Rochester/Rochester Hills

DESKA: FRONT/BACK 54 • GERAK: SOCIAL LIGHTS 60

DOWNTOWN R O C H E S T E R

•

R O C H E S T E R

H I L L S

OCTOBER 2016

PLUS

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP

COAL TAR SEALANT: THREAT TO HUMAN, AQUATIC LIFE LIVING ON THE EDGE: POVERTY IN OAKLAND COUNTY DYING WITH DIGNITY: THE RIGHT TO DIE MOVEMENT ENDNOTE: OUR CHOICES FOR NOVEMBER BALLOT ECRWSS Postal Customer EDDM

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6 NATALIE MARIE, OAKLAND TWP. 3-4 BEDS, 3.1 BATHS, 2600 SQFT HOME SITUATED ON A PRIVATE GETAWAY LOT W/ A 50â&#x20AC;&#x2122;x20â&#x20AC;&#x2122; IN-GROUND POOL, 2000 SQFT PATIO, GORGEOUS LANDSCAPING. FINISHED W/O BASEMENT W/FULL BATH, KITCHEN, REC ROOM, LIVING AREA, OFFICE. CUSTOM FEATURES INCLUDE, SPEAKER SYSTEM, 16 ZONE SPRINKLER, EXTRA HIGH CEILINGS T/O, EXTRA INSULATED WALLS, HUGE MASTER BEDROOM, CUSTOM DRAPERIES, 3.5 CAR INSULATED GARAGE W/ FURNACE. ROCHESTER SCHOOLS. $438,000. CALL CARON!

Caron Koteles Riha Associate Broker

333 E. SNELL RD, ROCHESTER 5 BDRM, 5 BATH RANCH, 4.95 ACRES. GRANITE COUNTERS IN KIT, BATHS, LRG KIT W/WET BAR, OPEN CONCEPT GR W/SKYLIGHTS, LRG LAUNDRY RM W/CABINETS, MUD ROOM, WOOD DECK, PAVER PATIO, OPEN SPACE FOR ENTERTAINING. W/O FIN BSMT W/5TH BDRM. FP IN DR, GR, BSMT. NEW ROOF(2013).

HORSE BARN W/WORKING STALL. CIRCULAR DRIVEWAY. MINUTES FROM ROCHESTER. $648,800. CALL CARON!

626 WILWOOD RD, ROCHESTER HILLS 5 BDRM, 3.5 BATH, ALL BDRMS ON MAIN FLR. HOT TUB FLOWS INTO IN-GROUND POOL, PRIVATE, PARTIALLY TREED, FENCED, 3 FPS, BAY WINDOW, HARDWOOD FLOORS, OPEN LAYOUT IN FIN BSMNT, OPEN CONCEPT KIT W/SNACK BAR, LRG EATING AREA INCLUDING APPLS, LOADS OF CABINETS. MASTER BR, BATHR WERE ADDED ON. ADDTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;L ½ BATH IN THE BSMNT, DEEP 2.5 CAR GAR. $334,800. CALL CARON!

520 MARYKNOLL DR, ROCH HILLS 4 BDRM COLONIAL W/OPEN FLOOR PLAN, LRG PARTIALLY WOODED LOT, ALL APPLIANCES INCLUDED. IN MEADOWBROOK VALLEY SUB IN THE HEART OF ROCHESTER HILLS. CLOSE TO OAKLAND UNIVERSITY, 3 CAR SIDE ENTRY GARAGE, 1ST FLOOR LAUNDRY, STUDY, LRG KIT W/ BUILT-IN APPLS, DBL OVEN, CENTRAL VACUUM SYSTEM, MASTER STE, SUN ROOM. HOME WARRANTY. $360,000. CALL CARON!

Rochester/Rochester Hills/Oakland Twp - September 2016

S 575 GALLALAND AVE, ROCHESTER HILLS 1ST FLOOR MSTR BDRM, W/OPEN FLOOR PLAN, NEUTRAL PAINT T/O, VOLUME CEILINGS,GAS FIRE PLACE IN GR W/STUNNING WINDOWS, STUDY W/BI SHELVING,WORK SPACE, LG KIT, BKFST NOOK W/WOOD FLRS, SS APPLS, WICS, ADDTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;L FML DR, 1ST FLR LAUNDRY, DOORWALL TO PAVER PATIO, LANDSCAPING,3 CAR SIDE ENTRY GAR. FULL BSMNT. NEW A/C. MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWN $384,800. CALL CARON!

O L D

ADDRESS 3347 Bathurst Ave 2353 Hessel Ave 2154 Highsplint 226 Slade Court 2600 Buell Rd 1597 Colony Dr 2102 Pear Tree Lane 426 Parkdale Ave 1379 Shenandoah 2629 Munster Rd 3284 Parkwood 2780 Dearborn Ave 3272 Paint Creek Drive 5825 Cobb Creek 125 Albertston St 3567 Strathcona Minimum Average Maximum

List Price $200,000 $234,900 $289,900 $299,900 $1,799,000 $214,900 $249,500 $274,850 $269,900 $336,000 $484,900 $92,500 $300,000 $370,000 $349,900 $924,900 $92,500 $418,191 $1,799,000

Sale Price $183,000 $220,500 $285,000 $295,000 $1,675,000 $207,000 $235,000 $269,000 $270,000 $315,000 $455,400 $80,000 $291,000 $350,000 $330,000 $890,000 $80,000 $396,931 $1,675,000

Beds Baths 2 1 3 2.1 3 2.1 3 2.1 6 9.3 2 2.1 4 2.1 3 3.1 3 2.1 4 3.1 4 3.1 2 1 2 2 3 2.1 4 1.1 4 3.2

Sqft Total 1,280 1,244 1,619 1,874 8,895 1,140 1,848 1,532 2,083 2,544 4,022 864 1,539 2,050 1,480 4,702 864 2,420 8,895

Price/Sqft $142 $177 $176 $157 $188 $181 $127 $175 $129 $123 $113 $92 $189 $170 $222 $189 $92 $159 $222

Close Date 9/1/2016 9/1/2016 9/1/2016 9/1/2016 9/1/2016 9/2/2016 9/2/2016 9/2/2016 9/2/2016 9/2/2016 9/2/2016 9/6/2016 9/6/2016 9/6/2016 9/7/2016 9/7/2016

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DOWNTOWN10.16

20

Coal tar sealant: local health threat A hidden health risk could be lurking in your driveway or a nearby parking lot that could be harming you, your children, and the environment – coal tar blacktop sealant that is used by many today although there is growing opposition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

10

The media did not fare so well in a recent Gallup survey on the issue of trust but Downtown newsmagazine is still holding with the traditional role of journalism as we produce a monthly product for our readers in Oakland County.

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

16

Our political gossip column details the latest, including an election complaint file against a county candidate; tacky political polling on the 9/11 anniversary; the return of the “Accidential Congressman;”and more.

MUNICIPAL

46

Marijuana grow operation stalled; crowd-funding for Rochester College park; residents react to water rate hikes; Rochester Hills budget; trees cleared for soccer field; school police liaison officer; classrooms back in action; plus more.

FRONT/BACK

54

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

THE COVER Downtown Rochester's oldest building at 300 South Main Street – the Rollin Sprague building, constructed in 1849 – now houses the Home Bakery, established in 1930.

Downtown photo: Laurie Tennent.

ADVANTAGE OF OUR EXCEPTIONAL OFFERS TAKETAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR EXCEPTIONAL OFFERS

lessees GM lease through GM Financial, or US Bank CurrentCurrent lessees with awith GM alease through GM Financial, AllyAlly or US Bank 1 can receive $750 allowance on these new 2016 & 2017 Models. can receive $750 allowance1 on these new 2016 & 2017 Models.

2016 CADILLAC ATS 2016 CADILLAC ATS 2.0T STANDARD COLLECTION

Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and 2.0T STANDARD COLLECTION Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$2,539 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualifi ed GM Employees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$

259 $ 259 3636

$2,539 DUE AT SIGNING PERAFTER ALL OFFERS

MONTH1 PER MONTH1 MONTHS MONTHS

2016 CADILLAC ATS 2.0T STANDARD COLLECTION

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

$2,539 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$

259 36

MONTHS

No security deposit required.

Tax, title, and license extra.

Mileage chargeNo $.25/mile securityover deposit required.

30,000 miles. Tax, title, and license extra.

2 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.

2016 CADILLAC CTS $ 2 2016 CADILLAC CTS

$

SEDAN STANDARD NDARD COLLECTION Ultra-Low Mileage Lease for Well-Qualified GM Employees and S M Members mbers who are Current GM Lessees.

Eligible Family SEDAN STANDARD COLLECTION U $2,949 DUE AT T SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

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

Lessees Eligible Family Members

$

$ MONTH PER E $ $ MONTH MONTHS

279 279 36 3 36

PERAFTER ALL OFFER $2,949 DUE AT SIGNING OFFERS

M

1

1

2016 CADILLAC CTS SEDAN STANDARD COLLECTION

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

Lessees Eligible Family Members

$2,949 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFER OFFERS

$

279 36

PER E MONTH1

MONTHS ONTH

U

ire .

No security deposit required. ra.

Tax, title, and license extra. le over Mileage charge $.25/mile 30,000 miles.

2016 CADILLAC XTS SEDAN STANDARD COLLECTION

2017 CADILLAC XT5 CROSSOVER LUXURY COLLECTION

$

$

329 39

349 39

PER MONTH1

MONTHS

ONTH MONTHS

uired.

No security deposit required. tra.

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

Tax, title, and license extra. le over Mileage charge $.25/mile 30,000 miles.

PER MONTH1

MONTHS

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

$3149 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles

2016 CADILLAC XTS SEDAN STANDARD COLLECTION

2017 CADILLAC XT5 CROSSOVER LUXURY COLLECTION

2016 CADILLAC CT6 2.0 LUXURY COLLECTION

$

$

$

2329 39

PER MONTH1

MONTHS

349 39 CADILLAC

PER MONTH1

2016 SEDAN STANDARD COLLECTION

MONTHS

$

329 39

XTS

MONTHS

$3149 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

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

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

$3,679 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

CRESTVIEW CADILLAC

2

$

MONTHS

P

3

U

yees and Eligible Family Members who are Current GM Lessees.

$3,679 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS No security deposit required. Tax, title, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

2016 CADILLAC ESCALADE 4WD LUXURY COLLECTION $

639 39 XT5 CADILLAC PER MONTH1

MONTHS

CROSSOVER LUXURY COLLECTION

$

PER MONTH1

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

439 392017 PER MONTH1

PER MONTH1

349 39 555 S. ROCHESTER RD. | ROCHESTER, MI PER MONTH1

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.

$4,079 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$4,169 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, and license extra. Mileage charge $.25/mile over 32,500 miles.

MONTHS

L w

ROCHESTER, MI FROM M-59 & 1-75

LOCATED MINUTES FROM M-59 & 1-75 www.crestviewcadillac.com | 855-558-8821 SERVING THE METRO DETROIT AREA FOR 25 YEARS NOW OPEN SATURDAYS: SALES 10AM - 5PM SERVICE 8AM - 1PM 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. who are2.Current Lessees.

1.Must have a current GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US Bank. Not available with some other offers. Take delivery by 10/31/16.Members See dealer for details.

Must haveGM a current GM lease through GM Financial, Ally or US Bank. Payments are for a

1 $

$3149 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

$3,679 DUE AT SIGNING AFTER ALL OFFERS

2016 CT6 2.0T Luxury with an MSRP of $59,390. 39 monthly payments total $17,121. Payments are for a 2016 ATS 2.0T Sedan Standard with an MSRP of $36,240. 36 monthly payments total $9,324. Payments are for a 2016 CTS Sedan Standard with an MSRP of $46,555.

36 monthly payments $10,044.

Payments for acharge 2016 XTS Sedan Standard an MSRP of $46,290. 39 total $12,831. forMileage a 2017charge XT5 Crossover with an MSRP of $45,890. 39 No security deposit required.total Tax, title, and license extra.are Mileage $.25/mile over 32,500 with Nomonthly securitypayments deposit required.

Tax, title, Payments and licenseare extra. $.25/mileLuxury over 32,500 miles.

FROM M-59 & 1-75miles monthly payments total $13,611 Payments are for a 2016 Escalade 4WD Luxury 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 w 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 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 10/31/16 ˝2016 General Motors. Cadillac® ATS® CTS® CT6® XT5® XTS® Escalade®

2016 CADILLAC CT6 2.0 LUXURY COLLECTION $

439

PER MONTH1

4

2016 CADILLAC ESCALADE 4WD LUXURY COLLECTION

$ $

639

PER MONTH1

29

Poverty in Oakland County The number of people considered to be living below the federal poverty level is growing in Oakland County, including in local communities.

39 Death With Dignity movement The Death With Dignity movement to provide for the right to determine one's own end of life is still active and new legislation has been introduced

18

Suzy Barrett

FACES BUSINESS MATTERS

59

Grit Obstacle Training; PKSA Karate; Live Clean Nutrition; Leader Dogs for the Blind; Ascension Crittenton.

SOCIAL LIGHTS

60

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

ENDNOTE

66

Absentee ballots for the November general election are out, so we offer our opinions on candidates seeking public office and local election issues.

18 26 37 44 50

Suzy Barrett Irum Ibrahim Dave LewAllen Barbara Burkhart-Spragg Christine Gibson

METROPOLITAN

248-601-3399 Direct: 248-601-1000

Office:

Tour Our Homes at: CoreyandCrew.com Email: Debbie@CoreyandCrew.com

COREY & CREW Full Service Real Estate

Oakland Twp. $369,000

Rochester $449,000

Rochester $654,900

Totally renovated ranch, 2,255 Sq. Ft., 3 bdrms., 2.1 baths, awesome open floor plan. Granite & hardwood flooring t/o. Half acre lot.Â

4 bdrms., 2.5 baths with 3 car gar. Pristine condition, walkout bsmt., extensive updates & community pool.Â

Prime downtown location, 3204 sq. ft., 4 bdrms., 3.5 baths, hard to find 2 car heated attached garage.

Rochester Hills $314,900

Rochester Hills $679,900

Clawson $199,900

5 bdrm., 4 full bath all brick ranch on half acre with fin. walkout bsmt., fenced yard & heated garage.

New construction on 1 acre lot with ideal access to Paint Creek Trail. Will build to builderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or buyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plans.

Updated and spacious ranch. 3 bdrms., 2 baths. Hardwood flooring throughout. Spacious bdrms., fin. bsmt., fenced yard and 2 car garage.

Rochester Hills $2,100/month

(lease)

Brick ranch in prime location near all conveniences. Open floor plan, all appls. Spacious kitchen, new carpeting, exceptional bsmt.

VACANT 1 ACRE PARCEL NEAR PAINT CREEK TRAIL

St. Clair Shores $134,500

Rochester Hills $289,900

One owner pristine brick ranch. 3 bdrms., 2 baths, hardwood flooring. Updated mechanicals, family room, 2 car garage.

4 bdrms., 2.5 baths, fin. walkout bsmt. Hardwood flooring throughout. 1st. fl. laundry.

Another Corey & Crew Nesting Experience

Rochester Hills $179,900 Build your dream home in developed area without subdivision restrictions. City water and sewer.

Survey available. Arborist reviewed identifying 25 types of trees. Award winning Rochester Schools.

Up north living but near shopping, schools and downtown Rochester.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Debbie is extremely knowledgeable with the Rochester area and is an expert in her field. She is very personable, has a positive attitude and hardworking. She knows all aspects of the real estate market and can give you advice on pretty much anything.

Debbie understood the importance of

getting  our house listed and sold in a timely manner and followed up on ALL angles possible to ensure that we would get the best price. She kept us well informed, educated on the process, and continued to follow up. We highly recommend Debbie and her team!!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; P. Hemingray

2015 REALTOR OF THE YEAR FOR ROCHESTER CHAPTER OF WOMENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S COUNCIL OF REALTORS 2015 TOP RE/MAX TEAM IN SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN FOR NUMBER OF TRANSACTIONS AND TEAM COMMISSIONS

)8// 5($/ (67$7( 6(59,&(6 81'(5 21( 522) 0$5.(7,1* 6$/(6 0257*$*(6 7,7/( /$67,1* &/,(17 5(/$7,216+,36

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.

For those not receiving a free mail copy, paid subscriptions are available for a $12 annual charge. To secure a paid subscription, go to our website (downtownpublications.com) and click on “subscriptions” in the top index and place your order online or scan the QR Code here.

INCOMING/READER FEEDBACK We welcome feedback on both our publication and general issues of concern in the Rochester/Rochester Hills communities. The traditional “letters to the editor” in Downtown are published in our Incoming section and can include written letters or electronic communication.

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

If you are using the mail option, you must include a phone number for verification purposes.

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FROM THE PUBLISHER he media – including newspapers – are proving to be their own worst enemy. Public trust is at an all time low; the economies of the business are making it more challenging to produce solid products, be it print or broadcast; and the standard way of delivering news is being challenged by a number of online platforms.

T

On the trust issue, the media in general is at its lowest level since Gallup first polled this question in 1972, according to information released by the firm in recent weeks. In its 2016 poll, 32 percent of the public had a “fair amount” or “great deal” of trust in those who disseminate the news.

Interestingly, the most recent poll represented an eight percent drop from 2015 and the decline cut across all age groups, another first. Of those polled nationally, only 14 percent of Republicans expressed trust in the media, while 51 percent of Democrats polled had trust in the news media, leading pollsters to speculate that the constant criticism of the media by GOP candidates – most notably Donald Trump – was helping push down the confidence level.

Media scored the highest trust level in 1976 – 72 percent – and those who follow these issues are saying that public confidence in the Fourth Estate was buoyed by detailed coverage and investigative journalism focused on the war in Vietnam and the scandals surrounding Watergate.

Since then, it has been downhill with the exception of the 2002 annual survey in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks when the public registered a great deal of trust.

In a separate poll performed in 2015, Gallup found that newspapers had a 62 percent trust factor among the public with either “great” or “some” trust.

I share this with our readers because I think the media in general – and some newspapers in particular – have hastened their own demise.

Let's take the Oakland County market. For generations voters have relied on newspapers to sort through the candidates running for public office, providing information on candidates' positions on the issues and making recommendations to readers on how to vote. But fast forward to the 2016 election and we find that Downtown newsmagazine might be the last to carry on this tradition among non-daily publications in the county. On the daily newspaper front, with the Oakland Press getting out of the endorsement business, that leaves the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News still in the game, although their frequency and distribution reach has declined considerably and one would have to assume their sphere of influence with the electorate has also.

To some extent the decline in solid election coverage and endorsements backs up to the declining profit centers that newspapers were at one time. In tough times, it becomes easiest to eliminate positions that produce no identifiable revenue stream – i.e., the newsroom. Then there is the continuing trend of combining newspapers under larger corporate ownership where it becomes even more tempting to cut costs to reach certain profit levels, and there goes the newsroom head count once again.

Add to this the trend – and it is taking place in Oakland County – where print products have taken the position that they will only produce news that draws higher levels of “clicks” (readers) on their websites. So sensational stories win out over the more tedious but still important local government coverage.

Longform journalism loses out to shorter pieces that can be read quicker.

At Downtown newsmagazine, we still adhere to a more traditional definition of our role as journalists.

We know we have an educated readership, both for our edition serving the Birmingham/Bloomfield area as well as our edition serving Rochester/Rochester Hills. We also know that our followers appreciate the longform features that we do each month on issues that should be considered critical to local residents. We mix those longer pieces with coverage of municipal meetings, personality profiles, restaurant news and social scene news/photos.

We define our role as a provider of hard news or serious information and we know that approach hits a responsive chord that has allowed us to develop a strong following in the communities we serve. Yes, like everyone else, we do check each week the website stats to see what type of traffic we generate, and we know that locally and well beyond this area we have strong readership, both on the hard news and the longform features we post to our website, which regularly draws 70,000 to over 80,000 visitors each month. But we don't focus our news coverage based on “click” statistics.

Downtown newsmagazine also still adheres to the traditional role of providing coverage of candidates and our opinions on who we think is best suited to represent the public, as evidenced by this issue in which we give our endorsements of November general election candidates on our Endnote opinion page.

Candidates answers to questions appear on our website and if past elections are any indication, our readers will take the time to familiarize themselves with the options appearing on the ballot.

Over the years I have taken a number of approaches to election coverage.

Some election cycles we have interviewed in person all the candidates running in an election and sometimes we have interviewed candidates, recorded the sessions and posted those online. One election cycle we broadcast through our website live interviews, then archived recordings of those online, along with written transcripts of the interviews. Sometimes I have relied just on questionnaires for candidates.

This year we did a combination of things. All candidates received questionnaires, the answers to which will be posted at downtownpublications.com as absentee ballots go in the mail. News editor Lisa Brody and I also spent time doing one-on-one individual sessions with a good number of those running for office so we could have a better feel for candidates as part of our endorsement process.

All of this is done to provide our readers with a solid monthly news product on which they have come to rely.

Perhaps the current state of print media was captured best in an interview I recently read with the David Remnick, editor-in-chief of The New Yorker since 1998: “The media is a many-headed beast. I can’t speak for people’s trust in Fox News or the Wall Street Journal or L.A. Times. All I can do is speak for us.

All we can do is gain the readers’ trust for what we do.”

David Hohendorf Publisher DavidHohendorf@downtownpublications.com

INCOMING Milliken achievement David Hohendorf had a great column in the September issue of Downtown.

It’s good to know there are still many among us who remember and respect Gov. William Milliken’s record of achievement on a number of key issues as well as the example he set for what true public service can look like.

