The paid parking conundrum in downtown West Dearborn could be helped with the introduction of a free valet parking system for the entire downtown district, at least that is a plan being shopped by Cambridge Real Estate and Fakhoury Ventures.

In a letter to Deepsaidwhat.com, Yasir Kaskorkis, the property manager for Cambridge Real Estate, says he and Fakhoury Ventures have been working with the ECD and DDA to help support a free valet parking system. It is an interesting idea.  His letter begins below.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Yasir Kaskorkis and I am a property manager for Cambridge Real Estate, who also oversees all Fakhoury Properties in Downtown West Dearborn. As many of you are aware, there has been a decline in patronage to the downtown district since the necessary paid parking increases took effect in July. Besides the economic conditions, a competitive project in Allen Park (with free parking) and a decrease in business population have affected us tremendously. You will all agree the businesses in the district with no paid parking are at a significant competitive advantage to those who require their patrons to pay.

Paid parking has been a controversial topic, and it looks as though it will continue to be for some time. As business people, we must learn to work within our constraints. That is why over the past several months Cambridge Real Estate and Fakhoury Ventures have been working with the ECD and DDA to help support a free valet parking system for the entire downtown district (the first of its kind in the Metro-Detroit area). We will be requesting marketing funds from the DDA to help fund this operation. The funds will serve to alleviate the burden of operating the system from the business owners and to promote the free valet parking system. These are funds we desperately need in order to make this project successful. The amount of funds put forth by the business owners will be dependent on the amount of funds approved by the DDA. As we inch closer to accomplishing our goal, we politely request your support for the district wide valet system. Your patrons will be treated to free valet and will no longer have to be concerned with parking fees. We have plans to promote the free valet system through various media outlets, in attempts to gain back the clientele that once brought prosperity to Downtown West Dearborn.

The more parking rates increase, the more difficult it will be to attract customers and retain current business. The time to act is now; we need your support more than ever. We ask that you spread the word in an attempt to bring people together to make Downtown West Dearborn a destination spot in the Metro-Detroit area. Everyone is affected by lack of business, from your managers to your employees. Our goal is to enhance downtown West Dearborn to make it a viable retail destination, and with your help we can make this happen. We look forward to a constructive working relationship with all of the parties involved. Please call and/or email your Dearborn Councilman and Woman or your DDA Board Member.

Thank you,

Yasir Kaskorkis

22022 Michigan Avenue

The City of Dearborn received the highest rating possible by the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Center for Innovation Research (iLabs) for fostering entrepreneurial growth and economic development.

Dearborn was honored as a five-star community through the program known as eCities for its efforts to promote investment and for its support of businesses pursuing innovative endeavors.

This is the first time that Dearborn has been named a five-star community by the UM-D’s iLabs, having earned a commendable four-star designation in 2010.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. said the five-star designation reflects the city’s commitment to encouraging a dynamic and diversified economy.

“Dearborn continues to promote economic development and commercial investment. We also have a great track record of smoothing the way for innovative approaches. We appreciate this distinguished recognition of our efforts,” O’Reilly said.

“We are fortunate that there is a high level of interest among a variety of large and small companies who value the business climate in Dearborn and are investing here. This is illustrated by the 300 commercial re-occupancies we saw in the past year,” O’Reilly said.

Most notably, Severstal North America recently engaged in a $1.5 billion investment, formalizing its North American Headquarters in Dearborn. The 2010 addition of more than $700 million in steel finishing elevates this advanced manufacturing center to a global leader in steel technology.

O’Reilly said, “Severstal’s investment in their operations in Dearborn extends the life of this plant by at least 50 years and retains nearly 2,000 local jobs. This is great news for Dearborn and southeast Michigan.”

Dearborn was honored along with 43 other communities recognized by iLabs at a ceremony at UM-Dearborn on Nov. 16.

In addition to Dearborn, 20 other cities were named five-star communities, including Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Grand Haven, Farmington, Kalamazoo, Rochester Hills and Southfield.

