Rochester/Rochester Hills

DESKA: FRONT/BACK 45 • GERAK: SOCIAL LIGHTS 48

DOWNTOWN R O C H E S T E R

•

R O C H E S T E R

H I L L S

NOVEMBER 2016

PLUS

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP

AVIATION FUEL: GETTING THE LEAD OUT AT AIRPORTS FUNDING DISPARITY: PROPOSAL A AFTER TWO DECADES HEROIN: EPIDEMIC SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN ENDNOTE: POCKET VOTER GUIDE TO OUR CHOICES ECRWSS Postal Customer EDDM

DOWNTOWNPUBLICATIONS.COM

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ROYAL OAK, MI 48068 PERMIT #792

CARPET • HARDWOOD • WOOL • WALL WOOD • LUXURY VINYL

Family Owned & Operated Serving the Rochester Area & Surrounding Communities for Over 25 Years

WE HAVE

ONSITE INTERIOR DESIGNERS

248-693-9457 616 s. Lapeer road, Lake orion

“Forever Clean Carpet” $ With Premium Karastan PER SQ FT • INSTALLED 8 lb. Cushion

3.99

FALL SAVINGS STORE WIDE SALE ON NOW

12 MONTHS

FREE FINANCING

HAND SCRAPED HARDWOOD FLOORING AVAILABLE FROM

3.99

$

PER SQ FT

Hours: Mon 10:00AM - 6:00PM, Tue 10:00AM - 7:00PM, Wed 10:00AM - 6:00PM, THu 10:00AM - 7:00PM, Fri 10:00AM - 5:00PM, saT 9:00AM - 4:00PM, sun CLOSED

Before You Visit, See What Our Customers Say About Us Online www.nflooring.com *Financing based on credit approval. Minimum $600 purchase with 30% deposit required. Prior orders exempt. Free installation offer good with carpet and pad purchase / cannot be combined with other sale prices or offers. See store for details.

5(68/76

(;3(5,(1&( ' (',&$7,21

Over 20 Years Experience In The Market That Matters Most...Yours!

520 MARYKNOLL, ROCHESTER HILLS 2844 SF, 4 BDRM COLONIAL ON LG WOODED, LANDSCAPED LOT IN MEADOWBROOK VALLEY SUB IN THE HEART OF ROCHESTER HILLS, NEAR OAKLAND UNIV. OPEN FLOOR PLAN, 1ST FLOOR LAUNDRY, STUDY, LRG KIT W/BUILT IN APPLS INCLUDING DBL OVEN. SUN ROOM TO RELAX, ENJOY THE VIEW. 3 CAR SIDE ENTRANCE GARAGE, SPRINKLERS, CENTRAL VACUUM SYSTEM. HOME WARRANTY, ALL APPLS INCLUDED. $349,400. CALL CARON!

575 GALLALAND AVE 2755 SF, 3 BDRM, 2.1 BATH W/OPEN FLR PLAN, VOLUME CEILINGS, GAS FP IN GR W/STUNNING WINDOWS, PRIVATE STUDY W/BUILT-IN SHELVING, WORK SPACE, SPACIOUS KIT, BRKFST NOOK W/WOOD FLOORS, SS APPLS, DOORWALL TO PAVER PATIO W/GORGEOUS LANDSCAPING. NEUTRAL PAINT T/O, WICS, FML DINING ROOM, 1ST FLR LNDRY, 1ST FLR MSTR STE, 3 CAR GAR. FULL BSMNT. BRAND NEW A/C. MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWN. $384,800. CALL CARON!

&$// &$521

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Caron Koteles Riha Associate Broker

Rochester/Rochester Hills/Oakland Twp - October 2016

00 BREWSTER â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VACANT LAND IN OAKLAND TOWNSHIP A PERFECT PARCEL TO BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME! THE IDEAS ARE ENDLESS. 193â&#x20AC;&#x2122; FRONTAGE. LIVE IN THE SERENITY OF OAKLAND TWP. OFFERING PRIVACY AND A BEAUTIFUL VIEW. SURVEY AND RECENT PERC TEST AVAILABLE. ROCHESTER SCHOOLS. WATER & SEWER AVAILABLE. $310,000. CALL CARON!

S O L D

CONSISTENTLY ROCHESTERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S #1 REALTOR â&#x20AC;&#x201C; REAL ESTATE ONE

Call Caron directly for the SERVICE, DEDICATION and RESULTS you deserve.

Call today and ask about my â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Rate Guaranteeâ&#x20AC;? program.

Let me put my award-winning service to work for you!

Physician Loans and Zero Monthly Mortgage Insurance Programs Available

Ronya Grohman NMLS# 140084 Mortgage Loan Consultant p: (248) 203-6683 c: (248) 709-9390 rgrohman@johnadamsmortgage.com www.johnadamsmortgage.com 4130 Telegraph Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 NMLS# 140012

ADDRESS 187 Orchardale 4366 Orion 2416 Beacon Hill 3165 Cairncross 459 Clair Hill 1480 Stockport 1064 Great Oaks 2641 Roseview 520 Pinehurst 1386 Pebble Ridge 1381 Pine 4887 Freer 1562 Chevy Circuit 3783 Deer Springs 1816 June 589 Lexington 2801 Steamboat Springs 856 Mayfair 323 Fordcroft 688 Snowmass 1840 Gunn 885 Cumberland Rdg 1688 Treeside 150 Chalmers 1107 Hackberry 2122 Rochester 3239 Crooks 1633 Colony 1689 Morningside 3558 Normandy Minimum Average Maximum

List Price $255,000 $289,900 $410,000 $264,900 $239,000 $244,900 $315,000 $275,000 $284,900 $679,000 $234,900 $350,000 $399,900 $446,900 $81,900 $259,999 $269,000 $299,900 $314,900 $399,900 $525,000 $636,950 $289,900 $350,000 $358,000 $400,000 $57,500 $210,000 $229,000 $309,000 $57,500 $322,675 $679,000

Sale Price Beds Baths Sqft Total Price/Sqft Close Date $260,000 3 2.1 1,717 $151 10/3/16 $275,000 3 2 1,549 $177 10/3/16 $395,000 4 2.1 2,991 $132 10/3/16 $196,000 3 2 2,122 $92 10/4/16 $230,000 3 1.1 1,794 $128 10/4/16 $237,500 3 2.1 1,558 $152 10/4/16 $300,000 5 2.1 2,599 $115 10/4/16 $271,000 3 3 1,736 $156 10/5/16 $282,000 5 3 2,266 $124 10/5/16 $653,500 4 4.2 4,374 $149 10/5/16 $235,000 3 1.1 1,187 $197 10/6/16 $330,000 4 3.1 2,402 $137 10/6/16 $400,000 4 3.1 2,732 $146 10/6/16 $439,000 4 2.2 2,993 $146 10/6/16 $81,900 2 1 750 $109 10/7/16 $255,000 3 3 1,838 $138 10/7/16 $264,000 4 3.1 2,200 $120 10/7/16 $290,000 4 2.1 2,168 $133 10/7/16 $310,000 4 3 2,972 $104 10/7/16 $390,000 4 3.1 2,952 $132 10/7/16 $500,000 5 3.2 3,029 $165 10/7/16 $657,450 3 2.1 2,408 $273 10/7/16 $280,000 3 2.1 1,899 $147 10/11/16 $335,000 4 3.2 2,941 $113 10/11/16 $358,000 4 3.1 2,160 $165 10/11/16 $375,000 3 2.1 2,176 $172 10/11/16 $56,000 2 1 736 $76 10/12/16 $200,000 3 1 1,140 $175 10/12/16 $221,000 3 2.1 1,593 $138 10/12/16 $314,000 3 2.1 1,747 $179 10/12/16 $56,000 736 $76 $313,045 2,158 $145 $657,450 4,374 $273

FOR A FULL LIST OF OCTOBER SALES, VISIT WWW.ROCHESTERLISTINGS.COM Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Council of Excellence

CRS ABR SFR Presidents Circle Award Recipient

OVER $200 MILLION HOMES SOLD â&#x20AC;˘ TOP PRODUCING REALTOR â&#x20AC;˘ LOCAL CONNECTIONS â&#x20AC;˘ OVER $200 MILLION HOMES SOLD

OVER $200 MILLION HOMES SOLD â&#x20AC;˘ TOP PRODUCING REALTOR â&#x20AC;˘ LOCAL CONNECTIONS â&#x20AC;˘ OVER $200 MILLION HOMES SOLD

RECORD BREAKING SALES IN 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ LOCAL CONNECTIONS â&#x20AC;˘ OVER $200 MILLION HOMES SOLD â&#x20AC;˘ TOP PRODUCING REALTOR

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DOWNTOWN11.16

22

Aviation fuel: getting the lead out at airports While the country has removed lead from gas for road vehicles, piston driven aircraft still use the leaded version and tons of lead is still released each year at general aviation airports throughout the nation, which include three in Oakland County.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

10

Downtown newsmagazine is taking an advocacy role to influence local, county and state officials to ban the use of coal tar sealant on blacktop roads, parking lots and driveways due to increased concern over health threats for humans and aquatic life.

CRIME LOCATOR

15

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

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

17

Our political gossip column details the latest, including possible change in control of the state House; Trump's effect on the Oakland ballot; voter registration surge; no 'welcome mat' for dispensaries; and more.

MUNICIPAL

42

City reacts to water bill complaints; housing gap in Rochester identified; tax abatement transfer decided; 30-unit condo plant approved; Rojo files for reorganization; plus more.

FRONT/BACK

45

Katie Deska gives us the the latest on whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in the front and the back of the house in metro Detroit area restaurants with a series of short takes on the latest news and gossip for the industry.

THE COVER The Rochester Hills Public Library, dedicated November 1, 1992, at 500 Olde Towne Road on the edge of the central business district in downtown Rochester. The library, through contract arrangement, also serves the city of Rochester and Oakland Township.

Downtown photo: Laurie Tennent.

TAKETAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR OFFERS ADVANTAGE OF EXCEPTIONAL OUR EXCEPTIONAL OFFERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR EXCEPTIONAL OFFERS TAKE ADVANTAGECurrent OFCurrent OUR EXCEPTIONAL OFFERS lessees with a GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US Bank lessees with a GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US Bank

Current lessees withcan a GM lease through Financial, Ally or US Bank on theseonnew 2016 & 2017 Models. receive $750 allowance these new 2016 & 2017 Models. can receive $750GM allowance 1 Current lessees with a GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US on these 2016 2017 can receive $750 allowance Use yourUse loyalty allowance to get these exceptional lease offers. your loyaltynew allowance to& get these Models. exceptional leaseBank offers.

1

1

2016 CADILLAC ATS COUPE

1 onto these 2016lease & 2017 can receive Use $750 yourallowance loyalty allowance get thesenew exceptional offers. Models. 2.0T AWD LUXURY COLLECTION

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

Use your loyalty allowance to get these exceptional ers.

2016 CADILLAC ATS lease COUPE 2016 CADILLAC ATS off COUPE

$4,329 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

2.0T AWD LUXURY COLLECTION 2.0T AWD LUXURY COLLECTION

279 24

2016 CADILLAC ATS COUPE

$

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Currentwho GM Lessees.

Eligible Family Members are Current GM Lessees.

$4,329 DUE$4,329 AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS 2.0T AWD LUXURY COLLECTION DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

2016 CADILLAC ATS COUPE $ $

279 279 $ 279 2424

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

CEPTIONAL OFFERS Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and

PER nancial, AllyEligible or US Bank Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

1 $4,329 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS MONTH 6 & 2017 Models.

27924 24

PER MONTHS MONTH1

$

2 $

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, and license extra.

Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles.

M

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, and license extra.

Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles.

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, and license extra.

Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles.

No security deposit required.

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, and licenseTax, extra. title, and license extra.

Mileage charge $.25/mile over Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles.

30,000 miles.

389$389 36 CTS 36 2016 CADILLAC $

MONTHS

389 36CTS 2016 CADILLAC

36 $ $ 259259 24 24 ATS SEDAN 2016 CADILLAC MONTHS

MONTHS

$

2017 CADILLAC XT5

2016 CADILLAC XTS

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 20,000 miles.

CROSSOVER LUXURY COLLECTION

$3,409 DUE$3,409 AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, andrequired. license extra.

Mileage charge extra. $.25/mile overcharge 32,500$.25/mile miles No security deposit Tax, title, and license Mileage over 32,500 miles

20162016 CADILLAC CT6 CT6 CADILLAC

439439 39 39

$

PER MONTH1

$

PER MONTH2

MONTHS

MONTHS

MONTH

2

39 $ 659659 39 39

4WD LUXURY COLLECTION 4WD LUXURY COLLECTION PER MONTH2

PER MONTH2

MONTHS

PER MONTH

4WD LUXURY COLLECTION

$

U M

Members whoAFTER are Current GM Lessees. $3,459 DUE AT SIGNING ALL OFFERS

No security deposit required. $3,739 Tax, title, and license Mileage charge $.25/mile 30,000 miles.

DUE ATextra.

SIGNING AFTER ALLover OFFERS

N

No security deposit required. Tax, title, license, dealer fees extra. Mileage charge of $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

2016 CADILLAC ESCALADE

STVIEW 659 439 2016 CADILLAC ESCALADE CADILLAC CRESTVIEW CRESTVIEW 39 39 555 S. ROCHESTER RD. | ROCHESTER, MI 659 855-558-8821 CADILLAC LOCATED MINUTES FROM M-59 & 1-75 CADILLAC 39 www.crestviewcadillac.com | 855-558-8821 $

3

MONTHS

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family

2016 CADILLAC CT6

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles. 2

4

$

PER No security deposit required.

Tax, title, andrequired. license extra.

Mileage charge extra. $.25/mile overcharge 30,000$.25/mile miles.

No security deposit Tax, title, and license Mileage over 30,000 miles.

MONTHS

N

$3,459 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS P

3

$3,739 DUE $3,739 AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, license, dealer fees extra.

Mileage charge of $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, license, dealer fees extra.

Mileage charge of $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family

Members who are Currentwho GM are Lessees.

Members Current GM Lessees.

LUXURY COLLECTION

$4,009 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

PER No security deposit required.

Tax, title, andrequired. license extra.

Mileage charge extra. $.25/mile overcharge 32,500$.25/mile miles.

No security deposit Tax, title, and license Mileage over 32,500 miles.

MONTH2

555 S. LOCAT www.

555 S. ROCHESTER RD. | ROCHESTER, MI 555 S. ROCHESTER RD. | ROCHESTER, MI LOCATED MINUTES FROM M-59 1-75 & 1-75 LOCATED MINUTES FROM&M-59 www.crestviewcadillac.com www.crestviewcadillac.com SERVING THE METRO DETROIT AREA FOR 25FOR YEARS SERVING THE METRO DETROIT AREA 25 YEARS NOW OPEN SALES 10AM 5PM - 5PM NOWSATURDAYS: OPEN SATURDAYS: SALES- 10AM SERVICE 8AM - 1PM SERVICE 8AM - 1PM

MONTHS

MONTHS

CRESTVIEW 855-558-8821 855-558-8821 CADILLAC PER MONTH2

MONTHS

4

$

$

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Currentwho GM are Lessees.

3.6L AWD LUXURY COLLECTIONMembers who are 4WD Members Current GM Lessees.

Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$

2

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family

MONTHS

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles

3

N

Members are Current GM are Lessees.

Members who Current GM Lessees.

3.6L AWDwho LUXURY COLLECTION AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS MONTHS $3,459 DUE$3,459 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$

$3,409 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

2

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles

PER MONTH1

PER MONTH2

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$

359 2016 CADILLAC CT6 36 2016 4392016 CADILLAC ESCALADE CADILLAC ESCALADE

$

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Currentwho GM are Lessees.

Members Current GM Lessees.

3.6L AWD LUXURY COLLECTION 3.6L AWD LUXURY COLLECTION

U M

$3,409 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS CROSSOVER LUXURY COLLECTION

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 20,000 miles.

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$2,759 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

N

MONTHS ed GM MONTHS Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 20,000 miles.

369 39 2017 CADILLAC XT5

3

PER MONTH1

$2,759 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$3,169 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS SEDAN STANDARD COLLECTION

2 $ $359 36

PER MONTH1

PER MONTH1

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family

$

MONTH1

$3,169 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

SMembers who are Current GM Lessees.

MONTHS $2,759 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

C

CROSSOVERCROSSOVER LUXURY COLLECTION LUXURY COLLECTION

MONTHSand Eligible MONTHS Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

2

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

MONTHS

MONTHS

PER MONTH1

N

Members who are Current GM Lessees.

SEDAN COLLECTION $2,759STANDARD DUE $2,759 AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$

PER MONTH1

PER MONTH1

PER MONTH1

$

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, andrequired. license extra.

Mileage charge extra. $.25/mile overcharge 20,000$.25/mile miles.

PER No security deposit Tax, title, and license Mileage over 20,000 miles.

SEDAN STANDARD SEDAN COLLECTION STANDARD COLLECTION

$

U M

3692017 2017 CADILLAC XT5 XT5 CADILLAC 39 $ $ 359359 36 36

389 259 CADILLAC XTS XTS 2016 CADILLAC ATS SEDAN20162016 CADILLAC 36 U 24 $ $ $ 369 369 259 39 39 24 MONTHS

PER 1 Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Ultra-Low MONTH Members who are Current GM Lessees.

MONTHS No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 30,000 miles

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, andrequired. license extra.

Mileage charge extra. $.25/mile overcharge 30,000$.25/mile miles No security deposit Tax, title, and license Mileage over 30,000 miles

MONTHS

MONTHS

$3,169 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

2.0T STANDARD COLLECTION $3,169 DUE ATAWD SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS $3,169 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

2.0T AWD STANDARD COLLECTION

PER MONTH1

2.0T AWD STANDARD COLLECTION

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi Employees Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Leaseed forGM Well-Qualifi edand GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Currentwho GM are Lessees.

Members Current GM Lessees.

PER MONTH2

2

MONTHS

259 24 2016 CADILLAC XTS 2016 CADILLAC ATS SEDAN

MONTHS

$

$

2.0T AWD STANDARD 2.0T AWD COLLECTION STANDARD COLLECTION

$

PER MONTH2

2.0 AWD STANDARD COLLECTION

3892016 2016 CADILLAC ATS SEDAN CADILLAC ATS SEDAN

2

PER MONTH2

PER MONTH1

PER MONTH2

2.0 AWD STANDARD COLLECTION

$

2

$

2.0 AWD STANDARD 2.0 AWD COLLECTION STANDARD COLLECTION PER MONTH2

2016 CADILLAC CTS 2.0 AWD STANDARD COLLECTION

20162016 CADILLAC CTS CTS CADILLAC

MONTHS

$

MONTHSMONTHS

SERVING THE METRO DETROIT AREA FOR 25 YEARS $ NOW OPEN SATURDAYS: SALES 10AM - 5PM M Members who are Current GM Lessees.

SERVICE 8AM MI - 1PM ROCHESTER, MI ROCHESTER,

4281-1016MI

ease offers.

MONTHS

PER PER MONTH1 MONTH1

2.0T AWD LUXURY COLLECTION $4,329 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

PER MONTH1

1.Must have a current GM lease GM Financial, Ally or GM US Bank.

Not available some other offers. delivery byers.

10/31/16.

See dealer for details.

2. Must a current GM lease GM Financial, Ally or GM US Bank.

Payments for a 2016 CT6 2.0T withCT6 an MSRP 1.Must havethrough a current GM lease through Financial, Ally or USwith Bank.

Not available withTake some other off Take delivery by 10/31/16.