Bob Berg Co-founder, of counsel, Van Dyke ● Horn Public Relations (Publisher’s note: Bob Berg, after a successfull career in journalism with United Press International and as Michigan Capitol Bureau Chief for Panax newspapers, served 19771982 as Executive Assistant for Public Affairs under Gov. Milliken)

Governor with diplomacy I so enjoyed reading the September “From The Publisher” about Gov. William Milliken.

I had the opportunity to meet Governor Milliken in 1976, while working for then-Michigan State Representative Rick Fessler.

More than several times a month, I had the pleasure of leaving the Capitol in the company of Bill Milliken. His car was parked directly outside the trailer (adjacent to the building) in which I worked.

Always smiling, polite and such a gentleman, he would say, “Have a good evening, Pat.” I would reply, “Thank you, Governor. You enjoy your evening, too.”

Bill Milliken was a governor who worked both sides of the aisle with diplomacy. Thank you for capturing the Bill Milliken that I knew.

Pat Jacobs Executive Vice President North Oakland County Board of Relators

Current state of GOP I always enjoy reading David Hohendorf's editorials in Downtown, but in particular I enjoyed the editorial that he wrote in the most recent publication concerning former Governor Bill Milliken and the current state of the Republican party. I am in total agreement with the contents of his editorial.

I was the Republican floor leader in the Michigan House of downtownpublications.com

SPEAK OUT We welcome your opinion on issues facing the Rochester/Rochester Hills communities.

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

Representatives during the period of time in which Bill Milliken was both Lieutenant Governor and then Governor after Governor Romney resigned. I have always considered myself a “Milliken Republican” and have in my career always tried to emulate the things that I learned working with Bill. In fact, some of the legislation mentioned in Hohendorf's editorial was adopted during several of those years.

Upon learning what the Grand Traverse Republicans did, I immediately picked up the telephone and called Bill.

As Bill stated, Bill Milliken did not leave the Republican party. The Republican party left Bill Milliken and others like him in their wake.

Throughout my career I have tried to emulate the things that I learned from Governor Milliken in the over 30 years in which I have provided legal advice to Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township and West Bloomfield Township.

The important thing to remember is there is nothing wrong with compromise. When I was the Republican floor leader, I worked with members of the opposition party in moving both the Romney and Milliken administration programs through the legislature.

Unfortunately, today that is virtually impossible.

William Hampton Secrest Wardle

Leftist war on suburbs Lisa Brody's recent piece (September/Downtown) on the bureaucratic push behind mass

transit, as well as regional transit's purported goals, was – unfortunately – quite naive.

The constant agitation from paid AstroTurf groups (i.e., Motor City Freedom Riders), working ceaselessly for increased suburban taxation, originate within the milieu of the leftist war on the suburbs.

The goal for these agitators is regionalism, i.e., regional boards of unelected bureaucrats (like the RTA) redistributing Oakland County's tax dollars into the city of Detroit and elsewhere.

I recommend Brody, and all those interested, read "Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities," an informative book by scholar Stanley Kurtz describing this veritable Trojan Horse.

Vote NO on Nov. 8's regional transit millage, and refuse to fund further assaults on beleaguered suburban homeowners and taxpayers.

E.M. Gilkey Birmingham

Lovely Faces piece Thank you for the lovely article in Downtown Rochester/Rochester Hills (Faces/August).

Kevin Elliott did a nice job of taking all the information and making it sing.

I appreciate his work and have shared it with friends and family.

Kristen Gibson Rochester Hills

Rethinking mass transit Again, you have helped me with voting issues.

Of course, I am in agreement with a regional transportation system which over decades will bring our state into the 21st Century. However, as you pointed out, there are issues (September/Downtown). Has it been thought out thoroughly?

I was inclined to vote for it, but after reading your analysis and editorial I am reconsidering my original inclination.

You guys do a great job with investigative reporting. Thanks.

Timothy Kozak Birmingham

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http://www.legalnews.com/oakland/1341521 (Pontiac) The National Association of Counties recognized Oakland County Clerk Bill Bullard with an unprecedented 6 National Awards for improving service to the public. These included making county UHFRUGV VHDUFKDEOH HOHFWURQLF QRWLÂżFDWLRQV DQG UHFRUGLQJ SURJUDPV WKDW FRPEDW PRUWJDJH IUDXG DQG WDNLQJ &OHUN 5HJLVWHU RI 'HHGV VHUYLFHV LQWR SXEOLF HYHQWV OLNH )DUPHUV 0DUNHWV 7KH ÂżUVW DZDUG ZDV IRU Open Oakland, which makes county records open to the public and digitally searchableâ&#x20AC;Ś more>>> BULLARDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEW OPEN OAKLAND MAKES COUNTY RECORDS SEARCHABLE http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/10/17/oakland-county-e-services-center-opens/

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BULLARD INVESTIGATION UNCOVERS MORTGAGE FRAUD IN MAJOR BANK FORECLOSURES

https://mirsnews.com/pdfs/pdfs/Press_Releases/1311263240_OCC1.pdf /DQVLQJ 2DNODQG &RXQW\ &OHUN 5HJLVWHU RI 'HHGV %LOO %XOODUG WHVWLÂżHG LQ /DQVLQJ WRGD\ EHIRUH D 6HQDWH &RPPLWWHH LQYHVWLJDWLQJ EDQNLQJ SUDFWLFHV %XOODUG detailed how his investigation had uncovered a practice called robo-signing, which denied homeowners due process in trying to save their homesâ&#x20AC;Ś more>>>

BULLARD MORTGAGE FRAUD INVESTIGATION LEADS TO SETTLEMENT FROM BANKS TO CONSUMERS

http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-46849-286980--,00.html (Lansing) Attorney General Bill Schuette announced today that major banks would be paying a $27 Million settlement to homeowners who were denied due process in their foreclosures. A major part of the evidence against the banks was provided by Oakland County Clerk Bill Bullardâ&#x20AC;Ś more>>>

Searches related to Oakland County Clerk Bill Bullard, accomplishments NEXT 10 RESULTS>>>

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CRIME LOCATOR

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Placement of codes is approximate.

OAKLAND CONFIDENTIAL

C r e i t der Mi s e h c o ll R

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.

CAMPAIGN NO-NO: Candidates for public office know – or they should – that it’s a criminal offense to represent themselves as an incumbent when they aren’t. Certainly John McCulloch should be aware as a longtime Republican office holder who lost his job in 2012 as Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner, and was fired, under murky circumstances, in 2014 as Huron-Clinton Metroparks director. McCulloch is currently running for county treasurer but one would think he actually is the incumbent – rather than Democrat Andy Meisner MCCULLOCH – based on a huge “McCulloch County Treasurer” sign he had hoisted on a medical building on Woodward during the Dream Cruise. For a time, his website home page said the same thing, touting “30 years experience,” as if he has been the treasurer for all that time. It now says “For County Treasurer” and the Woodward sign is down, after prosecutor Jessica Cooper sent a letter on September 14, following a written citizen’s complaint, informing McCulloch that he was violating Michigan campaign law, and failure to take immediate action would result in the complaint being referred to the police for investigation and prosecution. Her letter noted that the sign and website were separate violations of the statute.

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IN POOR TASTE: Both the Oakland County Republican Party and campaign reps for county executive L. Brooks Patterson deny they ran a push poll that, after asking basic demographic information, queried about the presidential election, and then moved onto Oakland County offices, specifically the executive and treasurer races. The recorded call asked, “Brooks Patterson opposes allowing Syrian refugees into Pontiac because hundreds of rapes and murders have been committed by them in Europe. Are you more or less likely to vote for a candidate who supports allowing Syrian refugees into Oakland County?”

The tackiest part? The calls were made on Sunday, September 11 – which was the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Party Democrats said they were disgusted beyond words. “Unequivocally, it was not the Oakland County Republican Party that issued that poll, and I was in communications with the Patterson campaign, and they deny any involvement,” said county party chair Theresa Mungioli. She noted that so many people have given up their home phones, “It’s no longer an effective way to conduct polls. Instead, we have people calling face-to-face and knocking on doors.”

TALKIN’ MONEY: Campaign finance reports filed with the Michigan Secretary of State on September 1 show candidates running to hold onto their seats in the state House of Representatives are leading fundraising efforts in Oakland County. At the head of the pack is West Bloomfield Rep. Klint Kesto (R), 39th District, who received a total of $176,310 in contributions during the election cycle, including $13,150 (the most of all Oakland County KESTO representatives) between July 18 and August 22, ending out the post-primary period with a balance of $101,101. Because the West Bloomfield/Commerce district has the potential to skew toward a Democratic candidate due to this year’s presidential election, some political analysts believe Kesto could have a tough battle in November. If money spent has any correlation to votes cast, Democratic challenger Mike Stack, who serves on the Wolverine

DOWNTOWN

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Lake Village Council, has a lot of ground to make up in little time, with a balance of $13,271 and just less than $6,000 raised during the election cycle. Other Oakland County legislators leading in contributions this cycle include House Minority Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) with $90,621; Rep. Mike McCready (RBirmingham/Bloomfield/Bloomfield Hills) with $80,905; Clarkston Republican Jim Tedder ($80,200); and Rep. Martin Howrylak (RTroy), who holds now state Senator Marty Knollenberg’s former House seat, with $76,801. Rochester/Rochester Hills Republican Michael Webber received $67,730 in contributions this election cycle, with $9,350 of that coming in July and August.

You Can Feel the Difference!

‘ACCIDENTAL’ RETURNS: Kerry Bentivolio, known to some as the “Accidental Congressman” and to others as one hell of a lucky guy, became a congressman after former Rep. Thaddeus McCotter failed to qualify for the 2012 Republican primary in Michigan’s 11th District after a majority of petition signatures were found to be invalid, leaving only Bentivolio on the ballot. He served one term, but lost in a landslide in the primary BENTIVOLIO to current congressman David Trott (R) in 2014. Rather than devote his time to volunteer efforts, such as veteran’s causes (having served in both Vietnam and Iraq), Bentivolio is back for more, filing in July for his former seat as an Independent against Trott and Democrat Anil Kumar. Bentivolio must love the taste of power and politics – in May, he first sought the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential nomination, before changing his mind to seek his old seat. An avowed Tea Party conservative, it may be a tough go: he had just over $20,000 in contributions as of July 2016’s filing statements, versus Trott, who raised over $950,000, and still had $676,000 on hand. Kumar had $487,000 on hand.

TSL: The elusive (I don’t return Downtown phone calls) Michigan Senator Marty Knollenberg (R) has made the list this month for a vacuous four-page newsletter mailed in early September to households in his district which includes Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester, Rochester Hills and Troy. Two of the four pages – the front and back of the mailer – were basically filled with the senator’s picture(s) and not much else. The inside two pages contained short recaps on six legislative issues and one item alerting constituents KNOLLENBERG to the availability of new license plates recognizing veterans. What was titled the Legislative Update was one of two mailings that month charged to Knollenberg’s office account. Total costs in the month: $7,878 for printing and $3,186 for postage....Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson garners a spot on the list for his recent threat in a radio interview to sue the state (ahem...later changed by his spokesperson to the federal government) if Syrian refugees continued to be resettled in Oakland County because of his concern over whether they are vetted and given health screenings. Patterson made headlines with his PATTERSON Trump-like position late last year when he told the mayor of Pontiac that he opposed the so-called “Syrian Refugee Village” – as he named it – that was supposedly being planned as part of an affordable housing project in the city. Patterson said the project “constitutes an immediate threat of imminent danger.” Two things to consider: Just under 1,400 Syrian refugees have been moved into Michigan, because of its established Arabic and Syrian communities, between May of 2011 and May of this year, 505 of which have been resettled in Troy. The national Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute estimates that the chance of an American being killed by a refugee in a terrorist attack is one in 3.64 billion. downtownpublications.com

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FACES

Suzi Barrett lways a class clown at heart, Suzi Barrett has gone from cracking jokes at Rochester High in the early 1990s, to doing improv for three years in Amsterdam, to settling into the L.A. lifestyle, complete with acting, screenwriting, and a weekly comedy show in Hollywood.

After graduating from theater school at Western Michigan University, Barrett moved to Chicago, where she auditioned for Boom Chicago, the improvisational theater team that launched her success. With a duffel bag packed and ticket in hand, Barrett went to the Netherlands, where she performed for an audience of 300 in six to eight shows a week.

“It was awesome. Such a crucible – you are just performing and writing all the time, and learning how to handle hecklers.

It’s a big thing there. The Brits and the Scots who are visiting, it’s huge for them to heckle the comedian at the top of the set, because they think they’re helping, so you can prove how quick you are on your feet. And I got really good at returning heckles. It’s a really bad skill,” she joked, “I don’t really want to start the show saying, ‘Let me send your wife a sympathy card.’”

Having relocated to the audition-laden city of Los Angeles after her time abroad, Barrett has made appearances on sitcoms including “How I Met Your Mother,” landed a part playing the motherly role of Mrs. Buckets on Disney’s comedy, “Kirby Buckets,” and earned herself multiple bylines in the industry.

A writer for TBS’s “America’s Next Weatherman,” produced

by Mark Burnett, the creator of “Survivor,” Barrett said, “The comedy came from the drama around someone saying the weather. We weren’t making fun of (the contestants) – we got to make fun of reality TV,” and the dramatic nature of it, “without poking fun of the contestants.” Most recently, Barrett has teamed up with Comedy Central star Demetri Martin on his forthcoming show, “Our Fascinating Planet,” a parody of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos.”

The screen and the stage aren’t the only platforms Barrett uses to generate laughs – she’s moved into print as well.

In her self-published “50 Shades of Gray: (a coffee table book),” Barrett parodies the erotic pop culture hit by E.L. James. Plastered with swatches of the drab color in various hues, “(the book is) the least sexy thing in the world. They all have disgusting names, but I just wanted that joke out in the world.”

Passionate about putting a comedic spin on life, even as a kid, Barrett’s flair for on-the-spot improv started in her teens, and was buoyed by high school class trips to Second City, a former Detroit comedy club.

“It was super formative to see that sketch and improv live.

To see it turned into a sketch right in front of you is like magic… It was so important for me to see professionals doing what I was dreaming about.

“Everything goes through that filter. You’re always sort of anchored to something. You know what your cart is tied to and know what direction your horses are walking. That’s the road trip you're on.”

A

Story: Katie Deska

COAL TAR SEALCOAT HEALTH RISK LURKING IN YOUR DRIVEWAY OR A PARKING LOT

BY KEVIN ELLIOTT

ust imagine a hidden health risk lurking in your driveway or a nearby parking lot that could be harming you, your children, and the nearby environment. A growing number of scientists, community leaders and environmentalists think there is, and many are taking action to do something about it. The problem, they say, rests in the coal tar-based sealcoat that is often applied to asphalt driveways and parking lots to protect the pavement from oils, tire wear and other factors that lessen the life of the surface.

J

Coal tar sealcoat typically contains 20 to 35 percent coal tar pitch, which is considered by the National Toxicology Program to be a known human carcinogen. Coal tar, a byproduct of the steel manufacturing industry, is made up of about 50 percent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by weight. Many of those PAHs, which includes hundreds of chemical compounds, are believed to cause cancer and promote cancer by altering human DNA. Exposure to PAHs have also been linked to cardiovascular disease and poor fetal development.

Studies by the United States Geological Service (USGS), some academic institutions, and some state and local agencies have identified coal tar sealcoat as a major source of PAH contamination in urban and suburban areas, with a potential concern for human health and aquatic life.

While coal tar-based sealcoat does a good job of protecting pavement, researchers say that it wears into small particles as it ages. Those particles contain high levels of PAHs, which can be tracked into homes and incorporated into house dust. For people who live next to seal-coated pavements, ingestion of PAHcontaminated house dust and soil can result in an elevated risk of cancer, particularly for young children. Exposure to PAHs, especially early in childhood, has been linked by health professionals to an increased risk of lung, skin, bladder and respiratory cancers.

The USGS also says that runoff from coal tar sealcoated pavement is toxic to certain aquatic life, particularly fathead minnows and water fleas, which are commonly used to assess toxicity. Exposure to even diluted runoff from coal tar sealcoated pavement can cause DNA damage and impair DNA repair for aquatic life.

Last month, representatives from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) met with researchers from the USGS to discuss research on coal tar sealants and PAHs as they relate to stormwater pollution. The Michigan Department of Transportation has agreed to phase out the use of coal tar-based sealcoat.

The use of coal tar sealcoat has been restricted in several communities in Michigan, and has been banned for use or sale completely in Ann Arbor, Van Buren Township and Spring Lake Township. The state of Minnesota and Washington D.C. have also banned the application of coal tar sealants, and proposals to ban the use of the product across Michigan have already been proposed in the state legislature.

Much of the research on PAHs and coal tar-based sealcoat began in 2003 when staff with the city of Austin, Texas found elevated PAH concentrations in some sediment samples collected from small tributaries and drainage in largely residential areas.

Such concentrations, researchers with the USGS said, were typically found near manufactured gas plant

Superfund sites. The city staff in Austin hypothesized the source came from particles eroded from parking lots that were coated with coal tar-based sealcoat.

Subsequent studies by the USGS determined the source to be coal tar-based sealcoat that flake and cling to sediments when washed away by stormwater.

The research resulted in Austin passing a ban on the use and application of coal tar sealants – the first such ordinance in the country.

Judy Crane, a research scientist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, said a study of stormwater ponds and lakes in the state showed about 67 percent of PAHs in those sediments come from coal tar sealants.

"The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency requires municipalities to measure PAH compounds and metals in sediments before they dredge them. They were finding some (sediments) with really high levels, and because of that, they had to dispose of that sediment in a lime-lined landfill. Some were getting estimates of about $250,000 to dispose of it," she said.

"At that point, we weren't sure what the source was, but I was familiar with some of the USGS work, and suspected coal tar sealants. And the study confirmed that."

As a result, the use of coal tar based sealants in Minnesota has been banned across the state.

However, not everyone agrees with the research.

Anne LeHuray, executive director of the Pavement Coatings Technology Council, which represents dozens of sealcoat manufacturers across the country, said she believes research by the USGS and others that are blaming sealcoat as a source of PAHs is based on faulty science that is skewed to find the results those agencies sought.

"They are basing it all on – not just flawed science – but bad science," she asserted. "I went to Van Buren Township and asked them if it was their goal to ban PAHs, and if they are going to ban other sources – the employees in these communities aren't experts – and they said no.

"Clearly, this is an opportunity to get rid of something to say they did something. There's no scientific, valid reason for these bans to pass. They do no environmental good, and they do economic harm."

LeHuray points to dozens of other sources of PAHs in the environment, and their widespread finding of the compounds across the globe as evidence.

"The thing about PAHs in general – they are the single most studied suite of chemicals in the environment, and they are found absolutely everywhere. They have been found in remote alpine lakes and in the Arctic. They are ubiquitous," she said. "They are found in your food supply – by grilling meat, vegetables and fish, but also in coffee and tea and hot chocolate. They are in anything you heat up.

If you roast coffee, you're making PAHs."

There are, indeed, hundreds, if not thousands, of sources of PAHs in the environment and in our homes. In short, PAHs are compounds made from a mix of carbon and hydrogen formed most often by the incomplete burning of animals or plant matter, coal or petroleum and other organic materials. Cigarette smoke is one of the main contributors of PAHs in an indoor environment, but panfrying food and fireplaces also produce PAHs. That black soot that builds up in chimneys is chock-full of carcinogenic PAH compounds. Outside, they are produced by BBQ grills, fires, car exhaust, asphalt pavements, asphalt sealcoat and many other sources. They are even found in mothballs, some special-purpose skin creams, and some anti-dandruff shampoos. They exist in the air by clinging to tiny particulate matter, in aquatic sediments and soil.

Of all the PAHs that exist, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified seven as probable human carcinogens, and 16 as priority pollutants. The environmental and human effects of PAHs depend on which are present and their concentrations. hile LeHuray doesn't dispute that coal tar-based sealcoat contains PAHs, she said she doesn't believe that sealcoat is a major source of PAH contamination in homes or the environment. Instead, she said, she believes studies by the USGS and others that are blaming sealcoat as a source of contamination are simply looking for a way to justify their jobs.

"There is a phrase called 'emerging contaminants of concern,'" she said. "That typically means we are looking for other contaminants to keep our funding stream going."

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federally-funded effort focusing mostly on stopping invasive species, improving wetlands and removing outdated dams, also supports research into issues of emerging concern. In March, the USGS released a study about contaminants in Great Lakes tributaries, which included the Clinton and Rouge rivers.

The study found one or more chemical compounds in 92.5 percent of all 709 samples taken, with mixtures of 10 or more compounds in 34 percent of samples. The Clinton River, at Auburn Hills, tested positive for 53 different compounds in a single sample. Among the compounds the USGS tested for were six PAHs. Findings showed 56 percent to 85 percent of samples were PAHs. Steve Corsi, a research hydrologist with the USGSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Wisconsin Water Science Center who contributed to the study, said researchers at the time didn't focus on sources of contamination, but what contamination exists.

"There are all sorts of (PAHs) in sealcoat. The question is probably how are PAHs distributed. There are many that are in sealcoat, and many other sources in the environment," he said. "The distribution of concentrations for different PAHs is what changes from source to source."

The study cast a wide net on the collection of contaminants. Those results have now helped to determine future areas of study. For instance, Corsi said he and others are working on a study focusing on pesticides in Great Lakes tributaries. Next year, studies will focus on PAH levels and sources, with pharmaceuticals and personal care products the focus of study the following year.

