyre said.

"The Christmas business is over. The heaviest advertising time of the year is over, and it's the middle of winter. So, when they walked out, the newspaper guild, which was the editorial department, walked out in support of them.

The other unions didn't, so we continued to publish the paper."

In order to continue publishing, the newspaper hired new editorial staff and brought in people from their other papers to run the presses. With publication of the paper still going strong, and a Sunday edition added to the mix, the company was able to rid the two unions from the newspaper.

"The aftermath, and this wasn't our choice, but what happened, but none of the people that struck, in either union, ever came back to work," McIntyre said. "There wasn't any prohibition to them coming back. Technically, the strike is still there, but a substantial

number of them were replaced. We had to replace 90 percent of the people in the newsroom."

By 1979, CapCities had become one of the most profitable publicly-owned media companies in the country. It had also earned a reputation for breaking unions at other papers, the same as it did at The Oakland Press, by bringing in outside workers to cross picket lines.

"For a year, we had to move trucks through the picket line, and sometimes it got pretty nasty. People who worked there and continued to work there took a lot of abuse. I don't mean physical abuse, they just took constant abuse going to work," McIntyre said. "There were efforts to try to cut our circulation, but we never lost any substantial circulation. We never lost any substantial advertising. And, while the strike was still going on, we started the Sunday paper."

On the inside, McIntyre said Capital Cities executives left their editors to operate on their own. As publisher, he said the paper was always profitable, and budgets to corporate were simply submitted and approved. Neither Burke nor Meek had any interest in inserting themselves into the journalism process, McIntyre said.

"They wanted someone who knew what they were doing, and they wanted to stay out of their hair," he said.

In 1985, Capital Cities made a huge play in the media business and purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for $3.5 billion. The resulting company was known as Capital Cities/ABC, which was roughly five times the size of the original CapCites. Despite the size, McIntyre said, management at ABC adopted the CapCities style of management, allowing The Oakland Press to operate with a large degree of autonomy.

From an editorial standpoint, McIntyre said his philosophy was to create a complete newspaper that provided complete local coverage, as well as what was going on in the world. At the same time, he said coverage and circulation was focused on areas where they already had a stronghold, rather than attempting to expand into other areas of the county.

"Our advertisers don't care if we have 10 percent of the houses in Novi or Farmington Hills. What they care about is if we have 60 percent of the houses in Waterford," McIntyre said about where he chose to focus circulation.

"If we dilute our obligation by chasing circulation in places where we are never going to achieve a sufficient majority, then it's a waste of time," Traditionally, he said, the paper had its

strongest circulation in Waterford, Lake Orion, Pontiac, Rochester and West Bloomfield, with some in other locations like Birmingham, but not in high concentrations. The Oakland Press, McIntyre said, never had any significant circulation in southern Oakland County, with its reach being diminished south of Square Lake Road. It's strength, he said, lay in the northern and western parts of the county.

Today, McIntyre, who has served on his hometown city council in Orchard Lake Village since his retirement in 1998, said cuts instituted at The Oakland Press by the Journal Register Company have hurt the quality of the newspaper and its coverage.

"There are probably six to eight local stories in the whole paper, including some that were written by people in Macomb and Royal Oak," McIntyre said, holding up a Monday edition of the paper. "There's not much in there."

Worse, he said, are the cuts to some of the longtime newsroom staff that were hired on his watch, which included the firing one day in 2006 of former managing editor Susan Hood, assistant managing editor Dolly Moiseeff and editorial page editor Neil Munro, who had each been at the paper for more than 30 years.

"I keep telling people in my business, the way that you grow is that you start with readership. You start basically with the editorial side. You have to create a readership vehicle, and from that you sell circulation, and from that circulation you sell advertising," McIntyre said. "You can't do it in reverse. You can't avoid it. You can't get around it. You have to start with a product that people want to read, because if they don't, forget the rest of it.

"So, of course if you demolish the editorial side of the business, what do you expect?"

Bill Thomas, who was made executive editor of The Oakland Press in 1985, said he believes the beginnings of the paper's decline started about 1996, after the Walt Disney Company purchased CapCities/ABC for $19 billion. At the time, the purchase gave Disney an important distribution outlet for its programs through ABC's broadcast holdings.

"Disney didn't really want newspapers.

(Disney CEO) Michael Eisner hated newspapers, and it was clear that he didn't want to soil his hands with the ink-stained wretches," Thomas said. "That was the beginning of the end of The Oakland Press, and what we had built into a phenomenal paper."

The following year, Disney sold its papers to Knight Ridder, which at the time owned the Detroit Free Press and was unable to acquire The Oakland Press.

Meanwhile, Frank Shepherd was wrapping up his work for Stauffer Communications in

From 1991 to 1997, circulation at The Oakland Press reached 85,672 daily and 101,364 on Sunday. In 2000, the numbers remained higher than any year prior to 1997 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; daily circulation at 79,184 and Sunday at 96,867.

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44

DOWNTOWN

12.16

Immediately after Journal Register bought The Oakland Press, we were able to do some hiring and ramp up a little. They were pouring fresh money in. They just purchased it, and they wanted to be competitive.

Topeka, Kansas, where he had increased increased profits of that family's papers to sell to Morris Communications. With a successful track record of increasing profits and flipping the holdings, Shepherd sprung at the opportunity to purchase The Oakland Press and develop a cluster of papers in his home state of Michigan.

"I called Disney and tried to talk to the CFO, Thomas Staggs," Shepherd said. "I talked to his assistant because he was out to lunch, and I told her I wanted to buy the paper. He called me back and said, 'I understand you want to buy The Oakland Press.' I said, 'Yes.' Staggs said, 'You and another 1,000 people. Get in line.'"

Playing his Michigan roots, Shepherd said he was able to bond with another executive who told him he vacationed in Traverse City.

In the summer of 1997, Shepherd purchased The Oakland Press for $110 million. The deal, he said, also included the Lapeer County Press, "which was one of the nicest weeklies in Michigan." The sale also included a group of five other weekly newspapers in the southeastern area of Michigan's thumb region, with weekly circulations totaling about 59,000.

While he had retired from The Oakland Press in 1995, McIntyre remained with Capital Cities/ABC until it was purchased by Disney.

When he left the paper, Capital Cities/ABC replaced McIntyre with one of his former reporters, Dale Duncan, who left the paper in 1980 and returned as publisher in 1995.

"The paper didn't change much," Duncan said about his time as publisher until 1997.

"We gained a lot of readers and advertisers during the (Detroit newspaper) strike, and hung on to them for a while, which made it very attractive to Shepherd when he came in and bought it."

It was in July 1995 when six different unions began striking at The Detroit News.

The strike, which also involved unions at the Detroit Free Press, including The Newspaper Guild, the Teamsters, pressmen, printers and distribution, lasted through early 1997. While the papers continued to publish during the strike, both lost significant circulation that they never fully recovered. However, the strike provided a boost in circulation for The Oakland Press.

From 1991 to 1997, newspaper circulation at The Oakland Press reached its peak number, going from 75,457 daily circulation and 82,644 on Sunday, to 85,672 daily and 101,364 on Sunday. In 2000, the numbers remained higher than any year prior to 1997, with daily circulation at 79,184 and Sunday at 96,867, according to audits by the Alliance for Audited Media.

Just prior to closing on The Oakland Press

in 1997, Shepherd received a call from a bank that owned The Macomb Daily, the Royal Oak Daily Tribune and The Shopper, in Utica, inquiring if he was interested in purchasing the group. Shepherd said he closed on that group of papers and the others from Disney on the same day. Shepherd operated the group of papers under his own company, 21st Century Publications.

In 1998, former Oakland Press editor Bill Thomas left the paper to become publisher of The Macomb Daily. He was replaced by Garry Gilbert, who worked for the paper until 2006, when he joined the faculty at Oakland University, where he currently serves as the director of the journalism department.

"We were doing quality work," Gilbert said, who said he started with a newsroom staff of about 90 people. Under his watch, the paper won the Michigan Paper of the Year award six times, and a public service award from the Michigan Press Association. "We used to go by the expression: we cover every leaf that falls in Oakland County."

During the time that Shepherd owned the papers, the editorial side of the paper remained largely unfettered.

"I let the editors at each publication do what was important. I had good editors with Bill Thomas and Garry Gilbert," Shepherd said.

"I let them do what they do best, and didn't interfere with what they did in the editorial process. I think they did a good job. I spent most of my time bringing in other papers and working on sales.

"The heart of a paper is editorial, and the life is the revenue, so I spent most of my time shoveling money in the front door."

When Shepherd purchased The Oakland Press in 1997, he said the paper was making about $10 million a year. By the time he sold it in 2004, he said he increased profits to about $18 million. The Lapeer paper was making about $4 million a year in profits.

"When I bought The Oakland Press, they only covered about half the county," he said about the paper's sales and circulation. "My first quote when I was interviewed was, 'I didn't buy half the county. We are going to expand into the whole county.' And I did that to get (sales) away from the Free Press and News.

"We were extremely successful in covering newspaper racks. Then we went after some of their editorial space and went after major accounts."

Shepherd said he increased profits by centralizing operations and sharing services among the papers. Printing became centralized in Lapeer, and two months after the purchase, he formed The Greater Detroit Newspaper Network. Operating as a separate

business, the company focused on bringing in major national and regional advertising accounts, which brought in about $45 million in revenues each year in national accounts. Of that, he said about 70 percent of the revenue came from preprint ads, or inserts.

"The Oakland Press was the maraschino cherry on the sundae that drew the major accounts. It was the fifth largest daily in the state, and that got us in the door. Once we got in the door, we opened up our coat and there were all these other publications that would sell at a very low rate," he said. "That was our trick. It wasn't brain surgery."

While Shepherd said he hadn't considered selling 21st Century before 2003, Thomas said he believes his enthusiasm for owning the papers began to wane prior to then.

"He announced he was going to sell, and that took the wind out of everyone's sails.

Then he came back and said he wasn't going to sell, so the staff that was excited got disenchanted," Thomas said. "Then, in fact, he did sell. So, the initial enthusiasm Frank (Shepherd) brought to it, in terms of staff, waned pretty quickly."

In 2004, Shepherd did sell 21st Century Media to the Journal Register Company for $415 million. At the time, the company had earnings of about $36 million, making the sale about 11.5 times its Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA). Analysts say newspapers today are typically valued about three to five times their EBITDA. "Immediately after the Journal Register bought The Oakland Press, we were able to do some hiring and ramp up a little. They were pouring fresh money in. They just purchased it, and they wanted to be competitive," former editor Garry Gilbert said. "We hired some news and sports people, but shortly after we had to face decisions on how to contract the size of the staff."

At the same time, Journal Register was starting to tinker with expanding the company's digital capabilities. In the newsroom at The Oakland Press, Garry Gilbert said nobody was yet sure how to approach digital offerings.

"Our reaction was that 'we don't really understand this digital platform, let's shovel our content into this digital and see what happens," he said. "Unfortunately, some innovative things were happening, like Craigslist and Facebook, which came from creative people that weren't in the media."

As websites like Craigslist started taking classified advertisers from traditional newspapers, the Oakland Press and others entering the digital fray began giving away online content for free.

"Most people probably agree that was a mistake," Gilbert said. "If content has value, if it's proprietary and accurate, and has value to the audience, they are willing to pay for it."

In 2006, Garry Gilbert ended up leaving The Oakland Press for Oakland University. He was replaced by Glenn Gilbert (no relation), who served as executive editor until 2014. About a month after Glenn Gilbert was hired, the paper fired managing editor Susan Hood, assistant managing editor Dolly Moiseeff, and editorial page editor Neil Munro. Together, the three editors had nearly a century of journalism experience.

"They wiped out the editorial history of the paper when they showed Neil Munro and several other key editors the door in a cost-cutting deal.

They called them in and let them go in one day, and they had nobody left," Bill Thomas said.

"Anyone with any historic journalism experience has left, except (local news editor) Julie Jacobson-Hines, and she's trying to keep The Titanic away from the iceberg."

Admittedly, such cost-cutting measures has left Thomas disenchanted and disillusioned with the newspaper industry today, which is one of the reasons that influenced his retirement after 40 years in the business.

"It infuriates me what these people did to a quality newspaper," he said. "If you're interested in chasing prostitutes on the street corner, then Journal Register is your company.

If you're interested in quality journalism, then look elsewhere because they ruined The Oakland Press."

Glenn Gilbert, who was hired as executive editor by Journal Register Company, said staff reductions came at corporate directives, which were to be done by cutting from the top down, taking out the more experienced staff and replacing them with "multimedia journalists."

And while he said he tried to place a greater emphasis on local news coverage, continued losses in the newsroom and a focus on digital content made coverage difficult.

"From the time I started in 2006 to the time I left in 2014, we eliminated 20 of our 60 positions, just in the newsroom. That was mandated from corporate," Glenn Gilbert said.

"As our staff was reduced, we could no longer provide any comprehensive coverage of local government, and that was the thing that hurt us the most.

"There was a lot to it. Simultaneously, we talked about turning the newspaper over to the public and trying to bring the outside in.

There was a great emphasis on citizen journalism, but in reality, it was more use of stringers and freelance. I was supportive in that effort because it was less expensive to present the same kind of story and it preserved our staff for more serious journalism."

Despite cuts, Journal Register Company struggled with profits and paying massive debt, much of which came from the purchase of 21st Century Communications. In 2008, the New York Stock Exchange announced it was planning to suspend trading of the company's stock. In April of that year, it was delisted.

In 2009, Journal Register Company declared bankruptcy for the first time.

"After Journal Register went into bankruptcy, it emerged and had a new CEO, John Paton, who had a digital emphasis," Glenn Gilbert said. "It was a totally different attitude. We began treating print as an afterthought. I would frequently joke about it and say, 'Do we still have a print edition?'â&#x20AC;?

The emphasis on digital did earned the paper some accolades. In 2010, The Oakland Press was named as one of the newspapers in the country that is "doing it right," by Editor & Publisher magazine.

"Few other media companies have set out to tackle digital initiatives the way the Journal Register Company has, so it's no surprise that this category features two Journal Register titles," the magazine stated in 2010.

Despite the efforts and recognition, the company remained unable to cope with its financial debt and Journal Register declared bankruptcy for a second time in 2012. The company was purchased by an arm of Alden Global Capital and renamed 21st Century Media. That company was merged with MediaNews Group. Both are managed today

by Digital First Media, which was formed in 2010, drawing on Paton's digital emphasis.

Print circulation at The Oakland Press in 2005 had started slipping, with audit figures showing daily circulations at about 65,000 Monday through Wednesday, and Friday and Saturday; 77,000 on Thursdays; and about 79,000 on Sundays. Daily circulations in 2010 held relatively close. By 2015, after Glenn Gilbert left the paper, print circulation dropped to 37,824 for daily editions and 49,626 on Sunday. One year later, in 2016, daily circulation is down to 23,730 and the Sunday circulation has dropped to 36,349, according to AAM audits. Its sister publication, The Macomb Daily, has a Sunday edition circulation of 42,236.

As circulation and staff declined at The Oakland Press, so did its position in the local marketplace.

"In the past, they were certainly a competitor. They had many automotive ads, and the mom-and-pop shops. They might not have been thought of as a competitor, but anyone who takes a dollar is a competitor," said Jim Sherman, president of Sherman Publications, which operates a group of weekly newspapers that includes The

Clarkston News, The Oxford Leader, The Citizen in Ortonville and Goodrich, and the Lake Orion Review. "Recently, they aren't a competitor. I'm not even sure they have sales reps that go to the north. I used to get excited about what is going on, but we aren't finding them out there in the marketplace."

The decline of the paper, Sherman said, isn't just bad for The Oakland Press and its staff, but can have a negative impact on his own business. Further, he said it's disappointing to see another paper struggling.

"It's not good for me for those guys to be small. People want to talk about the health of your product, and the health of my product is pretty healthy," Sherman said. "Those guys not being healthy makes us have to answer questions and listen to people talk about digital.

Nobody has made money off of it."

Glenn Gilbert said the focus on digital was so overwhelming that he had stopped keeping track of circulation figures at all. When current editorial director Don Wyatt asked him about The Oakland Press circulation numbers as Gilbert was leaving in 2014, he said he had no answer for him. For the staff in the newsroom, their value too began to center on their digital capabilities.

"The people I hired needed to be multimedia journalists. The very position changed. I had, too. I felt that was the only way we could win.

We needed to excel at whatever we did, and if it didn't, we had to stop," Glenn Gilbert said. "I would say that when I left, I had a different view. But while I was there, I tried to encourage the staff and believed it myself that we were just changing. We are no longer interested in counting the number of newspapers we sell, we are interested in counting page views. As far as digital went, we were a leader. We felt good about ourselves and what we were doing. But in reality, we continued to lose staff."

Since leaving the paper, Glenn Gilbert said the one-track focus on digital has hurt the newsroom and eliminated some work that he was proud to accomplish. For instance, The Oakland Press prep sports coverage has traditionally been a point of pride for the paper.

However, Gilbert said the paper recently let go of their lead prep sports people.

While making forced reductions at the paper, Gilbert said he tried to rally the staff around the digital emphasis, which has been hailed as its salvation. However, as more cuts continue to hit the paper, he questions its viability.

"If you don't feel a sense of accomplishment in what you're doing, if you don't have a mountain to climb and get to the summit, then God help you. It's depressing," he said. "You reach a point that maybe we aren't viable. I don't think the staff is happy if they aren't viable at something and if they aren't, maybe it's time to close up."

We eliminated 20 of our 60 positions, just in the newsroom. That was mandated from corporate â&#x20AC;Ś we could no longer provide any comprehensive coverage of local government, and that was the thing that hurt us the most.

