The Paper - March 2010

WOMENS CONTEMPORARY BOUTIQUE

F

ine tuning her craft designing for Luciano

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In juxtaposition to the soft draping she shows her extraordinary skill for tailoring in her jackets and coats.

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Almost 27,000 sq. ft. of recreational living including pool and sports court. Sophisticated owners suite wing. $5,700,000

Walking distance to Cranbrook Educational Community. Newer construction on estate sized grounds. Open floor plan for ease of entertaining. $2,499,000

Adjacent to Cranbrook Educational Community. Newer construction.

Bedroom suites, gracious floor plan.

7 fireplaces, 4 car garage. Finished lower level. $1,995,000

Lou DesRosier ranch-style contemporary with walkout lower level. A visual masterpiece. Water views from every room. An entertainer’s dream. $1,900,000

With sunset views and sprawling lakefront lot leading to sandy beach.

Lower level recreation room. Newer construction. West Bloomfield schools. $1,699,000

Designed to replicate the 1920’s.

Meticulous precision details. Open floor plan. Sophisticated master suite.

Finished recreation room with bedroom and bath. $1,435,000

Pine Lake Lakefront

Quarton Lake Landmark Home

Newer Construction on Lakefront Setting

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Bloomfield Township Newer Construction

All-Sports Upper Straits Lakefront

In the Interlaken community. Almost 3/4 acre site with 100 ft. of lakefront.

Expansive views of lake. Adjacent to Pine Lake Country Club. Bloomfield $1,397,000 Hills schools.

New on market situated on an almost double lot. Classic design with contemporary conveniences. Kitchen opens to family room. Three car garage. $1,285,000

6,000 sq. ft. on almost one acre in renowned Pine Creek Ridge. First floor master suite. Finished walkout lower level. Extensive amenities. $1,199,999

Walking distance to Andover High School. Over 9,000 sq. ft. of living with walkout. Four car garage. Upper Long Lake outlot access. $1,190,000

With 5 bedrooms and baths.

Finished lower level with theater, craft and recreation room. 3 car garage. Bloomfield schools. $1,095,000

With fully finished walkout lower level. Situated in the City of Orchard Lake. Private dead end street location with southern views. $999,000

Union Lake Contemporary Masterpiece

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Designed by award winning AZD this spectacular lakefront property was created to redefine architecture in Michigan. Over 5,000 sq. ft. of living.

Three plus car garage. $939,000

On almost 2 acres. Completely remodeled in 2005. Elegant yet incorporating today’s contemporary conveniences. Five plus car garage. $925,000

Never on market. Condo alternative living. Partial furnished. Completely updated. Finished lower level. 4 car garage. One plus acre. $795,000

Custom designed newer construction.

Gourmet granite kitchen. Master suite wing. Finished lower level with 2nd kitchen. Three car garage. $725,000

With boat docking and swimming on Dow Ridge. Situated on almost 2 acres. 5 car garage plus work space for collector and boats. $699,999

Newer Arts and Crafts design with open floor plan. Private setting with tranquil views. 3 car garage.

Bloomfield Hills schools. $649,000

LD O S Franklin Park-Like 1.2 Acre Setting

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Completely remodeled with Designer kitchen opening to living areas.

Finished lower level. Three car garage. Walk to Cider Mill. $635,000

Parcel that is a perfect opportunity to build your dream estate. Rolling topography. Water at street and sewer up Maple Road. Birmingham schools. $575,000

Located on cul-de-sac setting and private grounds. Euro kitchen.

Library. Master suite with walk-in closet. Design by Jeffrey King. $564,999

Detached condo, end unit. Open floor plan and soft contemporary flair.

Sleek kitchen with eat-in. First floor master suite. $499,000

New Construction in Royal Oak

Bloomfield Hills Buildable Site

Gourmet kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel appliances. Master suite with Euro bath and walk-in closet. Professionally landscaped with privacy fence. $320,000

New on market. Close to Forest Lake Country Club and thoroughfares. A stunning, private elevation.

Bloomfield Hills schools. $295,000

K A T H Y BROOCK BALLARD West Bloomfield Ranch-Style Home

City of Bloomfield Hills

This one and a half story is located on private setting with many capital improvements. Open floor plan.

Private natural setting. $449,000

Rare ranch-style detached condo.

Large kitchen with deck. Living room with fireplace. Dining room. Library.

Finished walkout lower level. $449,000

Sprawling Ranch

Royal Oak Charmer

Bloomfield Hills Colonial

End Unit with Newer Kitchen

Situated on over 1 acre wooded lot.

Remodel includes kitchen/family addition with 3 car garage. Bloomfield Hills schools. $290,000

Designer updates thru-out. Gourmet kitchen opens to living spaces. Three bedrooms and office. Quiet street adjacent to park and walk to town.

Lease $1,600/mo. $229,000

Situated on large corner lot. Large rooms and open floor plan for entertaining.

Bloomfield Hills schools. $225,000

Opens to step down family room, three bedrooms, formal dining room and living room. Finished lower level.

Two car attached garage. $129,000

248.318.4504 KATHY@MAXBROOCKHOMES.COM MAX BROOCK REALTORS 275 S. Old Woodward Ave. Birmingham, MI 48009

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■ inside / march ■ 10: MAIL BAG Chuck Adams, Margaret Betts, Steve Coval, Christopher Schneider, Richard Grinstein

■ 13: CRIME MAP A locator guide to specific categories of crime in the local area

■ SNAPSHOTS ■ 23 Bernie Smilovitz ■ 47 Stephanie K

■ 31 Nanci Grant ■ 61 Henry Baskin

■ 39: MUNICIPAL

■ 15

Cable lawsuit settled; Village Fair moving; new library director; Fox and Hounds site development; Bloomfield Hills senior housing; petition against gas station expansion; candidates in Bloomfield Hills; debate over 9/11 memorial

BIRMINGHAM'S 2016 PLAN

■ 45: EDUCATION

With the city at a crossroads in 1996, a vision for the future of Birmingham was developed — and for the most part followed.

Birmingham district considers closing buildings; search continues for Bloomfield Hills superintendent

■ 62: BUSINESS NOTES Laurie Tennent Studio; Biggby Coffee; Sachse Construction; Ribbons; Kilwin's; Ligne Roset; Zoom Artistic Photography;Great Harvest Bread Company; Festivities; Paramount Bank; Mr. Pita; Uptown Deli

■ 63: EATING OUT Our directory of places where you can dine out in Birmingham Bloomfield; Main Course (Big Rock Chop House) and Quick Bites from the restaurant scene with Eleanor Heald; Focus on Wine with Eleanor and Ray Heald

■ 67: THE COMMUNITY HOUSE Shelley Roberts, President and CEO of The Community House, on new board members for this local institution

■ 70: SOCIAL LIGHTS/SALLY GERAK The latest from the society and non-profit circuit

■ 78: FINAL WORD Our opinion on the 2016 plan for Birmingham and the proposed 9/11 public memorial

■ OUR COVER

■ 24: TRUANCY IN THE SCHOOLS

■ 33: PRESERVING OUR HISTORY

■ 64: BIG ROCK CHOP HOUSE

How attendance problems are handled in the county and by the local school districts.

Two societies and hundreds of volunteers work to make sure that the past is not forgotten or lost as time moves forward.

Executive chef Brian Henson in the kitchen at Norm LePage's Big Rock Chop House, where a broader culinary brush stroke prevails.

6

THE PAPER

A scene from downtown Birmimgham at Old Woodward and Maple.

Cover art by Chris Grammer, from photo

by Amy K. Lockhard.

www.oaklandpaper.com

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www.drvasileff.com THE PAPER

Men’s and Women’s Alterations Available MARCH 2010

■ from the publisher

PAPER

W

e have now developed a new dimension for The Paper – the ability to receive a mobile phone version of the news posted to our website – oaklandpaper.com.

For those who rely more on their smart phones, you can go to oaklandpaper.com/mobile and you will be able to receive an optimized version of our web content on your phone. There is no special sign up or registration for our mobile news offering.

As a quick review of how our news department handles coverage of issues in the Birmingham-Bloomfield area, we produce the print version of The Paper on a monthly basis.

But each week, and sometimes more frequently, we update our website with more current news stories. The reporters and editors continue each day to gather news of importance from the local area and at least once each week, on Friday mornings, we update our website at oaklandpaper.com. The updates include the latest municipal and school coverage, along with major public safety news and other items that develop during the week.

We also update the website on Monday mornings with the latest society reporting from Sally Gerak, which at the end of each month appears in our print edition of The Paper.

On both the Friday and Monday website updates, you can actually sign up for an e-mail alert at oaklandpaper.com and you will be notified you when we have updated the site.

Of course, there are also other features appearing on the website that do not necessarily appear in our print edition.

Our new mobile phone offering is directed at those who just want to go directly to the news content from our website via their smart phones. So if you direct your phone to oaklandpaper.com/mobile, you will get the categories of news appearing on our website with the content optimized for a smart phone. Likewise, you can also access our restaurant directory and from your smart phone map out locations of restaurants. Further, if you are on the road and decide to use our restaurant directory, once you have found a restaurant you want to frequent, we have made it easy for you to phone the restaurant right from oaklandpaper.com/mobile.

We think we have designed a good mobile offering for The Paper, and it adds one more dimension to our news coverage for the Birmingham-Bloomfield area.

PUBLISHER / PRESIDENT: James W. Fancy PUBLISHER / VICE PRESIDENT: David P. Hohendorf Administrative Assistant: Carol Barr NEWS EDITOR: Tim Dmoch Staff Writers Lisa Brody, Sally Gerak, Brooke Meier, Leslie Owsley, Michael Shelton Contributing Writers: Eleanor Heald, Ray Heald, Kathleen Meisner, Mike Scott, Mark Stowers Research/Listings Assistant: Cynthia Stawick Staff Photographer: Amy K. Lockard Sales Representatives Jill Cesarz, Dan Neumaier, Jules Pickard, Linda Stickney, Laurie Wasker Sales Assistants Jessica Holstein INSIDE SALES MANAGER: Lori Snyder Inside Sales Representatives Rhonda Libkuman, Cindy Stawick, Leslie Timko GRAPHICS MANAGER: Chris Grammer Graphics Assistants Denise Jungjohan, Karen Polatka, Marcia Reimer Systems Manager: Chris Grammer CIRCULATION MANAGER: Dennis Boggs Circulation Assistant: Dan Griffin ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE MANAGER: Carol Barr Supervisor: Carolyn Petherbridge Accounts Receivable: Mable McCullough MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 14, Union Lake, MI 48387-0014 OFFICE ADDRESS: 7196 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, MI 48327-4113 TELEPHONE: 248.360.6397 • 248.360.7355 OFFICE HOURS: Monday thru Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

______________________________ For those in Bloomfield Township who are following the outcome of the millage election on Tuesday, Feb. 23, this issue of The Paper went to press prior to the polls closing.

So if you are looking for millage election results, we are posting the outcome of this vote on our website – oaklandpaper.com – the morning following the election.

We suspect the outcome of this election will be followed far outside the Bloomfield Township area due to the fact that all Michigan municipalities are feeling the budgetary challenges brought on by the general economy, the declining property values and resulting decline in tax revenues.

DISTRIBUTION: The Paper is mailed free of charge to over 29,000 homes in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills just before the start of each month. Additional free copies are available at newsstand locations.

Paid subscriptions are available for $15.00 per year by phoning our distribution department at 248.360.6397.

David Hohendorf Publisher davidhohendorf@thescngroup.com SPINAL COLUMN NEWSWEEKLY THE PAPER OAKLAND LAKEFRONT OAKLAND HOMES MONTHLYADVERTISER WEST OAKLAND DIRECTORY 50th YEAR OF PUBLICATION

www.oaklandpaper.com

■ mail bag City parking situation From Steve Coval, Birmingham: I read your article on the parking in Birmingham (“Parking: The ins and outs of the meters, structures in downtown Birmingham,” February 2010 Paper).

What you did not mention is the fact that the parking situation in this city is it’s biggest deterrent to retail.

The city managers and elected officials have their heads in the sand.

This city doesn’t recognize that it competes with the mall where there is valet, free covered parking adjacent to the mall and large lots.

People hate the structures and won’t park there. Their continued story of there is X-number of parking spots is meaningless. Most people refuse to park there. There are multiple solutions; however, they refuse to acknowledge these.

Take a look at the vacancies in this town. Few come here and there are more and more reasons not to, as there are fewer and fewer stores.

In the North Old Woodward structure on any Saturday or anytime after 5 p.m., only the first floor is partially full. Until the city recognizes that it must compete with the mall, nothing will improve.

Now I read they want to rip up Old Woodward for a year or two (this will take the 40 percent retail vacancy and make it 80 percent).

The money they are seeking should be used to improve parking, i.e. valet stations at each corner, or at a minimum at the entrance to the structures. ■

three cities with the highest black populations are singled out.

The writer then blames crime and lower property values in your readership area on these “wrong people.” My questions are: Is this a widely held view in this area?

Is this the view of this newspaper?

I am surprised you would run a letter from an anonymous writer — most newspapers would never do that without an ulterior motive. In my view it’s a racist hate letter with no merit and faulty logic.

What’s your view, The Paper? ■

Anonymous redneck From Margaret Betts, Birmingham: Dear “Transit brings crime; Name withheld upon request” person (February 2010 Mail Bag section), If I were such a redneck, I wouldn’t want anyone to know my name either. ■

Teen pregnancies Name withheld upon request: Thank you for such a thorough and well researched piece (“Pregnant teenagers: Rates are much lower in Birmingham-Bloomfield,” February 2010 Paper). As a parent, whose daughters went all through Birmingham schools, I must say their experience isn’t portrayed and I certainly understand why.

There is no way the schools

Election coverage The Paper couldn’t hold the presses to include results of Bloomfield Township’s Tuesday, Feb. 23 special election in this print edition. Look for coverage of the operating millage ballot question results on The Paper’s web site at oaklandpaper.com.

We will post election results and comments from township officials by noon on Wednesday, Feb. 24. ■ would know how many girls become pregnant or what they choose to do.

Often their parents don’t know.

I can’t tell you how many of their friends had abortions in the 11thor 12th-grade.

These were the kids who did well in school, participated in athletic and other extra-curricular activities, and were well liked by their teachers and their peers.

I knew a couple who chose to continue their pregnancy and raise their baby; their parents kicked them out.

It’s a secret to everyone but it’s reality and to think otherwise is very naive. ■

Surprised, dismayed From Richard Grinstein, Grinstein Jewelry and Design, Birmingham: I read your editorial comments in

Lost perspective

A racist hate letter

Talk to Birmingham-Bloomfield

From Christopher Schneider, Hamtramck: In response to the anonymous letter about mass transit in your February 2010 edition, it’s plain what the writer really means. In saying that mass transit will bring “the wrong people from Pontiac or Detroit or Southfield,” he or she means African-Americans since the

Your opinions are important so let us know what you think. Mail Bag provides out readers with a forum to express their thoughts on important issues. We reserve the right to edit all letters.

Letters for Mail Bag should be submitted by mid-month to appear in the next issue and must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification. Only the writer’s name and community will be printed.

Letters can be sent via e-mail to news@thescngroup.com, submitted through the website for The Paper (oaklandpaper.com) or by mail to P.O. Box 14, Union Lake, MI 48387. ■

Peter E. Schaffer, D.P.M.

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10

From Chuck Adams, Bloomfield Hills: I read your recent issue (February 2010): To hell with these people who are worried about the connection between sex offenders and the Hunter House. Have they lost perspective on what’s important? I would be far more worried about sex offenders (child molesters). ■

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the latest issue (February 2010) regarding the Hunter House cover of the last issue (January 2010). I had not planned on writing to you regarding your choice to combine the image of the Hunter House with the words “SEX OFFENDERS” on the cover. I assumed, apparently correctly, that many other people would comment on the cover, and would voice opinions similar to mine.

Obviously, other people felt that it was bad judgment to print that cover.

However, when I read your comments, I was somewhat surprised and dismayed to see nothing approaching an apology or admission of error in judgment. For you to say that “it’s regretful if some were confused” does not qualify as the apology that you definitely owe both Susan Cobb and the citizens of Birmingham.

Your choice of words echoes the frequently used phrase “mistakes were made,” instead of “I made a mistake.” Your choice of the dark, ominous imagery with the dramatic font seems to have been a clear and conscious attempt at sensationalism at the cost of both the image of the restaurant and the image of our community.

I think that you owe all of us a real apology. I would suggest saying that you are sorry and used bad judgment, and will try not to do anything so foolish again.

Thanks for listening. ■

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THE PAPER

Napier’s Kennel Shop 33967 Woodward Ave. Birmingham

248-644-0655

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MARCH 2010

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• • • •

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12

• Open Living and Family Room Floor Plans • Private Library • Three Levels of Decks • Screened Porch • Five Zone Heat • Three Car Side Entry Garage • 1.9 Acre Wooded Setting • Bloomfield Hills Schools • Asking: $1,495,000

275 S. Old Woodward Birmingham, MI 48009

THE PAPER

MARCH 2010

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map key

● Sexual Assault ● Assault ■ Robbery ■ Home Invasion ■ Breaking/Entering ■ Larceny ■ Burglary ▲ Vehicle Theft ▲ Vandalism ● Murder ★ Arson ✖ Drug Offenses ✪ Larceny From Vehicle

The latest crime locations by select categories from mid January through mid February, from information provided by the Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, and Bloomfield Township police departments.

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THE PAPER

MARCH 2010

The 2016 plan’s vision of the entrance to downtown Birmingham at Maple and Woodward Avenue

2016

City development plan helping Birmingham at the crossroads

By Lisa Brody

T

he city of Birmingham, in 1996, was at a crossroads. The once charming town had growing pains, not certain if it should grow up and become a sophisticated small city, or to try to recapture its youth as a quaint neighborhood town. The Birmingham City Commission, charged with leading the community, had to decide on a direction for the city: The future was in its hands.

Though first settled in 1818, the community was incorporated as a village in 1864, with a total land area of 1 square mile. Birmingham re-incorporated as a city in 1933. Today, Birmingham has a land mass of 4.8 miles, with a population of 19,291 people, according to the 2000 census.

In 1996, as the City Commission sought to determine the future of Birmingham, members looked at “who” Birmingham had become. The population had become varied, a mix of traditional suburbanites who raised their families in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s; singles, couples, young professionals and empty-nesters seeking a thriving and vibrant urban environment with restaurants and night life; and families looking to establish roots in a city with an entertainment area, parks, and excellent schools.

As the City Commission looked at Birmingham’s changing demographics, there were other issues the community was dealing with, which made the creation of a master plan important.

“Somerset Mall had announced expansion plans, and that was very

threatening to retail in Birmingham at that time,” said Bob Gibbs, president of Gibbs Planning Group, Inc., of Birmingham, a town planning and retail consulting company.

Somerset Collection North opened in August 1996.

At the time, Birmingham had two anchor department stores — Jacobson’s and Crowley’s. Within the next six years, due to factors outside of Birmingham’s control, both would be gone to bankruptcy, leaving holes in the community that remain.

“Department stores are essential for bringing in shoppers. They are usually responsible for bringing in 30 percent of shoppers to a retail area,” Gibbs said.

“In it’s heyday, around 1973, Birmingham had two department stores; a grocery store (at Continental Market); a Cadillac dealership, Wilson Cadillac, where Ethan Allen’s is now; hardware stores; drug stores; and lots of men’s and women’s fashions,” Gibbs said.

The other issue Birmingham was confronting in 1996 was zoning restrictions so severe they stifled growth and development. In 1978, in compliance with relaxation of existing ordinances, the 555 Building was built on South Old Woodward. It towered over Birmingham at 15 stories and caused a backlash, leading to a new zoning ordinance limiting structures to one story, including the basement — meaning that if a structure had to be ➤

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rebuilt, it couldn’t be rebuilt as it was, but with no more than one story, which is a negative growth ordinance. It also wouldn’t permit any new development over one story.

“Development had come to a standstill,” Gibbs said. “It was an overreaction to the 555 Building.”

“The ordinance was very restrictive, and wouldn’t allow any development or growth of the downtown area,” said Victor Saroki of Victor Saroki & Associates Architects in Birmingham.

The City Commission — which at the time consisted of Mayor Eleanor Siewart; Archie Damman, III; Robert DeLaura; Russell Dixon; Dante Lanzetta; Scott Moore (who is still a city commissioner); and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Wooley — reacting to concerns from the city’s citizens, retailers, and commercial office tenants, recognized a change was needed.

“I made a very big point when I got “Freedom of the Human Spirit” elected that Birmingham wouldn’t be the isolationist community it had been portrayed as,” Lanzetta said. “We had had development in fits and starts — developers trying to make a buck any way they could, and residents who wanted to preserve old Birmingham — and did not have a clue.”

Lanzetta led the commission in seeking a way to create a master plan which would help to determine the future of Birmingham — how it should be developed over time, what direction the ordinances should take, how the public spaces should look, how developers and builders could go forward in shaping the city, how to create beautiful streetscapes, where people would park and for how long, how to direct the traffic flow, how to maximize retail, and if or how to develop an entertainment district.

The eventual outcome became known as Downtown Birmingham 2016: A Master Plan for the City of Birmingham, Michigan. It’s a 20-year blueprint of how to create a vibrant, cohesive, strategic plan to develop Birmingham’s central business district from 1996 to 2016.

Today, Birmingham is 14 years into the plan — one which has been closely adhered to at times, and at others, has caused civic friction and backlash.

The Birmingham 2016 plan was presented to the City Commission on Nov. 1, 1996. It was created and prepared by Andres Duany and Elizabeth PlaterZyberk, architects and town planners from Miami, along with Gibbs Planning Group, Inc.; Glatting Jackson Kercher Anlin Lopez Rinehart, a traffic engineering firm; The Green Group, a market research firm; and Mckenna Associates, Inc., community planners and urban designers. However, it’s always been referred to as Duany’s plan.

“Andres Duany considers (the Birmingham 2016 plan) his masterpiece,” Gibbs said.

An article in “The Atlantic” refers to Duany and Plater-Zybick as pioneers in the architectural and urban planning movement referred to as “New Urbanism.”

“It’s a small but influential movement among architects and urban planners (that) proposes to revive 19th century town-planning principles, using denser development and gridded street systems, among other things, as an antidote to suburban sprawl,” the article states.

“I’m a long-term urbanist, and philosophically, my work is aligned with Duany,” said current Birmingham City Commissioner Mark Nickita, who served on the Birmingham Planning Board from 1997 to 2009 and is an urban planner and president of Archive Design Studio in Detroit. “We believe in walkability, the character of streets, buildings, the interaction between public spaces and civic spaces, pedestrian interactibility with vehicle activities, and the way they interact in a downtown. The 2016 plan is very sensitive to that.

“Cities are organic,” he said. “They grow, change, and evolve. They’re not static. It’s how they evolve that planners can direct by recognizing their history and envisioning their future. It’s not to make the city different, just to allow its growth pattern to evolve in a directed way that has been defined as a community.”

Birmingham, as a community, helped determine the provisions of the 2016 plan. According to Gibbs, who brought Duany to Birmingham, they were not originally chosen to create a plan; but Lanzetta, having read extensively on cities, city planning, and what would make a good plan, pushed for Duany.

“I had worked with Duany for five years before then, in Naples, West Palm Beach, and Brown University, and when Birmingham wanted a master plan, I convinced him to come and be interviewed,” Gibbs said. “He didn’t want to interview for it. Usually, he’s just handed jobs. He’s Prince Charles’ main planner.”

“The plan was limited to the central business area, the downtown,” Lanzetta said. “How do you retrofit an existing suburban/urban area to New Urbanism? I strongly pushed for Duany because I had done my homework.”

“Duany felt we had a good town, with good infrastructure, good ➤

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in-town parking, and felt we had many good strengths already,” Saroki said.

“He felt the downtown had to grow to have a 24-hour life cycle. There were five to six neighborhoods around downtown, but no one was living in town, and that was what people wanted. There’s been a national trend, a movement away from suburbia towards cities.

“No one was trying to make it a high-rise city, but a good five-story city, with a good mixture of uses, with residential, retail, and commercial uses,” he said. “Duany was looking to create a master plan to encourage controlled growth — to have good ordinances in place to allow the city to grow with prosperity, diversity, and have residential growth in the downtown area.”

Once Duany was chosen as the creator of a plan for Birmingham, he and Gibbs and others involved in the process spent a week in March 1996 in a charette process to determine what kind of Birmingham was desired. In that one-week period, they met with over 3,000 residents, developers, architects, retailers, zoning officials, and planners, and created a new vision from all of their insights.

“In six days, we brought everyone together and created this brilliant new master plan, with a new Shain Park, housing, an Old Woodward Boulevard, the idea for an entertainment area like the Palladium, slowing speedy streets, outside dining, and the first urban Kroger in the country,” Gibbs said.

One of the most important conversations held with residents and businesses owners involved whether they wanted Birmingham to remain a town or to become a city.

A town has one- and two-story buildings, is a nice place to live, has few downtown residences, no night life, and is more quaint.

A city is more dense and active, has a night life, downtown residential areas, offices, mixed-use buildings, and is more sophisticated.

“Overwhelmingly, residents said they wanted Birmingham to grow from a town to a city,” Gibbs said. “We met a lot of empty-nesters who wanted to move from their suburban homes to a downtown life.”

After having very restrictive, no-growth zoning, developers the planning group interviewed indicated they needed five-story buildings to produce a profit. Architects they spoke with said that Birmingham had been created in a historical Cranbrook/Arts and Crafts English style reflecting the influences of Detroit-area architectural pioneers Eliel Saarinen, Wallace Frost, and George Booth, not a more traditional Victorian style.

“This gave us a brilliant idea,” Gibbs said. “We didn’t change the zoning for one- and two-story buildings (in the downtown area), but offered it as an option. You can build a five-story building if you do it our way, with stone and brick, designed in the traditional format matching the Birmingham/Cranbrook area.”

To develop five-story buildings, the first level would have to be retail, the upper two levels (at least) would have to be residential, and the others could be office/commercial spaces.

This was called the optional overlay plan for the central business district in the 2016 plan. On Jan. 11, 2010, after nearly 14 years of having the overlay as an option for developers and builders, Birmingham’s City Commission unanimously approved a zoning ordinance amendment to the downtown Birmingham overlay district and made the overlay plan mandatory.

Jana Ecker, Birmingham’s planning director, said the Planning Board had been working on the change since March 2003, taking the overlay plan from optional recommendations for the downtown area to mandatory zoning requirements.

The ordinance specifies retail on the first floor of buildings. A building can have a minimum width of 20 feet of retail, but no first-floor parking. The ordinance requires no more than two floors of office space, and requires residential space. Currently, Birmingham buildings can be no more than five floors.

