Rochester/Rochester Hills

CASADEI: METRO INTELLIGENCER 44 • GERAK: SOCIAL LIGHTS 48

R O C H E S T E R

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R O C H E S T E R

H I L L S

NOVEMBER 2018

PLUS

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP

INSIDE LOOK AT ELECTION POLLING ATRAZINE: WIDELY-USED, CONTROVERSIAL GENERAL ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS ECRWSS Postal Customer EDDM

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ROCHESTER, $335,000. 3 bdrms., 2 baths on desirable street. Oversized garage w/att. covered patio. Beautiful yard with mature landscaping and deck. Spacious Great rm. w/wood beams & fireplace. Updated kit. w/black stainless appls., granite & bay window. Updated bath w/granite.

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NOV. 17-18, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC MULTI-FAMILY IN PRIME LOCATION LAKE ORION, $319,900. Heart of downtown Lake Orion and walking distance to the lake. 4 units fully rented & never any vacancies. Two one-bdrm. units; Two 2-bdrm. units.

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DOWNTOWN11.18

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Truth in numbers: political polling There's a saying that numbers never lie. But numbers can be manipulated, interpreted and misinterpreted. Just ask a pollster or campaign manager for anyone running for public office, especially as the November 6 vote approaches.

LONGFORM

33

Atrazine is considered the second-most used herbicide in the U.S. and a critical tool for farmers, but it has been found in drinking water in thousands of communities across the country,

FROM THE PUBLISHER

12

Editorial writers at The Detroit News are telling readers to vote 'no' on the three state-wide ballot proposals, but they fail to recognize why citizens petitioned for these changes in the first place.

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

15

Republicans pull back cash from Bishop; Wolkinson goes off-therails; surprise for 15th Senate Tea Party shoo-in; expected Epstein loss talk of GOP get-together; plus more.

CRIME LOCATOR

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

MUNICIPAL

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New firefighters will be considered city employees; Elizabeth Street parking prohibitions rescinded; KOSTAL to invest $57.8 million on new headquarters; rental housing near former landfill; plus more.

THE COVER Stony Creek Lodge No. 5, first created in January 1828, and located in its current building on Walnut Street in Rochester since 1978, is the oldest continuously operating Masonic Lodge in Michigan.

Downtown photo: Laurie Tennent.

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Rick Bronder

METRO INTELLIGENCER

44

Writer/reporter Dana Casadei helps us bring back the popular feature – now called Metro Intelligencer – that provides quick takes on what is happening in the world of food and drink in the metro Detroit area.

SOCIAL LIGHTS

48

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

ENDNOTE

54

Our recommendations on both candidates and state-wide ballot issues facing voters in the November 6 general election.

FACES

18 27 31 38

Kim Frank Fujiwara Lauren Zakrin LA Chandler Rick Bronder

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PUBLISHER David Hohendorf NEWS EDITOR Lisa Brody NEWS STAFF/CONTRIBUTORS Hillary Brody Anchill | Dana Casadei Kevin Elliott | Sally Gerak | Austen Hohendorf Bill Seklar | Judith Harris Solomon | Julie Yolles PHOTOGRAPHY/CONTRIBUTORS Laurie Tennent | Chris Ward 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 homes in Rochester, Rochester Hills and parts of Oakland Township. Additional free copies distributed at high foot-traffic locations in Rochester and Rochester Hills.

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 Rochester/Rochester Hills communities. 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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Voters should choose their politicians not the other way around.

Politicians and lobbyists draw voting maps behind closed doors WKDW GLUHFWO\ EHQHĆ“W themselves, instead of putting the interests of voters or communities of Michigan Ć“UVW

Proposal 2 is F-I-T for Michigan!

FAIR - Voters—not lobbyists and politicians—will draw election maps that cannot give one party or candidate an unfair advantage

Voters Not Politicians is a nonpartisan, grassroots group that collected 425,000 SHWLWLRQ VLJQDWXUHV IURP 0LFKLJDQ YRWHUV WR Ć“[ the problem by putting Proposal 2 to create an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission on the November 6, 2018 ballot!

IMPARTIAL - Maps will be drawn through compromise by Republicans, Democrats, and voters who GRQĹ?W DIĆ“OLDWH ZLWK either party and must follow strict criteria

More than 425,000 Michiganders signed the petition to put Proposal 2 on the ballot on 1RYHPEHU

TRANSPARENT - The process will happen in public meetings with input from Michiganders, not behind closed doors Everything used to draw the maps—including data and software—must be published publicly

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Paid for with regulated funds by Voters Not Politicians | PO Box 8362 Grand Rapids, MI 49518

INCOMING Make facts fashionable Facts - let’s make them fashionable again.

I’m writing, as a local community member and scientist, to urge your consideration of Elissa Slotkin for Congress (MI - 8th District).

I admire her courage, her dedication to civil service, and her focus on evidence-based public policy.

I am disappointed with my current Representative’s voting record, and my calls and emails over the past four years have returned only canned (and irritating) responses from Mike Bishop, thanking me for my support.

I was disturbed by Mr. Bishop’s recent TV ad, which concludes that Elissa Slotkin’s plan is to take Medicare away from current senior recipients. This is simply and verifiably false, and Politifact states that, “We found no evidence to suggest that any of Slotkin’s positions on health care would result in taking away coverage for current seniors.”

I was therefore doubly disturbed to see Mr. Bishop’s signature on Governor Snyder’s public call to “commit to civility in public discourse” (Detroit Free Press, July 20, 2108). This is not acceptable for many reasons, but perhaps the most troubling is that it teaches our young people that leadership requires dishonesty.

It is obvious to me that facts are essential for progress and improved quality-of-life. Endless denial does not change reality; it simply creates chaos in which unprincipled people thrive.

I believe that Ms. Slotkin’s integrity can help turn back the tide of falsehoods and polarized politics that have disabled our democracy, and help create a better future for all.

Andrew Goldberg Rochester Hills

Republican backs Slotkin I am a Republican woman supporting Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat. Out of all the President’s remarks that pollute our political system, those that are derogatory toward women are perhaps the most upsetting.

The November elections are a chance to stand up to this offensive misrepresentation of American values. It is also a chance to demonstrate that support for the President and his amorality is not acceptable to Republican women across Michigan.

I have been a proud Republican for years and have been reluctant to support candidates on the other side downtownpublications.com

of the aisle. But in early 2018 I was invited by my sister to attend a meet and greet with a democratic congressional candidate, Elissa Slotkin. I was impressed.

She called upon all of us to stand up and take action in our communities, and help elect a new generation of leaders who will truly represent us. After leaving this meeting I felt that this was someone I could definitely support. When the negative ads against Elissa used John McCain’s remarks out of context, my resolve to support Elissa was further strengthened. I had worked on the McCain campaign in 2000 and felt this was a dishonor to his bipartisan approach to governing.

I encourage my fellow Republican women to seize the opportunity that this election year presents. We have the ability to save our party by electing members of Congress who will stand up to the President when he degrades women and further divides this country with his inflammatory rhetoric. On election day this Republican woman is supporting Elissa Slotkin for Congress and I hope other Republican women join me – let’s work together to take back our party.

Kathleen VanPoppelen Oakland Township

Bishop’s smear campaign The only "fact" that Ronald DiLiddo got right in his attempt to smear Congressional candidate Elissa Slotkin (October Incoming/Downtown) is that he correctly spelled her name. That's it.

Here are facts that live in the world of reality, that have the virtue of being true, and totally refute the disgusting smear campaign by (Congressman Mike) Bishop that DiLiddo swallowed whole.

A desperate candidate for Michigan’s 8th Congressional seat has used radio ads, TV spots and social media messages to make three bogus claims about his opponent. In a flailing campaign, Mike Bishop is trying to smear Elissa Slotkin, a genuine public servant, but has only added a new stench to his already stained reputation.

The first false claim featured Bishop sinking further into the slime of fake news as he tried – and failed – with a disgusting TV spot to exploit the recently deceased war hero Senator John McCain. It was a deplorable act for which Bishop was rebuked by McCain’s family who

demanded his campaign stop showing an out-of-context video clip in which McCain uncharacteristically personally criticized a public servant for following a president’s orders.

The second fabrication by Bishop was to actually attack Slotkin for devoting her life and her career to public service. While Bishop snuggled down safely at home, serving only the wishes of campaign underwriters Big Pharma, Ambassador Bridge magnate Manny Moroun, and other corporate contributors, Slotkin served this nation under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan and in a crucial antiterrorist position in the Pentagon.

Rather than turn away from an opportunity to actually serve constituents, when her country called, Slotkin answered. Not with empty words, but with action.

Ironic and disgusting that Bishop would stoop to stabbing Slotkin in the back for serving her country instead of remaining comfortably in her childhood home in Holly. If you’re going to fight terrorists for 14 years as Slotkin did, you go where the threat is, where the action is.

Then, after you’ve done your duty as a courageous patriot, you can return to the home you love and try to do further public service. What better way to do that than by defeating a lazy and ethically corrupt representative who has abused his tenure by catering to corporate interests at the expense of his constituents.

The third phony Bishop ad asserted that Slotkin was bent on “bankrupting Medicare.” That was rapidly discredited by fact-checkers as false. The height of hypocrisy that Bishop, who gloated that he voted again and again to kill health care coverage for millions of Americans, would portray himself as its savior whereas Slotkin has proposed that improved and expanded health care legislation is a top priority.

Bill Haney Ortonville

Opinions, not facts I'm writing in regard to a letter I read on Downtown newsmagazine’s website called "The facts on Slotkin" (October Incoming/Downtown).

Most of the "facts" are inaccurate, speculative, and one-sided, and I'm grateful that the publisher's note addresses this to some extent. I think it would be appropriate to ask the author to change the title of the

DOWNTOWN

letter or have the editor clarify that these are opinions and not facts at the beginning of the article.

Article titles carry a lot of weight, and I'm sure that you appreciate this.

I think that making this change will help quell misinformation and make it clear to readers that this is the opinion of one person.

Noah Last East Lansing

Epstein caucus flip flop It’s not easy being Lena Epstein: after wrapping herself in Trump clothing during her primary, Trump’s campaign co-chair has suddenly figured out Michigan voters don’t like President Trump’s healthcare agenda that would gut protections for pre-existing conditions and charge older Americans what the AARP calls an “age tax.”

So it’s no surprise she also figured out that her affinity for the House Freedom Caucus doesn’t play as well with general election voters as it did during her primary.

Back then she was pretty clear about her love for the group that even John Boehner described as “anarchists.” In her own words: “I’ve said this publicly, I want to be a member of the Freedom Caucus. I want to join the men in the fight to advance a conservative agenda.”

Now? Not so public about her support. In a recent interview with the Detroit News, Epstein “sidestepped” when asked about the obstructionist, arch-right organization founded by disgraced Ohio Republican Jim Jordan and currently lead by Rep. Mark Meadows.

Some politicians flip and flop their way out of sticky primary positions.

Others lie. Lena just left the public with this awkward, insider take on the House’s inner workings: “I just want to update with you and share with you, there are many tremendous caucuses. There are bipartisan caucuses, and I want to be working across the aisle."

Only Epstein can explain why she’s suddenly terrified to talk about her support for the group founded by an “idiot” and “legislative terrorist.”

But if we had to speculate, we’d guess some of her advisers decided to show her a few things Republicans and independent observers have said about Epstein’s would-be colleagues.

Austin Laufersweiler Michigan Democratic Party 11

FROM THE PUBLISHER o help set the stage for this month's column, I have been following politics in Oakland and the state of Michigan since the mid-1970s. I throw that out as a point of information in this election year because, I humbly submit, I have one of the better grasps of how government – be it at the local, county or state level – does or should function. A student of government. A political junkie.

T

My decades of observation, combined with years of experience on the part of others here, assures that when Downtown newsmagazine weighs-in with editorial opinion on a current day issue or a candidate, what we offer as advice on a topic comes with a good amount of research and a healthy does of historical perspective.

No, we don't consider our opinion the be-all and end-all on any given topic, because we recognize we are just one of many voices in the community.

Thanks to the rise of the internet and the accompanying proliferation of opinion-makers, publication opinion pages probably carry less influence than they did when I first started in this profession. We do guesstimate, in response to a common question we often get, that we still have a one to three percent impact if we are throwing our support behind a ballot issue or candidate in a dead heat when votes are cast. But the days of press lords controlling an election and single-handedly setting the public agenda have long passed.

Today, at least in the tri-county area of southeast Michigan, there are only a few metro area publications that still carry editorial opinion pages, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News come to mind first. Most non-daily publications would rather avoid the grief, are ill-equipped to weigh-in, or fear for their bottom line if they offend the wrong advertiser.

All of this serves as background for my disappointment in the last couple of weeks with an election-related editorial appearing in The Detroit News recommending that voters reject all three of the state-wide ballot issues they will face in the November 6 general election.

The three constitutional amendments are: Proposal 1, legalizing recreational use of marijuana; Proposal 2, changing how legislative districts are drawn every 10 years following the latest federal census; and Proposal 3, expanding access to the voting process and making it easier to register and cast a ballot. None of the three are perfect but they represent strong proposals that we have supported on our Endnote editorial page.

Capsulized, The Detroit News' basic premise is that the three ballot proposals are amendments to the Michigan Constitution, which means that, if approved, any changes in the future would require the agreement of voters at the polling places. Further, their suggestion is that state residents should push to have these issues dealt with through their elected members of the Senate and House. Failing that, voters should replace them, says The Detroit News. Sounds simple but not realistic.

submitted to the state 120 days in advance of an election for review and approval to appear on the ballot.

Once approved for the ballot, the state legislature has a specific time period in which lawmakers can vote to adopt similar proposals or just allow the proposals to appear on the ballot.

Here's why The Detroit News suggestion of leaving these issues to Lansing lawmakers makes little sense.

No one expected state lawmakers would approve changing the process for redrawing of political districts because the political party in power (now Republicans), which controls how districts are redrawn every 10 years, would be goring its own ox. No surprise on this one.

As for the expanded voting rights proposal, voters already went to the ballot years ago to protect straight ticket (party) voting, only to have lawmakers later vote to take away this right and prevent a referendum petition by adding an appropriation to the bill, which in Michigan prevents voters from challenging what they did. The issue was recently litigated and the courts ruled straight ticket voting could be eliminated. But that is not the only voting rights issue addressed in this proposal.

GOP lawmakers in Lansing have resisted calls for “no reason” absentee ballots, including a push in recent years by Oakland-native and Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.

Other states have for years successfully dealt with “same day” registration and other aspects of Proposal 3.

The fear by the Republican-controlled Senate and House is that the voting rights proposal could allow for better turnout at the polls (i.e. by Democrats) and would help prevent some of the voter suppression efforts on the part of GOP lawmakers in recent legislative sessions.

As for the recreational use of marijuana – go figure. It has taken the legislature over nine years (yes, years) to finalize the system to enact the medical marijuana proposal voters overwhelmingly approved in 2008. Based on that track record, it was highly unlikely anyone could rationalize with lawmakers on recreational use of marijuana, so taking the issue to the ballot is the only logical path.

As for The Detroit News' cavalier suggestion that voters disappointed in the legislature's lack of response on an issue could just replace state lawmakers – in one of the more gerrymandered states in the nation – fat chance.

So we continue to urge our readers to vote 'yes' on all three ballot proposals.

All three amendments to the constitution made the ballot through the citizen petition drive process, as allowed in 24 states in the country. A petition drive in Michigan for a constitutional amendment requires signatures equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election (315,654). And signatures can be gathered by paid firms that exist for just this purpose.

Election endorsement footnote: In our October issue we published our recommendations on general election candidates and ballot issues for the benefit of those voting by absentee ballot, a growing segment of the registered voter base. We repeat those recommendations at the back of this issue (Endnote) for those heading to the polling places on Tuesday, November 6. Lastly, a word of thanks to those who have phoned or emailed in recent weeks with appreciative comments relative to the Voter Guide we produced for the general election.

Signatures on petitions for an amendment to the constitution must be gathered within a 180-day period following approval of petition language by election officials. After signatures are gathered, the petitions must be

David Hohendorf Publisher DavidHohendorf@DowntownPublications.com

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OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL Oakland Confidential is a periodic column of political gossip/news, gathered both on and off-the-record by staff members at Downtown newsmagazine.

We welcome possible items for this column which can be emailed to: OaklndConfidential@DowntownPublications.com. All sources are kept strictly confidential. The gossip column can be viewed at OaklandConfidential.com.

PIG, MEET MUD: The whiff of desperation is rising off of 40th District (Birmingham, Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills) state House Republican candidate David Wolkinson, who has been slinging mud at his opponent, Democrat Mari Manoogian – stooping so low as to assert in a TV ad and in Facebook postings that Manoogian is an anti-Semite who supports Hamas and opposes Israel – all factually false – because she is part of a nationwide group of progressive Democratic candidates, some of whom, such as Rashida Tlaib, who won the primary for Congress in MI-13 to WOLKINSON replace former Congressman John Conyers (and is running unopposed November 6), is a Palestinian-American.

Manoogian responded, “As a former program officer at the U.S. Department of State, I support the state of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people and as an ally of the United States.” Former Sen. Carl Levin, Congressman Sander Levin and his son Andy MANOOGIAN Levin (D), running for Sandy’s 9th district seat, all condemned Wolkinson for “falsely accusing his opponent” and for his “McCarthy-like tactics.”

Wolkinson’s unhinged behavior (dare we say vulgar?) also included an odd email to Downtown news editor Lisa Brody. He also attacked Brody and Downtown on Facebook but later removed his postings.

OUT OF OFFICE REPLY: Just days after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) was in town for a private fundraiser for Republican Congressman Mike Bishop (Rochester, Rochester Hills, Livingston County, Lansing area), came word that the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC with ties to Ryan and which had reserved $2.1 million in television air time to defend and support Bishop in his fight against Democratic challenger Elissa Slotkin in the 8th District, was withdrawing financial support. For the third quarter, Slotkin raised almost $2.5 million – more than any other candidate in Michigan, for a total of $5.5 million. In comparison, Bishop raised $763,449 this last quarter, BISHOP for a total of $3.65 million, still quite a haul. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network notes it is the most expensive U.S. House race in Michigan history. Pollsters put the race at a dead heat, and may remain so till the final days of the election. As for Ryan’s PAC pullout? Bernie Porn of EPIC/MRA likened it to triage – “Republicans have come to the conclusion SLOTKIN that they’re not likely to win, and will put their money in more viable races” around the country. And will a recent email from President Trump endorsing Bishop help him or hurt him with Independent voters – the ones pundits say will swing the race?

HEAR NO EVIL: Libertarian candidate for Michigan’s 8th Congressional seat, Brian Ellison, doesn’t hide his contempt for law enforcement – considering he live-streamed his own August arrest in Royal Oak, where he clashed with police during the department’s anniversary celebration, then used the booking photo as his Facebook profile. But Ellison has been tight lipped in recent videos about his October 11 domestic violence arrest in Madison Heights, where he allegedly scratched his wife’s face during an altercation in their car. According to reports, he put her earbuds in to drown out his comments, but he ripped them out, subsequently scratching her face in the process. “The Madison Heights police have been very professional in my recent dealings with them,” he posted the night of the arrest.