“We are pleased to have participation from so many communities throughout the state in eCities 2011,” said Tim Davis, director of iLabs.

“The focus of this project is assisting local communities by identifying best practices and methods that they can implement, which will aid with job growth strategies, economic diversification, and development of entrepreneurs,” he said.

The annual eCities research project, which began in 2007, uses data supplied by the participants, as well as other public records, to assemble a six-factor, 32-item index of entrepreneurial activity, looking at such factors as clustering, incentives, growth, policies, community and education.

The study focuses on entrepreneurship because of its importance to expansion and diversification of Michigan’s regional economies and the impact small businesses have on job creation. To date, 138 communities across Michigan have participated in the study.

Let’s hope Dearborn can leverage this award as a way to attract other businesses to locate in our city.

It may not make Guinness World Records, but the Dearborn Historical Museum is planning what it calls the “world’s largest book signing” Dec. 10 at Henry Ford Community College.

The event is the official introduction of the museum’s new book, Best Dearborn Stories: Voices From Henry Ford’s Hometown. The book is a collection of anecdotes and reminiscences from 154 writers, most of them residents and former residents. We have been posting excerpts from the book here at Deepsaidwhat.com

The signing, expected to draw more than 100 of the writers who contributed stories to the anthology, will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at HFCC’s Andrew A. Mazzara Administrative Services and Conference Center. The book is the latest fund-raising effort aimed at keeping the museum’s doors open.

“The largest book signing I could find online had 87 authors,” said L. Glenn O’Kray, vice chair of the Dearborn Historical Commission and coordinator on the project. “We’ve already got enough commitments from our writers to satisfy me that we’ll have well over 100 on hand. And we’re all going to be wearing T-shirts identifying each of us as a Best Dearborn Stories ‘famous author.’ ”

The book is the product of an unusually fast turn-around for a multi-author compilation – less than 10 weeks from inception to publication. O’Kray conceived the project after reading an Oct. 2 article in the Times about a “Rapid Response” strategy for setting and reaching goals in 100 days or less. He secured funds from the nonprofit Museum Guild of Dearborn for the book, located a printer and a designer, and collaborated with two other commissioners in collecting and editing the stories. Final proofs of the book went to the printer Nov. 18.

Priced at $19.95 in soft cover, the 382-page book includes stories about digging up bones in the back yard, breaking into labs to rescue animals, hiding in church after lock-up time, substituting for Ford during a portrait sitting, getting cussed out by Hubbard, and discovering that a hockey opponent who kept falling down in practice had a hat trick up his sleeve.

The historical museum consists of three public buildings, two of them associated with the former U.S. Arsenal at Dearbornville, which was built in the 1830s. It has operated with city funds since opening as a museum in 1950. However, despite voter approval of two millage increases in November, the city is proceeding with plans to continue trimming services.

After the museum’s current city subsidy runs out during the fiscal year ending in June, it will have to rely on cash reserves that previously had been earmarked for renovation of a facility to be used for exhibits and storage. Those reserves, if used for museum operation, are expected to be depleted by 2014.

The museum has raised $35,000 since it began a new membership drive in July, and it is planning to begin a major fund-raising campaign next year, including the sale of naming rights to its buildings. Book orders and donations may be sent to the museum at 915 S. Brady, Dearborn, MI 48124. Call 313-565-3000 or email lglennokray@cavtel.net for information.

What does the future hold for downtown West Dearborn and . . .

Drive through downtown Dearborn, both east and west, and you’ll find plenty of vacant buildings.

Will these vacant buildings ever be filled with viable retail business that will bring people back to our city to shop?

The short answer? No.

At least that is the opinion of one planner in a column in Saturday’s New York Times.

Christopher B. Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan, says that the “boarded-up and vacant strip malls . . . forlorn monuments to the real estate crash are not going to come back to life, even when the economy recovers. And that’s because the demand for the housing that once supported commercial activity in many exurbs isn’t coming back, either.”