The most recent study released, Corsi said, looked at only six PAHs. "From those six, we can't do source apportionment. That just tells us if there could be problems from PAHs," he said. "The next sample we will do 40-plus, and we will have enough to do some sort of source apportionment, or fingerprinting, of PAHs." The study of Great Lakes tributaries will be independent of USGS researchers in Texas, who determined that coal tar sealants were a main source of PAH contamination in stormwater sediments there.

Researchers in 2008 expanded their findings to test parking lots and adjacent ponds or lakes that may be effected by runoff from coal

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tar sealants. Those tests included nine cities in the United States, including lots in Commerce Township and sediments in South Commerce Lake, in western Oakland County.

Of the nine cities tested, PAH samples taken in Commerce Township showed the highest level of PAHs in the country, followed by samples in Chicago; Washington D.C.; Austin, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Seattle, Washington; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Portland; Oregon. Cites west of the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide, where asphalt or petroleum-based sealcoat is primarily used, had drastically lower levels of PAH. Overall, dust swept from parking lots in six cities east of the Continental Divide had a median PAH concentration of 2200 parts per million, with unsealed parking lot dust registering a median of 27 parts per million. In western states, the parking lot dust of asphaltbased sealcoat was 2.1 parts per million, and .8 parts per million for unsealed parking lots. Dust samples taken in Commerce Township had a cumulative average of 3,400 parts per million from coal tar sealed parking lots, and 47 parts per million on non-sealcoated parking lots.

"The other sources of PAHs, such as fallout of industrial emissions, exhaust particles, tire-wear residue or leaking motor oil, because PAHs from such sources are equally likely to occur on both unsealcoated and sealcoated lots," the researchers said in the report.

The study also stated that lakes sampled east of the Continental Divide had higher levels of PAH concentrations.

"Lakes in the central and eastern cities where pavement was sampled have bottom sediments with higher PAH concentrations than do those in western cities relative to degree of urbanization," the study states. "Bottom-sediment PAH assemblages are similar to those of sealcoated pavement dust regionally, impacting coal tar-based sealcoat as a PAH source to the central and eastern lakes."

AH in dust poses a greater risk to humans than PAHs that settle in water. That is because PAHs tend to bind to particulates in the air, or in the soil or sediments, rather than is found independent in the air or water table. PAHs in raw water tends to absorb particulate matter and are removed by filtration before reaching the tap, according to the EPA. Nicholas Schroeck, director of the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic at Wayne State University, said he receives calls from the community about whether coal tar sealants are harmful.

"Certainly, with the coal tar sealant, the answer is 'yes,'" he said.

"They contain enough PAHs that it is something that you should be concerned with. There are more PAHs in the sealant than in asphalt or oil."

Schroeck said he expects more communities in Michigan will consider restricting or banning the use of coal tar sealants.

"The potential threat to the rivers, lakes and streams in the Great Lakes state is what I would be concerned about. It runs off the pavement and into waterbodies, and the concentrations in those waterbodies pose a health risk to aquatic life.

"In Oakland County, with so many inland lakes, it's something that people should be aware of and look for an alternative. It's definitely providing a pollution load every time it washes off."

Eric Diesing, with the Clinton River Watershed Council, said while the group itself hasn't conducted any studies regarding coal tar sealants, it is considering what direction to take on the issue next year and in the future, as the issue is expected to expand into the watershed.

Rebeca Esselman, a watershed planner with the Huron River Watershed Council, said the council began looking at the issue about two years ago, after coal tar sealants were banned in Minnesota. The group has since become the most active in the state, reaching out to communities to talk about potential dangers.

"We started reaching out to the communities in the watershed and providing materials on the issue, and asking to get in front of city

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councils and township boards to present about coal tar sealants and ask them to take action," Esselman said.

In Michigan, the municipalities of Byron Township, Charlevoix, Clark Township, Erie Township, Fruitland Township, Laketon Township, Scio Township, the Village of Shepherd, Powell Township, Whitehall, Whitehall Township and White River Township have restricted government or public use of coal tar sealants. Ann Arbor, Spring Lake Township and Van Buren Township have banned the use or sale of coal tar based sealcoat. Additionally, the University of Michigan, Lake Superior State University and Kalamazoo College have ended the use of coal tar based sealants on their campuses.

Nationally, more than 45 cities have banned or restricted the use of coal tar based sealants, including Austin, Texas and San Antonio, Texas; as well as the states of Minnesota and Washington. Several counties, including Montgomery and Prince George counties, in Maryland; Suffolk County, in New York; and Dane County, in Wisconsin, have banned the use of coal tar sealants. The San Diego Unified School District; the University of Illinois, Springfield; Lake Forest College, in Illinois, and others have also banned or restricted its use.

Federal legislation to limit the use of coal tar sealant was last introduced in 2013 by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas). The Austin congressman's bill (HR 1625) would have created the Coal Tar Sealants Reduction Act of 2013, which would have amended the Toxic Substances Control Act to phase out the sale, transport and production of coal tar sealants. That bill died in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In addition, some national home improvement chains have discontinued the sale of coal tar sealants, including Ace Hardware, Lowe's and The Home Depot.

"We haven't sold products with coal tar sealants for several years, about 10 years, I believe," said Stephen Holmes, director of corporate communications for The Home Depot.

Proposals to ban the use of coal tar sealants in Michigan were first introduced in 2009 by former state Rep. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor). That legislation, and three subsequent bills based on it, have all died in committees, where the proposals failed to gain a hearing.

The most current legislation was proposed on December 17, 2015,

by Rep. Kristy Pagan (D-Canton), as HB 5174. That bill was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, where it has yet to be taken up.

Pagan, who also represents Van Buren Township, said the bill came up just after the city passed its ban on coal tar sealants.

"Coal tar driveway sealcoats present a real health and safety risk for Michigan residents, and are damaging to our air and waterways," she said. "I am proud to represent Van Buren Township, which just passed Michigan's first municipal ban on coal tar sealant, and am excited to lead the charge for a statewide ban on the sale and application of this toxic and all-too common product."

Rep. Andrea Lafontaine (R), who represents parts of Macomb and St. Clair counties, chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources.

A spokesman from her office said she has been in communication with Pagan; however, the bill has not yet been scheduled to be picked up this fall. tate Sen. Rebekah Warren, of Ann Arbor, said she and Pagan have been working on an updated version of the bill that she expects to be introduced into the Senate in September or October. She said the issue first came up when a constituent brought it to her attention.

"There are a lot of concerns in terms of the potential carcinogenic properties," she said about coal tar sealants. "We introduced a ban in 2008 at the end of the session, just to get it on record. We have a new version that Kristy Pagan and I have been working on for a while. Both of our individual communities have taken action on it."

In 2015, a team of researchers with the Huron River Watershed

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Council set out to look for effects of coal tar sealants in the environment. The group identified detention ponds in Ann Arbor that capture high amounts of runoff from parking lots and driveways.

Sampling from three detention ponds found highly toxic levels of PAH, which the researchers believe is coming from coal tar sealants. The research spurred the city's subsequent ban on certain sealcoat with high levels of PAHs. Ann Arbor's ban on coal tar sealants also includes any pavement sealant that has a PAH content of higher than .1 percent, which essentially restricts the use of sealants to petroleum-based sealing products. The city's ordinance prohibits any person from selling or applying coal tar or other PAH content sealant within the city; nor may a person allow such sealants to be applied on their property.

Under the ordinance, all commercial applicators must register with the city prior to applying pavement sealant in the city. Applicators that register must pay a registration fee and provide the sealant product name, type of use and PAH content. Those who violate the ordinance are subject to a civil infraction, punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000.

While the city's ban went into effect on July 3, Matt Naud, environmental coordinator for the city, said enforcement and a registration process will begin after the first of the year.

"Registration won't start until January 1," he said. "The tough part was to get word out. People have jobs booked, and we didn't want to slow any of that work." aud said the city mailed notices to all sealcoat applicators within a 30-mile radius of the city, as well as reaching out to the three main Michigan manufacturers of sealcoat. He said applicators who aren't aware of the ban aren't likely to be fined immediately. "If I talk to a contractor once and they do it again, then we will have a problem," he said.

Naud said the issue came to light when the city was notified of contamination on city property. Specifically, he said there was a detention pond on Plymouth Road that was adjacent to a parking lot that had been treated with coal tar-based sealcoat. Sediments in the detention pond had high levels of PAH. "Now, you have contamination that is leaving a private property and entering a detention pond that might have to be dealt with as hazardous material," Naud said.

The city in previous years had to deal with a massive clean up at a former MichCon gas treatment site on the Huron River. About $4 million at the time was spent on cleanup, which was primarily funded

by DTE Energy.

"This wasn't on our radar," Naud said of the contamination believed to be associated with coal tar sealants. "When it came up and we saw the USGS data, we wanted to get ahead of it."

Naud said there haven't been any legal challenges to the city's ordinance. If there were, he said, he believes the city has a right and responsibility to control contaminants that enter the stormwater system, which it must do under federal clean water laws.

"We own the stormwater system and are required to manage it in a way that protects health and the environment," he said. "We banned phosphorus fertilizer in 2006, and we got a lot of pushback then. But the market changed, and there are other products out there, even if its not as effective. That's secondary to the environmental burden that is placed on us."

Christie Alwin, an environmental quality specialist with the Michigan DEQ, said the department is coordinating with the USGS to look at coal tar sealants.

"From our perspective, there is a potential for there to be runoff on parking lots that have been resurfaced and sealed, and that could make its way to a stormwater pond or detention basin," she said.

"Over time, we want to understand the quality of those sediments and the requirements of those. Looking at it from a stormwater

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program perspective, 'How do we make sure those sediments are properly disposed, and what do we know about the impacts of PAHs?'" Additionally, the federal EPA, as part of a recent court settlement with several environmental groups, has agreed to consider comments restricting the use of coal tar sealants in certain industrial stormwater permits issued by the agency.

Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash said he is not aware of any testing of stormwater basins for PAH in Oakland County, but said he would be in favor of such testing and investigating the issue further.

"In Oakland County, we depend on our lakes for our economy," he said. "Anything we can do to make our lakes more pure would be a great thing in our mind. I think, maybe, we should do some testing. I think it's a very good idea."

The use of coal tar sealants at the county and local level isn't always known.

Whether local school districts are using coal tar sealants on parking lots or playgrounds isn't entirely clear. Officials at Birmingham Public Schools said the district uses a "polymer-based sealant." However, experts in the sealant industry said sealant bases are either made from coal tar or asphalt emulsion, which is a petroleum-based product.

However, some asphalt-based products do have a polymer additive, which is used to increase durability. Officials in the Rochester Community Schools district said the district doesn't use sealants.

Likewise, the use of asphalt sealants in the Bloomfield Hills Schools district is very limited.

"Typically, we only use sealants to black out old traffic markings to make changes," said Brian Goby, director of physical plant services for the Bloomfield Hills district. "This is rare, usually a very small area, and that hasn't been done in quite a few years." ocal municipalities also have similar practices regarding parking lot maintenance. For instance, the city of Birmingham doesn't treat parking lots, with the exception of patching pot holes or full replacement. "We patch them, but we don't refresh or seal them," said Lauren Wood, director of public services for Birmingham. "Parking lots, as a general rule, we just keep them safe and patch them."

Bloomfield Township Director of Public Works Tom Trice said the township doesn't sealcoat parking lots because he doesn't believe there is any added benefit to do so.

"We would never do that. There's no real reason to do it," he said. "It creates a maintenance headache because once you do it, you have to continue doing it. The sealcoat people will claim it extends the life of the asphalt by keeping the oil out, but the asphalt industry hasn't found that to be true."

In terms of alternative sealcoats, the industry standard in Michigan is coal tar based sealcoat, which manufacturers and applicators say is the most durable product available. Petroleum-based, or asphalt-based sealcoat, applicators say, doesn't have the same durability or shine that coal tar sealcoat offers, even though both are about the same price.

Arguments based on what works best, Ann Arbor's Naud said, aren't considering health and environmental factors.

"DDT worked really well," he said "Lead paint worked really well, but they had some environmental issues that we didn't know about for a long time."

Because of the wide availability of coal tar-based products in the middle and eastern regions of the United States, and because of its superior durability and look, the industry standard for sealcoat has been coal tar sealcoat, said Nick Whitehurst, president of True North Asphalt, in Rochester Hills.

However, due to the increasing number of bans and restrictions on coal tar-based sealcoat, the manufacturers have started producing an alternative, which is a petroleum-derivative sealcoat that Whitehurst

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said holds up better than traditional asphalt, or petroleum-based, sealcoat. old under the name Black Diamond, manufacturers and suppliers of the product, such as Surface Coating Co., in Auburn Hills, say the product holds up well, and has a significantly lower PAH content, with suppliers saying the sealcoat is about two percent PAHs. Asphalt-based sealcoat, by comparison, has about .005 percent PAH. The Black Diamond sealcoat is now approved for application in several locations where coal tar sealants are prohibited for use, such as Austin and San Antonio, Texas. However, the new alternative isn't permitted for use in Ann Arbor or Van Buren Township, which limit PAH content to .1 percent and one percent, respectively.

Whitehurst said his company started offering the Black Diamond product a year ago, with about 90 percent of his business consisting of coal tar sealant and 10 percent the new alternative. He said business quickly turned to about 50/50 use. Now, he said about 90 percent of his customers have Black Diamond sealant applied, with about 10 percent requesting coal tar based sealant.

"People have said they like the look of the Black Diamond," he said.

"Coal tar has a bit of a blue hue, and darkens up over a week or so. Black Diamond is jet black the day you put it down. It also doesn't have the same smell as coal tar. It has very little odor."

In terms of asphalt emulsion for petroleum-based sealcoat, he said the price is expensive for what he believes is a subpar product.

Whitehurst said the company will still apply asphalt-based sealcoat, but will only do it on larger speculative projects. Likewise, he said some customers specifically request coal tar-based products even though others are available.

"We are doing the federal reserve bank in Detroit in a couple of weeks.

They specifically asked us to use coal tar," he said.

Whitehurst said the decision to switch to the petroleum-based alternative for most projects was based on the quality of the product, the look and lack of odor. Further, he said, the product doesn't have a benzene additive that coal tar sealants have, which causes a irritating rash, similar to a sunburn.

"We started applying it last year," he said. "After we saw how it lasted through the winter, we were confident we could sell it and get similar results to coal tar."

Steve Erdodi, owner of Tuff Coat Sealcoating, in Waterford, said his company has switched to an asphalt emulsion, or petroleum-based sealcoat, rather than using the new alternative or traditional coal tar sealants.

In order to add to the durability of the petroleum-based sealcoat, he said the product he uses has polymer additives, which increase the durability. The switch, he said, required a new storage facility at his business, which resulted in an investment of about $30,000.

"It's not easily available locally, so we ordered a new storage tank and have a delivery that is made for us," Erdodi said. "It's a real commitment."

Erdodi said the product is different than Black Diamond, in that it has a lower PAH level, and believes it would be available to use in communities like Ann Arbor or Van Buren. He said his main reason for switching products was out of concern for health and the environment.

"It gets on your shoes and in the waterways, and once it's on your shoes, it gets into your own world," he said about coal tar sealants. "The danger isn't just the day its applied. There are airborne concerns. The best we can do is to stop using this product."

As a side benefit to quitting the use of coal tar sealants, Erdodi said it has been easier to recruit employees.

"I was amazed with how many potential employees were knowledgable about it," he said. "They know on their own. They are picking up on this. Coal tar burns your skin. You get 'pitch burn,' and I don't know anyone who the pitch didn't burn. The guys don't have that element anymore. And the odor is reduced, as well."

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he image of people who are poor and suffering from poverty are often of homeless men sleeping on the streets, of a destitute individual living out of their car, or someone holed up at a shelter. There's a school of thought that it's their fault â&#x20AC;&#x201C; if they would only get a job, and perhaps give up their addictions, they would be able to pull themselves out of poverty, get a nice home in the suburbs, and live well.

That fallacy is multifold, from who is poor today, and the reality that poverty has reached its long tentacles well into America's suburbs, including into the suburbs of wealthy Oakland County.

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OAKLAND POVERTY LIVING ON THE EDGE, SURVIVING IN THE SUBURBS

BY LISA BRODY

“While the common perception is that poverty is concentrated in cities, the truth is that many more families with incomes below the federal poverty line now live in suburban communities outside of Detroit,” stated a report by Lighthouse of Oakland County, a non-profit provider located in Pontiac and Clarkston that offers emergency housing and food to low-income families in Oakland County, as well as providing programs to motivate and teach self-sufficiency and develop financial independence.

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he Great Recession of the last decade has left a deep handprint upon Oakland County, as well as many suburban areas around the country, that is proving difficult to erase. Elizabeth Kneebone of The Brookings Institute, in a 2013 report Confronting Suburban Poverty, wrote, “Almost every major metro area saw the number of suburban poor living in high-poverty or distressed neighborhoods grow during the 2000s. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of poor residents in the suburbs of the nation's largest metropolitan areas grew by 64 percent – more than twice the growth rate in cities. For the first time, suburbs became home to more poor residents than America's big cities. Today, one in three poor Americans – about 16.4 million people – lives in the suburbs.”

Kneebone further said, “low-income populations in suburbs surrounding the country's largest metropolitan areas grew 66 percent from 2000 to 2013, while urban cores saw only 30 percent growth. The cause of this can be traced back to the early and mid-2000s when suburban housing was made affordable through housing vouchers and subprime mortgages, which gave millions of low-income Americans access to the suburbs.”

Then, in 2007 and 2008, the housing bubble burst. Prices plummeted, foreclosure rates escalated, and millions of new suburban homeowners were thrust into poverty. Adding to new suburbanites problems was an inadequacy in the public safety net, which had previously been focused on urban centers which had traditionally dealt with impoverished citizens.

In a county such as Oakland, once the fourth wealthiest county in America, according the U.S. Census bureau, in 2012 had fallen to the 24th wealthiest county out of 3,144 counties in the United States – down from seventh in 2010. According to statistical data from Data Driven Detroit, while the majority of poverty is still primarily clustered in typically poorer areas of the county like Pontiac, Oak Park and Hazel Park, there has also been a doubling, or greater, of pockets of poverty in affluent areas of the county, including Bloomfield Township, Farmington Hills, Rochester Hills, Troy, Commerce Township, White Lake and West Bloomfield.

“The fact is that Michigan has not had this full rebound,” said Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of Michigan League for Public Policy. “There are pockets where you don't expect to find poverty. A lot of people lost homes, have had their incomes slashed, lost their jobs and don't have them again, have taken part-time jobs, or are often working two part-time jobs and it's still not enough to support their families. They're living in, or from, affluent areas. The downturn in the economy was very far-reaching, and we're still feeling the effects of it.”

The U.S. Census released a report on September 13 of this year indicating that incomes of typical Americans rose in 2015 by 5.2 percent, which is the first significant boost to middle class pay not only since the end of the Great Recession, but since 1967, and along with that, the poverty rate fell by 1.2 percentage points nationally – which they termed a statistically significant amount. Yet, the poverty rate continued to remain roughly eight percent nationally. The census bureau suggested the “recovery from the recession is finally

beginning to lift the fortunes of large swaths of American workers and families.” Yet, there were still 43.1 Americans in poverty across the nation, although that number indicated 3.5 million fewer than in 2015.

Locally, out of a current population of just over 1.2 million residents in Oakland County, 121,857 residents were considered below the poverty level in 2014, almost double the number in 1999, when there were 65,478. Of those numbers, 14 percent, or 11,516, were younger than six years of age; 12.4 percent, or 11,228, were between six and 11 years old; 11 percent, or 10,830, were between 12 and 17 years; 9.7 percent of those in poverty, or 74,675 individuals, were between 18 and 64 years old; 7.2 percent, 7,666 people, were between 65 and 74; and 5,942 people, or 7.8 percent were 75 and older.

“Oakland County is still one of the wealthiest counties, and although it has fallen down, it still has poverty below 10 percent,” said Kurt Metzger, director emeritus of Data Driven Detroit. “But that does not make up for that fact that the number of people that have fallen below the poverty level has more than doubled in the last 10 to 12 years. Poverty is certainly (more) concentrated in certain communities.

But, in the last decade, when the recession hit, a lot of homes were lost by people who were under water. People lost jobs, and they couldn't afford their homes. The number of vacant homes then became rentals, which then allowed a number of lower economic folk, people who are right at the poverty level, to move in. If they could get out of Detroit and rent, they did. We saw this mostly in southern Oakland County and Macomb County.”

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etzger said that while Oakland County has seen a significant spike in the poverty level, “Macomb County has seen larger spikes in poverty levels. A lot of that was Detroiters moving in, along with people losing their jobs.”

The unemployment rate has fallen significantly since its height, with Oakland County releasing numbers in January 2016 that compare December 2011 to December 2015. For Oakland County as a whole, December 2011 had an unemployment number of 7.9 percent, compared to 2015, when it hit a low of 4.2 percent, where it remains.

Pontiac had a high of 17.5 percent in 2011, versus 2015, at 9.8 percent, still quite high. Southfield had unemployment of 11.1 percent in 2011; in 2015, six percent, while neighboring Oak Park had an unemployment level of 12.8 percent in 2011, and seven percent in 2015.

In Bloomfield Township, December 2011 saw an unemployment high of 5.5 percent; today, it is at 2.9 percent. Yet there is a current poverty level of six percent – more than double 2000's 2.5 percent.