CLEANING UP CRUMBS: In the race of the Millennial women, Democrat Haley Stevens appears to be solidifying her lock on the 11th District (Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester Hills, Pontiac, Commerce Township, western Oakland County and western Wayne County) versus Republican Lena Epstein. Epstein issued a Republican party poll on October 16, claiming she was now making gains on Stevens. However, numerous unbiased polls, from the New York Times Upshot/Siena College Poll, had Stevens at 45 percent to STEVENS Epstein at 38 percent, with a five percent margin of error; FiveThirtyEight, had Stevens at 51 percent and Epstein at 44 percent, giving downtownpublications.com

Stevens an 82.9 percent chance of winning. ALG Research released a poll on October 17, giving Stevens a 10-point lead – 44 percent to Epstein’s 34 percent.

David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report wrote in October, “Republicans privately acknowledge Democrat Haley Stevens is the favorite over Republican Lena Epstein for this open suburban Detroit seat.”

Democratic party leaders and Dem PACs have been running ads regularly reminding voters that Epstein is a Trumpite – her only previous political experience was as Donald Trump’s Michigan cochair. At a recent Republican fundraiser for Secretary of State candidate Mary Treder Lang, filled with GOP illuminati like Gov. EPSTEIN Rick Snyder and former top Michigan GOP chair Bobby Schostak, talk was that Epstein is toast. So, we ask, is it the preview of impending doom that drove the Trump apostle to the show of conservative radio broadcaster Frank Beckmann where she disparaged Stevens with falsehoods (i.e. lies) about Stevens’ time as chief of staff for the Obama auto bailout?

ARE YOU FLIPPIN’ KIDDING: It’s no joke that Oakland County has become the place to watch this November as long-held Republican Senate districts across the state could witness upsets. Analysis by Michigan Information and Research Service (MIRS) done after the primary led them to release a list of the state’s “10 Senate Districts Most Likely to Flip” in the general election. Those include current Sen. Mike Kowall’s 15th Senate District, where Republican House Rep. Jim Runestad, a strong Tea Party conservative candidate, is facing off against Democrat Julie Pulver. According to MIRS and Target Insyght, Pulver has been polling 52-36 percent over Runestad in his current 39th House District area, which makes up about a third of the Senate district. However, the district includes a large portion of northern Oakland County, which has traditionally favored Republicans. Others on the flipping list of potentials include the 13th Senate District where Democratic challenger Mallory McMorrow tallied more primary votes than Republican incumbent Marty Knollenberg; and the 12th Senate District, where GOP Rep. Mike McCready could have trouble winning swing voters in Pontiac and other spots in the district against Democrat Rosemary Bayer.

PRESIDENTIAL TURNOUT: Local clerks are reporting monumental requests for absentee ballots for the November 6 election, with higher-than-normal returns of those ballots. Three weeks out, Novi was up to 7,500 requests for absentee ballots, versus 5,000 in a typical midterm year; Farmington Hills already had almost 11,000 in requests; and Rochester Hills had surpassed 11,000, with almost 37 percent returned. “We’re blowing away our presidential absentee returns,” Rochester Hills Clerk Tina Barton reported. Expect turnout on November 6 to be in the presidential election category – or higher.

LOWERING THE BAR: Misdemeanor crimes aren’t a disqualifier for Oakland County Circuit Court candidates, particularly when they’re running unopposed.

That should come as some relief to candidate Julie McDonald of Bloomfield Township, who is running for a new court seat and was arrested on the morning of Saturday, September 8, for alleged drunk driving on Woodward in Royal Oak. McDonald, who was stopped about 10:45 a.m. for speeding in her 2015 Chevy Tahoe, told officers she had about four drinks the previous night, but she was unable to walk a straight line and blew a .102 on her breathalyzer test (the legal limit is .08).

“I don’t drink and drive,” she can be heard telling the officers while handcuffed in the back of the patrol car. “I’m running for an office MCDONALD right now, and this will fuck me up really bad.” McDonald, who also allegedly dropped her cigarette out of the window and turned without signaling prior to the stop, was arrested on suspicion of operating while intoxicated and littering, both misdemeanors, and no proof of insurance, a civil infraction. While a conviction or plea won’t disqualify McDonald from her likely election victory in November, she could face sanctions by the state’s Judicial Tenure Commission after taking office.

CLERKING IT: With Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli’s retirement in 2020 pretty much a foregone conclusion, township insiders and those looking for a job are circling the wagons. Word is that former 40th District Republican candidate Malissa Bossardet, who lost in the August primary to David Wolkinson, is interested in the position. She has been asking some other local municipal clerks how she should prepare for that role. But rumor is she doesn’t care for Roncelli, after Roncelli backed Wolkinson in the primary. As one said, if Bossardet wants to win, she’ll need to sit with Roncelli and get her support – everyone else in the township will follow Roncelli’s lead.

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11.18

CRIME LOCATOR

Map key

NORTH

Sexual assault

Robbery

Larceny from vehicle

Drug offenses

Assault

Breaking/entering

Vehicle theft

Arson

Murder

Larceny

Vandalism

These are the crimes reported under select categories by police officials in Rochester and Rochester Hills through October 25, 2018.

Placement of codes is approximate.

FACES

Kim Frank Fujiwara s a 16-year-old bus boy at a Chinese restaurant, Kim Frank Fujiwara spent his down time penciling portraits of the waitresses, eventually earning a commission from a customer. Since then, his portraits have included celebrities such as Arnold Palmer, Isiah Thomas, Henry Ford II, Hillary Clinton and others.

"You almost feel like you know them," Fujiwara said, describing how a portrait artist absorbs a subject's personality, soul and spirit. "I've always been a face person. Sometimes, you feel like a bug on their face."

Fujiwara's commercial and fine artwork have been featured in national ads, books, magazines, CD covers, billboards and children books, with his fine artwork earning him several awards and exhibitions, including Birmingham's Our Town exhibit, a first place award at the Village Fine Arts Association's Views/Huron Valley for the Arts; the Ray and Nancy Loeschner Art Competition; and a finalist for the MI Great Artist contest. His work has appeared at Park West Gallery, in Southfield; the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park collection in Grand Rapids; Oakland Hills Country Club; and many other locations.

On Tuesday, October 22, Fujiwara was selected as the MI Great Artist for 2018 by Park West Gallery, in Southfield. The award comes with a cash prize, scholarship for Oakland County business workshops and solo exhibitions at the gallery and at the Oakland County Galleria in the Executive Office Building in Waterford. Fujiwara was also named a top five finalist in the competition three other times.

Fujiwara's talent showed from an early age, landing him in advanced art classes as a child on Detroit's northwest side. Taking inspiration from comics, posters and Creepy and Mad magazines, he took second place in a state poster contest in 11th grade. After graduation, he enrolled in the Center for Creative Studies, later working for major art studios in Detroit and becoming an instructor himself.

"In first grade, they pulled me out of homeroom every day, and I had an hour to go into art class and do whatever I wanted," he said.

"At that age, you figure there must be something to it if I can get out of class. So, that triggered something.

"Every kid, when they bring something home and their parent puts it on the fridge, you get a response. It's kind of like a high – so I kept doing it."

Fujiwara said Detroit was home to some of the largest art studios in the country from the 1950s through the 1990s. The demand led him to artwork in the automotive field, but with some crossover, such as producing more than 30 portrait montages for Ford Motor Company's annual NADA awards, which are on display at their world headquarters in Dearborn.

In 1992, he started his own studio, Fujiwara Art, Inc., which has been located at his home studio in Rochester Hills since 1994.

"I've tried to stay in fine arts, but I did anything to pay the bills," he said. "You don't want to lose that human touch."

Since 2010, he has devoted most of his time to fine art, particularly the figures and portraits for which he's best known. A recent series of oil paintings include "The American West" and "La Belle Femme" (The Beautiful Woman).

The western series became a number of Smithsonian-approved works he was commissioned to illustrate for a Native Americanthemed children's book. For his series, Fujiwara hired models and a wardrobe designer specializing in making authentic 19th century clothes and teepees.

"With fine art, it's probably one of the few things that is still done by hand," he said. "The art has so many figures and backgrounds and everything that you want in a painting. It's like a little movie you can create."

A

Story: Kevin Elliott

Photo: Laurie Tennent

TRUTH IN NUMBERS BELIEVABILITY AND THE RELIABILITY OF POLITICAL POLLS AS SNAPSHOT OF PUBLIC’S THOUGHT

BY LISA BRODY

There's a saying that numbers never lie. But numbers can be deciphered, manipulated, interpreted and misinterpreted, all in an effort to tell one story or another.

Just ask a pollster or campaign manager for anyone running for public office, especially right now, as we head into the final days of the 2018 midterm general election.

In the abstract, a pollster is someone who conducts and/or analyzes opinion polls, on any matter or topic. A strong pollster provides a snapshot in time, the feelings and state of mind of those who answered the poll. A poll should not predict, but reflect, and distill down and put in perspective as one tool, one measurement, of the public's thoughts at the time it was taken.

“It is a snapshot in time – it could change tomorrow,” noted Tim Malloy, assistant director of Quinnipiac University Poll at Quinnipiac University Connecticut. “The purpose of polling is a bit like reporting, but of the public. It's taking the temperature of the public's feelings, of issues and politicians, and then relating it to government.

A STRONG POLLSTER PROVIDES A SNAPSHOT IN TIME, THE FEELINGS AND STATE OF MIND OF THOSE WHO ANSWERED THE POLL.

“It's not our intent to shape things,” Malloy continued. “Our hope is that politicians and leaders see them (the polls) and understand them, and we hope the general public sees them. It's telling the broader public what we learned from calling other Americans.”

Ed Sarpolus, founder and executive director of Target-Insyght, which has done polling for The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and WDIVTV, is emphatic that the role of a pollster is not just to report what they've polled.

“The nature of being a pollster, your job is to interpret the research, data and statistics,” Sarpolus said. “Sometimes it is looking at the margins of error, and sometimes it's dismissing the margins of error. It's looking at the patterns and trends, because those can be telling me something. I have to study history, other sources, and previous voting patterns (in a specific race). I'm always less interested in what the politically correct response is than in what actually is...what the data tells me.”

Polling is now a big business, with many Americans viewing polls with skepticism and distrust – or interpreting them through partisan filters and self-interests. Part of that distrust has been fostered by President Trump, who has consistently implored his followers that the polls from the 2016 election were wrong – when pollsters say they generally were accurate, with a majority of their polls showing only that Democrat Hillary Clinton was leading in the 2016 presidential contest, and in the final days, by just two or three percentage points – which is what she won the popular vote by nationally.

The Brookings Institute noted, “If you took a public opinion poll about polls, odds are that a majority would offer some rather unfavorable views of pollsters and the uses to which their work is put. Many potential respondents might simply slam down their telephones. Yet if you asked whether politicians, business leaders, and journalists should pay attention to the people's voices, almost everyone would say yes.”

The Brookings Institute asks the same question we all do – “Can we trust the polls? Under the best of circumstances, the answer is 'Not necessarily without a fair amount of detailed information about how they were conducted.'”

The Pew Research Center concurs, noting that the accuracy of a poll depends on how it was conducted.

“It all depends on the poll, and the crafting on the poll,” explained Jen Eyer, senior vice president, Vanguard Public Affairs, which provides public relations, marketing and consulting services, but not polling work for candidates. This cycle, Eyer is working with 9th District Democratic candidate Andy Levin, which covers Bloomfield Township, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Franklin, Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, and part of Macomb County.

She said campaigns typically choose their own pollsters. “Polls have to be careful not to skew the results. A carefully crafted, worded poll can help predict the results of a race or ballot initiative, but it's important not to rely just on one poll. Further, it's important (for the candidates and the strategists) to know how the messages are being received by voters. But polls are a guidepost – every candidate I've ever worked with has certain core beliefs they are going to stick with.

Polls allow them to know which issues are most important to voters, and what voters want to hear at that time – so you can tell them what you're going to do about certain issues they want to know about right now.”

She said a good example might be learning that tax cuts are not top of mind to the public, even if they are a central belief to a candidate – while health care concerns are very important to voters.

A candidate might pivot to speaking about health care after learning

that from polling to appeal to voters concerns. Once in office, if the candidate prevails, he or she might return to working on tax cuts, along with the health care issue.

“Good pollsters, especially this cycle are better, are taking deeper dives. They are not just asking questions about candidates, but about voters feelings. There are pollsters who are engaged in the process,” noted Dennis Darnoi, a political consultant with Densar Consulting. “In 2016, voters said, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to vote,' but they were as a 'likely voter,' and many pollsters did no follow up. They just took it at face value. They just did not do the deeper dive. This cycle, it's a different electorate and a different time.

“Before, you could just look at someone's voting history – you could just look at that data and not press any harder,” Darnoi said.

“What I'm seeing in '18 from trusted pollsters, is they're really gaining an understanding of the motivations of the voters,” he said.

“It's really cheap to do a poll – and it doesn't have to be good or bad.

“The good pollsters, who do live polls, which are very labor intensive and expensive – those are very accurate,” Darnoi said. “But they get lobbed in with the cheap pollsters. Unless there is a clear distinction between cheap pollsters and good pollsters, it's going to be said that polling is obsolete.”

The 2016 election, where polls seemingly led pundits, media and voters to believe that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democrat, was leading by a landslide in the presidential election, only to have Republican Donald Trump squeak by and win the presidency.

“What occurred in the 2016 general election is that every reliable poll was done in advance – at least 10 days or more in advance,” said Richard Czuba, founder, Glengariff Group. Czuba said he is currently doing the polling for The Detroit News and WDIV-TV. “Polling is a snapshot of a particular moment of when a poll comes out. Yet, races close in the final five days, the weekend before an election. I don't know of any media that can afford to do polls that close – and I wouldn't trust any that is spending money to. It would be influencing the race.”

He said that in 2016, his last public opinion polls were done on October 10 and 11.

“That's four weeks away from the election. There was no way it was meant to predict a race,” he said. “Instead, it was meant to help inform people of which way people were thinking.”

The point of polls, Czuba emphasized, is not prediction, but as a barometer.

“We need to be more responsible with public polls, because it (has the potential to) change the narrative,” he said. “It sears itself into the public mindset, and tells the voter population what is happening.

“Polls should be much more than predicting a horse race.”

This year, for the 2018 November 6 election, Czuba said he and many other pollsters are looking at “how people are viewing races through the lens of how they personally view the president. Rather than just putting out the numbers, we're putting out what is motivating voters.”

In order to accomplish that effort, Czuba, Sarpolus and other experienced pollsters are working in different ways to achieve that goal. Few are relying on automated “robo-calls,” which can only be done on landlines, per federal law. In an effort to address the evergrowing scourge of telemarketing calls, in 1991, Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The TCPA restricts the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems and artificial or prerecorded voice messages. The law was updated in 2012, and forces telemarketers to respect Do Not Call

THE GOOD POLLSTERS, WHO DO LIVE POLLS, WHICH ARE VERY LABOR INTENSIVE AND EXPENSIVE – THOSE ARE VERY ACCURATE.

lists to landlines. Political campaigns and polling are exempt. However, telemarketing calls to wireless, or cell phones, remains illegal, and it is illegal for anyone making any call, other than for emergency purposes, to use any automatic phone dialing system or any artificial or prerecorded voice message to any cell phone. That doesn't mean all campaigns follow that law.

“The biggest change in polling in the last several years is people getting rid of their landlines – so the trick is getting them on their cell phones.

Anyone looking to save a dime is getting rid of their landline,” said Dave Doyle, executive vice president of Marketing Research Group (MRG). “When there were landlines, you were pretty sure you were getting a certain geographical area – but now with a 248 area code, you could be in Los Angeles, New York, or Mozambique. The key is figuring out the right mix of cell phones, and if you have a large enough area with various demographics.”

Doyle has worked with state Rep. Mike McCready (R-Birmingham) in his three previous races for the House 40th District, as well as in his current state Senate battle for the 12th District (Bloomfield Township, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farm, Franklin, Auburn Hills, Pontiac, Clarkston, Independence Township, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake, Oakland Township, Addison Township, Orion Township, Oxford, and Southfield Township). “In an area like Bloomfield Township, you want to make sure you have a good mix of the community,” he said. “It's harder to do with cell phones. You have to ask more questions to make sure you have the right geographic mix.

You have to have good live callers, because the best polls are with live callers.”

Doyle said that some firms get around the law prohibiting “robocalls,” or automated surveys only to landlines, by having a live dialer call to a cell phone, and then connecting it to a recording.

“We do not do that,” he emphasized.

“Anyone who is only calling landlines, and not calling cell phones – you're obsolete and irrelevant,” Malloy, of Quinnipiac, said.

Czuba concurred. “Michigan has a lot of schlock pollsters – driven by doing automated polls,” he said, “where they never call cell phones and just push a button.”

Glengariff only uses live callers “talking to real people,” Czuba said.

“Automated polls are known for under representing young people, who primarily have cell phones, rather than landlines,” Jill Alper, of Alper Strategies, said to Michigan Information Research Service (MIRS) in early October.

“Polls and surveys have to fold in cell phones as people have cut the cord on landlines,” said Arnold Weinfeld, interim director at Michigan State University's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, noting that makes it “ever more challenging these days.

Response rates are very low right now – people are shying away from surveys and polls right now.”

The advent of Caller ID on phones alerts callers to that likelihood that a call is a poll – or a telemarketer, or someone they don't know, and don't care to speak to. And increasingly, callers just don't answer the phone, meaning pollsters have to increase the amount of calls they make in order to reach a viable survey number.

Another challenge – “In a tight labor market, it's harder to hire surveyors,” Weinfeld said. “Ours rely on (Michigan State) students (as does Quinnipiac). We are competing with retailers, restaurants, fast food. We have had our own challenges – so we recently raised our wages to be competitive, in order to have enough interviewers to handle the number of calls and polls we have to make.”

Weinfeld said the right number of respondents for an adequate poll depends on what the poll is being conducted for, what methodology is being used, and what the geographic area is that is being covered.

“For our state of the state (polling), we want to get to 900, 1,000 respondents,” he said, meaning they have to make several thousands of calls to reach that many respondents who answer and fit the right demographic mix.

A striking example of how many calls are needed to reach an ever-shrinking pool of people answering is rolling polls on Michigan's 11th Congressional District (Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester Hills, the western Oakland lakes area and western Wayne counties) by The New York Times, as reported

by MIRS. Of the 66,770 calls the newspaper claimed it made in the district, MIRS reported they were only able to get 465 people to respond to their poll – a slim .7 percent response rate.

Results on October 10, showed Democrat Haley Stevens leading Republican Lena Epstein, 45 to 38 percent, with a margin of error of five percent, which is considered a high percentage of error among pollsters.

In the 8th Congressional District, covering Rochester, Rochester Hills, northern Oakland County through Livingston County to Lansing and E. Lansing, the response rate was slightly higher – .9 percent, with 501 people picking up the phone out of 53,590 people surveyed. In this race, which many feel will be too close to call through election day, incumbent Rep. Mike Bishop (R) was up over Democratic challenger Elissa Slotkin, 47 to 44 percent. But noted national pollster and pundit Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight had it much tighter, MIRS reported, over the same time period – with Bishop at 48.6 percent and Slotkin at 48.3 percent.

To many, that's a dead heat.

“Our margin of error is two to three percent,” said Michigan State's Weinfeld. “The lower the margin of error, the more reliable the poll, and the more reliable your entity is seen as a research source.

“In a close race, plus or minus five or nine is too high a rate of error,” he noted. “We're trying to be relevant so people rush out to the polls. We'd rather have as many respondents as possible, with as low a margin of error as possible.”