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FACES Judith Guest efore she was an award winning author, and before her first novel, Ordinary People, was made into an Academy Awardwinning film by Robert Redford, Judith Guest was teaching first grade students in Birmingham.

It was about 1974 when Guest decided to quit teaching and focus on finishing her first novel. But in 1960, Guest was teaching and living in a home in Birmingham where two of her three sons were born.

"I was in the closet on writing for a long time," she said.

Before teaching, Guest said she considered becoming an artist and took an art class at the University of Michigan. Once enrolled, she felt she was too far behind the other students, and instead earned a teaching certificate "I was afraid to take writing courses for the feeling I would have that same feeling where everyone would be nine miles ahead of me. I didn't want that feeling."

When her youngest son turned 3, Guest and her family moved to the Chicago area. They later returned to Michigan and settled in Troy. It was then that Guest decided to take a writing class at the Birmingham Community Center.

"My teacher was Judith Goren, and she was a psychologist and poet," she said. "She really encouraged me, and was one of the reasons I was able to write."

Since the release of her first book with Viking Press, Guest has had four other books published, including Second Heaven, Errands, The Tarnished Eye, and Killing Time in St. Cloud, with sequels to two of the books expected to come out in the future. She also wrote the screenplay for the film Rachel River.

Guest is now working with a friend and television producer to have The Tarnished Eye, made into a miniseries for television.

Despite her successes, she said getting her work published is just as hard as it was when she was pitching her first book. After finishing her first book, she received two rejections, one whose letter she can still recite by memory.

"It doesn't work that way at all, it works less that way than it used to," she said about whether it gets easier to be published after establishing herself. "It's hard to sell stuff. It's not sensational enough. There's no shark attacks in it. I think it's as hard or harder than ever."

Some things that have gotten easier, Guest, 80, said, is the ability to conduct research because of the internet. She has also gotten better at editing her own work. Writing, she said, is still as difficult as ever. "I do a lot of editing. I love editing. I'm not so crazy about the writing. It's the hard part," she said.

Guest said she is better at motivating herself to complete her writing once she starts. Rather than writing a chapter and letting it sit for months, it sits only a couple hours. Still, she said her method hasn't changed.

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Story: Kevin Elliott

THE KING BATTLE OVER GARBAGE

BY LISA BRODY

W

hat was once a small snow plowing company, with only the city of Hamtramck as a major customer, is now the dominant waste hauler in southeastern Michigan, with contracts for hauling trash and recycling for 55 municipalities, including 20 out of 62 communities in Oakland County. This growth by Rizzo Environmental Services has come at the expense of other waste haulers, and is now the subject of a public corruption probe by the FBI in Macomb County. While there currently is no known evidence of corruption by Rizzo in Oakland County, there has been a battle for supremacy and dominance in the county, and if numbers tell the story, that story says that Rizzo is currently the reigning king of trash hauling, a multimillion, if not billion dollar, industry.

The battle for garbage disposal in Oakland County may seem like a strange war, but it's actually a classic conflict, a blazing battle over territory, money and power.

The dirt on Rizzo, and how they became the king of the trash heap, may not be as salacious as what has happened in Macomb County. From research so far relative to Oakland County, it appears the company has a reputation for providing their customers with very good service at a very good price, often underbidding their competition. As for possible improprieties in Oakland County, or if the FBI is investigating any corruption in the county, Tim Wyley, FBI public affairs spokesperson said, “I would be able to neither confirm nor deny if we are looking into Rizzo in Oakland County. I have nothing I can share with you regarding any of our investigations with Rizzo or Oakland County.”

Rizzo Environmental Services is in the process of being rebranded as GFL after a sale on October 3 to GFL Environmental (Greener for Life), a company valued at $2.4 billion out of Toronto, Canada, which operates in all of Canada's provinces. Rizzo was a family-

owned business for over 50 years, since 1965, out of Sterling Heights. Early on, it was known as C&R Maintenance Inc., providing waste control services to home and business customers in metro Detroit, renting roll-off dumpsters, front-load containers and compactors of various sizes for home and commercial use, as well as landscaping and snow removal for some customers. The company also handled all forms of recycling. By 2012, the company was known as Rizzo Services.

C&R Maintenance initially was a commercial maintenance company begun by Chuck Rizzo Sr. in 1965. Over the years, the company grew, operating Snowone, a snow removal company that is now defunct; Rizzo; Rizzo Services; Rizzo Express, a waste management service; and Titan National, a national vehicle shipping company. Rizzo Express and Titan National are both no longer operational businesses. Over time, Chuck Rizzo Jr. joined his father in the business, and was CEO and president of the company when it was sold recently to GFL. According to numerous published reports, at least three Macomb Township officials are charged with taking bribes from Rizzo Environmental Services in exchange for helping the trash hauling company win a contract. The FBI has announced they are conducting a full public corruption probe of “pay-to-play” schemes and charging the politicians behind them in Macomb County, stating, “this is an extensive investigation into systemic corruption.” In light of that news, Chuck Rizzo Jr. resigned, as of October 25, from the company he and his father created.

According to published reports, Rizzo Environmental Services is cooperating with the government after getting caught allegedly paying bribes to Macomb County trustee Dean Reynolds who was charged with selling his vote, for $75,000 in cash and a free lawyer in his divorce, in exchange for pushing through an $18 million deal with Rizzo Environmental Services. Macomb County trustee Clifford Freitas was also charged with accepting

OF TRASH HAULING IN OAKLAND a cash bribe, of $7,500, for providing the company with”sensitive bidding information” to help Rizzo win a contract in 2015. According to a criminal complaint, Freitas also accepted a $35,000 bribe from the company to make sure that Macomb Township residents would be billed for garbage services on their water bills in order to save money for Rizzo Environmental Services.

Frietas and Reynolds have declined comment.

When called for comment on this story, on how Rizzo grew to become the dominant waste hauler of Oakland County, Chuck Rizzo Jr., hung up the phone on Downtown newsmagazine.

GFL Environmental Inc. President and CEO Patrick Dovigi made the announcement, “In the best interests of the company and our customers, Chuck Rizzo Jr. has resigned, effective immediately. I will oversee Rizzo's business on an interim basis until further notice.”

Dovigi also announced that he was immediately having Rizzo's signature red trucks repainted green and the Rizzo logo replaced with GFL. While he said that was in the plans when he purchased the company, he was moving it up quicker, given what had transpired.

Dovigi and GFL, which owns waste hauling companies in every province of Canada except Prince Edward Island, purchased Rizzo from Kinderhook Industries, a private equity firm that acquired Rizzo in 2012, allowing it to expand. Rizzo was GFL's first U.S. acquisition.

At that time, Rizzo Services, it's name at the time, provided collection services in 16 municipalities throughout southeast Michigan. At the time of its acquisition, Kinderhook stated that Rizzo represented the eleventh environmental services transaction they had completed in the previous four years. They did not reveal financial terms of the transaction.

At the time of its investment, Kinderhook managing director Rob Michalik said, “Rizzo has had extraordinary growth due to its loyal

customer base, market leading service and exceptional management team led

by Chuck Rizzo Jr. who has 25 years of waste industry knowledge.”

“The recapitalization of Rizzo by Kinderhook will enable the company to continue to expand its service footprint throughout southeast Michigan. Our partnership with Kinderhook will enable us to further grow our platform and expand our current service offerings,” Chuck Rizzo Jr. said on September 13, 2012, after its acquisition.

Growing the platform and expanding service offerings is precisely what Rizzo did over the past four years, going from the provider of waste management services to 16 communities in 2012 to 55 in 2016. Included in those numbers are 20 in Oakland County, many of which are relatively new contracts. Communities now with Rizzo under contract include Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Fenton, Franklin, Highland Township, Keego Harbor, Lake Orion, Madison Heights, Milford Township, Milford Village, Orchard Lake, Rochester, Rochester Hills, S. Lyon, Royal Oak, Southfield, Sylvan Lake, Walled Lake and West Bloomfield.

Southfield, Franklin and Walled Lake all have contracts which began in the last few months; several other municipalities awarded Rizzo their waste management contract within the last couple of years.

The most significant new contract Rizzo acquired in the last four years is for portions of the city of Detroit, which the company received in 2013, from the city's emergency manager, under a five-year contract. It shares services for the city with Advanced Disposal.

As Rizzo expanded its tentacles throughout Oakland County, other hauling companies lost their contracts.

Many came at the expense of Waste Management, a Houston, Texas-based recycling and waste management company that alleges it is North America's leading provider of integrated solid waste services. Currently, Waste Management has a contract with four

Oakland County municipalities: Farmington, Farmington Hills, the city of Novi and Northville. The firm previously also had contracts with Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Madison Heights, Royal Oak and Southfield in Oakland County, along with eight communities in Macomb County, and another eight in Wayne County, all of which have switched to Rizzo.

“A decade ago, Waste Management served approximately 45 communities in the tri-county area. Twenty-one of those contracts are now being serviced by Rizzo Environmental. In some instances, bid processes we've certainly not seen before, like allowing bids to be revised and resubmitted, were observed,” said Tom Horton, spokesperson for Waste Management. “We won’t speculate on factors that have helped them win bids. But Waste Management continues to have a major footprint in and commitment to southeast Michigan and across the state, with more than 500 trucks daily collecting solid waste on behalf of our highly valued customers. We will continue to watch as the recently announced investigation unfolds.”

“We have a five-year contract (with Waste Management) that is set to expire on June 1, 2017. It was extended once. Sometime between now and then, we will be choosing a new contractor. It may be Waste Management, or we may choose to bid it out,” said Jim Gallogly, director of the department of public works for Northville.

“It's been forever” that Farmington has had a contract with Waste Management, said department of public works director Charles Eudy said. “I've been here 22 years, and they've had it for at least that long.” any of the municipalities have five, eight, even 10-year contracts with Rizzo, including Rochester, which first signed a contract with Rizzo in 2010, followed by a contract extension through 2017. An official in S. Lyon said the community had a 10-year contract with Duncan, which was acquired by Rizzo.

Why tie up their municipalities with such lengthy periods of time? One official explained that this is the Rizzo business model, which has helped them grow their enterprise and their dominance.

“A contract with eight years left is more valuable than one with two years left,” the official said, who did not want to be identified.

“It is considerably more valuable to finance, and you can approach banks to loan you more money for trucks and equipment. Who would give you a contract for eight years with all of the fluctuations of gas and other variables? But if you have to ramp yourself up in order to grow, you need someone to loan to you so you can borrow to get more equipment, so you need those longterm contracts. They're good for the municipality, and they're good for the company,” he explained. “If they have to eat a little bit of each contract, the valuation of the company is still growing. The goal is to sell the company, and the company is way more valuable if they have more contracts. And they have just resold the company.”

He said that between the first hedge fund, Kinderhook, which provided a huge infusion of capital to allow Rizzo to grow, and the purchase by GFL, Rizzo's valuation had increased by 50 percent, “so the second (buyer) paid much more for (the company). There's a tremendous amount of revenue coming out, and the second buyer was willing to pay more. That's why Rizzo is willing to be the low bidder, even fix their contracts. They just understand the system, and there's nothing wrong with that.”

Waste Management, however, beat out Rizzo Environmental for a new contract with the city of Novi which began July 1, 2016, said Mike Csapo, general manager of Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southeast Michigan (RRRASOC), a municipal solid waste provider to nine communities, negotiating contracts on behalf of Southfield, S. Lyon, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Walled Lake, Wixom, the Village of Milford and Milford Township. Csapo explained that RRRASOC helps their member cities deploy solid waste contracts for their communities. “Because we contract jointly for all events with a private service contractor,

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we get very good prices versus a small community for one event.”

He said the consortium helps the community determine if they are getting good service, are they getting good pricing, have they bid out the contract previously, and are there comparable communities which have bid their contract out recently that can be used as a comparison.

Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority (SOCCRA) is another municipal grouping which negotiates contracts for its 12 member communities, which includes Berkley, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Clawson, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Troy. Jeff McKean, general manager of SOCCRA, said, “We keep an eye on services and prices on each community.

We did a very extensive RFP (request for proposal) process for all the communities, and two went with Rizzo – Royal Oak and Hazel Park. Car Trucking has had long contracts with Birmingham, Beverly Hills and Ferndale; the others went with Tringali (Sanitation) for a 10-year contract, from July 1- June 30, 2017.”

McKean said SOCCRA made the decision to extend the contract with Car Trucking for Birmingham, Beverly Hills and Ferndale for another 10 years, until June 30, 2027; Tringali's contract with Berkley, Clawson, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge and Troy was also extended through June 30, 2027.

He said they decided to extend the contracts, without going out to bid once again, because “we have very good contractors that provide very good services. For our communities, service is more important than price.

“We also did a market survey of all the prices being charged in southeastern Michigan, and our prices are very competitive, so we thought there was no need to do a bid process,” McKean continued. “There's been no pushback from any of our communities.”

Royal Oak has had a contract for the last 9.5 years with Rizzo, Greg Rassel, director of public service said. “The contract was for 10 years,” Rassel said, noting the 10 years is up July 1, 2017. He said SOCCRA is negotiating a contract extension for Royal Oak through 2027.

McKean said that Hazel Park, which has had Tringali as a contractor for many years, indicated they wanted to switch contracts, and they are switching to Rizzo through 2027.

A representative from Tringali declined to comment for this article, citing a fear of reprisals.

RRRASOC's Csapo, which helped both Novi and Southfield bid out contracts this past spring, with Southfield choosing Rizzo and Novi selecting Waste Management, said they both went through a similar bid process. The city of Southfield chose Rizzo for an eightyear contract with a five-year renewal contract available, with their contract going into effect July 1, as a result of a comparative bid. “It was managed by the city's purchasing department, with our assistance and evaluation,” Csapo said. He said the bids were reviewed by Southfield's administration, then by their finance committee, and finally by the Southfield City Council in a study session, ultimately winning approval from city council in an open meeting. ust the opposite, the city of Novi chose Waste Management when they went through a similar process, Csapo said, after having had a subscription process, where each homeowner or subdivision privately contracted with individual waste hauling contractors. Novi followed a very lengthy process where they also looked at services and prices in several communities, developed an RFP with the help of RRRASOC, then went through an administrative review, a consultant review committee, and then city council, where they awarded a five-year contract with a three-year contract extension available, to Waste Management, effective July 1, 2016.

“Private contracting is more commonly done in rural townships.

The data shows that when you have a subscription process, you pay higher prices. It's simple math. There's the economies of scale and service densities that allows for better pricing, and it provides

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for less trucks on the roads, and more control of the level of services, as well as trash gets set out at the street less frequently,” Csapo said.

In Oakland County, several municipalities still have private contractors for their residents' trash collection. Many are in northern and western Oakland Country, from Brandon Township, Clarkston, Groveland Township, Holly Township, Independence Township, Lake Angelus, Lyon Township, Oakland Township, Orion Township, Ortonville, Oxford Township, Southfield Township and Springfield Township. There are also a smattering of other companies operating in Oakland County, with contracts for one, two or three municipalities.

Csapo sees the growth of Rizzo as “one of being able to meet or exceed the level of other contractors. We called around to other Rizzo customers (when doing Southfield's bids) to check and evaluate their level of service. Invariably, it was very good. That's always the number one concern. Service is the primary concern – besides price. Will the service be of the caliber that residents deserve? When you call around to existing communities and they say it's been very good, that's what matters. Then, with price – with a competitive bidding price, in one case – Southfield – they were the low bidder; in another – Novi – Waste Management was the clear low bidder.

“Just being subjective to the marketplace, you look at price and performance,” Csapo continued. “It appears in many of the competitive bids, Rizzo has been the consistent low bidder while providing good service.

Numerous communities cite their satisfaction with Rizzo's service. “Our experience is that they provide very good service at very good rates,” said SOCCRA's McKean. “We find service is very important to customers – 'We don't just want our garbage gone; we want it done properly.' We find many people have very good experiences with Rizzo. We hear many stories like that.”

Jerry McCallum, director of city services for Orchard Lake Village, said they had had an original contract with Republic that ended in 2015, and signed a five-year contract with Rizzo, beginning that year. “We went out to bid, and their (Rizzo) prices – you couldn't beat them. Every community says the same thing.

Republic came to us and said they would keep their prices the same, and we said, no, we have to bid our contracts out,” McCallum said. “You're getting a very good service for a very competitive price. Why wouldn't we want to save our community money? With a five-year contract, I imagine we will bid it out once again because being fiscally responsible, our council tends to bid out large contracts.” loomfield Township first signed an eight-year contract with Rizzo in 2007 after an advertised open bid, where six companies bid on the business. Supervisor Leo Savoie said the township board unanimously approved the contract with Rizzo because it came in lowest. “At the time, staff reviewed a number of competitive bids in neighboring communities as well, and did comparative bids, and felt that reviews of service were excellent, so we went with them.”

In November 2014, the township board extended the contract for another eight years, through 2023, as Rizzo said prices would remain flat if there was no bid of the contract. Only trustee Brian Kepes voted against the contract extension, as he wanted the contract to go out to bid. No one has been dissatisfied with the service, Savoie said.

“I voted against it because I thought it was the appropriate thing” to bid the work out, Kepes said.

SOCCRA's McKean said, “I've been surprised at how successful they've been. You typically don't see one company dominating like that, and they've been dominating for the last five years.”

Across the country, it's not unusual for one trash hauler to become dominant in a region, although it can vary from region to region, said Chris Dougherty, spokesperson for the National Waste and Recycling Association.

