The city of Dearborn is making it easier for residents to remember what day to bring that big green recycling trash bin to the curb with a new calendar.

While most of us now have the routine down, every other week on trash day, it can be easy to forget.

So here is where you can download and print a new curbside recycling calendar www.cityofdearborn.org

The recycling calendar runs from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 and replaces the one that came with each recycling cart and expired June 30, 2011. The new calendar was also in the last edition of the printed city newsletter, The Back Fence, which was mailed to every household in April.

Dearborn Police Enforce ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy on Illegal Fireworks

Fans of Camp Dearborn’s annual Beach Bash will have to find a new place to view fireworks.

Fireworks go off over the lake at last year's Camp Dearborn Beach Bash.

Dearborn’s budget situation has forced cancellation of the fireworks show at Camp Dearborn, originally scheduled for July 2.

“Unfortunately, the Beach Bash was cancelled because of the budget situation,” a spokeswoman for the city said. “We will save about $24,500 by not holding the event this year.”

Separately, Dearborn Police are reminding residents that they will be enforcing the city’s “zero tolerance” policy regarding the illegal and unsafe sale and use of fireworks.

“Each year, we see cases of personal injury and damage to property when people use illegal fireworks,” said Police Chief Ron Haddad. “City ordinances prohibit the sale and use of illegal fireworks, or the unsafe use of legal fireworks.”

Police officers will respond to fireworks complaints. Adults found to be violating the city’s fireworks ordinances will be ticketed.

Officers will not issue warnings for fireworks use.

Parents whose children are found to be violating fireworks ordinance may also be ticketed under the city’s parental responsibility ordinance.

Both cases are misdemeanor offenses, carrying a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.

In all cases, illegal fireworks will be confiscated.

To report fireworks in your neighborhood, call the Police at 943-2201.

Dearborn’s 32nd Homecoming festival, Aug. 5-7, will feature the band Frontiers – The Journey Tribute on the Main Stage at Ford Field Park on Aug. 6 at 8:30 p.m.

Touring all across the United States and performing at venues such as The House of Blues, the group is known as the national full-time touring tribute to Journey.

Featuring vocalist Jeremey Hunsicker, the group caught the attention of Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain and founding member and guitarist Neal Schon.

The band, which became a full-time endeavor in 2008, also features guitarist Stephen Chesney, bass player Greg Eanes, and drummer Chris Castelda.

For more information on Frontiers, visit their website at www.journeytributeband.com

Sunday night will feature another performance by a nationally acclaimed cover band, “Hotel California—A Salute to the Eagles,” who will take the Main Stage at 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 7.

The quintet features members Dicky, Scott, Wade, Steve, and Kenny, who share vocals and musical skills. The members have opened separately for groups such as Boston, The Little River Band and Van Halen.

For more information on Hotel California, visit www.hotelcal.com

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After months of discussion, a plan to bring student housing to downtown Dearborn to serve the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus is expected to soon become a reality.

The existing building (foreground) will be connected via corridor to a new 4-story building (background).

The apartments will be located directly across from the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus at 760 and 780 Town Center Drive, the road that circles the Fairlane Mall. These two buildings formerly housed Ford engine engineers.

In addition to the two existing buildings, construction on an all-new four-story building is expected to begin this year at the same location. Corridors will also be constructed to connect the new building with the two existing structures. In all, there will be 506 beds consisting of studio and three- and four bedroom apartments, according to Bowers and Associates, the architect for the project.

One of the buildings also would serve as a student union hall where students could gather and purchase food.

In this rendering, all three buildings for University of Michigan-Dearborn student housing can be seen.

 A fourth building could be build at this same location if demand exceeds apartment availability.

The apartments, which will be privately owned rather than managed by the U-M Dearborn, are targeted to open in August 2012, according to the architect for the project.

Just how many of the current 8,700 students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn will utilize the apartments isn’t known but being able to offer student housing is expected to help the university reach its target of growing to 12,000 students by 2012.

This project has been a long-time coming and could go a long way towards helping the Fairlane Town Center, as well as downtown West Dearborn.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. is urging everyone who cares about Dearborn to ignore the words of people who plan to target this weekend’s Arab International Festival to misrepresent who we are in this city to serve their personal agenda.

Mayor O’Reilly’s open letter to our community begins below:

Dear residents and friends of Dearborn,

Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr.

This weekend we will again be visited by persons who want to use our community for their own ends. This time their target will be the Arab International Festival which has been part of our community for almost two decades. These visitors are not interested in the Festival or learning about and celebrating Arab culture. They are coming here to promote the concept that Islam is a false faith and that Muslims by teaching and nature are violent.