See dealerhave for details.

2. Must havethrough a current GM lease through Financial, Ally or are US Bank.

Payments areLuxury for a 2016 2.0T Luxury with an MSRP of $59,390. 39 monthly payments Payments for a 2016 ATS 2.0T Standard with an MSRP of $36,240.

36MSRP monthly payments $9,324.

Payments for a 2016 CTS Sedan with an MSRP of $46,555.

36MSRP monthly payments $10,044.

Payments U$17,121. of $59,390.

39total monthly payments totalare $17,121.

Payments are Sedan for a 2016 ATS 2.0T Sedan Standard with an of $36,240.

36total monthly payments totalare $9,324.

Payments are forStandard a 2016 CTS Sedan Standard with an of $46,555.

36total monthly payments total $10,044. Payments are for a 2016 XTS Sedan with an MSRP of $46,290.

39MSRP monthly payments $12,831.

Payments for a 2017 XT5 Crossover Luxury with an MSRPLuxury of $45,890.

39MSRP monthly payments $13,611 Payments for a 2016 Escalade 4WD Luxury with an4WD MSRPLuxury of $80,640. are forStandard a 2016 XTS Sedan Standard with an of $46,290.

39total monthly payments totalare $12,831.

Payments are for a 2017 XT5 Crossover with an of $45,890.

39total monthly payments totalare $13,611 Payments are for a 2016 Escalade with an MSRP of $80,640 39 monthly payments total $24,141.

Option to purchase at lease end date for an amount to be determined at lease signing.

GM Financial must approve lease.

Take delivery by 10/31/16.

Mileage charge of $.25/mile over 30,000 miles for ATS and CTS. Mileage charge of $.25/mile over of $.25/mile over 39 monthly payments total $24,141. Option to purchase at lease end date for an amount to be determined at lease signing. GM Financial must approve lease. Take delivery by 10/31/16. Mileage charge of $.25/mile over 30,000 miles for ATS and CTS. Mileage charge 32,500 miles for CT6, XT5, XTS, and Escalade.

Lessee pays for maintenance, excess wear and a disposition fee of $595 or less at end of lease.

Not available with some other off ers.

Prices subject to change.

Pictures may not represent actual vehicle.

Expires 010/31/2016 ©2016 32,500 miles for CT6, XT5, XTS, and Escalade. Lessee pays for maintenance, excess wear and a disposition fee of $595 or less at end of lease. Not available with some other offers. Prices subject to change. Pictures may not represent actual vehicle. Expires 010/31/2016 ©2016 General Motors. Cadillac® ATS® CTS®Cadillac® CT6® XT5® XTS® Escalade® General Motors.

ATS® CTS® CT6® XT5® XTS® Escalade® Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family

Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$3,739 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and Eligible Family No security deposit required. Tax, title, license, dealer fees extra. Mileage charge of $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

1 Members who are Current GM Lessees.

L

L

|

No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

1.Must have a current GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US Bank. Not available with some other off ers. Take delivery by 11/30/16. See dealer for details. 2. Must have a current GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US Bank. Payments are for a No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

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31

Heroin surge continuing Health and law enforcement officials say the surge in heroin use is not slowing down and carries with it even new dangers for users.

39 School funding disparity Two decades later, we look at whether the change in school funding has accomplished the elimination of disparity between school districts.

20

Wesley “Wes” Whitlam

FACES 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

The threat to human health and aquatic life in Oakland from coal tar sealcoating demands a ban of this practice; the importance of keeping prescription drugs from ending up in our drinking water.

20 35 41

Wesley “Wes” Whitlam Anthony Sorentino Rick Mahorn

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

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FROM THE PUBLISHER owntown newsmagazine is beginning a campaign over the next month to hopefully influence local officials in Oakland County and lawmakers in Lansing who represent county communities to ban the use of coal tar sealcoat from residential driveways, local roads and public/private parking lots.

D

I take the time this month to give a heads up to followers of Downtown because this push moves the publication into an advocacy role that we normally reserve for major issues facing the public.

This is not the first time Downtown has pushed local officials in hopes of shaping public policy, something we do each month on our editorial opinion page (Endnote) at the back of the publication. In fact, we tackle the issue of coal tar sealcoat and its threat to both public health and aquatic life on the opinion page in this issue.

But our plans here are to move a step beyond the news columns and opinion pages to apply added pressure to achieve a specific goal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a ban on the use of coal tar sealant and a ban on the sale in retail outlets of this substance.

Downtown newsmagazine profiled in one of our longform features in the October issue, the threat posed by coal tar sealcoat, which has long been the process followed by commercial interests and residents as a way to both reportedly extend the life of black top pavement and in some cases, satisfy the aesthetic requirements of homeowners.

This newsmagazine has long defined as part of its mission to add our voice to the discussion of issues facing the local communities. We think that is part of our responsibility as a legitimate news publication informing the public each month.

As a few examples, if we look back to issues from recent years, we like to think we helped elevate the discussion and eventual public policy when Birmingham was grappling with a problem plagued bar/night club in the central downtown area; the future development of bistros in the central business district; or an overly ambitious plan for the public library in the city.

My personal history also includes, dating back to the 1970's and 1980's in Oakland, raising the the level of discussion and government review of lake access legislation in the state; or the push to unite a half dozen west Oakland local municipalities to negotiate better contracts with cable television providers when that industry was in its infancy; or attempts at writing open space preservation legislation with all stakeholders in that issue with the help of a member of the Michigan Senate.

The motivation on the coal tar sealcoat issue is simple: Oakland has 358 inland lakes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ranging from two acres to over 1,200 acres â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that help add to the quality of life here, and coal tar sealcoat that has been used for decades poses major human health risk and ends up washing into the waterways that should be a major concern for residents, not to mention the fact that many of our communities sit at the headwaters for rivers, streams and ultimately lakes in the southern portion of the state.

Yes, I know that in this presidential election year there is much talk about supposed media bias, and we are acutely aware of our role as storytellers in producing a product that seeks truth and unbiased information, which is what we attempt to provide in our municipal news coverage and in our longform features on major issues. We don't subscribe to what has become known as advocacy journalism where the writer adopts a non-objective viewpoint and only presents one side of an issue, which was really the mainstay decades ago of the alternative press, which is dwindling in both numbers nationwide and impact thanks to the growing large corporate ownership trend now taking place.

But once we have identified a major problem, we also feel a responsibility to address an issue outside of the confines of the printed news and opinion pages, like we will be doing with the coal tar sealcoat concern.

A few communities in Michigan have already passed local ordinances to ban the use of coal tar sealcoat and a bill was introduced in Lansing, although no action was taken on the issue in the most recent legislative session. Communities in other states are already beginning to address the issue of coal tar sealcoat, so there appears to be an increasing momentum on this issue.

What we plan to do over the next two months is to educate officials in all municipalities in Oakland, along with the county board of commissioners and lawmakers representing local communities here that this county and hopefully the state can be one of the leading voices to force a stop to coal tar sealcoating.

We will be sending to officials county-wide our October longform feature on this topic, along with the Endnote page from this issue, a sample ordinance from a Michigan community already banning this practice, accompanied by a letter asking officials to consider adopting local ordinances, county regulations and ultimately a state law that puts a stop to this method of sealcoating driveways, roads and parking lots with this chemical, along with a ban on sale of coal tar sealcoating products, something some of the major big box stores have started to do on their own.

Downtown newsmagazine will also be adding a standing poll to the home page of our website (downtownpublications.com) to create additional feedback for public officials.

We are hoping that with the leadership from local communities, enough pressure can be applied so a county-wide, if not state-wide, ban on this practice will be enacted.

So over the next few months, look for updates on how we are progressing on this issue.

David Hohendorf Publisher DavidHohendorf@downtownpublications.com

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The ordinary bait and switch campaign is demonstrated by their selling "must self-administer,” then they do not provide in their legislation for an ordinary witness of the "self-administration.” This omission eviscerates the flaunted safeguards, putting the entire population at risk of exploitation by heirs, the medical-governmentalcomplex and organ/tissue traffickers.

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

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

Tom Ennis Coal Tar Free America Austin, Texas

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These are the crimes reported under select categories by police officials in Rochester and Rochester Hills through October 19, 2016.

Placement of codes is approximate.

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LOCAL 11.16

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

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

CHANGING THE GUARD: Earlier this year Democrats predicted the Michigan House, now controlled by the GOP, 63-45, could flip with the 2016 election, with the party picking up at least nine seats like it did in the 2008 presidential election season. Republicans have controlled the House, Senate and the Governor’s office since 2010. As the rubber hits the road with the November vote, the chance of change in control is not that farfetched. One Republican lawmaker sees the writing on the wall. “I think we have up to 15 or 16 seats in play, with nine to 10 in serious play,” around the state, he said. Included in those seats are House Speaker Kevin Cotter’s in Mt. Pleasant.

“We’re going to lose that seat,” as well as one held by Brandt Iden in Kalamazoo County after the single 30-something was seen at the Mackinac Policy conference “doing a lot of partying, with a young woman staffer on his back. And there were cell phone pictures.” Oakland County Rep. Klint Kesto (R-Commerce Township, West Bloomfield), running for his third term, is a local KESTO lawmaker whose campaign is considered by Republicans to be very close. “They’ve got people working Kesto’s district every day. He’s polling 46-42, with a plus/minus of four percent.” The source noted that the Democrats have schooled themselves on Republican tactics, focusing efforts on the 15 seats at risk across the state, rather than going after all of them. Adding to the suspense – there are 25 seats now held by Republicans and 13 held by Democrats that are open thanks to term limits.

BYE BYE BIRDIE: After 10 years as Bloomfield Hills City Manager, the official word from Jay Cravens was he resigned to take a position as director of development with the town of Collierville, Tennessee, to move closer to his daughter and granddaughter. Definitely true, as he’ll just be 15 minutes from family. But more than family likely played into his decision to head south on I75. Those in the know say city politics and micromanagement by commissioners prompted him to look elsewhere. As one insider said: “If there was an emblem for Bloomfield Hills, it would be an ostrich with its head in the sand.” Best of luck, Jay.

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ALL FALL DOWN: Michigan Republicans in October were quick to run for cover from the effects of a Trump Tsunami that changed course and were giving all signs of producing a wave election in the state that could take out GOP strongholds in its wake. A 2005 tape that surfaced last month of the Republican presidential nominee having a lewd conversation about women was followed by a plunge in Michigan presidential polls, which put Trump behind Clinton by as many as 12 points in some surveys. Michigan pollster Bernie Porn, president of Epic MRA, told Downtown Publications a continued lag in the polls for Trump could result in a wave election capable of effecting congressional state and county races in Oakland County. “There PORN are two schools of thought. One is that because there are a good number of people voting third party and going back and forth on the ballot, Republicans won’t be impacted too much,” Porn said. “But, my thought is that history proves that in the five- to seven-point range, there can be an impact on the ballot.” That means, he said, if Clinton wins the state by a difference of more than eight points, the effect could carry over to other races. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter what candidates are running, or even spending, in a competitive margin district, the impact of a wave election is like a tsunami,” he said.

University of Michigan political science professor Richard Hall isn’t so sure how the presidential race will impact others on the ballot. Ultimately, he said, it will come down to voter turnout. “The only answer I can give with confidence is: I don’t know,” Hall said. “Negative campaigns tend to suppress voter turnout, but we don’t know what the right turnout model is. Trump has an intense following and intense opposition.” What that will mean for congressional incumbents like David Trott or Mike Bishop, Reps. Mike McCready and Michael Webber, or county executive L. Brooks Patterson, is anyone’s guess. But it could be a wild and crazy election night.

GOING TO POT: Don’t look for a ‘welcome’ mat in Rochester Hills if you are an authorized medical marijuana caregiver, based on comments and the tone downtownpublications.com

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of a recent joint session of the city council and planning commission. Take for example one comment by Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Mike Johnson about a medical marijuana caregiver in the city that Rochester Hills has been unable to shut down – because he’s following the law – “Unfortunately, he is doing all the right things.” Under the state’s medical marijuana laws, individuals certified by the state may legally grow a specific number of marijuana plants in their homes, including additional plants for licensed caregivers. Strong marijuana odor can be a nuisance for neighbors, but advocates following the letter of the law have installed air filtration systems and taken other means to ensure they meet local code, frustrating efforts by law enforcement and municipalities. Council members pushing for stricter nuisance rules in residential areas were reminded by the city’s attorney they are unable to pass local laws that would disallow laws enacted by the state. In a further irony for the city, the discussion was part of a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 27, held at the Rochester Hills Museum at the Van Hoosen Farm, rather than its regularly-televised council meeting at city hall the previous day.

Why the secrecy on a public issue? Apparently, one official said after the meeting, some council members wanted to hold the meeting on the pot issue during a closed session meeting which would have been a violation of the state’s open meeting act. Look for a six-month moratorium on any medical marijuana dispensaries allowed under a newly approved state law and then, more than likely, a move by the city to ban dispensaries in total.

UP, UP & AWAY: Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, as well as local clerks, have seen voter registration surge for this election, which many note is typical for a presidential election. Brown noted that applications in the county are definitely up from 2012, “but still lower than in 2008” when Barack Obama and John McCain appeared on the ballot. “Presidential elections are really different than any other election,” noted Bloomfield Hills Clerk Amy Burton, who has seen an increase not only in voter registration, but in absentee ballot requests as well. “We have a permanent absentee voter ballot request of about 700, and we’ve already had requests for about 800. We BROWN usually don’t issue that full 700, so this is significant.”

Birmingham Clerk Laura Pierce concurred. “There’s definitely an increase, but we expect that.” Rochester Hills Clerk Tina Barton said they have seen an increase from 2012, when they issued 11,407 absentee ballots, and have already issued 10,355. “I am confident we will reach and surpass that number.” Bloomfield Township clerk Jan Roncelli said they always see an increase in voter registration in presidential elections, but the surprise has been in the requests for more absentee ballots for overseas and military voters. “It’s about 30 percent more than 2012,” she said. “That a lot more.” Lee Anne O’Connor, clerk for the city of Rochester, said they have reached the highest BURTON number of registered voters – 10,449 – they have ever had, “and we’ve seen a lot more absentee voters, as well, at 1,562 so far. I think it’s not only because it’s a crazy election, but it’s social media and smartphones.” O’Connor believes that today’s voters are much more knowledgeable, and have access to the internet, where they are downloading absentee ballots. “They’re not just going to my office or waiting for the ballot to come in the mail.” As to whether the election could be rigged, she assured voters, “That’s not even possible. I can say that with certainty.”

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TSL: Freshmen congressmen David Trott (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills) and Mike Bishop (R-Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township) could both take a lesson from other members of Congress, as well as Michigan Lieutenant Gov. Brian Calley, who withdrew their support from Donald Trump just 24 hours following the unveiling of the audio/video in which the GOP presidential contender spewed lewd/degrading comments relative to women and bragged about his exalted status that supposedly gives him a free pass at predatory behavior toward the opposite sex. Both Trott and Bishop issued almost boilerplate positions through their offices expressing that they found Trump’s video “offensive” but neither Republican disavowed support for the candidate. We’re not sure that is enough to avoid being sucked into the vortex of this storm. downtownpublications.com

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FACES

Wesley “Wes” Whitlam e climbed the outside of an IHOP, in Pittsburgh,” said Wesley “Wes” Whitlam a.k.a. Kilt Ninja of Rochester.

“We were checking in (to a hotel) and it was the only thing open at 6 a.m. for o.j. and an egg. While we waited for the place to open, we said, let's climb the bricks on the outside, (of the building). That’s why I love my friends – everything is a competition, like, ‘How long can you hang there?’”

Whitlam “went out with a blaze of glory,” as he put it, when he separated his shoulder on the rolling log while competing on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior last June.

Despite his physical injury, Whitlam’s lifestyle transformation, made throughout the two years prior, didn’t break. He threw himself into the exercises his body could handle, like running and obstacle course racing. “Just because I hurt my shoulder, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from using my lower half,” he said.

That motivation and can-do attitude is what earned Whitlam a spot on American Ninja Warrior to begin with.

Watching the show with his son and daughter one day, after he had lost 45 pounds by joining a gym and later getting into CrossFit, Whitlam was given a challenge his kids couldn’t have known the impact of.

“Daddy, you couldn’t do that, could you?” they asked him.

“You know what, I could do that,” he replied, taking note of the athletes’ gymnast-esque routine.

Shortly after, Whitlam set a personal goal to make the American Ninja Warrior 2015 city qualifiers. Although he wouldn’t appear on the show until the following season, Whitlam had plenty of fun training for his June 2016 debut.

Involving his family in his newfound passion, Whitlam built obstacles in their backyard, spent time training in Bloomer Park, and even travelled with his kids to Ohio once a week to use the ninja gym before any had opened in the Rochester area.

“In the summer and fall of 2015, I kicked up my training and worked with a Rochester film company. When I submitted my video last year in December, I got a call in February, and they said, ‘We want you.’”

Broadcast from Indianapolis, the kilt-clad Whitlam raced off the start line and whipped through the quintuple steps and the spinning discs.

“I went on to the next obstacle, it was a hanging obstacle, and my arms were like rubber bands. I hung for a little bit and started to swing and when I tried to grab the next hand hold, I fell,” splashing into the water below, busted shoulder, billowing kilt and all.

For Whitlam, his persona as Kilt Ninja isn’t a gimmick, but a expression of who he is.

“I’m an immigrant, and my family is from Scotland and Canada. I got married in a kilt. It’s what I wore on my wedding day, and it always seemed to be a part of the id or the ego – in the back of my head – representing struggle and strength and masculinity.

“It was different, and I thought what can I bring to the ninja world and my kids (to) say, ‘It’s OK to look different, to feel comfortable in something different.’ It represents the raw experience of moving from one country to another. Being a citizen was a huge thing, but I did not want to lose my heritage.”

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Story: Katie Deska

Photo: Laurie Tennent

REMOVING PISTON-ENGINE AIRCRAFT

BY KEVIN ELLIOTT ffects from lead in plumbing, paint and gasoline continue to haunt the health and well-being of communities even decades after its widespread use ended, but tons of lead from gasoline are still released each year at general aviation airports throughout the nation, which include three in Oakland County.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began phasing out lead from automobile gasoline in 1973, with a complete removal of lead from the fuel in 1995. However, the vast majority of today's fuel that powers pistonengine aircraft still contains lead.

Used by about 167,000 piston-engine aircraft at some 20,000 airports in the United States, general aviation fuel, or "avgas," is the only remaining lead-containing transportation fuel. Avgas is used in general aviation aircraft with piston engines, which are generally used for instructional flying, air taxi activities and personal transportation.

E

THE LEAD NOW IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Some helicopters and recreation craft, such as ultralights, may also use avgas. Lead isn't found in jet fuel, which is used by most commercial aircraft.

Piston-engine aircraft account for the largest source of lead emissions in the air in the United States, including industrial sources, such as ore and metal processing facilities. Emissions of lead from piston-engine aircraft using leaded avgas make up about half of the nation's inventory of lead emitted from the air.

In Oakland County, piston-engine aircraft produced more than a half ton of air emissions in 2008, according to the EPA. Those emissions, along with the airport's layout and pressure placed on federal regulators to begin a national phase out of lead from aviation gasoline, forced the county to monitor lead concentrations in the air at it's largest airport, Oakland County International Airport in Waterford, in 2011 and 2012.

IN OAKLAND, PISTONENGINE AIRCRAFT PRODUCED MORE THAN A HALF TON OF AIR EMISSIONS IN 2008

The county also owns and operates Oakland Southwest Airport in Lyon Township; and the Oakland/Troy Airport.