Greenleaf Trust Building It also mandates certain architectural details, such as insuring that the first floor consists of 70 percent windows to increase the walkability of the city. There are other requirements for awnings and materials.

The new ordinance language specifies that if more than 40 percent of an existing building is renovated or needs construction, the new construction rules apply, as is practical.

“The overlay district does allow for higher-density development and more square footage, in exchange for tighter controls and details,” Ecker said.

“Current use is grandfathered in, even if it’s not allowed in the overlay district.”

“The overlay district was meant to be an enticement to get people away from their vested interests,” said former Commissioner Lanzetta. “It was to grant more freedoms, which would work against those trying to preserve a two-story village.”

Nickita said the problem with having both, at this point, is seeing what developers would do. ➤ www.oaklandpaper.com

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“Leaving the overlay in place, we could get a lot of things that aren’t congruent with walkability and the business district, and we may not get the development we want,” he said.

However, Birmingham architect Chris Longe, who worked with developer Ted Fuller to redevelop the former Jacobson’s site on West Maple Road, among others, said, “I take issue with the mandatory overlay. I don’t think that’s a realistic part of the ordinance in good times, or bad. If the ordinance had been around when Jacobson’s was being redone (for McCann Erickson Advertising), it (the building) would be still be vacant. It’s meddling with property rights. What’s the better asset to the city, a renovated office building with 300 people in it, or a vacant building? It should be on a case-by-case basis. You’re asking the developer to empty his pockets, or not do it at all.”

Birmingham City Manager Tom Markus noted, however, “It just makes sense now to have a uniform code.”

Outside dining platform Besides detailing mixed-use development requirements in the downtown area, the 2016 plan laid out a wide variety of ways for Birmingham to become the vibrant city most of its residents desired.

Duany was focused on every relevant aspect of the central business district of Birmingham in his effort to create a multi-functional downtown.

“Every decision should lead to the creation of sophisticated mixed-use public spaces uncontaminated by suburban standards for parking and traffic,” it says in the plan’s introduction.

“Downtown Birmingham is to be a regional traffic destination, but not a traffic conduit,” it continues. “Birmingham, which at this moment straddles the attributes of a village, town, and city, and should not be held to the standards of a village. If Birmingham is to remain the preeminent arts center of the region, then every aspect of its design must be decided in this spirit, and not diminished by legalism, technocratic standards, and/or economic determinism.”

He zeroed in on streetscaping, noting that sidewalks and sidewalk repairs should be consistent, built and repaired to a sand finish according to specifications and standards circa 1940 to 1960. He suggested bench styles and where they should be installed, as well as trash cans, bicycle racks, and newsstands; and suggested lighting and lighting styles for street lamps throughout town. He also recommended consistent signage throughout the city.

In a city of trees, Duany said that some street-side trees were poorly located, blocking some buildings and storefronts. He also noted that some of the trees were dying, and recommended species that would look and work best in the streetscapes.

To unify the downtown area, Duany felt it was important to have an institutional color and municipal furnishings “as an elemental first step in community consciousness.”

One of the first things the Birmingham Planning Board and City Commission did in following adoptions of the 2016 plan was to adopt “Birmingham Green” as the color of Birmingham. It’s a deep evergreen, and conveys richness, elegance, and stability.

Duany felt strongly that Shain Park, located in the center of Birmingham, should be recreated as the city’s center, extending it to encompass Parking Lot No. 7, a surface lot just south of the park.

Shain Park is now in the final stages of its renovation, with only spring landscaping, a children’s playstructure in the northern area of the park, and streetscaping left to be finished.

“I think it (Shain Park) will be the town square,” City Manager Markus said. “It’s going to be a first-rate park.”

The city expanded the park across Merrill Street, putting Marshall Fredericks’ sculpture, “Freedom of the Human Spirit,” in the center of the street. Granite pavers were installed over the concrete, and granite columns topped with granite balls were placed around the sculpture to prevent cars from driving across Merrill. The park was extended over three-quarters of Lot No. 7. A permanent band shell was put in, and the city’s Civil War and World War II memorials were reinstalled in the park, as was a new flagpole.

The park was designed by residents and architect/designers Ron Rea and Chris Longe, and renderings were completed by the Albert Kahn architectural firm.

As part of the streetscaping, Martin Street will be widened and returned to two-way traffic. Angled parking will be added all around the park to replace the existing parallel parking.

The Baldwin Public Library originally faced Martin Street, with a facade similar to the City Hall’s. Numerous renovations over the years changed that, with the current entrance situated off Merrill. Duany suggested in the 2016 plan reworking the library to have the front elevation returned to the Martin side, paralleling City Hall; and once Martin Street is reconstructed, the ➤

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library, Shain Park, and City Hall will present an elegant and formal public face for Birmingham.

“They’re what ties Birmingham to its roots,” said former Commissioner Lanzetta.

Duany looked at Birmingham’s retail environment and became extremely innovative.

“In certain places, the city’s narrow sidewalks make it difficult for restaurants to offer outdoor dining,” he wrote in the 2016 plan. “A simple way to expand the width of a sidewalk is to remove one parking space and install a temporary wooden deck for dining. This trade would be in the public’s interest because it enhances street life ... If the tables are lined up against the window, the flow of pedestrian traffic distorts. Forced to maneuver around the tables, people are deflected away from neighboring storefronts, effectively decreasing those retailers’ chances of adequately showing and selling their wares. Placing tables away from the restaurant window allows passersby to window-shop without interference.”

This vision of unfettered pedestrian movement and engaging street life was accomplished when the city created its bistro license ordinance. In April 2007, after much discussion, the Birmingham City Commission adopted a zoning ordinance amendment which allowed for the development of bistro licenses for eateries in the downtown district of Birmingham.

“We wanted to create energy on the streets and give shoppers another reason to come downtown,” said John Heiney, executive director of Birmingham’s Principal Shopping District (PSD).

Among the requirements restaurateurs must follow in order to get one of the licenses is having a full-service kitchen at the bistro and a full indoor and outdoor site plan. No bistro can have any more than 65 seats total, including no more than 10 at the bar. They are allowed to have low-key entertainment, there must be tables in windows lining the street and it’s mandatory that the bistro have outdoor seating, either on the sidewalk outside the establishment or on a patio platform in a parking space outside the restaurant.

“Outdoor dining helps bring vitality and pedestrian traffic and adds a lot of life to the street,” Ecker said.

“Duany invented the idea of an outside dining platform during the charette process,” Gibbs said. “It makes the town more walkable.”

Traffic circulation and pedestrian needs were studied, with the conclusion that traffic was moving too fast on certain downtown streets, it was unsafe for pedestrians, and the cause was unnecessarily wide streets.

“Wide streets encourage speeding, increase the distance a pedestrian must cross at an intersection, and restrict the amount of streetscape available for non-vehicular use ... retail thrives on high volumes of traffic moving slowly past shopfronts,” Duany wrote.

He recommended that North Old Woodward be redesigned with a median and diagonal parking on both sides. This was accomplished with a boulevard redesign, which has slowed traffic coming off of Woodward into Birmingham, and created a northern entrance into downtown Birmingham. Additionally, walkability has been increased.

Ring Road had been utilized as a way to avoid driving through Birmingham. Traffic calming techniques were introduced to encourage drivers to drive through the city, not around it.

Duany also recommended adding diagonal parking to serve Booth Park, which has been accomplished.

Furthermore, Booth Park has been redesigned with an expanded children’s playscape and a sledding hill, and is now the home of the popular summer “Music In The Park” series, having moved from Shain Park.

Boulevard along Old Woodward In addition, Duany recommended a cafe or pub adjacent to Booth Park at the corner of North Old Woodward and Harmon, stating, “The reason that parks in some cities are exceedingly popular is that food and beverages are allowed.”

While there are many new restaurants throughout town, this particular Duany recommendation hasn’t been realized.

Duany saw potential for retail to grow throughout the downtown area.

“There were several PSD board members involved in the charettes and public hearings in 1996,” Heiney said. “Many elements of (the 2016 plan) enhance the downtown experience, such as the ideas of slowing traffic down to make it more pedestrian-friendly. Whenever you’re enhancing walkability, you’re improving the business community where retailers are relying on foot traffic. Anything the city enacts to get people to walk from point A to point B, past store windows, encourages walking and encourages business.”

Julie Fielder, a retail consultant for the PSD, said retail is a critical element in the mixed-use vision prescribed in the 2016 plan.

“It’s a central business district and a boutique fashion district at the same time,” she said. “People want to live in the neighborhoods, dine in the restaurants, shop in the stores, and go to the movies. It gives them an ➤ www.oaklandpaper.com

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authentic experience. The commercial and residential is the support for the retail, and draws people from a much broader area. Bring in all of the other elements first, and then the retail follows.”

“A shopping center is just a shopping center with set hours, but Birmingham is a 24-hour city with complementary uses — retail, commercial, office, entertainment, civic, and people living there. They all feed off each other,” said architect Saroki. “It’s a mature, sophisticated city.”

The increasing sophistication of the city and its initial rapid redevelopment created a backlash in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Anti-development and 2016 plan opponents were elected to the City Commission, and some early champions of the plan, like former Commissioner Lanzetta, became less supportive.

“Things happened so fast because builders, architects, and engineers were all eager and ready,” City Manager Markus said. “There was a lot of pent-up demand.”

Clinton Baller, a Birmingham resident, began writing a blog called “Birmingham Buzz” to point out to other residents how these “obstructionists” were slowing down plans to allow Birmingham to evolve.

“I got involved in 2001,” he said. “I wasn’t around when the plan was developed in 1996. I like the plan, and we’re slowly implementing it. The biggest gripe is that the crowd who took over in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s put in an obstructionist Planning Board that slowed down and obstructed the height of buildings and created setbacks. They were eventually kicked off the Planning Board and commission; but unfortunately, we lost a few years, and then we had gotten into an economic slump.”

Baller claims that Lanzetta, who brought Duany to Birmingham and worked to create the 2016 plan, turned against it, becoming one of its strongest opponents.

“They would say ‘We don’t want Birmingham to turn into a miniManhattan,’ but they never gave a good elucidation of that,” Baller said.

Lanzetta responded recently, “I got the tag of anti-development only because I felt it was ludicrous for a 2.2 square mile city that’s a suburb to create a city that was a mini-Manhattan. We were too big for a village. But because of grandiose ideas, we had problems now. It seems that town made the most sense.”

“Dante Lanzetta was always looking ahead, and he was out there on the edge,” Markus said. “He felt the restrictive zoning needed to be looked at, and then turned on it when it wasn’t exactly his vision.”

Now, almost 20 years in, how has the 2016 plan been followed? Has it been a success in turning Birmingham into the mixed-use city envisioned by all involved at the time?

“It’s been followed pretty well, largely because staff has been on it,” Nickita said. “It’s constantly looked at and referenced to by the city staff and boards, especially the Planning Board. The plan is a directive for both public and private development.”

Since 1996, when the 2016 plan was finalized, the city has narrowed streets; created uniform signage; publicized the free two-hour parking in its parking structures; made the sidewalks and streetscapes more pedestrianfriendly; conducted crosswalk analysis; redeveloped Shain Park and Booth Park, as well as Barnum Park; revised the city’s lighting; created bistro licenses to further entertainment options, night life, and more active streetscapes, as well as utilize the outdoor dining option; developed the Palladium Theater and The Willets; conducted public ordinance studies; redesigned Ring Road; reconstructed North Old Woodward, creating a boulevard and slowing traffic; installed public art throughout the city; changed parallel parking into diagonal parking; developed opportunities for downtown residences; and began the development of gateway buildings at Maple and Woodward.

“Duany is a do-them-well, do-them-right kind of guy,” Markus said. “He creates things to make them last, not just monuments to architects. As we’ve gone along, his vision and practical application gets tweaked, because times change, conditions change, and investment objectives change. But everything he promoted, we went after.”

Purists see the plan as 80 percent finished. There is a proposal before the City Commission to extend the boulevard design down Old Woodward, continuing the traffic slowing and the beautification project. A pedestrian walkway through the North Old Woodward parking structure, from the surface lot to Booth Park, is being discussed. It would also create the opportunity for a developer to come in and create more residential units.

Some would also like to see the Rouge River trailways project completed, as well as additional crosswalk and sidewalk improvements and street narrowing projects to increase comforts for pedestrians.

“It will be interesting to see how it finishes up,” Markus said. “We revisit it every year at our long range planning meeting. It will likely go way beyond 2016. We should revisit it on its anniversary.”

As Birmingham approaches its bicentennial, one can’t help but admire its efforts to foster continuous growth and evolution.

“Great things can happen when you trust in a vision, which is what (the 2016 plan) was,” architect Longe said. ■

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MARCH 2010

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bernie smilovitz

B

ernie Smilovitz is right where he wants to be, doing exactly what he loves to do.

"I love my job and I wouldn't want to do anything else in the world," said the local resident and sportscaster for WDIVLocal 4.

Though he was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and raised in Washington, D.C., his heart and home are here in Michigan.

"We love the city and we love the town," he said. "My family and I have always felt like we were Michiganders."

Known for his coverage of sports bloopers and highlights, Smilovitz got his start as a desk assistant, earning $2 per hour, at a Washington D.C. radio station. In need of an impromptu sports news fill-in, Smilovitz took the seat and thus, a broadcasting career was born.

"I've loved sports since I was 5-years-old," he said. "By the time I was 7-years-old, I realized I wasn't going to be a professional athlete."

Smilovitz has been able to channel his charisma, personality, and love of sports into a broadcast journalism career, and has become a Detroit institution.

"I'm a guy who likes to have fun," he said. "If you're on TV and you look like you're having fun, people will have fun watching you."

Smilovitz refers to Detroit's support of its sports teams as an amazing phenomenon.

"It's woven into the fabric of this area," he said. "Just look at the support for the Lions."

Though Smilovitz marvels at the enthusiasm and loyalty of Detroit sports fans, he concedes that his demographic is limited. Grabbing that elusive percentage of viewers not interested in sports, he utilizes his magnetism to entice the audience with something everyone can enjoy: blunders made by athletes.

Not content to simply entertain and inform, he also gives back to a community that he and his family have grown to love since they moved to Michigan in 1986.

"I was asked to take over the golf tournament for Gleaners Community Food Bank, and I was glad to do it," he said. "In this country, a child should never go to bed hungry. What's the purpose of it all if we're not trying to help each other and make a better world for all of us?"

With two sons of his own and a deep concern for children, Smilovitz said he enjoys his work with athletes, but doesn't view them as potential role models for kids.

"I consider parents to be role models for children, not sports figures," he said.

Smilovitz is living out his dream right here in Michigan, and he doesn't look a moment beyond his next broadcast. While he may not look introspective, self-improvement is his top goal.

"I never feel like I've done my best show," he said. "I always want to do it better tomorrow." — Katey Meisner — The Paper photo/Amy K. Lockard

S

neaking off school grounds to skip class has been a temptation among students for generations. In recent years, schools have sharpened their pencils and tightened the reins on students to narrow the gap of opportunity by recognizing red flags in students’ formative years. Now, the way school districts report student attendance to the state has come under scrutiny as the federal No Child Left Behind Act has established new parameters. As a result, schools may need to rethink how they report absences and truancy cases.

The Michigan law governing compulsory school attendance was amended last month, and now states that a child who turns age 11 before Dec. 1, 2009 or who enters the sixth-grade before 2009 must attend public school during the entire school year from the age of 6 to their 16th birthday.

However, a child who turns 11 on or after Dec. 1, 2009, or who was 11 before that date and enters sixth-grade in 2009 or later must attend a public school during the entire school year from the age of 6 to their 18th birthday. The child’s attendance must be continuous and consecutive for the school year, as determined by the school district in which the child is enrolled.

According to Carolyn Claerhout, the Oakland Intermediate School District’s (ISD) manager of district and pupil services, the change was part of so-called Race to the Top legislation, educational reforms needed in order for Michigan to contend for a portion of $4.35 billion in federal funding.

“It affects the graduating class of 2016, or this year’s sixth-graders, who will not have the ability to drop out at age 16,” Claerhout said.

“Now, the age is 18. Some students don’t graduate at 18, and by that time we won’t be able to keep them, but overall I think this is great news — to have kids committed to school until 18, because the goal is to have them graduate from high school with diplomas in hand.

“On the flip side, will kids being forced to stay drag down those who want to be there?” she asked. “Will it create another funding pressure?

We won’t know that for sure until we have time to analyze it.”

A loophole exists: If the child is at least 16 and the child’s parent or legal guardian has provided written notice to school officials, the child has permission to stop attending school.

“Before, we couldn’t enforce students remaining in school after age 15-and-a-half,” Claerhout said. “Right now, we’re looking at protocols for the 16- to 18-year-old population, and we have a few years to hammer that out, but ultimately the goal is to have them graduate.”

Children turning 6 before Dec. 1 must now be enrolled on the first school day of the year in which the child’s sixth birthday occurs.

A child is not required to attend a public school and is therefore exempt from the compulsory age mandate if they are being taught in a state-approved non-public school, if the child is homeschooled in an organized educational program in the core subjects, and if the child has graduated from high school or has fulfilled all requirements for high school graduation.

Truancy comes into play when a student older than 12 has missed 10 days of school.

Educational neglect is the correct term used when a student, 12 or younger, has missed 10 days of school, or if the parent or guardian is informed of the problem and doesn’t attempt to intervene.

“The law makes exceptions for private and

home schooling,” Claerhout said. “The only time truancy would become an issue for private schools is if they call us and say the student has stopped attending. Then we would follow up. Our referral numbers include (students from) charter schools, but we don’t receive many from private schools.”

Bloomfield and Birmingham Youth Assistance are community outreach programs combating truancy and student attendance issues, and are two arms of the 26 Youth Assistance programs throughout Oakland County.

Generally, Youth Assistance adopts a protocol for addressing truancy. If a case is referred by the school district, parents or police, a Youth Assistance caseworker meets with the family to conduct an assessment to identify impediments to the student attending school, and to begin the process of trying to resolve it.

A prevention program would be implemented whether it’s a parenting program, mentoring program, or skill building, according to Oakland County Youth Assistance Director Mary Schusterbauer.

“Our recommendation is to get involved as early as possible,” she said. “We look at the home, school, and community during our assessment. We work with families to keep them out of the court system, but at some point, if there is no improvement, the schools may file a complaint with the court.”

Truancy trends are difficult to track, according to Schusterbauer, but truancy is a consistent problem across all of Oakland County.

“Truancy has been a problem forever, and will continue to be so, but it’s up to us to reduce that number by the schools, courts, Youth Assistance and the community at large tackling the issues, because we know that to be successful students means successful citizens down the road,” Schusterbauer said.

“As far as trends, we find these students missing a lot of school in younger years, even with parental permission,” she said. “If they come to us early on, we can see if it’s really a pattern, because once a pattern is set, it’s hard to reverse.

According to national research, we definitely hold true to the 3A’s — attend, attach, achieve — which equates to school attendance.”

Claerhout said she also has seen a steady trend in truancy cases across the county over the last few years.

“We typically have 1,000 kids referred to our program (each year),” she said. “Every county has about a 10 percent truancy rate. We’ve instituted a truancy protocol to try and beef up our efforts. We hold to the (3A’s), and offer prevention programs. We’re not the ‘knock-yourhead-and-take-you-to-court’ program. We’re here to help.”

A

ttendance officers are employed by the ISD or local school district. The attendance officer has the powers of a deputy sheriff within a school district while performing official duties, and can pursue cases of non-attendance, which are reported to him or her by the proper authority.

“Truancy issues vary, depending on how zealous school truancy officers and counselors report,” Schusterbauer said. “We can’t say truancy cases are up based solely on referrals.

How a school determines if a child is truant may or may not be based on whether the parent excuses them from school. It depends on how each school designs and interprets its own policy as determined by the district.”

Though the number of truancy referrals is down this year, Schusterbauer said that could be

due to cuts in Youth Assistance staff.

“Our connections know our resources are less,” she said. “It may not be an accurate reflection of what’s going on.”

According to Claerhout, the ISD is doing a better job of getting the word out to address truancy.

“When I first started, most cases were at the high school level,” she said. “Then we began prevention at the middle and elementary levels.

We’re doing a better job of letting districts know we’re available. I don’t think truancy is worse; we have more resources available, like our Truancy Task Force, that works alongside community partners for prevention, and we now have two truant officers rather than just one.”

Truancy cases are hard to nail down, according to Claerhout, because the ISD’s service is not mandated.

“Schools can choose to handle it their own way,” she said. “I can only report the number of cases under our protocol.”

Schusterbauer said 60 percent of truancy referrals come from schools, and 40 percent come from police.

Once a student is absent for 10 days, the ISD recommends that the district review the student’s history of attendance, grades and progress, and then contact the student’s parent or guardian. An assessment is made, such as, are there obvious causes for absenteeism? Does the student have a medical condition making school attendance difficult? Is the student receiving special education services?

“We tell schools to not only look at the student’s attendance, but also their siblings’ for trends or problems,” Claerhout said.

Ron Halcrow, a detective corporal and youth officer with the Birmingham Police Department, assists schools during truancy investigations that go hand-in-hand with incorrigibility.

“I may look at about two cases a year,” Halcrow said. “Some are found to be homeschooled, and that’s why they never show up.”

Extreme cases end up in probate court.

“For the middle school and lower grades, educational neglect raises red flags,” Halcrow said. “Typically the principal or assistant principal would contact me if the parents don’t call back or come in for a conference. The schools usually handle them in-house, if possible.”

The high schools pose the greatest potential for truancy problems, according to Halcrow.

“In one instance the assistant principal called me to get the child to school,” he said. “It was an emotional issue and the child was refusing to go.

Not many police departments will step in to intervene but we’ve done so in the past. I sat down and counseled the child and eventually got him to go. This was an isolated incident. Normally I prefer a counselor and principal work out a contract that the child must adhere to.”

The same issue arose a few years ago when a single mother couldn’t get her child to go to school. Halcrow said he tried to intervene, but ultimately the child continued to be truant, which resulted in a referral to Youth Assistance.

“I’m glad Youth Assistance is there because they are a great asset,” Halcrow said.

Chronically truant students can eventually be referred to the court system.

“I’ve been doing this 19 years and have never criminally charged or referred a case to the prosecutor, but I could see a prosecutor looking at willful educational neglect and charging a parent in a case where the parent is abusing alcohol or drugs and willfully allowing ➤

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educational neglect,” Halcrow said. “It would have to be pretty egregious before it would go that route, however.”

According to Oakland County Deputy Court Administrator Lisa Langton, there were 72 official truancy cases throughout the county that were adjudicated for some kind of disposition with a caseworker during 2009.

“This number is an indicator of Youth Assistance and the ISD truancy program doing a good job of getting to families before it gets to court,” Schusterbauer said.

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, ISD and most school districts participate in a partnership aimed at reducing truancy. The prosecutor’s office is a member of the School Truancy Task Force that meets monthly. The prosecutor’s office also provides training to educators and administrators on the legal issues associated with truancy.

O

nce school officials meet with a parent or guardian, they will develop an action plan agreement signed by all parties. There’s a wide range of resources available that may need to be utilized, such as a school psychologist, counselor, Youth Assistance, physician, family crisis intervention, social services, community mental health or Big Brothers/Big Sisters organizations.

If a school exhausts all its efforts and the student racks up 20 to 25 absences, the district is encouraged to complete an ISD referral form and submit it to the ISD truancy program.

An ISD attendance officer investigates the case and mails a certified letter to the parent or guardian. A meeting is then held between the attendance officer and the parent or guardian, and the student, if appropriate. Prosecutor intervention may be deemed necessary if the agreement is breached. At such time, the prosecutor sends a letter to the parent or guardian and principal. The prosecutor may opt to set up a meeting with the parties involved.

Continued absences or tardiness will be reported to an ISD attendance officer and necessitate contacts with the prosecutor to prepare a petition and file it in court. Michigan law states that a parent or legal guardian who fails to comply with the compulsory school attendance section of the Revised School Code is guilty of a misdemeanor.

As a proactive move at the beginning of each school year, the ISD rolls out a “Back to School” program for students who are on the cusp of truancy but don’t quite fit the criteria.

According to ISD reporting, 11 Bloomfield Hills Schools students were referred as potentially truant during the 2008-09 school year. So far this year, eight students have been referred to the ISD truancy program.

According to Bloomfield Township Police Chief Kirk Bowden, truancy is not a problem per se in the community, but township trustees recently adopted an ordinance as a recourse for any potential problem.

“We haven’t had to enforce the ordinance at all,” Bowden said. “It would really be used in extreme cases as leverage to get a child to school, and also to have the legal community behind you so that if someone is charged, the court ruling is backed up by law.”

The ordinance states its purpose is “liberally construed to encourage and compel the exercise of parental control in a continuous and consistent manner to reduce unauthorized absences of school children, and prevent the neglect of parental responsibility in the enforcement of the state law requiring school attendance.”

Essentially, if a parent is contacted by school officials to set up a conference to discuss why a child is consistently absent or tardy, the parent must work out an acceptable time to meet or send a response as to why they refuse.

A district court finding of neglect or deliberate refusal to send a child to school is considered a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $50, or imprisonment for not less than two nor more than 90 days, or both.

The Bloomfield Hills School District currently employs two police liaison officers; one at each of the high schools. They divvy up the rest of the schools between them. In addition, they have a parking lot monitor.

According to Assistant Superintendent Christine Barnett, the district has been able to handle truancy at individual buildings, otherwise she would become involved in the process.

“I’d also be the lead if a case was taken to district court, but there haven’t been cases this year,” she said.

If a trend for excessive absences was evident in elementary school, educators would dig to uncover what’s happening at home and would get the parents involved early in the process, whereas in high school it’s a student-driven issue.

Manager of Student Service JoAnn Messina supports the student information system. She said five consecutively absent days would warrant introspection.

“If the student is sick that’s one thing, but we’d have to make the decision if that student should be declared truant at this point,” Messina said. “There are extenuating circumstances, however. If parents are working with a psychologist and doing everything they’re supposed to get their child help, we don’t want to get into the court system.”

Messina said she’s unsure whether local truancy cases are on the rise, but the schools have a greater awareness of it and have changed their approach on the issue.

“We’ve been utilizing the county truancy officer more because that’s his job,” she said. “In some cases we may see an entire family who is truant.

The parents may be unresponsive or perpetually tardy, but each case is different and handled individually.”

L

ahser High School Principal Charles Hollerith said the district is fortunate that it rarely deals with truancy issues, and cites an average of one or two cases a year that requires referrals to the ISD. “We try and work with families to determine why absenteeism is occurring and why a student isn’t coming to school,” Hollerith said. “There is no formal program in place. We just work out a strategy with each student and family so that student attends and is successful in school.