Rochester Hills experienced an unemployment level of 6.6 percent in December 2011, while it dropped to 3.5 percent in December 2015. The poverty level in Rochester Hills is 6.1 percent, up from 3.4 percent in 2000; and in Rochester, the poverty level is 5.4 percent, double 2000's 2.7 percent. West Bloomfield had 6.8 employment in 2011; and 3.6 percent in 2015, with a poverty level of 6.4 percent; while nearby Farmington Hills had 5.1 percent unemployment in 2011, and 2.7 percent in 2015. Its poverty level in 2014 was 7.9 percent; in 2000, it was 4.1 percent. The city of Farmington had a poverty level of 6.1 percent in 2014, versus 3.3 percent in 2000.

Rick David, executive officer of Lighthouse, said those numbers can be deceiving because they belie the number of working poor in each community, those who are gainfully employed, but many are employed below their previous employment levels and earn less than they did before.

The working poor in the United States are those who work, but their

incomes tend to fall below a specific poverty line, and they are not counted as either unemployed or within poverty levels. They could be underemployed, working part-time, or earning less than they need to meet their needs. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for a family of four, the 2016 federal poverty level in the 48 contiguous states is $24,300; for a family of three, it is $20,160.

At the same time, the Michigan League for Public Policy estimates in Oakland County, a family of three needs an annual income of $46,944 to meet their basic needs – an income level that is 240 percent of the federal poverty level.

The poverty level amounts are used to determine eligibility of people applying for reduced cost healthcare coverage, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programs (SNAP) – previously known as food stamps, senior care services, community service block grants, Head Start, free and reduced school lunch programs, and other services.

“The working poor fall just above the poverty threshold, but are often just one paycheck away from spiraling out of control, which would put them into poverty if they couldn't pull it together,” said Liz McLachlan, chief development director of Lighthouse. “Many are one medical bill, one car repair, one bump in the road from spiraling down.

The concept is before people become stable or self-sufficient, they have to have their needs met. Families have to make tough choices – they may have to decide not to pay their gas bill in the summer months because they don't need heat. Instead, they need to buy their kids clothes for school, or a backpack. That is why our goal here at Lighthouse is help them have their basic needs met.”

Increasingly, Lighthouse is seeing the working poor, in addition to those living at the poverty level, coming from throughout Oakland County, including from more affluent communities, who are accessing their food pantries “because they've elected to purchase school supplies, because they know Lighthouse will be able to close the gap with their discretionary income.”

McLachlan noted that there are items that are very expensive that cannot be purchased at the store with food stamps, such as personal items and diapers.

B

etween 2009 and 2013, the number of clients Lighthouse served from various communities in both south and western Oakland County grew by 200 or more each year, with new clients coming from Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Clawson, Ferndale, Berkley, Hazel Park, Royal Oak, Southfield, Madison Heights, Franklin, Wixom and Walled Lake among the fastest growing populations of clients in need. As a matter of fact, despite Pontiac's continued center for low income and poverty, the growth of poverty in other areas of Oakland County dramatically outpaced the rate of the growth of poverty in Pontiac between 2005 and 2012.

In Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, churches are quietly opening their doors to offer food and other services to residents in need.

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church on N. Adams, Ladies of Charity on Opdyke, and St. Elizabeth Briarbank Home on Woodward, all in Bloomfield Hills, provide services in coordination with Gleaners.

“Food banks are giving away more and more food every year,” said Gilda Jacobs. “There is still a huge need for basics.”

Even with the September 2016 census bureau report of the increase in household income and the decline in poverty levels, a greater signifier of economic wellbeing is the measure of economic need that comes from comparing family income and the real cost of living. An accurate indicator is the number of school children needing free or reduced school lunches in a community.

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and non-profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.

To apply and qualify for free or reduced lunches, parents multiply the federal income poverty guidelines by family size by 1.3 and 1.85, respectively, based on monthly income.

“School lunches have increased in Michigan. In our state, over half the kinds are on free or reduced lunches,” said Jacobs of the Michigan League for Public Policy. “That is proof we have more work to be done.”

For the 2015-2016 school year, Birmingham Public Schools, which covers areas of Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Franklin, Southfield, West Bloomfield, and Troy, out of a total enrollment of 8,093 students, there were 490 students, or 5.32 percent, receiving free lunches, and 83, or .9 percent, who received reduced school lunches.

In Bloomfield Hills, out of a total student population of 5,154, they had 377 students receive free lunches, and 68 receive reduced school lunches, according to Shira Good, director of communications and community relations for Bloomfield Hills Schools. The district serves Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, portions of Pontiac and West Bloomfield.

R

ochester Community Schools, which serves students in Rochester, the majority of Rochester Hills and Oakland Township, and portions of Orion Township, Auburn Hills, Shelby Township and Washington Township, had 1,440 students in the 2015-2016 school year qualify for free lunches, and 297 students qualify for reduced lunches, out of a total student population of 14,764 students.

“The United States has the second highest child poverty rate among 35 industrialized countries despite having the largest economy in the world. A child in the United States has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger she is the poorer she is likely to be,” noted the Children's Defense Fund. “Growing up poor has lifelong negative consequences, decreasing the likelihood of graduating from high school and increasing the likelihood of becoming a poor adult, suffering from poor health, and becoming involved in the criminal justice system.”

The Children's Defense Fund asserted that the best anti-poverty strategy is to make sure that parents and caregivers who are fit to work are able to find jobs that pay them enough to support a family. “A job does not necessarily guarantee a livable income; nearly one in three poor children lives in a family with an adult who works full-time year round. No family with a parent working full-time should live in poverty,” is one of the tenets of the fund, first by increasing the value of the minimum wage. The second is by improving the country's safety net programs and refundable tax credits, which could lift 8.2 million children from poverty.

“Housing subsidies only reach one in four needy families with children,” they state. “While the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) reaches a large percent of poor families, millions of children are hungry because benefits are not enough to ensure adequate nutrition.”

Feeding America, which said it provides food assistance to an estimated 46.5 million people annually, which includes 12 million children and seven million seniors, said that 61 percent of foodinsecure households participated in at least one of the three major

Poverty in Oakland County Community

Addison Auburn Hills

Total Population Population in Poverty 2000 1999

Percent in Poverty 1999

356

5.7%

6,282 18,156

1,144

6.3%

Chg in Poverty Population 1999-2014

Total Population Population in Poverty 2014 2014

Percent in Poverty 2014

585

9.1%

229

6,402 20,235

2,576

12.7%

1,432

7.3%

554

Berkley

15,462

552

3.6%

15,112

1,106

Birmingham

19,364

555

2.9%

20,326

654

3.2%

99

Bloomfield

42,783

1,078

2.5%

41,445

2,497

6.0%

1,419

3,787

144

3.8%

3,711

123

3.3%

-21

Brandon

14,689

650

4.4%

15,278

1,910

12.5%

1,260

Clawson

12,576

435

3.5%

11,814

950

8.0%

515

Commerce

34,894

1,172

3.4%

40,936

2,596

6.3%

1,424

Farmington

10,413

342

3.3%

10,392

633

6.1%

291

Farmington Hills

81,352

3,299

4.1%

80,281

6,343

7.9%

3,044

Ferndale city

22,023

1,811

8.2%

20,074

3,417

17.0%

1,606

Groveland

6,074

506

8.3%

5,532

405

7.3%

-101

Hazel Park

18,884

2,333

12.4%

16,474

4,731

28.7%

2,398

Highland

19,081

1,116

5.8%

19,344

1,596

8.3%

480

Holly

9,963

760

7.6%

11,375

1,094

9.6%

334

Huntington Woods

6,151

158

2.6%

6,310

114

1.8%

-44

Bloomfield Hills

Independence

32,384

820

2.5%

35,168

2,551

7.3%

1,731

666

22.2%

525

Keego Harbor

2,769

141

5.1%

3,003

Lake Angelus

326

4

1.2%

264

0

0.0%

-4

Lathrup Village

4,236

115

2.7%

4,051

238

5.9%

123

Lyon

11,005

460

4.2%

15,736

685

4.4%

225

Madison Heights

30,779

2,738

8.9%

29,782

5,945

20.0%

3,207

Milford

15,043

799

5.3%

15,966

939

5.9%

140

3,311

25

0.8%

3,267

98

3.0%

73

Northville Novi (city)

47,164

1,054

2.2%

56,421

3,637

6.4%

2,583

0

0.0%

0

186

0

0.0%

157

Oakland

13,071

338

2.6%

17,681

495

2.8%

157

Oak Park

29,713

2,789

9.4%

29,587

5,503

18.6%

2,714

2,215

12

0.5%

2,325

81

3.5%

69

Orion

33,187

1,073

3.2%

35,810

2,689

7.5%

1,616

Oxford

15,967

683

4.3%

20,791

1,581

7.6%

898

Pleasant Ridge

2,594

53

2.0%

2,538

87

3.4%

34

Novi (township)

Orchard Lake Village

Pontiac

65,179

14,375

22.1%

58,182

21,997

37.8%

7,622

698

5.4%

420

Rochester

10,467

278

2.7%

12,872

Rochester Hills

68,226

2,346

3.4%

71,168

4,338

6.1%

1,992

6,199

284

4.6%

6,310

379

6.0%

95

59,669

2,550

4.3%

58,102

4,421

7.6%

1,871

5,292

1,245

23.5%

2,686

971

36.2%

-274

Southfield (city)

77,102

5,721

7.4%

71,282

10,844

15.2%

5,123

Southfield (township)

14,308

278

1.9%

14,569

445

3.1%

167

South Lyon

10,017

524

5.2%

11,457

625

5.5%

101

Springfield

13,197

776

5.9%

14,139

673

4.8%

-103

Sylvan Lake

1,705

34

2.0%

1,591

53

3.3%

19

80,864

2,220

2.7%

81,941

5,732

7.0%

3,512

Village of Clarkston

1,000

37

3.7%

852

41

4.8%

4

Walled Lake

6,472

322

5.0%

7,058

990

14.0%

668

Waterford

71,272

3,658

5.1%

71,858

8,860

12.3%

5,202

West Bloomfield

64,162

1,743

2.7%

64,819

4,132

6.4%

2,389 1,430 1,356

Rose Royal Oak (city) Royal Oak (township)

Troy

White Lake

27,955

855

3.1%

30,386

2,285

7.5%

Wixom

13,195

717

5.4%

13,624

2,073

15.2%

– Data Driven Detroit

federal food assistance programs, whether the National School Lunch Program, SNAP, or supplemental nutritional program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in the previous month. Of their client households, 72 percent live at or bellow the federal poverty level.

For as many individuals who were in poverty, Feeding America pointed out that in 2014, another 48.1 million lived in food insecure households, which included 15.3 million children. “Food insecurity exists in every county in the U.S.,” with the lowest at 4 percent in North Dakota, and the highest at 33 percent in Mississippi. Michigan ranked 46th, with Mississippi and Nevada tied at 49.

Michigan League for Public Policy's Jacobs asserted that part of the problem is “It has not been a huge priority of the legislature to improve the lives of the people. We have harsher, more punitive measures, so it is important for people to talk to the legislature about things like food assistance. It is important to have a safety net so people can get on their feet. We have to have decent salaries so people don't have to rely on public assistance. It's important that we don't put up more barriers, so people can be more productive citizens – and taxpayers,” she emphasized.

“We think all kids count – no matter where they live, their racial or ethnic background, or their family income – but do the elected officials charged with supporting their wellbeing share that priority?” asked Alicia Guevara Warren, project director of Kids Count in Michigan. “If legislators are truly concerned with child wellbeing, they have to address income and racial disparities, and invest in proven two-generation strategies that help kids by helping their parents.”

K

ids Count recommends policymakers support parents and their children by investing in communities to create safe neighborhoods, clean air and water, quality schools, and adequate police and fire services; strengthen policies that support work, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, earned paid sick leave, and other workforce opportunities; creating access to affordable child care; helping to prevent child abuse and neglect, and improving mental help and substance abuse for parents; and adequately funding public schools, particularly in high-need areas.

The need for improved and better targeted education is a particular issue to Data Driven Detroit's Metzger. “In Pontiac, Auburn Hills, and pockets of other communities, people don't have the education and the skills to weather the job losses,” he said. “In Oakland County, the good news is that job loss has turned around, but you need certain skills, and those without those skills are stuck in low-income, low-skill jobs, working part-time, or working retail, with no benefits, no paid time off. There's a large population that is stuck. You see the numbers going up also in Southfield and Madison Heights, where there is a large refugee population.”

He pointed out that Hazel Park, with a 2014 poverty level at 28.7 percent, double its 2000 number of 12.4 percent; or Oak Park, where 18.6 percent is at the poverty level, also double its 2000 level of 9.4 percent; Ferndale, with 17 percent at the poverty level, versus 8.2 percent in 2000; or the 15.2 percent level in Southfield, which had a 7.4 poverty level in 2000, “had large African American populations moving into them during the last several years. It tends to be a much poorer, less educated population,” Metzger said, noting that many sought the opportunity to flee Detroit with its poor educational system, bringing with them endemic problems.

“Educationally, many of them are graduating, but with much lower test scores. Obviously, that's a sign they're going to have future problems,” he said. “You have a lot of issues, a lot of gaps, a lot of students who are economically disadvantaged by race and other issues. To give them the opportunities, you have to help them to go back to school, to educate them, but also to give them the tools so they can move on to college and not need remedial courses, or to move on to careers where they can succeed, like plumbers or other needed professions. Who doesn't need a plumber?”

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Dave LewAllen rom hosting WXYZ-TV’s broadcast of the Hometown Christmas Parade to volunteering with Rainbow Connection, local news anchor Dave LewAllen is committed to the Rochester community, his home turf since 1987.

“When you have a public profile, I don’t know if that leads to more invitations or whatever, but I’d like to think I’d be involved anyway. I see it as a bit of a responsibility, too, to be able to help and support folks when I can,” he said.

On air with Channel 7 for nearly three decades, LewAllen joined the station as a sports reporter before becoming a weekend news anchor covering tragedies to human interest stories, and all that’s in between. A reporter who looks forward to good news, LewAllen said covering major golf competitions and other big game events are always fun, but it’s the more subtle cheers that he likes to invoke, like when he has the opportunity to highlight “somebody who’s done something extraordinary to help somebody else.

“You don’t get those everyday, but they resonate with me and with the viewers. You hear the comment from time to time, ‘there still really are good people out there,’ and that’s refreshing to see. Those are the most meaningful stories to be a part of and to tell.”

Formerly a sports announcer for various radio stations throughout the 1980s, and a four-time Emmy Award winner for his work on TV, LewAllen has been around for the memorable highs and lows of recent Detroit history.

“I had the opportunity to (cover champion seasons) with the Tigers dating back to when I first started – the World Series in ’84, and we won the American League in ’87 – and the Red Wings’ and Pistons’ championships.”

F

He was also on scene in Detroit when, within four hours, 85 fires raged through the city in the fall of 2010.

A native of Brighton and current resident of Rochester Hills, LewAllen said, “There’s pretty good cooperation in this area between Oakland Township, Rochester Hills, and Rochester. Each community has a little something different to offer. Rochester has the thriving downtown and Rochester Hills, with so many communities and amenities, I think people are proud to call this area home. I think there’s great cooperation in terms of people working together to improve things here. The business community is very involved and the service organizations are very active.”

Friday, October 21, will be LewAllen’s 10th anniversary hosting the Sunrise Pinnacle Awards on behalf of the Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“There will be 600 to 700 people there for awards and breakfast, and to honor people for their work.”

The following month, LewAllen will take a role in Rochester’s annual Lagniappe and kickoff of the Big Bright Light Show, Monday, November 21.

“We light the town, and I’m kind of the emcee for that as well, so I’m involved in the community a lot in that way.”

LewAllen’s interest in local affairs was ignited at an early age, and perhaps bolstered by the unusual souvenirs he was often gifted by his family.

“I always had a great interest in newspapers, ever since I was a kid.

My grandparents did a fair amount of traveling, and they’d bring back newspapers from Florida, Arizona, all the places they visited.”

Story: Katie Deska

Photo: Laurie Tennent

DEATH WITH DIGNITY RIGHT TO DIE MOVEMENT

BY KATIE DESKA

S

ince the late pathologist Dr. Jack Kevorkian became famous, or infamous, depending on the point of view, in the 1990s for helping ill patients with doctor-assisted suicide, the issue of whether a terminally ill person has the right to determine when and how to end their life has been debated in public arenas and private living rooms. Is it an individual's right to die, or is it euthanasia? For most of us, there's no simple or easy answer. “(My aunt’s) greatest fear was not dying, but that they were not going to let her,” said Linda Van Zandt, the niece of a California woman who, in the midst of suffering with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease – chose to terminate her life, selfadministering a bitter cocktail of physician-prescribed medication – an option provided by California's End of Life Option Act, which went into effect this June.

Colloquially called the Death With Dignity Act, qualified terminally ill patients in California, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont are offered the option to consume a lethal dose of doctor-prescribed medication, yet the person’s death isn’t reported as suicide, assisted suicide, homicide or drug overdose.

The hitch is that, at the time of consumption, the patient is required to physically ingest the drugs without help. In return, the death certificate lists the cause of death as the patient’s terminal illness.

This August, Michigan Representatives Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) and Tom Cochran (D-Mason) introduced House Bill 5802, legislation to establish a similar law in Michigan, which would provide mentally stable, terminally ill adults with the legal means to access a hefty dose of life-ending medication.

“Now that the conversation is happening across the country, we thought it was a good time to start it in Michigan,” Singh said in mid-September. “There are about 20 days of the session, so there’s not many committee meetings at all. My thought is this (bill) won’t be taken up in this session. It will be an opportunity for different organizations to review the bills and give their thoughts, and,

continued. “I want them to have the same options that they have in other states here in Michigan. This is just one of a number of things that people with a terminal illness would have at their disposal.”

In the U.S., the battle over the right to die dates back to at least 1828, when New York passed the county’s first law explicitly criminalizing assisted suicide. On the other side of the debate, as early as 1906, Ohio legislators failed to pass a bill intended to legalize euthanasia.

Michigan entered the fray in 1990, with Pontiac-born Jack Kevorkian thrusting Oakland County into the firestorm. Doctor Death, as he became known, first hooked up his infamous “suicide machine” to Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old with Alzheimer’s Disease. After flipping the switch to start the infusion, Adkins died in the back of Kevorkian’s Volkswagen van in Holly’s Groveland Oaks County Park. Judge Gerald McNally, of Clarkston’s district court, dismissed the case under the condition that Michigan did not have a ban on assisted suicide.

Kevorkian went on to assist in the deaths of over 130 people, including two women whose deaths occurred a week prior to

medical license revoked, but showed little regard for the strong arm of the law. In November of 1998, he provided CBS with video footage that showed Kevorkian, himself, administering the lethal injection that killed Thomas Youk, who had been diagnosed with ALS. It was the week of Thanksgiving when the footage aired on 60 Minutes. Within days, Kevorkian was charged with murder, after it was broadcast to an audience of several million witnesses.

“I don’t think (former prosecutor David) Gorcyca would have brought charges if that wasn’t on television,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who, as Oakland County Circuit Court judge presided over Kevorkian’s murder trial following the death of Youk.

“The word is zealot. Because he was a zealot he believed that was the way he was going to change the law, or change the philosophy, and he was found not guilty in three previous trials, but he pushed the envelope too far because he actually took a life,” said Cooper. “What he wanted was to convince the jury to go outside the law – he was looking for jury nullification, and that is not what he got. He got a conviction.”

In April of 1998, the jury found him guilty

MICHIGAN REPRESENTATIVES SAM SINGH (D-EAST LANSING) AND TOM COCHRAN (D-MASON) INTRODUCED HOUSE BILL 5802, WHICH WOULD PROVIDE MENTALLY STABLE, TERMINALLY ILL ADULTS THE MEANS TO ACCESS LIFE-ENDING MEDICATION. we will reintroduce this in January 2017, in the new session.”

Also sponsored by Singh and Cochran, is House Bill 5803, which would establish as a felony punishment, with a maximum 20-year prison sentence, for coercing a person to utilize Michigan’s would-be Death with Dignity Act. The bill would also criminalize falsifying a patient’s request or destroying the written request.

“What I see happening is that there are people with a terminal illness, in a lot of pain and they don’t have all the options available to them,” Singh said. “The bills are very specific. You have to have a terminal illness.

You have to have independent doctors acknowledge you’re a competent individual, and that you have a terminal illness with less than six months to live. Then you can make the decision to use medication to end your life.

“I understand that issues like this are sensitive, especially within religious communities, but to me this is an issue that an individual needs to grapple with, within their own faith and own family, and that’s who I’m focusing on – the individual facing months and months of pain,” Singh

Halloween in 1991. Again, the case was dismissed, this time by Oakland County Circuit Judge David Breck, a ruling that was appealed by then-county prosecutor Richard Thompson. Kevorkian stood trial three times for assisted suicide without a single conviction, each time due to the lack of clarity on the legal ramifications for aiding in another’s suicide. By December of 1992, Governor John Engler signed into law Public Act 270, which outlawed assisted suicide, and faced a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which declined to comment for this article. Eventually, the Michigan Court of Appeals took up the fight in May of 1994 and ruled that the ban was unconstitutional on technical grounds – entitled “Assistance to Suicide,” the name of the act violated the grammatical subjectobject rule. The legislative battle over the existence or absence of an assisted-suicide ban in Michigan continued until the passage of Public Act 296 in 1998 which made it a felony to assist an “individual who intends to kill himself or herself,” by providing the means to do so or by aiding in the plans for suicide.

By this time, Kevorkian had gotten his

of murder in the second degree, and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, of which he served seven, until he was paroled by former Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2007.