Additionally, there are more than two dozen helipads, seaports and unregistered air fields where some piston-powered helicopters, seaplanes and ultralight aircraft may operate in the county.

County airport officials estimate there are more than 50,000 annual, combined takeoffs and landings by piston-engine aircraft at its three airports, with about half of those conducted at Oakland County International. By comparison, the airport registers about 100,000 commercial jet takeoffs and landings each year.

David VanderVeen, airport spokesman and director of central services for Oakland County, said the total number of flights at Oakland County International Airport have dropped from about 390,000 takeoffs and landings in 1988 to about 120,000 annually now.

The biggest decline in operations, he said, is with smaller, pistonengine planes that use leaded gas.

"The EPA did a study on lead emissions a few years ago," he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They determined our lead emissions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and they had some sophisticated instruments in the field â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the lead levels were about half of the concern levels."

Results from that study, provided in this article, confirm VanderVeen's assessment. However, human health and environmental groups say there is no safe level of lead when it comes to the public's safety.

"As we have seen, we continue to have significant problems with lead in our environment, whether it's legacy issues from paint and water pipes or from lead in gasoline. We still have lead from automobile gasoline in our environment," said Marcie Keever, legal director for Friends of the Earth, an environmental activist group that has pushed for the EPA to phase lead out of avgas.

High levels of exposure to lead can result in death and brain damage. But even low exposure to lead has been found to cause learning disabilities, lower IQ levels, increased blood pressure and nerve damage. Children are specifically at risk to lead exposure because they absorb larger amounts of lead and are more sensitive to lead induced toxicity.

Lead in the air can spread far from where it is produced. Once airborne, it may be ingested into the lungs or fall to the ground and mix with the soil, where it remains until it is disturbed. Because babies and young children are more likely to put their hands and other items exposed to lead dust or soil into their mouth, lead contaminated soils pose a higher risk to them.

A 2011 study by researchers at Duke University looked into the effects of avgas on childhood blood levels in six counties in North Carolina. The study suggested children living within one-third of a mile to an airport where leaded avgas is used had higher blood lead levels than other children. The study suggested lead emission from avgas may contribute to blood lead levels in children living more than half a mile away from the same airports.

Yet residents living closest to general aviation airports may have no knowledge of the potential risk to their health from pistonengine aircraft. More often than not, concerns about piston-engine aircraft are overshadowed by their larger, noisier jet-powered counterparts.

Waterford resident James Hardin, who has lived within a mile of the airport for about 60 years, said he wasn't aware that aviation fuel contains lead.

"I thought it was all lead free today," said Hardin, who is concerned about the diesel-like fumes he endures from jet exhaust. "We really notice it when the wind comes from the airport out of the north. When it drops, it just gags you. It's hard to explain. I'm hyper-sensitive to it. I have to leave sometimes. Diesel is nasty and sooty. You get a black film on everything. I have a skylight on my house and it gets terrible, especially in the winter. You have to wash it a lot.

"I would be concerned more about the diesel than the avgas. You don't smell the airplane gas."

Unlike jet fuel that has a strong odor and can leave behind a dark residue on windows, walls and patios and outdoor furniture, avgas exhaust is more akin to automobile exhaust. While aviation fuels are formulated to have increased stability for flight, unleaded avgas is available at limited airports and is similar to 94-octane auto fuel. However, the majority of avgas includes a lead additive, which provides an octane boost required by many airplane engines.

"Performance is the key benefit and reason why lead was added to fuel; it adds a significant amount of performance increase to the engine, and specifically it has an anti-detonation measure," said Walter Derosier, vice president of engineering for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. "If it starts to detonate inside the engine cylinders, it is extremely damaging."

David Oord, director of government affairs for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said about 70 percent of the existing pistonengine aircraft today can operate on a version of unleaded, ethanolfree fuel if they acquire the proper certification. However, about 30 percent of planes still require a higher octane fuel that is currently only available in leaded form.

Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Downtown Publications show just 15 complaints were made from 2006 to 2013 to the Oakland County International Airport regarding odor, residue and noise from jet aircraft. While the majority of complaints referenced concerns about health impacts from breathing exhaust fumes, none of the complaints involved piston-engine aircraft. Instead, the complaints targeted commercial jets and jet fuel fumes that are similar to diesel fuel.

Residents who registered complaints said the smell of jet fuel was overwhelming. One person who called the airport to complain said the fumes are so bad that when he and a friend were sitting in his backyard, "They made his friend regurgitate on the lawn."

Keever, with Friends of the Earth, said it was actually nitrogen oxide levels from turbine-powered aircraft that the group was hoping to convince the EPA to address when researchers learned lead fuel was still being used in the industry.

"It's sort of like we found it. We were looking for another thing in the Clean Air Act about another source and we found it," she said.

Had the group not been investigating greenhouse gas emissions from turbine engines, Keever said it's unlikely the EPA would even be considering plans to phase out lead from aviation fuel.

"As soon as we discovered this in 2003, we wrote to the EPA, and they didn't do anything," she said. "We sent them a petition and filed litigation in 2012 because they haven't replied to our petition."

The petition requested the EPA begin a process to remove lead from aviation gas by finding that lead emissions may reasonably be expected to endanger public health and welfare, and for the agency to propose new lead emission standards in the federal Clean Air Act. "They have said they will do an endangerment finding, which is the first step in phasing out lead in avgas," Keever said.

The EPA is now evaluating the impact of emissions from avgas on public health. The agency also intends to release their findings in 2017 for public review and comment. A final endangerment finding is expected to be released in 2018, following a review of public comments.

"General aviation, or piston-engine aircraft, is the single largest source of lead emissions in the United States," Keever said. "It's continuing and ongoing."

About 34,000 tons of lead emitted from piston-engine aircraft have been released into the air in the United States between 1970 and 2007, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The Oakland County International Airport, in Waterford, which houses nearly 400 piston-engine aircraft, registered .59 tons of lead

34,000 TONS OF LEAD EMITTED FROM PISTON-ENGINE AIRCRAFT RELEASED IN U.S. FROM 1970–2007

emissions in 2008, making it one of 58 General Aviation airports in the nation to have a half-ton or more in lead emissions that year, according to EPA records. Just six airports across the nation in 2008 had annual lead emissions greater than one ton.

To put lead emissions into context, consider that the EPA requires state and local air quality agencies to monitor lead concentrations in the air near industrial facilities with estimated lead emissions of .5 tons or more per year. Airports releasing a full ton or more of lead also are required to be monitored.

However, monitoring requirements are applied on a case-by-case basis in locations where the EPA determines there is a likelihood that annual lead emissions could result in those locations exceeding the agency's ambient air standard.

The EPA's National Ambient Air Quality Standard is what determines acceptable lead concentrations levels in the air in locations accessible to the general public. While total lead emissions are measured in tons, concentrations are measured by monitoring the micrograms per cubit meter of total air over a three month timeframe.

In 2008, the EPA strengthened the ambient air standard for lead, revising the maximum from 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter to .15 micrograms. Those concentrations represent a three-month average of lead levels in total suspended particles.

In 2011, Oakland County International Airport was one of 17 airports in the United States required by the EPA to participate in a 12-month monitoring program to gauge lead concentrations of outside air where the general public would have access.

Under the program, airports with a three month average lead concentration exceeding the .15 micrograms would be required to have continued monitoring beyond the initial year of testing. The .15 microgram average is the maximum under the National Ambient Air Monitoring Standard.

Monitoring at the Oakland County International Airport took place from July 2, 2011 through August 7, 2012. An air monitoring station, about the size of a mailbox, was placed downwind from the main runway where the majority of piston-engine aircraft takeoff. Results show lead concentrations for five or six days each month, with average lead concentrations for each day, the average monthly concentration and a three-month average.

Results from the study show the highest three-month average lead concentrations at the Oakland County airport reached a maximum of .02342 micrograms for the months including August, September and October of 2011, well below the .15 microgram standard of the NAAQS. The highest monthly average recorded in the study was .0277718 micrograms in August of 2011. The maximum daily lead concentration for the year was .04108, on October 30, 2011.

“As you can see, the three month rolling average remained below .075 micrograms per cubit meter (i.e., one-half of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard)," an air monitoring supervisor with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) Air Quality Division, which conducted the monitoring on behalf of the EPA, said in a memo to airport officials on August 28, 2012. "As we have collected a complete year of data, the requirements laid out in the Federal Register have been met and we have stopped collecting samples.”

Included in the monitoring program were airports that had lead emissions between .5 and one ton per year, based on 2008 lead emissions recorded by the EPA's National Emissions Inventory. The goal, according to the EPA, was to better understand how the lead emissions from avgas affect the air at and near the airports. In total, there were 58 airports that produced at least a half ton or more of lead emissions, but less than one full ton.

To scale down the number of airports in the monitoring program, the EPA took into consideration the airport runway configuration and meteorology that would cause a greater frequency of operation from one or two runway ends.

Finally, the EPA looked for airports where ambient air is within 150

meters of the location where the maximum amount of lead emissions would be released. Ambient air is any location to which the general public has access. On airports, the general public includes recreational pilots and their passengers, members of the public who visit the airport for special events and other people who might be in airport hangars.

“We selected a distance of 150 meters between the maximum impact site and ambient air because the available information suggests that ambient air concentrations will decrease sharply with distance from the source and it is less likely that an exceedance of the NAAQS for lead will occur at greater distances,” EPA officials with the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor said in a memo to airports.

The EPA said its 150 meter location was based on monitoring conducted at the Santa Monica Airport, in California.

Airports included in the study that exceeded the .15 microgram standard and required additional monitoring included the McClellanPalomar Airport, in California (.17 micrograms); and the San Carlos Airport, in California (.33 micrograms).

The Palo Alto airport, which had an average lead concentration of .12 micrograms, was the third highest of all the airports included in the study.

"The lead gradient at this airport serves as a guide for the purpose of limiting the number of airports to consider for this exploratory airport monitoring study," the EPA said. "We are not implying that there will be no exceedances of the NAAQS for lead beyond the 150 meter distance."

Oakland County Manager of Aviation Karl Randall, in a September 2011 email to EPA regulators, expressed disagreement with the agency's monitoring location at the airport, which was located about 10 feet south of the south end of an airplane hangar on the northeast side of the runway, and about 90 feet north of the center of the runway.

"I do not believe it is at all appropriate to include recreational pilots, their passengers, or hangar tenants within the definition of the general public. Realistically, consideration ought to be given to the legal principle of assumption of risk," he wrote. "Pilots operating aircraft, their passengers and hangar tenants (who are also pilots) are fully aware of the presence of engine exhaust from their and others' planes, and voluntarily choose to be there."

Randall also said other than those specific people at the airport, operational procedures in place by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restrict the public from the area where the monitoring was to be conducted.

"This monitor site location is clearly designed to present the worst possible case scenario, not of realistic assessment of what lead levels the 'true' general public might be exposed to, a minimum of hundreds of feet or yards away from aircraft takeoff and preflight run-up check locations," he said in the email. "If the underlying concern and justification for conducting the study is the actual level of lead exposure to the general public from piston powered planes burning 100LL, the monitoring should be done out in the community where the people are – not on the airport virtually at the exhaust pipe of the aircraft."

Susan Kilmer, unit supervisor for the Michigan DEQ's Air Monitoring Unit, said the EPA chose that specific monitoring location at the airport based on its proximity to the rev-up zone for airplanes and wind direction. She said one such monitor can't show lead levels reaching the public outside of the airport grounds.

"If we we're doing ambient air sampling in a community, we would need to be a certain distance from the roadway because the objective is measuring ambient air that the public will breathe, so we would want to be away from obstructions, but this was to monitor what was coming off small aircraft," Kilmer said. "I would think that being very

AIRPORT TESTS GIVE A SMALL SNAPSHOT, BUT TOTAL IMPACT OF EMISSIONS MORE A MOVING TARGET

close to the runway, where they are revving up before they start rolling, I would expect that to be the maximum impact location, and that it would dilute the further away from the airport."

However, the height at which lead emissions are released may have a substantial impact on how far lead particles travel in the air. Kilmer said this became evident in monitoring lead emissions at a brass production facility in Belding, Michigan. When the facility raised the height of its smoke stack, the DEQ had to add a second monitoring location to track the emissions.

"Disbursement is dependent on the height of the stack, the air velocity and weather conditions," she said.

While monitoring at the airport gives a small snapshot of lead concentrations at a specific location, the total impact of lead emissions is more of a moving target.

In addition to the EPA's ongoing work into lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration is working with the aviation industry to establish a new standard of unleaded fuel that will work across the existing general aviation fleet.

Under the partnership, the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI) was formed, which includes representatives from the FAA, pilots,

he number of piston powered airplanes flying in and out of the Oakland County International Airport, in Waterford, caught the attention of federal regulators in 2011, but for residents living near the airport, the main concern has centered around the overpowering smell of jet engine exhaust.

In March, a Waterford resident contacted the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to find out more about lead emissions from smaller piston-engine airplanes, and to ask whether he should be concerned about air pollution from jets.

"I can frequently smell jet fuel in my neighborhood, which causes me to be concerned for the health of my children," the resident said in a March 14, 2012 email to Craig Fritzner, supervisor at the Air Monitoring Unit of the DEQ. "I'm sorry, but I am not familiar with the components of jet fuel, nor do I know what the latest studies across the nation have shown about the role jet engine emissions have upon air quality. However, I will ask my colleagues at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if they have such information," Fritzner responded.

As it is, aircraft, specifically jet and turbo prop-powered planes, are the singlelargest greenhouse gas-emitting transportation source not yet subjected to greenhouse gas standards in the United States, according to the EPA. In July of 2016, the agency finalized findings under the federal Clean Air Act, stating that concentrations of six well-

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aircraft owners, aircraft manufacturers and others. Additionally, Congress has approved $7 million for the 2016 fiscal year to support PAFI's testing program at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

As part of the initiative, the FAA in June 2013 requested fuel producers to submit replacement fuel proposals to the FAA for evaluation. Testing of 17 formulations from six different companies was done, and reduced to four formulations for the first testing phase, which was completed in December 2015. The FAA and PAFI are now conducting the second phase of testing, which involves two unleaded fuels and ground and flight testing using more than two dozen engine and aircraft models.

Ken Knopp, a manager at the FAA's technical center in Atlantic City, said testing is on schedule to be completed in 2018. At that point, he said, the hope is that the FAA will certify one or both of the fuels for use.

Oord, with the owners and pilots association, said the industry is concerned about lead emissions, and is working with the FAA to come up with a safe alternative to leaded fuel.

"Ultimately, it's hard to defend lead," he said. "It's a pretty toxic substance. I think we all agree that it's in our best interest to move froward and test and approve a replacement."

mixed greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endanger the public health and welfare of current and future generations; and that greenhouse gasses emitted from certain classes of engines used in certain aircraft are contributing to the air pollution that endangers public health and welfare.

The result of domestic and international flights originating in the United States account for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's transportation sector; about three percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the country; and a half percent of total greenhouse gas emissions around the world.

Specifically, the EPA singled out six greenhouse gasses related to jet and turboprop engine exhaust, which include carbon dioxide; methane; nitrous oxide hydroflourocarbons; perfluoracarbons; and sulfur hexaflouride. The six compounds are considered as a combined group and together are the cause and best understood drivers of human-induced climate change, and the results' impact on public health and welfare.

Despite the findings, the EPA isn't yet proposing or finalizing aircraft engine emission standards for greenhouse gases.

Rather, the findings are considered the first step toward those standards.

"These findings trigger the EPA's duty under the Clean Air Act to promulgate emissions standards applicable to GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from the classes of aircraft engines included in the contribution finding," the EPA said in a

statement. "Any such future proposed domestic regulatory actions would be open to the appropriate public comment and review, providing opportunity for stakeholders and the public to provide input."

The investigation into jet engine emissions stems from a petition filed in December of 2007 by environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity, and Earthjustice. In its petition, the groups requested the EPA make findings that greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft engines may endanger public health and welfare.

The groups have said the EPA didn't begin evaluating emissions from airplane pollution until 2014, shortly after they had filed a notice of intent to sue the agency for failing to reduce aircraft emissions.

The groups say the EPA hasn't done enough to reduce aircraft emissions. A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation found the top 20 transatlantic air carriers are able to lower greenhouse gas emissions as much as 51 percent by using existing technology and operational improvements.

"The endangerment found in the documents the magnitude of airplanes' contribution to climate change, but the EPA fails to take steps to address the harms," said Sarah Burt, staff attorney at Earthjustice. "We will continue to use the power of law to compel the EPA to put in place standards that actually reduce harmful pollution from aircraft."

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Custom built Tuscan stone castle high on a hill overlooking a private 4.5 acre estate with built-in swimming pool and waterfall to large stocked pond. This home is an architectural masterpiece featuring approximately 12,000 sq. ft. of finely appointed living area. Home features an attached greenhouse atrium with date trees, 60' x 20' billiard hall with wet bar, 3-story stone floating staircase. This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. 5600 Orion Road, Oakland Twp $3,550,000

A Rare find! Gated Private 12 Acre French Country Manor Estate featuring over 12,000 sq. ft. of finely appointed living area in the heart of Oakland Township. Featuring expansive terraced patios leading to parterre gardens adjoining built-in swimming pool, Helipad provides convenience to land helicopter in your backyard and store it in a state-of-the-art hangar. This is the ultimate in luxury living and privacy!! 5350 Brewster, Rochester Hills $6,950,000

10 ACRES + 60x40 POLE BARN

132 ACRES ON LAKEVILLE LAKE

Custom built 1 1/2 story with finished walkout basement on private 10 acres with 60' x 40' pole barn, nice open floor plan with huge great room, 2nd kitchen and 2nd fireplace in finished walkout lower level, Anderson windows, large island kitchen with granite countertops, 4 full bathrooms, all high end finishes throughout, 2nd floor loft over-looking great room, huge cement aggregate patio overlooking well-manicured grounds with waterfall. 5860 Sandhill, Almont $999,900

Almost 132 acre private estate with approximately 5,000' of frontage on the all sports Lakeville Lake. RED TAIL LODGE is a privately owned 8,600 sq. ft. custom built log home with 4,000 sq. ft. finished walkout on a peninsula of Lakeville Lake, this could be an incredible family compound or just continue to utilize as a private estate, home sits over 1/2 mile off road through the woods. This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. 1398 Lakeville Road, Oxford $3,950,000

NEW DESIGNER COLONIAL BACKING TO STONEY CREEK PARK

SHOWCASE 1 1/2 STORY LAKE & CANAL FRONT HOME

Stunning decorator showcase custom built 1 1/2 story home with walkout basement, 4.5 car garage on a premium almost 1 acre lot backing to Stoney Creek Park in the highly sought after Bradbury Park. All high end finishes throughout, awesome owners suite with 2-way floating fireplace between elegant master bath, upper and lower covered verandas with fireplaces overlooking Stoney Creek Park, walkout basement is dry walled and ready for your finishing touches. 61899 Bradbury Run, Washington Twp $1,290,000

Designer showcase 1 1/2 story lakefront home with built-in swimming pool with 100' on Lake St. Clair and 200' of canal frontage with boat hoist for 40' boat, incredible views from walls of windows overlooking lake, entertainers gourmet kitchen with built-in commercial grade stainless steel appliances, 2-story marble fireplace in great room, huge year round sun room with deluxe hot tub, covered porch overlooking pool, wet bar with wine cooler in living room, private backyard, jet ski lift and landscaped fire pit patio on waters edge. This is one of the best locations on the lake! 38430 Lakeshore Drive, Harrison Twp $1,499,900

Tom@TomZibkowski.com www.TomZibkowski.com

Tom Zibkowski Realty Executives Midwest

586-532-6700 Ex 114

When Experience Counts. Over 4,000 Closed Home Sales Since 1982 CUSTOM BUILT 1 1/2 STORY ON 2 ACRES

4 ACRE PRIVATE ESTATE ON STONEY CREEK PARK

One of a kind custom built rustic timber styled 1 1/2 story home w/walkout basement on over 2 acres.