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“There are more than 10,000 communities that have waste service contracts. It's a very competitive industry, and there is no one trend to point to. Every community, every region, does it differently,” Dougherty said. “It is not uncommon for one company to get momentum and accumulate contracts. But everything just varies by region. Some companies are very vertically integrated, having their own landfill, which they also benefit from having other waste haulers use their landfills. In any industry, vertical integration is a good thing because it leads to economies of scale.”

Rizzo dropped its plan for a landfill in 2014. It had proposed a landfill in Macomb County, as well as had options in St. Clair County and for the Clinton Valley Farms landfill in Lenox Township (Macomb). Instead, reports stated that they, along with Advanced Disposal, agreed to dispose trash at the Detroit Renewable Energy waste to energy plant in Detroit, also known as the Detroit incinerator.

An individual in the business, who requested to remain anonymous, inferred that Rizzo's growth has not been all great service at low bids. “You don't just get that big – it doesn't just happen. It's easy to figure out. It's greed when you get to 55 communities. Anywhere Rizzo is, there's any issue. You're not that lucky.”

Publicly, Rizzo has donated thousands of dollars to the campaigns of just about anyone – and everyone – running for public office in Oakland County, as has Waste Management to a lesser extent. Both donate through political action committees – PACs. izzo formed its PAC in 2013, donating $5,000 to county executive L. Brooks Patterson in the last couple of years; $8,400 to county sheriff Michael Bouchard; $1,000 to Mike Gingell, chairman of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners; $250 to Oakland County commissioner Shelley Taub (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township); $5,000 to state Sen. Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall (R-White Lake) and $550 to his wife Eileen, a county commissioner; $500 to state Sen. Marty Knollenberg (Troy, Birmingham, Rochester, Rochester Hills); as well as a largesse of donations to council members and commissioners in numerous municipalities, including Rochester Mayor Cathy Daldin, who received $250.

State Rep. Mike McCready (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills) received $1,000, and Bloomfield Township supervisor Leo Savoie and trustee Brian Kepes each received $500 from Rizzo, but all three recently donated their political contributions from Rizzo to charity to avoid any appearance of impropriety given the Macomb investigation.

While there is nothing illegal, or unusual, to see corporations donating to lawmakers, the scope of Rizzo's donations, and their pervasiveness throughout much of Oakland County, appears more aggressive than others, including Waste Management and Republic.

Tringali does not have a PAC. Appearances do not necessarily insinuate guilt. Since the recent Macomb County corruption probe, attorneys for many municipalities are examining their Rizzo contracts to see if there is any contractual implications from their acquisition by GFL, as all of the contracts have a clause stating that they do not have to be assigned to another contractor without prior written approval by the governing council. One official said that GFL is asserting that no assignment is necessary because its purchase was strictly a financial deal. But ultimately, if communities are satisfied that GFL is providing the same good service that Rizzo had, and that the communities expect, there is little likelihood contracts will be voided.

“Communities have to decide whether they're still getting very good service at a very good price, and if they would get the same service at the same price if they voided the contract and went back out to bid with another company,” the official noted.

“Since the FBI investigation of Rizzo, we've been keeping a close eye on the situation,” said SOCCRA's McKean. “So far, Rizzo hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing.”

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FACES Jeffry Aronsson ndover High School graduate Jeffry Aronsson couldn’t have predicted he would work alongside – and even advise – some of the most esteemed names in high fashion. But indeed that’s the life this Bloomfield Township native carved out for himself as a young man in New York.

“I get a call from an accountant, saying there’s this designer that needs (a lawyer),” said Aronsson, who earned his juris doctor from Wayne State University. “I was introduced to the designer. It was Oscar de la Renta.

“There he was, a very elegant man, sartorial, standing very tall. And I’m in polyester plaid from the midwest. I could see him looking me up and down. He said, ‘How many fashion designers do you have?’ I said, ‘None.’”

Despite the odds, Aronsson had just landed his first haute couture client, who he provided legal services to while the clothing company was faltering before later being recruited for a management role.

“I’ve always appreciated art, but I was traumatized by retail at a young age when my mother took me with her when she went shopping. She took me to Saks Fifth Avenue in Midtown. I used to have to sit still in these gray flannel pants that itched my legs, and it was always so hot in there, and I had to stay still while she tried on hats. It soured me,” he admitted.

But, as Aronsson absorbed all that was Oscar de la Renta – the man, the brand and the potential – “into (his) nervous system,” as he described it, “I saw what he was doing was beautiful art that could be worn. I had an epiphany, how beautiful fashion could be, the color, texture, how he made his designs come to life.”

One of the traits that Aronsson chalks his success up to is his knack for asking questions.

“I’d say (to de la Renta), you have a $10,000 gown on a ten cent hanger, and a tie for $5 that had ‘Oscar de la Renta’ on it.

“It just didn’t seem right to me. Even though I thought it was a stupid question, apparently it wasn’t. So I helped him buy back licenses that were no longer consistent with the positioning of his name,” said Arronson, who served as CEO of the Dominican-American fashion designer’s company from 1993 through 2003, before taking a similar position at Marc Jacobs, followed

by Donna Karan, Emanuel Ungaro and Ralph Rucci.

Recognized by the industry as a leader capable of bringing a company out of the red and into the black, Aronsson recently formed an investment firm dedicated to serving the luxury goods and apparel market.

Currently living in Connecticut and working in New York, Aronsson returns to the Detroit area regularly, and most recently visited Detroit to deliver a keynote address for the Detroit Garment Group as part of its fall event, Fashion Speaks.

As for the Birmingham area, where he spent time growing up, Aronsson has fond memories of The Varsity Shop.

“Since then, the big specialty retail chains like Sports Authority and the (chain) jewelry stores and drug stores have taken off, and mom-and-pop places (take a hit). It’s good to hear (The Varsity Shop) has persisted.”

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Story: Katie Deska

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5 Bedrooms | 3 Full, 1 Half Baths | 4,922 Total Sq. Ft. | MLS# 216103407

BIRMINGHAM | 887 Wimbleton | $825,000 Handsome landmark Tudor in charming Poppleton Park elegantly updated for today’s living! So many stylish details: paver stone walkways, hardwood floors plus original slate floors through foyer, dining room and kitchen. Beautiful family room addition with custom built-in cabinetry, tray ceiling detail, French doors and European-styled fireplace. Light-filled den/office with vaulted ceiling and built-in bookcases (currently used as art studio). Lovely formal living room showcases marble fireplace. Chef’s kitchen with granite. Spacious master suite has vaulted ceiling, new gorgeously renovated master bath and walk-in closet. Hall bath also fully renovated with Waterworks fixtures. Delightful walk-in linen room with custom built-ins could be little office! Lovely enhanced landscaping. Pristine and impeccable!

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Happy Holidays!

As we reflect on 2016, we are extremely grateful to our clients who have trusted us to meet their real estate needs throughout the year. Best wishes to all for a peaceful holiday and a joyful New Year!

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TAX DRAGNET AUDIT OF CLAIMS BY HOMEOWNERS

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wning a home provides many benefits, from the pride in having a place of your own, to being able to take a deduction on your annual tax return. One responsibility of home ownership is paying property taxes to your municipality, which includes funds to the state which come back to local school districts as per-pupil funding. When the home is your primary residence, homeowners pay the municipality's annual millage rate. However, if the home is a second, or other non-primary residence, the non-principal residence tax can run up to 18 mills, depending on the approved millage for the district.

When the home is the principal residence, homeowners â&#x20AC;&#x201C; those who own and occupy their home â&#x20AC;&#x201C; can file a principal residence exemption (PRE).

In state audits, approximately 99 percent of PRE filings are found to be valid. However, there are thousands of tax exemptions that are denied at the municipal or county level, as well as during the audit led by the Michigan Department of Treasury. Which means that there are hundreds of thousands of dollars the state, local municipalities and school districts are missing out on.

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The PRE became available in 1994, as a result of the passage of Proposal A, a statewide effort designed to cut and cap local property tax burdens, and to gradually reduce the disparities in school funding, and provide tax relief to property owners.

“It essentially changed, to a great effect, the percent of education revenues coming from property taxes, and shifted it over to sales tax,” said Andy Meisner, Oakland County Treasurer.

Governed by the regulations established in the General Property Tax Act, to claim a PRE the homeowner/occupier must file a form with the local municipality, at which point the exemption information is posted to the local property tax roll. Second homes, vacation homes and income property may not be claimed because they do not serve as an individual’s principal residence.

Additional exclusions to the exemption, and/or grounds for denial, include claiming a similar exemption, deduction or credit on a property in another state that has not been rescinded; claiming the PRE for another property for the same tax year; and filing income taxes as a resident in a state other than Michigan. Exclusion also applies in cases where the homeowner or their spouse owns property in another state – for which an exemption was claimed – unless, that person and their spouse file a separate income tax return.

Under the changed tax structure, which has been the norm for over 20 years, the school operating millage applies only to non-principal residence properties, such as a cottage up north, or a second home that an individual owns and leases as a rental property. While property taxes account for a smaller percentage of the local school operating budgets as a result of Proposal A, the school operating millage continues to be the most significant source of operating funds.

While the exemption provides an incentive to homeownership, there are a host of hiccups associated with the tax break that can lead to savings for thousands of property owners across the state. Yet many believe the School Aid Fund gets robbed of dollars that could provide for better programming, more upto-date materials or higher paid teachers.

Some property owners who are found to have an illegitimate PRE on file specifically attempted to outwit the system to save money, but other cases that lead to a denied PRE arise less intentionally.

Eligibility for the exemption hinges on both ownership and occupancy, so problems can arise with the validity of a

There are hundreds of thousands of dollars the state, local municipalities and school districts are missing out on.

homeowner’s PRE when a realty agent provides the PRE affidavit at the time of closing on a sale if the individual has not actually moved into the home yet.

Another common error that may occur mistakenly is when someone moves into a nursing home full-time, but never formally rescinded their PRE, as the law requires.

Such a scenario could result in grandma or grandpa, or their family members, receiving a hefty bill for back taxes – plus interest – when they were not deliberately dodging in the first place.

Audits to find those who should have been paying on extra properties have been conducted by the state of Michigan since September 2006, when the state entered into a contract with Tax Management Associates to conduct an annual audit. Tax Management Associates reviews PREs for parcels in 40 or more of the 83 counties statewide.

The 2015 state-led audit led to the denial of nearly 10,300 PREs that were previously on file, and uncovered an estimated $18.3 million in back taxes owed to the School Aid Fund, according to Danelle Gittus, Michigan Treasury Department Public Information Officer.

The actual disbursement of money into the School Aid Fund depends upon successfully recovering the money due. In 2014, Gittus said, the state found roughly 6,300 denials that would have amounted to $14.1 million in recovered money. And, in 2013, the state issued over 5,900 denials – amounting to $14.8 million in additional funds owed to the state’s School Aid Fund.

“The PRE is tied to state tax. When someone is not paying that, but they’re not eligible to have that exemption, then it would be the schools that would suffer the brunt of the harm of that,” said Oakland County treasurer Meisner. “At a time when school funding from Lansing has been very volatile, that could really make worse some of the financial challenges that our school districts are going through.

“For folks that are eligible, they are not

required to pay the (up to) 18 mill tax, the state education tax, so it’s a significant tax benefit given to people who claim it because it’s knocking out a big amount of property taxes,” said Meisner.

Voters within the districts of Rochester Community Schools and Avondale Public Schools approved the maximum operating millage, meaning that homeowners who don’t file a PRE with the municipality are charged 18 mills annually, or $18 on every $1,000 of taxable value. Homeowners within the boundaries of Bloomfield Hills Schools who don’t claim the PRE – in other words, whose primary residence is not in the district – pay 10.2740 mills to the district annually. And Birmingham residents without a PRE on file are billed each year for 9.2728 mills to fund the Birmingham Public Schools operating expenses.

“There are seven general reasons for a PRE denial,” said Gittus with the state treasury department. “They include unqualified land, rental property, partial exemption, non-owner occupied, nonresident owned property, property owned by a company, and failure to respond to a request for information.”

According to the Principal Residence Exemption Audit Report, published in December of 2015 by the treasury department, the three most common reasons for denial are due to the failure to respond to request of information; claiming an exemption on property that is not occupied by the owner; and claiming the exemption on a property that is a rented rather than owned.

The most common reason for denial in Oakland County in 2015 resulted from failure to respond to an inquiry initiated by the state, which accounted for 514 denials, or 58.6 percent. Exemptions that were claimed for a home that the owner does not live in accounted for 194 denials, or 22 percent. And PREs claimed for a property that was rented accounted for 16 percent of the denials.

In 2015, the state treasury department audited 58 counties, generating exemption denials for nearly 10,300 parcels, of which 40 percent were in located in Wayne County. Six additional counties – namely, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, Kent, Bay, and Ingham counties – accounted for another 29 percent of the total. That year, Wayne County had 4,302 denials, compared to Oakland County’s 877 denials.

However, in 2012, the first year that Oakland County was audited by the state under the contract with the private auditing firm, the two counties had

roughly the same number of denials.

Wayne County tallied 1,780 denials, only 27 more than Oakland County’s 1,753.

“Beginning in 2009, the election to audit is made every five years,” stated Ron Leix, public information officer at the Michigan Treasury Department. “Currently, treasury is required to audit 40 counties that have not selected to do their own.

However, treasury may still audit PRE claims in those counties that opt to do their own audits. Treasury makes the determination to audit opt-in counties on a yearly basis, based on criteria that is considered confidential.”

The steep drop in denials issued by the state for Oakland County from 2012 to 2013 illustrates the impact of the first round of robust sweeps of the county’s PREs. The professional audit wiped off roughly 1,000 exemptions that had previously been on the books. Since 2012, Oakland County has opted to have the state conduct the audit, a choice which ultimately benefits the state’s school districts because the state, with access to a much larger database of information, has the ability to catch illegitimate PREs that can slip through the cracks at the local or county level. “(The state) has more information on people through income tax filings and they have reciprocity agreements with Florida (and other states). They can check in Florida to see if someone has a homestead filing in Florida,” said Kurt Dawson, Rochester Hills Assessor/Treasurer, referring to the PRE, which was known as the homestead exemption until 2004 when the term ‘homestead’ was replaced with ‘principal residence.’

“They have the ability to audit beyond the information we have,” Dawson said.

“Ours are a pretty basic audit routine – a name mismatch, or if they are not registered to vote here. The state has income tax records and can do a deeper audit. The state requests the jurisdictions' tax rolls and they query who has a homestead and who doesn’t, and from that they can determine, ‘should it be looked at?’. They run it by Social Security number.”

Still, Dawson said, “We’re always looking at records, running reports. We do good guy/bad guy audits. We’re the good guys when we put people on the (PRE) list, who might not have known they qualify, and the bad guys when we take them off (due to ineligibility).”

At the local and county level, there are a number of situations that can alert the assessor to a potentially illegitimate PRE. Many of these triggers involve PRE forms

Some property owners found to have an illegitimate PRE on file attempted to intentionally outwit the system to save money.

with mismatched addresses. Examples include having a driver's license that lists a different address; being registered to vote at a different address; having a utility bill registered at a different address; among others.

When the assessor takes note of something suspicious on the forms and the question of eligibility lingers, additional information is requested from the homeowner. The assessor’s office may call, email or send a letter requesting clarification.

In 2013, the Rochester Hills assessing office sent out 160 letters and denied 51 PREs. In 2014, there were 21 letters mailed, and 92 PREs denied. In 2015, there were 23 denials, none of which required further investigation.

Once a denial is issued and the PRE is removed, it can retroactively effect the taxpayers status for the previous three years. When the denial is for a PRE filed in the current tax year, the local municipality issues the bill for the remaining balance, but when the individual owes taxes from years prior, the county issues the bill. The homeowner will be requested to pay the full difference between the PRE and nonPRE rate, in addition to a 1.25 percent interest rate.

In response to PRE denials discovered in 2013, the county billed and collected $46,418 from Rochester Hills homeowners, and issued the money to Rochester Community Schools and Avondale School District. In 2014, the county billed Rochester Hills homeowners for $35,083, of which $3,066 has yet to be collected. In 2015, the county issued revised property tax bills to Rochester Hills residents totaling $39,443, of which $2,484 remains due.

A similar scenario exists in Bloomfield Township, for which the county treasurer issued revised bills totaling $200,527 between the years 2013 and 2015. At press time, $4,213 is still outstanding. The money is owed by a handful of township residents, and belongs in the budgets for

Bloomfield Hills Schools and Birmingham Public Schools.

Darrin Kraatz, assessor for Bloomfield Township, said, “As far as an official audit, like the state is doing, we don’t have any way to audit the entire database, but when a red flag is raised, we investigate it.

“A lot of people don’t know any better. A lot of seniors bought a home in the township prior to 1994, and forgot they filed (the PRE). They don’t even know they have it, and they move to Florida, and apply down in Florida for the homestead (exemption), so we get in touch with them.

“There are a lot of people getting the homestead who shouldn’t, and (the state) has the ability to check these people. They may have it and not even know it. (The assessor in) Charlevoix has no reason to check Bloomfield, and we have no reason to check Charlevoix, because the homestead’s been on his property since 1994,” Kraatz said. “But the state can say, ‘Oh, this is the same John Smith,’ so they try to get in touch with the person. If they don’t respond, the state denies one of the (PREs), and the county will send a bill and the local (tax unit) will send a bill for the current year.”

As a local assessor, Kraatz said Bloomfield Township “send(s) the state our assessing database and they perform the audits. We’ll get a denial list from the state of Michigan, saying they don’t qualify, then we remove the homestead (exemption). Then they get billed for the difference between the PRE and a nonPRE.” The treasury department issues the list of erroneously claimed exemptions to local governments to bill, as necessary, on an annual basis.