Doyle, of MRG, said, “The smaller the sample size, the larger the margin of error. It makes it much less reliable. If you get 300 respondents (in a Congressional race or state Senate race), with a plus or minus three percent, once you look at the smaller quantities within that, the actual margins of error go up. For example, if you have 152 within that group, the margin of error goes up. If you have 50 people over the age of 65 voting – the margin of error goes up.

“The reason people do polling is because it's generally reliable – but only if it's done right,” Doyle continued. “It needs to be a geographically appropriate size, with an accurate demographic representation. If you're polling eight precincts in the 40th House District (Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, the eastern portion of West Bloomfield), you can't talk to 40 percent from West Bloomfield, and they can't all be males.”

Bernie Porn, of EPIC/MRA, does primarily live polls, seeking a response rate of 600 calls statewide, with no more than a plus/minus margin of error rate of four percent. Their mix is approximately 30 percent cell phones, “and it will probably be 35 percent cell phones next cycle. You have to have cell phones to represent all voters.

“If 50 percent said, 'Yeah, it's a beautiful day out today,' that means it could be 54 percent, or down to 46 percent,” Porn said. Robocalls, he said, can be somewhat accurate only in primaries, “when you're only talking to Republicans or Democrats, or in school elections, because younger voters don't vote in those.”

He quoted a recent poll which showed Slotkin up over Bishop by four points – the margin of error.

“If there is a Blue Wave, the Democrats will rise up, and she will capture the Independents, as well, for a solid win,” Porn

INCREASINGLY, CALLERS JUST DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE, SO POLLSTERS INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF CALLS TO HAVE A VIABLE SURVEY.

prognosticated, based on his polling. He said pre-existing conditions are “really hitting home for voters – it's a huge concern.” And that is Slotkin's signature calling card over Bishop.

“The federal tax cuts – people are slightly against them,” he said. “People are realizing the benefits are chump change versus the health care costs they are seeing. If Bishop loses, it will be because of that issue.”

Darnoi, of Densar Consulting, thinks that is the race that is too close to call, and that Bishop could pull it off – but only if “Mike holds on to his female voters in Rochester Hills – women who have typically identified as Republicans but may be identifying as Independents this cycle, and how well he does with ticket splitters in Independence Township.”

Darnoi said the biggest thing being seen this cycle is women who have traditionally been Republicans, supportive of Republican candidates and Republican policies, “are now in the polling, supportive of Independents, and self-identifying as Independents. It's not good for Republicans right now. It shows there's a stain on the Republican brand right now – that people do not want to say, 'I'm a Republican' right now.

“Those voters will dictate and set the tone – just because those voter aren't self-identifying as Republicans doesn't mean they support liberal policies,” Darnoi explained. “Demographics will dictate, district by district.”

He agrees that “it's hard to trust a poll with a margin of error greater than four percent – because if it's five percent or bigger, there's something wrong with the assumptions you have to make. It means your poll is unbalanced somewhere – something is off. There's not enough women, not enough women under 40, not enough people earning X. Then you're making an error in your judgement in the polling. With a large margin of error it should be discounted – it's not worth the paper it's printed on.”

In 2016, “We said polling nationally was showing that Clinton was up three percent – and it is what she won by,” Porn said. “So the polling was accurate for the popular vote. Where the disconnect was at the time was in the social media impact – emphasizing how unpopular she was, and it may have been where voting or influence was suppressed, or where there was outside influence.

“If not for that, in Michigan, I think she would have won.”

Czuba of Glengariff said they only conduct live operator polls. “We only have live operators talking to people,” he said.

With a plethora of polls being disclosed this election cycle, Czuba's advice is that “if the media is going to report it, I say, 'show me the full poll. Show me the demographics, the region, the age breakdown, racial breakdown, gender – this year you must have accurate age breakdowns. If, as a reporter, you can't see the full demographics, you shouldn't report it. This year, there are too many people putting out polls with an agenda – and those are the polls not to trust. The public has a right to be skeptical of polls – to be really wary of them.”

“Four years ago, in 2014, we only used automated (landline) dialing,” said Steve Mitchell, chairman, Mitchell Research and Communications, who claimed his firm was only off by two percent in the governor and senate races. “In 2016, right at the end, we had Hillary Clinton at plus-three, and we changed our collection method.

We did geofencing, which is a form of capturing voters on their cell phones or tablets. It's not a call. It's a banner. It's asking them if they want to answer.”

Geofencing is a location-based service or app which uses GPS, WiFi, or other cellular data to trigger a pre-programmed action when a mobile device enters or exits a virtual boundary set around a geographical area, known as a geofence. Depending on how it is configured, it can prompt mobile push notifications, trigger text

messages or alerts, or send targeted advertisements on social media, among other applications.

Mitchell was the only pollster or analyst who mentioned utilizing geofencing as a polling tool.

He said at the end of the polling period in 2016, “I ended up overweighting, and I had the margin (of error) go up to plus-five for Clinton.

“I will not make that same mistake.”

He said this cycle, he is doing a combination of autodials and cell phones, as well as operator-assisted to landlines and cell phones.

“Sometimes people are more honest to a computer than a person – especially Trump voters, because they've been castigated so much that they're racists, bigots. They don't want to tell a person that they're voting for Trump,” Mitchell said.

Alper disagreed. “People are not as likely to profess their real attitudes to an auto dial as they are to a real human being,” she said.

One of the bad raps of 2016, Mitchell added, “is that the polling was wrong. It wasn't wrong. The polling had Hillary Clinton at plustwo – and she did win with two percent of the popular vote,” he pointed out. “It was a dead heat.

“Anyone who had it within two to three percent of actual results is a pretty accurate poll.”

“Polls are only a snapshot of the moment they were done. They're not supposed to influence voters,” Czuba said. “We've seen countless times when something happens, an event that changes things. In 2012, Romney was closing in on Obama, but then there was Hurricane (Sandy) in October, and everything stopped and went back to where it was. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had a healthy lead in Michigan until the Comey letter in the last 10 days. But it was in the last weekend that Trump closed in on a close race – and then the person who is behind will win. No poll will show that because they're close in the last weekend, and they'll close and lead on election day – and there's no poll that can predict that.”

Sarpolus, of Target-Insyght, noted another problem with 2016, was that despite respondents to polls, “more moderate voters, progressives and Independents chose not to vote for the top of the ticket, or did not show up at all.”

He said that election day 2016, at 8 p.m., he was working for MIRS News, and noted that Clinton and Trump were basically tied, with Trump with a slight lead – “which is what happened.”

He pointed out, “The Detroit Free Press had the big error, because they were asking people at the polls who they had voted for. The sample design they had created had the error. It was based on past elections, which was random samplings of precincts – and not representative of actual voting patterns.

“Over history, theirs was more accurate. But not in 2016,” he said.

Sarpolus chose a different method completely.

“I basically started an automated poll at 5 p.m. and ended at 8 p.m. – with 600 completed interviews. It was more accurate (than the Free Press) because it was of people who actually voted. My sample design was more accurate than their scientific polling. I chose people who had voted, as well as some absentee ballot voters,” he said.

“2016 broke the mold of how they should have designed their polling,” Sarpolus said. “Mine was more random, and caught the differences in actual turnout. It let people answer, versus specifically asking them who they wanted to vote for.”

A pollster has to not just report the data, but to look at it and analyze it, as well. “I'm just a hired gun. Because of my background, I can't be partial. Whatever the data shows me, coupled with my experience, gives me the outcome. As a pollster, I may reject my results,” Sarpolus said. “Throughout 2016, I never said Clinton was winning – just said she was leading. I always said both Clinton and

IN 2016, MORE MODERATE VOTERS, PROGRESSIVES AND INDEPENDENTS CHOSE NOT TO VOTE FOR THE TOP OF THE TICKET.

Trump had high negatives. It was not typical of a presidential year.”

He noted that in the polling throughout 2016, “Clinton never broke through 50 percent, which meant I could never say she was winning. It tells me that undecideds are going to break for the challenger – Trump – or just not vote. And that's what happened.”

He asserted that in 2016, it wasn't the polling that was wrong – “It was the talking heads who were wrong, who always said she was winning,” Sarpolus said. “The polls always said she was leading. Further, the polls always said she would win the popular vote – and she did. The polls never said anything about the Electoral College.”

In 2018, he sees similar momentum – or lack thereof – for two of the three statewide ballot measures, for Proposal 1, to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol; and Proposal 2, to create an independent citizens redistricting commission in an effort to end gerrymandering.

Sarpolus has been testing the ballot language, and finding that many respondents are either not understanding it, that it is illegible, and they will vote no because of that, or that there needs to be more education on the issues and the language, or that voters do not feel a need to approve them, especially for the marijuana issue.

“For the marijuana proposal, I don't see any marches, any youth rallies,” Sarpolus said. “People are indicating that those who want their marijuana, get their marijuana.”

In typical polling, Sarpolus uses a mix of landlines and cell phones, and does stratified random samples, where calls reflect the population that will be voting that day.

“Pollsters should try to call unlisted numbers as well as listed numbers,” he advised. “You're trying to build your sample in order for it to be a reflection of the community. You call the secondary numbers – if there isn't an answer, you hang up, and it's why you call the neighbors.”

He gave an example of Troy, which he said is divided up into four segments.

“There are bands of conservatives; Indians; whites and Polish;and Chaldeans,” Sarpolus said. “That is what a sample is supposed to reflect. With a mix of landlines and cell phones, I can do similar things as the Census Bureau.”

The more advanced the sampling, with geo targeting, the greater the ability to come down to predictability, he said.

He also emphasized that is why the sample size is so important – “because of the margin of error. The size depends on what you do with it.

“One in 20 polls will be off,” Sarpolus asserted, “because it's a snapshot in time, if nothing else changes. That's why you do so many polls, and do a lot to withstand attacks on your polls. It's a science – but more of an art. It's why you have to study history – you have to understand the history of off-year elections, of who votes, the Chaldean community, the Hispanic community, of why males will answer the phone.

“I've predicted every election (I've worked on since 1972) within a half-percentage because of my stratification,” he said.

What are the pollsters forecasting in their crystal balls in the coming weeks? Most do foresee not only a Blue Wave of Democrats coming to roost in Michigan, but a Pink Tsunami – not only of women candidates who are running winning, but of suburban women who are angry, disaffected and highly motivated for change, voting – and voting for Democrats.

“Trump will be largely responsible for the Blue Wave – he is affecting all the other candidates,” Porn said.

He said that for governor, his polling shows a lock for Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.

“She has 40 percent favorables, and only 26 percent unfavorables,”

Porn said. “She is above water and positive.

Schuette, however, is underwater. He has 38 percent unfavorables, with 32 percent favorables.”

In Michigan, Porn said that voters are most concerned about infrastructure, roads, and water, 27 percent; education, 21 percent; and health care, 13 percent; the state's economy and more jobs, 10 percent; controlling local and state spending, eight percent; state and local taxes, seven percent; the environment, seven percent; and controlling crime and drugs, just three percent.

“Of the top three issues, Whitmer leads Schuette,” Porn said. “Schuette keeps pushing on taxes, and that is not a major issues even for Republicans. It's surprising that the sun, moon and starts are setting on the tax issue (for him) when it's just not an issue even for Republicans. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.”

“Further, he seems to be stuck on the Nassar (the former Michigan State doctor convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse) issue and that Whitmer didn't do her job – at the same time when you've got Bill Cosby sentenced to jail, and a Supreme Court justice accused of sexual assault and real issues of sexual harassment,” Porn continued. “Why bring up Nassar and sexual harassment? He's refocusing men and women, and it's not a good idea. He's not going to come out well on this.”

While the attorney general race could be close, he said, otherwise, “it will be a Blue Wave all the way, and it will influence Congressional races, even down to state House races, and likely turn the state House.

They will even pick up a few in the state Senate, but it's unlikely to flip the state Senate, but likely enough for the state House.”

His polling and projections are showing Stevens winning in the 11th District, “and also Elissa Slotkin is looking stronger and stronger – I'd be surprised if she didn't win. Especially with (Speaker of the House Paul) Ryan's PAC pulling its financing (for Bishop). They're in the triage cycle, and they're come to the conclusion that they're not going to win and will put money in more viable races.

“If there is a Blue Wave, Democrats will rise up, and she will capture the Independents as well, for a solid win,” he forecasted.

Sarpolus pointed out that the 11th District – once so reliably Republican, it was gerrymandered to be a safe district for former Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, has changed demographically.

“Many of the kids of immigrants who lived there, Indians, Chaldeans have moved back with college degrees. They're voting Democratic. The union people in western Wayne County – Trump has turned that area, the Big Three – they don't like Donald Trump. And a lot of children of Reagan Democrats from Macomb County and Wayne County, collegeeducated kids, have moved into the 11th. It's really a melting pot.

“Democrats are leading where voters don't necessarily know who the Democratic candidates are – it's all against Trump and Schuette,” Sarpolus said.

Darnoi concurred, and thinks the down ballot effect could be profound, noting that long time politician and incumbent state Sen. Marty Knollenberg (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester, Rochester Hills) is “under water. His unfavorables are not good, especially for an incumbent. The Republicans are very worried, and it's trickling down to Doug Tietz (running for state House for Troy).”

He said the 12th state Senate seat, usually a safe Republican district between McCready, the Republican, and Democratic challenger Rosemary Bayer, “is definitely being eyed. And McCready's seat, the 40th House District, (Democrat) Mari Manoogian versus (Republican) David Wolkinson, she's looking in very good shape. It's trending to Mari.

“If there is a Blue Wave, we may see it crash upon the shores of Oakland County,” Darnoi said.

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FACES Lauren Zakrin f you were one of the 9.6 million people who watched Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert last Easter, you may have spotted a familiar Rochester Hills face in the ensemble: Lauren Zakrin.

This was Zakrin’s first time doing a live musical on TV, and it was a little crazy.

“It was insane!” she laughed. “Not only are you learning the music and blocking the scenes, but then you have to do camera blocking on the set, which is extremely intricate.”

Even though this was her first time doing that sort of production it wasn’t Zakrin’s first time on TV. In 2008 – when she was a freshman at Western Michigan University – she was part of the MTV reality show, Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods.

“It definitely opened a lot of doors for me. I got one of those fluke chances to be a part of that reality show hype,” she said. “I just got my foot in the door in a really lucky way.”

Since then she’s been part of multiple national tours, including Grease, Wicked, and Legally Blonde, and two Broadway musicals, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and Rock of Ages, where she made her Broadway debut in 2014.

Playing Sherrie in Rock of Ages was a dream role come true for her. Zakrin thinks having that happen at such a young age – she was in her early twenties – helped her realize that landing the lead, playing the dream role, isn’t always what’s going to make you feel fulfilled. When asked what her next dream role is, she said that means such a different thing now.

“I work in a business where if you look at the statistics I think it’s less than 10 percent of the actors in my union are working,” she said. “Now, I just feel so fortunate to be one who can regularly work in this business in New York City and pay my bills. I feel grateful to have that and I try not to live in the place of bigger and better.”

As far as future roles, Zakrin – who didn’t get into musical theater until she was in high school – is drawn to roles that have two things, comedy — she’s a big Lucille Ball fan — and complex, strong women who go through the wringer and tell an important message.

The latter is part of the reason why she enjoyed playing Natasha in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 so much.

“Even though she’s only a teenager, she’s intense and she’s intellectual, and she’s courageous, and she also makes some really big mistakes,” Zakrin said. “I think that was the most complex, fulfilling role I’ve played.”

While she isn’t starring in anything currently, she has been doing a lot of developmental work and is involved in a lot of readings. The only one she could discuss was Almost Famous, a musical based off the 2000 movie.

Zakrin has a variety of other passions though, which she said helps keep her sane when going from audition to audition.

“I think it’s important to know that your worth is more than what you hear in the audition room,” she said.

It’s also important to just be a decent human.

“Sometimes no amount of training will make you as talented as someone in dance or singing, but you can always strive to be the nicest person in the room,” Zakrin said. “I think that’s important.”

I

Story: Dana Casadei

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FACES

L.A. Chandlar n New York if its between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., you can probably find L.A. Chandlar in a coffee shop. Or at a museum. Or a hotel’s lobby.

Those are the places where she can write. Like really write.

“I love having the energy of people around me…but yet, at the same time, nobody requires anything of you,” she said.

It also helps her not want to take a nap, Chandlar laughed.

Recently, she’s been working on The Pearl Dagger, the third in her Art Deco Mystery series about Lane Sanders, a twenty-something who works for New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia during the 1930s. The first book, The Silver Gun, was published last year, and its sequel The Gold Pawn, came out in September. She currently has three more contracted out and is renegotiating to add to the growing series.

For those who read the books, especially the sequel, there are quite a few Michigan references, and many Rochester ones, where Chandlar used to call home.

“Right from the start I wanted my main character to be from the Detroit area,” Chandlar said about Lane.

In The Gold Pawn, Lane finds herself back home in Rochester. Not only did it let the world in the novels expand, but it let Chandlar do one of her favorite things: research.

“I love learning about history,” she said. “I feel like in school sometimes we just learn history in pockets and we don’t ever really get to sit in an era. I think that’s what’s so fun about any kind of historical fiction is you realize the feel of what it was like to live there.”

As for those Michigan references there’s Lane’s last name, Sanders, a reference to Sanders Hot Fudge. (Lane loves hot fudge and hopes to find

I

out she’s an heir to the company.) Then there’s Main Street in downtown Rochester, where several big scenes take place in The Gold Pawn.

Chandlar said she researched everything from restaurants to barber shops that were there during the era.

Historical fiction isn’t the only thing Chandlar writes, though. So far, she’s published two other books, The Christmas Journalist, and Brass, the first in her Fight To Keep Creativity Alive series.

The latter connects with something else she’s passionate about, motivational speaking, and is used for the workshops she leads.

“When I was figuring out how to make writing doable, even when life was complicated, it was so fun,” Chandlar said.

Her engagements focus on the psychology of creativity, and how people can keep creativity alive in their own lives. It’s exactly what Chandlar did when she first began writing, where she would find two hours a week, hire a babysitter, and go write.

It was during that time she realized writing was something she would find a way to do no matter what, even if it didn’t become full-time. What mattered was that she was doing it.

“That was the ‘a-ha’ moment,” she said. “When you can finally write consistently, see your work compounding and the first time you write, ‘the end’ – even though you know you have tons of editing to do, have to find an agent, all this work ahead – it was so exciting to write those two words.

It was like, I finally finished it.”

Story: Dana Casadei

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Birmingham-Bloomfield Market: Downtown newsmagazine Our monthly direct mail newsmagazine, Downtown, serving the communities of Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township, is considered the dominant news source for this unique area of Oakland County. A strong editorial product and a focus on the local matters affecting residents, from the government to the society circuit, personality profiles to long-form journalism on topics of critical importance. And the largest collection of real estate marketing each month directed at this special audience. No one else compares on the news and advertising front.

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ATRAZINE THE CONTINUING DANGER: SECOND-MOST USED HERBICIDE NOW FOUND IN NATION’S DRINKING WATER

BY KEVIN ELLIOTT

Considered the second-most used herbicide in the United States and one that has been found in drinking water in thousands of communities across the country, atrazine is viewed as an invaluable weedkiller to corn, soybean and specialty farmers across the Midwest.

In Michigan, nearly 6.4 million combined gallons and pounds of atrazine have been sold in liquid and solid form from 2005 to September of 2018, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), which tracks sales of more than 100 different restricted-use products that contain the herbicide.