Leinberger writes that the most expensive housing today is in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs.

. . . downtown East Dearborn.

“Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift — a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered,” he writes.

“The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.

“Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.

“The millennials are just now beginning to emerge from the nest — at least those who can afford to live on their own. This coming-of-age cohort also favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers — for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars.

Over all, only 12 percent of future homebuyers want the drivable suburban-fringe houses that are in such oversupply, according to the Realtors survey. This lack of demand all but guarantees continued price declines. Boomers selling their fringe housing will only add to the glut. Nothing the federal government can do will reverse this.”

It’s a depressing column, for sure. But not one we are willing to entirely accept. While our elected officials have made a lot of poor decisions in a short amount of time that Dearborn will suffer from for years to come, it is hard to image Detroit somehow becoming a destination, at least not in the short term.

There is some good news. Leinberger says there is great pent-up demand for walkable, centrally located neighborhoods (we would say Dearborn offers this). He says the transformation of suburbia can be seen in places like Arlington County, Va., Bellevue, Wash., and Pasadena, Calif., “where strip malls have been bulldozed and replaced by higher-density mixed-use developments with good transit connections.”

“The cities and inner-ring suburbs that will be the foundation of the recovery require significant investment at a time of government retrenchment. Bus and light-rail systems, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements — what traffic engineers dismissively call “alternative transportation” — are vital. So is the repair of infrastructure like roads and bridges. Places as diverse as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Charlotte, Denver and Washington have recently voted to pay for “alternative transportation,” mindful of the dividends to be reaped. As Congress works to reauthorize highway and transit legislation, it must give metropolitan areas greater flexibility for financing transportation, rather than mandating that the vast bulk of the money can be used only for roads.

“For too long, we over-invested in the wrong places. Those retail centers and subdivisions will never be worth what they cost to build. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.”

To read the complete article, click HERE.

The Dearborn Historical Museum’s book compiling the best Dearborn stories from residents and former residents will soon go on sale, a perfect gift for the holidays.

The book, the first of its kind ever compiled by the museum, is titled Best Dearborn Stories: Voices From Henry Ford’s Hometown. The book will be sold at the museum’s gift shop at the McFadden-Ross House, 915 Brady.

Profits from sales of the book will go to the museum, which has begun a membership drive to help keep its doors open after city funds run out during the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.

We will feature excerpts from the new book over the next couple of weeks. This second excerpt is from a piece written by Freda Berce who has lived in Dearborn for 65 years. The 87-year-old resident compiled a list of her favorite place of yore. Unfortunately, many of her favorite places have long since been replaced or no longer exist. Longtime residents will instantly recognize the names and locations. It’s a great list.

Berce’s story below is one of more than 100 that appears in the Best Dearborn Stories: Voices From Henry Ford’s Hometown.

Favorite Places in Dearborn

By Freda M. Berce

East Dearborn

• Woodworth House – great dining and dancing.
• Circle Theater – Warren Avenue.
• Checker Inn – Schaefer Avenue. Great large elevated dance floor.
• Carmen Theater – Schaefer Road. Soda fountain on second floor.
• Wyoming Drive In Theater – Wyoming. Still there.
• Harry Miller Flowers — Michigan Avenue. The place for buying flowers.
• Korte’s Bar – Michigan Avenue. Dancing and dining outdoors.
• Dearborn Youth Center — Michigan Avenue. Roller skating.
• U.S. Naval Barracks — had sailors galore.
• Michigan Avenue & Schaefer — traffic officers directing traffic.
• The Rotunda — exhibition hall on Schaefer Road. Sadly burned down.
• McMahon’s Cocktail Lounge – Schaefer Road. Beautiful. The place to go on dates.
• Ford Foundation — the place to live in East Dearborn.