Between 2013 and 2014, the county treasurer’s office sent out bills totaling $28,440 after the state issued 291 denials for properties in the city of Southfield.

Earmarked for the Birmingham, Southfield and Oak Park school districts, the county has received the majority, but is awaiting payment of $9,535.

At the state level, the treasury department said it is unclear how much has been successfully recovered for the School Aid Fund as a result of the audits.

“All we have is the estimated amount of savings to the School Aid Fund. There are many variables that affect the actual amount – as detailed in the (Principal Residence Exemption Audit) report – that it is nearly impossible to obtain an exact amount of back taxes paid to the state,” wrote Leix, public information officer for the treasury, in a statement.

The money generated from the 1.25 interest rate that’s charged to unpaid back

taxes is dispersed three ways – to the treasury department, the local assessing office, and the county where the property is located. The amount each receives depends on which unit of government issued the denial.

“When the department of treasury issues a denial, 70 percent of the collected interest is deposited into a restricted fund at treasury which can only be used for PRE audit purposes,” said Gittus with the state. As for the remaining 30 percent, the local tax collecting unit receives 20 percent of it, and the county where the property sits receives the leftover 10 percent.

If the assessor of the local tax collecting unit catches and denies the exemption, the office will receive 70 percent of the interest, while the county in which the property is located will receive 20 percent, and the remaining 10 percent is sent to the treasury department. A similar breakdown occurs when the county equalization office identifies and denies the PRE, with 70 percent going to county.

Joyce Bowers, supervisor of the Oakland County Equalization Office, said, “We have reports that we run in our database every year, like if there’s a different mailing address, we’ll look at why. We run audits on a yearly basis.” However, the investigation on the part of the county assessor’s office primarily focused on the 32 communities that the county contracts with to provide assessing services, including the cities of Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Rochester.

In 2015, the county equalization office denied 16 PREs for Birmingham, generating a total of $24,315 in property taxes that were due to the school district. The year prior, illegitimate PREs in Birmingham accounted for $49,536 from 39 denials.

Bloomfield Hills in 2015 saw seven denials, which totaled $29,997 in back taxes owed to the local district, and in 2014, the city had nine denials, totally $22,698.

Rochester schools were shorted $2,855 from six illegitimate PREs found by the county equalization office in 2015. The year prior, there were 22 Rochester properties’ denied, which amounted to $21,939 billed by the county on behalf of the local school districts.

“When it’s found out that it’s filed (illegitimately), we will do a denial.

They get mailed paperwork, and they have a right to appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal. They will get a tax bill for the portion that they did not pay,” said Bowers.

Appeals to denials that were issued by the local assessor or the county are filed with the residential/small claims division of the Michigan Tax Tribunal, and must be made within 35 days of the denial. Appeals of denials issued by the treasury department are initiated by filing a petition with the hearings division of the state treasury.

The success rate of appeals ranges from approximately 15 percent to 23 percent. Leix, with the treasury, said 23 percent of the appeals are overturned in full, whereas 15 percent of the appeals are partially overturned – an outcome that occurs upon receiving a partial exemption from the local school operating millage.

A partial exemption, characterized as a percentage, may be issued when a homeowner turns a portion of the house into an office or business-related space, or if the homeowner occupies the home while also renting a portion of the house. In these cases, the homeowner can claim a partial exemption depending on the amount of square footage dedicated to the home versus the business enterprise or tenant. A partial PRE may also be claimed by someone who owns and occupies a portion of a duplex or apartment building.

Another exception to the rule exists for active-duty military personnel.

Those with an established PRE can retain that PRE while active in the armed forces, even if the person chooses to rent or lease their home.

Additionally, a person is allowed to maintain an established PRE for up to three years on a home that was formerly their principal residence, but has since been put up for sale when they move into a new home.

So, while under certain circumstances, having two PREs may be permitted, Oakland County Assessor David Hieber said, “Someone can be creative, and have two PREs for a while… and have moved to another state.

Then the only recourse is to sue them, and now they live in Montana, so those are probably considered uncollectible. So there is some loss due to illegitimate PRE claims, or (from) mistakes that people make and do not even know.” downtownpublications.com

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MUNICIPAL Woodward Building to finish in December

By Lisa Brody

Sam Surnow has gotten an education in Birmingham real estate he never planned on receiving. Call it a PhD on speed.

In an unfortunate turn of events, he and his brother Max inherited The Woodward Building, located at the corner of Maple and Old Woodward, at 100 Old Woodward, from his father Jeff, when he was tragically killed in a bicycle accident in Hawaii in March 2015. Jeff Surnow had purchased the building, formerly the home of David Wachler & Sons, with plans to completely renovate it into an iconic showpiece for downtown Birmingham. He received unanimous approval from the Birmingham Historic District Commission on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, for exterior renovation of the building.

Jeff initially debated taking the building down and rebuilding a fivestory mixed use building, or adding on additional floors, but after much research and analysis, decided to keep the footprint of the building the same, with retail on the first floor and business/commercial on the second.

Drawings created by architect Kevin Biddison of Birmingham showed at the time a renovation of the two-story building, lightened by removing all of the black window glass, and architecturally defining it through the use of organic materials as well as creating grand entrances at both the Old Woodward and Maple sides of the building, as well as punching up the Pierce Street side.

Eighteen months later, Sam Surnow said of reconstructing the 107-year old building, which has tied up vehicle and foot traffic at the central downtown corner, “Every single thing that could go wrong, went wrong. The main problem we had was that it was such an old building. It's a rehab – not a groundup building, and we couldn't estimate. We had to drill and test, and dig into the ground.”

In explaining the lengthy construction period, he said the first and most major problem they encountered was that when they dug down, they discovered the foundation had disintegrated. “We thought the foundation was there – and it wasn't.

They (contractors) had to build a trench around the building to hold it downtownpublications.com

BBAC launches caregiving program he Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, also known as the BBAC, a regional, non-profit art center located in Bloomfield Township, is launching the Art of Caregiving, a free visual arts respite program, specifically designed for caregivers of the elderly and individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia, to utilize art-making as a tool to alleviate the feelings of stress, depression and isolation that is often associated with this role.

The Art of Caregiving, which began Nov. 17, will run year around at the BBAC and consists of four series annually. The same sessions are offered during the morning and evening, to accommodate both professional and home-based caregivers.

“In Michigan, there are more than one million documented caregivers, and one in five care for someone with symptoms of dementia,” said Annie VanGelderen, BBAC President & CEO. “Caregivers in general often sacrifice their own physical and emotional needs in an effort to provide the best quality of life for a loved one. The Art of Caregiving is here to enhance the caregiver’s quality of life…to address their specific challenges in a thoughtful, creative and rewarding way.”

The BBAC has been a part of the community since 1957. It is located on Cranbrook Road just north of 14 Mile in a 25,000 square foot facility with nine classroom studios, five exhibition galleries and a retail Gallery Shop.

In addition to unique art-making projects, all Art of Caregiving programs include a session dedicated specifically to “visual journaling,” as well as an informational session connecting art-making, respite and the role of a caregiver. Each series also will incorporate time for socializing and supportive networking, and all participants will receive a kit to take home that contains materials and supplies related to each session for sharing and use at home.

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up, and have 10 metal rods hold the building up. We had to spend three months to make sure the building didn't collapse.”

Why wasn't he prepared for that?

“There was no way for us to know how deep the foundation was – or wasn't,” he said.

The next issue contractors discovered was when they took the fascia off the building, and found that the underlying steel was in awkward pieces, rather than in the anticipated straight lines. “So we had to order steel. One thing led to another,” Sam said.

Adding to the issues, were contractors trying to work on top of one another. “The corner is so tight to work in. We couldn't close down Maple, but there wasn't room for all the contractors at once,” so it led to longer delays.

While he cautions he could be wrong, “We will be pretty much done

by Christmas,” Sam said, optimistically.

Retailer Gazelle, an activewear store featuring footwear and apparel for women and men first begun in Kalamazoo 30 years ago, which announced they would be coming to the Pierce side of the building at

Maple in November 2015, is hoping to open before Christmas, Sam said – after anticipating being open this past June. A retailer has preliminarily signed for the Old Woodward side of the building, and he is now entertaining proposals for the second floor.

He said the key is, they are working with the city of Birmingham to make sure it isn't going to be any kind of a safety issue. He emphasized that everyone at City Hall – from city manager Joe Valentine, planning director Jana Ecker and building official Bruce Johnson – have all been phenomenal to work with, making sure things are done the right way.

“I'm doing everything I can to get this done right, to minimize the impact on everyone in Birmingham,” Sam said, acknowledging the construction has had an impact upon retailers and restaurant traffic in downtown Birmingham. “I'm so excited. It's looking beautiful. It'll be the iconic building we've been dreaming of. It was all over my dad's wall – I'm so glad we didn't cut any corners in getting this done.

“It was an interesting first project to cut my teeth on.”

DOWNTOWN

Two new retail stores opening on W. Maple Downtown Birmingham filled two key vacancies on Maple Road in the last couple weeks, with the openings of Allen Edmonds, a national men's shoe retailer, at 142 W. Maple Road, and The Home & Garden Shop at 245 W. Maple, which features home furnishings and accessories.

Allen Edmonds opened on Wednesday, November 9, in the former Blu Arch Gallery location. It fills a retail hole for men's shoes that has existed since Sherman's Shoes closed across the street years ago. Allen Edmonds' stores carry a variety a dress, casual, boat, driving moc, golf and other shoes, as well as belts, wallets and other men's accessories.

The company handcrafts its shoes in America, something it has been doing since the firm first began in Wisconsin in 1922.

The Home & Garden Shop, owned

by Wendy Alterman, is the second locale for this store, which features a variety of home, garden, furniture, accessories, vintage items, art, children’s clothing, women's clothing, “the man's cave,” kitchen items, and other unique items that strike Alterman's fancy. It is located in the former spot for Optik which moved next door to a larger space previously occupied by Tender for its shoes and purses.

The Home & Garden Shop has a 12,000 square foot showroom in Troy, at 2826 Industrial Row; the Birmingham location is a smaller, curated location.

“It's got a little bit of everything,” said Alleana, the store's office manager, who said they rapidly remodeled the space in order to open it Monday, November 7. “She (Alterman) has a great taste level.”

The website describes the store as “Where luxury gets smart. Where natural elements reign supreme.

Where high fashion and great design always enjoy a must-needed injection of fun.”

Au Cochon restaurant bids farewell to city

By Katie Deska

Birmingham’s short-lived Au Cochon restaurant closed Saturday, November 5, confirmed restaurateur Zack Sklar, partner in Peas and Carrots Hospitality, which also owns 75

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By Lisa Brody

and operates Social Kitchen and Bar, Mex and Beau’s Grillery.

Au Cochon opened September 23, 2015.

“I’m not certain if it was the right concept,” said Sklar of Au Cochon’s closure. “We’re going to re-concept it, or do something else – I can’t pinpoint it.”

Located at 260 N. Old Woodward, the French-inspired bistro offered brunch, lunch, dinner and a happy hour menu, all while sharing a kitchen with the former Arthur Avenue, an Italian concept, which Sklar and company folded earlier this summer.

Au Cochon had 90 seats, with another 20 on their outdoor patio; Arthur Avenue had 130 seats. At a recent lunch, only two tables were filled.

While Peas & Carrots Hospitality bids farewell to Au Cochon, the restaurant group remains robust and maintains plans for growth, Skar asserted.

A second installment of Mex, which first opened in Bloomfield Township at 6675 Telegraph Road, is set to swing open Thursday, December 1, at Great Lakes Crossing mall in Auburn Hills. Taking the reins in the kitchen will be Mark Barbarich, who is relocating from his current post at Au Cochon.

The new location, said Sklar, “will be a little bit different, more rustic, more casual.

“We’ve built a bigger corporate team, and we’re really busy,” he added.

“We’re opening up a bunch of new restaurants, some in-state and some out-of-state. And Social is picking up; people love it.”

Sklar’s second restaurant business, Schmaltz Hospitality LLC, recently opened a Detroit outpost of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, a Memphis-based franchise.

Attorney Hampton gets in-house pact

By Lisa Brody

Long-time municipal attorney William Hampton has been unanimously approved by the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees at their meeting on Monday, November 14 for a one-year contract to work as in-house counsel, following his retirement from law firm Secrest Wardle at the end of the year.

Hampton, who has practiced law for

over 50 years, is considered a leading authority on municipal law and developed Secrest Wardle's municipal law practice group from its inception into its prominence today. Hampton has served as municipal attorney to the city of Bloomfield Hills for 39 years, Auburn Hills for 35 years, Bloomfield Township for 35 years and West Bloomfield for 35 years. A former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, where he was both majority and minority leader, he was also an Oakland County circuit court judge. He was recently honored with the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys Distinguished Municipal Attorney of the Year award. He has been with Secrest Wardle since 1977.

“Bill will be ending his long tenure with Secrest Wardle at the end of this year,” supervisor Leo Savoie said.

“Bloomfield Township spends $175,000 to $200,000 a year in legal services, excluding special cases and tax tribunal cases.” He recommended subcontracting Hampton as an in-house legal contractor for $10,000 a month, with no benefits, and Hampton paying his own legal malpractice insurance. “It would be a cost savings measure. If he works 20 hours a week at his usual rate, it would save us $60,000 a year. He expects to spend about 25 hours a week in the township. But most especially, Bill Hampton is an institution in municipal law and it would be a shame to let that go by the wayside.”

“He would provide coverage if he is not available, and he would pay for that individual?” asked trustee Neal Barnett.

Savoie said that was accurate, and that Hampton is always available to staff, even when he travels, quickly getting back to people.

“I've always been supportive of Bill. I would say we consider this for one year, and then consider bidding this out when either Bill or the township consider separating,” trustee Dave Buckley said.

“If this doesn't work out, I have no problem in opening it up to any number of firms to bidding on an hourly rate,” Savoie said.

Trustees voted 6-0 to approve the contract with Hampton, with Corinne Khederian absent.

The Pearl project gets brownfield

By Lisa Brody

The Pearl, a proposed four-story mixed use building for 856 N. Old

n light of an FBI probe into a Macomb County corruption scandal that has implicated Rizzo Environmental Services, Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie told the township board of trustees at its meeting on Wednesday, October 26, that they will reexamine their contract with Rizzo to see what was in the best interest of residents.

Savoie said that everyone in the township was surprised and disturbed by the revelations uncovered in Macomb County. Bloomfield Township has a contract for waste management services with Rizzo, which recently became GFL (Greener for Life) as result of a purchase. At their November 14 meeting, GFL Founder and CEO Patrick Dovigi introduced himself to trustees and asked them to try GFL for six months, and if they don't like the company after that, to put the contract out for bid.

Bloomfield Township first contracted with Rizzo in 2007, for an eightyear contract, by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees. In November 2014, by a vote of 6-1, with trustee Brian Kepes dissenting, the contract with Rizzo was renewed for another eight years. The original contract had been bid out, while the renewal was not.

“We're going to sit down next week with them. We have the right to go out to bid if Chuck Rizzo left the company – but we don't have to. It's all what is in the best interest of the residents,” Savoie said.

On Tuesday, October 25, Chuck Rizzo Jr. resigned from Rizzo Environmental Services, effective immediately, and Dovigi said he would oversee Rizzo's business on an interim basis until further notice. He also said that he was moving to quickly have Rizzo's red trucks repainted green and having the Rizzo logo replaced with GFL. Savoie said he had received about 15 calls and complaints from township residents in the past week since the scandal broke.

GLF is a 40-year old Toronto, Canada-based environmental services company. GFL purchased Rizzo earlier this fall from Kinderhook Industries, a private equity firm which had acquired majority ownership of Rizzo in 2012.

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Officials donate contributions to charities n an effort to avoid any appearance of impropriety, three local officials have donated campaign contributions from Rizzo Environmental Services to local charities, after it became known that the FBI has a public corruption probe underway in Macomb County, where they are examining and exposing numerous pay-to-play schemes involving the waste hauling firm.

State Rep. Mike McCready (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills) received $1,000 from Rizzo on January 17, 2016; on November 1, 2016, he announced he had sent a $1,000 check in honor of Rizzo to the Michigan Humane Society.

Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie received a donation of $500 from Rizzo on October 14, 2015. Bloomfield Township has a contract for waste management services with Rizzo, which was extended for eight years in 2014. In light of an FBI probe into a Macomb County corruption scandal that has implicated Rizzo Environmental Services, Savoie told the township board of trustees at its meeting on Wednesday, October 26, that they will reexamine their contract with Rizzo to see what was in the best interest of residents. Savoie said that on November 1, he wrote two checks in honor of Rizzo, each in the amount of $250, one to the Bloomfield Township Police Benevolent Fund, and the other to the Bloomfield Township Firefighters Charity.

“I'm giving it back not because it had any influence on me, which it didn't, but because they compromised themselves. The donation was after our vote (to extend their contract),” Savoie said. “I don't want to be involved with any compromised contribution.”

Township trustee Brian Kepes also received a contribution from Rizzo, for $500, on April 28, 2016, when he was running in a primary contest for township treasurer. Kepes was the lone dissenter in the 2014 contract extension vote in October 2015, as he disagreed with the contract not going out to bid. Kepes said on November 3 that he was donating the $500 contribution from Rizzo to the Bloomfield Township Senior Center.

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MUNICIPAL Woodward in Birmingham, also known as “the hole in the ground,” received approval for a $2.4 million brownfield reimbursement plan over 10 years by the Birmingham City Commission on Thursday, October 27.

A brownfield reimbursement is a tax credit for the difference in the increase in the taxable value, and is done as a development incentive to encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of vacant, abandoned or underutilized properties which are contaminated.