Overall we’ve been successful in deterring truancy.”

Local boards of education have the authority to adopt attendance policies addressing the number of days a student may miss due to illness or other causes. Although state law doesn’t mandate that school district policies distinguish between excused and unexcused absences, the State Board of Education expects that districts make the distinction.

The Bloomfield Hills Schools Student Code of Conduct underscores specific guidelines to regulate different types of absences. Class credit can be withheld depending on the circumstances behind the absences. The schools’ attendance secretary monitors students’ daily attendance and reports excessive absences to assistant principals

and/or counselors. Excessive absences are defined as 10 or more per semester and are referred to a counselor for review, but each case is assessed on an individual basis.

“There will be consequences if kids aren’t getting to class on time or if they’re absent a lot, but we will work with our school psychologists and social workers if we see a truancy issue arise,” Hollerith said, adding he has no qualms about getting other agencies involved to get a student back on track.

“If we don’t get a response from the parents we will work with outside agencies, the police department, the ISD or court system, but our community places a high emphasis on education and coming to school on a daily basis, so fortunately we don’t have to deal with this so much,” he said.

Even the district’s Model High School and Bowers Academy — both alternative high schools — have few truancy cases, according to Principal Bill Boyle.

“We may have kids who miss for stretches but we track them down and don’t require legal intervention,” Boyle said.

For every unexcused absence, a phone call is placed to parents to have the issue resolved.

“We nip it in the bud early,” Boyle said. “If a student missed one or two days we get worried and contact the parents. It’s easier to handle here because we’re so small and have a strong relationship with kids.”

Boyle said there has never been an occasion where he’s been compelled to call upon the ISD.

M

odel High School acts as a part-time educational institution for about 230 students, with only 100 attending at one time.

Bowers Academy is an alternative school for students at risk for not graduating, and houses about 33 students.

“We are more flexible because our programming is more tailored to the individual,” Boyle said. “If a situation arises, we have a social worker on staff here one day a week and she’s on top of it.”

There were six Birmingham students referred to the ISD’s truancy program during the 2008-09 school year, and two have been referred so far this year.

“Our number remains extremely low, with no increase,” said Birmingham Schools Director of Community Relations Marcia Wilkinson.

Halcrow said for the most part, truancy is a non-issue in the Birmingham area.

“In this area truancy is a spotty or cyclical issue,” he said. “The majority of cases are handled through the schools.”

There is a threshold for the amount of time a student misses before credit is withheld, but that is interdependent on the reasoning behind the absences, according to Wilkinson.

“There are exemptions for health reasons and we would make special dispensation depending on certain circumstances,” she said.

The Birmingham district doesn’t track truancy cases overall — each school deals with the issue independently; however, accurate attendance records are maintained and unreported absences or excessive excused absences are flagged.

“The first step is to get a local support system together, not to be punitive but to help the student get at the reason,” Wilkinson said. “Once we determine what the situation is, we get a better idea of where to get them help. We have a crisis counselor who works with the high schools who may need to get involved.”

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with family, depending on the circumstances, by collaborating with the dean, assistant principal, counselor and school social worker.

“It’s all based on the reason the student is missing,” Wilkinson said. “If there are 10 unexcused absences, there are more issues at stake than credit for the course.”

In general, the district clearly defines the importance of seat time and the impact on a student’s success rate in school.

“Our staff communicates to the students how critical it is to be present, barring illness or some unforeseeable reason,” Wilkinson said.

S

tudent attendance is taking on new importance in Michigan following a recent decision to include attendance data when determining whether certain schools have met adequate yearly progress (AYP) standards under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. AYP, in part, is a measure of year-to-year student achievement on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) and other standardized tests.

The NCLB law took effect in 2002 and has had a sweeping impact on U.S. public school classrooms. It affects instruction, testing, professional development and education funding.

The law was designed to introduce national standards to a system in which students in some demographic groups were more likely to succeed and others were likely to be left behind. It allows states to determine how success is measured.

States are required to set targets for overall achievement and for specific categories of students, such as English language learners or economically disadvantaged students.

Achievement — or lack of it — among students in these and other demographic groups help determine whether a school building achieves AYP. A school can fail to meet AYP — even if it’s documenting substantial progress for most of its students — if one category of students can’t meet standards. School buildings and entire districts can face stiff penalties for repeatedly failing to meet AYP standards.

NCLB also requires indicators other than standardized test scores to be used in determining AYP. For elementary and middle schools in Michigan, student attendance rates are being used, beginning with the 2009-10 academic year. For high schools, graduation rates are used.

The state’s decision to use student attendance as an AYP criterion is placing greater emphasis on a school building’s overall attendance rates.

According to Chris Janzer, a department analyst for the Michigan Department of Education, AYP is determined based on a threeprong approach of participation, proficiency, and a third academic indicator determined by each state.

“Other states chose graduation rates and varied their choices at the middle school level, such as a science exam,” Janzer said. “We had to have something at the secondary levels to choose from, and Michigan opted to go with attendance rates in elementary and middle school, and graduation rates in high schools being used as the third indicator.”

Michigan’s target for student attendance has increased from 85 percent in 2007-08 to 90 percent for the 2008-09 school year.

One school in the area reported a 100 percent attendance figure for the 2008-09 school year, which Janzer said is rare and shows deficiencies in the way schools report attendance.

“To come up with a 100 percent figure for any

given school is odd, but we gauge it on what the schools report to us,” Janzer said. “More than likely some districts are either submitting their reporting incorrectly or their software is reporting the data incorrectly.”

Hollerith said the ISD audited Lahser High School a few weeks ago to discern whether it was maintaining accurate attendance records.

“Tracking kids especially in these economic times with a lot of migration is challenging,” Hollerith said.

According to the ISD’s Claerhout, the attendance reporting system is flawed and isn’t an accurate tool for gauging attendance.

“I don’t believe the districts who are reporting 100 percent attendance — 95 to 96 percent, yes; but not 100 percent,” she aid. “The person inputting this data obviously didn’t realize the impact of the data in regards to AYP. In the case of truants, even if there’s one horribly truant kid in the court system, when reporting attendance that could kill that school’s numbers.”

Another variable that Claerhout said doesn’t depict the true picture of student attendance is the instance of a major epidemic like the H1N1 flu.

“This year, school policy has changed,” she said. “Now, if you’re coughing or sick, they are encouraging you to stay home. If these kids are out five days due to H1N1, does that mean attendance is dropping? No, it just means more kids have H1N1, but in this reporting, the numbers would drop.”

“Attendance is viewed as one variable of academic success in schools here in Michigan and therefore is one variable in the studies,” the state’s Janzer said. “Poor attendance is often seen as one of the indicators — if a student isn’t there learning, he will not do well.”

Wilkinson said she hopes the information is used for the students’ betterment.

“We’re not sure if that’s always done,” she said. “There’s a lot of information behind the statistics and should be used for students to be successful. It’s more complicated that complying with a government mandate.”

The following Michigan Department of Education statistics reflect attendance rates for the local school districts during the last three complete academic years. However, according to Claerhout, this report isn’t indicative of truancy cases.

“The report gives a snapshot in time on count days,” she said. “Most districts have more than 85 percent (of students) in school on a given day, but of that 15 percent absent, it doesn’t clarify whether they are sick, chronically absent, or truant. We can’t extrapolate truancy data from these report averages. We use the school’s (truancy) referrals as a barometer once a child has missed 10 days of school.”

O

verall, the Birmingham district had a student attendance rate of 96.8 percent during the 2008-09 school year, the same as in 2007-08. It was 97.3 percent in 2006-07.

The district school with the lowest student attendance rate for 2008-09 was West Maple Elementary, at 95.9 percent. The building with the highest 2008-09 attendance rate was Seaholm High School at 99 percent.

Bloomfield Hills Schools overall 2008-09 student attendance rate was identical to Birmingham’s, 96.8 percent. It was reported at 100 percent in 2007-08 and 96.9 percent in 2006-07.

The Bloomfield Hills school with the lowest

2008-09 attendance rate was Lone Pine Elementary, at 95.9 percent. The school with the highest attendance rate for the year was West Hills Middle School, at 100 percent.

While public schools may enlist the help of the ISD or Youth Assistance in handling truancy incidents, the consensus among private schools in the area is that truancy is a non-issue. Any unexcused absence is dealt with deftly and instantaneously. Given the parameters of parents paying lofty sums for their student’s private school education, they may have a more vested interest in their children’s education.

C

ranbrook Kingswood School’s Head of Upper School Charles Shaw said he has seen a trend where absence patterns are more exaggerated than in years past, but he attributes them to a wide range of complexities in today’s society.

“We see more blended families, households transitioning bread-winners, and families becoming more vigilant about medical routines and illnesses that have arisen,” he said. “Families also have complicated work routines and all these variables put strain on school attendance.”

At Cranbrook Kingswood, academic pressure is acute; therefore, missing class would only add duress to the student.

“Truancy is not a problem,” Shaw said.

“There’s very little incentive to put themselves at risk academically. Life at the school is so challenging that missing is a fearful prospect.”

The school ascribes to an absence policy clearly defined in the student handbook. After eight absences a student is placed on probation; after 15 absences the student should expect to lose credit.

“There is a review at eight absences, regardless,” Shaw said. “A letter is sent home to the parents and a conference is scheduled.”

After 15 cumulative absences, whether they are excused or unexcused, a decision is made on whether credit is withheld. In the event of any unexcused absence, the student is sent to speak with the dean of students.

“There are so many activities that the students engage in outside of school, and we want to make sure they are not penalized for chasing an important dream,” Shaw said.

The school works in collaboration with the student and parents in a forum of candid communication.

“The most important thing is to rely on a straight forward and trusting exchange of information,” Shaw said.

Akin to Cranbrook Kingswood, The Roeper School is not experiencing relevant truancy issues due to its distinct and harmonious educational environment, according to Public Relations Associate Carri Hammers.

“Truancy is not an issue because our kids love coming to school,” Hammers said. “Even in middle school and high school, they love being there.”

The school has no need for a truancy officer and there is no written policy, per se.

“In general, the parents are paying for their student’s education, are very vested in their kids and are very much involved,” Hammers said.

“That in and of itself is a deterrent.”

Should an incident arise, Hammers said the school would contact the parents and deal with the issue on a case-by-case basis.

“The staff, administration and parents are so close here that anything out of the ordinary would be communicated right away,” she said. ■

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â– snapshot

W

hile Oakland County Circuit Court Chief Judge Nanci Grant has ascended to professional eminence and is held in high regard as an important component of the judicial process, she says her toughest work isn't on the bench.

"My hardest job is still the job I do when I go home," she said. "Being a mother can be a challenge, but it's extremely rewarding."

Grant and her husband of 21 years, attorney Mark S. Frankel, have two sons and live in Bloomfield Township.

"I met Mark on a blind date while I was in college and he was just starting law school," she said. "He took me to a George Thorogood concert. I was very much into pop and classical music, but he has since broadened my horizons."

Grant, who took the bench at just 32-years-old, was quickly able to make a name for herself despite age and gender possibly working against her.

"I found it interesting that it was the more seasoned attorneys who gave me so much respect when I took the bench," she said.

Grant's father, retired Oakland County Probate Judge Barry Grant, taught her much about integrity and how to conduct herself as a judge.

"He told me to stay true to who I am, and not to let the robe go to my head," she said. "He said to be respectful of the people in front of me, and

nanci grant not let the job give me a bigger sense of ego than was warranted."

After 13 years on the bench, Grant was recently appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to act as chief judge of the Oakland County Circuit Court.

"I definitely have a sense of pride in my job, but my life is my family," she said. "Their health and well-being is a constant worry."

As a dedicated working mother, Grant said her home life is enhanced with Frankel by her side.

"He's an exceptional husband, father and cook," she said. "He's also the best attorney I know. I have so much respect for his work."

Grant and her family are avid readers, and also love to ski and head into downtown Birmingham from time to time. They remain an important part of the community through their work with various charities.

Though Grant and her husband give to charitable causes such as the American Cancer Society, the Women's Survival Center of Oakland County, and many local programs that assist people in crisis, it's not awards and accolades that cover the walls of her chambers — it's pictures that her children have made for her throughout the years.

"Your children are your legacy," she said. "And, while I take my job very seriously, I tend to have my priorities straight." — Katey Meisner The Paper photo/Amy K. Lockard

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PRESERVING THE PAST SOCIETIES AND ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS MAINTAIN HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITIES

By Brooke Meier

I

n an area as rich in history as Oakland County, some communities are striving to preserve the past. In Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills, the Bloomfield Historical Society takes on the role of historical preservationists, while in Birmingham, it’s the Birmingham Historical Society that works to ensure residents don’t overlook the area’s history.

With the help of hundreds of volunteers and local organizations, these two groups are making strides in keeping local history and culture relevant.

The Bloomfield Historical Society was founded in 2004.

“We are really the new kids on the block,” said president Pamela Carmichael. “We are still very much in the learning mode. The historical society was formed by a board of community members who were interested in our local history. We came into existence and grew from a program that the local library had started on local history. There was so much interest in the program that the board came together and founded the society.”

The Bloomfield Historical Society covers the entire Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills area.

“Our local history really is entwined,” Carmichael said. “Bloomfield Township, in the beginning, overlapped with areas of Birmingham,

West Bloomfield and surrounding areas. We wanted to include all of that in our history.”

The society currently has approximately 100 active volunteer members. The society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

The society’s mission statement reads, “The Bloomfield Historical Society is dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the rich history of the Bloomfield Township area by identifying, promoting and conserving our heritage. We encourage research to educate and engage all generations.

The mission of the Bloomfield Historical Society is to encourage and create a fuller awareness and understanding of the rich histories of Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township. Identifying, promoting and conserving our heritage is our goal.

Awareness is our major task.”

The society works to support and advance local research, and make those findings available to the general public. To do this, the society sponsors events and programs, and seeks out partnerships within the community to preserve the area’s history.

“One of our bigger programs is the Local History/Local Resources program that we sponsor along with the Bloomfield Township Public Library,” Carmichael said. “We do about three or four of these programs a year, featuring a speaker and a slide show on various topics that cover our local history.”

This year’s first Local History/Local Resources program was held on Feb. 21. The topic of the event was “What drew us to Bloomfield? It’s all about lifestyles...” During the event, local historian Buzz Brown explained why Native Americans, farmers, owners of country estates, and suburbanites made the area their home over the years. He also presented a Lifestyles Timeline that highlights clues as to why transportation, and the infrastructure required to support it, have played a part in the evolving character of the area and its people.

In 2009, the society held its first ever home tour.

“A family who lives here has a historic, early Greek Revival home and they opened the home for us so we had a house tour for our membership — that was a wonderful first for us,” Carmichael said.

In addition to programs, the society is involved in preservation projects throughout the Bloomfield area.

Two members of the historical society also sit on the Preservation Bloomfield board. This group, through partnerships with the historical society, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, and the Bloomfield Hills School District, is working to preserve the Barton Farmhouse in Bloomfield Hills and the Craig Log Cabin. ➤

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The Barton Farmhouse was built in approximately 1832 in the Greek Revival style, according to Preservation Bloomfield. The farmhouse is one of the last remaining examples of 1800s era construction in the Bloomfield area. The farmhouse is now located at Bowers School Farm, where renovations to the building will continue.

The Craig Log Cabin, one of Bloomfield Township’s oldest structures, is also now resting at Bowers Farm and undergoing renovations.

The historical society is also working with the Bloomfield Hills School District to restore the 1859 Wing Lake School House.

In 2010 the society will be conducting a series of oral history interviews with local residents through Bloomfield Community Television.

“There really hadn’t been a lot of attention given to Bloomfield’s local history,” Carmichael said. “By helping to get the story of Bloomfield out to people, it’s also a wonderful way to build community and really give people a sense of identity for the place where they live. Partnerships have become very important for us.”

Anyone interested in becoming a member of the Bloomfield Historical Society can log onto their web site at www.bloomfieldhistoricalsociety.org and click on the membership link. Interested residents can fill our the membership form available on the site — and at the library, township and city offices — or contact the society through e-mail.

“It’s a fairly easy process,” Carmichael said.

The society’s budget for projects and sponsorships is based solely on membership dues. There are three membership levels for a membership year lasting from April 1 to March 31. Individual members pay $20; families pay $30; and a patron pays $100 a year.

Members who sign up will receive the society’s newsletter, “Legacy;” early notice of the Local History/Local Resources programs; invitations to society events; and opportunities to take part in research projects and volunteer programs.

Carmichael said the society is always looking for more members and donations.

The historical society meets on the first Tuesday of every month, with the exception of the summer months. Meetings are usually held at the Bloomfield Township Public Library.

“We want to really give people an understanding of where they came from, and where they’re going,” Carmichael said.

“Everything you learn from the past really helps to shape the future — it’s an interesting pattern that develops.

“The Bloomfield Historical Society helps to satisfy the curiosity of those who want to know how we got where we are today,” she said. “The experience of uncovering and telling the stories of Bloomfield’s history enriches and enhances our sense of community.”

In the coming year, the society hopes to hold a large rededication ceremony for the Wing Lake School House when renovations are complete.

“We are looking for anyone who attended the historic stone school to share their stories and take part in the event,” she said.

Like the Bloomfield Historical Society, the Birmingham Historical Society is dedicated to preserving history and enlightening residents about the community’s rich history and culture.

The society was formed in 1965 following the city’s centennial celebration in 1964.

“People’s historic consciousness was raised at that point,” said Pam Deweese, president of the society. “In 1965, the Birmingham Historical Society was founded. Their initial goal was to find a building and make a museum — a place where they could educate people about the history of Birmingham.”

In 1969 the residents of Birmingham voted in www.oaklandpaper.com

Birmingham Historical Museum Tours, Tours, archives archives and and historical historical records records Pam DeWeese, president of the Birmingham Historical Society, and Bill McElhone, director of the Birmingham Historical Museum

T

he Birmingham Historical Museum and Park has existed, in it’s current state, since 1999, although its evolution began when the city of Birmingham purchased a 4-acre site on West Maple Road in 1969.

In 2000, the city hired Bill McElhone as museum director. He took the reins and molded the museum into what it is today.

“When I was hired we formally began to professionalize the museum by introducing accepted best practices, national standards for how we maintain our collections, and setting in place guidelines for maintaining exhibitions and other public programs,” he said.

The museum has one full-time staffer — McElhone — and two part-time employees paid by the city. There are also numerous volunteers that come in to help out at the museum, conduct research and run school tours through the museum. ➤

favor of a bond issue to purchase the Allen House and 4 acres. In 1970 a local family donated the Hunter House, the oldest house in Birmingham — built in 1822 — and that house was moved to the site purchased in 1969.

“For a number of years, that site was run by volunteers, then ultimately the city budgeted to hire a staff,” DeWeese said.

Current society membership is approximately 170 active members, according to DeWeese.

The society sponsors a variety of programs in the city, including a free lecture series.

“We have four lectures a year,” DeWeese said.

“This year we had one on Bob Seger, one on Vernors, and our most recent one was on Balthazar Korab — an architect and photographer.”

Coming later this year will be a lecture on the history of the Village Players.

“We also sponsor receptions when a new exhibit opens at the museum,” DeWeese said.

“One our most successful events is our cemetery tour in October.”

For this event, members of the society take residents on a tour of the Greenwood Cemetery.

DeWeese said volunteers dressed up in period costumes and as different characters for the 2009 event, to help bring the cemetery’s history to life.

“We also go on field trips together, write a newsletter and have fund-raisers,” she said.

The society is active in continuing to preserve the Hunter House and Allen House for the museum.

The city’s Historic District Study Committee is dedicated in preserving the more than 80 historic homes and markers in the city, according to DeWeese.

“They keep an eye on the historically designated properties within the city and document them,” she said.

“We try to educate people about history and preserve it — it’s the same role as our museum,” she said. “We are the friends of the museum. We are totally non-profit and only volunteers.”

The budget for the society is in the thousands each year, made up of membership fees, according to DeWeese.

“When people make donations it goes into our THE PAPER

endowment fund,” she said. “Our goal, with this fund, is that ultimately we, including the museum, will be entirely self-sufficient and self-supporting.

With the current economy, that will take a while.

All that money is socked away to build interest.”

Goals for 2010 include a new, updated web site and a large fund-raising effort for a donor wall.

“In five years it will be our 50th birthday, so we are talking about making a plan to revise the 1976 Book of Birmingham,” DeWeese said. “We are always looking for volunteers and monetary donations to help.”

According to DeWeese, one of the most important roles for the society is to give people perspective.

“We try to educate children, when they visit, about what it was like to be a child in 1822 in the Hunter House,” she said. “I think that gives them an insight into what they have in their lives and how fortunate they are.”

In addition, DeWeese said reflection on the past can help people deal with current events.

“Birmingham in the Depression was in dire straits,” she said. “The city couldn’t pay its employees, and they offered to pay their utility bills instead. They couldn’t pay the teachers so they ended up selling artificial money to people to release real money to pay the teachers — after the Depression, those who bought the artificial money could collect 5 percent interest. When you look at that, you can see that today we are going through a hard time, but we are going to get through it — just like we got through the Depression. I think history is really important in providing that context.”

The Birmingham Historical Society meets at 7 p.m. on the third or fourth Tuesday of each month at the museum, depending on the lecture schedule. Once a year there is a picnic meeting for the membership. Anyone interested in volunteering or becoming a member can contact the museum through the city of Birmingham’s web site. The museum also has a facebook page that provides contact information.

Membership fees are as follows: $10 for a student; $25 for an individual; $300 for a life membership; $35 for a family; and $75 for a sustaining membership. ■ 35

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➤ The museum offers numerous exhibitions throughout the year, along with school and group tours.

“In addition, we house archives and historical records for anyone doing research,” McElhone said. “We often provide historical information on various topics and subject matter for community development. Sometimes you will have a company that comes to town interested in buying a particular site and when they do that, especially if it’s a redevelopment, they will come here and look at what was at the site historically.”

The museum also partners with the Birmingham Historical Society to sponsor a popular lecture series.

In 2009, the museum’s public programming and outreach included tours for 930 students — all Birmingham second-grade classes visited the historic Allen House and John West Hunter House at the museum site, along with the historic Greenwood Cemetery. Three additional class tours for special needs students were also provided. About 15,045 museum and park visitors enjoyed 21 exhibitions, workshops and special event programs that focused on Birmingham’s heritage.

The museum is now hosting an exhibit on photographer Balthazar Korab through April 24. This exhibit features photographs personally selected by Korab. Signed books and photographs will also be on sale.

Another exhibit, “The Sole of Birmingham: History of Sherman Shoes,” will be featured at the museum through June 5. This exhibit explores two generations of this landmark show store, and will feature historic photographs, memorabilia and vintage shoes from D. Larry Sherman’s personal collection. A size 23 Converse All-Star shoe worn by former Detroit Piston Bob Lanier is included in the display.

“We all work together, with the historical society, to reach the public and get out information about our history,” McElhone said. “I like to get into the history and share the story — it’s all about the story for me. History is way beyond dates and names — it’s the story behind that. We are slowly trying to update ourselves through technology. We just received a TV through a grant and we have things like a facebook page. It easier to grab people’s attention through video and multimedia in today’s world. We are figuring out other ways to connect through social networking, etc. — we want to deliver history in a different way and keep up with the times.”

Most of the museum’s funding is allocated through the city’s annual budget.

“Each year, through the historical society’s endowment fund, two payments are given to the city to reimburse between 5 and 8 percent of the investment they make to us,” McElhorne.

It’s hoped that in the future the museum, staff and historical society can all be independently-funded and self-sufficient through the endowment fund.

On average, the endowment fund pays backs to the city $30,000 to $40,000 a year, according to McElhorne.

The museum was allocated $23,900 for use at the Hunter House and $247,830 for use at the Allen House through the city’s 2009-2010 budget.

An important recent acquisition for the museum is a Sanborn Insurance Map for the city of Birmingham dating from July 1926, with updates through 1955, according to McElhone.

The map was donated by John Irwin.

“This map is really very cool,” McElhone said. “You can look at properties on this map in 1926 and see how they changed over the years through 1955 — it’s really fascinating.”

Sanborn Insurance Maps, made by the Sanborn Map Company of New York, were used by insurance companies for fire insurance work.

McElhone said the museum will continue to work on a long-term design plan for the museum and park through the year. He said once the various city reviews are complete, funded portions of the plans will be advertised for bids.

The plan includes installing a new main sign; a barrier-free handicapped accessible walking path on the lower north side of the park; a children’s rock garden; pads for public art; a fountain or sprayer feature for the park’s pond; installation of park benches and tables around the pond and throughout the park; a neighborhood entrance off of Willets and handicapped parking spaces along Willets; installation of bike racks and a drinking fountain; expansion of the Allen House rear patio; installation of a path between the Allen House rear patio and History Plaza; expansion of the History Plaza to the north to create a dramatic overlook for the park with a pergola/trellis feature; removal of picket fences for a 24-inch-high serpentine garden wall; reconfiguration of the History Plaza to provide a more direct walkway from a Maple Road crosswalk to the museum’s main entrance; a barrier-free ramp for the Hunter House; a school bell monument/trailhead located west of the Allen House; a transition plaza; and other initiatives that educate and promote ecological and natural environmental features of the outdoor resources at the site.

Funding for parts of this plan will be provided through private resources and community development block grants.

“Obviously, with the economy, now is not the time to be seeking large amounts of money for these projects,” McElhone said. “We will do them as funding is made available — it’s really a long-term, 10-year plan.”

The museum, located at 556 W. Maple Road, is open Wednesday through Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is $1 for members, $2 for adults, $1 for seniors (65+), $1 for students (6-18), and children 5 and under enter without charge. ■ www.oaklandpaper.com

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■ municipal Senior housing project backed by city commissioners

“Our commission is open to hearing what everyone wants to say,” said City Clerk Amy Burton.

After everyone in the room shared their opinion, Hardy, noting there were many friends in the room who would not be happy, made a motion to approve the final site plan.

“You elected us to use our vision, to use our wisdom, and to use our judgment,” she said.

Hardy invited those in the audience to attend future Planning Commission meetings, and to become involved in the planning process. ■

By Lisa Brody An overflow crowd turned up for the Tuesday, Feb. 9 Bloomfield Hills City Commission meeting to protest final site plan approval for a senior housing development project called The Woodward at Bloomfield Hills, only to be disappointed by the commission’s action.