While essentially banned in the European Union since 2004 due to its strong potential to contaminate groundwater, atrazine has been widely used in the United States since 1959. Domestically, it's estimated between 60 and 80 million pounds of atrazine are used in the United States each year, with about 75 percent of stream water and 40 percent of groundwater samples from agricultural areas testing positive for atrazine, according to a study by the United States Geological Survey.

In the United States, atrazine is registered for use against broadleaf weeds and grassy weeds. It's used on various foods, including corn, sorghum and sugar cane. It's also used for some non-food crops, including pine tree farms, turf for sod production, and some other turfs, including golf courses, roadsides and residential areas, such as playgrounds, parks and recreational areas.

Atrazine is considered a restricted-use product, meaning only certified applicators are able to buy or apply the herbicide. As such, MDARD tracks all sales of atrazine.

AS ONE OF THE MOST STUDIED, WIDELY-USED AND CONTROVERSIAL PESTICIDES ON EARTH, THE WEEDKILLER HAS BEEN LINKED TO MULTIPLE EFFECTS ON FRESHWATER ORGANISMS. MULTIPLE STUDIES SHOW ATRAZINE AS A POTENTIAL DISRUPTOR OF SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT IN FROGS... IT HAS ALSO BEEN CONSIDERED A POSSIBLE HUMAN CARCINOGEN. Records provided by MDARD to Downtown Newsmagazine show a total of 59,799 combined gallons and pounds of atrazine were sold, and assumed to have been applied, from 2005 to 2018 in Oakland County. Records show 50,978 pounds and gallons sold in Macomb County; 65,003 in Livingston County; 66,522 in Genesee County; 176,051 in Monroe County; and 8,513 in Wayne County. As can be anticipated, rural counties with a higher percentage of agricultural land had vastly greater sales, such as Lenawee County (293,990), Eaton County (313,364), Cass County (524,256), and Washtenaw County (163,675).

While tens of thousands of pounds of atrazine have been used in Oakland County over the past decade, it appears most has been used for agricultural purposes.

The question is, what effect has there been upon the residents of these counties?

Rob Morosi, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), said the state doesn't use atrazine for weed control along any state-maintained roadways in the state. Likewise, Craig Bryson, spokesman for the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC), said the county doesn't use atrazine along any roads serviced by the county.

Inquiries into atrazine use with local school districts and municipalities also show no atrazine use, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Rochester and Rochester Hills; Bloomfield Township; Birmingham Public Schools; Bloomfield Hills Schools; and Rochester Hills Community School District.

As one of the most studied, widely-used and controversial pesticides on earth, the weedkiller has been linked to multiple effects on freshwater organisms, including fish and amphibians. Multiple studies show atrazine as a potential disruptor of sexual development in frogs, causing males to develop as females and even mate with male frogs. It has also been considered a possible human carcinogen, and a possible endocrine disruptor, effecting organs and hormones, and developing reproductive systems.

Syngenta, one of the largest producers of atrazine, insists the herbicide is safe for the environment and humans. While it has been detected in thousands of drinking water systems, Syngenta says it's almost always below the threshold set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A 2011 study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute concluded atrazine has no consistent link to cancer. Further, the manufacturer has rejected studies that have linked it to being harmful to animals or humans.

Adding to the controversy of atrazine is evidence of a multi-million dollar smear campaign by Syngenta to discredit scientists publishing findings critical of atrazine's safety. That evidence includes internal memos, notebooks and emails that were released in a court case that Syngenta settled for $105 million with more than 1,000 public water systems which claimed they had to remove atrazine from their water supply. In settling the case, Syngenta admitted no wrongdoing or negligence.

Currently, atrazine is in the midst of a pesticide registration review by the EPA. In 2016, the EPA's ecological risk assessment for the herbicide found "risk concerns for mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and plant communities across the country for many atrazine uses," with some recommending changes to the amount of atrazine allowed to be used on crops. More recently, the EPA released a human health assessment draft.

Tim Pastoor, CEO of Pastoor Science Communications, and a former principal scientist for Syngenta Crop Protection, said the most recent assessment is good news for both the agriculture and herbicide industry, as well as for the public.

"Atrazine is one of the best tested, best regulated and best understood pesticides on the planet, and I don't say that lightly – there are many out there," Pastoor said, speaking on behalf of Syngenta. "It's been on the market for over 50 years. It's been through multiple rounds of data, development and regulatory reviews in a very transparent way. The data is showing atrazine is at extra low levels when found, or virtually non-existent in the environment. The EPA has gone through yet another round of review in gaining a degree of certainty in the safe use of atrazine. In the latest round, the EPA has done a remarkable job of turning over every stone of how best to regulate the product."

As part of the most recent assessment process, the EPA conducted a cumulative health risk assessment. As a chemical, atrazine is closely related to two other herbicides, simazine and propazine, which together are called "triazines." Because triazines have a common mechanism of toxicity, they are often evaluated together in cumulative risk assessments, according to the EPA. In July 2018, as part of the EPA's registration review process, the agency released a cumulative human health risk assessment for triazines, as well as atrazine. The assessment also includes published toxicity and epidemiology literature. Overall, the assessment identifies potential risks to children who crawl and play on lawns and playgrounds treated with atrazine; workers who mix, load or apply atrazine; and workers who enter a triazine treated field after application to certain crops.

Those opposed to the current use of atrazine see the EPA's current review in a different light.

Nathan Donley, senior scientist with the Center for

Biological Diversity, said while the EPA did a good analysis of the ecological assessment of atrazine under the Obama administration, the most recent assessment is a return to industry-influenced findings.

"The ecological risk assessment, or draft assessment, was done under the Obama administration. I thought that was a pretty good analysis. I thought they might have gone further, but they took into account a lot of studies, and recommended lowering the levels," Donley said. "Now, under the Trump administration, I think things have gone quite a bit different. This human health assessment – it's a typical assessment – they take the guideline studies, and these are done by the pesticide industry in support of their (own) product."

Donley said he was disappointed the EPA didn't take into account studies that found harm to human health at lower levels, and discounted or gave less weight to some studies done by independent researchers and university studies that have been published in peer-reviewed journals.

"The EPA typically ignores researchers at a university and focuses instead on these experiments that are required to be submitted by the pesticide companies," he said.

"That's pretty typical."

Donley said the models favored by the pesticide industry and given the most weight by the EPA are physiologically based pharmacokinetic models, or PBPK modeling, which is a mathematical modeling technique for predicting the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of chemicals in humans or other animals.

Because tests can't be conducted on actual humans, the tests utilize concentrations that harm lab animals, such as a rat, and use the model to determine what exposure would be harmful to a person.

"Let's say you have a concentration of 10 micrograms per liter that would harm a rat. To convert that for humans, the agency adds what are called 'uncertainty factors,'" Donley said. "Typically, the agency adds a 10-times uncertainty factor due to the fact they are testing a different species than humans. Then, they usually add another 10 times because lab rats are a genetically homogeneous group, or have no genetic difference... so that reduces the harmful dose by about 100. That's what the agency typically identifies as a safety threshold for humans."

Donley said the newer PBPK models instead allows researchers to take the toxicity in an animal and convert it to what might be toxic in a human, rather than adhering to a standard uncertainty factor.

"They are trying to get a better grasp on it than just a 10-times factor, but that model was partially developed by Syngenta, and they have quite a bit of incentive here to make a model that is beneficial to them," he said.

Pastoor, who serves as president of the Health and Sciences Institute, has specialized in human health risk assessment for three decades, as well as in product development with DuPont, ICI, Zeneca, Novartis and Syngenta. Pastoor said the PBPK modeling gives greater certainty to the results of an assessment.

"In this case, what they knew from using this computerbased model is that they have a greater degree of certainty, to 30 fold from 100 fold," he said. "The analogy I like to use is: if we are standing by a bonfire, and we know that everyone within five feet of it will be burnt, so to be certain we will stand 10-fold farther, so we go to 50 feet. Then, we say, let's go another 10-fold, so we are 500 feet away. That's what the EPA does in its regulation. But, with a greater degree of certainty, we have a greater sense of risk, so they say you can be closer than originally set because we know more."

Pastoor said that even with a reduction in what is considered harmful to humans, the EPA has still maintained retaining the maximum contaminant level (MCL) in drinking water for atrazine at three micrograms

(ug/L), or about one part-per billion (ppb). The MCL threshold serves as a benchmark for potential human health concerns, rather than a regulatory standard.

While atrazine is one of the most commonly detected herbicides in drinking water, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) states that about 95 percent of the nation's agricultural areas have less than a 10 percent chance of exceeding the threshold.

"The highest probabilities are predicted for shallow groundwater in agricultural areas where substantial atrazine use is combined with natural conditions of permeable soils and high groundwater recharge, such as parts of eastern Nebraska," the USGS said in a 2012 study.

"Probabilities of high concentrations are lower across much of the Corn Belt, where atrazine use is greatest, but soils tend to be poorly drained and often require artificial drainage that diverts recharge from groundwater to nearby streams."

The EPA's Atrazine Monitoring Program monitors about 150 community drinking water systems, primarily in the Midwest. The program has been required since 2004, following a reregistration of the herbicide. Under the monitoring program, selected community drinking water systems are monitored on a weekly basis during peak atrazine use season, and bi-weekly during the rest of the year. The program doesn't monitor any locations in Michigan.

The EPA also maintains an Atrazine Ecological Exposure Monitoring Program, which monitors atrazine levels in streams in watersheds exposed to atrazine runoff

WE PROBABLY SAW ATRAZINE MORE THAN OTHERS, BUT USUALLY IT DOESN'T EXCEED THE DRINKING WATER STANDARDS WHEN IT IS PRESENT. MAYBE ONE OR TWO TIMES IN THE 20-PLUS YEARS THAT I'VE BEEN HERE. ONE OF THOSE TIMES WAS FROM IMPROPER DISPOSAL...THERE WAS AN ARIAL APPLICATOR (WHO) GOT RID OF SOME BY DUMPING IT DOWN A DRY WELL. from corn and sorghum production. That program also doesn't include any monitoring locations in Michigan.

Public drinking water suppliers are required to monitor periodically for unregulated contaminants. Those public drinking water suppliers include the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), which supplies water to the majority of southeast Michigan communities.

The GLWA said monitoring for atrazine and other pesticides occurs every three years during the second and third quarters. Monitoring for atrazine last occurred in 2017, and none was detected. Previous monitoring by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (the precursor to GLWA) also found no detection of atrazine in previous tests.

Robert Pigg, with the groundwater monitoring program within the Michigan Department of Agriculture, said the state receives some funding from the EPA to conduct testing for pesticides in private and domestic wells.

Pigg, who has been with the program for more than two decades, said the presence of atrazine in private water wells has dropped since the introduction of glyphosate, or Roundup.

"We look in places that aren't normally tested. We do look for atrazine and other leachers that tend to move with water," he said. "Roundup tends to bind to soil well, and not leach."

While atrazine has been one of the more commonly detected pesticides, Pigg said it has only been found to

exceed the maximum contaminant level set by the EPA once or twice in the past 20 years.

"We probably saw atrazine more than others, but usually it doesn't exceed the drinking water standards when it is present. Maybe one or two times in the 20-plus years that I've been here," he said. "One of those times was from improper disposal – we know for sure. There was an arial applicator, who isn't around anymore, and he got rid of some by dumping it down a dry well."

A baseline study of MDARD's groundwater monitoring program tested 391 random wells between 1997 and 2000.

Of the 75 different pesticides tested, atrazine was detected at just one well. That finding was at a level of two ppb, while the EPA threshold is about three ppb. Overall, the study found less than 1.75 percent of rural wells tested had a detectable level of pesticides.

The one well that did test positive for atrazine was located in St. Joseph County, which had the eighth highest amount of atrazine sales in the state from 2005 to 2018.

Despite the lack of atrazine presence, it's possible that the presence of contaminants may be seen many years in the future.

"It's important to remember that groundwater quality in general, and domestic well water quality in particular, are lagging indicators," Pigg wrote in the report. "Infiltration and percolation of water from the surface to domestic well screens can take generations in some cases. The impacts of land use may not be reflected in domestic well water quality for several decades or longer.

"For example, research carried out at the USGS in

DESPITE CLAIMS BY SYNGENTA THAT LEVELS OF ATRAZINE IN DRINKING WATER HAVE BEEN AND REMAIN LOW, THE COMPANY IN 2013 PAID OUT $105 MILLION TO SETTLE A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT WITH 1,085 COMMUNITIES WHO SAID THEY SPENT MILLIONS OVER MANY YEARS TO FILTER THE HERBICIDE FROM THEIR DRINKING WATER. southeast Michigan indicated that 10 to 28 domestic supply wells (36 percent), which had been selected essentially at random, supplied water older than 47 years, based on tritium dating. This evidence, albeit limited, that the water quality of a significant fraction of domestic supply wells in Michigan has not yet been impacted by post Second World War and Green Revolution land use practices."

Even if increases in contaminated wells is found, Pigg said there must be greater cooperation among agencies and others to mitigate the problem.

"There's little point to searching for contaminated groundwater if nothing will be done once it's found," he wrote. "The Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program has provided state-wide leadership in tackling many of the problems that can lead to groundwater contamination. The MDA and other organizations need to continue to work to prevent groundwater contamination and to mitigate it when it's found."

The spread of atrazine to groundwater and drinking water starts at the surface. Because atrazine doesn't bind well to soil and is soluble in water, it's easily spread by rainwater and other runoff from farm fields and other areas where it's applied. The herbicide can then be carried to streams, rivers, lakes and other surface water. Even without entering groundwater, surface water may serve as a drinking water source, providing yet another avenue for atrazine to enter a system. And, because atrazine breaks down slowly

in rivers and lakes, it may persist for a long time.

Atrazine may also drift when applied as a spray or in dust when it's eventually removed from the air by rainfall.

In dust form, it's possible for atrazine to travel more than 100 miles from its application area.

A 2012 study by the International Association for Great Lakes Research conducted a modeling study to determine if atrazine persisted in Lake Michigan, and if it poses a threat to algae, the foundation of the fishery's food chain.

According to the study, researchers forecasted atrazine concentrations to increase from about .048 ug/L to about .67 ug/L by 2057, if current usage continues into the future. While the projection is below the known criteria for the established protection of algae, the model shows atrazine to be decaying very slowly, or about .9 percent of the inventory each year.

In addition to the EPA's maximum contaminant level for drinking water, Michigan maintains a surface water quality value for atrazine, which is set at 7.3 (ug/L) micrograms per liter.

Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash said the department doesn't test surface water for atrazine in Oakland County.

A 2005 study conducted by the USGS, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), sampled 23 sites across the state for atrazine and other pesticides. The study took 320 samples from March to November of 2005. In all, only one site – the Black River, near Jeddo, Michigan, in St. Clair County, exceeded the state's surface water limit for atrazine.

Sampling at the Black River site showed a maximum concentration of 10.55 ug/L, which is over the limit of 7.3 ug/L. Other sites and their maximum concentrations included: St. Joseph River, at St. Joseph (.9 ug/L); Kalamazoo River, at New Richmond (.16 ug/L); Grand River near Eastmanville (.86 ug/L); Muskegon River near Bridgeton (.25 ug/L); Pere Marquette River at Scottville (.1 ug/L); Cheboygan River (pond) at Cheboygan (.12 ug/L); Thunder Bay River near Alpena (.15 ug/L); Au Sable River near Au Sable (.14 ug/L); Saginaw River at Essexville (.71 ug/L); Clinton River at Mt. Clemens (.34 ug/L); River Rouge at River Rouge (.23 ug/L); Escanaba River at Wells (.15 ug/L); Shiawassee River, near Fergus (.97 ug/L); Deer Creek near Dansville (.48 ug/L); Grand River at Lansing (.88 ug/L); Shiawassee River at Owasso (.4 ug/L); Mill Creek near Avoca (.9 ug/L); Pine River near Marysville (1.75 ug/L); Belle River near Marine City (1.18 ug/L); and Clinton River at Sterling Heights (.24 ug/L).

Overall, atrazine concentrations ranged from a low of .0046 ug/L to the maximum of 10.55 ug/L, with a median for all samples of .15 ug/L. While testing is typically done in areas where agricultural use is highest, sampling gave researchers with the USGS some varying results based on land use. Overall, the highest concentrations were from agricultural sites; however, a high percentage of agriculture wasn't consistently correlated with high pesticide concentrations.

"For example, the drainage area of Deer Creek, a small stream in the Grand River watershed, is 82 percent agriculture (corn and soybeans); however, herbicide concentrations at this site were similar to those at urban sites," the authors wrote. "This was the case for several agricultural sites.

"More detailed sampling – including sampling of storm runoff – and more information on site characteristics – such as the amount of tile drainage – would be needed to fully understand the effects of land use and pesticide application on water quality in streams."

Despite claims by Syngenta that levels of atrazine in drinking water have been and remain low, the company in 2013 paid out $105 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with 1,085 communities who said they spent millions over many years to filter the herbicide from their drinking water.

The suit, which claimed atrazine exposure could lead to low birth weights, birth defects and reproductive problems, ended without any admission of wrongdoing. In fact, Syngenta said no one has ever been or could be exposed to concentrations in drinking water high enough to affect their health.

The site included water systems from Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio, serving about 52 million people. Payments ranged from $5,000 to more than $15 million, with an average payout of $50,000, according to the Associated Press, which stated the plaintiff's attorneys, Korein Tillery, received about $35 million in fees.

Jason Rohr, a professor at the University of South Florida and one of the leading researchers on the effects of atrazine on amphibians, has also chronicled the controversy of that research. While Rohr said the settlement ultimately did little to improve drinking water in the Midwest, it did reveal the tactics used by the company to discredit scientific research that put the herbicide in a bad light.

"The case was led by Stephen Tillery, and filed because they couldn't get the atrazine out of the drinking water to get out of the EPA's maximum containment level for drinking water," Rohr said. "I personally think the case wasn't necessary. I'm not a proponent of atrazine or Syngenta – I think their tactics are appalling. But Tillery tried to get me to be an expert witness. When I asked if they were using carbon filtration, and they said 'no' – they only had sand, which isn't a very sophisticated way to clean water “Why not sue the EPA for not enforcing the drinking water standard,” Rohr continued. “You can sue the EPA, but not for money, only to enforce a policy they aren't enforcing. So, they sued Syngenta rather than the EPA because it's easier for them to settle... the municipal water companies got very little... but that court case resulted in about 1,000 documents of Syngenta's being subpoenaed and revealed tactics, which was a smear campaign against Tyrone Hayes and others, including me, and to promote their own research."

Hayes, a biology professor at the University of California at Berkeley, was hired in 1998 by EcoRisk Inc., a consulting company that hired academic scientists on behalf of Syngenta. Hayes's quit Syngenta after his research showed that levels of atrazine, which were below the EPA's threshold for drinking water, caused hermaphroditism and other changes in male frogs. As Hayes' research continued, he began accusing Syngenta of attempting to undermine his findings, his credibility and career.

For instance, in 2003, Hayes was offered a position with Duke University, but the offer was rescinded after Syngenta allegedly interfered by contacting the university, according to documents revealed in a class-action suit.

More than 1,000 pages of memos, notes and emails obtained by investigative reporter Clare Howard with OneHundred Reporters revealed a campaign by Syngenta to smear Hayes. One of the tactics revealed was to purchase "Tyrone Hayes" as an internet search so that Syngenta could link their material to his findings first.