Birmingham Planner Jana Ecker explained to the commission that the site, “affectionately known as 'the hole in the ground,' has a proposal for a four-story mixed use building with retail on the first floor and residential on floors two, three and four.” The site has been vacant since 1988, when the Carrie Lee Chinese restaurant at the site was demolished.

The property is being developed by Bloomfield Township attorney and developer Frank Simon. Simon has said the first floor of the building will include approximately 4,500 square feet of retail space, with street parking, and the other three floors will be comprised of one, two and threebedroom units, which will likely be rentals, for a total of 26 apartment units. Simon said,“They will be on the luxury end.” Architect John Marusich of Detroit designed the building, with many of the units incorporating views of the Rouge River, which runs behind the new building.

“There is a lot of contamination on this parcel, and it drops off quite a bit in the back and in the flood plane,” Ecker said of the site, which is adjacent to Douglas Cleaners and a former gas station parcel at Oak and Woodward. “They have requested reimbursement because it is quite heavily contaminated, as well as the groundwater.” She said the city had reviewed the plans, as had the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority at their September meeting.

The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority decided they wanted to limit the payback period to 10 years, rather than the 29 years requested by Simon.

They also whittled the request from $2.9 million to $2.6 million. Chair Beth Gotthelf said the committee spent quite a bit of time deliberating the request. “We're only interested in capturing the increase in tax value. You want to have it on an even playing field with a green field,” she noted.

“For almost anything to be put on downtownpublications.com

McCann designers to compete on logo

By Lisa Brody

Parking expansion at Poppleton Park

By Lisa Brody

he city of Birmingham is looking to have a new logo designed, and pending approval at the city commission meeting on Monday, November 14, designers at McCann Detroit will turn it into a design competition, with the winning designer receiving a $5,000 stipend from the city.

According to city manager Joe Valentine, Birmingham had a request for qualification (RFQ) sent out to advertising, public relation and design firms in order to have the city of Birmingham's logo rebranded.

“We allocated up to $5,000 for insurance to cover the work for a new Birmingham city logo,” he said.

An ad hoc committee was created to go over the submissions, which included two city commissioners, current mayor Rackeline Hoff and mayor pro tem Mark Nickita. McCann Detroit, located in downtown Birmingham on Maple Road, was one of the agencies that submitted a proposal, Valentine said, and received unanimous commission approval to handle the logo rebranding.

While Nicole Dowswell, director of communications for McCann Detroit, said they do not discuss client costs publicly, Valentine acknowledged costs to design a new city logo would far exceed the $5,000 that the city has set aside. “So McCann has made it an internal competition, with their designers competing, and whoever wins will get the $5,000.”

Susan Stallings, Vice President McCann Detroit, creative director on the project, noted, “It's a very fun projected to be involved in. We're so honored to be part of this. We love the city – we've been here for 14 years, and we love being here.”

Noting that McCann is doing the work for Birmingham pro bono, with the stipend going to the designer, Stallings said, “It's a great incentive for our designers. We spend just as much time in Birmingham as our own homes, so it's a personal project. (With the stipend), they should get some personal gratification.”

Unlike other new business which the creative team often receives, there's very little learning curve. “It's great because anyone working on it already knows about Birmingham and has a personal connection,” she said. “That helps make the work even stronger.”

Valentine noted that while the proposal would include redesigning the logo for all uses for the city, the city did not propose changing the city's “Birmingham green.”

“We have a considerable investment in the color, from streetscapes to park benches to trash cans,” he said.

Dowswell said McCann will be meeting with the city in the next few weeks, and then the creative teams will begin designing, with the final timeline mapped out in future meetings.

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that property, you would need to go through this clean up development process. For any development to take place, you need to clean it up,” Ecker responded to questions from commissioners.

“The city benefits from it by it being developed after it's been a hole for at least 30 years, and you get property taxes, when you've had none,” said mayor Rackeline Hoff.

“I'm troubled by this because the developer bought this site without any due diligence,” said commissioner Stuart Sherman. “This is double (any

previous brownfield). I know we would cap ours, but it is still a very significant amount of money. Are we subsidizing a developer, or are they using it as a windfall?”

“We'd like to see the site cleaned up, to see the site developed. To what degree do we use our taxes to do it,” said mayor pro tem Mark Nickita.

Commissioners approved the brownfield plan and reimbursement request, for 10 years, at $2.6 million, by a vote of 5-1, with Sherman dissenting and commissioner Carroll DeWeese absent.

DOWNTOWN

A preliminary concept plan to enhance and improve Poppleton Park in Birmingham would enlarge and update the play area, add pavilions, picnic areas, walking paths, seating areas, additional trees, as well as 88 more parking spaces along Woodward, preventing any incursion into the neighborhood, said Lauren Wood, director of public services.

In the past year, the Birmingham Parks and Recreation board was charged by the city commission to look at both Poppleton and Adams parks for conceptual work, with each having neighborhood meetings. A conceptual site plan was approved for Adams Park on Thursday, October 27, by the city commission.

Wood said the conceptual site plan for Poppleton Park, located off Woodward about a half-mile north of Maple, was created by MC Smith of E. Grand Rapids and was endorsed by the parks and recreation board at their October meeting but is still being fine tuned and will go before the city commission at a future date.

Workshops to determine the future of Poppleton Park began in February with information gathering. “A subcommittee was established, looking at what everyone was interested in,” Wood said. “It was throwing everything into the pot to get everyone happy, because it is a community project.”

Poppleton Park is a 17-acre park that currently has an outdated playground, two municipal tennis courts, a ball field, open space and 14 parking spaces along Rivenoak. “One of the challenges pointed out by the meetings was that one of the priorities was to evaluate parking and to relieve traffic on neighborhood streets,” Wood said, noting that residents of the Poppleton neighborhood were concerned about traffic and congestion. “That was the catalyst.”

The preliminary concept plan recommends an enhanced, universal, inclusive play system; a walking path; benches and seating areas; drinking fountains; two pavilions with picnic areas; maintenance of the tennis courts and improvement of the ball field; new trees; maintenance of green space; and the addition of 88 proposed parking spaces along the 81

interior of Woodward, in a berm area, without the removal of any trees.

“The impact (of the parking spaces) is very minimal. We carved out where parking would go,” Wood said.

A few residents have complained since the proposal was approved at the parks and recreation meeting, objecting to the major addition of the parking spaces and expressing concern about removal of trees.

“It's just a proposal; it's just a concept,” Wood emphasized. “It has the least impact to the park, and it would not lose trees, and it would not remove open space – which was why this location was chosen.”

She said that 13 trees total would be removed from the park, “but I have so many more trees going in. It's the best of both worlds. It's dressing up what's there. Nature will be preserved.”

Concept plan for Adams Park okayed A conceptual site plan created by Michael J. Dul & Associates, a Birmingham-based landscape architecture firm, for Adams Park in Birmingham, was unanimously approved by Birmingham's city commission on Thursday, October 27.

Birmingham Director of Public Works Lauren Wood said they had hired Dul & Associates to prepare the conceptual plan, and had held collaborative meetings with area neighborhoods. Dul addressed the commission, noting it is a neighborhood park east of Woodward, along Adams Road, just south of The Roeper School's parking lot, and Roeper shares the park with the city.

“There are a number of beautiful neighborhoods (in the area),” Dul said. “Currently, there are swings, a baseball net, amenities for track and field. There are some existing trees dotting the area. That's what we have to work with. The goal is to make it more useable and aesthetic.”

He presented a conceptual site plan which redesigned the park, “with a larger playground, serving all ages. There would be a garden space, creating an identity, a restful space, adding shade,” Dul noted. “It directly oversees the playground, and it overlooks the green space. The (site plan) provides for much larger open spaces, orienting the park north and south, as it should be for the sun.

82

City parking structures to go cashless fter a test at the Chester Street parking structure, all of Birmingham's parking structures will be retrofitted with cashless payment equipment, for a cost of a half-million dollars.

Birmingham city commissioners unanimously approved updating the Pierce Street, Park Street, Peabody, and N. Old Woodward Avenue garages with an upgraded system by Skidata, where users place a credit or debit card into a reader, allowing entry into the garage. Upon leaving, the same card is placed into the exit reader, and the driver is then charged the appropriate amount. Monthly permit parkers receive special cards for entry and exit. Cash use is eliminated.

Drivers will continue to receive two hours of free parking in all parking structures in Birmingham.

Birmingham Engineer Paul O'Meara said the city chose the Chester Street garage as a test case because users are primarily monthly permit holders. The test was rolled out last spring, where “we did find there was a fair amount of negative” for the elimination of cash. “At the beginning, about five to 10 percent of people were upset they couldn't pay with cash. Complaints are less and less, so that now we maybe get one a day, and fewer are refusing to use the garage. Maybe once a week someone is pulling out of the garage, refusing to park.”

He said they would like to do a hybrid of tickets and accepting cash as they roll out the new equipment in the four other structures. “We found the unintended consequences of removing the tickets were that people who were coming for two hours or less were asking, 'Why am I having to give you my credit card if I am coming for a half-hour?' Also, the ability to add validation service for retailers.”

The cost to adapt the Chester equipment was estimated at approximately $250,000, and commissioners balked at the price for minimal complaints at this point.

“Increasingly, people who come to Birmingham have experienced this in other places,” noted mayor pro tem Mark Nickita.

A preloaded card can be available at the parking office, in the Chester garage, which can be used like a credit or debit card, O'Meara said, eliminating the need to change the equipment.

Commissioners then approved the retrofitting of new equipment in the four other structures for $501,000, voting 6-0, with commissioner Carroll DeWeese not in attendance.

A

“It's going to be a nice improvement,” he said.

He said the park should have an aesthetic fence rimming it, as well as large canopy trees around the perimeter, “Like the classic parks you see in Chicago. It will serve the needs of the area, but it will be much enhanced.”

Wood said that while Roeper has access to the park for their students during the day, the city owns and maintains the park, and Roeper has not paid anything for it. “They've offered to share in some costs, but we don't know to what extent,” she said.

“I think the concept looks great,” commissioner Andy Harris said.

Commissioners agreed, voting 6-0, with Carroll DeWeese not in attendance, to approve the conceptual site plan.

Changes to Village at Bloomfield reviewed Bloomfield Township trustees reviewed proposed changes and possible variances to the development agreement for the Village at Bloomfield at a special study session on Monday, November 14, without making any decisions.

The Village at Bloomfield, formerly Bloomfield Place, is now owned by Redico, and is governed by a 425 Development Agreement between the city of Pontiac and Bloomfield Township. A 425 Development Agreement allows two local units of government to share tax revenues resulting from new or expanding development in their jurisdictions. A joint development committee,

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comprised of a representative of Bloomfield Township, Pontiac and a neutral party representing Oakland County, oversees the redevelopment of the site. Township supervisor Leo Savoie is the township representative; Pontiac mayor Deirdre Waterman represents Pontiac; and Dennis Cowan is the neutral party.

According to Patti Voelker, township planning, building and ordinance director, in a written memo to trustees, “The Village at Bloomfield master plan shows a potential for 432 residential dwelling units, or 422,280 square feet of multiple family residential apartments along with 510,522 square feet of commercial uses comprised of a retail, restaurants, hotel, and other commercial uses. The development and use of the property is subject to the city of Pontiac’s Town Center District Zoning Ordinance, except where the 425 Development Agreement may otherwise specify. The portion that falls within Bloomfield Township will be subject to the B-3 General Business District and local site plan review.”

The Village at Bloomfield covers about 95 acres, of which about 5 acres are in Bloomfield Township. A majority are in the 425 Development Agreement area, and a portion is in the city of Pontiac. Redico presented a preliminary site plan, which would have a grocer or a theater, one hotel, not two as they initially proposed, a Menard's in the back area in Pontiac, a luxury auto dealership in the front, in Bloomfield Township, other retail space, and a 432-unit three-story apartment complex to be developed by Edward Rose & Sons of Bloomfield Hills.

A preliminary breakdown of the apartment complex suggested 216 onebedroom units that would be just 700 to 780 square feet and lease for $830 to $900; 192 two-bedroom apartments, between 950 and 1,150 square feet, renting for $1,075 and $1,230; and 24 three-bedroom units, renting for $1,315 and $1,365 for 1,250 to 1,300 square feet, with Millenniels and empty nesters their target market.

Township clerk Jan Roncelli was concerned that Edward Rose & Company recommended a three-story apartment complex without an elevator, and that the size of the units were very small.

While there was a lot of discussion about the plans at the study session, no decisions were made.

12.16

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FACES

Rabbi Jason Miller was one of the first rabbis on Facebook, literally,” said Rabbi Jason Miller, who celebrates his widespread “virtual congregation,” and picked up the term “Rabbi Without Borders” after attending a fellowship through a leadership training institute.

A 1994 graduate of Bloomfield Hills Andover High School, Miller went on to attend Michigan State University, where he became active in Hillel, the Jewish student center on campus.

“At the time, there were some professional leadership changeovers, so I became kind of a spokesperson for the Jewish community, and they’d call me ‘Rabbi Jason.’ There was no rabbi there, so I became the de-facto rabbi.”

The experience led him to apply to rabbinical school in New York – a move that turned out to serve not just Miller, himself, or the Toledo congregation he’s now affiliated with, but the millions of people – religious and secular, alike – that he has impacted through his busy social media presence.

“The reach has been exponential. I’ve had YouTube videos go viral, and I’ve seen what that means. Someone says ‘I feel like I’ve known you for years’ because they read my blog, and they’ll give me a hug. They say, ‘We’ve never met in person, but you’re my rabbi.’”

For his day job, if it can be called that, Miller owns and operates a tech company that builds websites and offers marketing services – a family business he inherited from his father.

“When I told (my father) I was going to rabbinical school, he said ‘I’ll be very proud of you being a rabbi, but I hope that you will be the most technologically involved rabbi,’” recounted Miller with humble satisfaction.

I

“I wear a lot of hats, as people tell me. But, they’re not separate hats.

People come into the office for their company to build a website, and they’ll start talking to me about matters of faith, and ask if I can officiate at their daughter’s wedding. There’s a lot of crossover.”

In order to reach Millennials and teens, Miller considers it imperative that rabbis are active on social media. With a blog that’s reached millions, and a Twitter feed that has 30,000 followers, Miller doesn’t shy away from conversation. A frequent contributor to Time Magazine, The Huffington Post, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel, and other news outlets, Miller talks sports, movies, politics, and Torah readings.

“When I first got on Twitter, as a verbose rabbi, I was concerned about the 140 character limit, but it trains you to say what you want to say in less words.”

The father of three, including a set of twins, Miller acknowledged, “I’m a strong believer in unplugging – that we can’t be tethered to our wireless devices all the time. I spend a lot of time with my kids, and I make sure I’m giving my kids face time.”

With Miller’s network tied to the web, he could theoretically live out his life’s work anywhere. But he said he has zero interest in moving out of the area.

“I have a love affair with Detroit… (My wife and I) love Detroit, we love the city and the suburbs, and our families are here. There’s nothing I enjoy more than watching young people grow up, move, get married and come back to Detroit. I love watching young families come back here.”

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12.16

BUSINESS MATTERS

Mills 70th anniversary It’s a rare feat for any business, much less one for a beloved neighborhood institution. Mills Pharmacy + Apothecary, located at 1744 W. Maple at Chesterfield in Birmingham, has remained a local destination for 70 years, which it is celebrating this fall, noted current owners Pierre and Hany Boutros.

The brothers bought the pharmacy from the Mills family in 2010, and revived the complex art of compounding pharmaceuticals to tailor patients’ specific needs and doses as specifically prescribed by physicians. “In order to further our mission of providing more personalized care, we’ve revived this tradition with the installation of our own state-of-the-art compounding pharmacy,” Pierre Boutros said, offering care for women’s issues, sports management, pain management, and even veterinary care. The Boutros brothers also added an apothecary side, offering specialty beauty and skin care items from around the globe. “We are thrilled to be celebrating 70 years of serving the community here in Birmingham, and we look forward to creating new relationships,” Pierre said of owning one of Birmingham’s oldest businesses.

They also have an Apothecary business at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and are opening one in Midtown Detroit.

Working art studio A unique new art gallery, TYP Collection Art Studio, 261 E. Merrill Street in Birmingham, opened in the space formerly occupied by The Knitting Room.

Artist and owner Troy Murray said the studio features his own works, as well as art from other Detroitarea artists. Murray, the artist also known as TYP, said the studio gives people an opportunity to see the creative process in motion, as he will be both displaying and creating his works at the new space. “The main objective is to have a working studio, where there is more exposure than being holed-up in my house,” he said. “My work will be up all the time, but the studio will be open to group shows and minievents based around art and music.

I would like more Detroit-based artists to have a chance to be

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shown.” Murray often incorporates a performance component into his work, which he likens to speed painting, in addition to more traditional work. “I want to give people an opportunity to see the process,” he said. “There’s a range of live performance painting that I do, which will be like speed painting that I do in front of people, all the way to photorealistic portraiture mixed with an abstract style.”

Love & Buttercream, Too Specialty bake shop, Love & Buttercream Too, 746 E. Maple in Birmingham, is now open and offering cakes, cookies, pies and other made-from-scratch desserts for special occasions to the everyday sweet tooth. The full-service bakery specializes in custom orders and weddings, with two rooms available for special events and classes. The shop is the second location for owner-operator Brook Vitale, who opened Love & Buttercream about four years ago in Royal Oak. “I actually started in 2011,” she said.