The site plan was eventually passed by a vote of 3-2, with Mayor L. David Kellett Sr. and Commissioners Pat Hardy and John Utley voting for the final site plan approval, and all three noting the plan had been approved by the Planning Commission. Mayor Pro Tem Mike McCready and Commissioner Michael Zambricki voted against the plan.

A letter signed by several city residents denouncing the proposed development of The Woodward and The Plaza of Bloomfield Hills, a twostory mixed used retail and office center at the corner of Woodward and Long Lake Road, prompted many residents to attend the commission meeting to argue “the beauty and character of Bloomfield Hills is under attack,” as the letter stated.

The Woodward is proposed to be situated at 41150 Woodward Avenue, just south of Roeper School.

Developer Michael Damone of The Damone Group in Troy noted that he was making the company’s 11th presentation in two-and-a-half years of working on the project with Bloomfield Hills. The project has gone back and forth between the city’s commissions.

The project would be developed under a planned unit development (PUD) ordinance, which allows developers some flexibility. According to city attorney Bill Hampton, the requirements for PUDs are that if they are of a public benefit to the community, where the city could not acquire the benefits through regular zoning — such as determining building materials, lighting, and other desired accommodations — then a PUD is allowed. Hampton noted PUDs were in place when the city’s Master Plan was adopted last spring.

The Woodward is a large project, with a density of 184 units on 7 acres.

“This is a senior development where people can age in place,” Damone said. “There will be 104 apartments for independent living, 46 assisted living apartments that they can move in to when they need more assistance, 20 skilled nursing beds, and 24 memory care beds.”

He stated this is a way for Bloomfield Hills residents to age www.oaklandpaper.com

Opposition petition Group against Tim Horton’s, store plan

By Lisa Brody

R

esidents against the proposed expansion of a Mobil gas station at the intersection of Woodward, North Old Woodward and Oak Street are circulating a petition among the owners of homes in Birmingham’s Holy Name and Quarton Lake Estates neighborhoods.

According to David Flynn, who owns a condominium at Patricia Place on North Old Woodward and a house on Fairfax in Quarton Lake Estates, he and other residents have sent out a one-page petition requesting that the Ghafari Mobil be prevented from expanding into a two-story, 4,800-square-foot convenience store with an attached 24-hour drive through Tim Horton’s restaurant. The convenience store would sell alcoholic beverages and reportedly would close at 11 p.m.

“Of the 525 petitions we have dropped off, we have received 310 with signatures against this gas station tear down and redevelopment,” Flynn said.

Flynn noted that on Wednesday, Feb. 24, when the issue goes before Birmingham’s Planning Board, it will be the seventh time the Mobil station and the proposed 24-hour Tim Horton’s drive through and party store plan will have been before the board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).

“We go to each meeting,” Flynn within the community, and for residents’ loved ones to stay close.

While the development is five stories tall, the developer said it’s designed to be constructed into a hill, taking advantage of the sloping site, with underground parking.

Damone stated that the average height of the buildings were 40.4 feet because of the grade, although the highest points are 55 feet.

Bloomfield Hills ordinances state

said of a group of concerned citizens. “We’re fighting against the noise, and for increased safety.”

A letter being circulated with the petitions states: “This proposed site will increase traffic with cars, trucks, delivery trucks, children, pedestrians, after bar crowd, selling of food products causing safety, noise, debris, pollution, reduced property value and quality of life issues.”

The opposition group states members investigated (through the Freedom of Information Act) police reports of accidents and incidents in the area over the last 10 years. There have been 165 accidents at the North Old Woodward and Oak intersection over the last 10 years, and 642 incidents at or near the gas station during that same period, according to the group.

The residents also are upset about the idea of a convenience store and Tim Horton’s being the representative image of Birmingham at the city’s northern entrance.

“I can’t believe the city, at the gateway of Birmingham, would allow this,” Flynn said. “You wouldn’t put a McDonald’s next door to a residence. That’s what this is.”

Following a presentation of the petitions to members of the city’s Planning Board, the group intends to present the petitions to the Birmingham City Commission. ■ that buildings should be no higher than 30 feet.

Nearly 70 percent of the building is designed to be stone or brick in a traditional design. The entrance is off of Woodward, but a 100-foot driveway leads into the development, with landscaping and preserved wetlands providing privacy and isolation.

A majority of the city residents attending the meeting spoke out against the development.

THE PAPER

Koschik chosen as new director at Baldwin Library

By Lisa Brody The Baldwin Public Library Board of Directors has announced that interim co-director Douglas Koschik has been chosen as the library’s new director.

Koschik will take over the position on Monday, Feb. 1. He has 35 years of experience working at libraries, the last 19 of which have been spent at the Baldwin Public Library. He has served as head of technical services and systems, and associate director of technology/technical services. He was named interim co-director in September.

Koschik and Matt Church were appointed interim co-directors following former Baldwin Library Director Martha Custer’s resignation in August. At the time, Library Board of Directors Chairwoman Ann Conigliaro said the board would conduct a national search for a new director, although the board would prefer someone local serving as director.

Church will continue at the library as Associate director.

“The Personnel Committee used professional library guidelines and considered the goals of the Baldwin Public Library and the best interest of the public in making their recommendation,” Conigliaro said. “The board agreed that Mr. Koschik met all of the qualifications necessary for the position. We had the added advantage of observing the direction of the library during the past four months while he has been the cointerim director. He has both the experience and the skills necessary to handle the library in these challenging times.”

“I am firmly committed to maintaining the high level of service that residents have come to expect of Baldwin. At the same time, it is clear that the library needs to contain costs, enhance revenues, and improve relations with all elements of the communities that Baldwin serves,” Koschik said. ■ 39

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OAKLAND TOWNSHIP WƌŝǀĂƚĞ ƉĂƌĂĚŝƐĞ ŽŶ ϯ͘ϴϲ ĂĐƌĞƐ ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƐ ŚŽƌƐĞ ďĂƌŶ Θ ϰн ĐĂƌ ŐĂƌĂŐĞ͘ ŽŵƉůĞƚĞůLJ ƌĞŶŽǀĂƚĞĚ ϲϱϭϭн ƐƋ͘ Ō͕͘ ŝŶĐůƵĚŝŶŐ ŵĂƐƚĞƌ ǁŝƚŚ ĂƩĂĐŚĞĚ ƌŽŽŵ͘ tĂůŬŽƵƚ >>͘ ϰ Zͬϰ͘ϱ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϲϵϵ͕ϵϬϬ

FARMINGTON

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AM

ϱͲĂĐƌĞ WŽƉƉůĞƚŽŶ Ě ϯƌĚ ŇŽŽƌ ǁŝƚŚ ďƌŝĐŬ ǁĂůŬǁĂLJƐ͕ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϱϳϱ͕ϬϬϬ

ELD

Ŷ ϭ͘ϱ ĂĐƌĞƐ ďĂĐŬŝŶŐ ĞůĞǀĂƚŽƌ Θ ϰͲĐĂƌ ƌĞĂŬĨĂƐƚ ĂƌĞĂ ǁŝƚŚ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϭ͕ϰϵϵ͕ϬϬϬ

HILLS

ůŽŽŵĮĞůĚ ,ŝůůƐ͊ >> ǁŝƚŚ ϮŶĚ LJĂƌĚ ĨŽƌ ŽƵƚĚŽŽƌ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϵϰϵ͕ϬϬϬ

HILLS

ƌŝǀĂƚĞ ϯͲĂĐƌĞ ƉĂƌŬͲ н ƐƋ͘ Ō͘ ŽĨ ůŝǀŝŶŐ ĞǁƐ ŽĨ ŽǀĞŶƚƌLJ ĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϭ͕Ϯϵϵ͕ϬϬϬ

FRANKLIN V ILLAGE

BLOOMFIELD HILLS

BLOOMFIELD

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EĞǁ ĐŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƟŽŶ ŝŶ ŐĂƚĞĚ ĐŽŵŵƵŶŝƚLJ ,ƵŶƚ ůƵď ƐƚĂƚĞƐ͊ ; ůƵď ŵĞŵďĞƌƐŚŝƉ ŝŶĐůƵĚĞĚ͘Ϳ ϲϬϬϬн ƐƋ͘ Ō͘ ŽĨ ŽƉĞŶ ŇŽŽƌ ƉůĂŶ͕ ϱ ĮƌĞƉůĂĐĞƐ ĂŶĚ ĞdžƉĂŶƐŝǀĞ ŐƌŽƵŶĚƐ͘ ϰ Zͬϰ ĨƵůů͕ Ϯ ŚĂůĨ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϭ͕ϲϰϱ͕ϬϬϬ

ůĞĐƚƌŝĐ ŐĂƚĞǁĂLJ ůĞĂĚƐ ƚŽ ƚŚŝƐ ƉƌŝǀĂƚĞ Θ ƐĞĐůƵĚĞĚ ,ĂƌŽůĚ dƵƌŶĞƌͲĚĞƐŝŐŶĞĚ ŚŽŵĞ ǁŝƚŚ ĐƵƐƚŽŵ WĞǁĂďŝĐ ƟůĞ ŇŽŽƌŝŶŐ͘ >ĂƌŐĞ ŐƵĞƐƚ Z͕ ƐŽĂƌŝŶŐ ĐĞŝůŝŶŐƐ͘ Ϯ Zͬϭ͘ϱ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ ΨϱϮϱ͕ϬϬϬ

BINGHAM FARMS

FRANKLIN VILLAGE

BLOOMFIELD HILLS

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ĞƐƚ ďƵLJ ŝŶ &ƌĂŶŬůŝŶ͊ ůĂƐƐŝĐ dŽďŽĐŵĂŶ ŽŶ ϭ͘ϲ ĂĐƌĞƐ ďĂĐŬŝŶŐ ƚŽ ZŽƵŐĞ ZŝǀĞƌ͘ KƵƚƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐ ĞŶƚĞƌƚĂŝŶŝŶŐ Θ ůŝǀŝŶŐ ƐƉĂĐĞƐ͘ &ŝŶŝƐŚĞĚ ĚĂLJůŝŐŚƚ >> ǁŝƚŚ ŬŝƚĐŚĞŶ Θ &Z͘ ϱ Zͬϯ ĨƵůů͕ Ϯ ŚĂůĨ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϵϵϵ͕ϬϬϬ

KƉĞŶ͕ ƐƉĂĐŝŽƵƐ ƌĂŶĐŚ ŽŶ ĞdžĐůƵƐŝǀĞ ǁŽŽĚĞĚ Ϯ͘ϱн ĂĐƌĞ ƉƌŝǀĂƚĞ ƉĂƌĐĞů ŝŶ ŝƚLJ ŽĨ ůŽŽŵĮĞůĚ ,ŝůůƐ͘ ϯͲƌŽŽŵ ŝŶͲůĂǁ ƐƵŝƚĞ͕ ůĂƌŐĞ >> ƌĞĐ ƌŽŽŵ Θ ϰͲĐĂƌн ŐĂƌĂŐĞ͘ ϰ Zͬϱ ĨƵůů͕ Ϯ ŚĂůĨ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϵϴϱ͕ϬϬϬ

BLOOMFIELD

BIRMINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM

ŚĂůŵĞƌƐ >ĂŬĞ ůŝŵĞƐƚŽŶĞ ďĞĂƵƚLJ ĚĞƐŝŐŶĞĚ ďLJ DŝĐŚĂĞů tŝůůŽƵŐŚďLJ͘ ϭϳϬ͛ ĨƌŽŶƚĂŐĞ͘ ϯϬ͛ dž ϭϵ͛ ŬŝƚĐŚĞŶͬĨĂŵŝůLJ ƌŽŽŵ͘ tĂůŬŽƵƚ >>͕ ǁŝŶĞ ĐĞůůĂƌ ĂŶĚ ŐĞŶĞƌĂƚŽƌ͘ ϯ Zͬϰ͘ϱ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ ΨϮ͕ϮϱϬ͕ϬϬϬ

^ƚŽŶĞ Θ ĐĞĚĂƌ ĐƵƐƚŽŵͲďƵŝůƚ ŚŽŵĞ ŽīĞƌŝŶŐ ŵĂƐƚĞƌ ƐƵŝƚĞ ǁŝƚŚ ĮƌĞƉůĂĐĞ͕ ƐŝƫŶŐ ĂƌĞĂ ĂŶĚ ƐƚŽŶĞͲƟůĞĚ ďĂƚŚ͘ &ŝŶŝƐŚĞĚ >> ǁŝƚŚ ϰƚŚ Z͕ ĨĂŵŝůLJ Θ ĞdžĞƌĐŝƐĞ ƌŽŽŵƐ͘ ϯ Zͬϰ͘ϱ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϳϵϵ͕ϬϬϬ

'ŽƌŐĞŽƵƐ dƵĚŽƌ ƐŝƚĞĚ ŽŶ ϭ͘ϱ ůŽƚƐ ŝŶ ƉƌĞƐƟŐŝŽƵƐ YƵĂƌƚŽŶ >ĂŬĞ ƐƚĂƚĞƐ͘ 'ŽƵƌŵĞƚ ŐƌĂŶŝƚĞ ŬŝƚĐŚĞŶ Θ ůŝďƌĂƌLJͬŵƵƐŝĐ ƌŽŽŵ ŽǀĞƌůŽŽŬŝŶŐ ƉƌŝǀĂƚĞ ĐŽƵƌƚLJĂƌĚ͘ &Z ĂĚũŽŝŶƐŐůĂƐƐĐŽŶƐĞƌǀĂƚŽƌLJ͘ϱ Zͬϯ͘ϱďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϲϵϱ͕ϬϬϬ

BIRMINGHAM

HOLLY TOWNSHIP

W HITE LAKE TOWNSHIP

^ŝdžͲďĞĚƌŽŽŵ ŚŽŵĞ ŽǀĞƌůŽŽŬŝŶŐ ϭ͘ϰϱ ĂĐƌĞƐ ŽĨ ůĂŶĚǁŝƚŚĞdžĐĞƉƟŽŶĂůǀĂůƵĞ͘ϭƐƚŇŽŽƌŵĂƐƚĞƌƐƵŝƚĞ ǁŝƚŚ ůŽǀĞůLJ ďĂƚŚ͕ ůĂƌŐĞ ŽƉĞŶ ŬŝƚĐŚĞŶ͘ ϲ Zͬϰ͘ϱ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϭ͕Ϯϵϵ͕ϬϬϬ Žƌ ůĞĂƐĞ Λ ΨϲϬϬϬ ƉĞƌ ŵŽŶƚŚ

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dŚŝƐ ŚŽŵĞ͛Ɛ ĐŝƌĐƵůĂƌ ŐƌĞĂƚ ƌŽŽŵ ƐƵƌƌŽƵŶĚƐ LJŽƵ ǁŝƚŚ ůĂŬĞĨƌŽŶƚ ǀŝĞǁƐ ĂŶĚ ůŝŐŚƚ͊ ϭϮϲ͛ ĨƌŽŶƚĂŐĞ͕ ϭƐƚ ŇŽŽƌ ŵĂƐƚĞƌ Θ ǁĂůŬŽƵƚ >> ǁŝƚŚ ĨƵůů ŬŝƚĐŚĞŶ͘ ϰ Zͬϯ ĨƵůů͕ Ϯ ŚĂůĨ ďĂƚŚƐ͘ Ψϱϭϱ͕ϬϬϬ

■ municipal Site plan approved for former site of Fox and Hounds

Sonic project tabled Drive-in restaurant traffic a concern

By Lisa Brody Arkan Jonna, a Bloomfield Hills developer who purchased the former Fox and Hounds restaurant and the neighboring Shell gas station over three years ago, has received final site plan approval for The Plaza of Bloomfield Hills under a planned unit development (PUD) ordinance.

Jonna came before the Bloomfield Hills City Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 9 for approval.

The Plaza of Bloomfield Hills will be a two-story, mixed-used retail and office center at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Long Lake Road. It will have retail stores on the first floor and offices on the second.

A restaurant will be in the center of the first floor. On the south end of the building, a drive-through bank will provide an end cap for the development.

The commission approved the site plan with a 3-2 vote. Mayor L. David Kellett Sr. and Commissioners Pat Hardy and John Utley voted in favor of the development, which the Planning Commission advised the City Commission to approve. Mayor Pro Tem Mike McCready and Commissioner Michael Zambricki voted against the request.

Jonna presented architectural renderings to an audience of 40 to 50 people attending the City Commission meeting. Many had come because of a letter, signed by several Bloomfield Hills residents, denouncing the proposed development of The Woodward, a senior housing development, and The Plaza of Bloomfield Hills, arguing that “the beauty and character of Bloomfield Hills is under attack,” as the letter stated.

A majority of the audience had come out in opposition to the senior housing development, and stayed to view plans for The Plaza. There were mixed opinions about the shopping plaza. Many in the audience were concerned about the addition of the drive-through bank.

Jonna noted that the square footage of the shopping center dropped from 45,000 to 38,000 square feet when the bank was added. The Plaza initially was designed to have a restaurant at the end with a large area of outdoor seating, but the developer was advised of parking limitations for the restaurant.

The Plaza will be built with limestone and have a slate roof. The city brought in a consulting architect to 42

By Brooke Meier

B

loomfield Township officials are debating whether to allow a Sonic drive-in restaurant to be built near the corner of Square Lake and Telegraph roads, at the former site of a BP gas station.

The issue was debated during a final site plan review at the Monday, Feb. 8 Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees meeting, where two neighboring business owners voiced their opposition to the project, citing traffic concerns.

Because the proposed site is so close to the intersection, and the site is small, there’s concern among board members that traffic for the restaurant will spill out onto Telegraph, backing up traffic and creating a dangerous situation for motorists and pedestrians traveling north.

The issue was ultimately tabled, and will be brought back for discussion at either the Feb. 22 township board meeting or the first meeting in March.

“A few of our board members wanted to visit a Sonic similar in size to the one being proposed,” said Supervisor Dave Payne. “The site in Bloomfield Township is on the smaller side, so we want to see the one in Royal Oak that’s work with Jonna in order to produce an architectural ambiance consistent with Bloomfield Hills.

It was noted that there is nothing in the city’s current ordinances to restrict retail establishments, with any kind of retail permitted in the city.

“This is one of the best intersections in town,” Jonna said. “Today’s environment is going to bring in high quality tenants. They want to have things as upscale as possible.

The character of the building — right from the beginning, I knew it had to meet the Cranbrook/Bloomfield Hills standards. We’ve gone out of our way to make this a handsome property. I think this is a win-win situation for the city and myself.”

It was noted that Jonna is the largest developer of drug stores in the area, and he could have put a free-standing CVS on the corner.

“We have been trying to do the right thing,” he said. ■

roughly the same size, and see how traffic moves through.”

The township site, according to Patricia Voelker, director of planning, building and ordinances for the township, is 25,295 square feet in size.

A traffic study was conducted at the site, and changes in the plan were made by the developer to ease any traffic concerns.

The project has been approved by the township’s Zoning Board of Appeals and Design Board.

In addition, the developer has agreed to extend an existing deceleration lane in front of the property, up to the lane in front of the Golling Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership next to the proposed site. This, according to the traffic study, would help to move traffic in and out of the restaurant, and lessen the potential for dangerous traffic backups due to the site’s proximity to the intersection.

“This is a great place to go and take your family to eat,” said Township Trustee Dave Buckley. “Its a family food attraction. I appreciate the concerns about traffic, but I think the developer has coordinated with our departments to address those concerns. A lot of effort was put into this project and I think people would be excited to have a Sonic here.” ■

Sign ordinances adopted to permit gas pump TVs

By Lisa Brody Patrons of a local Speedway gasoline station will soon be able to catch updates on news, sports, and weather information at the pumps, following the Birmingham City Commission’s Monday, Jan. 25 unanimous adoption of four sign ordinance amendments regulating broadcast media devices.

After receiving a request from Commissioner Tom McDaniel at the previous City Commission meeting, Birmingham City Planner Jana Ecker presented the sign ordinance amendments to the commission on Jan. 25.

The first revised ordinance (Chapter 86, Article 1, Section 1.06, Signs), regarding permanent business sign standards, was changed to allow the use of broadcast media devices.

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The ordinance now applies to “signs and broadcast media devices.”

The second adopted amendment revised the same ordinance (Article 2, Section 2.01) to require permits for the use of broadcast media devices.

The third amendment (Article 2, Section 2.05) involves the establishment of regulations for the removal of broadcast media devices.

The fourth, and final, ordinance amendment (Article 3, Section 3.02) added a definition of broadcast media devices.

The relevancy of broadcast media devices came about when GSTV, a national company which has relocated to Birmingham from Oak Park, asked to place their TV monitors on the pumps at the Speedway gas station on Woodward Avenue. Their product didn’t comply with the previous sign ordinance language, and company officials sought permission to install the TV monitors on a local Speedway station’s pumps for use in demonstrating GSTV’s product to prospective clients.

GSTV is considered the premier digital video network providing entertaining and informative TV at the gas pump. It features NBC news and entertainment, ESPN sports, and market-specific AccuWeather. ■

Arts board would need $20,000 for 9/11 memorial

By Lisa Brody Birmingham’s Public Arts Board is exploring whether there’s enough financial support in the community to move forward with a 9/11 memorial project in the city.

Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 17, the board determined it needs approximately $20,000 to pay an artist to create a piece of art, and to possibly transport steel from the World Trade Center to Birmingham for use in a memorial.

The Public Arts Board is considering creation of a memorial to the victims and survivors of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and an airplane which crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the steel from the World Trade Center, is considering requests for pieces of steel wreckage for use in public displays.

Birmingham resident and 9/11 widow Kia Pavloff-Pecorelli previously opposed the idea of a 9/11 memorial using World Trade Center steel, saying it would be a difficult reminder for her and her son. ■ MARCH 2010

■ municipal Bloomfield Hills planners to review lighting ordinance

By Lisa Brody The Bloomfield Hills City Commission referred a proposed amendment to the zoning code to establish lighting regulations to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

The Planning Commission will review the proposal in March, and set a date to hold a public hearing on the amendments.

Bloomfield Hills currently doesn’t have any residential lighting regulations in its zoning code.

“A subcommittee has been meeting on residential lighting regulations to get it to this point, but now it has to be sent to the planning board,” said Bloomfield Hills City Manager Jay Cravens. “It goes into a lot of details, and is very procedural.”

Cravens notes that it’s not a coincidence that a lighting ordinance has come up, as a group of Barton Hills Street residents have been protesting a new development’s street lights, which they say are having a negative impact on their homes.

The residents are upset about developer Ed Mancini, of Mancini Enterprises of Sterling Heights, installing 10 street lights in his nearby Barton Hills development. Mancini is in the process of building Barton Hills, a gated community of 11 site condominiums, which are individual single-family homes in a condo setting.

The new community is set on the former Barton Farms location off East Long Lake near Eastways, adjacent to an existing neighborhood. All of the complaints have come from residents in the adjacent neighborhood, many of whom have lived in their homes for decades.

After considerable outcry by the residents, Mancini replaced the 300watt light bulbs in the exterior fixtures with 100-watt bulbs, and then installed metal shades to reflect the light to the ground.

“We’re trying to work with the neighbors as much as possible,” Mancini said in October.

The residents of Barton Hills continue to be upset, requesting that the developer meet with Cravens one more time. On Feb. 9, the City Commission adopted a resolution recommending Cravens meet with Mancini again to see if anything further can be done to placate the residents.

“However, with this new ordinance, these lights, as they are now, are in compliance,” Cravens said.

“And even if they weren’t, Mancini would be grandfathered in, because the development was here before the ordinance.”

Cravens added that the proposed lighting ordinance amendment is www.oaklandpaper.com

Transit center gets federal allocation; now fully funded

By Lisa Brody

T

he Birmingham/Troy transit center is a go, following word on the approval of allocations to fully fund the project.

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters (DBirmingham, Bloomfield), Birmingham Mayor Rackeline Hoff, Troy Mayor Louise Schilling, and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials will announce at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29 that the proposed intermodal transit center has received all of the necessary funding.

President Barack Obama announced Thursday, Jan. 28 that Michigan will receive $40 million in high-speed rail funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congress enacted last year, and Michigan will invest a portion of these funds to build a transit center near the Birmingham-Troy border.

“We applied for $8.5 million, and we understand we are within $300,000 (of that figure),” said Birmingham Planning Director Jana Ecker. “In December, we received $1.3 million in federal transportation appropriation earmarks, which President Obama signed into law on Dec. 18. And this past Tuesday (Jan. 26), we found out from the Department of Labor, Energy and Growth that we have been awarded a $250,000 LED grant, which was the full amount you could get.

That fully funds the transit center.”

According to Ecker, it’s believed these grants don’t require matching funds. The city of Troy had set aside $1.3 million in case matching funds were needed.

“We just have our expenditures to pay for, such as construction drawings and engineering plans,” Ecker said. pretty stringent, reflecting the wishes of the community.

“They don’t want the night sky polluted,” he said. “They want a rural feel.” ■

Incumbent, three challengers seek commission seats

By Lisa Brody Four candidates — an incumbent and three challengers — have filed to run for two Bloomfield Hills City Commission seats during the city’s May 4 election.

Mayor David Kellett and

When asked the current timing for the center’s construction, Ecker said, “As soon as possible.” She added that federal paperwork will need to be filled out.

The concept of a transit center first surfaced in 1999, when developer Grand Sakwa of Farmington Hills sought to purchase the former Ford New Holland Tractor site in Troy. Grand Sakwa filed a lawsuit against Troy to get the zoning the firm wanted for the site. A consent judgment allowed for the development Grand Sakwa desired, with the stipulation that the firm give the city of Troy a portion of the land, approximately four acres, at the edge of Birmingham against the railroad tracks for use as a transit center, as long as construction began by June 2010.

Ecker said she anticipates meeting this requirement.

Birmingham came on board, and together, Troy and Birmingham officials have worked to develop plans for a intermodal transit center and to secure financing for it.

The facility is designed as a hub for intercity train service, regional bus routes, taxis, and black sedan services. There is a possibility of rental cars being available, as well.

In addition to being a train station, there will be four full bus slips, room in front for taxis and black sedan cars, and a kiosk inside for rental cars.

The transit center building, to be situated off of Doyle Drive, behind Midtown Square in Troy,

Commissioner John Utley’s terms will expire in May. Kellett has filed for re-election. Utley had filed to seek another term, and then withdrew, signaling his departure from the commission in May. In addition to Kellett, Douglas Hardy, Sarah McClure, and Robert Toohey filed candidate paperwork to seek a commission seat.

Bloomfield Hills commissioners serve two-year terms and are paid $5 a month. This year, all of the current commissioners waived their payments to give back to the city coffers. There are five city commission seats.

The candidate filing deadline was 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18.