“It was the only time in my life I got some serious death threats,” said Cooper, of the trial. “He had lots of supporters, he had people who absolutely adored him. You had an issue that was debatable, and there were individuals that supported what he did… and there were people who opposed it… He brought the issue to light, but it’s a different issue, a different time.”

Although his notoriety rivals most, Kevorkian was far from the sole advocate of Michigan’s right to die movement.

Other notable attempts to reverse the ban on assisted suicide included U.S. Senator Gary Peters', then a Michigan state senator, introduction of Senate Bill 653 in 1997 which proposed the Terminally Ill Patient’s Right to End Unbearable Pain or Suffering Act, conditional upon the approval by the voters in November of 1998. It failed to get beyond the Senate Judiciary Committee. Merian’s Friends, on the other hand, were successful in getting the issue on the ballot. The Michigan

Legalization of Lethal Medication to Terminally Ill, known as Proposal B, was defeated by voters, 71 to 29 percent.

Almost two decades later, public sentiment has had time to change.

The results of a current Gallup Poll illustrate a dramatic shift in public opinion since 1950, when only 36 percent were in favor of allowing a doctor to “end a patient’s life by painless means,” provided the patient has a terminal illness and requests aid in dying. In May of this year, Gallup reported that 69 percent of the U.S. is in favor of the practice. Interestingly though, only “about half of Americans say doctor-assisted suicide is morally acceptable,” and only 51 percent admit they “would consider ending their lives if faced with terminal illness.”

But it’s hard to say how a person would lean until they’ve received a terminal diagnosis.

“I call it the Dick Cheney Effect,” said Van Zandt, the woman who helped her aunt access lethal medication through California’s Death With Dignity Act, referring to the former vice president’s waffling on his opposition to gay marriage when wrestling with his daughter’s love of a woman.

“My aunt voted against (the law) because

On the part of the patient seeking lifeending medication, they are required to make an initial oral request, and then wait at least 15 days to do so again. Later, after having various meetings with physicians, the patient signs a written request, declaring awareness that the medication will kill them, in a matter of minutes or up to a few hours. Signing on the dotted line also indicates the patient takes take full moral responsibility for their actions. The attending physician can write the fatal prescription no sooner than 48 hours from receipt of the written request, provided the doctor deems the patient qualified.

To get to that point, the attending physician, or primary care doctor, starts their end of the process by making the initial determination of whether the individual has a terminal illness – a medical judgment that implies the person has an incurable, irreversible, or progressively pathological disease – and has six months or less to live.

Per the bill, the physician is required to explain alternatives to the fatal dose, including “comfort care, hospice care, and pain control;” confirm the patient is capable of making an informed decision and that they are doing so voluntarily; inform the patient of the right to rescind their request at any time;

least one of the two witnesses “must not be a relative,” nor “entitled to any portion of the individual’s estate upon death, and must not own, operate, or be employed where the individual is a patient or resident.” Among other declarations, the witnesses are charged with confirming that the patient “appears to be of sound mind and not under duress, fraud or undue influence.”

Although HB 5802, like other death with dignity acts in the country, takes caution by requiring multiple parties to be involved, such safeguards are only employed during the process leading up to the time of prescription.

One of the final steps on behalf of the doctor is that, “immediately before writing the prescription for the medication,” he or she must “verify that the patient is making an informed decision.” Once the script is written and filled by the pharmacy, though, it is up to the patient as to when they will take it – if at all.

Statistics show that approximately twothirds of patients who receive the drugs do ingest them, while “the other one-third have the relief of having the medication,” said Matt Whitaker, multi-state implementation manager with Compassion and Choices, a death with dignity advocacy group. “Having

UNLIKE THE ASSISTED SUICIDE PRACTICED BY KEVORKIAN, THE BILL DEFINITIVELY STATES IT “DOES NOT AUTHORIZE A PHYSICIAN OR ANY OTHER PERSON TO END A PATIENT’S LIFE BY LETHAL INJECTION, MERCY KILLING, OR ACTIVE EUTHANASIA. it went against her religion… and then she became horrified she did that to families.

There’s nothing like being confronted with it to change your mind.”

Modeled after the nation’s first Death With Dignity Act, passed in Oregon in 1997, Singh and Cochran’s bill outlines a step-by-step procedure designed to give terminally ill adults access to the life-ending medication, while still maintaining safeguards to prevent abuse and providing heath care providers the right to abstain from partaking in the procedure.

Unlike the assisted suicide practiced by Kevorkian, the bill definitively states it “does not authorize a physician or any other person to end a patient’s life by lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia. Actions taken in accordance with this act do not for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing or homicide under the law.” Rather, the terminally ill individual must self-administer the medication, without physical assistance from others at the time the medication is ingested. At the same time, the bill makes it unlawful for any life, health or accident insurance or annuity policy to be affected by the use of life-ending medication.

require proof of residency and identification; encourage the patient to inform their next of kin; and urge the patient not to take the drugs alone nor in a public place. Then, a second, consulting physician must meet with the patient and verify the conclusions drawn by the attending physician. If there is not consensus among physicians, the process cannot move forward. Additionally, if any provider is unable or unwilling to heed the patient’s request for life-ending medication, the patient may transfer to a new provider.

The bill aims to protect against abuse by individuals seeking death as a result of a mental health condition, such as depression.

To that end, if either physician concludes that the patient is exhibiting a psychiatric or psychological condition that impairs decision making, including depression, the physician must refer the patient to counseling from a licensed provider. If and when the patient has been cleared as capable of making an informed decision, the multi-week or multimonth process may continue.

When the patient signs the written request for life-ending medication, two witnesses must be present, neither of whom may be the patient’s attending physician. Furthermore, at

the option is power and control for them, and allows them to live without the terror.

“A lot of people make this decision because, when they’re told with clarity what the dying process could look like for their specific disease process, it’s horrific. Brittney Maynard is an example,” said Whitaker, referring to the 29-year-old who, before the law was passed in her home state of California, moved to Oregon to utilize the end of life option, which she died fighting for in 2014.

“She had a brain tumor that was causing symptoms that were more aggressive and severe, they would leave her unable to speak or to recognize people, and eventually, leave her in a state of paralysis until her body shut down, from dehydration or her brain running amuck.”

According to the 2015 annual report required by the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, 218 people utilized their right to assisted dying. That’s up from 1997, the first year it was implemented, when 23 people used it.

The Washington State Department of Health also publishes an annual report explaining use of the Death With Dignity Act. In 2015, 213 people received the medication,

compared to 87 recipients in 2010, the first full year that the state’s law took effect. The proposed Michigan bill would require an annual report as well.

However crude Kevorkian’s actions were, his passion for a person’s right to end their own suffering caused the health care system to take a second look at end of life care.

“Sometimes people would be afraid to use morphine because it would hasten the death, but you could see, privately it went on all the time,” said Jessica Cooper. “(Health care providers) would say, here is a bottle of pills, only take one because the whole bottle will kill you. And they would leave the pills and walk away.”

As a result of the increased discussion on assisted suicide and death itself, the medical community stepped up by making improvements to pain management, also known as palliative care.

“Hospice wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for Dr. Kevorkian,” said attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who became a household name upon theatrically defending Kevorkian in numerous courtrooms. “Hospice owes it’s existence to Dr. Kevorkian, and maybe a little to myself….You can get as much morphine as you want and pump it into yourself and kill

including the American Medical Association, which refers to the procedure outlined in death with dignity laws as “physicianassisted suicide.”

“It is understandable, though tragic, that some patients in extreme cases – such as those suffering from a terminal, painful, debilitating illness – may come to decide that death is preferable to life,” stated the formal opinion of the association. “However, permitting physicians to engage in assisted suicide would ultimately cause more harm that good. Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”

Today's debate will eventually become history that future generations mistake for being the way it always was. Similarly, prior to the passage of any state law protecting the right to kill oneself, the nation had other health-related concerns to grapple with.

Nearly 50 years ago, faced with improving medical technology that provided the mechanical means to keep a person alive beyond what science could previously do, the American Hospital Association penned the Patient’s Bill of Rights in 1970, which

act in ways that are aligned with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” said Michael Miller, regional chief mission officer of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, referring to the directives published by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which does not support the prescription of life-ending medication.

“If I do something to kill myself or the physician does something to kill me, the intention is still killing, which is problematic from a Catholic Christian perspective,” said Miller. “So whether you change the name, the important thing is the intention. Killing is the intention, the ending of a life – it’s not an accidental death. It’s an intended death and that’s problematic.”

Also on the opposing side of the death with dignity movement is a constituency of disability advocacy groups, including the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition (MDRC), which are concerned that the laws target people with disabilities and reinforce the stigma that a life which lacks some physical ability is inferior to an able-bodied person.

“The biggest problem with assisted suicide to me,” said MDRC’s Norm DeLisle, project consultant and the organization’s former executive director, “is that it raises the ethical

TO SOME, IT MAY BE CONCEIVED THAT THE OPTION PROVIDED BY DEATH WITH DIGNITY LAWS IS JUST ANOTHER HUE ON THE SPECTRUM OF END OF LIFE CARE, BUT MANY ARE STAUNCHLY OPPOSED, INCLUDING THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. yourself, they just don’t talk about it.”

Fieger was vaguely referring to the medical procedure known as palliative sedation, in which a person slips into a coma as a result of drug overdose, and then eventually stops breathing and dies. The death certificate, as in death with dignity cases, is listed as the terminal illness for which the patient went into hospice. The same is true of cases when patients voluntarily stop eating or drinking, when dehydration triggers death.

Still, “hospice and palliative care is not designed to hasten death,” said Barry Cargill, executive director of the Michigan Home Care and Hospice Association, which does not take a position on medical-aid-in-dying initiatives.

“Occasionally, if pain-relieving drugs (are) used, you’re always going to have other symptoms that come up. There may be a point at which it could be interpreted that the doctor is hastening the death. That is certainly not the intention of hospice. That’s not the intention of the doctor prescribing the medication,” To some, it may be conceived that the option provided by death with dignity laws is just another hue on the spectrum of end of life care, but many are staunchly opposed,

indicated that a patient can refuse treatment at will. It took another twenty years for right to demand or refuse treatment to be codified in federal law, under the Patient SelfDetermination Act. It mandated that providers at federally-funded hospitals must inform patients of their right to demand or refuse treatment, and brings into play the advance directive.

Intended to express an ill patient’s wishes in the face of an emergency, an advance directive is “a written document in which a competent individual gives instructions about his or her health care, that will be implemented at some future time should that person lack the ability to make decisions for himself or herself,” states a booklet prepared by the Michigan Legislature. The living will, one of three types of advance directives, is considered legally binding in 47 states, but not Michigan. Do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders are legally binding in all health care facilities, except in hospitals. The third advance directive is a patient advocate designation, in which a person designates someone to make decisions on their behalf in the event they become unable to.

"As a Catholic health care organization, we

implications of having assistance killing yourself – it doesn’t matter if it’s medical (personnel) or a family member. In every other area of law, you’d question the interest of the other party in a situation where the outcome was a loss of life.”

While any effort towards political change must go through a series of trial and error, some people close to those who’ve gone through death with dignity lethal medication hope to see improvements in the future in the execution of the right to die movement.

“I feel that there are ways they could make it more compassionate for sure,” said Van Zandt, who mixed the lethal drink her aunt sipped before she slipped away. “I do think the law needs to be made available and still have the safety mechanisms in place, where it’s a private interview with the patients. One of the worries (opponents) have is that people will be coerced into ending their life because they don’t want to be a burden, and you can’t legislate away that, because that’s a moral issue. I think it’s a very difficult thing to write laws that control morality, because people will do what they’re going to do, regardless.”

CONSENT CONSENT..

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

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

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FACES

Barbara Burkhart-Spragg ongtime Rochester Hills resident Barbara Burkhart-Spragg isn't trying to hide her age. In fact, Spragg and her fellow dressage partner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Aristotle, a 29-year-old German Trekehner horse â&#x20AC;&#x201C; will be recognized this October by the United States Dressage Foundation for having 100 years between them.

The foundation's Century Club recognizes dressage teams that have a combined age of at least 100 years. Riders and their horses are scored by official foundation judges, and must have documentation to show their ages. Since founding the club in 1996, 263 teams from throughout the country have participated in the ride. Spragg and Aristotle will be the 13th from Michigan to join the club.

Spragg, 71, moved to Michigan with her husband when she was 29. First settling in Troy, and now a resident of Rochester Hills for over two decades, she started riding English style with friends she met at Troy Newcomers. She later switched to classic dressage riding.

"You have to be very quiet in your seat, and with your hands, legs and voice. I had to learn to quiet myself down and be comforting so that the horse could anticipate those cues, which come from the hands, legs and voice," she said.

"Believe it or not, I think that's why (dressage) is a focus of older people. The younger kids want more excitement. As they get older, it's not surprising to see people in their 50s showing dressage because it's such a disciplined sport. Younger people might find it boring."

Both as an Olympic sport and on local riding circuits, dressage is a highly skilled style of riding, as well as an art that is often pursued by those who want to master the style.

"They want the horse to be relaxed, and they don't want to see the rider have a lot of movement," she said of the judges.

"They want the movement to come from the horse, and they want to see a little personality.

"They all have a personality, just like people. Some are more outgoing than others," she said. "He is fantastic. He's everybody's friend. He loves people and other animals."

As an older horse, Aristotle doesn't get out as much and for as long as he did in the past. He now suffers from cataracts, requiring the judge for the special century ride to come to Oxford, where the horse is stabled. Spragg has also had her own ailments affecting her back, but said her time as a pilates teacher, along with riding, have helped keep her fit.

Prior to raising her son and daughter in Rochester Hills, Spragg spent years teaching dog obedience and volunteered at the Bloomfield Hills Schools farm, where she donated her older horses when they were no longer able to perform. She hopes to return to volunteering in order to help disabled riders and veterans learn to ride when Aristotle can no longer ride.

Another horse, she said, isn't likely, due to the cost and time commitment.

For those who are unfamiliar but interested in riding, she recommends practicing patience as they move forward.

"You have to have a lot of patience," she said. "You have to go out and recognize that they will have bad days, just like you have bad days. You have to accept that. There are some days when things aren't going to come together. That's part of the training process."

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Story: Kevin Elliott

Photo: Laurie Tennent

MUNICIPAL Brooklands District redevelopment talks

Elementary classrooms back in full swing

By Katie Deska

By Kevin Elliott

Public and private investment, coupled with a new style of zoning code, will be driving factors of any redevelopment in Rochester Hills' aging Brooklands District, or Olde Town community, along Auburn Road, between Dequindre and Culbertson roads.

Those were the main takeaways on Tuesday, September 27, during a two-hour discussion of an Auburn Road Corridor Study presentation to members of Rochester Hills City Council and planning commission.

The study, which was approved in January at a cost not to exceed $75,000, is intended to find ways to incentivize development in the Auburn Road corridor, which runs from S. Adams Road to Dequindre Road. The study gives special attention to the city's Brooklands area, which could be redeveloped as a walkable downtown area for the city.

The main goal of the study is to strengthen the overall district brand as a unique destination; maximize the potential of the district; calm traffic; create a walkable community; and bring in more green elements and landscaping, said Brad Strader of MKSK planners, who presented the study.

Strader said many businesses in the Brooklands area interviewed for the study had a negative view of the area. A perspective, he said, many held from perceptions that were formed more than 30 years ago. In general, he said, respondents didn't feel the district has a "high quality" feel to it that the rest of Rochester Hills seems to have.

"They have a perception of it being a rough part of Rochester Hills," he said.

Rochester Hills Planning and Development Director Ed Anzek said previous attempts over the past three decades to study the area never gained traction. However, the new "form-based" zoning codes developed in recent years can do a lot to offer incentives to develop in the area. Such codes offer cities an alternative to conventional regulations, and are intended to address urban sprawl, deterioration of historic neighborhoods and pedestrian safety.

Council and commission members were presented with varying parking styles and road right-of-way options to calm traffic 46

ochester Community Schools were back in full swing on Thursday, September 15, after a temporary closure at four elementary schools was ordered by the state fire marshal, who informed the district of a violation of the fire code requirement that all kindergarten and first grade classrooms be located on a main or lower level, which was not the case at Hugger, Musson, Brewster and University Hills elementary schools.

The four elementary schools were forced to close on Tuesday, September 13, and Wednesday, September 14, while the administration quickly addressed the issue by rearranging the classrooms, swapping kindergarten and first grade classrooms to the first floor where upper level classrooms were previously located.

“Each principal evaluated the needs of their buildings and adjusted the classrooms accordingly. When kindergarten and first grade came down, someone had to go up,” said Lori Grein, director of community relations for Rochester Community Schools, referring to the older grades.

To ease the burden on parents who didn’t expect a two-day school cancellation, Rochester Schools offered non-instructional day camp during school hours for both days.

“We are very pleased with how the day camps are running throughout the district,” Grein said. “The children are having a great time, and the weather has been cooperating. I know the response was positive from our community, and from those folks who needed childcare did take advantage of it.”

The fire marshal was initially contacted by a citizen regarding school construction that is currently underway at Musson and Hugger as part of a five-year capital improvement plan, funded by a $185 million bond proposal approved by voters in November.

The plan includes enhancements to “every one of our school facilities, including Musson, Hugger, Brewser and University Hills in particular,” said Grein. Some schools are “getting additions to the buildings, to accommodate flexible learning spaces, larger classrooms, and also accommodate for having kindergartens and first graders on the lower level.”

Musson Elementary School is located at 3500 Dutton Road in Rochester. Hugger Elementary School is located at 5050 Sheldon Road in Rochester. Brewser Elementary School is at 1535 Brewster Road in Rochester Hills; and University Hills Elementary School is located at 600 Croydon Road in Rochester Hills.

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and create a more walkable community in the area. Zoning outside the district could be changed to bring a more cohesive feel to the entire corridor.

Among the largest challenges facing the area, attendees said, is how to address traffic calming and walkability on a state-owned road without significant investment from the city. Council members requested additional information on the cost and funding options that may be included in the city's long-term capital improvement plan.

The city on Monday, October 10 will hold a public workshop session on the plan during the city council meeting. An implementation and funding plan is expected in October, with a draft of the plan to go before the planning commission in November. The plan will then go before the city council in December.

City wants to ban pot dispensaries

By Kevin Elliott

Rochester Hills city council members at a study session on Tuesday, September 27, discussed how the city could further restrict medical marijuana activity in the city under a state law approved days earlier and signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder that permits medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

Council members directed city attorney John Staran to draft a 180-day moratorium on the licensing of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, which is then expected to be considered by the council at its meeting on Monday, October 10. The moratorium would allow the city time to decide how to address prohibiting dispensaries in the city under the new state law.

DOWNTOWN

Staran said the new law aims to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, however, the licensing of such businesses would be done similar to local liquor licenses, with initial approval coming from the community in which they originate. He said the city must now decide whether it will want to allow or prohibit such dispensaries in the community, and if so, begin working on the proper ordinances to do so.

An informal census of council members at the September 27 meeting indicated they wouldn't approve the licensing of medical marijuana facilities in the community. At least one council member expressed a desire to find ways to limit medical marijuana grow operations in the city, which are permitted under the state law.

"I would like to look into ways to strengthen the restrictions on individual caregivers in residential areas," said council member Stephanie Morita.

Staran said the city can't prohibit caregivers in the city because the activity is permitted under state law.

Oakland County Sheriff Captain Mike Johnson said the city has used code violations to leverage some growers to shut down in the past.

Those, he said, typically involve complaints from others in a residential neighborhood.

Marijuana grow plan stalled once again

By Katie Deska

The Rochester medical marijuana grow operation, proposed by local resident Mark Finley, of Xavier Labs, LLC, is stalled indefinitely pending action on his part, deputy city manager Nik Banda said.

At the city’s planning commission meeting on Wednesday, September 7, commissioners expressed frustration with Finley for failing to provide legible site plans, which he was asked to do in March, when the proposed site plan was rejected, although not denied, for a myriad of reasons including that the site plan was too small to read clearly.

In an application process that began last year, Finley’s proposal has appeared before the planning commission on multiple occasions, and commission members are “tired of him not presenting” what was asked for, said Banda. They told Finley to “come back when you do what the planner said,” Banda paraphrased.

A licensed medical marijuana caregiver, Finley had proposed to open a 72-plant grow operation at 361 South Street, within a multi-tenant 10.16

City takes heat for high water bills

By Katie Deska

building, upstairs from where he operates his current business.

Located east of Diversion Street, within an industrial zoning district, the proposed site for the grow operation is in line with what the city specified in its ordinance governing medical marijuana grow operations.

Due to the zoning restrictions and the city’s modest geography, “If one (medical marijuana operation) gets approved, it will block out any others,” said Banda, who received a marijuana business inquiry call from a man who watched the meeting online.

“Literally, every week someone thinks they’ll open (one),” he said.

If Finley provides the necessary information to city staff and the commission, and the site plan and special exception are approved, he would have to go before city council to apply for a license and operating agreement before opening the business.

Per the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, passed by voters in 2008, a state-licensed medical marijuana caregiver can legally cultivate 12 plants for each patient the caregiver is registered to provide for. Rochester's ordinance sets the maximum allowable plants at 72, the number Finley had planned to cultivate.

In early 2014, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that municipalities may not ban the use of medical marijuana, and are required to have an ordinance that addresses zoning for medical marijuana grow operations following the approval in 2008 of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. In December 2014, Rochester passed an ordinance that establishes regulations for grow operations. "The city has an obligation, under zoning law, to provide for a space where this use can take place," said commissioner Jeffrey Cuthbertson at a prior meeting.