“I was working in a different industry and always enjoyed baking as a hobby. I decided to make a career change and do something I’m really happy about. I worked out of my parents’ basement for a year building my brand.” Pouring only made-from-scratch ingredients into her creations, Vitale stays away from shortenings, preservatives, oils and any of the “fake” stuff for her baked goods. She said the new, larger space will allow her to offer customers public and private baking classes, space for birthday parties and special events, and host special events, such as “wine and cupcake night.”

For pet lovers Pet Wants, 33772 Woodward, in Birmingham, might be just the thing that area dog and cat owners need, with a menu of specially-formulated pet food available for in-store purchase or delivered directly to your door. Scheduled to open in late November, the shop will be the first by the company in Michigan. “It’s all natural, and made fresh every month,” owner Cindi Morris said of the specialty pet food. “The brand has no by-products or dyes. It’s very healthy kibble made fresh every

month and delivered. I will deliver it to my clients at home, work or where they choose.” Available for purchase in-store or online and sold by the pound, Pet Wants offers a variety of flavors for dogs and cats of all ages and diet requirements. The store also offers pet care and other retail products, but the main focus is providing pet food formulated for high nutritional value. Morris, who returned to the area about three years ago after living in Grand Rapids, said she’s happy to be back in a dog-friendly community where people place a high value on their pets. “I recently retired as an executive with Macy’s, but decided I was too young to retire,” she said.

“With so many people having busy lives, the delivery piece has been successful.”

Healthy dining options Fresh, healthy and mighty tasty fare is being served for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 7 Greens Salad Co., 344 Hamilton Row in Birmingham.

Specializing in gourmet salads, wraps, soups and smoothies, the fast-casual restaurant is the second location for owner Kelly Schaefer Janssen since opening in 2014 in downtown Detroit. The Birmingham location, which opened in late October, is a great fit for a community where heath and fitness are in demand, Janssen said. “I opened Detroit and needed to get that up and running. I knew I wanted to open a second location, and once Detroit was done, I decided the next logical step was Birmingham,” she said. “It’s a great community.” Named for the seven different type of greens used in its salads, 7 Greens uses a farm-to-fork supply of ingredients from predominantly locally-sourced producers. The menu includes a host of different gluten free and vegan options, as well as bacon, prosciutto, chicken and other meats and cheeses for those who just can’t go without. “We try to cater to all different people,” Janssen said.

former Bozeman Watch Company space, 233 Pierce Street in Birmingham, MadDog specializes in advance technology and mobile device development. The company earlier in 2016 launched Lenderful, an online mortgage business, and delivermyride.com, which allows people to shop for and purchase automobiles online through a network of dealers. MadDog is now in the process of relocating those two businesses, as well as PerfectRealty, an aggregator of housing market data, to the Riker Building in Pontiac, 35 W. Huron.

MadDog will retain its presence in Birmingham at its Pierce Street location.

New fitness studio Fitness trainer Sarah Guseilo is offering a new spin on fitness, opening Core Revolution, 555 S. Old Woodward, Suite 21L, in Birmingham. The new fitness studio is focusing on indoor cycling with a unique twist that bring in elements of alignment and form to strengthen the core for a safe and effective ride.

The studio also is offering fusion classes that infuse the use of cycling with TRX, free weights and other equipment. A native of Birmingham, Guseilo said she had always wanted to open a studio in her hometown.

Prior to opening Core Revolution, Guseilo was a fitness instructor in Chicago, and more recently taught pilates at Equilibrium in Bloomfield Township. “It’s a great location. It’s the lower level and has windows so you can see it from the street, and it has lots of natural lighting,” she said. “I’m pleased to be a new tenant. There is a focus on wellness that is happening already. People coming to that part of Birmingham are already focused on health and fitness.” The studio will offer childcare to those in classes.

Women’s clothier closes Jaust, an Australian woman’s fashion and lifestyle store located at 311 E. Maple Road in downtown Birmingham, closed in early October.

MadDog expanding Birmingham-based MadDog Technology, the brainchild of former Compuware CEO Pete Karmanos Jr., is expanding into downtown Pontiac with the relocation of recent start-up businesses. Operating in the

DOWNTOWN

Business Matters for the Birmingham Bloomfield area are reported by Kevin Elliott. Send items for consideration to KevinElliott@downtownpublications.com.

Items should be received three weeks prior to publication.

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PLACES TO EAT The Places To Eat for Downtown is a quick reference source to establishments offering a place for dining, either breakfast, lunch or dinner. The listings include nearly all dining establishments with seating in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area, and then some select restaurants outside the immediate area served by Downtown. The complete Places To Eat is available at downtownpublications.com and in an optimized format for your smart phone (downtownpublications.com/mobile), where you can actually map out locations and automatically dial a restaurant from our Places To Eat.

Birmingham/Bloomfield 220: American. Lunch & Dinner, MondaySaturday. 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.

Andiamo: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

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

248.865.9300.

Bagger Dave's Legendary Burger Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 6608 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301.

248.792.3579.

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. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Liquor. No reservations. 31471 Southfield Road, Beverly Hills, 48025. 248.642.2355.

Beyond Juice: Contemporary. Breakfast & Lunch daily; Dinner, Monday-Saturday.

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. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Daily. Reservations, lunch only.

Liquor. 39556 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.646.9000.

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.

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.

Cafe Via: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 310 East Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.644.8800.

Cameron’s Steakhouse: American.

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Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 115 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.723.1700.

China Village: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 1655 Opdyke, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.758.1221.

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, MondaySaturday. 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, Monday-Saturday.

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.

Ironwood Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations, 6 or more. Liquor.

290 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.385.0506.

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 Dolci e Caffe: Italian. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 243 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.480.0492.

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FRONT/BACK Front/Back is a monthly column devoted to news stories, tidbits and gossip items about what's happening in both the front of the house and back of the house in the restaurants in the metro Detroit area.

Steakhouse adjustments Fresh blood has graced the kitchen at Eddie Merlot’s, an upscale steakhouse in Bloomfield Township at 37000 Woodward Avenue. Executive chef Justin Bates joined the staff after two decades in the industry. Most recently he served as executive chef for Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, where he spent years moving up the ranks. “We’re a national company, so (Bates is) not bringing any changes to the menu, per se, on his own. We’re going to more of a higher-end steak and (Bates) is part of the group of chefs that process and butcher the steaks, the cuts, themselves. All our cuts are butchered in house,” said general manager John Kelly, who also recently joined Eddie Merlot’s.

Kelly shares management duties at Eddie Merlot’s with his responsibilities running The Stand Gastro Bistro down Woodward in Birmingham. Eddie Merlot’s is the only restaurant in the U.S. that serves Wylarah steaks, which come from Australia, said Kelly. While the Woodward Avenue location is the only Eddie Merlot’s in Michigan, the steakhouse has 11 additional outposts throughout the Midwest.

French restaurant closes After a year in business, Birmingham’s Au Cochon closed up shop in early November. “I’m not certain if it was the right concept,” said restaurateur and owner Zack Sklar, partner in Peas and Carrots Hospitality, which also owns and operates Social Kitchen and Bar, Mex and Beau’s Grillery. “We’re going to re-concept it, or do something else – I can’t pinpoint it,” he said of the closure. Formerly located at 260 N. Old Woodward, the French-inspired bistro offered brunch, lunch, dinner and a happy hour menu, all while sharing a kitchen with the former Arthur Avenue, an Italian concept, which Sklar and company folded earlier this summer. While Peas and Carrots has bid farewell to Au Cochon, a second installment of Mex is on the horizon. The colorful restaurant and bar first opened in Bloomfield Township at 6675 Telegraph Road, is set to swing open Thursday, December 1, at Great Lakes Crossing mall in Auburn Hills. Taking the reins in the kitchen will be Mark Barbarich, who is relocating from his current post at the now-shuttered Au Cochon. The new location, said Sklar, “will be a little bit different, more rustic, more casual.”

Destination downtown The name Prime + Proper is well suited to Jeremy Sasson’s latest project, a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and bar slated to open this spring, between April and May, not far from Sasson’s Townhouse Detroit. A steakhouse equipped to do in-house butchery and dry aging, Sasson and his team at Heirloom Hospitality desired an ambitious project, and settled on the first two floors of Capitol Park Lofts, a development at 1145 Griswold Avenue in Detroit, to be the canvas. Chef Michael Barrera, “is the culinary spear behind our organization,” said Sasson. In addition to the selection of 100 percent USDA certified Prime steaks and lamb, Prime + Proper will have a robust seafood program, “a progressive raw program, and a beautiful display of oysters and shellfish.” Sasson also envisions a retail component that will take shape from the cured meats, sausages, and charcuterie prepared on-site. “If you said that was best steak you’ve had on planet Earth, then there’s incentive to take some to-go… If someone’s going up north, and says ‘let’s get great steaks,’ but (they) don’t have time to stop, we hope this would be the place you would go, or to get some house-made sausages for a barbecue.” Next up on Sasson’s menu? He’s set his eyes on a Townhouse Ann Arbor.

Café expands Birmingham’s Café Succo, a juice bar and eatery at 600 N. Old Woodward, recently expanded to Royal Oak, where it shares the space with Jeffrey Omtvedt’s Detroit Taco Co. at 304 N. Main Street. Various dishes at Café Succo involve the acai berry, an antioxidant-packed fruit that comes from the Brazilian Amazon. “Our acai bowls are the most popular. It’s a superfood popular with athletes,” said chef Eric Ray, who has 12 years of restaurant experience and is behind both locations. “We are getting popular with the younger generation. They’re coming here after school and before sports.” The cafe also offers soups, salads, wraps and more. For the early morning crowd, the latest outpost offers breakfast sandwiches; a quinoa breakfast bowl; and the For Your Health Bowl, which starts by choosing one of five different bases –rolled oats, acai oatmeal, spinach and kale, eight ounces of Greek yogurt, or

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.

Mad Hatter Cafe: Tea Room. Brunch, Lunch & Dinner. No reservations. Liquor.

185 N. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.540.0000 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.

Mitchell’s Fish Market: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.646.3663.

Mountain King: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 469 South Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.644.2913.

New Bangkok Thai Bistro: Thai. Breakfast, Monday-Thursday; Lunch, MondayFriday; Dinner, daily. No reservations.

183 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.2181.

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

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

Nosh & Rye: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 39495 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.646.7923.

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.

Panera Bread: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 100 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.203.7966.

Also 2125 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.253.9877.

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

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

248.644.3122.

Pita Cafe: Middle Eastern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 239 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.645.6999.

Qdoba: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 795 East Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.988.8941.

Also 42967 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Township, 48304.

248.874.1876 Roadside B & G: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

1727 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.858.7270.

Rojo Mexican Bistro: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 250 Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.792.6200.

Salvatore Scallopini: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 505 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.8977.

Sanders: American. Lunch, daily. No reservations. 167 N. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.3215.

Sidecar Slider Bar: Burgers. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

280 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham 48009. 248.220.4167.

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.

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

248.932.0800.

Streetside Seafood: Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday; Dinner, daily.

Reservations, Lunch only. Liquor. 273 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.645.9123.

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

Reservations. 42656 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.333.3887.

Sweet Tree Family Restaurant: Middle Eastern/American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 42757 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.481.7767.

Sy Thai Cafe: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

No reservations. 315 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.9830.

Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro: American.

Dinner. Monday-Saturday. Sunday brunch. Reservations. Liquor. 55 S. Bates Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.731.7066.

The Corner Bar: American. Dinner.

Wednesday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 100 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.2958.

The Bird & The Bread: Brasserie. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 210 S. Old Woodard, Birmingham, 48009.

248.203.6600.

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

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

The Stand: Euro-American. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

34977 Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.220.4237.

Toast: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily; Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 203 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.6278.

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.

Triple Nickel Restaurant and Bar: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Liquor.

Reservations. 555 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham 48009. 248.480.4951.

Village Coney Island: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No

reservations. 653 S. Adams. Birmingham, 48009. 248.593.7964.

Whistle Stop Diner: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily; No reservations. 501 S. Eton Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.566.3566.

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.

Andiamo Restaurants: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 129 S. Main St., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.582.0999.

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.

Bistro 82: French. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 401 S. Lafayette Ave., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.542.0082.

The Blue Nile: Ethiopian. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. Reservations. Liquor. 545 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale, 48220.

248.547.6699.

Bspot Burgers: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 310 S. Main St., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.268.1621.

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.

D’Amato’s: Italian. Sunday Brunch. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

222 Sherman Dr., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.584.7400.

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.

GreenSpace Cafe: Vegan. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. No reservations. Liquor. 215. W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale, 48220.

248.206.7510.

Howe’s Bayou: Cajun. Lunch, MondaySaturday. Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 22949 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, 48220. 248.691.7145.

Inn Season Cafe: Vegetarian. Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. No reservations. 500 E. Fourth St., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.547.7916.

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.

Lily’s Seafood: Seafood. Weekend Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 410 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.591.5459.

Local Kitchen and Bar: American. Weekend Brunch. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 344 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale, 48220.

248.291.5650.

Lockhart’s BBQ: Barbeque. Sunday Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. 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.

Pronto!: American. Weekend Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

608 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.7900.

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.

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.

Town Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 116 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.544.7300.

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

Trattoria Da Luigi: Italian. Dinner, TuesdaySunday. 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 Bspot Burgers: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 176 N. Adams Rd, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.218.6001.

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.

Chapman House: French-American. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations recommended. Liquor. 311 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. 48307. 248.759.4406.

Ganbei Chinese Restaurant and Bar: Chinese. Lunch, Monday-Saturday.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 227 S. Main St, Rochester, 48307.

248.266.6687.

O’Connor’s Irish Public House: Irish. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 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.

Lakes: Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 5500 Crooks Rd., Troy, 48098. 248.646.7900.

McCormick & Schmick’s: Steak & Seafood.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. Somerset Collection, 2850 Coolidge Hwy, Troy, 48084.

organic frozen acai. It’s then topped with options such as granola, coconut milk, blueberries, strawberries and honey. “You still get your food quickly and it’s all healthy,” said Ray.

Veggie brunch option Ferndale’s GreenSpace Cafe, 215 W. Nine Mile Road, has expanded to include a Saturday and Sunday brunch, held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each weekend.

“The number of requests from our patrons to add a brunch menu has been overwhelming. We carefully constructed the most delicious and nutritious menu to offer a brunch with benefits,” said co-owner Daniel Kahn, who opened the restaurant last December with his father, Dr. Joel Kahn, a cardiologist. New dishes include the Spicy Breakfast Burrito with tofu; Purple Masa Pancakes topped with caramel, blackberries, almond crumble and maple syrup; and a blackened tempeh scramble with vegetables. Accompanying the new brunch fare is a menu of craft cocktails, raw juices and the critical wakeup beverages.

Gathering soon Coming soon to Detroit is Gather, a community-oriented restaurant slated for 1454 Gratiot Avenue, in the neighborhood of Eastern Market. “We put the timeline at the end of the year, there’s a lot of things out of our hands, so to put a specific date on it, its difficult at this moment,” said Kyle Hunt, who co-owns the business with his wife Lea Hunt and good friend, chef Nate Vogeli. Once the seed to open a restaurant was planted, the three friends launched a Kickstarter campaign, and ended up raising $29,000 from supporters who are passionate about their model. “Our goal is to be sustainable with what we do, and not to waste food. With the scraps of all the food at Gather, we will make a hearty broth for the homeless. We’re trying to be full circle,” said Hunt. Vogeli, who returned to Michigan after working as a chef for Big Sky Ranch in Montana, will start off focusing on a dinner-only menu, which will be served at one of three tables, each seating 10 people. “We want people to sit together at the table and break bread. We won’t enforce it, but we want everyone to drop the cell phone and enjoy people and friends,” said Hunt.

35 years of vegan fare Royal Oak’s longtime vegetarian restaurant, Inn Season Café, recently celebrated 35 years of serving a menu heavy on locally-sourced organic food.

Situated in a quaint butternut-yellow space at 500 E. Fourth Street, Inn Season was “founded on principles of the microbiotic diet,” said Nick Raftis, who purchased the restaurant in 2002 from chef-founder George Vutetakis. Today’s head chef, Thomas Lasher, first joined Inn Season in the 1980s, under the ownership of Vutetakis, before leaving to open a short-lived Ann Arbor restaurant with Raftis. Offering lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch, Inn Season boasts a menu of satisfyingly delicious food suitable for many who struggle with allergies to wheat, soy and dairy. “When it comes to specials, what the farmer has will dictate where we go with the food – maybe it’s amazing green beans, fennel, or eggplant. (It’s) kind of like jazz, the chef uses his divine inspiration to create something magical.”

Townsend teas The Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, 100 Townsend Street, will host a series of specialty afternoon teas for the holiday season. Mothers, daughters, and grandmothers enjoy a “Frozen” tea on November 27 and December 18; and all the little girls will get in two little lines for the “Madeline” tea on December 11.

A special Santa Clause tea will be held on December 21. Reservations are definitely recommended. For more mature audiences, the hotel will host an “Intimate Krug Journey,” hosted by Krug Brand Ambassador Nicole Burke, with a special themed menu accompanying.

Pop-Up Intel Yemans Street, 2995 Yemans Street in Hamtramck: Preeti Sidhu, home chef and caterer specializing in Indian food, Saturday, December 3.

Revolver, 9737 Joseph Campau Avenue in Hamtramck: Ed Sura, of Chicago’s NoMi, Friday, December 2. Michele Bezue, of Michele Bezue Confections, Sunday, December 18.