Non-partisan City Commission

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will be approximately 2,400 square feet, with a waiting area, ticket seller space, restrooms, a kiosk area, and janitor space. It is designed as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building, with a green roof; a recycled water irrigation system; geothermal heating, ventilation and air conditioning; LED lighting; re-used rainwater; and will use regional and recycled materials in its construction.

While the passenger trains that will use the transit center are owned by Amtrak, the rails themselves are owned by Canadian National, which only permits passengers boarding from the Birmingham side of the site, necessitating construction of a pedestrian tunnel beneath the tracks connecting the transit center with a Birmingham access site. It has been determined that the pedestrian tunnel will come out in the area of Cole Street, in Birmingham’s Rail District.

The city of Birmingham has been working to acquire land in that area, as there is no vacant land available. The Birmingham City Commission has been discussing this in closed sessions; but at a Monday, Jan. 25 meeting, commissioners announced they have authorized an offer to purchase a portion of the former transportation yard on Eton from the Birmingham Public Schools.

Costs have not yet been announced. ■

elections are held the first Tuesday in May because prior to election consolidations in 2005, all city commission elections were held in April.

“When election consolidations came through, we, and other communities, were limited to four times a year to have elections — February, May, August, or November,” said Bloomfield Hills City Clerk Amy Burton.

Bloomfield Hills holds a May election every year, because commissioner terms are staggered and some expire every year. This year, two seats are open. Next year, three commission seats will be filled by city voters.

The city doesn’t hold primaries for City Commission elections. ■ 43

■ municipal Commission backs new site for city’s annual Village Fair

By Lisa Brody The Birmingham Village Fair has received unanimous approval from the City Commission to relocate to South Old Woodward for this year’s fair, scheduled for June 3-6.

The Village Fair is sponsored by the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. It has been held in Birmingham’s Shain Park for 47 years.

The newly-redesigned and redeveloped Shain Park will have to settle for most of 2010, preventing citysponsored events from taking place in the new center of town. That has left the chamber searching for a new location for its large money-making annual fair. Over the last five years, the fair has raised about $90,000 for local non-profit organizations.

“It’s one year. Our goal is to move back to the Shain Park area,” Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce President Carrie Zarotney told city commissioners of the fair relocation when she came before the commission on Jan. 25 to request permission to hold the fair on South Old Woodward, south of Bowers Street to Lincoln. The fair site will include the grass triangle between Old

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Woodward and Woodward Avenue, just south of the 555 Building.

Commissioners, concerned about pedestrian safety, emergency personnel access, parking accessibility, and retailer access during the fair, sent Zarotney back for additional planning.

Zarotney returned to the City Commission on Feb. 8 with new information for the commissioners.

Non-profit organizations will have their booths laid out in the Don Thomas parking lot, and games, food booths, and ticket sales will be available along South Old Woodward, with rides in the grassy area south of the 555 Building.

Zarotney emphasized there won’t be a site entrance on the south end of Old Woodward at Woodward Avenue. City officials are working with merchants located across Woodward to prevent fair patron parking, so pedestrians won’t try to cross Woodward to enter the fair.

Barriers will be erected along Woodward. There will also be a halfbarrier at Bowers, with traffic being redirected away from South Old Woodward. Only local traffic will be allowed through.

Mayor Rackeline Hoff noted that the event site map provided by the chamber was 100 percent better than the previous plan, and a plan for a parking shuttle service was much improved. ■

Township, Comcast settle lawsuit over PEG programming

By Brooke Meier Bloomfield Township and Comcast have agreed to settle a lawsuit regarding the delivery of public, educational and government (PEG) programming to Comcast customers.

Bloomfield Township, along with the city of Warren, Dearborn and Meridian Township, filed suit in U.S. District Court in January 2008 in response to Comcast’s announcement that it would move all PEG channels throughout the state to digital delivery, according to Leslie Helwig, community relations director for Bloomfield Township.

This move, according to Helwig, would require some Comcast customers to obtain digital cable boxes in order to continue to view PEG programming.

Comcast officials said digitizing the analog PEG channels was necessary to free up bandwidth for additional services.

Terms of the settlement state Comcast will continue to deliver existing PEG channels in an analog format on the Limited Basic Cable tier in Michigan until the company digitizes the entire Limited Basic

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Since the lawsuit was originally filed, Comcast pursued alternative plans to create more bandwidth without transitioning the PEG channels.

“Through investment projects, such as the company’s digital network enhancement, we have successfully created more bandwidth capacity to bring greater value to our Michigan customers, like more high definition and On Demand programming,” said Tom Coughlin, senior vice president of Comcast in Michigan. “As a result of our investment ... we have determined that we will not transition Michigan public access channels to a digital format at this time.” ■

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â– education Birmingham district considers closing pair of buildings

By Lisa Brody Birmingham Public Schools officials may take action in March to close the district’s Environment Education Center, situated behind Bingham Farms Elementary School at 23400 W. 13 Mile Road in Bingham Farms, and the district’s Administration Building at 550 E. Merrill in Birmingham.

The district needs to make additional budget cuts after an acrossthe-board, state per-pupil funding cut of $165 per student for the 2009-10 academic year. The Birmingham district suffered even more when Gov. Jennifer Granholm slashed 20j state funding, money promised by Proposal A to supplement funding for school districts with historically high tax bases. As a result, the Birmingham district needs to cut approximately $8 million from its budget for the 2010-11 academic year. “There’s still a commitment to environmental education,� said Marcia Wilkinson, director of community relations for the Birmingham Public Schools, of the district’s consideration of closing the Environment Education Center.

“Unfortunately, because of the budget, we’re having to look at another way to deliver these services.�

The district has worked out an arrangement with Bloomfield Hills Schools for Birmingham’s elementary school students to next year attend the Bloomfield Hills district’s environmental center on the Bowers Farm grounds. “While we’ll have to cover transportation costs, there would be no increase, because we already pay a cost to have (our students) bussed to our environmental center,�

Wilkinson said. “While there is a perstudent charge from Bloomfield Hills, it’s still a $200,000 (annual) savings by not having (our) environmental center open.�

The Birmingham district’s Environment Education Center employs a full-time teacher, a paraprofessional, and a half-time employee. Wilkinson said those employees could move into other positions in a different building, but that would have to be negotiated with unions.

The district’s administration building has been for sale for approximately $3 million since last fall. The district is selling the building because it’s currently at half-capacity, and it doesn’t need that much space. There are currently two offers on the building. “This building is also at the point of needing an investment, or we were ready to look at other options,�

Wilkinson said.

There is no intention of leasing further space. It’s likely administrative staff will move into one of the district’s two high schools, although officials haven’t determined which one. They will submit a proposal to the school board at its first meeting in March to determine if they will move into the Groves or Seaholm high school. â–

Bloomfield Hills superintendent search continues

By Brooke Meier The search for a new Bloomfield Hills Schools superintendent continues, despite controversy surrounding the firm picked by the Board of Education to help select a new superintendent.

The controversy was brought to light at a recent meeting of the United Homeowners Association of Bloomfield Township, when it was revealed that retiring Superintendent Steve Gaynor previously had an affiliation with School Exec Connect, the firm hired to conduct a search. “The superintendent was briefly affiliated with the firm, was never paid for his involvement, and terminated that relationship last June,� said

Betsy Erickson, director of communications and community relations for the district. “His name was inadvertently left on one page of the search firm’s web site, and they have apologized for that error. He has purposefully stayed out of this process, even going so far as to not attend meetings where the topic is discussed.�

Board of Education President Martin Brook echoed those statements in a recent letter to district staff and parents.

Since Gaynor announced his pending retirement, the district has held a series of public forums to garner community input on hiring a replacement.

School Exec Connect has set Thursday, Feb. 25 as a date to present the results of 10 community focus group meetings, individual interviews and 300 responses to an online survey. This information will form the profile for the next superintendent, according to Erickson.

On March 18 the search firm will present candidates to the Board of Education. Those candidates will be interviewed on March 29, 30 and 31.

According to Erickson, the board will conduct a second round of interviews in mid-April and plans to select a final candidate on April 15. “It’s imperative that we move forward in partnership with our community in a most transparent and cooperative manner,â€? Brook said. â–

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â– snapshot

A

stephanie k t just 23-years-old, singer and songwriter Stephanie K is an old soul with a fresh sound, who has a record deal with D-Town Records, with distribution through

Universal Records.

"I'm a big fan of Ray Charles," K said. "I'm really a person who likes to push against the norm and do things differently. I stretch the boundaries.

I don't write the typical love song."

As a Bloomfield Hills resident and graduate of Lahser High School, K went to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming the next singing sensation, but quickly realized she is a Michigan girl through-and-through.

K journeyed back home, where she began working with Michael Powell, a producer who has worked with Aretha Franklin, Aaliyah, and Anita Baker.

"L.A. was just not my scene," she said. "I really like to work with people who don't put money, fame, and excess in front of the music."

With her feet firmly planted in Bloomfield Hills, K is releasing her first national single, "Story of a Broken Heart."

"I wanted it to be unique," she said. "It's definitely pop-rock with some soul and funk influences."

Although K earned a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan after high school, she ended up studying there for only one semester.

"I'm concentrating 100 percent on my music," she said. "This is the right time for me to be in this industry."

Already an award-winning songwriter, K is well on her way to success,

although she realizes that the industry doesn't simply roll out the red carpet for new artists.

"Luckily, I'm a really strong person," she said. "I knew coming into this it wasn't going to be easy. Rejection is hard and it hurts. But, it's like basketball; as good as you can be, you can't win every game."

A die-hard Detroit Pistons fan, K is also a regular National Anthem singer at the team's home games. Coming from a family of basketball fans, she said she probably attended her first game while still in the womb.

K sees every tomorrow as a new day, and is able to put life in perspective with the help of her parents and brother.

"They are definitely my biggest fans," she said. "They are very, very supportive and they are always rooting me on."

At a time of great diversity in the music industry, K looks to artists like Lady Gaga for inspiration.

"I love the uniqueness of Lady Gaga," she said. "She's very quirky and is able to express herself."

While the current state of Michigan may be strained, K has no plans to abandon her hometown.

"I don't feel a need to uproot and leave my support system," she said.

"There are so many great places to perform here, and I can record right here in Detroit."

K says looks forward to spreading her music to as many listeners as she can, and pursuing a career she's had an affinity for since she was just a little girl. — Katey Meisner

I

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Lower Long Lake Frontage $3,900,000 Spectacular setting on Lower Long Lake! Country French Estate featuring walkout lower level to private landscaped pool area with brick deck and walkways. Large backyard down to boat dock. Large room sizes with lovely views of the lake! Back stairway leads to separate suites built over garage.

Warm and inviting! 29123106 Presented by Ronni Keating

Bloomfield Hills $3,900,000

Royal Oak $550,000

Custom designed home built by Deneweth in the City of Bloomfield Hills across from the Country Club. Wonderful floor plan featuring first floor master suite with sitting room and dual fireplace. Limestone and hardwood floors. Four bedroom suites in upper level with built-ins and custom designs 29157537 Presented by Ronni Keating

Quality abounds in the details of this newer construction in downtown Royal Oak. Five full bedrooms. Brazilian floors, spectacular kitchen with stainless steel, granite, oversized island all overlooking family room. Third floor is a bedroom/au pair suite with bath and sitting room. 210009344 Presented by Erin Keating Dewald

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Franklin Village $1,495,000

Extraordinary Village home. Meticulously built with modern details and features. Home boasts six bedroom suites, 7.2 baths and 9300+ sq ft of finished living space. Gourmet kitchen. Finished lower level with 2nd kitchen, recreation room and private entrance. 3+ car garage. Pebble-tec pool, extensive landscaping and hardscape. 29001502 Presented by Sara Lipnitz

Once in a life time opportunity to secure one of Franklin’s greatest homes.

Mt. Tom sits high atop a 4+ acre hilltop property. Meticulously updated mechanically and cosmetically. Grounds are breathtaking. Four bedrooms, 3.1 baths, 4,581 sq ft. Square footage includes 550 sq ft in finished lower level walkout. 28164472 Presented by Sara Lipnitz

Birmingham $1,099,000

Birmingham $675,000

Gracious Quarton Lake Estates home. Soaring ceilings, custom details and stylish décor. Gourmet kitchen boasts premium appliances and granite.

Generous master suite with a spa-like bath and huge walk-in closet. First floor laundry, finished lower level with recreation room and storage.

29134475 Presented by Sara Lipnitz

Quarton Lake Estates Gem! Home boasts built-in’s galore, beautiful hardwood floors, gourmet kitchen, family room with stone fireplace and wet bar. Huge master suite with spa like bath. Second floor laundry. Four bedrooms with 4.1 baths. Large private lot. 28103736 Presented by Sara Lipnitz

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Quarton Lake Frontage $7,950,000 Soon to be completed! An amazing location tucked behind some of Birmingham’s most important real estate affording complete privacy and stunning views of Quarton Lake. This grand shingle style home has standards well above expectation. Grand space allocated includes a 22 x 32 master bedroom, 34 x 24 living room and 20 x 30 kitchens. Eight car garage. 29129375 Presented by Mike Cotter

Birmingham $1,190,000

Bloomfield $879,000

Beautifully located on premier downtown street! This totally updated 1930's home is exquisitely renovated with premium everything.

Hardwoods throughout, leaded & beveled crystal windows & doors. Dentil crown moldings, custom built-ins, fabulous master bedroom suite and large family room with designer eat-in kitchen. 29158170 Presented by Mike Cotter

A wonderful traditional Colonial on over two acres. Meticulously constructed and maintained. Freshly painted interior, premium appliances; Jenn Air, sub zero, two ovens, four fireplaces, living room and library. Five car garage. Birmingham schools. 28135735 Presented by Mike Cotter

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Birmingham $1,375,000 Stunning home adorned with all of the finest finishes and materials. Grand two story limestone foyer opens to walnut floors throughout. Flowing first floor features John Morgan Kitchen with double islands, enormous family room with custom built-ins and elegant formal dining and living rooms.

Master suite with marble bath and claw foot tub. Three superbly finished bedroom suites. 210008551 Presented by Renee Acho

Birmingham $1,295,000 Impeccably remodeled center entrance Colonial in fantastic Holy Name area. Nantucket inspired décor with walnut floors throughout. Crisp white Chef ’s kitchen opens to sunfilled breakfast nook and spacious family room. Master suite with vaulted ceilings, his and hers walk-in closets and marble baths. Four bedrooms with 5.1 baths. 210005436 Presented by Renee Acho

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Birmingham $999,000 Fantastic newer construction built by Trowbridge Homes. Flowing floor plan boasts 10.5 foot ceilings, cherry hardwood floors, chef kitchen with fireplace opens to generous family room with wet bar and adjoining formal dining room through butlers’ pantry. Gracious bedrooms including master suite with his and hers closets, marble bath and jetted tub. 437 square foot carriage house is 5th bedroom with bath. 210012527 Presented by Cindy Obron Kahn

Walnut Lake Frontage $699,000

Bloomfield Hills $695,000

Beautifully updated, stylish Contemporary home on all sports lake.

Hardwood floors, white kitchen with granite counters, high end stainless steel appliances and subway tile backsplash. Spacious breakfast area with built-ins, large dining room and living room. Master suite with dressing room, walk in closets and updated bath. Two additional bedrooms.

Spectacular sunsets! 210014375 Presented by Cindy Obron Kahn

Feel like you are in Northern Michigan in this Contemporary house with three decks overlooking surrounding woods, yet only minutes from Cranbrook and Birmingham. The open floor plan and soaring ceilings are ideal for entertaining. Fireplaces in the living room, family room and master bedroom. Four bedrooms and 3.2 baths. 29153657 Presented by Cindy Obron Kahn

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Kern Lake Frontage $1,699,800 Beautiful mahogany circular staircase, first and second level master suites, tiered theater room, mahogany library, central vacuum, sound and alarm system. View the French inspired exterior from the property entry and experience the 10,000 sq. ft. of living and entertaining space. Lower level walkout leads onto deck/patio with lake access. 210020441 Presented by Lisa Sturdevant

Bloomfield $985,900

Bloomfield $699,900

Amazing custom features and highest end amenities. Beautiful stunning staircase and elegant foyer. Gracious and open loft overlooks great room.

First floor master suite with walk-in closet. Gourmet kitchen with Sub Zero fridge and all granite sink. 29133514 Presented by Lisa Sturdevant

Maplewood Homes Builder owner’s personal residence. Completely renovated in 2008. Gourmet granite kitchen, first floor master, five bedrooms, 4.3 baths, hardwood and crown moldings throughout. Bridge overlooks foyer, Cedar roof, two decks, circular drive and nature trail behind wooded private lot. 29076326 Presented by Lisa Sturdevant

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Bloomfield $2,890,000

Independence Township $1,200,000

Contemporary masterpiece over looking Minnow Lake. Stunning architectural, exotic slate, wood floors throughout the main level and waterfall cascading down two floors. Granite chef 's kitchen, two story great room, six bedroom suites including a gorgeous master with two dressing rooms and a fabulous walkout lower level with theater and kitchen. 210014254 Presented by Marjorie Hirschfield & David Kopko

Spectacular four year old custom built home on 10.7 wooded acres. Tall ceilings, granite, travertine tile and wide plank wood floors. Luxurious master suite. Four fireplaces. Finished walk-out with second kitchen, full bath and bedroom. Six bedrooms and 5.3 baths. 210001716 Presented by Bill Tracy

Birmingham $1,049,000

Lake Huron Frontage $999,999

Sophisticated and elegantly decorated throughout this home boast a spacious floor plan with dramatic architectural detailing. Wonderful Chef 's kitchen with high end appliances, gracious formal dining room and a huge master suite. Four bedrooms and 3.1 baths. 210020227 Presented by Jill Beshouri

$500,000 Price Reduction! 1,300 feet of frontage on Scammon Cove, Drummond Island. Forty-five plus acres with long private gravel driveway but also abuts paved roadway on the east side. Private beach and own deep water boat dock. Great for summer home, bed and breakfast or vacation rental! Eight bedrooms and 3.2 baths. 210015601 Presented by Maureen Francis & Dmitry Koublitsky

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Bloomfield Hills $3,698,000 Exquisite home situated on 1.5 acres in the city, boast’s dramatic architectural details throughout. Chef ’s kitchen opens to hearth room and breakfast nook. Walkout lower level complete with wet bar, theater room, family room and fifth bedroom with private bath. Private backyard with gorgeous landscaping and deck. 210011754 Presented by Kathy Lyons

Pine Lake Frontage $2,495,000 Welcome to the “Ginger Bread Cottage” with 175 feet of frontage on private Pine Lake. Landmark home designed by William Kuni (Ford Mansion).

Loads of charm and updates including brand new kitchen currently under construction. Nine fireplaces. Eight bedrooms, 5.1 baths. Five car garage.

210001752 Presented by Bill Tracy

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Northville Township $1,899,000

Bloomfield Village $1,495,000

A private gem nestled on two acres. Beautifully designed center entrance Colonial complete with all imported hardwoods. Four bedrooms, 4.3 baths. Master suite has sitting area, huge closet and bath overlooking gardens. Lower Level is a second home with theater area, bedroom, bath, sauna, office and craft room. 29145714 Presented by Joanne McGuire

Captivating interior renovation! Reconfigured floor plan is absolutely perfect. Kitchen by Designs Unlimited features fireplace along with Bosch, Subzero, Miele and thermador stainless steel appliances. French doors lead guests from interior living spaces to the beautiful brick terrace and yard. Lovely first floor master retreat provides both privacy and spa luxury. 210001231 Presented by Darlene Jackson

Springfield Township $1,200,000

Metamora $1,199,000

Quality custom built home on a beautiful acre-plus site in Bridge Valley.

Numerous built-ins, five masonry fireplaces, waterfall and pond, interior brick and stone, granite and tile throughout. Large laundry/project room, steam shower, hot tub, spacious and inviting floor plan. Incredible home theater and home gym. Multi-tier deck overlooking large yard with stone patio, tree fort and play structure. 29101308 Presented by Linda Eriksen

Custom country French home on twenty acres in the heart of the hunt.

High end finishes, four masonry fireplaces, living room with 18’ ceilings, vaulted ceilings in master and gathering room. First floor master, finished walkout. New custom carriage house with high end finishes.

House/Carriage House will accommodate seven cars. 28031154 Presented by David Busch

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Rochester Hills

Birmingham

Farmington Hills

Spectacular Estate living in gated community close to Rochester and Stony Creek High School.

Large gourmet kitchen. First floor master suite and three bedroom suites up. 29061852 $1,750,000. Donna Barlow

You will find unmatched custom craftsmanship and detail in this Victor Saroki design. Three floors of sophisticated living space with three bedrooms and 3.1 baths. 29096779 $1,399,000. Jenny Turner

This gorgeous home features the finest amenities, keynoted by a spectacular 2 story entry hall with marble floor, crystal chandeliers and a sweeping staircase. Five bedrooms with 5.1 baths.

210008579 $1,035,000. Cheryl Andeer

Metamora

Bingham Farms Village

West Bloomfield

Historic country house remodeled with the finest materials. Three bedrooms, 2.1 baths, kitchen with granite. Twenty beautiful landscaped acres. Historic barn, pole barn, 4 car detached garage and heated workshop. 29117304 $879,000. David Busch

Beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home.

Designed & built by Todd Bendler. Radiant heated floors, high-end SS appliances. Finished LL with studio, in-laws suite, theater room and work shop. 29143143 $628,847. Candice Cuyler

Absolutely elegant unit with gorgeous views of Pine Lake. Fabulous master suite with balcony overlooking lake. Beautiful Brazilian Cherry floors throughout. Elevator to all three levels.

29059758 $599,000. Celeste Cole

Bloomfield

Farmington Hills

Troy

Beautiful detailing with antique leaded glass doors, extensive custom cabinets and crown molding. Beautiful master suite with two master baths. Three bedrooms and 4.1 baths. 29147504 $590,000. Chris Johnson

Stunning Colonial on private court. Gorgeous kitchen with granite tops and maple cabinets in 2006. Large master suite. Four bedrooms and 2.1 baths. 210018123 $469,000.

Bill Tracy & Chris Johnson

Gracious Tudor home! Great Room with vaulted ceiling, formal dining room and first floor master suite. Finished lower level with 2000 sq. ft. Four bedrooms and 2.1 baths. 210001464 $449,000.

Karen Atchoo & Donna Barlow

Beverly Hills Village

Birmingham

Birmingham

Beautifully updated Ranch by well-know designer, Bob Endres. Open floor plan with hardwood floors. Finished lower level. Two bedrooms and 2 baths. 210006739 $319,500.

Cindy Obron Kahn

Quality renovation! New features include; windows, all electric to code, copper plumbing, kitchen, carpeting, driveway, front porch and garage floor. Three bedrooms with 1.1 baths.

29053910 $289,900. Betty Pince

Charming Cape Cod on large corner lot. Bright and sunny home. Large living room with corner window, fireplace and coved ceilings. Hardwood floors under carpet. Four bedrooms, 2.1 baths.

210014425 $255,000. Kathy Haack

SKBK Sotheby’s International Realty Equal Housing Opportunity

skbk.com

Birmingham, Michigan

248.644.7000

Aspen, Colorado Red Mountain Ranch $12,500,000

Aspen, Colorado French Country Chateau $9,950,000

Elegant, mountain Contemporary home located on just under one acre at the top of Red Mountain with panoramic views from Independence Pass to Mt. Sopris! Features include 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, 6300 sq ft, gorgeous indoor & outdoor spaces for entertaining, professional gym, spa with steam room, sauna, shower & massage area, gourmet kitchen, 4 fireplaces, air conditioning and radiant heat. Enoy the outdoor negative edge swimming pool with hot tub, spectacular backyard with built in BBQ, numerous outdoor entertaining & patio areas. 780 sq ft two car garage.

Fabulous French Country Chateau with ski-in/ski-out access to Two Creeks at Snowmass Mountain. Every amenity & detail has been addressed, with features including 6 private bedroom suites, 6.5 baths, approximately 6000 heated square feet, two-sided wood-burning fireplace in the living room, gas fireplace, custom French & Italian doors & light fixtures, radiant heat and wine room. Three car garage with built-ins, excellent storage, and an enormous covered & heated outdoor living/kitchen area with waterfall, gorgeous landscaping, and private lounge areas.

Aspen, Colorado Monarch on The Park in Aspen $8,350,000

Aspen, Colorado Red Butte Townhome $6,750,000

With sweeping views of Aspen Mountain, Wagner Park, and downtown Aspen, this spacious top floor residence offers a vast corner terrace with outdoor living space and a fireplace. The open floor plan features 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3,580 square feet, magnificent sky-lit great room, state of the art gourmet kitchen, master bedroom with fireplace and private balcony, floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood doors, cabinetry and zone-controlled air conditioning. Enclosed 2 car garage. Close to the gondola, restaurants, shops, parks, and bike paths.

Enjoy captivating views of Aspen Mountain, Highlands, Buttermilk, Pyramid Peak and the golf course. Custom designed with high level finishes, open and flowing floor plan, large gourmet kitchen with Sub-Zero & Viking appliances.

Private master suite on its own level with sun terrace & serene garden, master bath with onyx & mahogany, guest baths with elegant contemporary tile & stone. Media/game room with projection TV, billiards, & wet bar, gas fireplaces, elevator, air conditioning & humidification and radiant heat. The completely landscaped property includes a snowmelted courtyard driveway.

SKBK Sotheby’s International Realty skbk.com

Birmingham, Michigan

248.644.7000

Equal Housing Opportunity

■ snapshot

A

henry baskin

ttorney Henry Baskin has been a divorce lawyer since the 1970s, but eventually expanded his practice, the Baskin Law Firm, to include civil litigation. Baskin has also represented members of the entertainment industry for decades, with a list of celebrity clients from Marvin Gaye to Dick Purtan and Fanchon Stinger.

"I have a very diverse practice," he said. "It keeps my interest up. If I had to deal with the fallout from divorce everyday, well — it's grim."

Not only does Baskin practice law, but he's an altruistic philanthropist in Oakland County.

"For years in my divorce practice, a woman would come in with signs of domestic abuse," he said. "I would see the police tell a woman to see the judge, and the judge would say to go see the police. I couldn't get anyone to understand the real meaning of domestic violence."

As a Domestic Violence Task Force chairman, it was Baskin who wrote a piece of legislation that led to personal protection orders to help ensure the safety of victims for years to come.

Baskin authored the Michigan Child Custody Act of 1970, which has been instrumental in resolving custody cases. He also handled the first biracial custody suit in Michigan.

In addition to his many successes in the field of law, Baskin has served on the Oakland University Board of Trustees for 13 years.

