Dearborn continues to push forward with eliminating waste and promoting energy efficiency and made significant strides in 2010.

Some of the city’s sustainability initiatives included a variety of new green and environmentally-conscious programs, including the following “green” highlights from Dave Norwood, the City’s sustainability coordinator.

• Introduced its enhanced residential curbside recycling program: After a test program of 700 homes showed that providing large trash carts doubled residents’ recycling habits, the City decided to provide residents with 96-gallon recycling carts, which in turn have taken recycling efforts to a 30 percent increase since July 1.

• Included significant green elements in the City-owned parking structure at the Dearborn Town Center: The parking structure has LED lights on the roof, outdoor solar panels, indoor “smart lighting”, and eight electric vehicle charging stations, which were installed at the mayor’s direction and with the help of partners involved in green initiatives.

• Carried out a Waste-to-Energy Feasibility Study: The City hired Resource Recycling Systems to analyze waste streams and look at technologies for capturing the energy from Dearborn’s wastes and using it to create power. It is looking at plans to implement a waste-to-energy facility that will possibly be used by Ford Motor Company and SeverStal Steel Company. The current site being considered for this is the former powerhouse site on Miller Road.

• Received a State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Pollution Prevention (P2) Grant: The grant has allowed the City to create a climate action plan. The plan proposes a communitywide greenhouse gas emission inventory, municipal facilities greenhouse gas facility, “bike-ability” and “walk-ability” surveys of the City, and the creation of the Mayor’s Environmental Commission to advise on sustainability issues, which would review and recommend changes to development processes of the City to encourage lasting practices.

• Received a private grant as a member of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network: A $20,000 grant was issued for the City of Dearborn to partner with Ann Arbor for the Michigan Network of Sustainability Staffs to encourage the best practices and share performance strategies, while discussing successes and failures.

• Applied for a Fordson Island Land Acquisition Grant: If accepted, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment will provide $400,000 for the City to purchase several lots on Fordson Island and restore them to their natural habitat. In the long term, the island will be made a publicly-accessible part of the Rouge River system. Notification as to whether the grant application has been accepted will be available in mid-spring.

• Applied for the National Clean Diesel Grant: This will retrofit 30 trucks by putting new exhaust systems on them to reduce diesel emissions and install new motors in a semi-truck. The City hopes to find out in mid-April if the funds will come in order to carry this out.

• Joined the Department of Energy’s Municipal Solid-Street Lighting Consortium: The group of cities in this consortium receives data and information on LED lighting testing and training on LED street lights.

The city of Dearborn is seeking sponsors for the installation of 200 high-efficiency lights in two downtown west Dearborn parking decks.

Dearborn has already installed solar panels and electric vehicle chargers in its new east downtown parking garage and high-efficiency LED streetlights on Oakwood, south of Michigan.

This latest plan to expand the city’s use of green technologies is part of an overall initiative forwarded by the National Adopt-A-Watt Program to encourage the installation of energy efficient lights in communities and to promote the conservation of energy.

Adopt-A-Watt, based on the successful Adopt-A-Highway program, gives sponsors community recognition for funding of clean energy, alternative fuel and energy-efficiency projects.

Individuals, companies, foundations and non-profits can learn more about the National Adopt-A-Watt Program and sponsoring opportunities in Dearborn by visiting the NAAWP website by clicking HERE.

“Dearborn is committed to green initiatives, but we must be conscious of our financial challenges,” said Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. “The Adopt-A-Watt program is a way for Dearborn to boost our energy efficiency measures and install green technology without impacting our general fund. It is also a great example of how important partnerships are to the success of green initiatives.”

The Adopt-A-Watt program will arrange and coordinate all sponsorship, financing, installation and ongoing maintenance of the 200 high efficiency lights. (more…)

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. will address the city’s financial challenges, outline a vision for Dearborn and present the process for moving forward during an event hosted by the League of Women Voters at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27 at the Henry Ford Centennial Library auditorium.

The public is invited.

O’Reilly will also review the recommendations developed by the 31-member Community Task Force in 2010.

Called Vision 2016, the report is viewed as a tool box for addressing financial challenges. The recommendations in the report provide options for the City to consider in conjunction with the budgeting process.

The recommendations include ways to generate more revenue, continued cost-cutting measures and investments to keep the city attractive for residents and businesses for the long term.

Mary Bugeia of the League will moderate the event.

Commissioner Gary Woronchak , D-Dearborn, has been elected chairman of the Wayne County Commission for the 2011-12 term.

Gary Woronchak

Woronchak was elected at the commission’s organizational meeting Tuesday, Jan. 4. He succeeds Edward Boike Jr., D-Taylor, who served as chair for the previous term and retired from the commission at the end of December. The 15-member commission elects its officers at the first meeting of each two-year term.

Also elected to leadership positions Tuesday were Commissioner Alisha Bell, D-Detroit, who will serve as vice chair, and Commissioner Laura Cox, R-Livonia, who was elected vice chair pro tem. The 15-member commission elects its officers at the first meeting of each two-year term.

As chairman, Woronchak will be responsible for the commission’s $9.4 million budget and its employees, as well as scheduling and running meetings and appointing members to standing committees and special task forces.

Woronchak, 55, is beginning his fourth term on the commission, representing Dearborn, Allen Park and Melvindale. Prior to being elected to the commission in 2004, he served three terms in the state House of Representatives. Before government service, he worked more than 20 years as a newspaper editor.

Dearborn is strengthening its vicious dog ordinance, following several recent incidents in which dogs seriously injured people in southeast Michigan.