Other phrases included "amphibian hayes," "atrazine frogs," and related terms, and that searching for "Tyrone Hayes" prior to the settlement brought up an advertisement that said, "Tyrone Hayes Not Credible." Rohr said the tactics also included hiring a detective agency to investigate scientists on the federal advisory panel and looking into the personal life of a judge.

Other strategies included commissioning a psychological profile of Hayes, having his work audited by third parties, asking professional journals to retract his work, investigating his funding, investigating his wife, tracking him at speaking engagements, and baiting him through emails. In some cases, representatives would appear at talks and attempt to embarrass Hayes.

Rohr said he, too, endured similar experiences. In one case, Rohr said a paper he and colleagues published

showing atrazine increased infectious disease risk in a declining amphibian species was subjected to a critical review funded by Syngenta. The review, he wrote in a follow-up paper, misrepresented 50 studies and had 122 inaccurate and 22 misleading statements. Of the 144 inaccurate or misleading statements, 96.5 percent appeared to be beneficial for Syngenta in that they supported the safety of the chemical.

Jennifer Sass, senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the EPA's Atrazine Monitoring Program was a result of negotiations with Syngenta and their work with the EPA. However, she said the program doesn't have teeth to require significant changes – simply just additional monitoring. Since the advent of the program, she said the organization hasn't been very active about atrazine.

"We haven't been very engaged," she said. "Not because it isn't very important, but because the pesticide office has been stuck in this 'study the problem without doing anything' mode. Without a litigation angle – we can't sue them – we didn't see where we could make a difference."

Meanwhile, farmers and the agricultural industry continue to press the EPA to move forward with reregistering atrazine without any significant changes.

"Michigan farmers grow, on average, about 2.6 million bushels of corn annually, with about 56 percent treated with atrazine," Michigan Farm Bureau President Carl Bednarski said in a 2016 comment to the EPA. "Loss of the ability to utilize this herbicide will negatively impact Michigan corn growers, limiting the tools in their toolbox

MICHIGAN FARMERS GROW, ON AVERAGE, ABOUT 2.6 MILLION BUSHELS OF CORN ANNUALLY, WITH ABOUT 56 PERCENT TREATED WITH ATRAZINE. LOSS OF THE ABILITY TO UTILIZE THIS HERBICIDE WILL NEGATIVELY IMPACT MICHIGAN CORN GROWERS, LIMITING THE TOOLS...TO...NUTRITIOUS FOOD EFFECTIVELY WITH LIMITED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. to produce healthy, nutritious food effectively with limited environmental impact."

The Michigan Farm Bureau, as many other proponents of atrazine, say the EPA's ecological assessment is based on "flawed science" and calls for reductions in application levels that would render the herbicide ineffective.

Rohr, who said he has served on the EPA's scientific advisory panel in the past, had been asked to serve on the panel for the atrazine assessment until it determined his own research would play a role in the panel's findings.

"I don't anticipate any changes," Rohr said about the reregistration process. "It's been evaluated every five to 10 years without any changes. The only change that happened was about 30 years ago when the label rate was cut in half. There's really nothing that suggests there's going to be any changes in atrazine."

In terms of an all-out ban, Rohr said he has no position on the issue.v Rather, that's up to policy analysts to evaluate and policy makers to decide.

"I'm not a strong opponent on whether or not atrazine should be banned. You have to look at the cost/benefit, and the cost/benefit of the replacement should be evaluated," he said. "Policymakers, not scientists, and policy analysts have to evaluate the cost/benefits. I'm not really against pesticides or GMO crops... I think we have to make sure we are using them appropriately. If they have more adverse effects than good, then look at that."

FACES Rick Bronder ochester Hills resident Rick Bronder said he was searching for something to do in his retirement when he and a small group of friends starting meeting for Bible study sessions at a local Panera. The group morphed into FaithWorks, a local non-profit that provides building and handiwork to widows and others in need of assistance.

"Bill (Pinho) was at Kensington (Church) and saw a woman he knew who just lost her husband, who he worked with. She said they formed a widow's club at the church, and a lightbulb went off... so we started going to their meetings, and these poor gals, some were really lost, like they didn't know how to change a furnace filter and simple stuff. So that's what we did.

"Then an amazing thing happened: men started coming to our group who were licensed, skilled-trades guys. Electricians, and plumbers, and it became more than just fixing a leaky valve in a toilet."

From the original group of seven or eight, the group has grown to more than 80 men, as well as some women. In 2010, FaithWorks received its 501(c)(3) status, allowing them to taken on donations to undertake larger projects. In addition to widows, Bronder said the group helps single moms, those with disabilities and veterans.

"I can't tell you how many wheelchair ramps we've built. We've also put additions on houses," he said.

Those projects include "Hunter's Room," a home addition for a Waterford family and their son, Hunter, who was born with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other disabilities. The new addition provides needed space, a specialized bathroom and a barrier-free environment at the home. They've also constructed entire houses for those in need. Likewise, the group still provides emergency fixes for those requiring it.

"We partner with the OPC and Neighborhood House, and we get a ton of requests from them. They will pay us for some materials, but when you get into putting on roofs and furnaces, that's a challenge," Bronder said. "A major problem is that people don't have the money to call a contractor. They can't afford a plumber.

“We put a hot water heater in for a guy in a mobile home. He was 68, and when we showed up, he showed us an estimate for $1,500.

He said, 'I don't even have $150.' After we put it in, he just hugged us. That was an hour job to do, and it changed this guy's life. We run into a ton of that."

FaithWorks has also partnered with the Rochester College basketball team and has received assistance from Rochester's chapter of 100 Women Who Care. Bronder said the organization also partners on some projects with the city of Rochester Hills.

“One problem is that we are a bunch of old men, so we don't lift like we used to. We got a call from Coach Pleasant (at Rochester College) saying he would help. Four big guys showed up, and it was fantastic. He said, 'I have 17 more, just let me know when you need some help.’”

As a Christian group, the volunteerism coincides with the mission of the college.

"Hopefully, they are picking up some skills, but they are also seeing grown Christian men as mentors. They are seeing what guys can do who believe they were put on this earth to serve. They know this is something they are going to carry for the rest of their lives."

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Story: Kevin Elliott

Photo: Laurie Tennent

MUNICIPAL New skatepark plaza set for Jaycee Park Plans to develop the Rochester Municipal Park Active Zone at Jaycee Park that would feature the addition of a new skatepark plaza were well received on Monday, October 22, by Rochester City Council members.

The plans, which have been in the long-term planning stage for several years, were presented for the first time by the city's Skatepark Leadership Advisory Team (SPLAT) at the city council meeting. Plans for the Active Zone include upgrading the current baseball diamond and basketball courts at Jaycee Park by adding a world class skatepark and sand volleyball courts, as well as picnic and shade areas.

SPLAT member and former Rochester Mayor Cathy Daldin said the proposed skatepark would be designed as a "street plaza," where skateparks designed to mimic the type of structures found in an urban environment.

"This is the initial design, and the team isn't married to it," Daldin said while presenting the concept plan to council. The presentation included slides of other skateparks in the state, including those in Ann Arbor, Armada, Detroit, Bay City, Grand Haven and other locations.

Street plazas are modern skateparks that strive to create a space that doesn't resemble traditional skateparks by incorporating structural and cosmetic enhancements such as concrete with atypical textures or materials, such as brick or natural stone, as well as integrating small green spaces into the skate space.

SPLAT estimates the one-time cost to build the 22,000 square-foot park would be about $800,000, as estimated in July 2017 by Spohn Ranch Skateparks. That cost includes about $39,000 for design and engineering; $73,000 for general construction requirements; $123,000 for earthwork/site preparation; $492,000 for concrete elements; $52,000 for steel fabrication; and $21,000 for turf restoration.

In addition to one-time costs, the advisory team estimates annual maintenance would run about $5,600 per year. That estimate includes inspection of drains, expansion joints, concrete, weldments and general cleanup by municipal staff at a rate of $35 per hour for about four hours per week during 40 weeks of operation.

SPLAT members presented conceptual plans to city council on October 22, with a request that council 40

Teacher suspended over conduct

By Kevin Elliott

Rochester Adams High School teacher was suspended on Monday, October 21, pending an investigation into alleged unprofessional conduct with a recent graduate.

Rochester Community Schools spokeswoman Lori Grein said Wednesday, October 23, that the district sent out a notice through its messaging system to parents to notify them of the suspension, and to encourage them to talk to their children about speaking up about any questionable behavior.

"We felt the entire district needed to have the information," she said.

"It's a tenured teacher. He has been suspended pending completion of the investigation."

The district issued the following statement to parents from Rochester Schools Superintendent Robert Shaner: "A Rochester Adams High School teacher was suspended from duties pending the completion of an investigation of alleged unprofessional conduct with a recent graduate.

“We are committed to providing a safe, positive and supportive learning environment for every student. District personnel are required to meet the highest standards of personal integrity, professionalism and performance. Employees whose conduct or performance falls short of expectations will be subject to disciplinary action.

“The district will be completing an investigation and, as soon as reasonably possible, will be making a decision as to the status of the teacher. When there is an ongoing investigation, we can't publicly share details that could have a negative impact on the investigation.

“All members of our school community have the right to experience an environment where they are safe, valued and respected. We appreciate your support to encourage your son or daughter to talk to a trusted adult if they see, hear or experience something that doesn't seem right. They can also anonymously report information using OK2Say at https://www.michigan.gov/ok2say/."

Grein declined to comment on the nature of the investigation, but said all parents should remind children about reporting inappropriate behavior.

"The point is that our parents, whether they have a son or daughter, need to talk to their child about the importance of them talking to a trusted adult if they see or hear something that isn't right," she said.

Grein said the district contacted the Oakland County Sheriff's Office in regard to the matter, which has launched its own investigation.

A sheriff's official confirmed reports that the investigation is in connection to an alleged relationship between the teacher and a former female student. However, the former student has apparently denied being “a victim,” and isn't fully cooperating.

Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton said while the age of consent in Michigan is 16 years old, sexual relationships between two people aren't considered consensual if one of the partners is in a position of power over the other, such as inmate-deputy relationship or a teacher-student relationship.

In 2012, Thomas Dennis Powell, 59, a former Rochester Adams assistant softball coach, was sentenced to jail for criminal sexual conduct after having a sexual relationship with two 17-year-old students.

One of the victims in that case claimed she was in love with Powell and said at sentencing she would wait "each and every day until he gets out" of jail.

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authorize the team to begin fundraising efforts. Council unanimously approved the request, with councilman Ben Giovanelli absent.

The fundraising campaign is expected to start in February of 2019.

Fundraising will be done in coordination with the Rochester Community Foundation.

Councilwoman Kim Russell said she was in favor of the project and hoped that SPLAT would keep council updated, and have a way to measure their fundraising progress. "My vision here is larger than a skatepark," she said. "We have two ball diamonds there. That's such a cool property there.

We've also been throwing around the

DOWNTOWN

idea of a splash pad and what that could be like. My vision is to incorporate all of that. Your piece is the skate park, and I think there will be a lot with that with coming into the Olympics. I think that will get a lot of play."

Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut in 2020 in Tokyo with park and street competitions for men and women.

Rochester-area student Ian Green said he believes having a skate park in Rochester would give the city a chance to host events at a central location, as well as provide a place for more people in the community.

"The downtown area – skateboarders and others on locomotion with wheels – people aren't exactly happy with us participating in our activities in downtown Rochester, nor is it exactly legal," Green said. "This would allow you to be able to host events and have a central location, rather than wandering around the city."

Rochester approves city manager contract

By Kevin Elliott

Rochester City Council on Monday, September 24, approved a two-year contract renewal and a two-percent salary increase for city manager Blaine Wing, with one council member strongly in opposition.

Council approved the contract after discussing the matter in closed session.

They returned to approve the contract, at which point councilwoman Ann Peterson voiced her opposition.

"I'm having a hard time with that because based on the leadership that we have had experienced here lately," Peterson said. "There's been so much angst and so many personnel issues and so many things happening in the city right now, I don't think that the leadership is what the city needs at this time.

"I know some of my colleagues aren't going to agree with me, but I was voted in to take care of the residents of the community and the taxpayers, and to wear that hat to make sure they are treated fairly and properly, and I do not see that happening. I would not like to renew the contract or approve any sort of increase in pay."

The particular issues related to Peterson's comments weren't immediately known, as contract negotiations and the city manager's performance review are conducted in closed session and not subject to the state's Open Meeting Act. Councilwoman Kim Russell 11.18

KOSTAL Kontakt expands in Rochester Hills

By Kevin Elliott

erman-based automotive parts supplier KOSTAL Kontakt Systeme (KKS) will be investing $57.8 million to construct a new North American headquarters and production facility along M-59 in Rochester Hills.

The proposed facility at Old Adams and M-59 would include a 18-acre parcel that would be utilized for office, production and warehousing uses.

Currently, the company is located at a leased building at 1350 W. Hamlin Road. However, the company said it must relocate by 2021 to meet expanding demands.

"We see a positive forecast of growth for the automotive sector, specifically in the areas of E-mobility and autonomous driving, and this new Rochester Hills facility strengthens KKS' ability to deliver the most advanced connections to our customers," said Holger Lettmann, president and CEO of KKS's America location.

KOSTAL Kontakt Systeme is a fourth generation family business that manufactures electrical connectors, primarily for the automotive industry, under the ownership of the KOSTAL Group, which was founded in 1912, in Ludenscheid, Germany. The KOSTAL group is comprised of four independent divisions operating in 21 countries.

"The KOSTAL Group has 19,000 employees around the world," said Andreas Kostal, chairman of KOSTAL Group. "Our footprint is vast. Eighty percent of our workforce is located outside of Germany."

The expansion announcement comes about six months after Rochester Hills City Council approved amending a consent judgement involving KOSTAL, the city and the property owner, Grand/Sakwa. The previous agreement, which was entered into in 2003, oversaw the development of 104 acres of land surrounding the site. City officials said in April 2018 that the consent judgement would need to be amended by the court in order for the proposed development to move forward. In exchange for the necessary rightof-way, the city agreed upon flexible uses and site design for the subject property.

Rochester Mayor Bryan K. Barnett said that in order for the proposed development to move forward, the city and property owner needed to agree to amend the agreement, which dictates development issues at the site. He said Grand/Sakwa and the city have since come to an agreement that essentially gave the development a green light.

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan K. Barnett said KOSTAL had outgrown its current 80,000 square foot facility, where it has been for the past seven years.

He said he and Rochester Hills Economic Development Manager Pamela Valentik shared in the process of assisting with developing options for KOSTAL's expansion.

"I was delighted when I got the call from KOSTAL Kontakt Systeme sharing that future growth required them to start planning for a larger facility. KKS has been an outstanding corporate citizen and we certainly didn't want to lose them," Valentik said. "But with a vacancy rate of two percent and limited parcels left for development, I knew we had to be resourceful to find the right spot to retain this top employer in Rochester Hills."

Barnett said a deal was crafted to purchase 18 acres of vacant land near Adams with M-59 frontage. He said he and Valentik recently returned from an economic development trip to Europe with the announcement of the expansion.

The city has offered a 50 percent property tax abatement in support of the project, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which awarded KOSTAL with a $320,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant. Michigan was chosen over a competing site in Alabama, the MEDC said.

"KOSTAL now brings even more investment in our community and additional high tech employment opportunities for our residents. We're continually impressed with their leadership and we were thrilled with the productive outcome of our discussions at their headquarters in Germany," he said. "Early on, we were successful at bringing the MEDC to the table to discuss a plan to ensure KKS' investment and job growth stayed in Michigan.

KKS was looking at other states and we were thankful that the Michigan Strategic Fund approved a Business Development Grant for the expansion."

The MEDC said the expansion will add 32 additional jobs.

Markus Bergholz, CEO of the KKS division, said the new facility will employ about 206 people, with plans to grow up to 600 jobs at the campus.

"This location affords us to build a state-of-the-art facility that will house all engineering, sales production and distribution operations servicing the North American market," he said. "The first phase will be to construct 130,000 square feet, but this land provides us the opportunity to grow to 300,000 square feet."

Construction is expected to begin in 2020. The city also will need to approve official site plans and approve the tax abatement, neither of which have yet to be submitted.

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acknowledged the existence of some leadership issues, but favored approving the contract and pay raise.

"I think that what we discussed is some strengths and weaknesses, but I think we really need to look for that leadership, and that was heard," Russell said. "I'm looking for changemakers, not just ability. We are looking to influence new roads and to have that so employees can feel they are encouraged to have big ideas, and to create a culture that we deserve for our city employees, our residents and our businesses.

"It's tough for me and it's not clear cut. We have ups and downs. It's not like in the private sector, but we do have to make a decision of support at this point."

Council voted 6-1 to approve the contract and pay increase, with Peterson opposing.

Wing was hired as Rochester city manager in late 2015 to replace former manager Jaymes Vettraino, who left to serve with Rochester College. Wing previously worked as assistant village manager for Oak Brook, Illinois; assistant administrator for the village of Cary, Illinois; and assistant manager in Flossmoor, Illinois.

Peterson continued to voice her displeasure when a motion was made to forego returning to closed session in order to discuss the personnel evaluation for the city's finance director Anthony Maggio. That decision was made based on a previous agreement to adjourn by 10 p.m.

"We always put a time limit on things that are important," she said.

"It's very poor of us to try to do this to them every time. I think it's wrong. I'm very disheartened. I'm going to decide if I want to stay on council, and if I do, it's to fight for the residents of this community... I don't think it's right that we have people wait and wait and wait, then complain that it's too late."

Councilman Ben Giovanelli said there's a disagreement on the board, and that council had been in attendance since 6 p.m. that night.

"I'll send you a coupon for a Big Mac, fries and a coke," Giovanelli said, in consolation to Maggio. "I'm a big spender that way."

Elizabeth parking order rescinded Faced with a parking dilemma along Elizabeth Street that pitted neighbors on each side of the street against each other, Rochester City Council members on Monday, October 8, opted to rescind an order to prohibit parking on the east side of the roadway.

City councilman Ben Giovanelli summarized the situation by admitting that there was no real solution to satisfy all residents, and that there was no clear winner in the end. "I wish we could just wave a magic wand and make everyone happy, but unfortunately, that can't happen," he said. "We have no way to make this work for everybody."

The parking situation is one that residents say has been heating up for a long time as new homes along Elizabeth Street have made on-street parking coveted real estate between Hill Street and Parkdale. The situation boiled over in January, after council heard complaints by east side of the street resident Julie Morris, who said the lack of sidewalks on the east side and demand for on-street parking had created a safety and nuisance situation.

Presenting a multitude of photos to council, Morris showed council some of the difficulties she has exiting her driveway due to cars encroaching into her driveway apron. She also said her lawn and sprinklers had been damaged by cars parking in front of her home, along with other problems.

City council at that time approved prohibiting parking on the east side of the street between 722 and 754 Elizabeth. However, residents opposing the change responded to council, leading council to call for a traffic study and recommendation from the chief of police.

In June, findings from a traffic study conducted by the Transportation Improvement Association (TIA) were presented to residents. The study took into account parking status, pedestrian safety, traffic volume, speed and crash history. The TIA also followed up with a resident survey that included 43 signatures from 29 homes about whether they would be in favor of parking on both sides of the street, which found three were in favor. The survey also assumed an additional two residents would be in favor of parking on both sides of the street.