West Dearborn

•  Eurich Furniture — Michigan Avenue. Had old fashioned soda fountain and sold penny candy.
• Meyer Seafood Restaurant — Michigan Avenue. Great food.
• Holiday Inn — Michigan Avenue at Outer Drive.
• Chambertin’s — located in the Holiday Inn. Great food.
• Calvin Theater — Michigan Avenue.
• Twin Ponds — Oakwood Boulevard by Ford engineering buildings. Great skating.
• Muirheads — Michigan at Military. Best toy store and Santa with Sleigh for children’s memory pictures.
• The Maples Bowling Alley — Michigan Avenue.
• Michigan Avenue — beautiful Christmas decorations and crowds of shoppers.
• Ford Field — Brady Street. Ice skating and Class “A” baseball games which brought hundreds of spectators every weekend, sitting in the stands and hillside.
• Greenfield Village — Oakwood Boulevard. Most memorable when Henry Ford I passed away. My sister and I waited for hours to view his body. The line was miles long (and we wore high heel shoes then—whew!).
• Dearborn Hills — the place to live in West Dearborn years ago.
• Michigan Avenue & Monroe — traffic officers directing traffic!

Say goodbye to another Dearborn landmark. After 26 years of serving Dearborn, Dee’s Hallmark on Michigan Avenue will close its doors sometime after the holiday season.

Dee's Hallmark is closing after 26 years serving Dearborn.

The owners, Don and Dee Belcher, are closing the store so they can retire. Clerks in the store say paid parking, which has hurt business, helped expedite the couple’s retirement plans.

The store plans to have a liquidation sale sometime in January 2012. The building has been for sale for more than two years, listing at that time for $640,000.

When we wrote about the building being put on the sales block two years ago, Mr. Belcher said in a note he would do all he could to remain open even if it meant moving to a new location.

“My commitment to survival has always been strong but after closing (3) other stores and using the money to keep Dee’s going there was not enough left to (purchase the building Dee’s is currently located),” Mr. Belcher wrote in 2009. “It is common knowledge that this is not the best time to sell commercial property as evidenced by the many vacancies in our area. However should it sell I will make every effort to negotiate a favorable lease agreement with the new owner. If that is not possible I will look to relocate as close to my current location as I can. A smarter man would have given up long ago I think I’m just to dumb to know when it’s time to quit!!!!”

Dee’s hung on for as long as they could.  Like any business, costs go up each year.  That can be offset with additional sales but with nothing around Dee’s to help draw new customers, remaining open was no longer a good business equation.

We will miss what was easily the best card shop in Dearborn.

Vacant lots owned by the City of Dearborn are available for purchase for the construction of new homes.

To see a list of available properties, visit www.cityofdearborn.org

While these lots can represent a good value to potential buyers, there are guidelines to follow:

•The properties may be purchased for the minimum bid price.

•The properties are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

•If you wish to purchase any of the properties, please submit your written request, including your name, address and phone number, directly to: Licia Yangouyian, Assistant Corporation Counsel, 13615 Michigan Ave., Ste. 8, Dearborn, MI 48126.

•You must submit a $500 deposit for each property that you wish to purchase.

•Buyers are required to comply with the City’s Guidelines for Land Sales, a copy of which is available at the Legal Department, 3rd Floor, East Wing of City Hall, 13615 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, MI 48126.

•The lots must be paid in full by certified check or money order at the time of the closing.

•The City requires the buyer to begin construction of a new single-family house on residential property within 12 months of accepting the offer.

•All bids submitted are subject to approval by the Dearborn City Council.

•Buyer must comply with zoning laws and will not be granted any variance.

For more information, call the city’s Legal Department at 943-2035.

If you were walking through Westborn Mall in Dearborn Sunday morning and were wondering what all of the camera and sound crews were doing we can tell you they weren’t shopping.

Instead, the more than half dozen trucks in the parking lot of the mall, along with security personnel, sound and catering crews were all there to support the filming of an upcoming commercial for H&R Block, the income tax people.