Rochester Hills approves budget The Rochester Hills City Council on Monday, September 26, unanimously approved a $130 million budget for the 2017 fiscal year, of which nearly onethird is dedicated toward enterprise activities, such as water, sewer, maintenance and debt.

The budget, which runs from January 1 to December 31 each year, includes total revenues and expenditures of $130.3 million. The budget was unanimously approved by

council members, following a budgeting process that began on August 8, when the budget was first introduced.

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said city council had unanimous approval of the budget for the past three years, but hadn't done so before since 1991.

"I think that speaks, hopefully, to the clarity of the information that you are getting, to the fact that we are hearing your vision clearly, that you're articulating that vision and we're responding in a way that you feel is appropriate," Barnett said in thanking the council for its approval. "I can tell you, what just happened, and this process that has occurred since August 5, or whatever day we presented the budget, is probably – I would put it up against anything else in the state.

"The relationship that the administration has with the council and the seamless nature in which we are able to accomplish what we just accomplished, which is essentially spending $130 million, is remarkable."

The approved budget includes $41.2 million in public service expenditures; $22.7 million in public safety expenditures; $18.4 million in general government expenditures; $23.8 million in capital outlay expenses; $3.8 million dedicated for debt service; $3.5 million in parks and recreation expenditures; and $1.6 million in economic development expenses.

The largest source of revenue, 40 percent, of the 2017 budget is projected to come from service charges, which are expected to total $53.2 million. City taxes are expected to contribute $31.5 million, or about 24 percent of the budget. The existing fund balance comprises about 13 percent of the total revenues, or $17.6 million.

Rochester Hills Finance Director Joe Snyder said the largest gains in expenditures in the 2017 budget are associated with construction activity in the city and revenues from the building department associated with development. He said there also have been some increases in state-shared revenues transferred to the city from the state.

City council members on September 16 approved the city's 2016 millage rates collected in December, which generate tax revenues to support the proposed 2017 budget. The total millage rate will remain at 10.4605 mills.

The 2017 budget includes $23.4 million in expenditures, down slightly from $25.2 million in 2016. Projected revenues are expected to rise from $21.2 million to $21.7 million. The largest reduction in general fund

fter hours of comments from a frustrated public surrounding the latest wave of water and sewer bills, which left many residents angry over a recent bill that was two or three times what they were used to paying, Rochester City Council on Monday, September 12, unanimously passed a motion to extend the bills' due date by 60 days, and established plans for city staff to look into the results of the most recent billing cycle and have city council continue evaluate the rate structure.

The current rate structure took effect December 1, 2015, and bills went out to three of five billing zones on August 31.

Council voted to approve the rate structure in November 2015, following a three-year study of water usage in the city and numerous deliberations on the part of staff, council members, and consultants.

The study revealed a previous rate system that was unfair and unsustainable, city officials said, citing an imposed minimum rate that caused people who used the most water to be subsidized by people who used the least, and a 40-unit sewage cap on wastewater billing, which capped the cost of the sewage pass-through charge at 40 units, regardless of the number of units of water used. The cap reflected the assumption that any water use beyond 40 units was for irrigation purposes, and thus not going into the sewer pipes, which flow to Detroit for treatment.

The city no longer institutes a mandatory unit minimum, and has gotten rid of the sewage cap. Anticipating higher bills for heavy water users as a result of the removal of minimums and the sewer cap, the city has offered irrigation meters to residents for $330, plus an $80 permit and installation fee if the resident opted to have the city do the labor.

The irrigation meters are designed to reduce wastewater bills by exclusively determining the quantity of water that's being used outdoors for watering and irrigation, and then deducting that many units from the equation that calculates the cost of wastewater going through the pipes.

The initial investment of the meter deters people, but if it’s installed, “if you turn on a faucet or flush the toilet, that’s the sewer (cost) you pay for,” said deputy city manager Nik Banda, stating that the water that flows through a sprinkler system is not charged. “There is no other way to do it but to get the meter and save (money).”

The irrigation meter was approved unanimously by city council late last November, at which time residents were encouraged to do a costbenefit analysis to determine whether installing the meter would benefit them financially in the long run.

But only 38 residents purchased the meter, said Banda, who opted for it. “(They) only pay for what goes through the pipe to go back to (Detroit) to get treated, so we're only paying for what we use.”

A couple residents at the meeting mentioned receiving a water bill that exceeded a thousand dollars, compared to a few hundred dollars, which they expected. Frustration was also expressed over what some residents said was inadequate communication from the city, particularly given the serious impact the issue had on their pocketbooks.

However, city council members reminded the public that the city held multiple public hearings related to the new billing structure, sent information to residents via email and paper newsletters, and made other efforts to inform people of the rate change, which was designed with the goal of simply charging residents for the amount they actually used.

On the flip side, a few residents in the audience, notably lower water users, saw reduced bills.

Anthony Moggio, assistant to city manager and financial analyst, made a lengthy presentation to council and the public on the summer water usage, and the events leading up to the new rate structure. He mentioned the council’s dedication to finding a fair and affordable approach to water rates.

Efforts included seeking to drill another municipal well to get off the Detroit water system, and even an inquiry into building a city-operated sewerage system. At this time, it was reported that neither are viable options.

City staff and council members continue to seek a solution into the issue, and developments will be discussed at a future council meeting.

The reality of this year’s hot dry summer didn’t make the bills, which cover the heavy irrigation months, any lighter, said Moggio. “The last time we had a summer similar to this was in 2011 and 2012.”

A recording of Monday’s council meeting is available on the city’s website.

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expenditures is associated with $4.5 million budgeted in 2016 for the construction of the city's Fire Station No. 4. The only proposed expenditures from the general fund's existing balance relate to park projects. Those projects include $254,000 to relocate offices at Borden Park; $360,000 for the Borden Park maintenance yard; and $1 million for the development of Riverbend Park.

The fund balance in the city's major road fund is expected to rise in future years. However, revenues in the fund are expected to drop from $4.6 million in 2016 to $4.2 million in 2017, with expenditures down from $7.6 million in 2016 to a proposed $5 million in 2017.

About $1 million in spending and revenues were removed during the budget process from the originally proposed budget, of $131.4 million.

Council members concluded at a Monday, August 22, budget meeting to hold off on the new position. Council members at that meeting also decided to remove two Special Assessment District projects to pave two gravel roads in the city. The two road projects will remove $1.1 million in expenditures and revenues from the city's local street fund budget for 2017.

Council at the same meeting rejected hiring an additional deputy for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office substation, which provides public safety services to the city. The additional position would have been utilized as a community liaison officer, and would have been funded from a contribution from the city's general fund.

School officer liaison program approved Three Oakland County Sheriff's Office deputies and two Rochester City police department officers will be assigned to the Rochester Community Schools under a school liaison program approved on Monday, September 26, by the Rochester Hills City Council.

The city, which provides about 68 percent of the funding for the program, will contribute about $275,000 for school liaisons during the 2016-2017 school year. The remaining cost is split between Oakland Township and the city of Rochester. The contribution amounts are based on local enrollment figures.

Rochester Hills' contribution for the 2016-2017 school year is down from $288,000 from the previous year, or about 68 percent of the funding, according to Rochester Hills Chief Financial Officer Joe Snyder.

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Rochester Hills to rename Riverbend Park

By Kevin Elliott

he city of Rochester Hills is asking for suggestions in renaming Riverbend Park, 2800 West Hamlin Road, which will receive about $800,000 in improvements in 2017, and millions more in future years.

The 114-acre park is the first to be developed in the city within the past two decades. Staff has involved the public in planning and fundraising efforts, and is now looking for recommendations on a new name for the park that will distinguish it from other parks located in surrounding communities.

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett named at least a half dozen parks with names similar to "Riverbend" within a 20-mile radius of the city. The similarities, he said, have caused a lot of confusion.

"One of the challenges that we've realized in going to begin our fundraising at the mayor's office, is that there are a lot of Riverbend parks," Barnett said. "There is a River Woods Park and a Riverside Park in Auburn Hills. The biggest one we struggle with is River Bends Park in Shelby, and that particular park has a shooting range. (Staff) gets calls, I think weekly, asking 'when can we shoot in Riverbend Park, I just want to go over those guidelines again,' and of course, we just about fall out of our chair. Of course, there is no shooting, and lots of times we get into many arguments."

As fundraising efforts and work at the park gets underway, the city on Monday, October 3, will kick off a renaming contest for the park.

"Whether it's creative, clever, witty, fun, new, or old, we want to hear all of them," the city said in a notice about the contest in memo included in residential water bills. "Your idea could last a lifetime."

Suggestions will be able to be submitted online at rochesterhills.org/namethatpark; at the mayor's office at 1000 Rochester Hills Drive; the Rochester Avon Recreation Authority (RARA), 500 E. 2nd Street, in Rochester; and the Older Persons' Commission, 650 Letica Drive, in Rochester.

The person whose name is selected will win a new bicycle from KLM Bike & Fitness in Rochester.

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Local funding for the program comes from the city's special police millage.

Council member Stephanie Morita questioned whether a similar program could be done with Avondale Schools, where about 30 percent of the city's students attend school.

Oakland County Sheriff Captain Mike Johnson said the Avondale district opted out of the program about 12 years ago. Since then, the cost has increased and the district hasn't shown interest.

Morita said she would like to begin discussions with the district, as there has been a recent change in leadership there.

Crowdfunding for Lake Norcentra Park The forthcoming Lake Norcentra Park, on the campus of Rochester College, is in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign through Patronicity that’s aimed at collecting $50,000 from public donors by Saturday, October 22.

If the fundraising goal is met, Lake

Norcentra Park will receive a matching grant of $50,000 from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

Adjacent to the Clinton River Trail, the park consists of 14 acres on the campus of Rochester College, 800 W. Avon Road in Rochester Hills, and is within a mile of downtown Rochester.

Intended to bring together the greater Rochester community, several initiatives are planned for the park, including boat and fishing access along the Clinton River; hammocks, seating and tables; entertainment and learning programs throughout the year; pop-up concessions along the Clinton River Trail; bike parking and a repair station; signage that interprets the history and nature of the site; a mural designed by a local resident; and the demolition of an existing maintenance building to make an open space for events and recreation.

Donations to the project can be made via Patronicity, a Michigan-based state-sponsored online crowdfunding platform, similar to Kickstarter, Indiegogo and GoFundMe. To donate, go to patronicity.com/lakenorcentra.

If the $50,000 mark is reached on

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Patronicity by the October deadline, Lake Norcentra Park will receive a matching grant as part of the state’s Public Spaces, Community Places program, a collaborative effort of the MEDC, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, the Michigan Municipal League and Patronicity.

"We're creating Lake Norcentra Park to be a place that brings neighbors together to enjoy what it means to be in the greater Rochester community," said BT Irwin, consultant and project manager of the park.

“It’s a really big deal to be chosen by the MEDC and the Community Spaces, Place Making program. This is kind of an unusual project for them in that it’s not often that a private college will come out and say ‘We are devoting 14 acres to public use and public access and designing the space for the community to use,’” Irwin said.

The steering committee for the park applied for the grant earlier this year, and the crowdfunding campaign began Thursday, September 15.

“We’ve got until the 22nd (of October) to raise $50,000 to acquire the challenge grant from MEDC. We want to use that money to create a neat space that everybody will be able to enjoy,” said Irwin.

The project was endorsed by the city councils of Rochester and Rochester Hills, although neither city has a financial stake.

County funding for local road projects As part of Oakland County’s new Local Road Improvement Pilot Program, a number of communities will receive county dollars to put towards local road improvement projects, including $86,915 to Rochester Hills and $14,000 to Rochester.

Approved on a unanimous vote by county commissioners on Wednesday, August 31, it will provide $1 million in matching funds, meant to supplement, not replace, local municipal funding for roadways.

The nearly $87,000 issued to Rochester Hills is earmarked for the 2016 city concrete road replacement program, while the $14,000 addition to Rochester’s budget will be used to mill and resurface Letica Drive.

Although every bit helps, “It’s not enough to do the road, even with the match,” said Rochester Deputy City Manager Nik Banda. “We would need ten times that.” Nonetheless, Rochester City Manager Blaine Wing and Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett expressed appreciation for the work of the commission.

10.16

Audi dealership expansion approved Audi of Rochester Hills, 45441 Dequindre Road, on Tuesday, September 20, received approval from the Rochester Hills Planning Commission for an expansion of its existing building and parking lot.

Plans at the dealership include expanding its existing 19,030 squarefoot building to 44,478 square feet; pavement modifications; an underground stormwater retention system; LED site lighting and additional landscaping on the six-acre site at the southwest corner of Dequindre Road and Melville Drive, just north of M-59.

The planning commission last September approved an outdoor display area for used cars just north of the dealership. The Melville Drive site access site was improved at that time to help minimize congestion at Dequindre.

The expansion will require the removal of about 70 trees at the site, with five to be relocated. The remaining tree removals will be require a payment of $202.50 per tree to the city's tree fund. There are no wetlands or natural

downtownpublications.com

features on the property. About 1.5 acres of the site will remain undisturbed.

Exterior lighting at the site will be be required to be lowered in intensity, from 1.3 to 1 footcandle to meet the city's requirements. Parking will consist of about 129 spaces, plus 68 display spaces.

Trees to be cleared for soccer field About five acres of land, including about 189 trees and a house, will be demolished and turned into soccer and recreational fields, under plans approved on Tuesday, September 20, by the Rochester Hills Planning Commission.

The land, which is located south of Holy Family Regional School, on the east side of John R between Hamlin and Auburn roads, will be used for a recreation area and player fields. One existing home will be demolished, but no other structures are planned for the site.

"The request is fairly straightforward and normally would be an administrative approval; however, the

clearing will require a tree removal permit approval from the planning commission and associated site plan review," Rochester Hills Planning Manager Sara Roediger said in a memo to planning commissioners.

The land is zoned for single-family residential use, which allows for the proposed use.

Under the permit, Holy Family Regional Schools will be required to install tree protection and silt fencing prior to the issuance of the land improvement permit by the city. The school will also provide 189 tree credits on the site to replace the 189 regulated trees removed.

Planning director Ed Anzek said there was support for the project by some members of the public.

Pharmacy Advantage plans are finalized Plans to construct a 25,776 squarefoot office building to accommodate a new Henry Ford Pharmacy Advantage building on South Boulevard were finalized on Monday, August 29, following the approval of a wetland use

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permit by the Rochester Hills City Council.

Site plans for the building were approved on Tuesday, August 16, by the Rochester Hills Planning Commission.

However, the presence of about 965square-feet of wetlands at the site required a wetland use permit and a natural features modification request to be granted by city council before construction can move forward with the project. Council unanimously approved the measure, with councilwoman Dr. Susan Bowyer, who is employed by Henry Ford Health Systems, abstaining.

Pharmacy Advantage provides care to patients with acute and chronic conditions. Rochester Hills Planning Director Ed Anzek said earlier in August that the medical office building will house a call center and specialty pharmacy specializing in rare drugs that aren't kept in abundance at other locations. The office won't provide traditional, walk-in pharmacy services.

The new call center location is expected to grow the number of employees from about 90 at the company's Troy location to 120 at the Rochester Hills building.

49

FACES

Christine Gibson bucolic illustration of life in the Rochester area, created by local watercolor painter Christine Gibson, is currently being transformed into a 360-foot mural that will be displayed along the Clinton River Trail.

Selected by the public in a spring contest, Gibson’s drawing was sketched onto five-foot square panels that will be painted by volunteers and hung within the forthcoming Lake Norcentra Park, on the campus of Rochester College. Reminiscent of Norman Rockwell paintings, Gibson’s mural design acts like a mirror along the trail, dotted with resident bikers, curious kids, and tree-climbing squirrels.

“I was picturing something more urban and hip, but I thought, (for the proposal) I’d do what I wanted to see,” said Gibson, a Rochester Hills resident and mother of five. “I love the trail, and my family and I, we love going on the trail to walk it, picnic on it, and I thought if I was walking past or riding past, this is what would make my family go stop and look.”

A professional illustrator who’s drawn the likes of Clifford the Big Red Dog and Tony the Tiger, Gibson credits her parents for giving her the support she needed as a child, teenager and young adult to pursue her career in art.

“My love of horses growing up was what motivated me to constantly paint and draw… My dad built us a big desk with two chairs and hung lights over it. There were six kids in our family, and Dad kept the drawer stocked with really high quality paper.”

When she reached college, pragmatism took over and Gibson enrolled in automotive design classes at Western Michigan University, but said she found that “the math was just not in my skill set.” From that point, she dove into an array of fine arts classes, and made her way to the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit.

At age 22, she got a break in the professional field and quit her classes.

A fierce change from her childhood drawings of horses and their flowing manes, Gibson started doing illustration and graphic design for E-Systems, a government contractor for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command in Warren, her hometown.

With experience mounting and her family growing, Gibson launched a graphics business of her own, and later switched her focus to creating watercolor portraits and illustrating children’s books and other kid-centric publications, including Highlights magazine.

“What I want my viewers to experience is the curiosity and softness and warmth of childhood and safety,” she said.

“Some of the art I see is so harsh and bold and over stimulating, that a child has to almost back off and put up a wall. Art is about reflecting the beauty in nature, and if I’m going to create something, I want it to be uplifting and positive.”

From that perspective, Gibson’s future mural in Lake Norcentra Park features renderings of people engaged in timeless activities amongst friendly critters pouncing through the woods.

Growing up in the ‘70s, she said, “The houses were too small and the families were too large for kids to be indoors, and being so grateful for that childhood, and wanting to share that with my children, I think that has influenced the type of painting I do – whimsical.”

A

Story: Katie Deska

Photo: Laurie Tennent

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PLACES TO EAT The Places To Eat for Downtown is a quick reference source to establishments offering a place for dining, either breakfast, lunch or dinner. The listings include nearly all dining establishments with seating in the 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 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.

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

248.299.5281.

Chipotle Mexican Grille: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2611 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills,

downtownpublications.com

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.

248.266.6055.

Honey Tree Grille: Mediterranean.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No

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

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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

53

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.

Unique food and smokes Expected to open the first of the month, Ambassador Cigar is anticipated to be an upscale cigar bar and lounge which will also offer specialty small plates and a private membership club. Owned by Jeff DeSandre, who has been in the local cigar industry for 15 years, there will be a 300-square foot walk-in humidor on site. “We’re planning to offer gourmet small plates, and Cuban sandwiches will be a big focus,” DeSandre said. “We’ll also offer artisan-style pizzas and general charcuterie, and we’ll have a full bar and lounge.” Ambassador Cigar will be located at 3614 Rochester Road, north of Big Beaver in Troy. Offering monthly and yearly memberships, “there’s nothing like it in metro Detroit,” said co-owner Dr. Claude Reitelman. “It’s for people who smoke cigars and enjoy the camaraderie of cigar smoking.” DeSandre said what will separate Ambassador Cigar from other cigar lounges is “we have four certified tobacconists working for us – they’re like sommeliers. We want to take the cigar business to the next level.”

Flatout weekend at Steve’s Steve’s Deli, located at the Bloomfield Plaza at Maple Road and Telegraph in Bloomfield Township, offers lots of healthy options along with its corned beef and chopped liver. In an effort to provide customers with more healthy and versatile meal options, Steve’s is partnering with Flatout Bread, a Saline, Michigan company that creates, produces and markets premium flatbreads, to have a “Flatout Weekend” Friday, October 21-Sunday, October 23. That weekend, all of Steve’s sandwiches will be available on Flatout upon request, for half-price, whether diners are eating in or carrying out, and carryout orders over $30 will include a complimentary pack of the specialty wrap bread.

Setting up shop The much-anticipated multi-vendor Detroit Shipping Company, led by Royal Oak natives James Therkalsen and Jon Hartzell, revealed four of the five food purveyors who will permanently set up shop in re-imagined shipping containers at the indoor/outdoor venue to be built at 474 Peteroboro. Monty’s Beef Co., spearheaded by Rachel Leemis, will sling Piedmontese burgers, meat-on-astick and signature Detroit Fries, topped with a ladle of chili and shredded cheese. Chef Catrina Vlisides will bring Detroit Dog Co. to serve gourmet comfort food like hot dogs, brats and veggie dogs. For a taste of Mexican street food, Brujo will be on scene with tacos by chef Petro Drakopoulos of Republica in Berkley. “In addition to a few traditional favorites, “He’ll have some stuff that will push your adventurous side,” said Therkalsen. “There’s halal tacos – Muslim-friendly tacos, and he talked about a cricket-based taco.”

Detroit native chef Max Hardy, who Therkalsen said “worked as a professional chef in Miami for years cooking for NBA stars and rappers,” will host Coop, specializing in chicken grilled with Caribbean and Asian-fusion flavors.

Additionally, there will be two bars, retail and entertainment. Therkalsen hopes to open in December or January, though he noted that’s probably optimistic.

New restaurant unveiled With renovations completed, the former Maccabees restaurant in Detroit has been renamed and reimagined as 5057 Viale, an Italian grille at 5057 Woodward Avenue. Catering to the Midtown university and museum crowd, Kathy Krstich, business and marketing manager for the new locale, said “our lunch is a triple 10 concept – 10 meals daily, for under $10, in less than 10 minutes.” Executive chef Leonardo Vulagi dishes up a variety of pastas and healthy options. On Sundays, chef Jamawn Woods, a winner on NBC’s former “America’s Next Great Restaurant,” mixes it up with a soul food-style brunch, complete with omelet and waffle stations. Bottomless mimosas and bloody Mary’s are included.