Based on resident input and the TIA's findings, Rochester Police Chief Steve Schettenhelm in September recommended rescinding the changes approved in January. Further, he recommended installing a no parking sign believed to have been removed during construction near Delanoy Court; installing two "Keep Kids Alive Drive 25" signs mid-block; and a sign at Hill Street to note there is no sidewalk north of Hill, toward Parkdale.

Council on Monday, September 24, voted to table the matter until the next city council meeting in hopes that a different solution could be found among residents and city administration that

might better satisfy a majority of residents.

Rochester City Manager Blaine Wing said no additional solutions had been presented by residents or staff. He recommended council follow the police department's recommendation.

Council on Monday, October 8, voted unanimously to rescind the parking order, following Chief Schettenhelm's recommendation.

New firefighters set to be city employees

By Kevin Elliott

Firefighters to be hired by the Rochester Fire Department will be brought on next year as city employees under a motion approved on Monday, October 8, by Rochester City Council.

Rochester Fire Chief John Cieslik was directed by city council in June to explore staffing options stemming from a fire department study that would increase response times to meet nationally accepted standards.

Those options included adding some additional positions that would ensure the fire station is manned on a 24/7 basis. Currently, firefighters at the department serve on a paid on-call status, meaning they must first drive to the fire station when responding to a fire, then respond from the station.

The new structure would include a mix of full- and part-time firefighters, as well as a larger stable of paid-on call firefighters.

In August, Cieslik announced the department applied for and received a three-year fire safety grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) totaling $2.4 million.

The grant, which will run through 2020, is intended to be used to fund new firefighter positions at the department.

Under recommendations by the adhoc fire committee that conducted the fire study, the department is expected to retain three current firefighter positions that provide 24/7 medical response from the station, and an additional five full-time equivalent positions, for a total of six full-time equivalent positions, or 18 total.

Council requested Cieslik explore staffing options, and recommend whether the city hire the additional firefighters as city employees, contract employees or work on an agreement with Rochester Hills to staff the fire station. Based on city council comments and a cost estimate, Cieslik on Monday, October 8, recommended the positions be retained as city employees.

42

‘Neighbors’ to review master land use plan proposed draft of the Rochester Hills 2018 master land use plan was approved for a 42-day review by neighboring communities, as required for approval under state law.

The plan is a guide for all land uses in the city, and must be reviewed by neighboring communities and agencies under state law. It was last approved in 2012. The city worked with Giffels Webster over the past year to update the plan, which is expected to come back before the city's planning commission and city council in December for a public hearing and final adoption.

Jill Bahm with Giffels Webster said the work on the plan started last year, with the theme being "Preserve, Enhance and Diversify." The concepts, she said, are woven into the plan and serve as the direction to preserve existing neighborhoods, enhance certain redevelopment sites and diversify housing options.

Among the housing needs identified is the need for more middle housing, which would include walkable, smaller footprint homes with blended densities. There is also some need for more multiple housing uses and mixed use developments in order to provide affordable housing.

That housing, she said, should be fit into redevelopment or already developed areas that exist.

Other themes included transportation, age friendly communities and sustainability. The feedback was part of several visioning sessions and public meetings, as well as a community survey with more than 700 responses.

"In general, the feedback we got was positive, but the same themes about affordable housing and other themes came up," Bahm said.

A

'The city employee model is the most economical at an estimate of $83,697.86 per employee," Cieslik said. That amount, he said, includes all benefits and wouldn't add any legacy costs to the city, as retirement is set up through a defined contribution system and retirement health care is funded by a health savings account.

Rochester City Manager Blaine Wing said the city also looked at contracting with a labor provider, which would include slightly higher wages. Wing said the city also met with representatives from Rochester Hills to discuss the third option, which was higher than both the city employee and contract options.

"This evening, we are asking council to select the city employee option, or option A," he said.

Council unanimously approved the request, and also directed administration and the fire chief to work with the city's labor attorney to form job descriptions and spell out specifics of the labor agreements. The issue will then be brought back to council with a full budget schedule for council to consider for approval.

Cieslik said the fire grant is expected to pay for a full three years of staffing, with budget contributions from the city expected by the fourth year of operation. Staffing would be expected to begin on February 14, 2019, but could start as soon as

January 1, 2019, if so requested by council, he said.

Councilwoman Ann Peterson expressed her desire to give current paid on-call firefighters preference in the hiring process for new firefighter positions with the city.

"We would give priority to those folks," Cieslik said. "Then, if we exhaust all of our candidates who have in essence been interviewing for the past 20 years, we would go outside."

Residential planned near former landfill Conceptual plans for a 147-unit residential, rental development on 30 acres of land adjacent to a former landfill property at Avon and Dequindre Roads in Rochester Hills were warmly received by the Rochester Hills Planning Commission on Tuesday, October 16.

Redwood USA presented plans for a "neighborhood" development in the area that would consist of attached, single-family units targeted at empty nesters. The neighborhoods are designed to fill a need for affordable, aging-in-place housing for empty nesters in their mid-50s. Redwood has similar developments in other Michigan communities, including Washington Township, Shelby Township, White Lake Township,

DOWNTOWN

Orion Township, Commerce Township and Wolverine Lake.

No formal plans have been submitted to the city, and the conceptual plans were presented to gauge reception by the planning commission, as Redwood would seek for a change in the current zoning in the area and explore the possibility of creating a Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Plans presented include singlestory homes with two attached units in each building. Each home would include a private two-car garage, open floor plans, second full bathrooms, eat-in kitchens and smart designs to appeal to empty nesters, according to designers Bergmann Architects, Engineers and Planners.

While targeting empty nesters, Redwood Neighborhoods aren't age restricted. The neighborhoods also are designed to appeal to career folk looking for quiet communities, such as those working in public safety, nursing or other fields, Redwood said in their presentation.

Most Redwood rents range from $1,200 to $2,200 per month.

Woodland Crossing set for development Plans for a 15-unit, single-family condominium development near Auburn Road and John R were given a green light on Monday, October 22, by Rochester Hills City Council.

The development, Woodland Crossing, is proposed to sit on five acres of land along the north side of Auburn Road, east of John R. The land is currently zoned for single-family use and surrounded by single-family homes, with the exception of a fire station to the east.

Macomb County developer Andy Montalbano, with MJC Companies, is proposing to construct 15 three- and four-bedroom houses, each equipped with spacious three-car garages and more than 2,200 square feet of living space. Three bedroom homes would be about 2,292 square feet with first-floor bedrooms, while four-bedroom homes would have second-story bedrooms and average about 2,777 square feet of living space.

The planning commission, which recommended approval on Monday, October 16, recommended some conditions on the approval of the plans, including the payment of a landscaping and irrigation bond in the amount of $47,213 and $3,000 into the city's tree fund for street trees, prior to the issuance of a land improvement permit.

11.18

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 Rochester area, and then some select restaurants outside the immediate area served by Downtown.

Rochester/Rochester Hills 112 Pizzeria Bistro: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 2528 S. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.289.6164.

2941 Street Food: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 87 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.606.4583.

Alex’s of Rochester: Italian, Greek, & American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.852.2288.

Antoniou’s Pizza: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 918 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48307. 248.650.2200.

Avery’s Tavern: American. Weekend Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 2086 Crooks Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.270.4030.

Bangkok Cuisine: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 727 N. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.652.8841.

Bar Louie: American. Weekend Brunch.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations, 10 or more. Liquor. 1488 N. Rochester Road, Rochester, 48307.

248.218.5114.

Bean and Leaf Café: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

439 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.601.1411.

Bigalora Wood Fire Cucina: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations, parties of 8 or more. Liquor. 6810 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48306.

248.218.6230.

Big Boy: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No Reservations. 3756 S. Rochester Road., Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.852.5540. Also 90 E. Tienken Road, Rochester Hills, 48306.

248.601.7777.

Bologna Via Cucina: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

334 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.651.3300.

Buffalo Wild Wings: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

1234 Walton Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.651.3999.

Chadd’s Bistro: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No Reservations. 1838 E. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.293.0665.

Cheng’s Restaurant: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 2666 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.299.9450.

Chicken Shack: BBQ. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 213 W. University Drive, Rochester, 48307.

248.656.1100.

Chili’s: Tex-Mex. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2735 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.299.5281.

Chipotle Mexican Grille: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2611 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.402.0047. Also The Village of Rochester Hills, 84 N. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.402.0047.

Chomp Deli & Grille: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

200 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

888.342.2497.

CJ Mahoney’s Sports Grille: American.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

downtownpublications.com

Liquor. 3260 S. Rochester Road, Rochester, 48307. 248.293.2800.

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

Liquor. 2010 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.853.6600.

Clubhouse BFD (Beer-Food-Drink): American. Lunch, Saturday & Sunday.

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations, 10 or more. Liquor. 2265 Crooks Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.289.6093.

Culver's: American. Lunch and Dinner, daily No reservations. 92 E. Auburn Rd., Rochester Hills, MI, 48307.

248.293.2200.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit: Barbecue. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 1418 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.266.6226.

Downtown Café: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 606 N. Main, Rochester, 48307.

248.652.6680.

Einstein Bros. Bagels: Deli. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 2972 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48307. 248.606.4519.

Five Guys Burgers & Fries: American, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

2544 S. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.299.3483.

Georgio’s Pizza & Pasta: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Italian.

117 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.601.2882.

Gold Star Family Restaurant: American & Greek. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 650 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.652.2478.

Golden Eagle: American. Lunch, Sunday.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1447 N. Rochester Road, Rochester, 48307.

248.651.6606.

Grand Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 12 Marketplace Circle, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.289.1350.

Half Day Café: American. Breakfast & Lunch, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

3134 Walton Boulevard, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.375.1330.

Hamlin Pub: American. Breakfast, Sundays. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 1988 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.656.7700.

Hibachi House Bar & Grill: Japanese Steakhouse. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 335 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.266.6055.

Honey Tree Grille: Mediterranean.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2949 Crooks Road, Rochester, 48309. 248.237.0200.

Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1186 W. University Drive, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.651.3527.

Johnny Black Public House: American.

Weekend Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 1711 E. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.606.4479.

Kabin Kruser’s Oyster Bar: Seafood. No reservations. Lunch, Monday-Saturday.

Dinner, daily. 306 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.651.2266.

Kerby’s Koney Island: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. 2552 S. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.844.8900.

King Garden: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1433 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.656.3333.

Krazy Greek Restaurant: Greek. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 111 E. University Drive, Rochester, 48307.

248.652.0089.

Kruse & Muer In the Village: American.

DOWNTOWN

The Rochester/Rochester Hills 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

43

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

Tailgate to-go packages Prime + Proper’s executive butcher Walter Apfelbaum may be a New York Jets fan – which we won’t fault him for…too much – but he’s still willing to make a Detroit Lions tailgate a great one. “When I first moved here I was like, ‘Holy crap, everybody is tailgating,’” he said. “So I’m like, this is a great opportunity to utilize the rest of my trim, like the best part of everything.” Now through December, the restaurant at 1145 Griswold Street, Detroit, will be selling limited run tailgate-to-go packages each week through Eventbrite (the link can be found on their Instagram and Facebook pages @primeandproperdetroit). There are two package options, four-person and eight-person, and both include dry-aged all beef hot dogs, rib eyes, dry-aged burgers, limited edition prime relish, and seasoning. “If you eat one of the burgers, you’re eating every single steak, because there’s trim from every single steak in those burgers,” he said.

Hibachi & hot rocks What was once Shogun Hibachi Bistro has now transformed into NARA Hibachi & Hot Rocks, a hibachi and stone grilling restaurant, bar, and lounge at 5656 W. Maple Road in West Bloomfield. “All the ingredients are fresh, nothing is outsourced, and they butcher everything on property, so all the meats are hand cut,” said general manager Trina Gegovic. “It’s really just great food and a great atmosphere.” She said the restaurant has two entirely different spaces once inside. On one side are the hibachi tables with group seating of about 10; on the other is the lounge area, which Gegovic described as a little bit more sophisticated. Chefs Howard Barnes and Teddy Quinones’ menu includes food with an Asian flare, like their Katsu sliders and hibachi. Guests can also cook their own meat yakitori style, done on a 824-degree stone rock.

Shinola dining delights After lots of anticipation, New York-based NoHo Hospitality Group has finally announced some of the dining concepts that will be inside the Shinola Hotel at 1400 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, when it opens in December. Confirmed

by NoHo Hospitality Group’s Director of Communications Alexis Altschuler, there will be three spots for guests to enjoy. There’s San Morello, an urban Italian neighborhood restaurant from Chef Andrew Carmellini. (Fun fact: one of his partners, Josh Pickard, is from Huntington Woods.) Evening Bar – which already has a location in New York run by the group – is a “comfortable, classic American bar,” which will serve seasonally crafted cocktails and small plates. Last, but certainly not least, is Brakeman, hailed as an American beer hall that will rotate craft beers from the midwest.

Brakeman is also going to have an alleyway with ping-pong, foosball, and shuffleboard open year-round.

New in Royal Oak Through the end of the year, Cello will be filling the Andiamo Trattoria-sized hole in people’s hearts in Royal Oak. Howell restaurateur Adam Merkel thought bringing the Italian restaurant to Royal Oak would be fun, and a good use of space he already owns, the former home of Red Fox and Cantina Diablos at 100 S. Main Street. “Cello works really well for us in Howell, so we thought it would be fun to just do something different and test it out for a few months during the colder months,” he said. Guests can expect the same menu as the Howell location, full of hand-made pastas and limoncello, while dining upstairs where Red Fox was. In regard to the other restaurants that will eventually take over the space – Diamond’s Steak and Seafood, and Pinky’s – Merkel said Diamond’s is on track to open sometime this fall while Pinky’s is looking at an early 2019 opening.

Mongers’ Provisions Ferndale shop Provisions is not only expanding to a second location in Detroit – which will be at 4240 Cass Avenue, Suite 111 – but a name change.

The speciality cheese, chocolate, and charcuterie shop will now be known as Mongers’ Provisions. “It came to us, why not use the word monger?” said William Werner, who owns the shop with Zach Berg. “That’s what we do

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 134 N. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.375.2503.

Kruse & Muer on Main: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

327 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.652.9400.

Lebanese Grill: Lebanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2783 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.606.4651.

Lino’s Restaurant: Italian. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 50 W. Tienken Road, Rochester Hills, 48306.

248.656.9002.

Lipuma’s Coney Island: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 621 N. Main Steet, Rochester, 48307.

248.652.9862.

Lucky’s Prime Time: American. Weekend Breakfast. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations, weekdays. Liquor. 1330 Walton Boulevard, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.656.8707.

Main Street Billiards: American. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 215 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.652.8441.

Main Street Deli: Deli. Lunch, MondaySaturday. Dinner, Thursday, Friday. No reservations. 709 N. Main Street, Rochester, MI 48307. 248.656.5066.

Mamma Mia Tuscan Grille: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday, Sunday. Reservations.

Liquor. 543 N. Main Street, Suite 311, Rochester, 48307. 248.402.0234.

Mezza Mediterranean Grille: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor at The Village location only. 1413 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.609.2121.

Also The Village of Rochester Hills, 188 N. Adams Road, Rochester Hills.

248.375.5999.

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

Reservations. Liquor. 870 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.453.5371.

Mitchell’s Fish Market: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 370 N. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.340.5900.

Mr. B’s Food and Spirits: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

423 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.651.6534.

Noodles & Company: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 184 N. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.375.5000.

North Shack: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 990 E. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.853.3366.

O’Connor’s Public House: Irish Pub. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

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

Oceania Inn: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. The Village of Rochester Hills, 3176 Walton Boulevard, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.375.9200.

Olive Garden: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2615 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.853.6960.

Paint Creek Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday, Sunday.

Reservations. Liquor. 613 N. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.759.4205.

Panda Express: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 3105 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.853.9880.

Panera Bread: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 37 S. Livernois Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.601.2050. Also 2921 Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.853.5722. Also 2508 S. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.853.7430.

Park 600 Bar & Kitchen: American.

Weekend Brunch. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

Royal Park Hotel, 600 E. University Drive, Rochester, 48307.

248.652.2600.

Paul’s on Main: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 630 N. Main Sreet., Rochester, 48307. 248.656.0066.

Pei Wei: Asian Fusion. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1206 E. Walton Boulevard, Rochester, 48307.

248.601.1380.

Penn Station East Coast Subs: American.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

146. S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.601.4663.

Penny Black Grill & Tap: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

124 W. 4th Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.841.1522.

P.F. Chang's China Bistro: Asian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. The Village of Rochester Hills, 122 N. Adams Rd., Rochester Hills, 48309.

248.923.7030.

Pudthai & Sushi: Thai & Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 2964 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.299.6890.

Qdoba Mexican Grill: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1198 Walton Boulevard, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.608.2603. Also 3014 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.844.3668.

Ram’s Horn: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1990 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.651.7900.

Recipes: American/Brunch. Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 134 W. University Drive, Rochester, 48037.

248.659.8267.

Red Knapp’s Dairy Bar: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 304 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.651.4545.

Red Lobster: Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2825 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.299.8090.

Red Olive: Mediterranean & American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1194 Walton Boulevard, Rochester, 48307. 248.656.0300.

Rochester Bistro: American-Continental.

Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday, Sunday. Reservations. Liquor. 227 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.923.2724.

Rochester Brunch House: American.

Breakfast & Lunch, daily. No reservations. 301 Walnut Boulevard, Rochester, 48307. 248.656.1600.

Rochester Chop House: Steakhouse & Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 306 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.651.2266.

Rochester Diner & Grill: American, Greek & Italian. Breakfast & Lunch, daily.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. 1416 E. Walton Blvd., Rochester Hill, 48309.

248.652.6737.

Rochester Mills Beer Co.: American.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 400 Water Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.650.5080.

Rochester Tap Room: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6870 N. Rochester Road, Rochester, 48306.

248.650.2500.

Seasons of India: Indian. Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

6866 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48306. 248.413.5742.

Shish Palace: Mediterranean. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. 165 S. Livernois Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.453.5464.

Shogun: Japanese. Lunch, MondaySaturday. Dinner, daily. Reservations.

Liquor. 173 S. Livernois Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.453.5386.

Silver Spoon Ristorante: Italian. Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

6830 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48306. 248.652.4500.

Soho: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 2943 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.289.1179.

Sumo Sushi & Seafood: Japanese & Korean. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations, 24 hours in advance.

Liquor. 418 N. Main Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.601.0104.

Tapper’s Pub: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 877 E. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.852.1983.

Tim Hortons: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 940 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.656.8292.

The Jagged Fork: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 188 N. Adams, Rochester Hills, 48306.

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

Reservations. Liquor. 301 S. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.759.4825.

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

248.453.5291.

Tropical Smoothie Café: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2913 Crooks Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.852.4800.

Val's Polish Kitchen: Polish. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday, Sunday. Reservations. 224 E. Auburn Rd., Rochester Hills, 48307.

248.293.2660.

Wayback Burgers: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1256 Walton Boulevard, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.453.5746. Also 2595 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.844.2717.

Willoughby’s Beyond Juice: American.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 120 E. 4th Street, Rochester, 48307. 248.841.1670.

Troy Cantoro Italian Trattoria: Italian. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1695 E. Big Beaver Road, Troy 48083.

248.817.2424.

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.

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

248.619.9060.

Loccino Italian Grill and Bar: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday, Dinner, daily. Liquor.