Front/Back is reported each month by Katie Deska. KatieDeska@DowntownPublications.com. We welcome news items or tips, on or off the record, about what's happening in the front or back of the house at metro area restaurants.

ember’s deli DELI-FRESH, DELI-DELICIOUS

BREAKFAST LUNCH

Nearly 45 years in business Recently remodeled ember’s deli

DINNER CATERING PARTY TRAYS TAKE-OUT

DECEMBER PARTY TRAY SPECIAL

Take 10% off trays for over 15 people

M-F: 7am – 8 pm Saturday – Sunday 7 am – 4 pm

3598 W. Maple Road Bloomfield Hills 48301 Maple and Lahser in the Village Knoll shopping center

248.645.1033 • www.embersdeli1.com

The Birmingham/Bloomfield area is filled with discriminating diners and an array of dining establishments. Make sure the message for your restaurant reaches the right market in the right publication—Downtown.

Contact Mark Grablowski for advertising rate information.

O: 248.792.6464 Ext. 601 MarkGrablowski@downtownpublications.com

98

248.637.6400.

The Meeting House: American. Weekend Brunch. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. 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, Monday-Friday.

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, Monday-Friday.

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.

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.

Steelhouse Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1129 E. Long Lake Rd., Troy, 48085.

248.817.2980.

Too Ra Loo: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 139 S. Main St., Rochester, 48307. 248.453.5291.

Tre Monti Ristorante: Italian. Lunch, Thursdays. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 1695 E. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 48083. 248.680.1100.

West Bloomfield/Southfield Bacco: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 29410 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.

Maria’s Restaurant: Italian. Dinner, daily.

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

248.851.2500.

The Bombay Grille: Indian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 29200 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills, 48334.

248.626.2982.

The Fiddler: Russian. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. Reservations.

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

248.851.8782.

The Lark: American. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 6430 Farmington Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.661.4466.

Mene Sushi: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner,

DOWNTOWN

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.

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.

Sweet Lorraine’s Café & Bar: American.

Weekend Breakfast. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 29101 Greenfield Rd., Southfield, 48076.

248.559.5985.

Yotsuba: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 7365 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield, 48322.

248.737.8282.

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.

The Root Restaurant & Bar: American.

Lunch & Dinner, Monday - Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 340 Town Center Blvd., White Lake, 48390.

248.698.2400.

Volare Ristorante: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 48992 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.960.7771.

North Oakland Clarkston Union: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 54 S. Main St., Clarkston, 48346.

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.

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 Angelina Italian Bistro: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

1565 Broadway St., Detroit, 48226.

313.962.1355.

Antietam: French. Sunday Brunch. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

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1428 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, 48207.

313.782.4378.

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.

Coach Insignia: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

100 Renaissance Center, Detroit, 48243.

313.567.2622.

Craft Work: American. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 8047 Agnes St., Detroit, 48214.

313.469.0976.

Cuisine: French. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

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, Tuesday-Friday.

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.

Maccabees at Midtown: American.

Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

5057 Woodward Ave., Detroit, 48202.

313.831.9311.

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.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

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

1917 American Bistro: American. Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 19416 Livernois Ave., Detroit, 48221.

313.863.1917.

Prism: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. 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.

Roma Café: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

3401 Riopelle St., Detroit, 48207.

313.831.5940.

Russell Street Deli: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. 2465 Russell St, Detroit, 48207. 313.567.2900.

Santorini Estiatorio: Greek. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

downtownpublications.com

Liquor. 501 Monroe Ave, Detroit, 48226. 313.962.9366.

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

313.438.5055.

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.

Small Plates Detroit: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 1521 Broadway St., Detroit, 48226. 313.963.0702.

St. CeCe’s Pub: American. Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, MondaySaturday. No reservations. Liquor. 1426 Bagley Ave., Detroit, 48216.

313.962.2121.

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.

Top of the Pontch: American. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservation. Liquor. 2 Washington Blvd, Detroit, 48226.

313.782.4313.

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.

Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria and Cucina: Italian. Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 1777 Third St, Detroit, 48226. 313.465.1646.

Wolfgang Puck Steak: Steak & Seafood.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1777 Third St, Detroit, 48226.

313.465.1411.

Wright & Co.: American. Dinner, MondaySaturday. No reservations. Liquor. 1500 Woodward Ave Second Floor, Detroit, 48226. 313.962.7711.

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THE COMMUNITY HOUSE The Community House – A Journey Back To Its Roots On Monday November 14, 2016, The Community House in Birmingham, Michigan, formerly known as TCH, announced a return to its nearly century old roots with the unveiling of a new name, identity and tagline.

The rebrand includes a revert to its original name – “The Community House” – a new logo, and the launch of a brand new website that was reimagined and rebuilt from the ground up. All changes were revealed to the public on November 14, 2016 at the organization’s “Rediscovering The Community House” open house event, held in the Wallace Ballroom.

The rebrand was fueled in part by market research that studied both internal and external perceptions of The Community House brand and its long-held place as an extraordinary destination in the heart of the greater community.

At the unveil, those in attendance heard from leadership that they were “thrilled to launch the rebrand of The Community House.” Members of the Board of Directors stated that “It was time to get back to our roots, and we invite the community to join us on this journey as we rediscover the truly unique and remarkable essence of our place in this community.” As President and CEO, I added that “We are humbled and blessed to offer our house as a true home-away-from-home to area residents, businesses, non-profit organizations, and everyone who relies on our facility for everything from early child care to weddings and from enrichment programs to fundraising events.”

Let us help you get home - worry free.

Chad Whistler NMLS ID 140091

Bill Seklar

At the gathering, features of The Community House’s new up and running website were also unveiled, which now includes a more engaging user experience, a cleaner and more intuitive navigation structure, improved functionality and enhanced content that focuses on the non-profit’s mission. Formerly at www.tchserves.org, the new website is now found at www.communityhouse.com.

A New Philanthropic Course With all of the exciting changes presented to those gathered, leadership also announced that The Community House Board of Directors recently approved – unanimously – the creation of a new separate entity; The Community House Foundation. Guests and VIP’s in attendance were told that the mission of The Community House Foundation will be to secure philanthropic funds that are critical in our efforts to permanently endow The Community House. Those in attendance were advised that robust philanthropy via the planned Community House Foundation will also supplement a wide range of community programs, projects and services outside the normal revenue streams - while at the same time helping to raise critical funds for the protection and preservation of The Community House and its historic building.

It All Starts at The Community House Also unveiled was The Community House’s new tagline, “It All Starts Here.”

What our research validated was just how woven we’ve become into the fabric of this community. For nearly a century, we have provided an extraordinary destination where people can come together to enjoy extraordinary experiences: educational, social or philanthropic.

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Troy Bergman NMLS ID 140061

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Whether someone is a newcomer to the area or a long-standing resident...just starting a business, just starting a family, or just starting a night on the town...it all starts at The Community House.

The Community House was founded in 1923 and has since provided the community a landmark setting for a variety of uses, offering over 1,000 yearly classes that includes everything from cooking and art history to yoga and fitness. The Community House is home to the five-star-rated Early Childhood Center (child care and preschool), TCH Dance Academy, and the Sara Smith Youth Theatre. It also provides ballrooms and gardens for weddings and social or corporate events. The public is welcome to join various Community House sponsored clubs, including Friends of the Gardens, the International Culture and Cuisine Club, the Newcomers Club, as well as the Senior Men’s Club and Women’s Club, among countless other programs and events for people of all ages and demographics.

Chris C. DeWolfe

About The Community House Located at 380 South Bates in Birmingham, Michigan, The Community House is a nonprofit that is home to those seeking continuity between personal, professional, philanthropic and recreational pursuits. Since its founding in 1923, The Community House has provided an extraordinary destination where people can come together to enjoy extraordinary experiences. From educational development to the early planning of life’s landmark events… from business to pleasure, from charity to recreation… it all starts at The Community House. For more information, visit www.communityhouse.com, or call (248) 644-5832..

William D. Seklar is President & CEO of The Community House in Birmingham. downtownpublications.com

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248.273.8200 Investment products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (WFAFN), Member SIPC. The Investment Consulting Group is a separate entity from WFAFN.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK Here is the update on the recent social scene.

Many more photos from each event appear online each week at downtownpublications.com where readers can sign up for an e-mail notice when the latest social scene column is posted.

Past columns and photos are also archived at the website for Downtown.

DSO Opening Night Dinner

DSO Opening Night Dinner The Thursday evening before the Detroit Symphony Orchestra opening Classical Series Weekend, 115 music lovers attended the Volunteer Sally Gerak Council’s Opening Night Dinner ($180, $325, $500tickets) at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Center. VC president Ginny Lundquist chaired the second annual repast, one of the first events to be held in the Music Box after it was renamed the Peter D. and Julie F. Cummings Cube (Curated Urban Broadband Experience). As President/ CEO Anne Parsons announced, the new name honors the couple’s ongoing benevolence ($10 million-plus) to the DSO and marks the beginning of a new programming stream for the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Center. The concert which followed in Orchestra Hall featured conductor Leonard Slatkin conducting Bernstein, Gershwin, Beethoven and the world premiere of “Big Data” by 40-year-old Spanish composer Ferran Cruixent. The latter featured the musicians using their mobile phones to emit a clicking sound as the audience hummed.

Michigan Opera Theatre DiChiera Legacy Ball People are still raving about the Opera Ball which starred much that was Italian including esteemed MOT founder/artistic director David DiChiera, the son of immigrants. He first greeted about 200 VIPs who convened early in the Herman and Barbara Frankel and Allesee lounges. Many had been present for the first ball when the Detroit Opera House opened 20 years ago. The 366 dinner tickets ($750, $1,000) sold out weeks before the elegant soiree. As in the past, the tables were on a temporary floor constructed over the auditorium seats, as was a stage for the program. It featured lots of tributes, including one from 2015 ball co-chair Joanne Danto. She recalled first meeting DiChiera in 1961 when he gave her a role dancing in his Overture to Opera production of “La Traviata.”

“David...your achievements will always inspire (us)...We love you,” she concluded. A Pas de Deux by Royal Winnepeg Ballet dancers, two opera selections by artists from MOT’s current season, surprise performances by MOT studio artists, and the men of the MOT Chorus disguised as waiters and a live auction rounded out the program. It was also applauded by the 120 Young Professionals ($125 ticket) from the Bella Festa Tramonte party. All guests could then dance to Ben Sharkey’s Big Band or savor Italian sweets, liquors and espresso. The DiChiera Legacy Ball raised $655,000, plus the live auction total of $107,535. Quite a legacy indeed, Dr. D.

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7 1. Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings of Detroit & Palm Beach, FL. 2. Patti Finnegan Sharf (left) of Bloomfield, Ginny Lundquist of Orchard Lake. 3. Frank Ritchie (left) of Troy, Ellie Tholen of Birmingham. 4. Jill Jordan (left) of Farmington Hills, Sandie Knollenberg of Bloomfield, Suzanne Lareau of Royal Oak and Barbara Van Dusen of Birmingham. 5. Idell Weisberg (left) of Bloomfield, Dorothy Gerson and Ellen Kahn of Franklin. 6. Pat (left) & Hank Nickol of Birmingham, Lee Barthel of Farmington Hills, Cis Kellman of Southfield. 7. Joyce (left) & Myron LaBan of Bloomfield, Roz & Ken Gitlin of Orchard Lake. 8. Bud Liebler (left), Denise Abrash and Jim Hayes of Bloomfield.

Michigan Opera Theatre DiChiera Legacy Ball

Project HOPE Tea at The Townsend Bettina Gregg and Linda Juracek-Lipa welcomed a sold-out crowd of 50 Women’s Division Project HOPE supporters ($60, $100 tickets) to the Townsend for Afternoon Tea. The formal tables almost filled the Tea Lobby, leaving only a bit of space for Artloft, Loretta’s Boutique, Dior make-up artists and a mini silent auction to provide diversions from the exceptional tea fare and the first girl friends’ gabfest of the fall season.

1 Pink Fund Dancing with the Survivors Nearly 300 people ($150 ticket) trekked to Southfield’s Silver Gardens Event Center to sip, sup and applaud people dancing in support of Pink Fund’s mission - to provide three months financial support for active breast cancer patients in need of monetary assistance. The pink splashed evening, one of eight nationwide, raised more than $150,000. It was co-chaired by sisters Carol Segal Ziecik and Laura Segal.

Evans Scholars Hickory Stick benefit A bagpiper led 92 golfers clad in plus-fours and tams onto the course at Forest Lake Country Club for the annual Hickory Stick Invitational. (Players must use antique wood-shafted clubs, a challenge for most of them.) Awards were presented by event founders and co-directors Marty Gillespie and Chuck Plein at dinner. It also featured remarks of gratitude by MSU Evans Scholar Jacqueline Zuke and U of M Evans Scholar Nick Michetti. The 19th annual downtownpublications.com

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1. Ethan Davidson (left) of Birmingham, honoree Dr. David DiChiera of Detroit. 2. Floy Barthel (left) of Farmington Hills, Ron Michalak & Barbara Frankel of W. Bloomfield. 3. James, Clara & Françoise Colpron–Schwyn of Birmingham, Carol Friend of Troy. 4. Bob & Maggie Allesee of Bloomfield.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK event netted more than $50,000 for the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholar Foundation. It sends caddies with financial need to college.

Project HOPE Tea at The Townsend

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MOCAD Gala + Auction Ten years ago, when Detroit was on the leading edge of an historic recession, a determined band of contemporary art enthusiasts launched the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in a former car dealership. That it not only survived, but thrived is a tribute to its stewards.

Earlier this month MOCAD’s founding director and board president Marsha Miro told 200 dinner guests ($1,000 & up tickets), “We are proud of every exhibition we have done...MOCAD was (our) dream....And now it is an important arts institution in this city, state and nation.” She followed board co-chair Elyse Foltyn and executive director Elysia Borowy-Reeder who thanked the event sponsors and the artists who donated more than 120 objects to the auction that raised $200,000.

Following dinner the Afterglow staged by MOCAD’s energetic New Wave committee attracted another 150 partiers. It featured electrifying performers, light up cotton candy, energy drinks and lots of dancing. The 10th annutal Gala + Auction raised $350,000 for innovative and inspiring exhibitions and ambitious educational and cultural programming at the museum.

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1. Bettina Gregg (left) of Bloomfield and Linda Juracek-Lipa of Birmingham, Sari Stefancin of Bloomfield.

2. Christa Hintz (left) and Shammy Loosvelt of Bloomfield. 3. Anita Hedeen (left) and Sherry Sagainaw of Bloomfield and Irene Davis of Beverly Hills. 4. Emma Minasian (left) and Audrey Mooradian of Bloomfield.

5. Angela Cosma (left) of Bloomfield, Cathy Pikulas of Franklin, Anita Terry of Bloomfield. 6. Dolly Andris (left) of W. Bloomfield, Tina Prevas of Bloomfield. 7. Judie Sherman (left) of Bloomfield, Katana Abbott of Commerce.

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Pink Fund Dancing with the Survivors

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1. Molly MacDonald (right) of Beverly Hills, Manouchehr and Brenda Kambakhsh of Rochester. 2. Karen Jacobsen (left), Carol Ziecik (left) and Elaine Minkin of Bloomfield. 3. Glynda Beeman (left) of Bloomfield, Laura Segal of Franklin. 4. Mother Daughter duo: Susanne Iacobelli (left) of Rochester Hills and Stephanie Iacobelli.

MOCAD Gala + Auction

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1. Elysia Borowy-Reeder (left) of Detroit, David & Elyse Foltyn of Birmingham.

2. Marsha Miro (center) of Bloomfield, Bruce & Kathy Broock Ballard of Orchard Lake.

3. Lynn (left) & Bharat Gandhi of Bloomfield, JJ Curis of Grosse Pointe. 4. Spencer (left) & Myrna Partrich and Andi & Larry Wolfe of Bloomfield. 5. Peter Remington & Peggy Daitch of Birmingham. 6. Joel (left) & Shelby Tauber of W. Bloomfield and Jeff Miro of Bloomfield. 7. Mert Segal & Glynda Beeman of Bloomfield.

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Judson Center Havana Nights More than 525 supporters ($300 & $400-tickets) of Judson Center traveled to Havana, aka the ballrooms at the Westin Book Cadillac, to embrace the 92-year-old social service agency’s families and children.

Cuban colors, music, flavors and floral dominated the scene. Before dinner, people bid more than $38,000 in the silent auction and bought $9,200 worth of raffle tickets. The program included board chair Kyle Hauberg’s calling for a “Judson welcome” for new executive director Lenore Hardy Foster, a video of some of the 4,000 children and families Judson helps each year, and unforgettable remarks

by Rachel Fischer, an author and forensic nurse whose life story defies credulity. “I was one of five kids of a biker and a (heroin using) prostitute,” she began. Her saga included being adopted by a foster family with seven special needs children and getting a Christian foundation. She now works in the human trafficking field, where, she noted, she has “street cred.” The crowd gave her a very warm standing 12.16

ovation before bidding $50,750 in the live auction and another $66,000 in Take A Stand pledges. Havana Nights set a new record by raising $440,000.

Brother Rice Boutique & Craft Show Mari MacKenzie chaired the annual Brother Rice Mothers’ ClubAutumn Boutique and Craft Show which attracted more than 200 to the school gymnasium. More than 33 vendors showcased such offerings jewelry, home decorations, trendy clothing, food, health & beauty items as well as greeting cards for Mary’s Mantle service to homeless pregnant women.

Show proceeds are earmarked for the Scholarship and Financial Aid Foundation’s tuition assistance for deserving students.

100 Women Who Care The 13th quarterly meeting of 100 Women Who Care of Greater Rochester brought 90-plus of 245 members to St. John Fisher activity center. At that meeting, like all others, they committed one hour to listen to presentations by representatives of three non-profits.