BBQ splendor With the recent opening of Shark’s BBQ, 4845 Rochester Road in Troy, owner and lead pitmaster Louai Sharkas, former executive chef at the Birmingham Country Club, is back in the pit, smoking beef, pork and poultry over a wood fire. Emphasizing high quality meat, Sharkas uses his signature rub, and offers just two sauces, including “a Texas-style sweet molasses barbeque sauce, and a North Carolina chili vinegar sauce, mainly used for pulled pork.” Purchased from Beeler’s Pure Pork in Iowa, Sharkas said, “it’s like the pork we used to eat

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.

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.

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.

in the ‘70s. At one time, one point in our history, we raised meat all naturally, in their own pens, and that practice got away with the industrialization of the nation. Now it’s about fast, fast – feed ‘em and raise ‘em hard. This pork is not that way.” Plates come with a half-pound smoked meat, two sides, bread, pickles, and onions.

Italian closes shop After struggling to gain a following since its opening late last year, Birmingham’s laid back Italian eatery, Arthur Avenue, 260 N. Old Woodward, has thrown in the towel and tacked up a closed-for-good sign. Former plans revealed this summer to revamp the restaurant as a pizza-centered hot spot never got off the ground and at this point, owner Zack Sklar said he has “no idea” what will replace it. This appears to be the first stunted concept for Peas & Carrots restaurant group, owned by Sklar and partners Josh Humphrey and Jim Bellinson. The neighboring Au Cochon, a French-inspired brasserie also unveiled by the company last year, is not affected. “Everything is great there,” said Sklar.

Chef returns home Executive chef Anthony Lombardo returned to Luciano Del Signore’s Bacco Ristorante, 2941 Northwestern Highway in Southfield, after taking a six-year hiatus to helm two high-end restaurants in Washington, D.C., including the Hamilton, a 39,000-square-foot American restaurant and music venue. A native of Detroit, Lombardo cooked at Bacco from 2005 to 2010, and is glad to be back with DelSignore, who he sees eye to eye with in the kitchen. “The menu will change, and be fresh, but Luciano and I have the same style of cooking, and concept of food. We’re very similar in that aspect. We’re like the same chef almost – I’m just the younger, better looking version,” Lombardo chided. The two haven’t revealed any future plans but, Lombardo said, “We’re keeping our eyes and ears to the street.”

Chef changes MotorCity Casino Hotel, 2901 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, named Raymond Bertschy executive chef to manage the site’s culinary portfolio, including, Iridescence, the Lodge Diner, Grand River Deli, Sweet Ride coffee shop, and banquet and buffet services. With over 25 years of experience, Bertschy has a few changes in mind for the buffet, including skillets, fresh artisan pizzas, and pasta sautéed to order. He oversees the culinary staff, including Daniel Rutkowski, who was promoted to chef de cuisine at Iridescence last month, and given the freedom to create innovative recipes for the award-winning menu. The public can also expect a funky item to appear at the Lodge. “Mr. (Bruce) Dall, our president, came up with the idea for a gimmick, like a BLT with a pound of bacon – that’s like 22 slices of bacon – or a giant cupcake, or a chicken in a pot.” Bertschy arrived at MotorCity after years spent cooking in the Bahamas, Atlantic City, and Saipan, the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Manager honors Vera Day Rizer, general manager of Big Rock Chophouse and The Reserve in Birmingham’s Triangle District, was named Restaurant Manager of the Year by the Michigan Restaurant Association. Rizer, who has been in the industry since she was in high school, started working with owners Norman and Bonnie LePage in the 1980s. Over the years, Rizer witnessed changing trends in the public’s culinary tastes. “Diners are definitely more sophisticated. They enjoy food, ask about food, and they have knowledge about it,” she said. “It’s nice to hear from guests who are as excited about food as we are.” Big Rock, located at 245 S. Eton Street, is situated near The Reserve, a banquet and event space at 325 S. Eton Street.

Pop-up Intel Yemans Street, 2995 Yemans Street in Hamtramck: Erin Sabo of Les Deux Dachshunds, brunch, October 15. Ben Schroeder, formerly of NOMA Restaurant, October 27. To focus on other endeavors, the restaurant discontinued their weekly “Sunday Funch,” the brunch formerly hosted by Yemans co-owner, chef Matt Tinker.

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.

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 S. Old Woodard, Birmingham, 48009.

248.203.6600.

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

Liquor. 32760 Franklin Rd, Franklin,

56

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.

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.

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 Bloomfield/Southfield

Detroit

Bacco: Italian. Lunch, Monday-Friday.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

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

Beans and Cornbread: Southern. Lunch &

5057 Viale: Italian. Lunch, daily. Dinner, Wednesday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 5057 Woodward Ave., Detroit, 48202. 313.831.9311.

Angelina Italian Bistro: Italian. Dinner,

DOWNTOWN

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.

10.16

Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations. Liquor.

1565 Broadway St., Detroit, 48226.

313.962.1355.

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

1428 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, 48207.

313.782.4378.

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

2684 E. Jefferson, Detroit, 48207.

313.965.3111.

Cliff Bell’s: American. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

Liquor. 2030 Park Ave., Detroit, 48226.

313.961.2543.

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

100 Renaissance Center, Detroit, 48243.

313.567.2622.

Craft Work: American. Sunday Brunch.

Dinner, Monday-Saturday. Reservations.

Liquor. 8047 Agnes St., Detroit, 48214.

313.469.0976.

Cuisine: French. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday.

Reservations. Liquor. 670 Lothrop Rd., Detroit, 48202. 313.872.5110.

The Detroit Seafood Market: Seafood.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations.

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

El Barzon: Mexican. Lunch, Tuesday-Friday.

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

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

Fishbone’s Rhythm Kitchen Café: Cajun.

Breakfast, daily. Sunday Brunch. Lunch, Monday-Saturday. Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 400 Monroe Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.965.4600.

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

Liquor. 330 S. Oakwood Blvd., Detroit, 48217. 313.841.0122.

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

2200 W. Lafayette, Detroit, 48216.

313.962.5588.

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

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

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

Reservations. Liquor. 400 Renaissance Center, Detroit, 48243. 313.567.6837.

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

2601 W. Fort St., Detroit, 48216.

313.309.7946.

Mario’s: Italian. Dinner, daily.

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

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

Liquor. 4710 Cass Ave., Detroit, 48201.

313.974.7669.

Motor City Brewing Works: American.

Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

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

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

313.863.1917.

Prism: Steak & Seafood. Dinner, TuesdaySaturday. Reservations. Liquor. 555 E. Lafayette St, Detroit, 48226.

313.309.2499.

Red Smoke Barbeque: Barbeque. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

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

313.962.2100.

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

3401 Riopelle St., Detroit, 48207.

313.831.5940.

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

Santorini Estiatorio: Greek. Lunch &

downtownpublications.com

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

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

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

313.438.5055.

Sinbad’s: Seafood. Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor.

100 St Clair St., Detroit, 48214.

313.822.8000.

Slows Bar BQ: Barbeque. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2138 Michigan Ave, Detroit, 48216.

313.962.9828.

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

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

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

313.962.2121.

Tap at MGM Grand: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily. No reservations.

Liquor. 1777 Third Street, Detroit, 48226. 313.465.1234.

Taqueria Nuestra Familia: Mexican.

Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner, daily.

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

The Block: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 3919 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 48201.

313.832.0892.

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

313.964.4010.

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

313.782.4313.

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

511 W. Canfield, Detroit, 48201.

313.831.9470.

24grille: American. Sunday Brunch. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, 1114 Washington Blvd, Detroit, 48226.

313.964.3821.

Union Street: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 4145 Woodward Ave, Detroit, 48201.

313.831.3965.

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

Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. Reservations.

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

Vivio’s Food & Spirits: American.

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

313.393.1711.

The Whitney: American. Breakfast, Lunch, & High Tea, Monday-Friday. Sunday Brunch. Dinner, daily. Liquor.

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

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

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

Wolfgang Puck Steak: Steak & Seafood.

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

313.465.1411.

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

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BUSINESS MATTERS

Fitness training for families Rochester area residents and former Warrior Dash racers Jason and Christie Verbrugghe recently launched Grit Obstacle Training, a fitness facility specializing in obstacle course racing. Located in Rochester Hills at 2980 Technology Drive, off of Rochester Road, east of Adams Road, Grit offers drop-in classes or memberships, and hosts birthday parties and corporate events. “It’s very family focused.

Jason and I and our three kids are doing it… We don’t want anyone to feel intimidated,” said Christie Verbrugghe. Grit Obstacle challenges fitness enthusiasts of all ages and levels with obstacles such as sand bag carrying, vertical walls, salmon ladder, devil steps and quintuple steps – described as “five differently-angled boards you have to bounce off.” Alternative fitness regimes have been catapulted into the public eye with shows like NBC’s American Ninja Warrior, with one of the recent competitors, Wes Whitlam, a.k.a.

Kilt Ninja, landing at Grit as a trainer. “We’re trying to get high school and college competition teams,” said Verbrugghe, noting that West Point and some universities have established race teams. “Like if Rochester High put a team together and Stoney Creek put a team together, they could come to our training facility and compete.”

Karate shop moves PKSA Karate in Rochester Hills recently moved locations within the shopping plaza at Rochester and Avon Roads. Formerly located at 896 S. Rochester Road, the business reopened in a larger space at 910 S. Rochester Road. “New enrollments have been strong so we needed more room,” said owner-instructor Marc Gerstenberger. “The landlord is renovating the whole plaza at the same time, so we may look a little rough on the outside but, everything is good to go on the inside.”

Gerstenberger teaches Tang Soo Do, a karate lineage that originated in Korea almost 2,000 years ago. With belt classes starting from age five and up, Gerstenberger said, “We have a special program for ages downtownpublications.com

three to five, called Little Ninjas. It’s a family environment so I have parents on the floor with their kids, and there are adults just here for themselves, and a good mix of teens. But a lot of it is families, moms or dads with their sons or daughters.” PKSA Karate is a Michigan-based, nationwide franchise, with dozens of schools in the state including locations in Oxford, Royal Oak, Livonia and St. Clair Shores.

Nutrition and fitness studio Live Clean Nutrition, a supplement shop, juice bar, and fitness studio all rolled into one, recently opened in Rochester Hills at 121 S. Livernois, across the street from Rochester High School. Live Clean carries a full line of nutritional sports products, including proteins from plant and animal sources; probiotics; meal replacements; organic skincare products; and more. The juice bar boasts a menu of recipes that combine flavor and nutrition, without skimping on either. And “burst training” is offered in the fitness studio, said owner Doug Ferner, Jr. “We design a different circuit each and every day. They’re 20-30 minutes long…

We can modify any exercise for every individual.” A family owned and operated business, Ferner, Jr. grew passionate about gut health after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and suffering side effects from the prescription treatment his doctor recommended.

“I did some research and learned that through changes in my diet and lifestyle, I could control this on my own. Within a week I was feeling so much better, and I haven’t taken a pharmaceutical pill since 2011.” His experience served as the inspiration for opening the store with his parents, Doug and Tina Ferner.

New canine center Leader Dogs for the Blind recently unveiled a new $14.5 million Canine Development Center located at their Rochester Hills headquarters, 1039 Rochester Road. Formerly an on-site kennel, the new center spans nearly 75,000 square feet, and includes separate male and female breeding suites, indoor/outdoor puppy

enrichment areas, and an upgraded veterinary clinic. With increased space, the center can now accommodate up to 380 dogs, and the puppy area has tripled in size.

Improvements were designed to reduce stress on the dogs while creating new opportunities for enhanced socialization and learning. The project, funded by donations, began in 2015. Since its inception in 1939, the non-profit organization has served 14,500 people, providing each with greater independence. Most individuals who rely on leader dogs have lost vision in adulthood, said Rachelle Kniffen, director of communications and marketing, noting that common causes include retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy.

New name for hospital As part of a national rebranding effort, Crittenton Hospital and Medical Center, 1101 W. University Drive in Rochester, will adopt a new name to reflect its affiliation with its parent company, Ascension, which the hospital joined last year. “This transition will take place over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Brian Taylor, public relations representative with Ascension.

“Crittenton will eventually be named Ascension Crittenton Hospital. In terms of patients, we believe this will enhance the patient care experience at Crittenton and the other Ascension Michigan hospitals.” Ascension is the nation’s largest non-profit health system and the world’s largest Catholic health system. Additional Ascension Michigan members include St. John Providence in metro Detroit and Genesys Health System in Flint.

Crittenton is a 290-bed acute care facility which serves Oakland, Macomb and Lapeer counties, and hosts nursing students from Oakland University, as well as Wayne State University students specializing in the field of ear, nose and throat, or family medicine.

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

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

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

Lois Zussman Kadima Golf Classic

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Lois Zussman Kadima Golf Classic This annual event was newly renamed in memory of Lois Zussman, who passed away in December, 2015. Her husband of 52 years, Milt, Sally Gerak was obviously tickled to have three generations of the family in the crowd of 200 gathered for cocktails and dinner following golf at Franklin Hills Country Club. He also smiled broadly when it was announced that David and Mark Zussman’s teams finished in first and second place among the 124 golfers. But the raison d’être for the event, to fundraise for Kadima’s Lois and Milton Y. Zussman Activity Center that serves those with mental health needs, was most evident during the dinner program. Highlights included compelling remarks about philanthropy by Gail Danto, representing the event honoree - her family’s foundation – and emcee Alan “Big Al” Muskovitz‘s revelation. “Like one out of five people, I suffer from a mental illness,” he said, noting that he had OCD. “Thank God I’m not incapacitated,” he added, before conducting the live auction. Auctions and a raffle raised more than $25,000, bringing the total event proceeds to more than $100,000.

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4 1. Milt Zussman (left) of Bloomfield, Dave Tull of Birmingham. 2. Art Roffey & Gail Danto of Bloomfield Hills. 3. Rob & Deb Steingold of Bloomfield. 4. Johanna Zussman-Dobbins (left) of Ithaca, NY, Zoe Lefkowitz of Berkley, Jenny Zussman of Bloomfield. 5. Don Epstein (left) and Lena Epstein Medwed & Eric Medwed and Stuart Sherr of Bloomfield.

6. Shane Russell (left) of Bloomfield, David Lustig of Bloomfield, Paige Lustig of Birmingham.

Birmingham Bloomfield Charity Golf Classic Here’s a logical partnership – the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber and The (non-profit) Community House. This year, the chamber’s annual golf fundraiser benefited TCH and more than 100 golfers ($400) participated at Orchard Lake Country Club. Their early finish permitted happy hour dining and award presentations. The men’s winners were the team of Joe Finn, Tim Mann, Scott Allen and Scott Silverthorn. The camaraderie-rich event raised $33,000. The next charity event on the chamber calendar was the annual Vine & Dine to benefit Gleaners Community Food Banks, Wednesday, Sept. 21 at Cranbrook Institute of Science.

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Birmingham Bloomfield Charity Golf Classic

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Angels Place Golf & Tennis Classic Nearly 250 AP supporters convened at Pine Lake Country Club for the cocktail hour and dinner party that followed the swinging day for 208 golfers and 30 tennis players. A silent auction and socializing preceded the succulent dinner and program. The latter featured Frank Jonna as volunteer auctioneer and a surprise announcement by co-chair Duke Scrafano – that Webster House, one of AP’s 20 lifetime residences for people with developmental disabilities, was being renamed in memory of Annemarie Lopez. The soft spoken AP cofounder passed away earlier this year. “Without Annemarie, there would be no Angels Place, “ he declared. Scrafano also assured the gathered, “We take good care of your dollars…and we take good care of our (residents) for life.” The 24th annual event raised $225,000.

Paul W. Smith Golf Classic The 13th annual PAL fundraiser surely lived up to its mission. More than 225 golfers teed it up at the Detroit Golf Club before rendezvousing on the 19th hole, i.e. the terrace. There, the cocktail hour entertainment was provided by Simone Vitale and the Dazzlers, the young PAL cheerleading team. The program also featured Donte Powell, a former PAL participant who is now a Detroit PAL intern. Event chair WJR’s Paul W. Smith was profuse in his praise of the golfers, volunteers, Paul’s PALS, whose donations were matched by DADA and Farm Bureau Insurance to equal $80,000, and the generous sponsors. Combined with a last minute donation by the Snethkamp crew to round out the total, the event netted $500,000 for the Detroit Police Athletic League’s mentoring, athletic, academic and leadership programs that serve roughly 13,000 children.

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1. Eric Schwab (left) of Bloomfield, Linda Hatfield of Farmington Hills, Rob Farr of Beverly Hills.

2. Steve Skinja (left) of Birmingham and Gerry Brody of Bloomfield, Bob Pliska of Bloomfield.

3. Jack Bruce (left) of Birmingham, Parker, Chase and Bill Seklar of Bloomfield. 4. Bonnie Miles (center) of Waterford, Ed Fisher (left) and John Westerheide of Birmingham. 5. Joe Bauman (left) of Livonia, Kelly Lewis of Birmingham. 6. Bryan Frank (left) of Beverly Hills, Mark Anderson of Rochester Hills. 7. Andrea Foglietta (left) of Birmingham, Ryan Hoover of Bloomfield.

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Founders Junior Council FASH BASH Amazingly, this annual soiree just seems to get better every year. The predicted rain that prompted the move inside did not materialize, but the stifling heat made everybody grateful for the museum’s air conditioning. Fashionable party goers sipped, snacked and schmoozed before the sold out crowd of 540 show ticket holders ($750, $375, $250) retreated to the Great Hall for Ken

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Dewey’s Neiman Marcus runway show. Preceding it, DIA director Salvador Salort-Pons praised Neiman Marcus’ “moving exhibition” and announced that the Egyptian Galleries would be renamed in honor of the Founders Junior Council’s $1million pledge. FJC president Amy Zimmer noted its mission – to give, connect and inspire a lifelong love of the DIA. Co-chair Carol Ziecik saluted the honorary chairs and cochair Calvin Ford thanked the sponsors. The eclectic show of 54 different men’s and women’s designer looks was captivating. Then more than 400 Lincoln After Party ticket holders ($120, $150-non-members) joined the party in the Kresge Court, Loggia Courtyard, Prentis Court, DIA Café and Romanesque. All savored Forte Belanger’s late night bites. Fash Bash 2016 netted over $225,000.

GiveYoung Sip reception Know Advertising hosted a wine tasting on the tented front terrace at Bill’s and a capacity crowd (40) attended. Guests, young professionals who have indicated interest in the Van House Foundation’s GiveYoung organization and its mission to educate the next generation of philanthropists, were greeted by foundation co-founders Rick and Nicole Van House. Most began the cocktail hour event with a glass of bubbly and conversation. A savory buffet offered choices to pair with the California reds, whites and a dry French rosé poured by manager Lea Schoenfield and her crew. The low key al fresco event raised about $5,000 and whetted appetites for the fall event. Go to GiveYoung.org to get on the invitation list.

A Night for Sight/Alliance The 15th annual Alliance for Vision Research benefit wine auction attracted 180 people to the Townsend Hotel. Before dinner they savored a variety of wines and bid $30,000 in the silent auction of 30 lots. Then Alliance board chair Dr. Luisa DiLorenza honored event co-founder Dr. Paul Fecko with the Champion of Vision award and a Shinola watch. The dinner featured wines from the Honorary Vintner, the highly acclaimed Amuse Bouche Napa Valley winery and cuisine by Chef Bruno Cingolani from Ristorante Dulcis Vitis in Alba, Italy. Among other dishes he prepared a risotto with spring vegetables and pistils of saffron flown in from Alba especially for the occasion. Gary Mach garnered $100,000 for 25 live auction items, downtownpublications.com

Angels Place Golf & Tennis Classic

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1. Pete (left) & Cathy Treboldi of Troy, Mary & Dule Scarfano of Birmingham. 2. Kathy Frasco (left) of Birmingham, Val Conway of Bingham Farms, Mary Letscher of Bloomfield, Julie Rownd of Beverly Hills. 3. Keith (left) & Mary Beth MacGuidwin of Bloomfield, Sally & Wade Mezey of Birmingham. 4. Ray Lopez of Birmingham, Cheryl Loveday of Pontiac. 5. Betty & Terry Desmond of Bloomfield.

Founders Junior Council FASH BASH

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1. Calvin (left) & Sarah Ford of Birmingham, Amy Zimmer of Bloomfield.

2. Piper Salort-Pons and Alex May of Detroit, Mike & Carol Ziecik of Bloomfield. 3. Dr. Dan & Janet Haddad of Bloomfield. 4. Tony (left) & Tiffany Saunders of Detroit, Linda & John Lessway of Birmingham.

5. Courtney Gasper (left) and Denise Victor of Bloomfield, Heather Victor of Birmingham. 6. Sarah & Calvin Ford of Birmingham. 7. Annie (left) & Bruce Margulis, Sr. of Bloomfield, Bruce Margulis, Jr. and Jill Horning of Royal Oak.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK including $9,500 for a luxury Napa trip. The following night, 40 high level ANFS donors relished a wine dinner

by Chef Paul Grosz at The Stand featuring wines from the cellars of several past honorary vintners.

GiveYoung Sip reception

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2 1. Jim Hattar (left) of Birmingham, Scott Hankins of Royal Oak. 2. Katke Klow (left) and Emily Fitch of Birmingham, Kristine Howe of Rochester.