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

McCormick & Schmick’s: Steak & Seafood. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. Somerset Collection, 2850 Coolidge Hwy, Troy, 48084. 248.637.6400.

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

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

248.689.2332.

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

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

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

248.816.3424.

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.

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

2919 Crooks Road, Troy, 48084.

248.614.5390.

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

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

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

248.817.2980.

Birmingham/Bloomfield 220: American. Lunch & Dinner, MondaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 220 E. Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.646.2220.

Andiamo: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

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

248.865.9300.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Café ML: New American. Dinner, daily.

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

248.642.4000.

Cameron’s Steakhouse: American.

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

248.723.1700.

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

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

Eddie Merlot's: Steak & seafood. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 37000 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.712.4095.

and its plural possessive because there’s more than one of us. We hope that as we train and grow there will be a lot more of us, too.” Given all the space in the new shop – coming in at 1,028 square feet – there will be plenty of options for others to become mongers, or ‘eaters,’ in French, especially since they will be offering more than 100 different types of cheese and plan to double their current chocolate selection. Oh, and since they have room for a meat slicer, expect more charcuterie. They are shooting for a late November opening and plan to offer events and classes, ideally by early December. “All of those things are immensely exciting to us,” he said.

Beer, wine, flowers “I know the idea can seem a little bit funky, it’s gotten some raised eyebrows in the past,” laughed Garden Flora owner Richard Ludka. “But basically it was a way for me and my wife (and co-owner) Laura to combine three things we love in life: beer, wine, and flowers.” The 3,000-square-foot space at 611 W. Philadelphia Street, Detroit, will do just that by selling three of the Kentucky natives’ favorite things through a flower shop focused on hand-tied bouquets (with in-season, locally-sourced flowers), a beer and wine retail shop, along with a bar. Some of their beer and wine options will be floral driven, like Trinity Brewing’s Three Flowers. If that isn’t your thing though, don’t worry, they will have other options too. Since the space is a bit larger than what they originally envisioned, the duo are now looking to collaborate with people who have food experience to add to the neighborhood bar. Those interested can reach out through their website. Keeping on brand, Ludka said they are shooting for a spring opening, the first day of spring to be exact.

Unique meats and eats Asking Marrow’s executive chef Sarah Welch which dish on the menu is her favorite is like making her choose between children. But if she must pick she would go with their sleeper hit, the corned pork tongue. “I was scared people wouldn’t really enjoy it and it’s been really well received,” she said. Pork tongue isn’t the only outlandish protein guests will find on the menu of Detroit’s first restaurant/butcher shop hybrid located at 8044 Kercheval Avenue. Owned by managing partner Ping Ho and chef Greg Reyner, the restaurant – which opened in October – plans to keep introducing the community to less common cuts of meat. So how do you get guests to eat it? “The joke around here is anyone will eat meat on a stick or anything you put in a dumpling,” Welch said.

“I think those are going to be two of the things we use as vehicles for more intimidating proteins.” The menu will change throughout the year depending on what Welch and the butcher shop (lead by head butcher Nicholas Ponte) can get that is both local and seasonal. There are also plans to roll out brunch and a variety of classes before the holiday season.

Four for Fort Street After receiving over 60 applicants, the first four vendors have been announced for Fort Street Galley, which is looking at a December opening.

Located inside the Federal Reserve Building in Detroit at 160 W. Fort Street. will be Allenby, a gourmet sandwich place with a Middle Eastern spin; the Filipino influenced Isla; Lucky’s Noble BBQ, a healthy BBQ concept; and Pursue, which is being described as a Korean concept. “I wish we had more kitchens,” said Ben Mantica, co-founder of Rust Belt food hall developer the Galley Group. “The applicants in Detroit were phenomenal.” Mantica said the 8,500-square-foot food hall will have communal tables, encouraging people to share and try multiple concepts when they come. With a model based on helping concepts open their own brick-and-mortar, each of the four vendors will start with a year-long lease deal. “We try to provide a really elevated experience but in a causal format that I think will be received well in Detroit,” he said.

To come Fans of Birmingham’s new Adachi modern Japanese restaurant in the FordPeabody mansion have something special to look forward to, as the team behind it, Chef Michael Schlow, of Boston, hotel operator Kenny Koza and real estate developer Clint Mansour are in the planning stages of Zao Jun, a family-friendly Pan-Asian restaurant. Zao Jun, named after the Chinese “Kitchen God,” will be located in the Bloomfield Plaza at Maple and Telegraph in Bloomfield Township, in the former Bagger Dave’s location.

Word is they’re hoping for an early 2019 opening, with more details to come.

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

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

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

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

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

248.258.9400.

Griffin Claw Brewing Company: American.

Dinner, Tuesday-Friday, Lunch & Dinner, Saturday and Sunday. No Reservations.

Liquor. 575 S. Eton Street, Birmingham.

248.712.4050.

Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse: American.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 201 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009.

248.594.4369.

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

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

248.792.9609.

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.

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

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

248.723.7960.

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

248.723.0800.

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

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

248.644.3122.

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

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

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

Social Kitchen & Bar: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations, parties of 5 or more. Liquor. 225 E. Maple Road, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.4200.

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

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

248.645.9123.

Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro: American.

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

248.731.7066.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Townhouse: American. Brunch, Saturday, Sunday. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 180 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.792.5241.

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

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

Vinotecca: European. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 210 S. Old Woodard, Birmingham, 48009.

248.203.6600.

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.

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.

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.v Due Venti: Italian. Sunday Brunch. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

220 S. Main St., Clawson, 48017.

248.288.0220.

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

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

Liquor. 22949 Woodward Ave.,

Ferndale, 48220. 248.691.7145.

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.

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

27799 Woodward Ave., Berkley, 48072.

248.548.7711.

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.

DOWNTOWN

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.

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

6239 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.538.7081.

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

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

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

Prime29 Steakhouse: Steak & Seafood.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6545 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.737.7463.

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

248.865.0500.

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

248.626.8585.

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

Liquor. 33210 W. Fourteen Mile Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.

538.8954.

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

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

248.855.6622.

Yotsuba: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

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

248.737.8282.

West 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.

11.18

BUSINESS MATTERS New spa in Rochester Hills Named for the tools used in its signature service, Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa, 2907 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, is open. The spa, which signed a lease in May, marks the third location for owner Sumit Bansal, who owns and operates Hand and Stone locations in Troy and Northville. Additionally, Bansal owns about a dozen Great Clips hair salons throughout the metro Detroit area. The recently opened massage and facial spa is his first entry into Rochester Hills.

“We have over 200 employees, and we love the family feel. There is a lot of love in the family. More than half of our employees stay with us from day one and have more than five years with the company,” he said.

“Life is good in hair.” Bansal said the entry into Rochester Hills was an easy decision. “It’s a beautiful city, and the clients are phenomenal. It’s a great destination.” Located in the Hampton Village Center, at E. Auburn and Rochester Road, the new spa is surrounded by a variety of shops, stores and restaurants. All spa rooms have individual sound and lighting controls with high quality heated tables covered in crisp linens and a plush blanket.

Massage services include Swedish massage, hot stone massage, Himalayan salt massage, sports massage, deep tissue massage, and oncology massage. Facial services include classic facials, detox facial, LED skin phototherapy, men’s facials, Nuface Microcurrent Therapy, a rejuvenating facial, sensitive skin facials and teen facials.

designer from Holland’s continues to work with Viviano at the Rochester location. The store marks the sixth Viviano Flower Shop, which was founded in 1937, and the first in Oakland County. “We love being in Rochester. The people have been wonderful and very welcoming,” said Viviano spokeswoman Angela Butorac, who said that Holland had approached the company to take over the location when he decided to retire. “We look forward to providing the community with beautiful flowers for all occasions.”

Dermatology merger North Oakland Dermatology, 6700 N. Rochester Road, Suite 212, in Rochester Hills, has been acquired

by Pinnacle Dermatology and is now operating under the new name.

The location, which is led by Dr. Eva Youshock, continues to operate with the same staff. “We are excited to improve patient access in Michigan with well-regarded dermatologists the caliber of Dr. Youshock,” said Chad Eckes, CEO of Pinnacle Dermatology. “Our continued growth in Michigan shows us that top-ranked dermatologists are finding great value in our flexible and adaptable business model.” Youshock opened the practice in 1991. “As a dermatologist for more than 30 years, I am honored and excited to join the Pinnacle Dermatology team of respected providers,” Youshock said. “As we looked for a partner, we realized the Pinnacle shared service model allows us to focus on what is most important – our patients.”

Medical and insurance coverage at the location remain the same.

Floral changes The retirement of longtime Rochester florist Jim Holland, owner of Holland’s Floral, 308 S. Main Street, in downtown Rochester, has led to the opening of a new Viviano Flower Shop, 308 S. Main Street, in the same location. Holland announced the change on social media, saying that some offerings would remain the same, while offering new gifts and displays. At least one longstanding floral downtownpublications.com

New mortgage spot Texas-based mortgage company Hancock Mortgage Partners has opened a new location at 455 S. Livernois, Suite 14, in Rochester Hills. Specializing in originating mortgage loans insured by the FHA, guaranteed by the VA and sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or other private investors in the secondary market, Hancock is able to work with customers on any type of

mortgage need – from first home to investment properties or reverse mortgages. The Rochester Hills location is the second in Michigan, with the other located in Battle Creek.

Outlet benefits others Starting in 2014 with one location in western Michigan, B2 Outlet Store, 325 Livernois, Rochester Hills, is the 16th location in Michigan and the 17th in the United States. The unique shops are the brainchild of father and son team Duane and Matt Smith, who launched the outlet stores as an extension an online auction that sold liquidated items online to make a profit and help benefit youth. Sticking to that concept, the duo branched out to brick-and-mortar locations, with 51 percent of profits donated to community and world-wise causes.

Those causes include providing clean water to impoverished and other programs. Standing for “Benefit Twice,” the B2 Outlet name represents low prices that benefit customers, as well as benefits intended to restore hope, inspire vision and empower change in communities throughout the world.

Software expansion OneSteam Software, 362 South Street, in Rochester, has expanded to a second location at 929 W. University, Suite 200, in Rochester, to accommodate unprecedented growth at the company. Providing corporate performance management software that competes with Oracle and SAP, OneStream has seen an 189 percent increase in revenues, accompanied by a 65 percent growth in employees, a spokesman said. From July 2017 to July 2018, the company expanded staff from 129 employees to 213, requiring additional space in the Rochester community.

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P U B L I C A T I O N S 124 WeST MAPLe ROAd BIRMINghAM 48009

Business Matters for the Rochester area are reported by Kevin Elliott. Send items for consideration to KevinElliott@downtownpublications.com. Items should be received three weeks prior to publication.

dOWNTOWN

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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.

Ted Lindsay Foundation Celebrity Golf Outing

Sally Gerak

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Ted Lindsay Foundation Celebrity Golf Outing The Ted Lindsay Foundation’s Celebrity Golf Outing was rife with moments to applaud. The 170 golfers ($1,125 & up) all got a 16” x 32” print of the three Red Wings stadiums signed by players who have starred at each – Lindsay (Olympia), Joe Kocur (JLA) and Dylan Larkin (LCA). The drawings were by former, all state, high school goalie Samantha Carrier, now a student at CCS. “If goalies (in my day) had been as pretty as Samantha, I might have taken more shots,” quipped the 93-year-old “Terrible” Ted to the crowd gathered for dinner (275 @ $165) at the Detroit Golf Club.

Texas researcher Laura Hewiston reported progress in Autism Spectrum Disorder studies funded by the TLF that might make a big media splash in a few months…Ken McClure presented the foundation a check for $100,000 from Kroger’s customers…Nick Vondette and Mitch Owens and his family received Courage Awards for overcoming the challenges autism presents…

Emcees Mickey Redmond and Ken Daniels announced that Dylan Larkin has committed to join Joe Kocur as co-chair of the TLF board…Frank Beckmann garnered $19,000 for four live auction items… Thanks also to the silent auction ($11,000) and sponsors, the 18th annual event added about $160,000 to the $4 million-plus already raised.

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5 1. Ted Lindsay (left) of Rochester, Jeff Blashill of Plymouth. 2. Marty Redmond (left) of Franklin, Nick Vondette of Rochester and Lew LaPaugh of Rochester Hills. 3. Janina Jacobs (left) of St. Clair Shores, Lynn Lindsay LaPaugh of Rochester Hills, Lindsay LaPaugh of Salt Lake City, UT. 4. Bridgit Finley Herman (left) of Bloomfield, Genevieve Finley of Troy. 5. Steve Lyons (left) of Royal Oak, Pete Mitchell of Oak Park, Spencer and Steve Eick and John Hess of Birmingham.

DiChiera Society Thank You Party

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1 Fay Herman (left) of Farmington Hills, Cathy Loria of Orchard Lake, Betty Bright of Bloomfield. 2. Stephanie Germack (center) of Grosse Pointe, Dr. Hershel & Dorothy Sandberg of Bloomfield. 3. Larry & Barbara Schiff of Bloomfield. 4. Assia Likomanov (left) of Grosse Pointe, Barbara Frankel of W. Bloomfield, Rick Williams of Bloomfield, Dodie David of Marine City. 5. Mary Ann Cromwell (left) and Elaine Fontana of Bloomfield, Allen Michael Jones of Detroit.

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DiChiera Society Thank You Party The annual Thank You Party for members of the Michigan Opera Theatre DiChiera Society ($1,000 & up annual donation) set a new bar for fun nostalgia. It was hosted by Ron Lipson and Cathy Loria in their lakeside home. It abounds with Detroit and Hollywood vintage artifacts, curated by historian/author Michael Hauser. Event co-chairs Barbara Frankel and Dodie David greeted the 88 guests with big smiles, knowing full well that good humor would rule the day. Cocktails and conversation on the lakeside terrace or in the lower level “play room” preceded the program. It had highlights, most notably soaring vocal performances by the five, current MOT Studio artists Harry Greenleaf, Cheyanne Cos, Michael Day, Katherine DeYoung and Allen Michael Jones and their introduction by resident program director Richard Leech. A Forte Belanger buffet dinner concluded the perfectly delightful Sunday afternoon.

Care Night Patron Preview Party In advance of the upcoming CARE House fundraiser, host par excellence Lisa Payne generously wined and dined sponsors, board members and major donors at a cocktail hour gathering.

The sipping, snacking and conversational updating about family members and summer travels paused only briefly for the host and CH Executive Director Blythe Spitsbergen to thank the assembled for their loyal support and to praise Care Night honorees Pat and Jerry Wagner.

Friends of Preservation Bloomfield More than 50 supporters of Preservation Bloomfield ($100, $250 tickets) convened at the Iroquois Club to salute four generous people. One of them, Jake Bolyard, gave new meaning to the good neighbor concept. Soon after moving from Birmingham to Bloomfield Township, he learned that PB’s Craig Log Cabin needed its fireplace and chimney restored. Friends of PB President Mia Materka thanked Bolyard for his $50,000 gift of labor and materials, including reclaimed, locally-sourced, historic field stones. PB board President Michael Dul then 11.18

saluted Materka, Carol Shaya and Sue Nine as Preservationists of the Year for their dedication, hard work and creative fundraising ever since PB was established 10 years ago. The totally volunteer collaboration is building future awareness of the past by preserving two historic structures for community use.

Women Of Tomorrow Girls On Track From the moment the 250 guests ($200 & up) picked up their pit pass from the friendly Women Of Tomorrow mentees at the M1 Concourse party tent registration table, the action was on. It began with the moving, conveyer belt table presentations of hors d’oeuvres and continued on the track. More than 100 took thrill rides.

Among those was WW II bomber pilot Mort Harris who said he loved the ride and was ready for another. During the program, event co-host Laurie “lead footed” Cunnington profusely thanked the sponsors of the mentor and scholarship program founded in Florida in 1999 by Jennifer Valoppi.

Both the founder and Florine Mark noted the eight-year-old Detroit chapter’s 97 percent high school graduation rate for the more than 1,200 girls it empowers and the wish for more women to join the other 150 mentors. Emcee Paula Tutman also conducted a brief live auction and elicited more than $50,000 in outright pledges. This brought the event proceeds to more than $200,000 to get girls on the right track to reach their full potential.

JET Annual Gala More than 600 attended the Jewish Ensemble Theatre Annual Gala chaired by Wendy Kohlenberg and Suzi Terebelo at Temple Israel. It featured a performance by the renowned Capitol Steps, the satirists that puts the “mock” in democracy.

The current show, “Make America Grin Again,” included material that was literally from that day’s news and jabbed both sides of the political aisle.

More than 300 of the guests ($180 & up) had gathered before the show for a strolling dinner and to see a rendering of JET’s new home. After 29 years at its location in the Jewish Community Center, JET is moving to Walled Lake beginning spring 2019. In addition to presenting award-winning equity productions, JET has reached nearly half a million students with live performances of “The Diary of Anne Frank” and its original anti-bullying shows. The Gala netted over $55,000 for JET plus nearly $10,000 in support of student outreach. downtownpublications.com

Care Night Patron Preview Party

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1. Pat & Jerry Wagner of Bloomfield. 2. Marla Feldman (left) of Birmingham and Lisa MacDonald of W. Bloomfield. 3. Lisa Payne (left) of Bloomfield, CARE House Executive Director Blythe Spitsbergen of Farmington Hills. 4. Dan Stall (left) and Eliot Weiner of Birmingham, Kevin Anderson of Bloomfield.

5. Cheryl Bornias (left), Helen Reasoner and Jennifer Margherio of Bloomfield, Alex English of W. Bloomfield, Allie Betz of Birmingham and Kathy Broock Ballard of Orchard Lake.

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Friends of Preservation Bloomfield

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1. Jake & Nancy Bolyard of Bloomfield. 2. Carol Shaya (left), Sue Nine and Mia Materka of Bloomfield. 3. Claudine Bacher (left) of Bloomfield, Contessa Bannon of Beverly Hills. 4. Karen Gerhart (left), Ed & Linda Kmit of Bloomfield. 5. Dan (left) & Liz Bolyard Moore, Brian Bolyard and Charlie & Jen Whitelaw of Birmingham.

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Women Of Tomorrow Girls On Track

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1. Katie Valenti (left) and sponsor Maureen Fisher of Bloomfield, Laurie Cunnington of Birmingham.

2. Jennifer Valoppi of Miami Beach, FL, Tom Cunnington of Birmingham. 3. Nicole Dowswell (left) of Rochester, Bill Cobb of Birmingham and Tamy Harms of W. Bloomfield. 4. Florine Mark (left) of Farmington Hills, Mort Harris and Sandy Morrison of Bloomfield. 5. Jill Harris (left) of Birmingham, Kate MacNevin of Detroit.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK JET Annual Gala

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Loyola Legacy Gala The high school founded 25 years ago by the late Malcolm Carron SJ to serve young urban men is going strong as evidenced by the 250 founding members, supporters and alums who convened, first for Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Church and then for a party at Port Detroit’s Waterview Loft. The program that followed a strolling dinner accentuated the school’s history and bright future, based in part on the fact that for eight straight years 100 percent of the graduating class has been accepted by colleges. To conclude the program current LHS President, Fr. Mark Luedtke, SJ lead a “Quiz Bowl” competition between the founders and the alumni. The latter won the trivia contest in convincing fashion.

Motown hits performed by the Larry Lee Back in the Day Band capped off the celebration. The event raised over $100,000 to benefit scholarships for the students of Loyola High School

2 1. Wendy Kohlenberg (left) of W. Bloomfield, Elaine Sturman of Bloomfield, Suzi Terebelo of Southfield.