"It's been really gratifying to watch the school grow and be a part of negotiations for the medical school partnership with Beaumont Hospital," he said.

Baskin is also very active with CARE House, an advocacy group for neglected and abused children. He has worked with HAVEN (Help Against Violent Encounters Now) and a myriad of organizations benefiting women and children.

"That is one of my passions," he said. "Everything I do, charity-wise, has to do with children. I do it because I can. You give back to the community what skills you have."

At his firm in Birmingham, Baskin has the pleasure of working with his daughter, Dana, who followed in her father's footsteps.

"It's nice to see her everyday," he said.

Baskin also finds time to host "Due Process," Detroit's longest running public affairs television show. In its 27th year on the air, he has been able to educate the public on legal issues.

"I sensed that people wanted more information about the law," he said.

"It's just basic things."

"Due Process" is aired on WTVS-Channel 56, Detroit Public Television.

Baskin lives in Bloomfield Hills, and said he enjoys the city's peaceful ambiance; but as for retirement, that's not on his radar.

"I haven't considered retirement," he said. "I do have a vacation place in Charlevoix on Lake Michigan, but if you enjoy what you're doing, you might as well keep doing it."

— Katey Meisner The Paper photo/Amy K. Lockard

■ business notes The Laurie Tennent Studio has moved from 798 N. Old Woodward in Birmingham, into the Rail District at 929 S. Eton Street. Laurie Tennent, a graduate of Seaholm High School and a Bloomfield Hills resident, has been in the photography business for 20 years.

“Our main business is wedding photography,” she said. “We also do portraits.” With a space three times the size of her previous studio, Tennent is able to offer classes to amateur photographers. According to Tennent, the recent move has already proven to be a success. “The area is really thriving,” she said. “There are a lot of interior designers and florists. It’s becoming like an artist’s enclave.” With local businesses banding together and free parking at her new studio, Tennent said there is a lot more walk-in traffic.

“It’s a really fun area, and I’m very excited.”

■

Biggby Coffee will celebrate its 15th year in business by opening its 107th location at 112 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham on March 23. A grand opening public event will be held for Variety Far Conservatory, a local

“One of the major things we love about Birmingham is that it’s a well-defined community and there are so many opportunities to get involved.”

■

Sachse Construction at 260 E. Brown St. in Birmingham has recently named Frank Guirlinger as vice president and director of construction. Guirlinger counts Comerica Park, Ford Field and the expansion of Huron Valley Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township as some of the major projects he has handled. Sachse Construction was founded in 1991 and ranks as one of metropolitan Detroit’s top 20 general contractors.

■

Ribbons, an upscale gift shop at 239 S. Old Woodward Ave in Birmingham, will be closing at the end of April. Owner and Birmingham resident Susan Owen said she is ready to retire after 25 years in business.

“I remarried in 2007, and I downsized that year,” she said. “I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before I retired. I love the store and it’s been a wonderful adventure to me, but it’s time to move on.”

According to Owen, she and her husband plan to travel, and she’s looking forward to relaxing and working on her garden.

“I was a little nervous about closing at first, but now I’m excited,” Owen said.

■

Joe and Rose Glendinning organization benefiting children and adults with special needs, on March 22 from 12-6 p.m.

This will be the second Oakland location for brother and sister team Joe and Rose Glendinning. The siblings also own a Biggby Coffee at 1952 S. Telegraph in Bloomfield Township.

Rose, who previously worked in finance, and Joe, a lawyer, both moved out-of-state to pursue an education and career in their respective fields. “She was overworked and wanted to take time to enjoy her life,” Joe said. “It was also a wonderful opportunity for me not to be stuck behind a desk all day wearing a suit, and it‘s nice to build something; with it comes a great sense of accomplishment.”

The Glendinnings live together in Bloomfield Township and get along well as roommates and co-owners.

“People always ask how the heck I work with my sister all day,” Joe said.

“But it’s been a lot of fun.”

According to Rose, the two balance each other out and work really well together. “We just have a great time,” Rose said.

Though Biggby Coffee is a franchise, the Glendinnings see it as a family affair.

“There’s a personal touch with a family business and we’re really excited about bringing that to Birmingham,” Joe said. www.oaklandpaper.com

Linda Luhtanen, owner of Kilwin’s confectionery shop in Plymouth, has recently purchased the Birmingham Kilwin’s at 162 N. Old Woodward.

“The store was for sale and our Plymouth store has been so successful, we thought we could handle another store,” Luhtanen said. “There is huge potential in Birmingham.”

After extensive remodeling and painting, the new location is open and will be managed by Amanda Baldas.

Kilwin’s offers handmade chocolates, premium caramel corn, ice cream and an abounding assortment of sweets.

■ Zoom Artistic Photography at 217 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham will be extending an exhibit created by Detroit celebrity photographer Doug Elbinger through April 30. The exhibit features never before seen photos of The Beatles.

Also included is a compilation of photographs of people including: The Rolling Stones, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Ernie Harwell, Lee Iacocca and filmmaker Michael Moore. The photos, taken by Elbinger, will be published in his upcoming book, “Encounters with Remarkable Men: 40 Years of Photography.”

Elbinger, a Bloomfield Township resident, owns Elbinger Studios at 6487 Sunningdale Dr. in Bloomfield Hills. “The book will be available through my studio and also on

Amazon.com by the middle of April,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate to go to a lot of places and do a lot of things in my life. I’ve been able to see a slice of life that most never get the chance to see.”

■

Ligne Roset at 225 S. Old Woodward Ave. in Birmingham has moved from Suite 100 to Suite 150 at the request of the landlord.

“We were asked to move because Gas Station TV is moving into our space,” said owner Nida Sheena.

The new space, previously leased by Jos. A. Bank, is slightly smaller but works out just fine, Sheena said. “We love it. It’s very quaint.” Sheena, a Bloomfield Hills resident, calls Ligne Roset a “high-end modern, contemporary furniture dealer.” The store offers pieces for all areas of the home as well as lighting and accessories. “We have it all,” she said.

“And, business is picking up a little bit.

People are coming in with positive feedback and they are spending money again. So that’s a good thing.”

■

The Great Harvest Bread Company at 1137 S. Adams Rd. in Birmingham has reopened with husband and wife team Tina and Kevin Yanzey.

We’ll be doing a big grand reopening on Thursday, March 11 at 4 p.m.,” Tina said. The pair also owns a Great Harvest Bread Company in Las Vegas, but recently moved back to the area to be close to family following the birth of a child.

“We have a manager running our Great Harvest in Las Vegas and we were really happy that we’re able to open another in Birmingham,” Tina said.

Great Harvest offers seven to 10 handmade breads each day. “We have honey whole wheat, white, rye and specialty breads,” she said. “We make a large variety of sweets and all of these things we make fresh, by hand every day.”

The new owners said that they will be pricing the menu so that it’s affordable for the community. “It will likely be less expensive than grocery store breads.” According to Tina, they would’ve been hesitant to open a new bakery anywhere but Birmingham.

“That was something missing in Las Vegas,” she said. “People really come together here and we know the community will support us.” The Yanzeys are looking for a Birmingham home close to the bakery to settle down with their new baby.

■

Festivities, previously at 568 N. Old Woodward Ave. in Birmingham, has moved to the Rail District at 2155 Cole

THE PAPER

St. After 15 years in business, Mary Beth and Doug Winkworth have also made the decision to change the name of their shop to Festivities Studio.

“We’re focusing more on personalized gifts and monogramming jewelry and silver items,” Doug said.

“We’re not focusing as much on the day-to-day retail.” The move suits the new format just fine for the Winkworths. Doug calls the Rail District an eclectic mix of designers and specialty shops. “We’re in a light industrial warehouse-type building,” Doug said. “It’s a more free-form environment.” Festivities Studios will continue to offer printable invitations, celebration stationary, note cards and a variety of personalized gifts.

■ Locally-based Paramount Bank has added a new home lending center at 442 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham.

The office is located within the Hall & Hunter Realtor’s building. “Paramount has opened this additional mortgage office to help more customers take advantage of the excellent opportunities for home ownership in the Birmingham and surrounding areas,” said Mike Maher, President and CEO of Paramount Bank. “This is also part of our longer term strategy to expand our banking franchise in Southeast Michigan.”

■ Mr. Pita at 33524 Woodward Ave. in Birmingham has closed. Business is being directed to the nearby Mr. Pita and Papa Romano’s at 2424 Franklin Rd. in Bloomfield Township. “We’ve taken over the territory and we deliver to all of Birmingham,” said Mike Bahoora, owner of the Bloomfield location. Mr. Pita and Papa Romano’s corporations merged in 2007 and, according to Bahoora, his was the first co-branded store to emerge.

■ Uptown Deli on 215 N. Old Woodward Ave. in Birmingham appears to be closed for business. Though the café just opened in October 2009, the windows are covered and bear a “For Lease” sign.

■ Real Ryder Revolution at 555 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham is now open for business. Owners Leslee Blatnikoff, Dan Barish and Traci Raitt are offering a high-end exercise facility to Birmingham’s fitness fanatics. “We think it will be a very successful business in such a high-profile area,” said Blatnikoff. “It’s a destination exercise studio. We are a new level of exercise with the first indoor cycling program that is a full body workout in Michigan.”

■ Business items from the BirmnghamBloomfield community are reported by Katey Meisner.

E-mails to kateymeisner@thescngroup.com must be received three weeks prior to publication.

62

■ eating out The Eating Out directory for The Paper is just that, a guide to dining establishments where patrons can go to eat. Many, if not most, of these eateries also allow for takeout orders. If an establishment serves beer(B), wine(W) or liquor (L), the listing indicates such. Likewise, if breakfast (B), lunch (L) or dinner (D) is served, we indicate by code and then the days it is offered.

220: A one-of-a-kind Birmingham restaurant specializing in steaks and fresh seafood with an Italian flair, complemented by a fine selection of distinguished American, Italian and global wines. Located in the historic Edison Building in the heart of downtown Birmingham. B, W, L. L & D, Monday-Saturday. 220 Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.645.2150.

Akshay Indian Cuisine: Featuring Indo Chinese, South Indian, Northern Indian and Tandoori (Clay Oven) dishes. Spicy flavors compliment the relaxed and elegant atmosphere. Reasonable pricing makes Akshay Indian Cuisine a local favorite. L & D, Tuesday Sunday.

1615 S. Opdyke Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.858.2315.

Andiamo: Andiamo’s offers Northern Italian decor amid a chic dining spot. A favorite among many area celebrities. Featuring traditional Italian dishes in an elegant dining room or live music in the lounge. An extensive wine list and selection of desserts. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 6676 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, 48301. 248.865.9300.

Beau Jacks: Known for its superior whitefish and popular salads, Beau Jacks offers certified black angus beef as well as vegetarian and heart-conscious items. The menu features chili, onion loaf, baked spinach and artichoke dip, croissants and wraps. B, W, L. L, MondaySaturday; D, daily. 4108 W. Maple, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.626.2630.

Beyond Juice: Offering Meal-in-a-Cup creations, sandwiches and a variety of desserts.

Greek, seasoned chicken, tuna and garden salads also available, along with homemade Belgian waffles and jumbo muffins. B & L, daily; D, Monday-Saturday. 270 West Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.7078.

Big Boy: Big Boy features its classic diner burgers, breakfast specials and popular dessert menu. With its famous Big Boy sandwich and soup and salad bar, its a hometown diner for the whole family. B, L & D, daily. 6675 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301.

248.642.0717.

Big Rock Chophouse: Big Rock Chophouse’s 4-star, award-winning menu offers flavorful recipes centered around enormous, hand-cut aged steaks, lamb chops and fresh seafood.

Featuring an on-site brew house, the restaurant also boasts an extensive wine cellar, complete with more than 400 fine wine and champagne selections. B, W, L. L & D, MondaySaturday. 245 S. Eton Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.7774.

Birmingham Sushi Cafe: Featuring Japanese and American fusion-style fare, the cafe specializes in sushi, beef teriyaki, bibimbap and some kobe beef. The atmosphere is a relaxing, family-style environment. L & D, daily. 377 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.593.8880.

Birmingham Tower Deli: Gourmet delicatessen located in downtown Birmingham features Boars Head meats and cheeses, soups, salads, burgers and pizza. Catering available. B, L & D, Monday-Friday. 280 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Ste. 105, Birmingham, 48009.

248.594.9730.

Bloomfield Deli: With a large selection of sandwiches and wraps, Bloomfield Deli also offers several different varieties of grilled

www.oaklandpaper.com

cheese sandwiches, grilled chicken wraps and breakfast sandwiches. Also offering fresh salads and a salad bar with 20 different vegetables and fruits. B & L, Monday-Friday. 71 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.645.6879.

Boston Market: Features sirloin, beef brisket, turkey, meatloaf and rotisserie chicken.

Boston Market offers soup, steamed vegetables, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and casseroles to pair with a main dish. L & D, daily. 42983 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.334.5559.

Brandy’s Steakhouse: A cozy ambiance, private dining room and traditional dishes can be expected at Brandy’s. Offering salads, seafood, pastas and Brandy’s signature steaks. B,W,L. L, Monday-Saturday; D, daily. 1727 South Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.338.4300.

Breakaway Deli: Breakaway Deli features a variety of house sandwiches as well as a meatfree zone for vegetarians. B & L, MondaySaturday; D, Monday-Friday. 71 West Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.642.2900.

Brooklyn Pizza: Brooklyn Pizza features New York-style pizza by the slice, homemade cookies and ice cream. L & D, daily. 111 Henrietta Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.6690.

Cafe Via: A high-end downtown eatery featuring an elegant setting as well as a patio courtyard. Grilled salmon, roasted chicken, crabcakes and lambchops are some favorites at Cafe Via. B, W, L. L & D, Monday-Saturday.

310 East Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.644.8800.

Cameron’s Steakhouse: Featuring dry aged and prime steak with an impressive wine list.

Cameron’s is a classic steakhouse. B, W, L. D, daily. 115 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.723.1700.

Cannella Patisserie: Offering an array of authentic croissants and French pastries and featuring light meals from a selection of French crêpes. Also offering special occasion and wedding cakes. B, L & D, Tuesday-Sunday. 300 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.203.9704.

Chen Chow Brasserie: The decor and menu selection at Chen Chow Brasserie create a most elegant dining experience. Main courses include Pan Seared Tofu, Tamarind Glazed Salmon, Miso Sea Bass, Steamed Halibut, Dashi & Udon and more. Extensive wine list. B, W, L. D, daily. 260 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.2469.

China Village: A warm environment featuring China Village’s famous sesame and General Tso’s Chicken. L & D daily. 1655 Opdyke, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.758.1221.

Cityscape Deli: Cityscape offers homemade soups and a wide variety of custom carved sandwiches, pasta salads, bean and couscous and Hungarian beef goulash. Homemade healthy sides compliment fresh deli sandwiches. B, L & D, Monday-Saturday. 877 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.540.7220.

Cosi: With a signature flatbread, sandwiches, melts, soups, salads and a kids menu, Cosi offers options for all diners. B, W. B, L & D daily. 101 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.203.9200.

Crust: An upscale restaurant, with an open kitchen and dining room decor with natural wood elements. Full menu includes Neapolitan, thin crust pizzas, salads, sandwiches and small plates. B, W, L. L and D, daily. 6622 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield, 48301. 248.855.5855.

Deli Unique of Bloomfield Hills: A menu featuring eight different deli sandwiches and an extensive breakfast menu. B & L, daily. 39495 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.646.7923

Kerby’s Koney Island: Kerby’s offers a special chili recipe, lean meats and a wide variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner specialties. B, L, & D, daily. 2160 N. Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills. 248.333.1166.

Dick O’Dow’s: Offering Irish classics and home cooking, including stuffed chicken, wild Irish salmon and, of course, shepherd’s pie. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 160 West Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.1135.

Kirk’s Open Pit Bar B Que: Serving barbecue ribs that are slow cooked and covered in a smoky sauce, Kirk’s also offers barbeque and broasted chicken, seafood, homemade macaroni and cheese, peach and apple cobbler, and sweet potato pies. B, L & D, Tuesday- Sunday.

33766 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.203.7010.

Einstein Bros. Bagels: Featuring a huge assortment of bagels, sandwiches and specialty coffees. B & L, daily. 176 South Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.9888.

Elie’s Mediterranean Cuisine: Lebanese dishes from stuffed grape leaves to taboulee and humus. B, W, L. L & D, Monday Saturday.

263 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.647.2420.

Embers Deli & Restaurant: Pita sandwiches, soups, burgers, hot dogs and melts available.

An extensive breakfast menu includes egg specials, breakfast roll-ups, omelettes, breakfast sandwiches and sides. B &L, daily. 3598 West Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301.

248.645.1033.

Forest Grill: Forest Grill’s seasonal menu showcases house-made charcuterie, raw bar, clay oven-baked pizzas and traditional bistro dishes. Influenced by French, Italian and contemporary American cuisine with an emphasis on simplicity and flavor. Extensive wine list, including a number of regional wines from boutique vinters and Michigan vineyards. B, W, L. L, Monday-Friday; D, Monday-Saturday. 735 Forest Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.258.9400.

Forte Restaurant: With beautiful decor and lavish cuisine, Forte offers a complete dining experience, including an extensive wine list.

Renowned chefs present a complete breakfast menu as well. B, W, L. B, L & D, daily. 201 South Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.7300.

Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: An American steakhouse with a contemporary flair featuring aged prime beef, market fresh seafood and an award-winning wine list. B, W, L & D, daily. 323 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.723.0134.

Fuddrucker’s: With simple recipes and madefrom-scratch buns, Fuddrucker’s offers burgers, chicken, fish, salad, and a kids menu. B, W. L & D, daily. 42757 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Township, 48302. 248.333.2400.

Greek Island Coney Restaurant: Featuring sandwiches, salads and Coney Island classics.

Breakfast is available anytime. B, L & D, daily.

221 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.646.1222.

Hogan’s Restaurant: Casual atmosphere and homemade fare, Hogan’s offers steak, seafood, burgers, a vegetarian and children’s menu. A tavern-type environment is also available to patrons. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 6450 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.626.1800.

Hunter House Hamburgers: Featuring high quality, gourmet hamburgers. Recently voted Number One Burger in Michigan by Food Network Magazine and “20 Burgers You Must Eat Right Now” in June 2009 Gourmet Magazine. B, Monday-Saturday; L & D daily.

35075 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.7121.

IHOP: From creatively flavored pancakes to steaks, sandwiches and salads, IHOP is best known for its breakfast fare. B, L & D, daily.

2187 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.333.7522.

THE PAPER

Leo’s Coney Island: Greek specialties, burgers and coneys are offered along with omelettes, breakfast specials, soups and salads.

B, L & D, daily. 6527 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301 (248.646.8568) and at 154 S. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.8568.

Little Daddy’s Parthenon: Featuring Greek fare, like hand-carved gyros, Little Daddy’s Parthenon offers oven roasted turkey, gourmet sandwiches and house-made food. B, L & D, daily. 39500 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.647.3400.

Max & Erma’s: Features a family-friendly environment with a variety of burgers, an assortment of salads and a signature tortilla soup, plus steaks, ribs and fajitas. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 250 Merrill Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.1188.

Mitchell’s Fish Market: Accepting daily delivery of a wide variety of fresh fish flown in from all coasts, the atmosphere is that of an upscale seafood restaurant. Also features a lively bar area. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 117 Willits Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.646.3663.

Mountain King: Chinese restaurant serving fried rice, sesame chicken, General Tso’s chicken and standard Chinese favorites. L & D, daily.

469 South Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.2913.

New Bangkok Thai Bistro: Featuring a Thai atmosphere and variety of Thai specialties such as duck, noodles, seafood and curries. Also offering soups, salads, fried rice and appetizers.

B, Monday Thursday; L, Monday-Friday; D, daily. 183 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.2181.

Northern Lakes Seafood Co: Serving a signature lobster reuben for lunch and a Chilean sea bass for dinner. The seasonal menu includes a soft shell crab, lobster bisque and Columbia river king salmon. B, W, L. L, Monday-Friday; D, daily. 39495 North Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.646.0370 Olga’s Kitchen: Olga’s offers fresh and unique flavored appetizers, sandwiches, soups and salads. Grilled to-order Olga bread available. L & D daily. 2075 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.451.0500 and at 138 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009.

248.647.2760.

Peabody’s: With rustic beams and subtle lighting, Peabody’s offers unique sandwiches and salads, along with fresh seafood, house prime rib, signature steaks and pastas. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 34965 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.5222.

Pancake House: Best known for breakfast fare, the Original Pancake House has a varied menu. B, L & D, daily. 33703 South Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.5775.

Panera Bread: A variety of soups, andwiches and desserts., plus an on-site bakery. B, L & D, daily. 100 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48309. 248.203.7966 and at 2125 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48302. 248.253.9877.

63

■ main course Evolution over a quarter century

By Eleanor Heald

O

ften, we’re too focused on “what’s new is news,” that we overlook what served us well for a long time – like a quarter century.

In 1997, Big Rock Chop and Brew House opened as the remodeled, restyled and renamed former Norm’s Eton Street Station that premiered in 1984 in Birmingham’s historic train station on South Eton Street. Ten years ago, the name morphed to Big Rock Chop House, because “the longer name was too cumbersome for a sign or website,” says General Manager Vera Day Rizer.

Big Rock has always reminded me of a Jackson Hole, Wyoming., lodge with dining room high-backed wooden-booth seating in full view of the large and lively bar, which gets busy after 3 p.m., when the happy hour bar menu begins service with such delights as two ground beef tenderloin sliders and fries for $2.

brewed draft beers created by brewmaster Dan Rogers and chop house classics with an emphasis on comfort foods, a Chef Henson goal.

MENU At age 37, Chef Henson has an impressive resume, including Wolfgang Puck’s Executive Sous Chef and a stint at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel dining room that has served presidents, prime ministers, film stars and celebrities since 1892. Before coming to Big Rock, Henson was Chef de Cuisine at

sautéed Swiss chard and white cheddarroasted garlic mashed potatoes, market priced and the number one favorite.

“Duck,” says Henson,” has been a surprise and has risen to the second most favorite main course ($25). Duck is stuffed and roasted whole then served as a de-boned half with candied sweet potato, honey crisp apple and pomegranate chutney. Falling off the bone Short Ribs ($33) braised in red wine and Port and served with mashed potato are a bar food hit in a smaller portion

CHOP HOUSE STYLE What’s the culinary difference between a steakhouse and a chop house? “A chop house,” says Proprietor Norm LePage (who owns Big Rock with his wife Bonnie and silent partners Mary and Ray Nicholson), “offers greater menu variety than just steaks.

It extends to veal, lamb, wild game and a lot of seafood options.” Executive Chef Brian Henson adds, “A chophouse has a broader culinary brush stroke.”

At a young age, LePage realized that he didn’t like working for other people, so he asked his father-in-law for advice that resulted in the purchase of a donut shop for $16,000 of LePage’s savings.

Two years later, LePage had made such a success of the enterprise that he sold it and bought his first restaurant.

When Norm’s Eton Street Station opened, there was relatively little Birmingham restaurant competition.

“That changed after 13 years,” notes LePage. “We needed to develop a whole new concept because culinary excellence was on the rise and Norm’s was more a gathering place.”

Thus, today, and continually dialed in to food styles and trends, Big Rock is a gastropub with eight on-premise-

Phoenicia: A special dining experience, Phoenicia offers all the traditional dishes of Lebanon. 588 South Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. B, W, L. L, Monday-Friday; D, daily. 248.644.3122.

Pita Cafe: Middle Eastern fare featuring chicken shawarma, sweet salad, fattoush, Greek salad, lambchops, seafood and taboulee. Pita Cafe is known for its fantastic garlic spread. L & D, daily. 239 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.645.6999.

Pizza Papalis & Rio Wraps: Full menu includes rio wraps, pizzas, salads, soups, pasta and desserts; known for its Chicago-style deep dish pizza. L & D, daily. 4036 Telegraph Road,

64

Got Rocks Ultra Lounge, a cigar bar with an entertainment venue that you can check online for times and entertainers at bigrockchophouse.com/entertainment.html.

A wine inventory of 400 labels and 7,000 bottles is the pride of Rizer.

Wines by the glass range $7 to $10.

Bottles are priced double Rizer’s cost.

A toast to that because many area restaurants are charging three times their cost or double retail. Rizer really wants to sell you wine from her awardwinning list!

In its 25th anniversary year until August 2010, Big Rock will continue its successful “triple 25” dinner offering, Monday through Thursday, with threecourse dinner for $25 and any wine under $100 discounted 25 percent.

Celebrate a quarter century of great area dining.

■ (Big Rock Chop House, 245 S. Eton St., Birmingham, 248.647.7774.

Lunch: Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday noon-4 p.m. Dinner: Monday-Thursday 4 p.m.-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4 p.m.–midnight.

Dinner check average $40 excluding beverage. Reservation recommended.)

■

QUICK BITES Big Rock Executive Chef Brian Henson.

Iridescence in the Motor City Casino Hotel.

He says that he likes to cook chop house style food because it’s approachable and identifiable. “It pulls people in,” he notes. “Yes, 80 percent of diners do come in because of Big Rock’s steak reputation, but the other 20 percent are food adventurous. That keeps me creative and on my toes.”

Among appetizers, Henson points to Cajun Steak Bites, hot and spicy with Chop Sauce ($10) as the most popular.

Not lagging far behind are Calamari ($10), served with lemon-caper sauce and Tempura Fried Shrimp with Stir Fry Bok Choy and Ponzu.

If you’re in the mood for a very flavorful salad, choose the Asian ($7) which includes napa, red and green cabbage, carrots and won ton with ginger mustard dressing.

Big Rock Bone-In Filet Mignon, a 14ounce tenderloin, is served with

Ste.106, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.540.7722.

Qdoba: A one-of-a-kind Mexican grill restaurant, Qdoba features tacos, salads, nachos, quesadillas and more. L & D, daily. 795 East Maple Avenue, Birmingham, 48009.

248.988.8941.

Quattro Cucina Italiana: A high-end setting offering Osso Buco and Branzino filet among several signature Italian dishes. With a relaxing, open atmosphere, Quattro features a variety of pastas, soups, salads and an extensive wine list. B,W,L. L, Monday-Friday; D, daily. 203 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009.

248.593.6060 Quiznos: A signature toasting style create

($4) and becoming popular as a main menu item.

Togarashi (Japanese spice mix of chilies, seaweed and citrus) Salmon ($23) is a not-to-be-missed fish preparation served with basmati rice, stir fry vegetables and lemongrass-yuzu sauce.

On the sweet side, Big Rock’s pastry chef Mark Slessor makes a dynamite Hot Fudge Cream Puff. Save room.