3. Maria Roberts (left) and GiveYoung co-founder Nicole Van House of Bloomfield.

4. Loni Wildern (left) and Katie Leibhan of Birmingham.

5. GiveYoung co-founder Rick Van House (left) of Bloomfield, Sarah and Nancy Farnam of Rochester Hills.

ORT’s Rub-a-Dub The academic theme for the 41st annual Rub-A-Dub fundraiser at Franklin Hills Country Club was not only appropriate for ORT’s educational mission, but seeing the high school yearbook photos of committee members was fun as well.

Newly installed World ORT president Dr. Conrad Giles’ remarks to the 100 gathered at the VIP reception also had the tone of a passionate professor of philanthropy. “Everybody who works with ORT stands on the shoulders of (the late) David Hermelin...Here in Detroit we do (philanthropy) better than any other city in the US...Tonight we have impacted something truly important,” he said. Another 350 ORT supporters arrived and bid $61,650 in the silent auction and spent $42,000 on raffle tickets before convening on the tented terrace. ORT students from Israel talked briefly about their lives there before Brian Hermelin persuaded bids of $70,000 on live auction items. This included the $15,000 Linden Nelson paid to help judge the 2017 Robb Report Car of the Year in Napa Valley. Brian also garnered $55,000 in donations for computer labs at an ORT youth village in Israel. Thanks also to ad book sales and generous sponsors, the popular summer soiree raised more than $495,600.

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A Night for Sight/Alliance

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3 1 1. Dr. Luisa DiLorenzo (left) of Birmingham, Dr. Paul Fecko of Bloomfield. 2. Dr. Les (left) & Ellen Siegel and Leigh & Jeffrey Moss of Bloomfield. 3. Dan Glisky (left), Michael Berger of W. Bloomfield, Larry McLaughlin of Bloomfield. 4. Nickole Black (left) of Troy, Lena Simon of W. Bloomfield, Dr. Dianne Schlachter of Birmingham, Dr. Evan Black of Troy.

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ALS Red and White Luncheon Thirty people, many of them caregivers, attended the second annual summer luncheon hosted by the Red & White Auxiliary Club of the ALS Association Michigan Chapter at the Troy Community Center. Chapter CEO Paula Morning introduced new Care Services director Randy Berd, who shared his six-year journey through Lou Gehrig’s disease with his older brother, and spoke determinedly about the need to find a cure. Kristen Munyan related a similar saga.

Peggy Fenwick, a marketing executive (MarkitStrategies and PR), told of her journey with her best friend Terri since Terri’s ALS diagnosis.

Peggy is using social media to raise money for her friend’s care and to promote ALS events like the Detroit Walk. The ALS Association Michigan Chapter provides service, care and comfort to ALS patients and their families.

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Cruisin’ to Drive Out Hunger The 14th annual Dream Cruise preview party hosted by Westborn Market’s Anusbigian family at their Berkley market attracted nearly 700 supporters ($150 ticket) of Forgotten Harvest’s emergency food programs.

Music by Charles and Gwen Scales accompanied the unexcelled view of the cars cruising Woodward, a silent auction and the endless supply of comestibles. It featured Westborn’s own bountiful appetizer display. Valet parking and comfortable seating at lounges in the tent and at tables on the market terrace added considerable appeal to this event.

Thanks also to generous sponsors, the happening event raised nearly $200,000.

Angels Place Friends & Family Fun Day The annual activity-packed day attracted 300 ($20 tickets) to the Marian High School campus on Aug. 29. For the first time, a Walk, Run & Roll kicked off the action. Also new was Joey and Tammy Jonna’s Challenge Zone that offered basketball, football and radar pitch baseball. Other members of cochairs Rhonda Adams and Tom MacLean’s leadership crew included Amy and Mark Carroll, Marta Hoerger and Julia Furtaw and Gabe and Rene Zawaideh. Thanks to sponsors like Mary and Jay Joliat, the day raised more than $41,500 funds for Angels’ Place’s lifetime service to people with developmental disabilities.

Trends for Teens Recognition Cranbrook Kingswood’s Emily Prokop and Marian High School’s Eliana Margherio received another award to go with the Presidential Volunteer Service Award they got last year. On Aug. 30 they were recognized as Youth Volunteers of the Year by Governor Rick Snyder and the Michigan Community Service Foundation at a special ceremony which attracted hundreds to the historic Temple Theatre in Saginaw. They were recognized for starting and growing Trends for Teens.

The teen-led and teen-run organization created and stocks “stores” at which students can shop with “Bonus Bucks” they earn when they achieve goals they have set with the help of counselors. By setting goals and working hard to achieve them, teens build selfesteem and learn skills that will last them a lifetime. Since its inception, Trends for Teens has helped more than 500 teenagers achieve more than 1,000 goals. During the past year alone, Eliana and Emily have redistributed more than $20,000 worth of clothing. In all, 30, statewide awards were presented at the ceremony.

downtownpublications.com

ORT’s Rub-a-Dub

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5 1. Drs. Conrad & Lynda Giles of Bloomfield. 2. Doreen Hermelin (left) of Bingham Farms, Joel Jacob of W. Bloomfield, Andi Wolfe of Bloomfield. 3. Dorothy & Hershel Sandberg of Bloomfield. 4. Robbie & Scott Sherman of Bloomfield.

5. Rabbi Harold & Susan Loss, Matt Ran and Rhonda Ran of Bloomfield. 6. Carole & Dr. Larry Miller of Bloomfield.

7. Allie Sherman (left), Anna Rogers and Christine Colman of Birmingham.

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Cruisin’ to Drive Out Hunger

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1. Mark & Donna Anusbigian of Birmingham. 2. Michele & Michael Buscaino of Birmingham. 3. George (left), Anthony, Annrae and Gabriella Anusbigian of Grosse Pointe.

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SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK Art in the Garden

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1. Hayden (left) and Dan Buckfire of Bloomfield, Yiannis & Pat Karimalis of Novi. 2. Arlene Haber (left) and Diane Morgan of Bloomfield. 3. Liana Karadionus (left) of Livonia, Christina Hopipis of Bloomfield. 4. Michael Hermanoff of Bingham Farms, Judy Comer of Bloomfield. 5. Norm & Harriet Rotter of Bingham Farms.

6. Gayle Bittega of Berkley, Beth Groesbeck of Birmingham.

7. Rick (left) & Linda Weinerman of W. Bloomfield, Patti FinneganSharf of Bloomfield.

Arts du Jour A week before the 19th annual Ford Arts, Beats & Eats festival brought hordes to Royal Oak, 850 people ($75, $125-VIP ticket holders plus sponsors) attended the preview party dubbed Arts du Jour. Here’s betting event pioneer, the late John Bloom of Fanclub Foundation for the Arts, was smiling broadly to see such a large crowd.

They ambled all around the Barbara A. Hallmann Memorial Plaza, sampled fare from 38 food purveyors and viewed the work of four artists as four different musicians alternated on the stages. Their nearly $50,000 also benefited Rose Hill Center, Habitat for Humanity Oakland, Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland and Macomb Counties, and Duschenne muscular dystrophy research via Team Joseph.

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Arts du Jour

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1. William Glenn (left) & Merideth Williams of Farmington Hills, Rosemary Kelly of Bloomfield. 2. Sheila Hess (left) of Flushing, Jan Eccles of Troy, Ned MacDonald of Grand Blanc, Ben Robinson of Rochester Hills. 3. Mary St. Clair (left) of Troy, Angela Links of Birmingham and Dailey, future Leader Dog. 4. Dan Kelly (left) of Bloomfield, Janeen Moskal of Holly, Peggy Pentecost of Royal Oak. 5. Gayle Flannigan (left) of Rochester, David Wiegmann and Erin Lloyd of Royal Oak. 6. Susie (standing left) & Fred Phillips of Bloomfield, Betty Biallas (seated left) of Cape Coral, FL, Darlene Jacobs of Wyandotte, Jim Hanna of Madison Heights.

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Art in the Garden A summer highlight for many of the 200 people ($50 ticket) who attended Lori haber Buckfire Foundation Art in the Garden was surely this late afternoon party graciously hosted by Yiannis and Pat Karimalis at their Novi home. It was a benefit for the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center’s Planet Lori Art Camp, an experience designed for children with loved ones touched by cancer. In addition to the hosts’ generous hospitality, guests relished wine and appetizers, strolling the splendid, extensive gardens that include a chicken coop and, most especially, viewing Yiannis’ art. The legendary “hairdresser to the stars,” Yiannis is a self-taught artist with an appealing sense of emotion and color and a reputation as a Renaissance Man. Guests, including many loyal Yiannis salon clients, gathered inside the artfilled, eclectic great room for a friendly program emceed

by Lila Lazarus, also a Yiannis customer. It featured a mini live art auction and upbeat appeals by HG TV star Hilary Farr, a long time friend of Lila’s (by way of Art Van Furniture events), and the late Lori Haber Buckfire’s husband and mother. They spoke of Lori’s love of children and art and the foundation they formed to memorialize those passions following her five-year ovarian cancer battle. At day’s end a sudden, brief rain storm dampened no spirits as the garden party raised more than $11,000 for Planet Lori Art Camp.

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Circumnavigator’s Summer Safari Since its founding in 1902 to promote global fellowship and understanding, the Circumnavigator club is open to all who have traveled around the world. For several years, Lee and Floy Barthel have hosted a Summer Safari for members and their guests at their 160-acre spread in Farmington Hills. This year’s Hawaiian Luau theme prompted colorful leis, shirts and Hawaiian music. But it took a back seat to the 100th anniversary of the property, which Floy’s father bought from Ralph Polk for $1,000 per acre in 1945. The horse stalls in the centennial barn now house Barthel’s vintage car collection. A display of historical photos and Barthel’s extensive collection of outdoor art also intrigued guests. Safari proceeds benefit the Circumnavigator foundation which funds travel study for college students.

Camp Casey’s Gold Rush Gala To recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness month, many of the 200 guests ($75 ticket) attending the Camp Casey benefit at the Roostertail followed the invitation suggestion to “wear gold.” The scene was indeed sparkling and Abby Hubbard’s committee had planned lots of diversions. These included an hors d’oeuvres buffet, silent auction ($6,250), a raffle, a wine pull ($626),

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a Sweet Rush dessert sale ($700) and a cash vote ($540) for one’s favorite musician from the evening’s line up.

This included Drew Machak, Trevor Thomas and Jimmy Atto. Emcee 93.9 FM The River’s Greg Gnyp introduced the program that was notable for the video showing scenes from Camp Casey’s horseback riding and camp programs for children with cancer and their families and for remarks by Northwestern Mutual’s Drew Besonson, Camp Casey founder/executive director Molly Reeser and Nathan Foote. It was Nathan’s young daughter Casey’s cancer battle which inspired Molly to found the program in 2004 when she was at MSU. “Camp Casey has now been around one year longer than Casey lived,” noted her father. He added how campers were guarded when they arrived at camp, but when they left they were skipping. You have changed their lives. I believe God is in this,” he concluded. Golden Horseshoe Awards were presented to event presenting sponsor Northwestern Mutual, Julie Lanivich and her horse Blaithin, Andrea Karlik, Mac’s Tire & Auto Repair, Washington Township Pet Supplies Plus, the Robert F. Beard Charitable Foundation and Green Sky Creative, which donated the crowd funding video that helped raise $70,000 for a new truck and trailer. The golden evening raised $25,000 for Camp Casey’s healing equestrienne programs.

Preservation Bloomfield Corn Roast The seventh annual harvest time social chaired by Patti Jessup attracted 120 Preservation Bloomfield supporters ($25-adult, $5-children under 12, free-under 2) to the Bowers Farm grounds around the historic Barton Farmhouse and Craig Log Cabin. They could choose from many activities like tractor and pony rides, face and rock painting, a cakewalk, a silent auction with a Guessing Jar, a vegetable farm stand and tours of the Craig Log Cabin and Barton Farmhouse. As Celtic music

by Tartanius Flynn and The Survivors wafted down from the gazebo, people also visited and relished picnic fare like roasted corn, burgers and hot dogs by Hoops, ice cream and cookies baked by the BHS kitchens. The old fashioned event raised more than $6,000. Cynthia VonOeyen is the president of the Friends of Preservation Bloomfield which welcomes new members interested in community, history, antiques and arts. Their signature event, the Gingerbread Brunch, is planned for Friday, Nov. 18 at the Townsend Hotel.

Bates Street Block Party The predicted rain prompted some ticket holders ($25/$30; $5-children under 5; free-under 3) to bring umbrellas to the annual street fair on Sept. 10, but the sprinkles impacted the scene only slightly. All the kids activities (music by award-winning Kindermusik teacher Margaret Matthes, face painting, balloon sculpture and trail mix making) had audiences. Singer Steve Flagg was making mellow music on the Van Dusen Terrace and a steady flow of fans visited the 30 vendors offering everything Michigan from A (Achatz Handmade Pie Company) to Z (Zim’s vodka). The latter was mixing up their own version of a Moscow Mule, which they call a Polish Eagle, using a splash of Vernor’s Ginger Ale for the ginger. Proceeds from the al fresco strolling food fest will fund children’s outreach programs at The Community House.

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

Camp Casey’s Gold Rush Gala

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1. Judie Sherman (left) of Bloomfield, Nick and Molly Melamed Reeser of Ferndale. 2. Andrea Karlik of Rochester. 3. Drew Machak of Bloomfield, Caroline Krieger-Cohen and Jason Cohen of Farmington Hills. 4. Nancy Hodari of Bloomfield, Tom Schoenith of Grosse Pointe. 5. Katie & Michael Patterson of Birmingham. 6. Bonnie Jobe (left) and Larry Walsh of Bloomfield, Diane Schoenith of Grosse Pointe.

Preservation Bloomfield Corn Roast

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1. Jan Roncelli (left), Michael Dul and Patti Jessup of Bloomfield. 2. Meredith (left), Nora and Thomas Blezak of Bloomfield. 3. Ava Kalaj (left) of Birmingham, Serena Seneker and Kathryn Torok of Bloomfield. 4. Elizabeth and Joshua Rauth of Bloomfield. 5. Christina Blackwell (left) and John Marshall of Bloomfield, Gene Meadows of Royal Oak.

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Bates Street Block Party

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1. Andy Stevens of Waterford, Carol Marshall of Bloomfield.

2. Michelle & Glenn Williamson of Rochester Hills. 3. Dan Quick (left) and Patricia Mooradian of Bloomfield, DeAngello Espree of Birmingham. 4. Steve Flagg of Rochester. 5. Andy Roisman (left) of Beverly Hills, Michele Rhodes of Dearborn Heights, Jeff Imerman of Birmingham, Jane Imerman of Bloomfield.

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ENDNOTE

Our endorsements for November election

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n Tuesday, November 8, Oakland County voters are being asked to decide who will represent them in the U.S. House, the Michigan House of Representatives, county government, and on the Rochester school board. All voters will be asked to decide the fate of a regional mass transit millage. We have posted all of the candidate questions and responses on our website, downtowpublications.com, to help voters make their determinations at the polls and via absentee ballots.

Representative in Congress 8th District – Two-year term Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township As often happens with a first-term congressman, incumbent Republican MIKE BISHOP has not done a lot in the last 1.5 years to distinguish himself in Washington D.C. His answers to our questionnaire didn't help – they were primarily standard Republican talking points and dogma, often evasive and not to the point.

But elections are about who would be the most qualified to represent a district, and Bishop has a strong and lengthy history of service to the community, beginning as a state representative in Lansing, and then as a state senator, where he was Majority Leader. His current opponent is a fill-in candidate for a Hollywood actress who dropped out, and does not bring any experience to the table, Bishop continues as the better choice for voters in the 8th District, and should be returned to office.

State Legislature – Michigan House 40th District – Two-year term Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills This district has been well-represented by two-term Rep. MIKE MCCREADY (R), who has been an effective leader, and he has built strong relationships in the legislature. McCready has been very focused on education, working with local superintendents and not lobbyists, and has worked hard on the Detroit Public Schools crisis. On most issues, we find he is in sync with his communities, whether on regional transit, medical marijuana guidelines and ordinances, mandatory water testing in schools, and other issues.

We’ve also been pleased to see him break ranks with the Republican party when necessary to better represent the people of the community. Independence is a good sign of leadership.

45th District – Two-year term Rochester, Rochester Hills, Oakland Township As a first-time representative in Michigan's legislature, MICHAEL WEBBER (R) successfully made the transition from long-time Rochester Hills city councilman to a state lawmaker, quite a different task.

We are assuming he will develop more independence on issues as time goes on, in order to better represent his district, especially on critical issues facing his constituents and residents of the state of Michigan, including the need to require, and reimburse, schools to test water. We were very please at his support and sponsorship of legislation to extend transparency laws to the legislation and the governor's office, and we look forward to Webber's growth and leadership to continue.

OAKLAND COUNTY County Executive/Four-year term In another year, Democrat Vicki Barnett, former Farmington Hills mayor and state representative, would have been the logical, and progressive, choice to lead

Oakland County in the 21st century. But it is hard to quibble with the 24 years of unprecedented success and economic growth the county has enjoyed under the leadership of Republican L. BROOKS PATTERSON and the team he has assembled. While we do not always agree with the decisions he makes, and definitely wish he were more filtered in his commentary, it is impossible to dispute the excellent work he has done for Oakland County, and encourage voters to allow him to complete his vision. As he has announced this is his last run, both parties would be wise to be preparing for the 2020 election, and developing qualified candidates.

We’d put Barnett up there. Just not yet.

County Prosecutor/Four-year term Current prosecutor JESSICA COOPER (D) likens the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office to one of the largest law firms in Oakland County, with her as the CEO. We agree with her take on the position, which is a supervisory management position, not an active prosecutor. Cooper’s breadth of experience, which includes her eight years as county prosecutor, coupled with decades on the bench, first as district court judge, then circuit court judge, and Michigan Court of Appeals judge, provides her with the ability, as well as the jurisprudence, to oversee the prosecution of 20,000 cases a year. Two issues that were raised by her opponent, a skilled prosecutor, include questions about training of young prosecutors, which may or may not be valid, and that she does not personally prosecute cases. We agree with Cooper that the job is about overall management, and not showboating in the courtroom.

County Sheriff/Four-year term Since MICHAEL BOUCHARD (R) was first appointed Oakland County sheriff in 1999, he has done a very professional job of both managing a department of 1,300 members with 11 community substations, and numerous patrol units and law enforcement teams, as well as staying ahead of the curve in recognizing what is needed for county sheriffs. He operates on the national stage in law enforcement – as a member of the National Sheriff’s Association, vice president of government affairs of Major County Sheriff’s Association of America, a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force – which leaves all of us better protected and equipped with Homeland Security.

However, we do disagree with some of his efforts, including his zeal in targeting medical marijuana dispensaries. His opponent is unqualified in any respect to be running a police department.

Clerk/Register of Deeds/Four-year term This was probably our toughest endorsement, one we spent countless hours debating, because both candidates are qualified to do the job – and have; Democrat Lisa Brown, for 3.5 years, 2012-present, and Republican Bill Bullard for two years, from 2010-2012 when he lost to Brown. Both bring a background of government service in other elected offices. Both have made electronic improvements to the office as far as managing and retaining records. Both have proven they can run elections. All things considered, however, we are throwing our support in this race to Democrat LISA BROWN, who now holds the position. Local municipal clerks tell us she does a good job on elections, and on the register of deeds portion of the job, we trust Brown will continue to push for further electronic improvements in her next term. No need for a change in this office.

County Treasurer/Four-year term We are impressed with how well Democratic incumbent ANDY MEISNER is doing with the position, where he is proving to be a strong treasurer. Besides being a financial manager, he has been an innovator in the position, creating the Foreclosure Prevention Initiative to fight all foreclosure in Oakland County, helping thousands to save their homes – and generate $78 million in revenue. His investment philosophy is conservative but transparent, following the county’s dictum of safety, liquidity and return in order of importance. Focusing on safety first, he expanded the county’s investment policy to include county credit unions and community banks, which lent to families and small businesses during the Great Recession while bigger banks didn’t. Nice move, and just one more reason to not make a change in this position.

Water Resources Commissioner/Four-year term We recommend JIM NASH (D), an avowed environmentalist, in order to allow him to continue his department’s work to prevent the spread of invasive species, stormwater pollution, and oil drilling near our local waters and around water well aquifers. He is spending valuable time working with communities across the county and the state to develop best practices.

County Commission/Two-year term District 15 Rochester, Rochester Hills While recently appointed to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, Republican ADAM KOCHENDERFER spent several years as a city councilman for the city of Rochester Hills, as well as a Green Space Advisory board member. He understands the community, and his positions so far, notably on regional transit and school water testing, among other issues, are correct for the district, and he deserves to be returned to commission.

Rochester Community Schools Board of Education MICHELLE BUELTEL, running to fill a partial term ending December 31, 2018, has a background of community involvement as well as a long history of participation with both the Rochester school district and the Oakland Intermediate School district. She has worked on a legislative task force, chaired numerous committees, including presiding over STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math). Bueltel has an understanding of the funding conundrum local school districts currently face, which will be an asset as a board member.

Regional Mass Transit Tax Voters in Oakland, as well as Macomb, Wayne and Washtenaw counties, will be asked to decide the fate of a regional mass transit tax of 1.2 mills for 20 years to develop bus rapid transit and commuter rail to be developed over the life of the millage. If three of the four counties approve the tax, then it will be binding on all counties. This tax will be in addition to the current SMART(Suburban Mobile Authority for Regional Transportation) tax paid in some communities.

While we support the concept of mass transit, we can’t support this proposal as now presented. As we have said before, this is really a plan for a plan – one that has too many details to be worked out Vote NO and let officials bring the plan back once all details have been finalized. That is how good government should work.

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