We know that there is no substance to their message – their goal is to promote fear and hatred in others. More than a month ago in Dearborn, faith leaders of all religions from all over Metropolitan Detroit rejected their message by standing together arm in arm and proclaiming that Islam is a legitimate faith and Muslims are an important part of our greater faith community.

Nowhere was the dishonesty of those using Dearborn to attack Islam more clear than when Terry Jones stood on the steps of our City Hall and recited the Pledge of Allegiance over as if we in Dearborn had never heard it. In his ignorance he failed to recognize that we recite the Pledge of Allegiance at events all over our City no matter who is the sponsor because we always stand together as Americans.

I sincerely ask everyone that cares about our City to wish these people peace and God’s forgiveness and then ignore them and their empty words. Their goal is to bait and anger us so that they can then misrepresent who we are in order to serve their personal agenda. Debating them and confronting them at this event or in our City can produce no positive result for us. We know we are people of peace but we are also people. All humans take exception to those who wrongly accuse us or suggest that our deepest beliefs are false and evil. It is human to become angry but it is divine to forgive. As all of our religions teach us we must rise above our human instincts and follow God’s instructions to be agents of peace and forgiveness. We must also encourage others to do the same.

We must be true to our collective goals of promoting a safe and positive environment for all of our residents and guests to be successful and enjoy their lives. We are a positive example of the ideals and goals of America to be a place of opportunity for everyone and a nation that respects everyone’s rights to their own beliefs. If we will stand for peace and tolerance, we will stand for America and Freedom.

Two years after a fire closed the Italian restaurant, the popular eatery has now reopened on Michigan Avenue in the building that once housed Kasey’s Salad Bar

Hassan Aoun, the chef from the original Ciao who opened the iburger lounge in the West Village Commons, is the man behind the new Ciao, Part II.

We haven’t had the opportunity to visit the new Ciao but would be anxious to hear from others here who have. Hopefully, the second time around for Ciao will be even better than the first . . .

In other restaurant news, Dearborn’s La Pita on Newman Street has opened a new restaurant in Ann Arbor. This is the second restaurant for La Pita near a university campus. The first was near the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, which has proven to be quiet successful.

We wish them the best of luck in Ann Arbor.

What do you do if a national magazine calls your city one of the top 10 dying cities?

If you are Flint and Detroit, ranked 9th and 7th, respectively, you do nothing after Newsweek magazine published its article back in January.

If you are Grand Rapids, Michigan, ranked 10th, you go on the offense and create a music video lipdub (5,000 people participated) to Don McLean’s “American Pie”, capturing the “passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially” in our city, said Rob Bliss, the video’s producer. Bliss says McLean’s “American Pie,” a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope.”

The video, complete with marching bands, parades, weddings and helicopter take offs, forced Newsweek to admit it was wrong for the “dying” label. Newsweek issued a formal apology to Grand Rapids saying, “First off, we LOVE your YouTube LipDub. We’re big fans, and are inspired by your love of the city you call home.”

The Grand Rapids LipDub, which has more than 3 million views and growing since it was posted May 26, got us wondering what would happen in Dearborn if such a designation was bestowed upon our city. Would there be the usual finger pointing as to whose fault it was for the label or would our citizens, elected officials and businesses rally to the cause? We’d like to think the latter.

If you haven’t already viewed it, the video is worth a watch and will make you smile. Lots of cooperation (not just financial) to make this video happen . . .  on so many different levels. Roger Ebert even called it the “the greatest music video ever made.”

If you are looking for bargains on all sorts of treasures then you’ll want to visit the Dearborn Hills Civic Association’s  annual Garage Sale, which kicks off today at 9 a.m. and runs through 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Stroll through the lovely tree-lined neighborhoods of the Dearborn Hills, which is located south of Cherry Hill and west of Telegraph Road, and visit the more than 25 garage sales being held this weekend.

Maps are available. See you there!

Budget hearings aren’t popular evening events among Dearborn residents, judging from the number of people who regularly attended sessions at City Hall this year (except for the well-organized Save our Pools team).

Yet the decisions our elected officials made in approving the fiscal year 2011-12 budget Tuesday night will have ramifications for all of us in the coming weeks and months.

So the question becomes is there a better way for our elected officials to more effectively communicate with all of us to get our input and alert us to what is coming before it occurs?

Tom Tafelski

We called out the City Council earlier this week for not having enough public hearings to collect input from residents on the budget. Council President Tom Tafelski took umbrage with that statement and quickly contacted us to set the record straight, saying our figure of just six budget meetings this year (a figure provided to us by former Councilman George Darany who is now a State Representative) was grossly understated.