MUCH MORE “Big Rock,” says Henson, “scores in hospitality.” Rizer adds, “Great variety in a dining experience.” LePage maintains, “It’s all about food quality and superior waitstaff service.”

A loyalty program was instituted and now has 4,000 subscribers. As an annual thank you, Big Rock throws a party for them. Sign up.

The brewery adds yet another dimension for casual eating with a microbrew and a burger. Then there’s

crisp edges, melted cheese, sizzling meat and warm bread. Choose from over 20 oventoasted subs, five flatbread chopped salads, 10 sammies, five torpedoes & bullets and soups.

Offering a full children’s menu and new, on-site catering. L & D daily. 185 N Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.540.7827.

Meet The Maker, a new dinner with wine concept at Quattro Cucina Italiana (201 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 248.593.6060) will on April 13, beginning at 7 p.m., feature Bloomfield Hills resident Tom Celani, proprietor of many businesses including Celani Family Vineyards in Napa Valley, California. A seven-course menu with wine is $100 per person, not including tax and gratuity. Although this Meet the Maker evening features a personality in the wine business, it will continue in succeeding months with non-wine associated personalities telling the story of their interesting lives during a dinner with wine. Reservation required.

Eleanor Heald is a nationally-published writer who also writes the wine column in a double byline with her husband Ray for The Paper. Suggestions for this feature and specifically for the Quick Bites section can be e-mailed to quickbites@oaklandpaper.com.

Sandella’s Flatbread Cafe: A casual cafe offering health-conscious options. Grilled paninis, sandwiches, grilled flatbreads, chopped salads and quesadillas are featured. L & D daily.

172 North Old Woodward, Birmingham, 48009. 248.594.4200

Rio Wraps: Features burritos, salads and deli wraps. L & D, daily. 42805 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304. 248.540.7722 .

Steve’s Deli: Classic and popular deli featuring a wide variety of soups, sandwiches and deserts. B, L & D, daily. 6646 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301. 248.932.0800.

Salvatore Scallopini: Salvatore Scallopini offers fresh prepared daily Italian dishes, appetizers and a variety of desserts. B, W. L & D, daily. 505 North Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.644.8977.

Streetside Seafood: Streetside has developed a reputation for fresh fish, oysters and other seafood on a seasonal menu B,W,L. L, Monday-Friday; D, daily. 273 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.645.9123.

THE PAPER

MARCH 2010

■ focus on wine Organic growing heightens wine complexities

By Eleanor & Ray Heald

I

n the agricultural community, organic growing is spreading rapidly because farmers realize the advantage of land preservation for future generations, producing flavorful fruits and vegetables and also because consumers want to purchase organically-grown products, which they perceive as being healthier.

Organic growing is not simply avoiding chemical sprays. To be a certified

organic grower is much more. So, what must producers in the grape and wine industry do to grow organically? To answer that question we interviewed winemaker Jennifer Williams about organic practices at Spottswoode Estate Vineyard in St. Helena, California, the heart of Napa Valley. She explains, “Organically grown grapes taste better.

Improving fruit taste results in wine with heightened aromas and more complex flavors.”

Strategies

Working in the vineyard requires the use of a tractor, but repeated tractor passes compact the soil, reducing habitat of beneficial organisms. To decrease the number of tractor passes through the vineyard, conserve fuel, cut carbon footprint, reduce compaction, and save time, Williams says, “We’ve chosen equipment that helps us use fewer passes or has a lesser impact on soil compaction. A minimal-till approach to preserves microbe population and soil structure.”

Spottswoode’s tillage and cover-crop strategies change depending on the rootstock, season, vine vigor, and soil

Sushi Hana: Sushi Hana’s menu includes tempura, teriyakis, yakitori, fried egg, seafood, vegetables and more. Offers traditional Japanese fare as well as some Korean dishes. L, MondayFriday; D, Monday-Saturday. 42656 Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48304.

248.333.3887.

Sy Thai Cafe: A casual dining atmosphere, Sy Thai serves orange duck, noodle dishes, stirfried mussels with onions and all the usual Thai classics. L & D, daily. 315 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.9830.

The Corner Bar: Part of the Townsend Hotel complex, The Corner Bar offers a lighter fare from 5-7 p.m. that includes sliders and salads.

B, W, L. D, Wednesday-Saturday. 100 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009.

248.647.2958.

The Gallery Restaurant: Family restaurant in an art gallery environment offering full menu.

American fare includes omelettes, sandwiches

www.oaklandpaper.com

differences. For example, an area with higher clay content in the soil will get a different seed and tillage regime than an area with loamy soil. In this case, the clay area is seeded with vegetation that creates air pockets in an otherwise tight soil, and tilled earlier to preserve soil moisture.

“We give the greatest attention and investment to soil management,” Williams contends. “We believe that soil ‘alive’ with microorganisms makes a healthier vine and tastier fruit. Soils that have greater diversity and higher microbe populations usually provide better environment for a plant to manage stresses and to uptake water and nutrients.”

To achieve a diverse microbe population, Williams works with soil sampling to determine holistic additions of soil amendments, micronutrients, and composts, to create a balanced soil environment. “Our soil management goals are long term, hoping that this vineyard [located within St. Helena city limits] is dedicated to agriculture for generations to come.

“We recognize,” Williams continues, “that, in the future, water availability could become a threat to the way we farm grapes. We aim to be conservative with water use, and welcome new strategies and ideas. We’ve a lot to learn about farming with significantly less water.” Wells on the property provide irrigation water, which is conserved by preventing leaks, irrigating overnight, using automatic timers, delaying initial irrigation as long as possible and using tools to help monitor vine stress.

On our visit to Spottswoode, we noticed chickens in the vineyard. How do they help with organic grape growing? Chickens are omnivores and feed on insects and seeds that are in the cover crop and soil. The flock is housed in a mobile coop so a four-wheeler can move it to whatever part of the vineyard workers are located. Nest boxes are opened and chickens roam while workers are in the same area.

Urban grape growing Since Spottswoode is located in an urban area, the vineyard shares borders

and a variety of salads. B, L & D, daily. 6683 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 48301.

248.851.0313.

The Moose Preserve Bar & Grill: The Moose Preserve features a full menu, including fresh fish, barbecue ribs and certified black angus steak. B, W, L. L & D, daily. 2395 S. Woodward Avenue, Bloomfield Hills, 48302.

248.858.7688.

The Phat Sammich: Offers 70 different sandwiches, five daily soup specials and salads.

Homemade fare is prepared fresh daily and weekday lunch delivery is available. L & D, daily. 34186 Woodward Avenue, Birmingham, 48009. 248.723.0860 The Rugby Grille: Conveniently located inside Birmingham’s Townsend Hotel and offering a luxury dining experience. B, W, L. B, L & D, daily. 100 Townsend Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.642.5999.

with many residential neighbors.

Farming practices are tailored to accommodate needs of neighbors as well as the many people who use the neighborhood walking paths bordering the vineyard. “We feel a responsibility,” Williams remarks, “to our employees and our neighbors to choose organic chemicals that are effective yet friendly.”

Spottswoode Vineyard is shaped like the top of a grand piano with the curved edges outlined by seasonal-flowing Spring Creek. Several years ago, Spottswoode began a revetment and revegetation project to remove nonnative plants, return the creek to a natural state and plant the banks with native vegetation.

In the winery, pomace (grape seeds and skins) is composted. Plastic wrap, cardboard, glass, batteries, etc., are all recycled. Food scraps are used as supplemental chicken feed. No disposable plastic water bottles or disposable cups are used. All winery employees are “assigned” a reusable water bottle or have access to clean, reusable cups.

With respect to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, Spottswoode has installed solar panels at the winery and at the vineyard.

Vineyard panels run the well pumps and satisfy other energy needs which have reduced energy costs by 75 percent.

Additionally, the winery uses energyefficient light bulbs and rechargeable batteries for all flashlights. The winery is fully insulated with efficient compressors and refrigeration equipment.

Williams links the principles of organic viticulture. “Diversity, diversity, diversity,” she concludes.

Spottswoode 2006 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, $130, marks the 25th anniversary making cabernet in Napa Valley and is Williams’ first vintage as winemaker. It’s obvious to us that her efforts to grow grapes organically have paid off in the flavors and aromas she has achieved. The wine is delicious now, but will age gracefully for at least 10 years. Aromas of blackberries, cassis and vanilla from French oak aging introduce flavors of wild blueberry, marion berry, toffee and figs accompanied by supple tannins. An outstanding Napa cab.

Eleanor & Ray Heald are contributing editors for the internationally-respected Quarterly Review of Wines among other publications. Contact them by e-mail at focusonwine@aol.com.

Toast: With a modern retro style, Toast offers American dishes with a touch of southwestern taste, including signature breakfast food to burgers. B, W, L. B & L, daily; D, MondaySaturday. 203 Pierce Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.6278.

favorite food items are the Uptown Club, corned beef sandwiches, daily chicken noodle soup and a chef’s special soup selection made fresh each day. B, L, D, daily. 215 N. Old Woodward Avenue, Birmingham 48009.

248.731.7023.

Tokyo Sushi & Grill: A cozy sushi bar offering sashimi, soba noodle dishes, teriyakis, tempura, all the traditional Japanese dishes, and, of course, sushi. L & D, daily. 225 E. Maple Rd., Birmingham, 48009. 248.258.6501

Whistle Stop Cafe: Voted among the best diners in America by Good Morning America, this eatery boasts of its local roots and feel. B & L, daily; D, Monday-Friday. 501 S. Eton Street, Birmingham, 48009. 248.647.5588.

TOPZ: Offering homemade fare, featuring Michigan vendors and local Michigan products, TOPZ prides itself on its air-baked, non-fried fries, nuggets, onion rings, burgers, chili and soups. L & D, daily. 327 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, 48009. 248.220.1108.

(Want your eating establishment listed?

There is no charge for this directory in The Paper but there are a couple of rules.

An eatery must be located in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township or Bloomfield Hills and must have tables where patrons can dine in. Send your information via fax (248.360.1220) to Katey Meisner or e-mail to kateymeisner@thescngroup.com.

Uptown Deli: Daily homemade soup and dining for patrons is available at the deli. Among

THE PAPER

Spottswoode 2008 Estate Sauvignon Blanc, $36 (available to mailing list customers) was fermented and aged in a combination of stainless steel and French oak barrels. The wine exhibits aromas of clementines and apricots introducing a round, ripe and long palate impression.

Cabernet popularity Although pinot noir gets lots of buzz, cabernet sauvignon remains the preferred red wine in America. The following grabbed our attention. As the price ascends, so does the complexity.

■ •2006 Dancing Bull $12 •2007 Rodney Strong $19 •2007 Francis Ford Coppola Director’s Cabernet Sauvignon $21 •2007 Vina Robles $22 •2006 Rodney Strong Alexander Valley $25 •2006 Hollis Napa Valley $35 •2005 Hidden Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon $40 •2006 Silverado Napa Valley $45 •2005 Murphy-Goode Alexander Valley All In Claret $45 •2006 Markham “The Altruist” Calistoga $53 •2006 Markham “The Philanthropist” Yountville $53 Big Boy! •2006 Parallel Napa Valley $55 •2006 Justin Isosceles $62 •2006 Flora Springs Napa Valley Trilogy $65 •2006 Chalk Hill $65 •2005 Kenwood Artist Series $69 •2006 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages $75 •2006 Rocca Estate Napa Valley $75 •2006 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Napa Valley $80 •2006 Aurielle Vineyards Napa Valley $90 •2006 Beringer Private Reserve Napa Valley $115 •2006 Merryvale Profile Napa Valley $135

65

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66

THE PAPER

11635

MARCH 2010

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Birmingham • 34164 Woodward Ave. (East side of Woodward, just north of Lincoln, under the flag)

248-644-0666 M-F 9-8 • Sat. 9-6 • Sun. 12-5

▲ N e.

Av rd wa od Wo

he last Monday in January of each year, The Community House elects new Board members and officers, and I am always ambivalent. I am saddened by seeing Board members move on and excited by the election of new Board members who bring great ideas and vision . I am very pleased to tell you about our 9 new Community House Board members. They are: Brad Feldman, Mark Jannott, Marion Jones, Dan Quick, Arthur Rodecker, Michelle Schwab, David Trott, Anne-Marie Welch and Kathy Wilson.

Brad Feldman works locally at Schecter Wealth Strategies.

He is an attorney but is not practicing law. He specializes in planned giving and charitable investment strategies for high net worth families. Brad serves on the Boards of Junior Achievement and Hillel Day School.

Mark Jannott is Senior Vice President, Investment and Estate Planning, at Greenleaf Trust. Mark’s primary responsibility is overseeing the expansion of Greenleaf Trust into the Southeastern Michigan market. Mark is a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor with more than 25 years of experience in financial services.

Marion Jones is a community volunteer who has served Shelley Roberts on The Community House Outreach Committee for the past several years. Marion has been very active as a parent at Detroit Country Day School. Marion’s areas of expertise are advertising and marketing.

Dan Quick is a lawyer with Dickinson Wright PLLC. His practice includes appellate litigation, arbitration (both domestic and international), automotive, banking and financial services, business torts, copyright and trademark and unfair competition.

Dan is very involved with State Bar of Michigan, Oakland County Bar Association, Oakland County Bar Foundation and the Federal and American Bar Associations Art Rodecker, Chairman Emeritus of DeRoy & Deveraux, has been a Registered Investment Adviser with RAC Advisors, Inc., (DeRoy & Devereaux's corporate predecessor) a firm he founded in 1979. He was President of Rodecker & Company, Investment Brokers, Inc., a member of the NASD for 28 years, and a past Allied Member of the New York Stock Exchange. He also served as Board Member on Comerica Bank's Ambassador Funds and Munder Funds. He has a BS degree in Business from Michigan State University and received the Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1996 from the Business Alumni Association. Arthur is a Trustee of the DeRoy Testamentary Foundation and a member of the CFA Institute for over 30 years.

Michelle Schwab has been very involved with Community House Special Events, having served on the TigerTown and House Tour Steering Committees and is cochairing the House Tour for this year. Michelle and husband, Eric, were part of the 2009 Annual Fund Drive Committee. Michelle moved to Detroit to begin a career with J. Walter Thompson as part of their Marketing and Advertising Development Program. Michelle worked on national brand strategy and advertising for Ford Motor Company. Michelle retired from a full-time career in 2005 to start a family and since 2006 has worked part-time as Detroit Sales Director for a California based internet advertising technology company.

David Trott is the president and managing attorney of Bingham Farms-based Trott & Trott, P.C. David graduated from the University of Michigan and Duke University's School of Law. Trott & Trott, P.C. is recognized as one of the nation's largest law firms handling residential default procedures, Anne-Marie Welch is an associate of Clark Hill's Detroit office. Her areas of practice focus primarily on employment litigation, counseling and investigations, labor law, and nonprofit risk management. Anne-Marie serves on the board of directors for the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit’s Camping Services, as the Chair of The Community House Uptown Group (T.U.G.) and is a member of the Royal Oak Woman’s Club.

Kathy Wilson recently spearheaded The Community House networking series “Successful Job Strategies” to reach out to those in our community who are going through a job search. Because of the great response from the community, Kathie is chairing a new series for those looking for work called “Call to Action…Hire Power Solutions.” Kathy was formerly Vice President of Business Development ZANA Business Network, a business-to-business website for small and medium size businesses to post their products. In addition, Kathy spent 18 years as Vice President of Corporate Travel Management Global Sales.

The Community House’s new Board Chair is Don Kunz. Don Kunz, an attorney at Honigman who is recognized by many as one of Michigan’s leading corporate attorneys, has and will continue to provide The Community House with sound advice and direction.

With our new Board chair and new and continuing Board members, I am one lucky CEO! As a closing note, here are some important March events are: •March 1, submit your nomination for your Diversity Champion for the 11th Annual Diversity Champion Honor Roll Breakfast on April 29.

•Early March, sign up for our tour of Frank Lloyd Wright Homes in Chicago and our trip to the Holland Tulip Festival. Both of those trips have early deadlines.

•March 9, attend our second “Call to Action… Hire Power Solutions” program with Brooke Dukes titled “Take the 45 Day Challenge.”

•March 20 and 21, come to our youth theatre production of “Oliver!” You and your kids or grandkids will enjoy it.

•Have your kids go to www.kidshelpingkidswalk.org and sign up for the walk which will be April 25. It’s a great way for children to learn to help less fortunate children and to have a great time while doing so. Be sure to see the great video of last year’s walk which is on the site.

•Finally, March 1 is a big day! Our spring catalog will be available. See our website, www.communityhouse.com for our new classes and programs.

I look forward to seeing you at The Community House! ■ Shelley Roberts is president and CEO of The Community House.

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THE PAPER

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■ social lights / sally gerak ■ North American International Auto Show Charity Preview

Here is the update on the social scene from the past month. Social Lights is posted each week on The Paper’s website at oaklandpaper.com, where readers can sign up for an e-mail alert when the latest column is posted. Many more photos from each event appear online each week, and past column and photos are archived on the website for The Paper.

North American International Auto Show Charity Preview

Clockwise from upper left: NAIAS 2010 vice chair Barron Meade(left) of Birmingham and his father Ken of Grosse Pointe, a past chair. Delta’s Nick (left) and Susie Demarco of Bloomfield and past event chair Russ Shelton and his wife Kathy of Rochester Hills. Frank (left) and Kim Campanale of Orchard Lake with Kim and GM’s Mark Reuss and Mark’s sister Charlene and Joel Grandelius of Bloomfield. Bobbi (left) and Stephen Polk of Bloomfield with Karen and Mike Gingell of Orion, Pat Reininger of Long Beach, CA. and Kendia Rawls of Bloomfield. om Pyden (left) of Novi with Patricia Mooradian and Kay and Mike Ponicall of Bloomfield and GM’s Susan Docherty of Birmingham and her daughter Alexis. Vinnie (left) and Tom Celani of Bloomfield with the Audi R8 Spider convertible in background. Kim (left) and DTE’s Michael Porter of Farmington Hills and Deb and Jim Berline of Bloomfield. Dr. Luisa DiLorenzo and Antonio Benecchi of Birmingham. Tom and Doreen LaSorda of Birmingham. At the Maybach exhinit Doner’s Suzanne Shawn (left) of Farmington Hills and Susan Rogers of Birmingham.

What a difference a year makes!

Last year the NAIAS was clouded with the gloom of Cobo Hall, the city and the auto industry’s deplorable conditions. This year, as 2010 chairman Doug Fox noted during the ribbon cutting program for the Charity Preview, “We’re bringing (them) back.” Attendance was up by 25 percent over last year to nearly 8,500. Reducing the tab from $400 to $250 was a smart call, given the still-struggling economy. It still raised more than $2 million for 12 children’s charities. When next year’s chair Barron Meade spoke, he saluted the Detroit area as “a small big town rooted in community.”

And it was a big, glitzy, up-beat evening. In addition to sipping champagne and cruising around all the exhibits, people liked riding in the totally quiet electric vehicles on the Michigan Economic Development EcoExperience quartermile track and the loud, joyful sounds of the Romantics. “They were our favorite group in college,” noted Charlene Grandelius.

Delta Air Lines hosted the backstage reception for VIPs and other sponsors like RBS/Charter One, MGM Grand Detroit and Art Van Furniture. It was there that past event chair / past DADA president Chuck Fortinberry sounded the one really down note of the evening. When asked what he was going to do now that the Obama administration had forced the closing of his 24-year-old, successfull Chrysler dealership in Clarkston, he said, sadly, ”I don’t know.”

Children’s Center’s AutoGlow Benefit Nearly 700 people began and ended Charity Preview evening at the 18th annual AutoGlow at the Westin Book Cadillac where presenting sponsor Ford’s Fusion Car of the Year was displayed by the hotel’s front door. AutoGlow guests enjoyed shuttle service to and from Cobo Center, music by the Sun Messengers and Full Throttle A Cappella Quartet and buffet presentations. Before heading to Cobo, many snacked on the grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and mini-Reubens. When they returned, comfort food like the mac’n’lobster was popular. The event was a fundraiser for The Children’s Center which serves atrisk youth and their families. It raised roughly $125,000.

Some spotted in the crowd were board president Doug Maibach and board members Denise Fleckenstein, Elena Ford, Elizabeth Luckenbach–Brown, Bettye Arrington–Martin, Tina Ford, John Dunn, David Reich and Joan Patrick–Morris, Anthony Foust, to name a few.

Polo Players Celebrity Bartender Night Detroit Polo & Hunt Club members Jerry Hutcheson, Patirick Smith and Roy Link, along with popular singer Karen Newman, last month hosted a fundraiser at Elie’s in Birmingham for the Polo Players Support Group. The nonprofit organization provides financial assistance for seriously injured or ill players and grooms. In spite of bitter cold and howling winds, more than 125 packed the Birmingham restaurant. The hosts had help keeping the drinks and laughs flowing from a trio affectionately known among their friends as the Rum Devils-Jennifer Holman, Amy Kanarios and Liz Johnson.

Polo team members from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University also sold raffle tickets for a trip to the PPSG 40-goal charity Polo Exhibition and VIP Dinner & Auction in Palm Beach, Florida on Feb.13. Kim Otruji won with the ticket she bought from Scott Dole, an aspiring U-M player. Birmingham photographer Laurie Tennant, with the help of Royal Oak computer graphic whiz Dave Quizenberry, filmed the event for a CD that will be used to help other regional polo clubs raise funds for the PPSG. In addition to the laughs and camaraderie, the party raised $1,200, plus the raffle proceeds for the two college teams’ riding programs.

Eisenhower Dance Ensemble The Eisenhower Dance Ensemble culminated two weeks of rehearsal with choreographer Alan Sener by hosting an open rehearsal of Louis Falco’s dance “Escargot” at the EDE Center for Dance in Rochester. Thanks to a National 70

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Endowment for the Arts funded American Masterpiece Grant, EDE hired Sener, an expert in Falco’s work and a former dancer with Falco’s company, to direct EDE dancers in learning Falco’s distinctive style.

Among those at the rehearsal were dance legend Harriet Berg and EDE Board members Maggie Allesee, Nancy Kott, Eileen Drenikowski, Deborah Hecht and Craig Chamberlain. They saw how a professional company learns choreography.

“Escargot” was previewed at NewDANCEfest VIII Jan. 23 at the Troy Center for the Performing Arts and will premiere at EDE’s performance of Dances from the Heart of Rock ‘n Roll at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts on April 10.

■ The Children’s Center’s AutoGlow Benefit

Left to right above: Ellen Leitch of Birmingham with event honorary co-chair Ford’s Alan Mulally of Dearborn. Dan (left) and Children’s Center CEO Debora Matthews of Westland with board member Denise Fleckenstein and her husband Dave Richards of Bloomfield. CC board member Erick and Susan Reickert of Bloomfield. Below, left to right: Attorney Gerald Evelyn (left) of Detroit with CC board member Ford’s Elena Ford and Brad Simmons of Birmingham. Ford’s Karen Hampton of Grosse Pointe and David Leitch of Birmingham. Nick (standing) and Chris Katrivesis of Plymouth with Bonnie Jobe (seated) and Dr. Larry Walsh of Bloomfield.

Hospice Care’s Grand Night Several stories accented the Women’s Committee for Hospice Care’s gala that attracted 350 to the Ritz-Carlton Jan. 23. Mikki GardnerMood and Tracey Baldwin’s chairmanship marked leadership by the next generation, to the great delight of veterans like Valerie Straith, Sylvia Hagenlocker and Dee WrightMasilotti, to name a few of those who have attended most all 22 Grand Night events. It also featured corporate sponsorship from retail and hospitality sectors rather than the automotive benefactors of the earlier years. The five-item raffle of great donations from Somerset Collection merchants was a popular innovation, raising $21,000 at $100 per ticket.

Most notable in this struggling economy, the live auction of 19 items ($46,650 total bids) witnessed many overbids. And here’s a heads up for Birmingham’s Forest Grill‘s Brian Polcyn and David Gilbert : Richard and Susan Dugas paid $6,500 for your donation of a chef’s table dinner for eight which you valued at $1,500.

We know you’ll treat them superbly.

Post-bidding dancing to the Jerry Fenby Band has always been popular at this event and Denise and Bob Lutz beat Nancy and John Smith to the dance floor by a wink, but all soon headed to the Club Dragon Bleu After Party for dancing to DJ music. There some were introduced to the Dragon Bleu cocktail, the smooth French vodka with Bottle Green’s Elderflower cordial from England. It was a refreshing nightcap to the event that raises funds for seven area non-profit hospices.

■ Polo Players Support Group’s Celebrity Bartender Night

Left to right above: Allison Reynolds (left), host Patrick Smith, Steve Stubbs and Pauline Penslar of Birmingham and Zana Tomichof Royal Oak. Amy Kanarios (left) Liz Johnson and Jennifer Way Holman of Bloomfield.

Left to right above: Host Roy Link (left) of Plymouth with Karen Newman of Bloomfield. Jerry Hutcheson and Patty Karoub of Birmingham.

Julie Moeller and Wayne Avis of Birmingham. Below, left to right: Kristen Rettig (left) of Birmingham and Scott Holman of Bloomfield.

Jeanne Cottom (left) of Birmingham and Elizabeth Johnson of Bloomfield. Blake and Jane Synnestvedt of Birmingham.

HAVEN’s Celebration of Strength Some 150 supporters attended HAVEN’s Celebration of Strength Jan. 21 in the two-level Mediterranean Room at the Troy Marriott. They www.oaklandpaper.com

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■ social lights / sally gerak ■ Women’s Committee for Hospice Care’s Grand Night for Hospice

Left to right above: WCHC president Julie with her husband Dr. Joe Beals of Bloomfield. Frank Parzynski (left) and his wife, event co-chair Tracey Baldwin of Northville and Jason Mood with his wife event co-chair Mikki Gardner-Mood of Birmingham. Elizabeth (left) Brian and Ben Raymond with their parents, event honorary co-chairs Rusty and Larry Raymond og Bloomfield.

sipped and socialized before settling in to snack on savory buffet selections while Paula Tutman emceed the program. It honored Oakland Community College Womencenter’s Arlene Frank, who also chairs the National Council of Jewish Women’s Teen Dating Abuse Awareness Project; veteran newspaperwoman Jeanne Towar, who noted that she survived an abusive first marriage; young abuse survivor Julie Bingham; Visteon and Chrysler Financial – all of whom had fan clubs in attendance. In the crowd were Mary Ann Lievois and Sylvia Morin who are chairing HAVEN’s big fundraiser – Promenade of Hope, Thursday, May 6 at Red Run Country Club. Outgoing board members also earned applause for their service to HAVEN. The organization provides intervention, treatment, prevention and education programs aimed at eliminating domestic violence and sexual assault.