The filming for the national ad was taking place in the H&R Block office in the mall. So when you see the commercial air in the coming weeks and listen to the testimonials from people in the ad you’ll know it was shot here in the company’s Dearborn office . . .

Richard Wygonik will become chief judge of the 19th District Court in Dearborn Jan.1, 2012.

The Michigan Supreme Court has appointed Judge Richard Wygonik to Chief Judge of the 19th District Court effective Jan.1, 2012, replacing Judge Mark Somers.

Dearborn’s 19th District Court is one of Michigan’s busiest courts with over 70,000 cases adjudicated annually.

Wygonik, who is up for reelection next year, says he will work to make the court operate more efficiently.

“Mindful of the court’s heavy workload, I will strive for greater efficiency in court operations,” said Wygonik in a press release provided to media Sunday evening. “To achieve this goal, it is important to have the cooperation and collaboration of my fellow judges, as well as the professional staff and administrators at the Dearborn District Court. I believe that especially in the current economic climate, the community views this as a critical mandate and not an option.”

In addition to hearing cases, Wygonik will serve as the presiding officer of the court and carry out its administrative duties beginning. Wygonik will represent the court at public functions and serve as its spokesman. The chief judge serves without additional compensation.

“I am pleased to have earned the confidence of the Michigan Supreme Court and of my legal peers,” Wygonik said. “As Chief Judge of the 19th District Court, I will work to maintain an environment that protects the rights of those who appear before the courts.”

Wygonik was appointed to the bench in 2005. Dearborn voters retained him for a full six-year term in November 2006.

Wygonik is a lifetime resident of Dearborn and a graduate of Fordson High School. He received his law degree from Wayne State University after completing his undergraduate work at Henry Ford Community College and Western Michigan University. He has been a practicing attorney since 1972.

Wygonik served as a mediator for Wayne County Circuit Court and as a hearing officer for the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. He also served on the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association Executive Board. Many have commended Judge Wygonik for his fair and equitable decision making as well as for his thoughtful, no-nonsense approach to the law.

Long active in the Dearborn community, Wygonik is president of the Polish American Legal Society. His memberships include the Dearborn Pioneers Club, the Dearborn/Dearborn Heights ARC, the Dearborn Bar Association, the Polish American Congress, and Bishop Foley Knights of Columbus. He also participated in local cable television’s “Law in Action” and is a founding member of PACE (Polish American Citizens for Equity).

Wygonik and his wife, Adrenne, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, are active in the Dearborn Symphony Guild, as well as the Henry Ford College Foundation. They have been married for 43 years.

The Dearborn Historical Museum’s book compiling the best Dearborn stories from residents and former residents will soon go on sale, a perfect gift for the holidays.

The book, the first of its kind ever compiled by the museum, is titled Best Dearborn Stories: Voices From Henry Ford’s Hometown. The book will be sold at the museum’s gift shop at the McFadden-Ross House, 915 Brady.

Profits from sales of the book will go to the museum, which has begun a membership drive to help keep its doors open after city funds run out during the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.

David Good

We will feature excerpts from the new book over the next couple of weeks. This first one is by David Good, a longtime Dearborn resident who I had the pleasure to work with at The Detroit News when Good was editor of the features section. Good authored the book, Orvie, The Dictator of Dearborn, a story about Dearborn’s longest serving mayor, the late Orville Hubbard. Good’s story below is one of more than 100 that appears in the Best Dearborn Stories: Voices From Henry Ford’s Hometown.

By David L. Good

Orville Hubbard wasn’t what you’d call bashful about letting people know how much he hated it when he felt they were wasting his time. You could tell by the “Please Take a Number” sign and the “Now Serving” numerical display in the mayor’s outer office at Dearborn City Hall. That was just in case you missed the sign above his front entryway, an inspirational saying he had cribbed from old Henry Ford, “People get ahead during the time that others waste.”