Entire 1st floor has hand rubbed 8" quarter sawn white oak flooring with chamfered edges, gourmet kitchen with large hearth room, 4.5 car garage w/an additional 1,100 sq. ft. finished bonus room, all high end finishes, state of the art high efficiency mechanical systems w/geo thermal heating &, outdoor kitchen featuring built-in pizza oven and stainless steel BBQ on large cement patio.

5575 West Road, Washington Twp $1,249,900

Gated entrance to private 4-acre French Chateau Estate w/large terrace. Home features 6,500 sq. ft. of finely appointed living area, entertainer's gourmet kitchen w/dual islands, hearth room w/fireplace, octagon breakfast nook w/fantastic views, great room w/limestone fireplace, 3rd fireplace in executive library w/2-story ceilings & open wood beams, walkout lower level is studded & ready for Buyer's personal finishes, 4.5-car attached, side entrance, heated garage, GEO Thermal heating and cooling, spacious owners suite overlooking water. 58955 Mound Road, Washington Twp $2,350,000

STUNNING SHELBY COLONIAL WITH FINISHED BASEMENT

CUSTOM HOME ON 2 ACRES WITH BUILT IN POOL

Spotless mint condition colonial with finished basement. Huge island kitchen with granite counter tops. Basement features large screen TV with surround sound, custom built wet bar with refrigerator and dishwasher and an additional 1/2 bath. Basement also features separate game room, Brunswick pool table with a separate ping pong table top and plenty of storage. Additional items included is central vac, whole house surge protection and a power awning which spans across a European deck overlooking a beautifully manicured backyard. 54405 Salem, Shelby Twp $495,900

Imagine driving up to this beautiful 5 bedroom 1 1/2 story home with finished daylight basement, built-in gunite swimming pool, large fire pit, plus a basketball court on 2+ acres! All high end finishes throughout, tumbled marble & Brazilian cherry floors throughout most of 1st floor. Gourmet kitchen with large island, stainless steel appliances, 3 gas fireplaces, 1st and 2nd floor laundry rooms, wrought iron staircase, central vacuum including the basement, all homes on private road have 2+ acre lots. 14933 Timberwoods Court, Washington Twp $749,900

BEAUTIFUL COLONIAL BACKING TO NATURE PRESERVE

GREAT OPPORTUNITY 5600 SF COLONIAL ON 1 ACRE

Stunning custom built 1 1/2 story home with fully finished walkout basement on private lot backing to walking trail, almost 7,000 sq. ft. of finely appointed finished living area, hardwood floors throughout 1st and 2nd floors, all high end finishes throughout, wrought iron staircase, nice wide open floor plan, huge gourmet island kitchen, 3.5 car garage, 4 full bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms and located in the highly sought after Creekside Village Community. 2738 Hawthorne Drive South, Shelby Twp $699,900

Custom built 5,200 sq. ft. colonial with walkout basement on private 1 acre lot. Home boasts all high end finishes throughout, gourmet island kitchen with built-in SubZero and Viking appliances, dual staircases to 2nd level, European cement patio, beautiful elevation with limestone accents, extensive landscaping, great floor plan with lots of windows overlooking private yard, expansive 1,000 sq. ft. owner's suite, built-in sound system throughout house and exterior lighting. Owner has over $1 Million invested in this property. 67587 Hidden Oak Lane, Washington Twp $699,900

STUNNING CONTEMPORARY WITH BUILT IN POOL BACKING TO STONEY CREEK

2.5 ACRES + 30X40 POLE BARN

Custom built soft contemporary home featuring almost 8,000 sq. ft. of finely appointed living area on a private lot with built-in swimming pool. Home features a stunning entrance with dual staircases and bridge overlooking grand foyer & great room, all high end finishes throughout, marble, granite, Brazilian cherry floors throughout entire home, 3 fireplaces, upper level private sun deck patio, all bedrooms have private baths, 2nd gourmet kitchen & wet bar and wine cellar in finished walkout lower level, and extensive landscaping. 57127 Willow Way, Washington Twp $899,900

Excellent condition 3 bedroom brick ranch on 2.53 acres with 20' x 30' pole barn, large pond, nice floor plan with updated kitchen open to huge 24' x 22' family room with vaulted ceilings and beautiful stone fireplace, heated 2.5-car garage (garage has own furnace), newer furnace, all appliances included, quick possession available, house sits 200' off road with circular stone driveway, 20' x 10' sun-room walks out to large deck, extra outdoor storage under large lean-to on side of pole barn and pond is 20' deep. 8200 31 Mile Road, Washington Twp $289,900

CONSENT CONSENT..

IF YOU IT, YOU DON’T D T GET T IT T T,, YOU DON’T DON N’T T GET IT YOU IT..

Se x wi thout consent consent is is not not sex. sex.

Sex without IIt’s t’s se xual assault. assault. sexual A nd iit’s t’s on on us, us, all all of us, us, to to help help stop stop it. it.

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Learn Learn h how ow and ledge ttake ake th tthe he p pledge a tsOnU Us.orrg att IItsOnUs.org

HEROIN EPIDEMIC SHOWS NO SIGNS OF ABATEMENT

BY KATIE DESKA

O

nce only the province of cheap, seedy hotels, today's junkies are shooting up in living rooms, public bathrooms, in affluent shopping malls and nice restaurants. Users are young and old, and everyone in between. They're overdosing on heroin, on pain pills and opioids, on synthetic drugs better left in operating rooms or with veterinarians. Often, users don't even know what their doses are laced with, and that their hits are tens, or hundreds of times, stronger than heroin alone. As a result, drug users across the country are overdosing at a skyrocketing rate.

Law enforcement officers, treatment centers and medical examiners across the country are scrambling to respond to the surge of heroin and opioid addiction, as well as the drug’s increased and toxic potency. Meanwhile, people of all ages continue to overdose to the point of death, or near death – and Oakland County is no exception.

Heroin is an equal opportunity destroyer, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard pointed out. “No one out there reading should presume ‘I live in a certain community and it won’t happen here.’ It happens to the most economically challenged areas and the most prosperous. It happens to all races, and all creeds.”

Although heroin use is nothing new, synthetic opioids are appearing in toxicology tests at potency levels rarely, if ever, seen before.

Fentanyl, a short-acting synthetic opioid that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is 80 times as potent as morphine, is ordinarily used in hospitals for anesthesia, or by physicians to treat chronic pain. But illicit fentanyl is being produced in clandestine laboratories and mixed with or substituted for heroin and sold to addicts who don't know any differently. It is packaged in pills disguised as other less potent opioids, and cut with other drugs, such as cocaine. When taken other than as prescribed, fentanyl can suppress breathing up to the point of death.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), at least 12 different analogs of fentanyl – substances with a similar chemical structure to fentanyl – have been identified in the U.S. drug traffic industry. Similar drugs that have shown up recently include U47700, U50488, both opioid powders, furanyl fentanyl, and carfentanil – which is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and typically administered by veterinarians to tranquilize large animals such as elephants.

“The (testing) labs are being overwhelmed.

They’re seeing what they call designer opioids,” said Cindi Arfken, professor at Wayne State University in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences.

“Most of the opioids being seized are testing for fentanyl, (but) very few are (identified as) carfentanil.” Part of the problem in accurately identifying which opioid is in a substance is simply the logistics of conducting tests for substances not usually seen by medical examiners. But despite the challenges with testing, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services declared in October that in the four months prior there had been 19 overdose deaths in Wayne County presumed to be linked to carfentanil.

Facing a growing danger, many law enforcement officers are instructed to err on the side of caution when approaching the scene of an overdose, as coming into contact with a trace amount of carfentanil can send a person into hypoxia, a state of labored breathing consistent with drug overdose.

“In the drug diversion training last week, we learned about fentanyl and safety for officers,” said Noel Clason, detective with Bloomfield Hills Public Safety. “Our officers aren’t allowed to touch (carfentanil) because a tiny expose could pose serious risk to officers.

If you suspect that it could be, we treat it as it is, like a hazard… We won’t do a field test, we’ll send it to Oakland County or Michigan State Police. There’s no way in powder form to tell (the difference). But we can expect that if someone is taking more than one dose of

Narcan to revive them, we will treat it as fentanyl,” referring to the popular brand of the opioid antagonist drug, naloxone hydrochloride, which can revive a user from an overdose.

What the antidote does is essentially wipe clear the Mu receptors in the brain dangerously inundated with opioids, and naloxone can bring heroin users back from the brink of death. Administered intravenously by paramedics for decades, Michigan Act 462 of 2014 granted police officers the authority to administer naloxone via nasal spray to suspected overdose victims.

The bill took effect in January of 2015, and requires officers to undergo training.

“Each officer was trained in it about five months ago, and each officer has (naloxone) with them,” said detective John Weise of the Bloomfield Township Police Department. “It’s a pretty simple thing to use. There are no risks, even if someone is not overdosing. If you put it in your nose right now it would do absolutely nothing to you. We don’t see a lot of heroin in Bloomfield. It will show up here and there, but is not an epidemic in our town.

There’s a lot more prescription drugs.”

From 2010 to the present, annual heroin

Although heroin use is nothing new, synthetic opioids are appearing in toxicology tests at potency levels rarely, if ever, seen before. arrests in Bloomfield Township ranged from two to five, with drug overdoses primarily due to prescription drugs peaking at eight in 2015.

However, the police department data does not account for the number of runs made by emergency medical services in response to calls for overdose emergencies.

This year in Birmingham so far, the police department made three arrests for heroin possession, said detective Scott Grewe. Twice, the police were dispatched in response to a possible overdose of a 23-year-old Birmingham man. The other arrest was made in August, after police were dispatched to the corner of Maple Road and Woodward Avenue in response to a 37-year-old Royal Oak man.

“We got a call for an unresponsive male, and after we investigated we believed he possibly overdosed on heroin,” said Grewe. “He had a pill vial on him, with some pills prescribed to him, and told the officer that he snorted heroin.”

The Birmingham Fire Department had an additional two cases they responded to this year that were confirmed as heroin overdoses, said Grewe. However, because of the availability of the opioid antagonist naloxone,

not all heroin overdoses result in death.

Bloomfield Hills' Clason said “We’ve had Narcan rolled out for about two years, but haven’t used it yet. We had two (situations) when we could have, but we contract with an ambulance service, Star (Ambulance), and they were able to administer it and revive the person that was going through the overdose.

One of them was a repeat customer, a frequent flyer.”

After Bouchard took an active role in getting the law passed to allow police to administer naloxone, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office was the first major agency in the state to deploy the naloxone program, he said. It launched in March of 2015, after deputies were trained in surveying the scene, identifying key physical symptoms of an opioid, and educated on the reality that some users become fearful and potentially violent when they find themselves suddenly conscious with an officer standing by.

Since its inception, deputies with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office have administered Narcan 42 times, and saved the lives of 41, confirmed Megan Noland, state and federal coordinator for the agency. Nearly 60 percent, or 25 of the 42 times that the deputies administered Narcan, took place in Pontiac, where the program was first rolled out. The remainder were scattered through other municipalities served by the sheriff’s office, including once in Rochester Hills.

“I’m still working on getting all of my people trained,” said Michael Johnson, commander at the Rochester Hills substation.

“Unfortunately, we’re getting a small amount of Narcan in, and it’s great for first responders. They’ve been using Narcan at the (Rochester Hills) fire department for a while.”

In October, the Rochester Police Department began training and implementing the use of the naloxone, which was provided to the department though a grant. “Heroin is present, it comes up in reports such as ‘heroin was suspected,’ or ‘the person is a known heroin user.’ It’s something we’re coming across in a variety of different ways. It’s in the community and it does have an impact,” said Steve Schettenhelm, chief of police in Rochester, who cited two young residents who died of heroin overdoses in the last two years – a 21-year-old man who died in 2015, and a 26-year-old woman who died in February of this year.

“With some of these (cases), there’s a combination of things on board, but those were clearly heroin,” said Schettenhelm, who responded to the apartment on Terry Avenue, northeast of Main Street and Romeo Road, in the February overdose.

“There were a number of needles in a trash can there, so it appeared that they had been using for some time.

“What was so tragic in most cases, is the age of the victims. They have their entire life

ahead of them, and because of bad choices they’re making, they find their life ended when it should be at the best years of their life. When fathers and mothers should be planning for weddings and births of grandchildren, they find themselves planning for funerals.”

Schettenhelm also recalled a time when someone was found overdosing as they attempted to drive out of the Rochester Hills Public Library parking lot. “These things can happen anywhere,” he noted.

The prevalence of deaths resulting from heroin overdoses have skyrocketed across the U.S. since the late 1990s. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported less than 2,000 deaths by heroin nationwide in 1999, compared to a five-fold increase in 2014 of over 10,500 deaths. The majority of that jump has occurred in just the last five or six years. However, proving that the substance responsible for a person’s death was an opiate, derived from the seedpod of the poppy plant, versus an opioid, a synthetic substance that has the same effect, makes statistical analysis of trends regarding heroin and opioids somewhat tenuous because it is often difficult to determine what has caused the death. And to confound the opiate problem, the CDC reported a nationwide four-fold increase from 1999 to 2014 of deaths caused by opioid pain relievers, for a total of nearly 19,000 in 2014.

Although many people turn to heroin after first being introduced to pain pills such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, or other opioids, some users initially seek out heroin.

Synthesized from morphine, which is found in the sap of the seedpod of the opium poppy plant, heroin is typically sold as a powder or sticky substance that can be injected intravenously, smoked or snorted. As it enters the brain, heroin is converted back to morphine, which is chemically structured like endorphins, the euphoric chemicals that are released through exercise and other pleasurable situations. A relatively cheap street drug, heroin makes addicts out of an estimated 23 percent of people who try it, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“It’s not a drug that takes a long time to become addicted to. It happens very quickly, and a lot of times it comes through these relationships where it’s supplied or given to them,” said Kent Runyon, vice president of communications at Novus Medical Detox in Florida. “There’s dealers out there who give free samples. For a drug dealer it’s part of the game. If I hand out samples and you become addicted, you become a customer.”

A similar exchange can happen between teenage friends.

“As far as what we’re finding, and this is even shocking to me, is that high schoolers,

the 18 to 25 range, the first thing they've tried instead of alcohol or marijuana is opiates,” said Dr. Elizabeth Bulat, service chief of addiction medicine at Henry Ford Maplegrove Center, located in West Bloomfield. “I meet a lot of people in their late teens, and some said their first drug was heroin, or cocaine. This is much different than the ‘gateway’ thinking (of) people trying a wine cooler or whatever.”

Experimenting together, they sometimes have “pill parties,” for lack of a better term, said Bulat.

“They get a basket and take whatever they can from their parents’ drawers and pass around the adults’ pills. That’s why any nerve or anxiety medications need to be locked up, because if they’re not locked up, even if your child isn’t taking them, a friend could find it. People know what’s available.

Younger people are abusing opioids so I think people know what opioids are, and know what to use to get high – the norcos, the hydrocodones. It’s becoming more prominent,” said Bulat, noting that the most effective way to beat addiction is to prevent it from taking ahold of the person in the first

The CDC reported less than 2,000 deaths by heroin nationwide in 1999, compared to a five-fold increase in 2014 of over 10,500 deaths place.

In an effort to thwart heroin and other drug use, Oakland County officials, including Sheriff Bouchard and Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, visit local schools to discuss the legal, emotional and physical suffering heroin users may face, including the likelihood of death.

“I tell them how deadly it is, and tell them some stories from the community, and try to make them relate to the facts of this epidemic,” said Bouchard. “My daughter, who’s not very old, knows three girls that she played soccer with that are dead from drug overdoses.”

According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, more than a quarter of all Michigan drug poisoning deaths in 2013 were related to heroin use, with men accounting for a large portion of those deaths, as men are three times more likely to die of heroin and prescription drug overdoes than women. From 2004 to 2013, there was a nearly ten-fold increase of heroin-related mortality for people aged 21 to 34 years, with the second most common age group to die from heroin between the ages of 35 and 54.

Oakland County data from the Michigan Resident Death Files, published by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, indicated that unintentional deaths due to poisoning, which include exposure to noxious substances such as drugs, jumped from just 13 in 2003, to 45 in 2014. Nearly half of those who died in 2014 were between the ages of 25 to 44, and 26 percent were between the ages of 45 and 64.

“When you’re looking at use, you can see the progression,” said Lisa McKay-Chaisson, administrator with the Oakland County Health Department. “Using increased, and overdose deaths from it (increased, as well).”

But, said McKay-Chaisson, “It’s not just a heroin problem. Forty-five percent of heroin users also use prescription drugs. The biggest risk factor for being a heroin user is prescription drug use. (Nationally), threequarters of new heroin users report they abused prescription opioids prior to using heroin. Heroin is much cheaper and easier to attain… If you can stop the prescription misuse, or the non-medical use, you will help to reduce the heroin use and overdose risk.”

Officials at local, state and national levels continue to take action to fight against the growing issue and increase awareness, including President Barack Obama, who declared the first Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week in September, and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who created the bi-partisan Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Task Force in June of 2015.

Chaired by Lt. Governor Brian Calley, the task force was charged with reviewing trends, evaluating strategic options aimed at addressing the issue, and making recommendations for policy and regulation changes.

“Two areas that have moved forward address two different sides of the scope of the issue were trying to deal with,” said Calley, mentioning the areas of prevention and overdose treatment.

“We’ve taken steps to improve the Good Samaritan exception for people that report to 911 when a person is experiencing overdose, without fear of getting prosecuted (for drugrelated charges),” Calley said.

Expanding on a 2015 law that initiated criminal exemptions for people aged 21 and under who call police for help with an overdose, the new law was signed by Snyder in October, and provides exemptions for anyone in the situation, regardless of age.

“While we made a lot of good headway in terms of first responders and police, and even some schools that keep naloxone on site to be used to save people,” said Calley.

“What I want to have is a system where people can have, family members can have, access to naloxone even when they have a

Simon Rattle

by Stephan Rabold

Berlin Philharmonic Simon Rattle, conductor Saturday, November 12 // 8 pm Sunday, November 13 // 4 pm Ann Arborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hill Auditorium 6IXYVRMRK XS ,MPP %YHMXSVMYQ JSV XLI ĆŞVWX XMQI WMRGI XLI Berlin Philharmonic and music director Simon Rattle embark on their last US tour together, bringing two concerts to Ann %VFSV *SV XLI ĆŞVWX TVSKVEQ XLI] TIVJSVQ 4MIVVI &SYPI^Ĺ W Ă&#x2030;clat, a tribute to the late titanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death earlier this year, paired with Mahlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seldom-performed Symphony No. 7. The second program spotlights the remarkable path that music took in :MIRRE XLVSYKLSYX XLI PEXI XL ERH IEVP] XL GIRXYVMIW Details on related free educational and residency activities at ums.org/berlin A Prelude Dinner, sponsored by Journeys International, precedes 7EXYVHE] IZIRMRKĹ W TIVJSVQERGI 6IWIVZEXMSRW PROGRAM (SAT 11/12)

&SYPI^ Â&#x2039;GPEX Mahler Symphony No. 7 in e minor PROGRAM (SUN 11/13)

Schoenberg Webern Berg Brahms

Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

PRES ENTI NG S PO NSO R

Eugene and Emily Grant Family Foundation

S U P PORTI N G SPO NSO R

F UNDED IN PART BY

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs

MEDI A PA R T NER S

WGTE 91.3 FM WRCJ 90.9 FM

ums.org 734.764.2538

family member who hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gotten to the point of seeking treatment.â&#x20AC;?