Tafelski provided documents to us showing the total number of budget meetings was actually 14 this year, up from 12 meetings in 2010 and eight in 2009. Six of those budget meetings for fiscal year 2011-12 took place before April 15, the date the mayor presented his budget proposal to council, according to Tafelski. Seven meetings took place after the April 15 date the budget was presented to Council. The final meeting (budget approval) took place June 7.

Having meetings for the sake of meetings isn’t something we advocate but it still feels thin, particularly given the budget task this year and the more difficult cuts coming in fiscal year 2012-13. The challenge remains how to engage residents earlier in the process.

In regards to our suggestion that city-issued Council cell phones should be terminated, Tafelski and Councilman Robert Abraham quickly contacted us to tell us that neither uses a city-issued cell phone.

Tafelski said just two council members currently have city-issued cell phones: Nancy Hubbard and Suzanne Sareini.

The remaining council members get reimbursed by the city for minutes used for city work on their personal phones, Tafelski said. Those payments come from each councilmember’s city-issued personal budget, which is $3,500 annually. Council members use that same budget for educational purposes, as well, such as attending classes sponsored by the Michigan Municipal League, Tafelski explained.

Even with the budget passed, more hard work remains. Dearborn is considering seeking a millage increase that could be as high as 3.5 mills. City Council will need to approve such a measure by July 8 in order for it to make it on the November ballot. Lots of questions remain on what the added revenue would be used for and how the millage question would be framed.

The key thing for all of us will be to inform our elected officials what we expect from a millage increase. Emailing each of them is a good way to start.

Dearborn City Council

Tom Tafelski: 313.943.2405 – ttafelski@ci.dearborn.mi.us

Suzanne Sareini: 313.943.2404 – ssareini@ci.dearborn.mi.us

Mark Shooshanian: 313.943.2406 – mshooshanian@ci.dearborn.mi.us

Robert A. Abraham: 313.943.2408 – rabraham@ci.dearborn.mi.us

Brian C. O’Donnell: 313.943.2407 – bodonnell@ci.dearborn.mi.us

Nancy A. Hubbard: 313.943.2403 – nhubbard@ci.dearborn.mi.us

David Bazzy: 313.943.32402 – dbazzy@ci.dearborn.mi.us

The Dearborn City Council Tuesday night unanimously passed the fiscal year 2011-12 budget, raised the city’s parking rates and will now be looking at a tax hike for residents.

This was one of the most difficult budgets the city has faced in recent history, particularly since the city is facing a budget gap of up to $20 million. And the hard work isn’t over. A tax increase is next.

Yet our elected City Council held the fewest amount of meetings in recent history to discuss this budget. This is why the idea of expanding public input on the budget and delaying Tuesday’s vote for a week was shot down. There was simply no time left.

Our elected Council had backed themselves into a corner. The budget had to be passed before the new fiscal year begins next month. So when City Council President Tom Tafelski said Tuesday night he was “not pleased” with the budget AFTER it was adopted all we could say was, really?

The City Council received this budget from the mayor on April 15. In the past, budget hearings would have been held immediately after council received the first draft, sometimes as many as 30 meetings before adoption. This year the number of meetings, according to one former councilman, was about a half dozen. Residents had no proper forum to voice their ideas or objections or get the full picture as to why pools and library branches needed to be closed or why parking rates had to go up and, and, and . . .

As residents of this city, we deserve better from our elected officials.

Closing pools and libraries isn’t going to fix the budget issue we have. If we are going to start nickel and diming, let’s take away the city paid cell phones from each City Council member. Do part time jobs really need a city paid cell phone? Let’s also consider a deeper pay cut for Council members. If Councilman Brian O’Donnell can take a 25 percent pay cut (you’ll recall he said he would when he ran for office) why can’t the rest of the Council? Sure the $3,900 O’Donnell has given back in pay to date isn’t going to repair the city’s deficit but if all of Council did the same that would be another $23,000 and change to date back to the City.

Now comes the work of convincing residents that even with all of these cuts we now need to pass a tax hike. Here is what will be cut this year:

• Snow Branch Library and both Whitmore-Bolles and Hemlock pools will close

• The Health Department will be eliminated by month’s end

• Our operating millage will increase by 1.38 mills to 15, which is allowed by the City Charter. The total 2011-12 millage rate will now be 21.9, up from 19.5 mills in 2010

• Parking rates will increase between $1 per hour and 50 cents depending on lots. The high traffic ones will be the most expensive. Sunday and holiday parking will remain free

• Leaf removal will remain because it is part of the city’s garbage millage

• Some 42 city jobs will be cut via a combination of unfilled vacancies, facilities closures and layoffs. Another 23 employees have taken buy-outs