Sacred Heart Celebration

Clockwisefrom lower left: Birmingham native Pat (left) and Trisha Roley of East Lansing with past WCHC president Nancy and John Smith of Bloomfield. Msgr. Chuck Kosanke (left) of Orchard Lake with WCHC broad members Lisa Wilson and her husband Dave and Sue MacGuidwin and her husband Mark of Bloomfield. WCHC board member Amy Zimmer (center) of Birmigham with Jerry and Diane Schmodt of Bloomfield. Event honorary co-chairs Ritz-Carlton’s Todd Peplonksi (left) of Bloomfield and Jerri and Tony Mira of Northville. Susan and Richard Dugas of Bloomfield.

■ HAVEN’s Celebration of Strength

Some 150 Academy of the Sacred Heart loyalists turned out Jan. 23 to celebrate the completion of the Historical and Donor wall graphics in the hall adjacent to the school’s field house. Holy Name Church’s Msgr.

John Zenz first said Mass, after which Sister Bridget Bears thanked all for their lifetime of living to the school. She singled out board member Dan Carroll for embracing her vision of the history wall and making it happen. A reception in the hallway followed. Since the first date in the timeline is 1851, the mural contains wonderful, vintage photos representing the changing fashions in school uniforms and religious attire as well as the changing school locations.

Many in the crowd had fun looking for themselves, their mothers and their children in the photos.

Schubot’s Farewell Party

Clockwisefrom lower left: Shannon Grace Clark of Bloomfield with HAVEN board member David Sokol of Oakland.

HAVEN outgoing board chair Kathy Elston of Waterford and incoming chair Jim Moritz of Grosse Pointe with retiring board members Rick Beer of Bloomfield, Brad Simmons of Birmingham and judge Cynthia Walker of Pontiac. Honorees Jeanne Towar (left) of Bloomfield, Arlene Frank of Detroit and Julie Bingham of Howell.

Judy Sullivan (left) of Birmingham, Jeanne Towar and Shelley Taub of Bloomfield.

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Bankruptcy is a sad sign of the times, but Brian Schubot made the most of the situation for his family’s celebrated jewelry store by hosting a special evening for friends and customers of Jules R. Schubot, in recent decades located on Big Beaver, west of Somerset South. As the dozens of guests sipped champagne, noshed on hors d’oeuvres and tried on bargainpriced designer baubles, many paused to look at the DVD that was running continuously. It contained stills dating back to the firm’s founding in 1917 by Brian’s grandfather.

Since then the family firm’s customers have included not only Detroit power brokers but Hollywood types like Tony Martin, whose wife Cyd Charisse wore a Jules-designed diaMARCH 2010

mond necklace in the 1958 movie “ Party Girl.” Brian said he does not know what the future will bring for him and his designer Joe Campanelli but the store will remain open until the cases are empty. We know the family can always be proud of their generous contributions to countless charities.

■ Academy of the Sacred Heart event

Beyond Basics’ Open House Tour Pam Good, co-founder of Beyond Basics, is so uplifted by the program’s accomplishments (“We get children reading at grade level in just six weeks”) that she and board chair Ira Jaffe regularly show off the results by hosting Open House tours of the Detroit schools where the BB volunteers work. Michael Morse, Doug West, Sela Taloa and Virginia Webster-Smith went on the most recent. It concluded at Jaffe’s law offices for lunch where they discussed what they had seen and how to get involved. In addition to the Reading Tutoring Program, they saw BB’s Publishing Centers where the students’ stories, over 5,000 last year, are published in hard covered books. BB’s Art with the Masters and Expanding Horizons programs also bring cost free extras to the children at Jamieson, Thirkell, Barbara Jordan and Mac C. Jemison public schools.

“Detroit could take the lead in public education by focusing on literacy,” Good opined. For more information, go to www.beyondbasics.org.

Clockwise from above: Kathy (left) and Dan Carroll of Bloomfield and three of their ASH children – Shannon, grade 6, Meghan, grade 5 and Brian, grade 4. Not pictured, Christy, grade 8. Sam (left) and Katie Valenti of Bloomfield with ASH senior Elizabeth Watchowski and her parents Randi and Dale of Birmingham. ASH alumnae Duffy Wineman (left) and Mary Jo Dawson of Bloomfield. Alumnae parents Irma Elder (left) and Carol Shaya and Virginia Antakli of Bloomfield. Antaklii is not only an alum, she is also a former teacher, mother and grandmother of ASH students.

■ Schubot’s Champagne Farewell Party

CARE House Circle of Friends The big news at the CARE House Circle of Friends Preview Party, generously hosted by Elyse and David Foltyn, and the luncheon the following day at the Townsend, was the announcement of the $4-million Campaign for Kids. It will finance a new, desperately-needed facility. And it has already raised half of the total, enabling ground breaking to occur in April.

CARE House Executive Director Pat Rosen and board president Cathy Weissenborn shared the announcing duties at both events. They saluted four Unsung Heroes: Mary Lou Zieve, for sponsorship of the annual CARE House Christmas party; the Townsend’s Joanie Sams for years of solicitous CARE House event planning; Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss attorney David Williams for pro bono legal work; Alan Rosen for generously providing goodies from his Somerset Collection Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. They also thanked Julia Girdler, the Petal Lady, for the tulip centerpieces and the Neal Anderson Jazz Combo for the social hour music.

Featured speaker author/reporter www.oaklandpaper.com

Clockwise from above: President & grandson of the founder Brian Schubot, his wife Michele and daughter Zoe of Bloomfield. Happy shoppers Cindy and Jim Graham of Bloomfield. Jewelry designer Joe Campanelli (center) of Bloomfield with Mado Lie (left) and her daughters Natasha Lie of Grosse Pointe and Tamara Fobare of Royal Oak who are shopping for pearls. Sharon (left) and Jon Tucker of West Bloomfield, Brian, Michele and Zoe Schubot of Bloomfield.

■ Beyond Basics’ Open House School Tour

Left to right: Artist Doug West of Rochester Hills inspires students to bring out their inner artists at Thirkell Elementary School in Detroit during an Art with the Masters program provided by Beyond Basics. Michael Morse of Southfield and Beyond Basics Executive Director Pam Good of Birmingham discuss programs operating at Thirkell while Virginia Webster-Smith of Birmingham and Sela Taloa of Rochester Hills interact with students.

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■ social lights / sally gerak ■ CARE House Circle of Friends Patron Preview Party

Anna Quindlen told the 70 Preview Party guests that the women she met as a reporter “were always pushing a rock uphill… (but being a reporter)… was the best job in the world.” At the luncheon where she was also speaking to the choir (235 CARE House supporters), she spoke passionately about the role of motherhood. And, although some lucky people in the crowd would disagree with her notion that raising children “takes a village” (paid leave, childcare aid, younger public pre-school), none would quarrel with her conclusion that “… nothing matters more than children.”

The event raised $65,000 for CARE House programs that prevent child abuse and protect children through advocacy, education, intervention, research and treatment.

Clockwise from lower left: Larry and Nancy Bluth of Bloomfield. Emily Tobias and Marsha Perceful of Bloomfield. Brian Dickerson (left) and his wife Laura Berman with Steve and Ann Templeton of Birmingham. Diane Farber (left) of Bingham Farms with Mary Dakin and Christine Provost of Birmingham.

CARE House board chair/event cochair Cathy Weissenborn (left) of Bloomfield with party hosts David and Elyse Foltyn of Birmingham and featured speaker Anna Quindlen of NYC. Nancy Foley (left) and Bob Joseph of Bloomfield with Care House executive director Pat Rosen of Birmingham. Fair Radom (left) of Bloomfield with Maeva and Xavier Mosquet and Roz Jacobson of Birmingham.

DSO Classical Roots Celebration

■ CARE House’s Circle of Friends XIV Luncheon

Clockwise from upper left: Unsung Heroes of CARE House Mary Lou Zieve (left) of Bloomfield, Alan Ross of Farmington Hills, Joanie Sams of West Bloomfield and David Williams of Birmingham. Board chair / event co-chair Cathy Weissenborn of Bloomfield with her co-chair for the Campaign for Kids Brier Neel and event emcee Cynthia Canty of Birmingham.

Circle of Friends co-founder Vicki Celani (left) with Joann Gordon of Bloomfield and Diana Howard of Franklin. Darlene Jackson (left) of Birmingham with Jan Hoge and Teri Fenner of Bloomfield. Circle of Friends cofounders Doris August (left) and Lois Shaevsky of Bloomfield with Judy Solomon of Birmingham. Bruce Kridler left) and Jennie Cascio of Bloomfield with Sarah Heath of Birmingham.

The Music Box at the Max M. Fisher Music Center never looked more inviting than it did Jan. 30 for the Classical Roots Celebration. To accommodate the 170 gala guests for the pre concert cocktail reception with buffet service and the post concert dessert and dancing afterglow, party planners offered large tables with chairs in white tented cabanas, little round tables with chairs, standup tables and club-type lounge areas.

The white linens and green grass centerpieces gave the room a welcome tropical illusion. But the concert that they, together with 1,337 more music lovers, experienced in Orchestra Hall was not an illusion.

It began with the Brazeal Dennard Chorale a capella singing of the song that is known as the Black National Anthem (“Lift Every Voice and Sing”) and ended with Detroit-born violinist Regina Carter and pianist/composer Billy Childs’ encore. You knew the latter was going to be special when DSO maestro Leonard Slatkin just sat down beside Carter on his conductor platform to listen. And their jazzy classical sound was a perfect conclusion to the program that featured three compositions by contemporary African-American composers, including the world premiere of Childs’ “Concerto for Violin.” The Gala raised more than $116,000 for the DSO’s African-American Orchestral Fellowship Program and for recordings like those the benefactors got for souvenirs – a CD of “Dear Mrs. Parks” which was performed at last year’s Classical Roots concerts.

COTS’ 2010 Soup City The 11th annual Soup City attracted nearly 400, including loyal COTS supporters like George Rochette, Ina Fernandez, Nina Holden, Sammye 74

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VanDiver, Mike Freidman, Kevin Johnson and Mike Dingwall, to the Gem and Century Theatres. The big turnout is understandable. Tickets are only $35. Soup and bread, donated by 20 restaurants including Peabody’s, seem like sensible sustenance for an event to help homeless people. The venue, donated by Chuck Forbes, is architecturally pleasing, especially with a flaming fireplace on a cold Monday night in January.

There’s a roving magician and live music for all tastes. There was also a fun Heads and Tails raffle for the 65 people who paid $10 for a blinking Gem ring. (Diane Martin was the last one standing.) And even though Soup City is not primarily a fundraiser, it did bring in $10,000 for COTS’ programs which provide housing and hope.

Sandy Rochette is chairing A Stroll Through Time, the social service agency’s big fundraiser May 22. Go to www.cotsdetroit.org or call Robyn Smith at (313) 576.0223 for information or to purchase tickets ($125).

■ Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Classical Roots Celebration

Clockwise from upper left: GM’s Vivian Pickard (center) of Bloomfield with Carmen and Arvin Jones of Rochester. Connie Hogan (left) of Bloomfield and GM’s Janis Rogers of Auburn Hills. Event co-chairs Rita Jordan (left) of Detroit and presenting sponsor JPMorganChase’s Christine Kageff of Beverly Hills. Gary Durak (left) of Bloomfield and event benefactors Janet and Norm Ankers of Beverly Hills. ennifer McNalley (center) of Northville with Kimberly and DSO board member DTE’s Bruce Peterson of Birmingham. Volna Clermont (left) of Detroit with Jane Savoy and Powell Cozart of Bloomfield.

Motor City Squash Tournament Top ranked professional squash players came from all over the world to play in the 11th annual Motor City Open at the Birmingham Athletic Club. The six-day event ended Feb. 1, but club members’ memories will linger. In addition to watching the action-packed matches, more than 20 local families, including the John Boukamps, Robert Molls, Mehul Mehtas, Jon Uffelmans, Mark Dadabbos and Arthur Carpentis, billeted the players. There were two parties, one for sponsors like David Fischer’s Suburban Volvo and Robert Greenstone of Greenstone’s Jewelers and a Saturday night Disco Party costume soiree for 150. Clinics with the pros were highlights for BAC’s nationally ranked juniors like Hugh Camiener, Carson Claar, Nathaniel Moll, Dominic Dadabbo, Charlie Beauregard, Vincent Mencotti, Michael Snower, Arayanna and Tatyanna Dadabbo and Rosemary O’Connor. An informal Pro-Am paired amateurs like Joe O’Connor, John Boukamp, Robert Moll and Kurt Streng with pros for some smashing good doubles play. And BAC squash director Julian Wellings got to play in the tournament as a wild card. Before play concluded, some 1,500 spectators had seen part of the action. It was won by Egyptian Karim Darwish, who demonstrated why he is ranked first in the world.

The Suite Dreams Project “You don’t have to be an adult to give,” said one of the young ladies in www.oaklandpaper.com

■ COTS’ 2010 Soup City

Clockwise from left: COTS’ Lynn Wilhelm (left) of Shelby Twp, roving magician Ron Aldrich of Grosse Pointe and Kelly Hillman of Birmingham. Antonio Benecchi (left), Dr. Luisa DiLorenzo, and Daniela and Mitch Henderson of Birmingham. Rosemary Bannon (center) of Beverly Hills with Lorraine Schultz (left) and Betty Bright of Bloomfield. Kate Cahill (left) of Bloomfield and Peggy Kerr of Birmingham.

■ Motor City Open Professional Squash Tournament at the Birmingham Athletic Club

Clockwise from left: MCO co-chairs Michael Beauregard (left) of Bloomfield and Peter Schmidt of Birmingham with BAC board member Rick Claar of Birmingham at Disco Party. BAC board president Gerald McGlynn (left) of Bloomfield with Jennifer Moll of Birmingham during the Disco Party. Andrew Pritchard of Berkley and Kellie Likly of Bloomfield.

BAC squash pro Julian Wellings (left) of Birmingham and Michael Beauregard of Bloomfield at the Disco Party.

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■ social lights / sally gerak ■ A Suite Celebration Benefiting the Suite Dreams Project

Clockwise from upper left: SDP co-founder Kris Appleby (center) with event chairs Julie Sosa (left) of Bloomfield and Katie Aubry of Birmingham. Junior Committee: Emma Ponical (left), MacCall Appleby of Bloomfield, Megan Aubry of Birmingham and Bailey Burkart of Bloomfield. Not ;pictured: Sydney Hughes and Sophia Koolwick. Suzanne and Emilia Nelson of Birmingham. Host committee members Avery Appleby (left) and Ariana Sosa of Bloomfield. Chloe Wagner (front) of Birmingham with her grandmother Sharie Gladner (left) of Southfield, aunt Merrily Gechter of Royal Oak and mother Nicole Wagner of Birmingham. Abigail Fisher (left) and Alexandra Weaver of Bloomfield. Luigi Bruni Salon’s Luigi Bruini of Birmingham and Claire Bonahoom of Grosse Pointe.

Host committee member Sofie Harb of Bloomfield with the Valentine card she made. Host committee member Sloan Kiriluk of Bloomfield. Host committee members Ailsa Bentley (left) of Bloomfield and Olivia, Ava and Lisa Hepard of Farmington Hills.

the video that guests viewed before The Suite Celebration tea luncheon Feb. 8. It attracted an oversold crowd of 325 to the Townsend for The Suite Dreams Project’s inaugural MotherDaughter Valentine party. The planners knew early on that they had a winning concept. “We only sent out 500 invitations and quickly sold our target 300 tickets,” noted Julie Sosa, co-chair with Katie Aubrey.

Upon arrival, each youngster got a pink feather boa which perfectly accented David C. McKnight’s Emerald City Designs’ party décor.

Many three generation groups were in the crowd that posed for photos generously donated by Jocelyn M. Photography. And lots of young ladies queued up for salon services donated

by Luigi Bruni Salon. The youngsters also got tattoos and made Pixie Sticks, necklaces, Valentine pillows and Valentine cards. The Junior Committee, which had handcrafted hearts for the invitations, also did the honors from the podium.

Announcements included the fact that the Junior Committee, as part of their giving back education, would manage the proceeds of the event. It netted some $10,000 for SDP, which creates healing environments in the homes of really sick children.

Keep the Ball Rolling parties

■ Michigan Opera Theatre’s Keep the Ball Rolling Benefit Parties

Clockwise from lower left: Ruth Rattner of Birmingham and Mary Lou Zieve of Bloomfield.

MOT director Dr. David DiChiera (left) of Detroit, Gretchen Davidson and Graham Orley of Bloomfield. Party host Michael Kratchman (left) of Bloomfield, Dr.David DiChiera of Detroit and Joanne Danto of Birmingham. Suzanne and Joe Orley of Bloomfield.

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In light of declining corporate donations, Michigan Opera Theatre board member Nora Moroun suggested replacing MOT’s annual Opera Ball with a series of smaller parties and 17 opera lovers stepped up to host Keep the Ball Rolling events.

Hosts were: the Bob Lutzes; Matthew Morouns; Herman Frankels & Bill Sandys; Chuck Podowskis; Stuart Frankels; Bill Brookses; Michael Kratchmans & Allan Nachmans; Bud Lieblers with Ruth Rattner & Mary Lou Zieve; Allan Gilmour & Eric Jirgens; Linda Orlans; Marianne Endicott; Adel Amerman, Thomas Jordan & Dr. David Balle; Mary Lamparter, Carmel Mitchell & Nora Moroun; Paul Howoleski & John Jovanovich; Dr. Ali Moiin & Dr. William Kupsky; and Gretchen Davidson & Dorothy Gerson who made their Masquerade Benefit a surprise birthday party for Ethan Davidson. Each party host provided food and invited guests.

MOT provided entertainment and helped coordinate logistics. Two more parties remain on the calendar (Patricia Rodzik is hosting a Cabaret Evening in Palm Beach on March 18 and the John Bolls will Welcome Summer on June 19) but the goal to MARCH 2010

raise $200,000 has already been exceeded by $45,000. Bravo! Bravo!

■ Brookside School’s Kaleidoscope Patron Party

Brookside Kaleidoscope Party Some of the 269 Brookside School loyalists, like co-chairs Susan Ludwig and Yvonne Raiola, did wear the optional capes and masks to the Patron Party for Kaleidoscope Saves the Day! A Tribute to Heroes on Feb. 5 at the Townsend Hotel. Many bought stickers for the Heads and Tails Raffle, which was won by Gina Gore, and most bid on the 18 items in the live auction conducted by Charlie Wickens, who has added a band of attractive angels to his team. All saluted The World of Erhard for its 25th year of Kaleidoscope sponsorship. The auction and raffles raised nearly $85,000 and set the stage for the main event March 13 at the school.

Clockwise from upper left: Patty Back (left) and Barb Deeby of Bloomfield, Arti Madhavan of Franklin, Nicole Steimel of West Bloomfield and Penny Davis of Bloomfield. Event co-chairs Yvonne Raiola (left) of Northville and Susan Ludwig if Royal Oak. Kaleidoscope co-chairs Adriana Vlasic (left) and Estelle Kwartowitz of Bloomfield. Tori and Michael Sawula of Bloomfield. Jon (left) and Karen Borenstein of Birmingham with Tracey and Les Grosinger of Bloomfield. Bruce (left) and Debbie Kridler and Matt and Kelly Shuert of Bloomfield. Andy (left) and Deborah Meyer and Ralph and Andrea Schgiller of Birmingham.

Temple Beth El’s Passover Tables A previous commitment the evening of Feb. 4 dictated we go to Temple Beth El for the daytime set-up of the inaugural Passover Table exhibition. The downside of this schedule is that some of the designers chose not to be photographed in their work clothes. The upside is that we were able to see the tablescape details and photograph many of them without being rude to the 150 guests who did attend the evening event. Even during the set up an aura of excited anticipation prevailed. Most of the exhibits contained cherished family treasures, many displayed publicly for the first time, Brenda Rosenberg and her niece Marlo Scott were putting the finishing touches on the Peace table containing the creative work of the Scott and Doelle children. This was, no doubt a tribute to Rosenberg’s Children of Abraham peace initiative.

And the Safari spread that John Arnold, Linda Dresner and Roz Jacobson were arranging on shipping pallets that could have come right off Queen Victoria’s boat would surely attract a crowd at the evening party.

Co-chair Elyse Foltyn did report that the partiers were enthusiastic about the creativity and diversity that was on display and that many of the designers have committed to the second event next year. The first raised more than $8,000, including the $3,500 generated by a Pick Your Prize raffle of 22 donated items, for the religious school at Temple Beth El.

■ Temple Beth El’s Passover Table exhibition

Clockwise from upper left: Colorworks Studio’s Barbi Krass (left) with event co-chairs Fair Radom of Bloomfield and Elyse Foltyn of Birmingham. Designer Leslie Ann Pilling (left) with Nina Hudson of Detroit and Erin Ladd of Bloomfield at The Symbolsim of Passover Table. Nanci Rands of Bloomfield arranging the table she designed with her daughter Meredith Coburn. AMW Design Studio’s Amy Weinstein (left) of Birmingham with Diane Taylor of Farmington Hills. Weinstein’s table is The Last Supper in Bloomfield Hills. Phyllis Lowenstein of West Bloomfield at her frog and flower laden table titled Hoppy Passover. Designer John Arnold (center) of Royal Oak and Roz Jacobson (left) and Linda Dresner of Birmingham setting up their jungle safari table.

(Designer not pictured Julie Taubman).

Send ideas for this column to Sally Gerak, 28 Barbour Lane, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304 or e-mail samgerak@aol.com or call 248.646.6390. www.oaklandpaper.com

THE PAPER

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■ final word Resist new state tax on services

G

ov. Jennifer Granholm last week unveiled a slew of proposed tax and state government reforms — including resurrection of a tax on services — in conjunction with her executive budget proposal for fiscal year 2011, beginning on Oct. 1, 2010. Republican lawmakers were quick to offer resistance to the idea of a service tax. Even some Democrats question the wisdom of a tax on services. Michigan legislators need to insist on additional spending cuts and reforms that produce cost savings, instead of giving in to the temptation to bolster state revenues through what amounts to a new tax.

Granholm's proposed reforms include expanding the state's sales tax to cover most forms of services while cutting the sales tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent. Other proposed changes range from offering retirement incentives to up to 7,000 state government employees and 39,000 teachers and other school employees with at least 30 years of service so new employees can be hired at lower wages and reduced benefit costs, to requiring a review of tax loopholes every two years.

Proponents of a tax on services argue that Michigan needs to revise its tax system in accordance with a shift in the state economy from a manufacturing base to a service base.

Opponents cite the need to implement additional spending cuts and various reforms to save the state money. We're inclined to side with those who favor more spending cuts before giving any kind of serious consideration to extending the sales tax to services.

A tax on services should sound familiar, as such a collection was initially approved in Lansing along with a 2007-08 fiscal year state budget. At the time, the new tax was to be collected on services such as carpet and upholstery cleaning, janitorial services, baby shoe bronzing, landscaping, investment advice, credit card notification services, housesitting services, and a slew of others. A couple of weeks after adopting the new tax on services, Michigan lawmakers eliminated that tax and replaced it with a 21.99 percent surcharge on businesses falling under jurisdiction of the Michigan Business Tax (MBT), which was enacted to replace Michigan's Single Business Tax. The state continues to face projected budget deficits approaching the $2 billion mark. That's again the case for the upcoming 2011 fiscal year, and what prompted the governor to propose a tax on services and other state government reforms.

Officials serving in Lansing would be wise to focus on reforms resulting in cost savings and more spending cuts before considering a new tax on services — or

anything else, for that matter. With the state economy still struggling to grow, many of Michigan's businesses and individuals still aren't in a position to be able to afford a new tax.

The state's overall spending generally keeps growing from year to year, despite some deep program spending cuts in each of the last several fiscal years. Businesses and households across the state are having to tighten their belts, and that means spending less or the same as last year.

The state must do the same, not look to rake in additional revenue through new tax collections to support overall spending growth.

We're confident there's still areas of the state budget that can be whittled back.

That may well be a difficult, sometimes agonizing prospect, but it can and must be done. Simply squeezing more tax revenue out of strained households or businesses isn't an acceptable solution to the ongoing state budget crisis.

Yes, the governor's pitch includes lowering the overall sales tax rate, but extending that tax to services represents a new tax that no one can afford — not businesses, which would be placed in a position of having to collect and remit taxes, and not individuals, who would almost certainly have to shoulder the new service tax burden via a pass through by businesses. ■

Birmingham 9/11 memorial debate

T

he Birmingham Public Arts Board continues to consider whether it will develop a 9/11 memorial in the city, an idea that's been bogged down by debate over potential use of World Trade Center wreckage in a memorial. The simple solution is to create a memorial that doesn't include the remnants of the Twin Towers. However, if there's a general consensus in the community that the lack of World Trade Center wreckage in a memorial would diminish the value of a monument, then perhaps it's best that the Public Arts Board abandon the idea and move on with other projects.

Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 17, The Birmingham Public Arts Board determined it needs approximately $20,000 to pay an artist to create a piece of art, and to possibly transport a piece of steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers to Birmingham for use in a memorial.

The arts board has been discussing creation of a memorial to the victims and survivors of the terrorist attacks on the World

Trade Center, Pentagon, and an airplane which crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the steel from the World Trade Center, is accepting proposals from public and municipal agencies and non-profit organizations interested in acquiring pieces of steel wreckage for use in public displays. The wreckage isn't for sale, but approved organizations must pay the cost of having it transported.

The arts board doesn't receive any city funding. A 9/11 memorial would be funded through private contributions. That will require the arts board to canvass the community to solicit donations.

Efforts to develop 9/11 memorials are spreading around the nation, presumably because the port authority has made pieces of the World Trade Center wreckage available.

The historic nature of the events that unfolded on Sept. 11, 2001 — one of the first, and certainly the most devastating and deadly attack on the continental United States by foreign interests — understandably adds to

the motivation to commemorate those events, their victims and survivors.

The Birmingham movement to create a memorial has been stalled by a resident and 9/11 widow who is against use of World Trade Center steel in a memorial because it would be a difficult reminder for her and her son.

Surely the local community — even others who lost family and friends that day and want a piece of World Trade Center steel used in a memorial — can appreciate that. If the arts board wants to commission a 9/11 memorial, then an easy compromise would be to use other materials in a piece of commemorative public art.

Yet, we can almost hear critics argue that a memorial without steel from the Twin Towers would be lacking in substance. If that's a widely held stance, it's probably best to move on with something else. There's no point in erecting a monument — a public display of reverence — if it amounts to a reminder of personal loss and serves as a magnet for controversy and division. ■

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