Public Act 311, which went into effect in October of 2014, allows a prescriber to issue a prescription for naloxone to an individual at risk of opioid overdose; to a family member of a person at risk; or to a person who is in position to assist a person at risk; according to Laura Biehl, senior communications advisor in the executive office.

Although one dose of naloxone is intended to stabilize a person who perhaps started to turn blue from lack of oxygen, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not uncommon for two, three, or even four doses of naloxone to be required for revival. As more and more heroin is laced with extremely potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl, taking a hit is like playing Russian roulette, where the user canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t predict the outcome. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a heroin dealer saying, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This is so many milligrams potency, and given your body weight, I would only suggest you take this much to achieve this type of high,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? said Paul Walton, chief assistant to Oakland County prosecutor Cooper. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have no idea what they put in there, no idea of the purity, no idea if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being cut with something else. The analogy the prosecutor gives students is, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Would you walk down the street and find a sandwich, pick it up and eat it? But youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to walk down the street and find some person and trust them to put something in your blood system?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Although the illicit fentanyl thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being mixed with heroin is reportedly coming from clandestine labs outside of the U.S., prescription fentanyl appears to be increasing, as well. According to data from the Michigan Automated Prescription System, a drug monitoring system, the number of fentanyl prescriptions increased by 137 percent from 2012 to 2013, jumping from slightly over 2 million in 2012, to 4.87 million in 2013. â&#x20AC;&#x153;(Fentanyl) is being found on the street. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re finding that unfortunately it's in the drug dealers hands, just like they get hydrocodone or OxyContin,â&#x20AC;? said Bulat, of Maplegrove Center. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re seeing that in conjunction with heroin and street drugs. Fentanyl-laced heroin is obviously a crisis for overdoses, but people are at risk of abusing prescription medications, and that one, (fentanyl), is also a prescription medicine. Usually things with a short-acting (effect) have a higher abuse potential. Fentanyl, if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in patch form, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more long-acting, but people can divert that â&#x20AC;&#x201C; take it not as prescribed or mix it with other narcotics.â&#x20AC;?

Opioid use, heroin or otherwise, can get very expensive, very quickly.

Eric Noll, chief probation officer at 51-1 District Court in Novi, said once the addiction gets ahold of the individual, the habit can run between $100 or $200 a day. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in full-blown addiction and using everyday, they can be extremely cunning, very resourceful,â&#x20AC;? said Noll, formerly the drug courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probation officer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They find a way to get that money, and most of the time it comes down to stealing.â&#x20AC;?

Wealth, in this case, can be a curse said Runyon of Novus Detox Center, which has a spa-like atmosphere thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s treated professional athletes and their wives, lawyers, and other successful members of society.

Far from being confined to high-crime areas, heroin use continues to turn up in bucolic suburbs with good schools, tailored lawns and involved parents.

While the neighborhoods where users live may differ, the scene of a heroin overdose appears shockingly predictable. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the suburbs were hit so bad as well, but my first month out there (in Orion Township), we had a Narcan save,â&#x20AC;? said sergeant Darrin Zehnphfennig, who has been with the Oakland County Sheriffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office since 2004. â&#x20AC;&#x153;His mom found him. It's always a loved one. Usually thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very shallow breathing, sometimes gurgling noises that sound almost like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re choking on snot or vomit. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sometimes, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fall out right away (after taking heroin). They may cook it in one room, shoot it in another, and then make it to the bathroom.

But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a needle somewhere that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen.â&#x20AC;?

Zehnphfennig has personally administered naloxone three times, including once to a 28-year-old Lake Orion man found in a Kroger bathroom at 11 p.m. in August. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Typically, the fire department beats us there, but in this (case), my partner was the first on scene and found him, unconscious. He dug his body out of the stall, (and we) saw narcotic paraphernalia around him,â&#x20AC;? said Zehnphfennig. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I administered one dose, one milligram of Narcan. Then when EMS arrived, they pushed two more doses. Then he began shallow breathing. He was transported to McLaren Hospital in Pontiac.â&#x20AC;?

FACES

Anthony Sorentino ochester native Anthony Sorentino has spent three decades working on his golf game. On August 15, he participated for the first time for the coveted Havemeyer Trophy in the 116th U.S. Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club.

"This is my first U.S. Amateur. I've been an alternate a few times, but never got in," said Sorentino, who won his second Michigan Mid-Amateur championship in 2015.

Golfers participating in the annual event must have a handicap index of 2.4 or less, which included 312 of the world's top amateur golfers.

The event has served as a launching ground for many professional golfers, including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer, Jerome Travers and Bobby Jones.

With a majority of young golfers in the competition today looking toward a professional career in golf, just qualifying for the U.S. Amateur is a remarkable achievement for any golfer. For Sorentino, 38, who had already tried his hand on the professional golf circuit, the event proves it's possible for your game to improve with age.

"The part you get better at is the mental and emotional control. You can only learn that with time," he said.

In terms of physical training, Sorentino said the game has changed since Tiger Woods entered the scene in the 1990s and ushered in a younger breed of golfers at the professional level. "Now they aren't afraid to work out every day," he said. "It's totally different."

Sorentino first started golfing as a child, tagging along on the course with his father while growing up in Rochester. By the time he hit college, he was already looking to a professional golf career. After playing some

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professional mini-tours across the country, he decided to consider a back-up career. About the same time, Sorentino was picked to be on "The Big Break," a golfing reality show that debuted in 2003 on the Golf Channel.

"I accepted I wasn't going to be a PGA golfer, and I went to law school," he said. "I played with guys who were a lot better than me who weren't making it.

"They do it on an entirely different basis. They do it all the time," he said of some of the top golfers. "Can I shoot a 65? Of course. But can I do it three times a week? No way. They are at that level all the time."

Today, Sorentino serves as an assistant prosecutor for Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, where he has worked since 2011, and has since moved from Rochester to Macomb County. His job and family, which includes the birth of his daughter nearly three years ago, leaves less time for golf. However, he said the time he does spend practicing is more focused than in the past.

"There's definitely a balance. I have a full-time job, and it's an important job," he said. "I do my practice at night, and I try to stay in good physical shape, but I don't play a lot unless it's tournament time.

And, I have a two-and-a-half year old, so that changed the practice times. I usually practice after work and putt at night.

"This is the highest level of golf, and you can't 'kind of' play. You're either in or you're out. Having a child, when you do practice, it narrows down your focus, so it makes you more focused."

Story: Kevin Elliott

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SCHOOL FUNDING DISPARITIES IN A POST-PROP A WORLD

BY LISA BRODY he debate over which school districts have more money, and therefore, which students are better prepared for college and the world beyond, has been raging for decades. It was supposed to have been settled in 1994, when Michigan enacted new legislation to end the funding of local school districts completely from property tax revenues, instead transferring the funding to the state, through legislation called Proposal A, which set up a per pupil amount for both wealthier districts and poorer districts. The goal, over the last 22 years, was to erase the deficit between the two, creating greater equality in the state for all students.

That goal has largely been reached, with the difference in the per pupil amount, called the foundation formula, only a few hundred dollars a student apart, rather than thousands of dollars apart, as it was years ago. Yet, disparities in the quality of education continue to exist, including in some districts which receive higher per pupil amounts.

Why? The real culprit, education experts on all sides of the discussion concur, is enrollment and its decline, and the inability of districts to recover from that spiral.

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The goal of Proposal A, which took effect in 1994, was two-fold: to cut and cap local property tax burdens, and to gradually reduce the disparities in school funding between local districts across Michigan.

It also eliminated 64 percent, or $6.4 billion of the $10 billion of total K-12 school funding, beginning with the 1994-1995 school year.

Prior to the enactment of Proposal A, Michigan had a long history of leaving education in the hands of local communities, from funding to major decisions regarding curriculum. Schools in Michigan were completely funded by setting millage rates for property taxes, which provided most of the funding for local school districts. But by the early 1990s, taxpayers across the state were fed up with high taxes, and demanded property tax relief. Approximately a dozen ballot proposals to improve the system had failed over several years, and residents continued to be upset about high taxes, with school districts across the state having varied funding levels based on their communities' level of affluence and willingness to support education.

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nder Governor John Engler, the state legislature passed and Engler signed into law Proposal A in July 1993, which eliminated all property tax paid for schools, transferring control to the state. Voters followed up in March 1994 by approving the new system for funding schools, with 69 percent of voters approving, leading to three key changes. First, Proposal A eliminated using local property taxes as the source of school funding, creating a new state education tax. From that day forward, school districts received their funding as per pupil payments from the state.

Second, the state sales tax increased from four cents to six cents on the dollar. It was designed that the extra two cents would go to the school aid fund, which is the state budget for schools.

The last goal was to raise the state's lowest funded districts to receive a basic level of education funding, and in doing that, to close the gap between the highest and lowest funded districts. A new state education tax was created – six mills which is assessed on the state equalized value of all property. Non-homestead properties, which are businesses, rental properties and vacation properties, were now assessed an additional 18 mills to go to schools. When real estate is sold, a transfer tax of .075 percent on the sales price was created to add to the state school aid fund. Unlike previous property taxes, Proposal A capped by how much property tax can go up – at five percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

“Pre-Proposal A, school funding was largely a local investment, and for homeowners, it was mostly as must pain as they were willing to bear,” said Gary Naeyaert, executive director of Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP), a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization supporting quality choices in public education supported by Michigan billionaire Dick DeVos. “K-12 education was 70 percent funded by locals, and 30 percent by the state, and in a state that has such a long history of home rule, that was considered logical and reasonable and normal for 150 years.

“Gov. Engler was not alone, but he led the charge on addressing this K-12 refunding, to get away from the heavy reliance on property taxes to fund education, when property taxes were going through the roof,” Naeyaert stated. “It was very threatening for seniors who were living on fixed incomes, and younger people, who couldn't move into communities. It led to a seismic shift in how we funded education.

Under the current scenario, local contributions are 20 percent, and the state contributions are 80 percent.”

“Now, local districts have very limited control over their operational budgets. The state has full control. Locals can't go to the voters for more money for operations. They do have complete control over money for capital improvements, for facilities, funding for the use of technology and building improvements,” said David Arsen, professor of educational administration at Michigan State University. “Michigan is one of the few states that does not provide for facilities. Proposal A left that out. But Proposal A shifted control from local communities

and school districts to the state, and there have been new actors involved in making the decisions. It led to a decrease in property taxes, and an increase, from four percent to six percent, in the sales tax.”

Districts can also hold millage elections for improvements to buildings, for technology and security, and other items that are not for operations of the district, such as salaries, transportation and pensions. Proposal A also shifted the burden of legacy costs, in the form of pensions and other benefits, to the local districts from the state, adding to the operational costs for local school districts.

Naeyaert said a primary problem at the time was the funding disparities between school districts across the state, which he said ranged at the time from $3,500 to $10,000 per pupil. “Several people felt it was unjust, immoral and not right,” he asserted.

“It's important to acknowledge there's been an attempt to decrease the funding gap between the highest and lowest funded districts,” said Craig Thiel, senior research associate for Citizens Research Council of Michigan in Lansing. “The policy that has been implemented has been to bring the bottom district up to narrow the gap. Most often, if there are extra funds (in the state budget), they have made a point to provide them to low-funded districts to narrow that gap. There are years where the increases (to all school districts) is equal, wherever you are on the spectrum, so there is no difference to the gap. Most recently, in the current year, the lowest funded districts got $120 extra per pupil – the grant went up by $120 – and those at the top went up by $60.”

Thiel explained that in an effort to narrow the funding gap, the original funding formula has been a two-times formula, where the districts at the bottom receive twice the amount than the districts at the top.

“In terms of revenue it narrowed the gap,” Arsen said. “Before, the gap was three to one. Proposal A has progressively narrowed that gap.

Now, 80 percent of Michigan students receive funding within $500 of each other.”

Originally, in 1994, the gap between rich and poor schools, and the foundation allowance – otherwise known as the per pupil amount – they received was $2,300. Currently, for the 2015-2016 school year, the gap is down to $718.

“The average base amount for most school districts is $7,391,” said state Rep. Mike McCready (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills), who is on the state House of Representatives Education Committee.

Included in that base are a majority of the state's public districts as well as all charter schools. Charter schools cannot levy additional millages.

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here are some districts – including Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham – which continue to receive significantly more funding. They are known as “hold harmless” districts. Hold harmless districts are wealthier districts that were allowed by law to levy additional millages to achieve their prescribed foundation allowance, to collect more money per pupil when Proposal A was set up, allowing them to offer programs not available in lesser funded districts, such as fine arts, sports and other enrichments.

“All districts complain about funding, because the cost of education is hotly debated,” McCready said, noting Birmingham and Bloomfield offer “costly programs like various arts programs and sports which are important to a child's exposure to the world market. They offer Mandarin. Where else do they get that? Our children are wellprepared by their education for what else is out there.”

Naeyaert said at the time Proposal A was set up, there were several districts investing more than other districts, “so they were grandfathered in to charge an operating millage above the $6,500 to continue at their level of funding. That's why the appearance is that Bloomfield Hills is getting $12,000. They're only getting the base

amount from the state. The difference is made up from a local operating millage.”

For the current year, Birmingham receives $11,924 per student; Bloomfield Hills receives $12,004; Rochester, $8,076; Avondale, $8,169; Troy, $8,955; Southfield, $10,971; Royal Oak, $8,758; and Novi, $8,479.

They are all what are called “hold harmless” districts, which McCready said is at 56 districts across the state. Arsen noted that 85 percent of the state's hold harmless districts are in the Detroit suburbs. Notable exceptions are Ann Arbor Schools, E. Grand Rapids, and Harbor Springs.

“They (Harbor Springs) get a lot of money. They have a lot of tax revenue (from vacation homes) to work with, but they may have only 100 kids in a graduating class,” noted McCready. A few miles away, in Pellston, is a different story, without that expensive vacation home tax base.

While the gap between the highest and lowest funded districts has been narrowed, Arsen said it did nothing to shift the positioning of districts. “Bloomfield Hills was at the top in 1994, and it still is. No one jumped the order. Those that were at the tail-end, they're always at the tail-end,” he said. “The only difference is the bottom was brought up. More than two-thirds of the lower-funded districts were brought up, if you're ranking just by revenues. Before 1994, districts weren't getting any money from the state. Now, everyone gets money from the state through foundation grants. And it's been that way for 22 years. Most of the compression (between the gap) took place in the first decade. But all growth has slowed. And growth per pupil has not kept up with inflation. In the last 10 years, that has been true for all Michigan schools.”

David Crim, spokesperson for the Michigan Education Association, disagreed with the success of Michigan’s funding levels. “Michigan's commitment to education funding is inadequate. It is not a coincidence that the high academic performing districts are also the highest funded districts in the state. The study provides solid evidence that Michigan has failed to adequately fund public schools to achieve optimal student performance. The study determined that 'notably successful' districts should have at least an $8,667 per pupil foundation grant. A 'notably successful' district is defined in the study as one that meets above average performance standards. Currently, the lowest funded districts receive approximately $1,200 less per pupil. Like Garrison Keillor, we want all of our students to be above average, but we continue to shortchange them year after year. Each school year that goes by is another year Michigan students are shortchanged. We demand excellence from our teachers, we demand high achievement from our students, yet we fail to adequately fund our public schools to give those teachers and students a fair chance to achieve those goals.”

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rim continued, “Leaders in education reform often reference the success of the Massachusetts education system. From 1993 to 2000, K-12 education funding in Massachusetts nearly doubled, increasing from about $2.5 billion annually to nearly $5 billion. Well-constructed education reforms and an equitable fully funded education program as implemented in Massachusetts is a necessary component to reform and improve our educational system.”

Massachusetts has increased their per pupil funding significantly.

According to Massachusetts Department of Education, in 2014-2015, per pupil funding ranged from $11,504 to $27,569. “Newark and Washington DC spend $25,000 per pupil. Detroit is receiving $18,000 per child (actually, about $15,000). Inkster, Buena Vista – these insolvent schools were spending a lot per kid. There is absolutely no correlation between per pupil spending and achievement,” GLEP's Naeyaert said. “Money is important because you can't have teachers, staff, buildings, books, without it. But there is very mixed research about whether spending more correlates to any proficiency. We believe illiteracy is the problem. A district will hire more teachers because

that's what the unions want, and they lower class size, but they don't see better results. More important is how it's spent than how much is spent.”

Bruce Baker, professor at the graduate school of education at Rutgers University, who has studied Michigan school funding, disagrees.

“One recent major national study found that infusions of funding to districts serving low-income children have substantive long term impacts. The Mackinac report (a 2015 report released by the Mackinac Center asserting little or no relationship between student achievement and marginal increases to already “high” levels of state spending) attempts to trivialize this study by asserting that the infusions of funding were helping only specific children and the effects relatively at very high cost,” Baker said. “Increasing per pupil spending by 10 percent in all 12 school age years increases the probability of high school graduation by seven percentage points for low income children, and by 2.5 percentage points for non-poor children.”

Baker then translated it into economic terms. “For children from low-income families, increasing per pupil spending by 10 percent in all 12 school age years boosts adult hourly wages by $2.07 in 2000 dollars, or by 13 percent.”

Thiel of Citizens Research Council agrees, “A 2015 student showed that for $1,000 added to the per pupil grant, the pass rate on the MEAP increased 1.5 percentage rate. The question is, why don't we target the money to the lowest performing districts. But adding that is $1 billion, and you just can't do that. But the proof is there. It's just a very expensive proposition.”

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aeyaert said there is a correlation between test scores and dollars spent on funding. “The state of the art research shows money does matter. It costs more to educate a poor child; it costs more to educate a special needs child. Money matters, and Michigan is one of the places that has underscored that. Now we know more from the research how to more effectively spend the money. This is important for the whole state. I think it's wonderful the children in Bloomfield Hills, Rochester, West Bloomfield have the opportunities they have. The opportunities should exist in other places too. They shouldn't have to move here. It should be available to every Michigan child,” he said.

According to Michael D. LaFaive and Jack McHugh of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, Proposal A has achieved some of its goals and fallen short on others. “One unexpected outcome was to facilitate a robust school-of-choice system, which came about when a subsequent law freed children from a ZIP code-enforced school assignment, allowing them to attend a neighboring school district that has space,” they wrote in a report.

“Because under the new system money follows individual students to the district their parents choose, or to the charter public school, another subsequent innovation, school have (had) a sharp incentive to raise their game – if a student walks from his local district, the state foundation allowance goes with him or her.”

While many Michigan districts, such as Detroit, have seen higher per pupil allocations, what has stung them is a continuing statewide decline in enrollment.

“The big factor is enrollment, for the state as a whole. It's down, and that's good, so that money can be spread around. But for individual districts, it is a terrible thing, because it's attached to a student and it travels with the student – and they get less revenue,” MSU's Arsen pointed out. “The districts that are in tailspins, that are in collapse, are ones losing enrollment. Many suburbs are doing OK because they've held onto their enrollment.” But many, including affluent districts, are carefully watching their enrollment numbers, holding their breath with even the smallest dips.