After a quick vote, each woman wrote a $100 check directly to the winner, Turning Point, for whom board member Leslie Sheider made the pitch. Turning Point, which works to end domestic violence and sexual assault, will use the $24,500 donation for education and prevention programs. It will allow the hiring of an additional school educator. Last year, a single educator provided 406 school presentations that reached 6,300 students. There is currently a waiting list for schools to get Turning Point workshop presentations. An additional staff person will provide impactful prevention tools, particularly for high school students who may be in uncertain personal relationships or may be bystanders to questionable behavior.

100 Women Who Care of Greater Rochester co-founder Amy Whipple noted, “We are able to meet needs immediately. It’s an ‘ask and you shall receive’ giving model that is very direct and very efficient.” To date, they have raised more than $231,000.

Polish the Jewel Legacy Luncheon Three weeks after Shauna Ryder Diggs hosted a cocktail supper for 35 of the Benefactors ($300 & up tickets), the Belle Isle Conservancy benefit luncheon was staged under a festival tent pitched near the Conservatory and the Aquarium.

This enabled honorees Trayce and downtownpublications.com

Judson Center Havana Nights

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5 1. Aleisa (left) & Kyle Hauberg of Bloomfield, Ann Marie LaFlamme of Rochester Hills. 2. Duane (left) & Lenora Hardy Foster of Rochester Hills, Heather & David Mingle of Rochester. 3. Joe (left) & Blair Fisher of Grosse Pointe, Joanne & John Carter of Bloomfield. 4. Jeff (left) & Susan Sadowski of Birmingham, Alex Sadowski of Chicago, IL. 5. Darleen (left) & Hugh Mahler of Birmingham, Rachel Fischer of Detroit and Houston, TX. 6. Larry Denton and Elena MacKenzie of Birmingham.

7. John (left) and Carol Aubrey of Birmingham, Steve Ebben of Lake Orion.

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Brother Rice Boutique & Craft Show

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4. Joe Fuhrman (left) of Huntington Woods, Larry Mackenzie of Birmingham.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK Polish the Jewel Legacy Luncheon

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OUR TOWN Art Show and Sale The 31st annual show and sale of work by Michigan artists opened at The Community House with the Art in Vogue party that attracted 250 people ($75 and up tickets), including lots of the 165 artists and models in head-turning dresses created by Matthew Richmond using upcycled materials. The early arriving benefactors were greeted by Carol and John Aubrey and Nancy and Dave Lau. That crowd included, to name a few Benefactors, former TCH executive director Gale Colwell, Margi Epstein, the Fred Leydorfs, Bill Powerses, Rich Sorensens and Ed Hagenlochers, as well as jurors Barbara Heller and Rachelle Nozero and Liz DuMouchelle, show co-chair with Robert Dempster. When the show closed three days later, 26 of the 417 objects in the show had found a new home and Bloomfield Hills artist Anita Damiani’s painting “Midnight Moonflowers” had won the People’s Choice title.

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Randy Fenton to be close to the two structures that have been the objects of their considerable philanthropy as a memorial to their son Aaron. They were among the 400 people ($150 tickets) at the 12th annual, al fresco affair, noted for the hats many of the women wear. Before lunch people sipped champagne as they bought raffle tickets for Steve Tapper’s Star of Belle Isle pendant and perused the extensive silent auction ($17,000).

Rhonda Walker emceed the program that featured warm words of gratitude from chair Denise Ilitch, BIC founder/board chair Sarah Earley, president Michele Hodges and school programs director Amy Emmert. The latter inspired about $12,000 in pledges for DPS field trips.

Thanks also to generous sponsors, the event raised about $160,000, earmarked for a new Splash Play Area on the island. Since it launched in 2004, the luncheon has raised $3 million toward restoration and enhancements on the island.

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1. Shauna Ryder Diggs (left) of Grosse Pointe, Trayce & Randy Fenton of Bloomfield. 2. Denise Ilitch (center) of Bingham Farms, Sam Lites (left) and Jeff Krupcle of Birmingham. 3. Anne Parson (left) and Michele Hodges of Grosse Pointe, Sarah Earley of Bloomfield. 4. Rosemary Bannon (left) of Beverly Hills, Judy Jonna and Lidija Grahovac of Bloomfield. 5. Nicole Gize (left) of St. Clair Shores, Marjorie DeCapite of Birmingham.

6. Bonnie Larson (left) of Bloomfield and Diane Platt of Grosse Pointe, Peggy Daitch of Birmingham. 7. Dorian DiVita (left) of Bloomfield, Linda Solomon of Farmington Hills. 8. Tom Anderson (left) of Royal Oak, Danialle Karmanos of Orchard Lake, Suzanne Moceri of Bloomfield, Luavve Ewnd of Royal Oak. 9. Laurie Tennent (left) of Bloomfield, Elizabeth Bacon of Detroit. 10. Betty Desmond (left) of Bloomfield, Noreen Keating of Auburn Hills.

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Oakland Literacy Council Ex Libris The 27th annual dinner benefiting the free adult literacy programs of the Oakland Literacy Council at the Village Club attracted 111, including the youngest guest ever - Geneve Hunter’s 13-year old grandson Gabriel Cosman. The teen attended because he is a huge fan of the keynote speaker Johnathan Rand, author of dozens of horror fiction books for children and young adults.

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tutor Adelia Cooley and her student Ossie Tate, associate minister Dr. Roger and Mary Jo Byrd were also in the spotlight as the event honorees for their generosity to OLC for many years. The event raised more than $36,000 for the council.

Gleaners Community Food Banks The Detroit Wine Organization promotes wine knowledge and enjoyment while benefiting local children’s charities. It selected Gleaners Community Food Banks for its fall philanthropic gathering and 600 kind hearted oenophiles ($85, $150-VIP tickets) flocked to Gleaner’s Detroit warehouse to sip, sup and socialize. VIPs savored Andiamo chow with premium wines from Joel Gott Wines, the DWO 2016 Winery of the Year. All were offered 300+ wines, comestibles from area purveyors and a silent auction ($13,000). In addition to premium wines and unique packages, the auction featured six, life-size, Jack Daniel statues, each with a corresponding bottle of “Jack” created by Kroger’s wine stewards.

Thanks also to the sponsorship generosity of Kroger and Delta Air Lines, Detroit Uncorked raised more than $120,000. This will provide 360,000 meals for the hungry. DWO membership is free.

CARE House Care Charity Ball With spirited vocals by some Mosaic Singers floating up from the Tea Lobby, some 300 supporters of CARE House of Oakland County chatted in the ballroom foyer before adjourning for dinner at the CARE House Care Night Charity Ball. The program, emceed by Fox-2’s Monica Gayle, had notable highlights. One was honorary co-chair/GM’s Alicia Bowler-Davis’ moving revelation about being abused as a child “...and there was no Care House when I was a child,” she said. Another was honoree Lisa Payne’s recollection of how she came to Care House through a close friend’s experience. “I had to get involved,” she vowed. Soon-toretire executive director Pat Rosen introduced her successor, Blythe Spitsbergen, and saluted staffers, “The life blood of CARE House.” Dan Stall then conducted a live auction ($52,250) and pledging. Music by popular Mark Randisi and the Motor City Jazz Orchestra rounded out the splendid evening. It raised $330,000 for the services CARE House has been providing sexually abused children since 1977. The agency’s 21st annual Circle of Friends downtownpublications.com

OUR TOWN Art Show and Sale

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1. Eliz DuMouchelle and Robert Dempster of Bloomfield, Rachelle Nozero of Novi. 2. Nancy (left) & Dave Lau of Bloomfield and Carol & John Aubrey of Birmingham. 3. Bill & Wendy Powers of Bloomfield. 4. Ellie Gause of Bloomfield, Jan & Bob Swanson of Bingham Farms. 5. Ann Booth (left) and exhibitor Julie Dawson of Birmingham. 6. Kathie Ninneman (left) of Bloomfield, Dave & Kathleen Devereaux of Birmingham. 7. Tory Sawula (left), Lynn Quigley and Mitzi Phillips of Bloomfield.

Oakland Literacy Council Ex Libris

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1. Julie Hoensheid (left) of Rochester Hills, Lisa Machesky of Birmingham. 2. Speaker/ children’s books author Johnathan Rand (left) of Topinabee, Gloria Johnson of Oak Park, tutor speaker Adelia Cooley of Bloomfield, student speaker Ossie Tate of Oakland. 3. Gabriel Cosman (left) of White Lake, author Johnathan Rand of Topinabee.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK luncheon is Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017 at The Townsend.

CARE House Care Charity Ball

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St. Hugo Altar Guild Benefit Nearly 200 people ($60, $70, $160 tickets) gathered at Oakland Hills Country Club one evening to support the charities of the St. Hugo Altar Guild. They socialized and did early Christmas shopping at 17 boutiques stocked with such appealing wares as fashionable apparel and accessories, jewelry and yummy confections. They also relished savory cuisine from a bountiful buffet and bought raffle tickets to win a $1,000 Somerset Collection gift card.

Kathy MacIntosh chaired the benefit and her non-agenarian mother-inlaw came to it from her new home in Illinois to see all her gal pals. The Ladies Night Out raised about $20,000.

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1. Amber Stack (left) of S. Lyon, Lisa Payne and daughter Katie of Bloomfield.

2. Fitz Davis (left) & Alicia Bowler-Davis of Rochester and Kappy & Dave Trott of Birmingham. 3. Jerry (left) & Pat Wagner and Dave & Tiffany Wagner of Bloomfield. 4. Linda & Dan Bomberski of Troy, Erik & Andrea Morganroth of Birmingham. 5. Michelle Murphy (left) of Macomb, Pamela Ayres and Jennie Casio of Bloomfield, Dan Greve & Monica Gayle of W. Bloomfield. 6. Sandie Knollenberg (left) of Bloomfield, Kathy & Mike Hudson and June Grannis of Troy.

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St. Hugo Altar Guild Benefit

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1. Kathy MacIntosh (left) and Karen Seitz of Bloomfield. 2. Gladys Kowalski (left), Julie Adell Verona and Laurie Adell Fischgrund of Bloomfield. 3. Erin McCullough Durren (left) of Bloomfield, Mimi McCullough of Troy.

4. Carolyn DeMattia (left), Sr. Barbara Rund and Marianne McBrearty of Bloomfield, Thelma MacIntosh of La Grange, IL. 5. Joan Page (left) and June Wienner of Bloomfield.

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Heart to Heart GLAM Lunch

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1. Florine Ministrelli (center) of W. Bloomfield, Lois Shaevsky (left) of Bloomfield and Cis Maisel Kellman of Southfield. 2. Francee Ford (left) and Debi Ernst of Bloomfield. 3. Carol Philips (left) of Grosse Pointe, Barbara Ghesquiere and Jane James of Bloomfield. 4. Karen Clancy (left) of Bloomfield, Meryl Sakwa and Linda Taubman of Birmingham.

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Heart to Heart GLAM Lunch Nearly 300 supported Beaumont Health’s Florine & J. Peter Ministrelli Women’s Heart Center. While most ($175, $250, $1,250 & $2,500 tickets) of them gathered in the Regency Room at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham for lunch, another 60 Gold Sponsors ($5,000) convened in the former Corner Bar, now redesigned as The Clancy Room. (It honors in memoriam the celebrated interior designer Dan Clancy, whose long history with The Townsend is evident throughout the boutique hotel.) Informal modeling of designer fashions provided diversion in the larger room while in the Clancy people perused a chance raffle of 14 super packages ($7,000) and fashion strategist Marianna Keros commentated a video presentation of major trends for Spring 2017 from the New York Fashion week. Some of the top trends she identified like ruffles and silver were on the runway in the terrific fashion show RGA’s Cheryl Hall-Lindsay produced in the main ballroom for everybody. It was preceded by expressions of gratitude from Beaumont’s Margret Cooney Casey and heart health advice from Dr. Pam Markovitz. Debra Ernst, Pearl Gordon, Carol J. Nederlander, Meryl Sakwa and Rachel Schostak co-chaired the chic event which raised $67,000 for the 15-year old women’s heart center at the Royal Oak hospital.

Send ideas for this column to Sally Gerak, 28 Barbour Lane, Bloomfield Hills, 48304; email samgerak@aol.com or call 248.646.6390.

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ENDNOTE

Lengthy, no-bid contracts must end now ews earlier this fall that Rizzo Environmental Services, recently rebranded as GFL Environmental after an October sale to an Ontario, Canada waste hauling company, was the subject of a public corruption probe by the FBI in Macomb County, caught numerous Oakland municipalities by surprise, as 20 of the 62 county communities have contracts with the Sterling Heights-based waste hauling company for hauling trash and recycling. The FBI said they wouldn't be able to confirm or deny if they were looking into Rizzo in Oakland County, or if there was any possibility of corruption in Oakland County.

Many of the 20 Oakland communities are new Rizzo customers, having signed contracts with Rizzo only in the last couple of years. Research revealed that Rizzo came into those cities and townships with a reputation for providing their customers with very good service at a very good price, often underbidding their competition. On the surface, that sounds like a strong business model. After all, Rizzo has grown from a small snow removal company in 1965 to become the dominant waste hauler in southeastern Michigan, with contracts for hauling trash and recycling for 55 municipalities. The company has grown exponentially since 2012, when it was acquired by the private equity firm Kinderhook, skyrocketing from 16 contracts to 55. The question is – at what cost?

Several of the communities which have contracts for service with Rizzo have chosen the waste hauling company without bidding out the contracts, basing their choice on Rizzo's reputation as one that provides an excellent level of service for a good price to the locales for which it provides service. Most of the communities, however, are renewing contracts with them without rebidding them out, a practice we think needs to change.

Even when municipal consortiums play the middleman for municipalities, and review numerous contracts, it is in every single community's best interest to have several companies bidding for their

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work. Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority (SOCCRA), which negotiates contracts for 12 member communities in southern and central Oakland County, general manager Jeff McKean said, “We did a market survey of all the prices being charged in southeastern Michigan, and our prices are very competitive, so we thought there was no need to do a bid process.”

Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie stated Rizzo told the township that the company would keep prices at a certain low level for the length of the contract – an eight-year renewal – as long as they didn't bid the contract out. By a vote of 6-1, trustees voted to renew the contract without rebidding it, because as Savoie said, no one has been dissatisfied with the service.

With some Rizzo employees under criminal suspicion and a change in ownership, Bloomfield Township is now considering reviewing the contract.

The other significant issue we question is the length of the contracts communities have signed with Rizzo and other waste haulers. Many of the municipalities have five-, eight-, even 10-year contracts with Rizzo, or competitors Waste Management, Republic, Tringali or others. That's great for the waste company, allowing them to go out and purchase new trucks, equipment, and lock in rates for gas, based on their size and long-term contracts, but how does that benefit taxpayers?

The length of any service contract – whether for a waste hauler, law enforcement services from the sheriff's department, or any other service provider, should be for no longer than five years, with an open bidding process. A five-year process is not onerous upon a municipality, but allows for changes in the marketplace.

It's the essence of a free market system, with residents the beneficiaries.

Moving forward, local municipalities must change how they handle contracts for waste hauling services.

The Birmingham downtown road projects he holiday season may be here, but in Birmingham, they're also planning for that other important season – road construction in 2017, most notably, next year's road project, where Old Woodward will be reconstructed between Willits and Brown, right in the heart of downtown Birmingham.

This is a really necessary road improvement project, and one the city has been working on for several years. Beginning in 2013, the city of Birmingham began to address the aging infrastructure in the core of the central business district with portions of Pierce Street from Maple to Merrill and Merrill Street from Pierce to Old Woodward undergoing a complete rebuilding. This past year, Hamilton Avenue was reconstructed from Old Woodward to Woodward Avenue. These projects included new water lines, sewer lines and the repaving of roads, followed by new lighting and streetscaping.

The reason these roads are being completely reconstructed is that these areas have some of the oldest water and sewer lines in Birmingham, as well as a streetscape that is on a different grade than the road. Much of this current infrastructure was installed in the 1940s and has exceeded its useful life. Some parts of the city, including Old Woodward, date back to the early part of the 20th century, with wood sidewalks underneath the current cement, and water mains and sewers that are as old as well.

City staff – management, planners, engineers – along with the Birmingham Shopping District (BSD), have been working to communicate with retailers and residents, hosting meetings and providing information on the city's website. We are heartened that a fair number of merchants

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attended a recent BSD presentation, voicing legitimate concerns because it is very important they be heard.

There are currently two streetscape plans for Old Woodward still under consideration, which will come before both the multi-modal transportation committee and the city commission on Monday, November 21, after this publication goes to press, but it may not be voted on at the commission meeting. A primary concern of retailers is a recommendation to install “reverse parking” – where drivers would have to pull ahead of the angled parking spot and then back into the spot. Hypothetically, it's a traffic calming device, but that area of Old Woodward does not typically have speeding. It also encourages U-turns, which no one wants.

Another concern is that in one of the plans – a far more expensive, timeintensive plan – would incorporate brick pavers into crosswalks, center turn lanes and other spots. There would also be granite curbs and raised tree wells. While beautiful, bricks can be treacherous, difficult for those with handicap issues, and both granite and brick pose greater slip-and-fall issues.

There are terrific texturizing options available – with much greater cost savings – to the more basic concrete treatment proposed.

Merchants are also concerned about how they will get their deliveries during construction, as well as street narrowing and bump outs on corners that can cause trucks to jump onto sidewalks as they turn, creating an unsafe environment.

These and many other issues are ones city staff and commissioners must reconcile in order to keep the city operating as the well-oiled machine it is during the 2017 road construction season in order for retailers and visitors to continue to enjoy the city and allow it to continue prospering.

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275 S OLD WOODWARD AVE BIRMINGHAM, MI 48009