So how, exactly, was I going to tell him that, through no fault of my own, I had wasted approximately three hours of his precious time the day before — as we started a series of tape-recorded interviews I hoped would eventually become a book. I had already thought of the title: Orvie. Of course I didn’t have a publisher, but that could wait till later.

The late Dearborn Mayor Orville Hubbard stands defiantly in the center of Michigan Ave. outside the Dearborn City Hall.

It was a fine mid-September day in 1972. I was 30, had been married to Janet for almost a year, and had recently wrapped up a three-year stint covering Dearborn and environs as a reporter for The Detroit News. Now I had been transferred to a beat covering the Detroit City Council, and I fancied I had quickly developed a good relationship with the likes of Carl Levin, Tony Wierzbicki and David Eberhard.

I also fancied I’d done a pretty good job of making it through those three years with Hubbard, who, as anyone who picked up a piece of embossed city stationery would immediately know, had been “mayor of Dearborn since January 6, 1942.”

True enough, Dearborn Heights Mayor John Canfield had bellowed at me when I greeted him a day after writing a story I knew would anger him. “Here’s your most unfavorite newspaper reporter,” I chirped as I entered his office. “You’re goddamned right you are,” he exploded.

But somehow I’d managed not to tick off Hubbard, at least not that I knew of. (He probably didn’t remember that 10 years earlier, when I was a journalism major at Michigan, he phoned my home to complain that a nerdy-looking young man driving a car registered to my father had been photographing the mayor’s home on Mead. I was impressed with Hubbard’s quick response to a perceived threat, but I went ahead anyway with plans to write a negative editorial on him for a student publication in Ann Arbor.)

So here I was, taking a few days’ vacation from the News, waiting to go in for our second day of interviews. The day before, I remembered, he had vented about a local attorney who had once sued him successfully for libel (“Christ, it helped his business”), the Wayne circuit judge who had ruled against the mayor in the libel suit (“If I could find the cemetery, I’ll go out and piss on his grave”), and a former city appointee who had gone over to the opposition (“The son of a bitch — I should have been fired for ever giving him a job in the first place”).

After a few minutes, the mayor summoned me. Still an imposing figure at a diet-assisted weight of about 280, Hubbard was dressed in a white starched shirt, navy slacks and his trademark white-on-navy polka-dot bow tie; his navy suit coat was hanging up. As I sat down, he wheeled around in his chair to face me.

“Well, let’s get started,” he said briskly.

I clicked on my tape recorder and said what I had been fretting about saying since the night before, when I discovered that every word I thought I was taping had somehow been transmuted into an annoying hum.

“Mayor,” I said, “I have some bad news. My tape recorder seems to be working fine now, but it didn’t pick up anything from yesterday’s session. We’ll have to go back over all the stuff we covered yesterday.”

There it was. Three hours of his time yesterday – totally wasted.

“We’re not going to go back over anything,” he snapped.

Great, I thought, he’s going to call the whole project off after we’ve barely started. His publicist, Doyne Jackson, had warned me initially that the mayor would never cooperate with this book project. Miraculously, however, he agreed to make himself fully available for interviews, with no preconditions whatsoever.

Except that he didn’t want to retape yesterday’s session. The reason soon became clear. Bending down, he pulled a tape recorder from a desk drawer. “Here,” he said, “take my tape and return it when you’re done.”

“You made your own recording?” I asked, restating the obvious.

“Well, you can’t be too careful, can you?” he said, chuckling. “I figured I might need it someday.”

That was Orville Hubbard – always thinking ahead, never allowing himself to be blindsided. It was a microcosm of his 36-year mayoral career.

As for the book, Wayne State University Press published Orvie, The Dictator of Dearborn in 1989, almost exactly 15 years after a massive stroke silenced the mayor and cut short our interviews. Had he not died seven years before publication, I believe Hubbard would say he got what he expected from me: an adequate platform for explaining his views, along with an accurate — albeit “warts and all” — recounting of his life and career.

At least I hope he wouldn’t figure I’d wasted his time.