Arsen points out that nowhere does the financial stress of Proposal A, with its emphasis on per pupil dollars, impact a district more than

for Detroit Public Schools, where it faces hundreds of millions of dollars – up to half a billion dollars – of debt after decades of enrollment loss and six years of emergency management.

“It's the whole story of Detroit. They lost half of their enrollment, with half (of the students) going to charters and half leaving the city. That district imploded,” Arsen said. “They lost students so rapidly, on such a massive scale, they couldn't make cuts fast enough. That enrollment was tied to an equal drop in revenue.”

Citizens Research Council's Thiel concurs. “Equally important, or maybe even more important, is what is going on with enrollment. The foundation grant depends on enrollment. It's the foundation grant times enrollment that equals the operating budget. Even in years when the foundation grant goes up, if enrollment goes down, the total operating budget goes down.”

He said there are many forces beyond district controls, from the state's contraction, the Great Recession leading to a population decline.

“There are economic and demographic causes that are driving down the enrollment numbers on a statewide level,” he said. In addition, he said, the number of type of education providers, “specifically, school choice, the state policy to allow choice and to increase the number of choices, not just in charter schools and public schools, but between districts, has compounded the problem. In the last 20 years, we've made the ability to move between districts practically seamless, and with that, the dollars are completely portable. The dollars are tied to the kid. Concurrently, with that we've allowed new actors – charters, cybercharters, strict discipline academies – the number of these schools have expanded exponentially. The number of kids in the pie has been shrinking, and at the same time, the pie is being sliced into many more pieces.”

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rsen elaborates on how the problem compounds itself. “When a district loses enrollment and revenue, their costs don't decline by an equal amount. Declining enrollment districts, their administrations and their boards, they are facing choices about increasing class sizes, cutting services, or decreasing their fund balances – which puts them on the edge.”

It is not only poor city districts, like Detroit or Pontiac, facing these troubling choices. “Suburban districts are facing these choices across the state,” Arsen said. “Affluent districts as a whole can offset this by accepting non-resident students, so they're better positioned.”

Bloomfield Hills is an open enrollment district of choice, on some school years, while Birmingham and Rochester are not. The question in some closed districts, Arsen and others point out, is “do we really want these students? Will they lower our test scores?”

“Bloomfield Hills has a problem because they have an aging population, and younger families can't afford to move in,” Arsen said. “They also have access to terrific facilities. They can fund them at very low tax rates and they can use their sinking funds. It's a way to raise money locally to pay for infrastructure needs, and it takes the pressure off the operating budget.”

“The math is inescapable. Everyone's piece is getting smaller. The piece equates to the funding you receive,” Thiel said. “That's the real rub, the real challenge. Districts are dealing with real revenue declines of one to three percent each year, and you can never catch your breath, and never rightsize.”

He explained that student contractions in a district are spread across multiple classes and multiple buildings, “so just eliminating one teacher doesn't solve the problem. It takes a few years of three percent declines to drop a fifth grade class, or to close a building.”

“Proposal A occurred 20-some years ago, and we have to look where are now, and the gaps that still exist, how it's worked, and not worked. There are still huge disparities – just look at Detroit Schools. How do we break down debt service and legacy costs? It's all about the foundation allowance. The fact is, I think the system is still broken,” said Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of Michigan League for Public Policy. “At the end, the conversation is all about the economic future of the state. We have to figure out how to get our graduates to have the education and the skills to get our state going. We have lost students. We need to properly educate our students, or they will not be able to provide the taxes to keep the economy going.

“It's an economic survival issue. The investments early will have a huge return on investment.”

FACES

Rick Mahorn ormer Detroit Piston Rick Mahorn has spent a lifetime playing and coaching basketball. Now the longtime Rochester Hills resident can be found courtside, where he provides color commentary for the Pistons' radio broadcasts on WDFN. "I'm doing radio, and am director of alumni affairs for the Pistons, along with being involved with the community," he said. "I just love it."

Once dubbed "the baddest of the Bad Boys," Mahorn was part of the 1989 championship team which earned its name for its physical and aggressive defensive-oriented style of play. Mahorn later played for the Philadelphia 76er's and New Jersey Nets, and returned to Detroit in 1996. Even before he took his place on the Bad Boys, Mahorn's play earned him a reputation with the Washington Bullets (now Wizards), where he and teammate Jeff Ruland earned the nicknames "McFilthy McNasty," and "The Beef Brothers."

"I was a physical player in college, and you have to bring an edge about yourself in order to get drafted into the NBA. You have to keep that competitive edge to be valued for a team. The teams I played for all saw value in me," Mahorn said. Now, being back in Detroit, it's all about the competitive spirit.

"They have a lot of rules now so that you can't play a certain way, but it's all about adjustments. You have to have an identity. This team now has an identity and is starting to embrace the rebirth of Detroit. It's just exciting."

Mahorn hung up his basketball shoes in 1999 and started coaching, first in the CBA, and later as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks.

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In 2005, he joined the WNBA's Detroit Shock as an assistant coach under former Piston Bill Laimbeer, together leading the team to multiple titles.

"It's not like when I was in the league, where coaches can yell at you.

You have to be a little more compassionate," Mahorn said about coaching. "You have to have everyone on the same page, where nobody is more valuable than the next person, but you have to treat them with respect. You're no better than anyone else, and nobody is better than you. That's how I was raised with my mother. Material things go away, but as far as respect, that helps you out tremendously."

Helping him along the way, Mahorn said, was an assistant coach at Hampton University, along with his former agent, Al Waldon, who both served as father figures.

"I grew up in a single family home with my mother, and grew up on welfare. Understanding what you have to do as a basketball player and what you have to do as a man is very important."

Back in Rochester Hills, Mahorn has raised five children of his own, all who graduated from Rochester High School. And, while athletics was a path for himself, Mahorn isn't looking for them to follow in his footsteps.

"They like sports, but I encouraged the education value," he said. "You can get hurt and not play anymore. You have to know how to use your mind. If they want to play sports, then so be it. It's a lot of pressure being a professional player's son or daughter. Everyone has their own identity, and I want my kids to have their own identity."

Story: Kevin Elliott

Photo: Detroit Pistons

MUNICIPAL Rochester facing gap in middle housing

Sewage project to save millions annually

By Kevin Elliott

By Katie Deska

Representatives from McKenna Associates Community Planning and Design, Rochester’s city planning consultant, presented the findings of a citywide housing analysis to officials at the planning commission meeting on Monday, October 3, noting a gap in housing for some potential residents.

City staff requested the analysis

by McKenna Associates in order to educate members of the planning commission and city council, said deputy city manager Nik Banda.

The two governing bodies play a role in approving or denying development proposals, which continue to stream in from developers who often cater to the higher-end housing market.

“It’s a different day than it was three years ago, and certainly six to seven years ago,” said Banda. “The impact and the pressure on our housing stock has changed.”

Sarah Traxler, vice president of McKenna Associates, informed commissioners that the city’s current housing stock leaves a “gap” for people in the middle that city officials identified as “folks we’d like to retain here in Rochester.” Namely, downsizing retirees, middle-age professionals with kids, more young couples/families, and more young singles. Traxler has worked with other communities in southeast Michigan to address similar issues.

Within Rochester, the median home value is $292,000, which Traxler noted is about $100,000 more than the surrounding housing market, which was defined for the purpose of the study as the geographic area stretching south to the Ferndale/Royal Oak area, north to Oxford, west to Waterford, and east to Clinton Township.

“Rochester’s average home value is $316,000, and less than one-third of homes are valued under 200,000, with just five percent under $100,000. Half of all your homes are valued over $300,000,” said Traxler, noting that there is a larger proportion of less expensive homes in the overall market than within the city limits.

A variety of housing and redevelopment options were presented as potential solutions to Rochester’s shortage of middle 42

n $18.5 million sewage project intended to divert sewage from the Great Lakes Water Authority to the Clinton-Oakland Sewage Disposal System is expected to save Rochester, Rochester Hills and 11 other communities about $5 million per year in fees, according to Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash.

The project, known as the Perry Street Diversion Project, will divert about 30 percent of sewage flow that previously went to wastewater treatment plants operated by the Great Lakes Water Authority (formerly the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) into the Pontiac Wastewater treatment plant. The new diversion project, which will be unveiled on Tuesday, October 1, at Galloway Lake Park, in Pontiac, will save communities money and help the environment, Nash said.

"My office is excited to have this project completed and functioning," Nash said. "This system not only helps relieve capacity issues for our Clinton-Oakland communities, it also allows us to fully utilize the Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Plant, saves the communities money, and increases flow into the Clinton River. This is a triple win for these systems, all of the communities and the environment."

Oakland County communities included in the Clinton-Oakland system serviced by the project include Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Clarkston, Lake Angelus, Lake Orion, Oxford Village, Independence Township, Oakland, Orion, Waterford and West Bloomfield townships.

The project includes a new sanitary pump station and sanitary sewer force main for diversion into the Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Plant. The effort helps meet contractual obligations to the Great Lakes Water Authority to divert 30 percent of the flow that previously went to the Great Lakes Water Authority Wastewater Treatment Plant to now go to the Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Plant instead.

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housing, including townhomes, duplexes or 4-plexes; pocket neighborhoods, which would have smaller homes on smaller lots; and accessory dwelling units, commonly called mother-in-law units.

However, the importance of maintaining the integrity of the city’s character was emphasized, as was the importance of keeping in line with the city’s master plan, adopted in 2014.

The commission was not tasked with any decisions during the meeting, but members did discuss with the city planners about the current housing stock in Rochester and the market’s potential.

“Obviously, this middle housing problem isn’t unique to Rochester; it’s nationwide. A couple points I thought were interesting is that there are fewer people my age group that are in a financial position to move out and make that house available,” said commissioner Eldon Thompson, mentioning a Wall Street Journal podcast he listened to recently. “And the second problem is that the younger people, who would like to move in, many of them are burdened with student

loans, and the other thing is the problem they’ve had with (a) lack of salary increases in the last five or six years.”

Thompson touched on the two major population segments, millennials and baby boomers, that would benefit from a wider middle housing market.

Pointing out the lack of middle housing within the city of Detroit, commissioner Tricia DeMarco said, “There’s a real opportunity within Rochester to capture more of the market share than typically you may see of a small community in such close proximity to an urban core.”

E-commerce safety zone established

By Katie Deska

The Rochester Police Department recently announced the establishment of an e-commerce safety zone to serve as a safeguard for members of the public conducting in-person transactions from Craigslist, eBay and similar for-sale-by-owner sites.

DOWNTOWN

At the meeting of the Rochester City Council on Monday, October 24, chief of police Steven Schettenhelm spoke of the newly designated area as a space for people to conduct business “right in front of police.”

Located in the parking lot adjacent to the police station, at 400 Sixth Street in Rochester, signs have been posted to designate the safety zone, which is illuminated and under video surveillance from the department’s dispatch center.

“Citizens are encouraged to use this area to complete e-commerce transactions,” said Schettenhelm in a statement.

“If the other party declines to meet at the police station or other public place, this should be a red flag that there may be a problem with the transaction. We hope that having this designated safety zone provides some added security when meeting an unknown party to complete an e-commerce transaction.”

In the wake of crimes associated with Craigslist and other face-toface exchanges, safety zones similar to the one in Rochester have been established by police departments across the country, including in New Jersey, Texas and Oregon.

A representative from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, which serves Rochester Hills, said deputies are available to serve as peace officers during e-commerce transactions between strangers.

Additionally, some police stations have an unofficial policy that allows residents to conduct transactions in the station’s lobby during business hours.

City to ease strain of high water bills

By Katie Deska

Rochester City Council, on Monday, October 24, unanimously passed a resolution intended to ease the financial strain felt by some residents who recently received high water bills.

City staff, along with members of the recently established infrastructure committee, drafted the recommendations following discussion among council members, local residents and administration during previous council meetings.

The resolution, which includes six points, established options to help residents manage the expense, and 11.16

established plans to protect against the likelihood of it reoccurring in the future.

First, for water/sewer bills that were due in September of this year, the city has agreed to waive penalties and interest, provided that the payment for the bills is received

by Friday, December 2.

Additionally, the city now offers a one-time payment plan, which allows residents to pay high water/sewer bill over several months, with a six-month maximum.

Next, the city is providing residents with a monetary incentive for installing an irrigation meter, which is a monitoring device designed to decrease water/sewer bills by eliminating the sewerage costs on water that is used to irrigate lawns and therefore doesn't flow to the Detroit treatment center.

Residents who install the irrigation meter between September 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017 are eligible for a one-time 50 percent credit on the sewer usage over 40 units during the summer months of June, July and August 2016.

Also, the deadline for residents to purchase the irrigation permit, which is required for irrigation meter use, has been extended by four months, to December 31, 2017.

If the permit is purchased before the end of 2017, it costs $80, instead of the standard fee of $100.

To improve communication between city staff and residents, the city administration will create a plan aimed at informing residents of the city council's actions. The plan

includes mailing postcards with key information, and publishing an article in the city’s winter newsletter explaining the water bill resolution.

Committed to promoting water conservation techniques and devices, the city will provide information about conservation methods via the city website.

Potential home improvements include installing low-flow toilets and alternating watering days during dry spells.

According to the resolution, factors that contributed to some residents receiving a higher-thanusual water/sewer bill for the summer months include having a summer that was “one of the driest summers in recent record leading to increased water usage, the city having installed more accurate meters, the city having removed the sewer cap, a general increase in water rates, and a great number of residents opting not to avail themselves of a separate irrigation meter.”

Council approves tax abatement transfer

By Kevin Elliott

Rochester Hills City Council on Monday, October 24, approved transferring the remainder of an eight-year tax abatement granted to Eagle Ottawa, 2930 W. Auburn Road, to the new owner of the company.

City council in 2011 granted the eight-year tax exemption to Eagle

Rojo seeks reorganization, keeping locations open

By Lisa Brody

ojo Mexican Bistro, with locations in Birmingham and Rochester, along with two other metro Detroit locations and their affiliates, filed for chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit on Thursday, October 20, owner Dan Linnen confirmed, noting, “It's a tool available to us to ensure long-term success.”

Rojo Mexican Bistro is a family-friendly Mexican restaurant open for lunch and dinner with a wide range of tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, tableside guacamole, and other favorites. It opened for business in the former Max & Erma's restaurant location at 250 E. Merrill in

R

Ottawa, which is the largest leather supplier of auto seats in the world.

In 2015, Eagle Ottawa was acquired

by Southfield-based Lear Corporation.

Rochester Hills Economic Development Manager Pam Valentik said it's necessary for the city to transfer the balance of a tax abatement when ownership changes hands. She said Eagle Ottawa has met both its investment goal of $4.76 million at the new facility, which has generated more than its estimated five new positions that were expected when the abatement was granted in 2011.

Representatives from Lear Corporation said the company plans to expand on the 140,000-squarefoot facility, and is dedicated to investing in training and retaining its workforce. Positions at the facility have gone from about 85 percent temporary workers to about 25 percent temporary. The facility also added a 16,500-square-foot laboratory and focuses on high complexity/low volume product production.

Council members voted 6-0 to approve the motion to transfer the tax abatement, with councilman Kevin Brown absent. The final decision rests with the state's department of treasury.

"We have had a long and successful experience with you guys," Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said to representatives from Lear. "We have stood with you the whole time, and you have stood with us on investments and job creation."

Birmingham in December 2013; it had opened prior in Rochester, at 401 N. Main Street.

In January 2016, Linnen also opened Sidecar, offering gourmet sliders at a long bar, in the Birmingham spot next to Rojo on Merrill Street, in an 1,800 square foot space. Rojo and Sidecar share one Class C liquor license under common ownership. At a December 2015 Birmingham city commission meeting, Linnen explained the concept as, “If you've been to Green Dot Stables in Detroit, we're working on that concept, with gourmet sliders, like Ahi Tuna and tenderloin, everything,” Linnen said.

Rojo first opened in Novi in 2008 as a partnership between Linnen and Joe Vicari Restaurant Group owner Joe Vicari, owner of Andiamo restaurants, among others. At the time, Linnen was a part owner of the Novi Andiamo

Bloomer Woods condos finalized Plans for a 30-unit condominium development near John R and Avon roads were finalized on Monday, October 10, when Rochester Hills City Council members approved Bloomer Woods' site condominium plan.

In February, the Rochester Hills Planning Commission approved preliminary plans proposed by Lombardo Homes, of Shelby Township, for the single-family development on nearly 13 acres of land on the east side of John R, north of Avon. City council subsequently approved the preliminary site plan and a wetland use permit, before the planning commission recommended council approve the final site plan on Tuesday, September 20.

Lombardo Homes will construct 30 single-family ranch and colonial units, ranging from $350,000 to $450,000. About a third of the 12.8 acre project will be preserved as open space. Home density in the development will be 2.3 units per acre, with lot widths ranging from 81 to 107.5 feet, and total area ranging from 10,800 to 20,581 square feet.

The wetland use permit approved by the city will allow construction to impact about 1.4 acres of wetlands at the site, which will be adjacent to a retention pond and open space.

Council members unanimously approved the final site plan.

restaurant. Vicari is no longer involved with Rojo.

There is also a Rojo at Lakeside Mall. At this time, Linnen expects to keep all of the Rojo restaurants open.

“The gist (of the chapter 11 filing and reorganization) is we were rapidly expanding, with a Rojo planned for Maumee, Ohio, just outside Toledo,” Linnen said. “We grew too fast, and the cost of capitalization was too high, and it led us to walk away from the Maumee deal. As a result, it led us to a reorganization of our Michigan locations. We are stabilizing our Michigan locations, including Sidecar. At this point, they are all staying open. We will evaluate each location as we go.”

Linnen said there is no set time period for chapter 11 reorganization and restructuring.

“It's business as usual,” he stated.

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. The complete Places To Eat is available at downtownpublications.com and in an optimized format for your smart phone (downtownpublications.com/mobile), where you can actually map out locations and automatically dial a restaurant from our Places To Eat.

Rochester/Rochester Hills

SERVING DINNER 6 DAYS, BRUNCH ON SATURDAY & SUNDAY. PRIVATE EVENT SPACE AVAILABLE FOR HOLIDAY PARTIES.

The Meeting House is a neighborhood restaurant focusing on seasonal cooking with fresh, locally sourced ingredients combined with warm, thoughtful service and genuine hospitality. Featuring craft cocktails, MI craft beer, and an approachable wine list.

301 South Main Street Rochester 48307

248-759-4825

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The Rochester 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

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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.

B Spot Burgers: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

176 N. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, 48309. 248.218.6001.

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.

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.

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

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.

DOWNTOWN

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.

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.

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.

East Side Mario’s: Italian. Lunch & dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2273 Crooks Road, Rochester, 48309.

248.853.9622.

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

Famous Dave’s: Barbecue. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor.

2945 Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48307. 248.852.6200.

Firehouse Subs: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1480 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.656.9200. Also 3044 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.299.7827.

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

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

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

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

248.266.6687.

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.

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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.

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.

Outback Steakhouse: Steakhouse. Lunch, Friday-Sunday. Dinner, daily.

Reservations, eight or more. Liquor.

1880 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48307. 248.650.2521.

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.

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.

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.

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

Ahoy mates Metro Detroiters will be able to take their palates to the sea, or the Great Lakes, with Voyager, the forthcoming seafood restaurant that the new restaurant’s owners hope swing open before the December holidays arrive. A project from Eli Boyer, formerly of Gold Cash Gold, and Marc Bogoff, chef-owner of Stockyard food truck, the duo repurposed a 1970’s storage building at 600 Vester Avenue in Ferndale, off of Nine Mile Road. “Peoples’ tastes are more elevated than it’s ever been in this area, and shellfish, like oysters, lend itself to that,” said Boyer, who focuses on the management end of the business, while Bogoff hones in on the menu. Fresh vegetables will be emphasized, and the occasional meat dish will be served, but “it’s mainly a place for seafood lovers – for people who are a little intimidated to cook it at home, or don’t find that dish that’s satisfying at (other) places,” said Boyer.