2. Dr. Steven (standing) & Elaine Sturman and Isabel (sitting) & Larry Smith of Bloomfield. 3. Mary Lou Zieve (left) of Bloomfield and Dorothy Gerson of Franklin. 4. Susie Citrin of Birmingham.

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The Children’s Center Tour de Fork Nearly 380 supporters of The Children’s Center ($55, $60, $150-VIP) gathered in Eastern Market’s Shed 3 for the annual Tour de Fork. In addition to plates and pours from Detroit eateries, diversions included games, music and a raffle that raised $4,000. Guests also voted for Brome Eatery to win the Forkie Award.

Thanks to generous sponsors, the casual evening netted more than $75,000 to help fund the comprehensive services TCC provides annually to 7,500 families.

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Loyola Legacy Gala

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1. Tayshawn Braxton LHS ‘22 (center) of Detroit with Loretta & Hon. Jim Ryan of Bingham Farms. 2. Bob Storen (left) of Bloomfield, Ann & Chris Knight of Troy. 3. Mary Jo Wall of Bloomfield. 4. Steve Raymond (left) and Fr. Fran Daly SJ of Bloomfield, Mary Benedetto of Troy. 5. Bridget Morin (left) of Bloomfield, Cathy Schmitt of Traverse City.

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Hospice of Michigan’s SPEED There were two notable revelations at the annual HOM benefit which brought 200 supporters ($120 ticket) to the festival tent at M1 Concourse.

One was honoree Rabbi Bunny Freedman’s explanation of his first name, a babysitter’s shortening of a longer Jewish name. He said he embraces it because it puts his hospice patients at ease. The founder of the Jewish Hospice & Chaplaincy Network got a standing ovation when he received HOM’s traditional Crystal Rose for his dedication to knowing what each patient needs and insuring that “…nobody is ever alone.” The other disclosure was HOM’s Marcie Hillary’s introduction of the new Give a Quarter Back campaign video. It features Michigan sports luminaries like Lloyd Carr, who declares that hospice made his grandson Chad’s brain cancer battle bearable for the family. Linda Juracek-Lipa and Sue Nine chaired the evening that began 11.18

with the National Anthem and witnessed 64 guests donate $100 for thrill rides with professional drivers around the M1 Concourse track.

Counting a one-item auction ($3,700), pledges to the new campaign ($6,135) and thanks to sponsors, the 32nd annual event grossed nearly $80,000 to support end-of-life-care for all regardless of ability to pay.

Camp Casey Gold Rush Gala The Horsey House Calls, Cowboy Camp Outs and Outlaw Outings that enable the non-profit Camp Casey to deliver happiness on horseback to children with cancer and rare blood disorders were in the spotlight at the non-profit’s annual fundraiser. It attracted 150 supporters ($100 and up ticket) to The Reserve for sipping and dining on the stroll, bidding ($15,000 in the silent auction), chance wine and whiskey pulling ($1,700) and buying 29 donated desserts ($1,200) in the Sugar Rush Raffle. But, as at past events, when parents like Patrick and Megan Brown described the camp’s unbelievably positive impact on their son Hudson, everybody understood what CC founder Molly Reeser saw as a college kid in 2004 – the healing power of horses. More than 10,000 people have experienced that power, which, the late Casey’s father Nathan Foote said, always comforts and amazes him. The gala raised $70,000 to keep brave children and their families smiling as they horse around.

Hall & Hunter Estate Sale What realtors Barb Miller and Christine John began in 2005, in the aftermath of Katrina as a way for people who sell homes to help those who didn’t have one, continues to this day. All year long Hall & Hunter Realtors encourage their clients to donate no longer desired furnishings to the annual estate sale to benefit Habitat for Humanity. This happens because Johnna and Bob Struck‘s Changing Places Moving Company picks up and stores the donations and then delivers them to the sale held in tents in the real estate firm’s parking lot. A preview party the night before the sale is a thank you to the realtors and sponsors, and a chance for them to pay a 35 percent premium for first dibs on the treasures. This year 85 attended, socialized, sipped, supped and shopped. They spent $4,000.

Volunteers greeted the long line of shoppers waiting to get first dibs the next morning. When the sale concluded proceeds totaled nearly $20,000, plus much of the unsold merchandise for Habitat to sell in its downtownpublications.com

Hospice of Michigan’s SPEED

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1. Sue Nine (left) of Bloomfield, Rabbi Bunny Freedman of Oak Park, Dr. Michael Paletta of Northville. 2. Linda Juracek-Lipa (left) of Bloomfield, Bob & Nancy Cahill of Northville. 3. Judy & Lee Gardner of Birmingham, Stephanie Le of W. Bloomfield. 4. Larry Raymond (left), Chip McClure and Mike & Linda Kane of Bloomfield. 5. Judy Vindici (left) of Birmingham, Bob & Maggie Allesee of Bloomfield, Dottie Deremo of Farmington Hills.

Camp Casey Gold Rush Gala

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1. Dom Mirabella (left) of Royal Oak, Tek Wiegert of Birmingham and Chuck Schmidt of Rochester. 2. Laree (left) and Gillian Harnadek of W. Bloomfield, Alyssa and Denise Leighton of Birmingham. 3. Molly Reeser (left) of Plymouth, Kirsten Adgate of S. Lyon and Audry Moiseeff of Plymouth. 4. Sherri Wiegert (left) of Birmingham, Laurie Schmidt of Rochester, Addie Mirabella of Royal Oak. 5. Erica Zambo of Walled Lake, Ryan Brooks of Birmingham.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK ReStore shop. And thus, a good idea just gets better with age.

Hall & Hunter Estate Sale

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Birmingham House Tour Speaking of Hall & Hunter, they also sponsored the 31st annual Community House Birmingham House Tour during which 725 nest peepers ($40 ticket) toured six homes.

The homes ranged in age from oneyear-old to more than 100-years-old and in design from a Wallace Frost classic cottage to a sleek contemporary by AZD Associates.

The Frost cottage on Pine Street had been known for decades as “the moose head” house because one was mounted beside the front door until 2016. Tourists were glad to see that when the new owners renovated they paid homage to the historical head by installing a modern, artistic, white version over the living room fireplace.

Rose and Brian Bolyard chaired The Community House Foundation fundraiser for the third consecutive year.

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1. Gillian Lazar (left) of Birmingham and Pam Gray of Lake Orion, Barb Miller of Berkley and Sue Simon of Beverly Hills. 2. Johnna (left) & Bob Struck of Waterford, Jim Gray of Lake Orion, Peter Sobelton of Birmingham. 3. Christine John (left) of Boulder, CO, Jerry & Diana Schmidt of Bloomfield. 4. Dennis Wolf (left) and Ryan Wolf of Birmingham, Tim Ruggles of Waterford and Braden Recker of Farmington Hills. 5. Mark Webberly (left) of Birmingham and Ted Edginton of Bloomfield.

Parade Company Grand Jester Reception

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1. Tony Michaels (left) of Rochester Hills, Tom Callan of Bloomfield, Jeff Sadowski of Birmingham, Mike Sadowski of Royal Oak. 2. Maggie Allesee (left) of Bloomfield, Bradley Stroud of Clinton and Angela Chunovich of Troy. 3. Dana (left), Rich and Becky Sorensen of Bloomfield. 4. Bernie (left) & Donna Rubin of Birmingham, Rachelle Nozero of Novi. 5. John Landis (left of Farmington Hills, Mike Obloy of Rochester Hills.

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Birmingham Teen Council The Birmingham Teen Council, launched late last year by the Community House Foundation, staged its first event – an 18-hour movie binge at the Emagine Palladium. More than 100 teens who had each raised $100 turned out. BTC members come from all the Bloomingham public and private high schools. Chase Seklar, Sophie Roth, Kasey Boegner, Charlie Casucci, Julia Crump, Grace Ordona, Liz Pedersen and Olivia Pero comprise the board. Membership is open to sophomores and up who are interested in socializing, honing leadership skills and doing community service with kids from other schools. Judging from the animated scene between movies the new BTC has started a fun tradition.

Parade Company Grand Jester Reception For the 12th consecutive year, the LePage family has generously hosted a cocktail supper for the America’s Thanksgiving Parade Distinguished Clown Corps. Members pay $1,000 per year and honor a different member as Grand Jester each year. Van Conway, the 2017 Grand Jester who missed the reception last year, received his Crystal Clown Statue before Parade Company CEO Tony Michaels introduced his successor, Jeff Sadowski, a 26-year Distinguished Clown. He talked about how he always says he’ll be a DC “…for one more year…(but)…it’s in my blood…a phenomenal 11.18

experience.” He added it will be especially meaningful now that his three sons are also DCs and his wife/their mother passed away this year. The 200 guests at The Reserve at Big Rock Chophouse socialized, sipped, supped and perused the colorful photo albums that chronicle each year’s band of some merrymakers in their make-up and clown costumes. The latter are ranked in grandeur according to years in the corps.

Distinguished Clown nominees have until Oct. 31 to sign up.

New Day Foundation for Families Families who struggle financially when fighting cancer have had a source for help since Michael Spehn and Gina Kell Spehn launched a foundation in 2007 as a legacy for their late spouses who both died of cancer. It’s fall fundraiser attracted 320 supporters ($200 tickets) to the ballroom in Greektown’s Atheneum Hotel for cocktails, dinner, dancing, silent and live auctions and Dedicated Giving. The latter raised $14,000 in less than 5 minutes and donors made “Hope Shine” as they held up their lighted cell phones in the darkened ballroom. The BSP Law Offices got the Matt Kell and Cathy Spehn Legacy Award and Juliana Meidi, Terri Miller and Heather Lynch were the honored volunteers. The gala netted $140,000 for the foundation’s programs which ameliorate cancer-related financial toxicity.

SIP Food & Wine Classic Seven food stations, all staffed with talented, solicitous chefs, served up small plates to the 150 “SIP-sters” ($295, $195, $95 tickets) gathered on a Friday night in the Wallace Ballroom at The Community House. Wines selected by event wine director John Jonna were at the ready to pair amicably with each offering. The Dawn Giblin Quintet made music while people sipped, supped and checked out the silent auction display of 25 food & wine-centric packages. TCH President/CEO Bill Seklar interrupted only briefly to thank the generous eateries who made the Community House Foundation fundraiser possible.

At evening’s end a smiling guest awaiting his car described the scene: “A delicious Friday night in a historic meeting house in a small midwestern town.”

Hickory Sticks Evans Scholar Fundraiser A bagpiper led 92 golfers clad in plus-fours (knickers) and tams onto Forest Lake Country Club for the 21st annual Hickory Sticks Invitational. During the cocktail hour before dinner, a silent auction and raffle helped the event raise more than $65,000. The postdinner program featured remarks by Molly Stachurski, President of the U-M Evans Scholars and Andrew Najor, President of the MSU chapter. They represented the 965 Evans Scholars currently attending 19 universities across the country. Each receives full tuition and housing scholarships from the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation. Dave Robinson also gave special recognition plaques to HS Invitational Co-Directors Chuck Plein and Marty Gillespie for raising more than $500,000 for the foundation. They announced Sept. 16, 2019 for the next event at Edgewood Country Club.

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

New Day Foundation for Families

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1. Michael (left) & Gina Spehn of Rochester; Jack Aronson of Bloomfield. 2. Sam Kell, Drew Kell, Charlotte Spehn and Dan Spehn of Rochester. 3. Julie & Paul La France of Rochester. 4. Caron Koteles & Keith Riha of Rochester. 5. Heather Dell (left) of Highland, Pamela Ayres of Bloomfield.

SIP Food & Wine Classic

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1. Robert Dempster & Caroline Rooney of Bloomfield. 2. Tim (left) & Barb Hertzler and Dan Quick of Birmingham. 3. Dick & Sally Brady of Bloomfield. 4. Tess & Jeff Bagalis of Birmingham. 5. Robert Allen (left) & Lee Trumbull of Birmingham, Kathie Ninneman of Bloomfield, Ryan Polk of Bloomfield.

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ENDNOTE

Our endorsements for November election ochester, Rochester Hills and Oakland Township voters will be deciding among candidates in the November 6 general election for a variety of congressional, state and county political offices, along with determining the fate of several state ballot issues, either at the polls or with absentee ballots.

Downtown newsmagazine, through questionnaires, queried candidates on a variety of issues, the answers to which can be found in the special Voter Guide online at downtownpublications.com or in our October issue. We also met one-on-one over the course of the summer with most candidates seeking state or congressional offices to gain added insight into office seekers.

The results of our efforts, along with our institutional knowledge of people and issues, provided the basis for the following endorsements, which we first published in our October issue for the benefit of absentee ballot voters.

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8th Congressional District – Two-year term Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township The Eighth Congressional District is one of the wonders of gerrymandering, running through Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township and the north Oakland area, then dipping into Livingston County and meandering into Ingham County, including East Lansing. The incumbent in this district, Republican Mike Bishop, first followed his father, Don Bishop, into the state legislature, serving in the state House from 1999-2002, then was elected to the state Senate where he served from 2002-2010. His record in Lansing left a lot to be desired. In Congress, starting in 2015, he spent his first term toeing the party line, opposing Obama programs. In his second term, he has become one of Trump's disciples, rolling back environmental protections, women's health care rights, health care for the population at large, just to name a few of our concerns. In short, Bishop appears to have forgotten who he represents while in office, a malady that can affect some who have been at the public trough for too long. His opponent this year, Democrat ELISSA SLOTKIN, has returned to her family's farm in Holly as a third-generation Michigander.

Slotkin finished grad school in New York after the 9/11 attacks on our country and spent five years in Iraq as part of the CIA. She then spent time in defense/intelligence positions in the White House under both Presidents Bush and Obama, and as a result, knows the ins and outs of DC. Without a doubt, Slotkin knows the issues and can work both sides of the aisle. Most important, she has established the framework for listening to the concerns of district residents and will maintain that approach in Congress. Voters should make the switch and go with Slotkin.

11th Congressional District – Two-year term (Part of Rochester Hills, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills) Democrat HALEY STEVENS impressed us greatly when she first announced in 2017 for this congressional seat. A Millennial who has brought her government and private enterprise experience home, Stevens grew up in Birmingham, picked up undergraduate/graduate degrees, went to work as chief of staff of President Obama’s Auto Rescue Task Force effort and worked for the White House Office for Manufacturing and Office of Recovery for

Automotive Communities and Workers. She cut her teeth, so to speak, helping to shepherd though the necessary components of the auto bailout through members of both parties in Congress and members of the business community. She has also spent time working in the private sector tied to job training and digital manufacturing. Bright, energetic, focused, with a good command of the issues. Her opponent in this race – a Trump acolyte whose blind allegiance doesn’t show through her deceptively shallow and evasive answers in our Voter Guide, no doubt on advice of her handlers who can read Trump’s disapproval polls. Congress is supposed to be part of the checks and balance system in government and we already have enough Trump handmaidens in DC who don’t understand their proper role.

12th State Senate District – Four-year term (Oakland Township, north Oakland area, Bloomfield Township) When he first ran for the state House we did not support Michael McCready, although in two elections since, we have backed him as a more moderate Republican who kept in touch with officials in the district and was not afraid to buck the party on some issues. Unfortunately, we wish he would have broken more often from the party line, especially on key issues, like the environment and civil rights, to name just two. We understand the legislative game as well as anyone – in the caucus setting the best of intentions can get dealt away. But then again, perhaps McCready is just following his own personal beliefs which then raises the issue of whether he is in sync with district residents. Either way, a change is necessary. With both legislative chambers and the administration under Republican control, there has been a lack of progress in some areas and outright decline on issues of importance for the future of the state. His opponent in this race, Democrat ROSEMARY BAYER, is keenly focused on public policy in the state that needs a new direction and will not hesitate to push for that. Bayer has the necessary skills, honed through her experience in the high tech industry and business, to work with others to bring about change and is well grounded on the issues. We were impressed and voters will be too.

13th State Senate District – Four-year term (Rochester, Rochester Hills, Birmingham)

before heading to Lansing, and he can often be found in his home district. We would love to see him take a leadership role on key issues in his final term in the House.

11th District County Commission – Two-year term (Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills, Troy) This open commission seat would be best filled by Republican Thomas E. Kuhn. Kuhn, an attorney, has a long history of service to the community, as a Royal Oak commissioner to 12 years as a trustee of Oakland Community College. His dedication to the area and critical issues will allow him to represent the district and the county as a whole.

15th District County Commission – Two-year term (Rochester, Rochester Hills) Republican incumbent commissioner ADAM KOCHENDERFER has impressed us since he was a Rochester Hills city council member, and as a county commissioner, he continues to work hard for the people of his district. With reasonable viewpoints and a measured approach, he is an asset to the board of commissioners.

State Ballot Issues Proposal 1 – Marijuana Legalization Michigan may well join a growing number of states allowing recreational use of marijuana if voters give their approval in this general election. No citizeninitiated ballot issue is perfect but drafters of this issue have done a reputable job of writing the rules and restrictions surrounding recreational pot use.

Vote YES. Let’s hope officials in Lansing don’t take eight years to implement voter wishes, like they did with medical marijuana.

Proposal 2 – Redistricting amendment This amendment to the Michigan Constitution would address the political gerrymandering that for decades has allowed whatever party is in power to redraw political districts to their advantage so they continue to remain in power. The proposal essentially creates a more independent commission that would redraw districts every 10 years following a federal census. Vote YES. Proposal 3 – Voting Regulations

Incumbent Republican MARTY KNOLLENBERG is seeking his second Senate term after having served in the past as a Representative in the state House.

This district also includes Troy, Clawson and Royal Oak. Knollenberg has been a focused policy maker in the area of education and has worked equally hard in other legislative areas. Knollenberg, in touch with officials and residents of the district, has earned another term.

This proposal would amend the state Constitution to provide for, among other things, ‘no-reason’ absentee ballots, same day registration, restoring straight ticket voting and several other voting items, all designed to expand voting ability and enshrine these voting issues to protect against voter suppression efforts by lawmakers. Vote YES.

45th State House District – Two-year term (Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township)

City of Rochester Charter Amendment

Republican incumbent MICHAEL WEBBER is seeking his third term in the state House. He is a solid conservative who knows and understands the district, having lived in Rochester Hills for 28 years, and served on the Rochester Hills City Council

The city of Rochester is seeking to amend its charter to lift the threshold of expenditure and purchase procedures for approvals for competitive bids from $2,000, where it was put in place in 1965, to $15,000.

That seems very reasonable to us. Vote YES.

MATTHILDUR x MARK KELLER FLAGSHIP • 929 S. ETON • BIRMINGHAM • 586.202.0008 THURSDAY ● FRIDAY ● SATURDAY 11:00AM – 6:00PM OR BY APPOINTMENT WWW.MATTHILDUR.COM INSTAGRAM: @MATTHILDUR.OFFICIAL & FACEBOOK: MATTHILDUR.OFFICIAL

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We have established a truly global presence, with innovative technology and unrivaled service. The culture of the Sotheby’s International Realty brand is defined by its people. We are particularly proud of all of the exceptional sales associates across our network, from Tokyo to Telluride, and Paris to Palm Beach, who provide personalized service and local expertise that help clients achieve their dreams.

Our commitment to these principles is unwavering. We understand unlike any other that a home is an investment in your future – a statement about how you and your family want to live and where you will create countless lasting memories.

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