Unique cooking approach Conserva, an anticipated restaurant from chef Matthew Baldridge of Dinner Club, will open this winter at 201 E. Nine Mile in Ferndale. “I will serve a small menu consisting of composed dishes, and some will have a ‘conserva’ component involved,” said Baldridge, referring to an Italian process of cooking, somewhat similar to canning. “We have almost completed the aesthetic changes to the old Torino location,” Baldridge said, as he is wrapping up the menu. Also involved in the project are Baldrige’s wife, artist Janna Coumoundouros, and his brother Steven, also an artist. Formerly a partner in Atomic Chicken, which has locations in Detroit and Clawson, Baldridge recently exited the partnership, allowing him to focus full time on Conserva.

Gold chef changes In late October, chef Brendon Edwards, a key player in the launch of Standby and who has recently been stationed at Katoi, took over the lead as the executive chef at Detroit’s Gold Cash Gold, 2100 Michigan Avenue. Dishing up unique twists on old-timey favorites, such as their signature Pickle Brine Fried Chicken, the menu hits will stay put, while Edwards adds his own brand of “Progressive American” cooking, said Jill Giacomino, of Social Gathering Co., and a representative of the restaurant. “Chef Josh Stockton, who opened the restaurant in the winter of 2014, will be relocating to Las Vegas in the next few weeks,” Giacomino wrote in an October statement.

Lady looking to open Chef Kate Williams, formerly of Republic, has her hopes set on a December opening for her upcoming Corktown restaurant, Lady of the House, 2801 14th Street in Detroit. “We will have a mixture of small and large plates influenced by the season,” said Williams, who grew up in Northville and has cooked in New York, Chicago, and Copenhagen. In Detroit for about five or six years, Williams plans to serve a mix of vegetarian and meat dishes at Lady, which will first open for dinner only, with plans for lunch in the future.

Parc premiering Parc, the new concept coming to 800 Woodward Avenue in Detroit’s Campus Martius Park, is slated to open this month, featuring fish, seafood, pasta and meats. “We’ll be featuring reserve steaks that are dry aged,” said Kate Hill, representative for 800 Parc, LLC, which is a collaboration between Zaid Elia, of The Elia Group, and Matthew Schiffman, of Centerpoint Ventures. Executive chef Jordan Hoffman, returned to his home state after his culinary career took him to Miami and Las Vegas, where he gained experience

opening restaurants. The soon-to-open Parc will fill the vacancy left by the former Fountain Bistro.

Lucky 13 HopCat, the Grand Rapids-based brewery, will open its second Detroit area location this spring, in Royal Oak. Replacing the nowshuttered Woody’s Diner, 208 W. 5th Street, the three-level restaurant, bar and event space will be the thirteenth outpost for the Michigan brewery that launched in 2008. New to the restaurant will be the Detroit-style pizza menu. Designed with a rooftop beer garden, Chris Knape, spokesman for HopCat said the deck plans to have some kind of heaters to allow for multi-season use. “Sitting outside in the fall, having a beer is awesome,” he admitted, “just hanging out with friends.” Although HopCat brews exclusively at the facility in Grand Rapids, the Royal Oak location will boast roughly 100 beers on tap, with a ‘Local 30’ rotating list of southeast Michigan beers.

Pop’s keeps growing Since opening this spring in Ferndale at 280 W. Nine Mile, Pop’s for Italian has grown in popularity, it’s dining room regularly buzzing with chatter. In response to the public’s positive response to Pop’s homemade pasta and Neapolitan pizza, owner Brian Kramer, of Kramer Restaurant Group, will remodel the attached space that formerly housed his short-lived Daily Dinette, which closed at the end of September. The expansion will allow space for a larger kitchen and room for special events, said Beth Hussey, vice president of operations at Pop’s. The momentum of change also led to the September hiring of new executive chef James Henry, formerly of Social Kitchen and Bar. “He’s involved in the new seasonal items coming up,” said Hussey. The menu update will include a swapping out of some pastas in favor of warming soups.

Kramer also owns One-Eyed Betty’s, Ferndale’s craft beer hub and restaurant.

With the departure of chef James Henry from Social Kitchen and Bar, 225 E. Maple Road in Birmingham, owner Zack Sklar said he is back as the executive chef for that restaurant, and the other establishments within Peas and Carrots Hospitality. “Obviously, we have different sous chefs, but I’m still the executive chef of all the restaurants,” he said, noting that they are hiring additional chefs. “My partner Josh Humphrey and I are there a lot, and he’s a chef too.”

Stoops to Townsend Jason Stoops, formerly the executive chef at the Fort Shelby Hilton in Detroit, is the new executive chef at The Townsend Hotel, 100 Townsend Street in Birmingham. Stoops will oversee the Rugby Grille menu, as well as the Townsend Bakery, and additional onsite food programs. In additional news, in place of the Townsend’s Corner Bar, which shuttered earlier this year, the hotel has opened The Clancy Room, a new specialty dining and event space.

Pop-up Intel Yemans Street, 2995 Yemans Street in Hamtramck: Chris Demuth, Sarah Welch and Matt Currie, all of Republic Tavern, Monday, November 7. Brian Psenski, chef within the Detroit area, and Matthew McGrail, of Great Lakes Culinary Center, Friday, November 11.

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

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.

Rojo Mexican Bistro: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 401 N. Main Street, Rochester, 48307.

248.601.9300.

Sakura Sushi: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

6866 N. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, 48306. 248.608.3867.

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 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. 248.453.529.

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 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.

Lakes: Seafood. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

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

McCormick & Schmick’s: Steak & Seafood.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

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

248.637.6400.

Mon Jin Lau: Asian. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1515 E. Maple Rd, Troy, 48083.

248.689.2332.

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

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

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

248.816.3424.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Arthur Avenue: Italian. Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. 260 N. Old Woodward Ave., Birmingham, 48009.

248.480.0768.

Au Cochon: French. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 260 N. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009.

248.792.7795.

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

248.792.3579.

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.

Cafe Via: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

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

248.644.8800.

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.

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.

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

290 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.385.0506.

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.

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

248.646.3663.

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 Bird & The Bread: Brasserie. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 210

downtownpublications.com

S. Old Woodard, Birmingham, 48009.

248.203.6600.

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

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

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

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

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

34977 Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.220.4237.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

248.268.1621.

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

Reservations. Liquor. 418 S. Washington Ave., Royal Oak, 48067. 248.544.4749.

Cork Wine Pub: American. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

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

D’Amato’s: Italian. Sunday Brunch. Dinner,

Tuesday-Saturday. Reservations. Liquor.

222 Sherman Dr., Royal Oak, 48067.

248.584.7400.

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

220 S. Main St., Clawson, 48017.

248.288.0220.

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

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.

DOWNTOWN

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

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 29410 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, 48034. 248.356.6600.

Beans and Cornbread: Southern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 29508 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, 48034. 248.208.1680.

Bigalora: Italian. Weekend Brunch. Lunch, Monday-Friday. Dinner, daily. No Reservations. Liquor. 29110 Franklin Road, Southfield, 48034.

Maria’s Restaurant: Italian. Dinner, daily.

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

248.851.2500.

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

248.626.2982.

The Fiddler: Russian. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Thursday-Sunday. Reservations.

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

248.851.8782.

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

Mene Sushi: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 6239 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.538.7081.

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

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

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

Prime29 Steakhouse: Steak & Seafood.

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

Redcoat Tavern: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor.

6745 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.865.0500.

Shangri-La: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

Reservations. Liquor. Orchard Mall Shopping Center, 6407 Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, 48322.

248.626.8585.

Sposita’s Ristorante: Italian. Friday Lunch.

Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 33210 W. Fourteen Mile Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248. 538.8954.

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

6873 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield Township, 48322. 248.855.6622.

Sweet Lorraine’s Café & Bar: American.

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

248.559.5985.

Yotsuba: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily.

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

248.737.8282.

West Oakland Gravity Bar & Grill: Mediterranean. Monday – Friday, Lunch & Dinner, Saturday, Dinner.

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

It's A Matter of Taste: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2323 Union Lake Road, Commerce, 48390.

248.360.4150.

The Root Restaurant & Bar: American.

Lunch & Dinner, Monday - Saturday.

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

248.698.2400.

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

47

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.

Children’s Leukemia Afternoon of Hope

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1. Dr. Kate Gowans of Rochester, Jim Berline of Orchard Lake. 2. Tina Turner (left) of Troy and Denice Richmond of Bloomfield. 3. Dr. Joseph Uberti of Northville and Dr. Kristine Roth of Bloomfield. 4. Rosemary Fox (left) of Bloomfield, Patti Amine of Birmingham, Mary Benedette of Troy. 5. Rose Robbins (left) and Maureen Belknap of Bloomfield. 6. Sandy (left) & Bob Ruby of Clarkston, Heather McKnight of Rochester Hills. 7. Lisa Wilson (left) and Diane Roelant of Bloomfield. 8. Joyce Richmond (left) and Marjorie DeCapite of Birmingham. 9. Debbie Knowles (left) of Birmingham, Dr. Joseph Uberti of Northville and Kay Carolin of Grosse Pointe.

CARE House Events

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1. Adele Acheson (left) of W. Bloomfield, Kappy Trott of Birmingham, Lisa Payne of Bloomfield.

2. Lisa Bouchard (left) of Birmingham, Linell Slater of Rochester. 3. Matt Friedman (left) of W. Bloomfield, Dan Stall and Brad Oleshansky of Birmingham. 4. Anne Baldin (left) and Sydrena Epstein of Bloomfield. 5. Choux Wingter (left) of Rochester, Chris Corden of Grosse Pointe, Chad Ozias of Madison Heights. 6. Sandie Knollenberg (left) and Helena Chavell of Bloomfield, Colleen Styrna of Orchard Lake.

MOT DiChiera Society

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1. Margarite Fourcroy (center) of Bloomfield, Barbara Frankel (left) of W. Bloomfield and Dodie David of Marine City. 2. Brenda Kee (left) of Detroit and Toby Haberman of Birmingham.

3. Natalie Frakes (left) of Royal Oak, Leia Frankel of Bloomfield, Jordan Broder of Birmingham and Stacey Mason of Farmington Hills.

48

Children’s Leukemia Afternoon of Hope Even though childhood cancer is devastating, supporters of this organization know how to put an upbeat spin on its Afternoon of Hope benefit Sally Gerak luncheon. They do it with lots of friendly camaraderie (nearly 200 guests at $65 and $95 tickets), Patti Polina’s eyepopping décor (think MacKenzie Childs), Kathy McIntosh’s colorful display of chance raffle donations ($6,000 proceeds) and compelling speakers. In the Village Club lobby, co-chairs Denice Richmond and Tina Turner greeted arrivals. These included presenting sponsor Karmanos Cancer Institute and gold sponsor Beaumont Children’s Hospital colleagues. The latter were there to support their star – Innovator in Medicine Award recipient Dr. Kate Gowans.

Before sitting for lunch, she hugged and wept with Sandy and Bob Ruby, whose 15-year-old son Cameron was her patient before his death a year ago. Fox 2’s Deena Centovanti emceed the program. Its highlights included the speech

by Karmanos’ bone marrow transplant guru Dr. Joseph Uberti’s, who passed the mike to former patient/survivor Dr. Kristine Roth. She concluded the saga of her successful journey through two bone marrow transplants by calling Uberti “...a hero of mine.” When Gowans accepted her award from CLF president Heidi Grix, she eschewed the “incredible” label. “I’m just an ordinary girl with extraordinary parents and... patients,” she said. Teddy Degenhardt and Matt Broder, members of the CLF Young Professionals Advisory Board, then pulled the raffle winners’ names. Thanks also to generous sponsors, the second annual Afternoon of Hope raised more than $37,000.

CARE House Events At a cocktail party Lisa Payne hosted for 100 CARE House donors, board members and staff, executive director Pat Rosen told the assembled, “This is my favorite event of the year (because) I have just one message...and that is ‘Thank You’.” She was actually speaking on behalf of the 27 clients who had rung the CARE House door bell that very day. “And that’s been our daily average for 40 years,” she added. Party conversation was far ranging. In one group the topic was Brad Oleshanky’s car enthusiasts’ community M1 Concourse.

Oleshanky reported that the CARE House neighbor in Pontiac had 34,000 visitors on Dream Cruise day. A week later, 100 CARE House supporters ($100 ticket) convened for Cirque de Beaute hosted by Maria Roberts at Saks Fifth Avenue. With music by a Mark Randisi trio as accompaniment, make-up artists from Dior, La Mer and Lancome worked their magic on many guests. But the artist who was making sketches of people’s backsides was the talk of the evening. Guests savored shrimp ceviche, meatballs with polenta, key lime tarts and cheese cake bites provided by Roberts Restaurant Group. They also shopped with their $25 gift cards and tried to win the unique bracelet designer Sharon Myer donated.

MOT DiChiera Society What began 20 years ago as Michigan Opera Theatre’s General Director’s Circle is now the David DiChiera Society. In exchange for an annual donation of $2,500, membership provides perks. One of those is a Thank You party with a musical performance, usually hosted by a member. But this year co-chairs Barbara Frankel and Dodie David staged the Sunday afternoon event at Leon & Lulu’s, Liz Curtin’s award-winning lifestyle store. And because they knew the former Clawson roller skating rink was large enough to accommodate an ambitious musical program, they engaged MOT artists plus Jordan Broder and three of his NUCLASSICA violinists. The boffo program included a wide range of selections, from opera to Broadway. The pairing of the powerful NUCLASSICA strings with the commanding singing voices was superb. MOT founder/artistic director David DiChiera spoke for all when he said after the final song, “It was amazing.” Guests also shopped the store’s eclectic inventory (with a percentage returned to MOT), sipped and snacked on Italian-accented savories from MOT’s Cadillac Café. The afternoon was a warm-up for the DiChiera Legacy Ball Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Detroit Opera House. The Italian

DOWNTOWN

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style celebration will be a tribute to maestro DiChiera.

Hall & Hunter Estate Sale Hall & Hunter Realtors and Habitat for Humanity Oakland have had a symbiotic relationship that culminates in the Annual Estate Sale in a huge tent erected on H&H’s Birmingham parking lot. The night before the sale, when the display and pricing of the antiques, gently used furniture and collectibles is completed, event co-chairs Pam Gray and Gillian Lazar and their team stage a preview party. Guests sip, sup, shop and pay a 30 percent premium for purchases. The rain that fell the next day did not deter the hundreds of shoppers who were lined up down the street awaiting the opening. Dining room tables and sofas were especially popular. At day’s end, thanks to the generous support of Changing Places Moving Company, Devon Title, Stefek’s Auctioneers & Appraisers, Bank of Birmingham and Talmer Bank’s Rick Barnes, the 13th annual sale netted $23,110 for Habitat for Humanity Oakland. Habitat’s big fall benefit is Thursday, Nov. 3 at The Townsend. Changing Places owner Johanna Struck will receive the Maggie Allesee Community Builder Award.

Summer of Love: A Garden Party Cranbrook Art Museum supporters nostalgic for the now defunct, early summer Serious Moonlight soiree got a dose of it under a September harvest moon. More than 300 ($195; $95 tickets) responded to the Flower Power invitation. The theme was inspired by the museum’s current exhibition curated by director Andrew Blauvelt, “Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia.”

Many wore hippie chic a la the ‘60s.

Bob Wilson even found a costume straight from the album cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

Psychedelic music and undulating lights accented the Peristyle and the dance floor on the terrace at the bottom of the expansive stairway leading to the Triton pool. All proceeds from the evening, which this year replaced the November fundraiser, benefit the Museum’s education and exhibition programming: New Day Foundation Hope Shines On the same harvest moonlighted night as the event reported above, more than 350 people ($200 ticket) flocked to Eastern Market’s Shed 5 to raise funds for families fighting downtownpublications.com

Hall & Hunter Estate Sale

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1. Kelly Moody, Barb Miller. 2. Gary Newville, Ron Clem. 3. Ryan and Jack Wolf. 4. Patty Blair, Phil Stakich.

5. Jody Wachler.

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Summer of Love: A Garden Party

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1. Fiona Ragheb & Chris Scoates of Bloomfield. 2. Ann Williams (center) of Royal Oak and Sandy Smith & Bob Wilson of Bloomfield.

3. Carol Ziecik (left) and Elaine Minkin of Bloomfield. 4. Brenda (left) & Howard Rosenberg and Barbra Bloch of Bloomfield. 5. Kevin Adkisson of Bloomfield. 6. Blanca Fauble and Gerhardt Knodel of Bloomfield.

7. David Jaffe & Erica Peresman of Birmingham. 8. Kathy Rines (left) of Bloomfield, Peter Robinson of Beverly Hills, Lisa Kingsley of Metamora. 9. Susan Hall (left) of Bloomfield, Mariana Keros of Birmingham. 10. Lillian Zonars and Gerhardt Knodel of Bloomfield.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK New Day Foundation Hope Shines

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1. Gina Kell Spehn & Michael Spehn of Rochester. 2. Dan Spehn (left), brain cancer fighter Sam Kell and Drew Kell of Rochester. 3. Kim Birmingham (left), Fabienne Potestivo, Toni Valenti and Carol Nowland of Rochester. 4. Craig Rizzi (left) of Troy, Kevin & Lauren Peck of Warren, Daniel & Dr. Cathryn Skedel of Rochester. 5. Mickey York and JoAnne Purtan. 6. Sheila & Randy Frantz of Shelby Twp. 7. Sabrina Boyd (left) of Taylor, her daughters Jasmine Boyd, Jordan Boyd, Ameera Freeman, her son Jon Freeman, her grandson Deandre Kinney & granddaughter Peyton Boyd, 7 months.

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Guest House Detroit Bishop’s Dinner

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1. Sr. Bridget Bearss of Bloomfield, Wayne Webber of Chesterfield. 2. Bob Pliska (left) of Bloomfield, Msgr. Tom Hogan of Ferndale. 3. Ellie Ovies (left) and Grace Seroka of Bloomfield. 4. Bill & Marie Molnar of Bloomfield. 5. Duane (left) & Susan Creviston, John Hundiak and Mike & Marti McDermott of Rochester Hills. 6. Steve (left) & Mary Jo Wall and John & Lanie Tobin of Bloomfield. 7. Ernie Zorn (left) of Troy, Margaret & Peter Good of Birmingham.

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cancer. Diversions included music by Ben Sharkey, live and silent auctions, raffle baskets and a strolling dinner.

But the program provided the memories. Executive director Gina Kell Spehn, who co-founded New Day with her husband Michael Spehn when they blended their families 10 years ago after they lost their spouses to cancer, made a poignant appeal for support. It included the fact that her new family, despite having full insurance, now still incurs $1,500 per month in out-of-pocket medical expenses for their son’s cancer treatments. She then introduced Sam Kell, age 15, who was diagnosed last November with stage 4 brain cancer.

Wearing an Optune treatment device on his head, Sam stood tall. He noted that since his diagnosis, “...yes, cancer happened, but also lots of love, lots of food and Rocky the dog happened.” He got a standing ovation when he concluded by thanking his mom for her help and her meatballs. “I see her faith, I watch her hope and I feel her love,” said Sam. Sam’s neurooncologist, U of M’s Dr. Carl Koschmann, said that teens with cancer usually exhibit anger, despair and depression, but Sam is different.

“He appreciates his physicians, he follows my instructions; he’s such an amazing patient,” he said, adding praise for New Day’s efforts to relieve the financial and emotional stress of a cancer fight. Thanks to the live auction ($17,000), dedicated giving ($13,000) and generous sponsors, Hope Shines: Evening Under the Stars raised more than $130,000 for families facing cancer.

Guest House Detroit Bishop’s Dinner The annual dinner benefiting “the gift of recovery,” to quote emcee Deacon Christopher Stark, attracted more than 300 Guest House supporters ($150, $175, $300 tickets) to Meadow Brook Hall on a heavenly evening. While most of them relished the perfect weather on the terrace, house docent Sandee Rellinger was giving Archbishop Allen Vignernon a tour of the historic manse. He was especially interested, not only because it was his first visit to Meadow Brook but because the rectory where he lives next door to Blessed Sacrament Cathedral was also built by Matilda Dodge Wilson (and her first husband John Dodge).

“He commented on the many similarities...and I could feel his enthusiasm,” Sandee later reported.

After the social hour, a splendid dinner was served in the festival tent followed by a program. Its highlights 11.16

included remarks by awardees Fr. Timothy Hogan and Wayne Webber as well as Guest House alum Fr. Mark Stelzer. The saga of his struggle with addiction and his debt to Guest House for “...making me the person I was intended to be,” was moving. “Mostly we get (to Guest House) one day before we would die,” he concluded. The 58th annual event raised $45,000 for the Guest House mission to heal clergy suffering from addictions.

The Cattle Baron’s Ball Some 700 partygoers sashayed to Cobo Center for the annual American Canceer Society Cattle Baron’s Ball Sept.

24. They rode a mechanical bull, bid on silent auction and live auction lots, danced and dined on the stroll. Culinary awards were presented in three categories: Best Sweet – Centerplate; Best Savory - a tie between Firebird Tavern and Forte Belanger; Best in Presentation - A Serendipity Cakery. The program included the presentation of the Society’s prestigious Cowger Leadership Award to Ford Motor’s Susan Venen for her leadership and continued dedication to the event. The western theme gala generated $1 million, bringing to $15.1 million the total raised for much needed programs, services and research since the event’s launch in Detroit.

Wine & Dine in the D “It’s almost like science fiction... targeting genomes...the unbelievable rate of progress,” noted Chris Emde. He was referring to information presented at the roundtable discussion which kicked off Sid and Sharon Moss’ benefit for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

It brought about 350 people ($175, $275patron) to the Westin Book Cadillac, 100 of whom, like the Emdes, came early for the discussion. So did Marja and Jerry Norris. Like Sid, Jerry is living with MM. He echoed Emde’s amazement at the rapid progress in drugs and treatment that is being made.

But most of the guests were there to wine and dine for the cause. And the restaurants surely delivered the goods.

Or, as Rochester’s Silver Spoon was dishing up – Arrosto di Maiale – roast pig. Huge chunks with crispy skin if one wished. Or Mitchell’s Fish Market’s seafood paella with mussels, shrimp and lobster. Or Prime 29 Steakhouse’s surf and turf crostini. Guests had 25 splendid cuisine stations and 14 wine or beer stations to visit. Other diversions included jazz by Ursula Walker and the Buddy Budson Quintet, the silent auction ($5,000) and a wine pull. An Afterglow for patrons featured rare dessert wines donated by Dr. Takeshi Kataoka and Harry Rochelle and Corden’s and downtownpublications.com

Wine & Dine in the D

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1. Dr. Jeff Margolis (left) of W. Bloomfield, Sid Moss and Jim Rillema of Bloomfield. 2. Chris (left) & Marina Emde and Marvin & Sharon Walkon of Bloomfield. 3. Rito Lisi (left) and Daniele Dell‘Acqua of Rochester Hills. 4. Jerry Norris (left) and Jack Lennox of Bloomfield. 5. Joseph Morda of Bloomfield. 6. Sharon Moss (left) and Carol Rillema of Bloomfield. 7. Sandra Lennox (left) and Marja Norris of Bloomfield. 8. Len (left) & Pamela Dillon and Brian Jennings of Bloomfield. 9. Jennifer & Mike O’Brien of Bloomfield. 10. Marina & Chris Emde of Bloomfield.

Women’s Fund of Rochester Soiree

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1. Cindy Nicholauou (left) and Maria Trahan of Rochester Hills, Barb Cenko of Rochester, Judy deSteiger of Rochester Hills. 2. Kathy McCarter (left) of Rochester, Denise Wiltse of Rochester Hills, Lynn Florek of Lake Orion. 3. Mary Beth LaChance (left) and Cindy Nicholauou of Rochester Hills, Mary Kay LaChance of Rochester. 4. Peggy Gamble (left) and Deanna Gross of Rochester Hills, Lynn Oates of Rochester.

5. Pam Bilodeau (left) and Marty Herrmann of Rochester. 6. Dave deSteiger (left) and Bev Rewold of Rochester Hills, Brad Upton and Ernie Pixley of Rochester, Ginny deSteiger of Rochester Hills.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK Sander’s sweets. Thanks also to generous sponsors, the sixth annual event raised some $95,000 for multiple myeloma research.

Keep the Music Going

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1. Matthew Richter, Sarah Paciocco, BARD co-founder Parker Lynch. 2. Maggie Durant, Anne Strickland, Andrew Dickow.

3. Liz Vollman, Christine Tobias. 4. Bill Powers, Rick Williams, Scott Strickland. 5. Nevila Kaso and Joe Poposil. 6. Sloan Eddleston, Lindsey Shaw, Jason Eddleston. 7. Karen Williams, Wendy Powers.

Grand Jester’s Reception

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The Birmingham House Tour People came from all over to see the six homes on the tour sponsored by Hall & Hunter Realtors to benefit The Community House. Rose and Brian Bolyard, whose home was a tour stop last year, chaired the 29th annual event that attracted about 900 tourists ($40, $45 ticket).

The Garrity, Vincenti, Afrakhteh, Levin, Welty, Nelson and Pero homes in Birmingham displayed a wide variety of design features that inspired conversation among the 200 tourists ($15, $20 ticket) who partook of the buffet luncheon served at The House.

Keep the Music Going The Born And Raised Detroit Foundation’s (BARD) partnership with Detroit Homecoming III was a perfect way to toast Crain’s three-day schmooze and enlightenment of successful expats. The party attracted about 250 ($50 ticket) to Music Hall’s rooftop (350 Terrace) for heavy duty socializing, a silent auction of Made-inMichigan products and Dave Santia’s speed painting of a Stevie Wonder portrait – all accompanied by a band and two DJs. The event raised about $15,000, which BARD has earmarked for Music Hall’s Detroit Public Schools programs and Reaching Higher, a program that gives teens the power of hope and the skills to cope. The next BARD event will be Gobble Wobble, the party that started it all in 2006. ‘Tis the night after Thanksgiving at The Reserve. For information, go to bornandraiseddetroit.org.

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Women’s Fund of Rochester Soiree The third annual Summer Soiree attracted 120 ($65, $75 ticket) to the Greystone Manor Show House by Oakland Township’s Pinnacle. People toured the 8,800 square feet of Moceri-constructed luxury that included everything from a wine lounge to a children’s drop zone.

They also socialized, sipped and supped-on-the-stroll to music by LaShawn D. A client of HAVEN, one of the agencies that received a Women’s Fund grant last year, also told her story. Since its founding 16 years ago, the fund has given over $300,000 in grants to help women in need. President Judy deSteiger announced the group’s new goal – to grow the endowed fund to $1 million by the year 2020 in order to move women and girls from poverty to economic self-sufficiency. The next event, a holiday cocktail party, is December 6 at the Mercedes Benz dealership in Rochester. For more information about it and the Women’s Fund go to womensfundrochester.org.

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1. Tony Frabotta (left) of Rochester Hills and Tom Callan of Bloomfield.

2. Maggie Allesee (center) of Bloomfield with Austin & Faye Kanter of W. Bloomfield. 3. Tavi Fulkerson (left) and Blanca Fauble of Bloomfield. 4. Joe Maternick (left) and Parade Company CEO Tony Michaels of Rochester, Pat Fenton of Birmingham, Syd Ross of Bloomfield. 5. Rick & Becky Sorensen of Bloomfield. 6. Dr. John Tower (left) and Madeline & Sam Carletta of Rochester Hills. 7. Scott LePage (left) of Birmingham, Bonnie & Norm LePage of W. Bloomfield. 8. Rick Miller (left) of Pontiac, Larry Pocza of White Lake, Sandee Rellinger of Rochester, John White of Rochester Hills. 9. John Landis of Livonia, Pam Audette of Chesterfield and Michelle DesMarais of Bloomfield. 10. Syd Ross (center) of Bloomfield, Josh Ross (left) of Pleasant Ridge and Victor Ross of Royal Oak.

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Grand Jester’s Reception There’s nothing “creepy” about The Parade Company’s Distinguished Clowns Crops. These are the nearly 200 guys and gals who donate $1,000 per year for the privilege of frolicking down Woodward Avenue in America’s Thanksgiving Parade. As DCC sponsor UHY LLP’s Tony Frabotta said at the Grand Jester’s annual reception, “We work for people...certain things you do because you feel good about it. We feel good about (the Distinguished Clown Corps).” He was speaking to the 200 DCs and DC wannabees gathered at The Reserve to salute 2016 Grand Jester Austin Kanter. He’s the first of the corps to attain 30-year status. And like other DCs, is joined in the corps by children and grandchildren. This includes the LePage family, which hosts the exceptional cocktail supper reception. DCC committee members include Maggie Allesee, Eric Borman, Linda Burwell, 11.16

Rick DiBartolomeo, Grenae Dudley-White, Blanca Fauble, Pat Fenton, Joe Fleck, Austin Kanter, John Landis, Eric Larson, David Markiewicz, Luther “Skip” Rosemond, Syd Ross, Peter Schweitzer, Rebecca Sorensen and Bill White.

Grace Centers Night of Hope The Reserve was also a grand venue for Grace Centers’ Night of Hope fundraiser. Chaired by Emilie Mardigian Fitch and Nanette Droulliard, it attracted 144 for casual Friday night fun. This included super food stations, a silent auction ($9,755) and a live auction of three Dave Santia speedy painted celebrity portraits, plus three other items ($10,300). Fox 2’s Roop Raj also emceed a program. It included his recollection that his first guest when he started at Fox 2 in 1992 was the current Miss Michigan (Shannon Grace Clark, the daughter of Grace Centers of Hope’s Pastor Clark Kent); a moving video depicting a youngster’s dramatic success in Grace Centers’ Hands of Hope Childcare Center; and, why many came, a riveting Pastor Kent story. The latter, relayed with consummate good humor, was his memory of how the late David Mardigian came to be a major Grace Centers donor. Following Pastor Clark, Melissa Rodriquez made a special appeal that resulted in $13,677. This brought the Night of Hope proceeds to $108,902 for the Hands of Hope Childcare Center at Grace Centers of Hope. The Christian social service agency receives no government support.

HAVEN’s Tailgate Benefit The weather was pleasant, the terrace at the Birmingham Athletic Club was a comfortable, new event venue and 123 HAVEN supporters ($125 and up tickets) turned out to watch the Lions-Packers game. They also bid in silent and live auctions ($9,000), wagered $5,000 on the scoring in each quarter, savored bountiful tailgate fare and, at halftime, applauded remarks by retired Lions kicker Jason Hanson. His anti-domestic and sexual violence message was mostly to guys. “Let’s put our competitive energies into something that matters...stopping abuse...men must get their act together...let’s be part of the solution. We’re cheering (HAVEN) on,” he concluded. Although the Lions fell short, thanks to generous sponsors, the fourth annual tailgate party enriched HAVEN’s victim support and abuse prevention programs by more than $53,000.

Spirit of Manresa Gala Gala Many of the 220 supporters ($100 & up tickets) of the Manresa Jesuit Retreat House gathered at the St. Nicholas Center in Troy began the evening at Mass celebrated by Fr. Leo Cachat, SJ. The social hour following the liturgy was marked by conversation, silent auction bidding (96 items), a 52-card raffle ($100 tickets) and signing up for three different social events. The dinner program was emceed by WJR’s Marie Osborne and had highlights, not the least of which was a champagne toast to the conclusion of Manresa’s 90th anniversary celebration. But here’s betting everyone in the audience was most moved by Rick Benedict’s remarks about the cancer that made him come to Manresa 10 years ago because he “...was afraid to meet The Creator.”

He has since transitioned from hoping to believing in God. “I have had an internship in Trust,” he concluded.

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

Grace Centers Night of Hope

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1. Nanette Droulliard (left) and Kevin Murphy of Rochester. 2. Michelle Denno (left) of Rochester, Emilie Mardigian Fitch (left) and Katre Klow of Birmingham. 3. Charles Wickins (left) of Birmingham, Grace Center of Hope’s Pastor Clark Kent of Troy and Susan Cetnar of Clinton. 4. Chris Klow (left) and Aaron Fitch of Birmingham. 5. Melissa Rodriquez of Sterling Hgts., Maria Moceri of Rochester. 6. Tom Kalas (left) of Rochester Hills, Jerry Ruggierello of Northville, Mario Moceri of Rochester.

7. Roop Raj of Bloomfield, Angelia LaGrandeur of Centerline, Tricia Raymond of Troy.

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1. Jeff & Michelle Bonanni of Rochester. 2. Committee member Craig Wolanin, (left) Gordie, Cayce and Grant Kosch of Rochester. 3. Interim co-director Marianne Dwyer of Ortonville, committee member Greg Erne of Beverly Hills.

Spirit of Manresa Gala Gala

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1. Julie and Peter Kreher of Birmingham. 2. Steve Raymond (left) of Troy, Sr. Bridget Bearss and Frank Migliazzo of Bloomfield. 3. Maryellen Netter (left) of Bloomfield, Jane Stewart of Royal Oak. 4. Rick Benedict of Bloomfield. 5. Marty (left) & Tami Rymerz of Wright City, MO, Robert & Barbara Wilson of Bloomfield.

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ENDNOTE POCKET VOTER GUIDE Here’s a handy pocket guide to Downtown’s picks for the November general election which voters can take to the polls. Expanded endorsement information can be found on our website at downtownpublications.com.

Representative in Congress 8th District Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township MIKE BISHOP (R) 9th District Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills ANIL KUMAR (D) Michigan House 40th District Birmingham, Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills MIKE MCCREADY (R) 45th District Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township MICHAEL WEBBER (R) Oakland County County Executive L. BROOKS PATTERSON (R) County Prosecutor JESSICA COOPER (D) County Sheriff MICHAEL BOUCHARD (R) County Clerk/Register of Deeds LISA BROWN (D) County Treasurer ANDY MEISNER (D) Water Resources Commissioner JIM NASH (D) County Commission District 12 Birmingham, Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills SHELLEY GOODMAN TAUB (R) District 13 Bloomfield Township MARCIA GERSHENSON (D) District 15 Rochester, Rochester Hills ADAM KOCHENDERFER (R) Birmingham School Board AUDRA BARTHOLOMEW BRIAN JENNINGS COREY JACOBY ADRIENNE YOUNG Birmingham Schools Millage VOTE YES Bloomfield Hills School Board MARK BANK JACQUELINE EL-SAYED CYNTHIA VON OEYEN Rochester School Board MICHELLE BUELTEL Regional Mass Transit Tax VOTE NO

Ban use of coal tar sealants n September, Downtown newsmagazine explored the use and associated health risks of using pavement sealants derived from coal tar, which is a byproduct produced in the distillation of coal into coke. While we found that sealcoat applicators and manufacturers agreed that the coal tar based product was the most durable on the market, the same sources indicated suitable alternatives are available.

Further, existing research on the coal tar-based sealcoat linked it as a significant source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are known to be potent carcinogens, and have been linked to cardiovascular disease and poor fetal development. Coal tar pitch, itself, is considered a human carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program.

In its functional state, coal tar sealants provide an added protection and attractive aesthetic to blacktop parking lots. The problem, several studies pointed out, begins when the sealant begins to break down and flake or chip off the pavement. At that point, the substance begins to spread, either by dust that can be tracked into nearby buildings or by stormwater running into drainage and detention systems where it contaminates soils, or runs into local waterways where it impacts aquatic life. As a source of soil contamination in drainage systems, coal tar sealants may pose a substantial financial burden to local governments charged with maintenance of a stormwater management system under federal law. Likewise, property owners near seal-coated parking lots face the cost of mitigating associated contamination.

The time has come for state, county and local lawmakers to take action to prohibit the use and

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sale of coal tar based sealants as it is too great a source of an environmental pollutant entering our homes and waterways.

Much of the research has been done by the United States Geological Survey and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, with support from subsequent academic studies. The information has lead to statewide bans on coal tar sealants in Minnesota and Washington. Several Michigan municipalities have banned the application and sale of coal tar sealants, including Ann Arbor and Van Buren Township.

Those that have already enacted bans on coal tar sealants are aware the products will likely take decades to work their way out of the environment.

However, by using existing ordinances as a framework, Oakland County and other communities must start now to reduce the health threat to residents. It becomes especially critical in our county, which sits at the headwaters of key waterways in this part of the state.

Critics of such bans have responded by attacking the researchers motivations and credibility, with the main trade association leading the opposition claiming the entire field of study into emerging pollutants is simply a way to fund new research.

Such ad hominem attacks have little substance to sway us against the type of scientific research that has resulted in previous bans of harmful substances, such as lead and DDT. So we are calling on elected and appointed officials in local communities, Oakland County and our state lawmakers to show leadership on an issue of utmost importance to residents here and throughout the state and begin working on a ban to the sale and use of coal tar sealants.

Safeguarding our water quality early half of us use at least one prescription drug each month, with 20 percent of the population needing at least three prescriptions or more. Our bodies use a portion of those drugs, plus the over the counter medications we ingest, and then excrete them out into our wastewater. Similarly, lots of people still flush unused drugs and pharmaceuticals down the toilet in whole form in order to keep out of the hands of others. The problem? A large portion of this medical waste ends up in our drinking water, proving to be a toxic threat to both people and the environment.

In a recent longform article for Downtown, reporter Kevin Elliott researched the dangers of polluting our drinking water with medical waste, as water treatment plants can only detect and remove a small amount of the pharmaceuticals and other chemical compounds from our drinking and wastewater. While sewage systems are designed to remove harmful contaminants from our wastewater before being released back into the environment, studies have found that only 20 to 90 percent of pharmaceuticals are typically removed from "influent," or sewage. The remaining chemicals are discharged as "effluent" and pumped right back into local waterbodies. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said water treatment

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isn't even designed to remove pharmaceuticals from water – meaning a Valium cocktail or antibiotic chaser could be part of your diet without your knowledge.

It is critical that agencies such as the DEQ and EPA invest time and money into research to scientifically determine the exact chemical threats to both the population and the environment, as intersex fish and other anomalies are cropping up along Great Lake tributaries. Significiant improvements in the infrastructure must be done by the Great Lakes Water Authority, which provides water to the communities of much of southeast Michigan, along with other local water treatment plants, to better filter contaminants. We believe a majority of water customers would be willing to pay to ensure their water is safe to drink, cook with, and bathe in.

Likewise, community leaders in the county would do well to help promote the program created by Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard – Operation Medicine Chest, which allows people to anonymously drop off unused medications at sheriff office locations and local police departments – and to take every opportunity to educate and remind their citizenry of the damage incurred by not properly disposing of medical waste.

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