The city is tackling the issue by focusing on owners’ responsibility for their dogs’ behavior rather than issuing breed-specific restrictions.

The Dearborn City Council earlier discussed updating the vicious dog ordinance to specify a ban on pit bulls (similar to what other cities have done) but backed off of that approach, agreeing with Friends for the Dearborn Animal Shelter that dogs causing problems could be any breed. However, under the ordinance it is possible for a court to order vicious dogs be euthanized.

In addition to emphasizing that Dearborn requires all dogs be kept on a leash whenever they are not on their owners’ property, the Dearborn City Council approved revisions at its Jan. 4 meeting to the Animals Chapter of the City Code.

City officials have developed a two-tier ordinance that is not breed-specific and implements measures that can help decrease instances of dog attacks or threats.

The tiers in the ordinance differentiate between two types of threatening animals — “dangerous dogs” and “vicious dogs” — and specify owner responsibilities in each case. Violations require specific steps to take place and there are penalties for non-compliance.

(more…)

The Dearborn Fire Department and Oakwood Healthcare System are using the latest technology to treat cardiac patients in as little as 40 minutes—less than half the national standard time.

And that’s good news for Dearborn residents because the faster a cardiac patient can receive treatment, the better his or her odds of making a full recovery—without long-term damage to the most important muscle in the human body.

Using Bluetooth technology, paramedic crews can transmit data directly to the cell phones of hospital physicians, who can analyze it wherever they are and respond accordingly. The information can be transmitted in as little as zero point-three (0.3) seconds, said Jeff Beutner, Dearborn Fire Department Battalion Chief, Emergency Medical Services.

“The hospital is looking at the same thing our paramedics are looking at,” he said. “In essence, we’ve not only brought the emergency room to the patient, we’ve also brought cardiology into the fold, too.”

Whether EMS is evaluating patients in their living room or in the ambulance, Beutner said, it’s like “we’ve got the emergency room physician and the cardiologist standing right behind us. It’s really having a huge impact on patient care.”

(more…)

It’s taken a while to make its way to Dearborn (we raised it long ago as a “copy with pride” idea) but the city will finally be offering a new pay-by-cell-phone metered parking system.

For those without cash or those not wanting to race back and forth feeding a meter, this is great news for west Dearborn patrons and business owners.

City officials will make the announcement Monday at a ribbon cutting at the Bryant Library.

“This convenient service is another example of the city’s commitment to be responsive to customers and to businesses,” the City of Dearborn says in a prepared statement.

We raised the idea of copying-with-pride back in August 2008 when downtown Petoskey, Michigan went to a paid parking system that uses your cell phone. That system allows drivers to call a phone number listed on the parking meter. They then register personal info (credit card and car’s license plate) and enter the meter’s number using the phone’s keypad.

Equipped with an electronic record of the parking fee schedules associated with that meter, computers then charge the correct amount — plus a 25-cent “convenience fee” — to the driver’s credit card.

When the driver is finally ready to leave, another call ends the billing and generates an electronic receipt that can be sent to the driver’s cell phone or to a pre-registered e-mail address.

The first lot to get the new system will be Parking Lot H, which is on West Village Drive (south of Michigan Avenue), between Mason and Monroe.

The ribbon-cutting will be attended by Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., Garret Snook from Parkmobile USA, the company implementing the cell phone system and Scott Mooney from Republic Parking, the company that now manages paid parking in Dearborn.

Also on hand will be members of the Dearborn Parking Advisory Commission, the West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority.

Dearborn residents who would like an official 2011 City of Dearborn calendar now have until the end of the day on Thursday, Dec. 16 to order one.

The deadline has been extended as a convenience to Dearborn residents.  It is one free calendar per household.  For those who order now, calendars will be delivered by Dec. 31.

The 2011 calendar is also posted online for review and can be printed in its entirety or by individual pages. View it at www.cityofdearborn.org

The preferred method to request a home-delivered calendar is to complete the online order form on the City’s website at www.cityofdearborn.org . Click on “Order a 2011 City Calendar” on the right side of the home page.

Residents who do not have access to a computer can request a calendar by calling 943-2285.

Residents who ordered a calendar by the original deadline of Nov. 10 should receive theirs in the mail by Monday, Dec. 13.

The City Calendar is a comprehensive resource for City programs and services, event dates and phone numbers. It also explains the City’s budget.

Suzanne Sareini

Dearborn Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini is speaking out, saying her involvement in the web and email campaign that was launched against Council President Tom Tafelski in the 2009 election is not true.

In a letter to the Dearborn Press & Guide, Sareini says the paper’s article about the situation “does not accurately portray my involvement and could mislead the reader to draw a conclusion that I was somehow involved in the email or web campaign that was launched against Tom Tafelski in the last council race; and that is simply not true.”

We wrote about the matter here a couple of weeks ago. You can click HERE for that story.

Below is the letter Sareini wrote to the Dearborn Press & Guide

To the Editor:

It is my opinion that your article titled “Report on campaign material form 2009 election could portend friction on “new” council”; dated Nov. 21 does not accurately portray my involvement and could mislead the reader to draw a conclusion that I was somehow involved in the email or web campaign that was launched against Tom Tafelski in the last council race; and that is simply not true.

This unfortunate twist of events regarding an email that I received and forwarded to 14 people that I normally forward things to, 6 of whom are my family, was re-forwarded to a member of the Council President’s family.

Upon realizing the political games that were taking place, I immediately spoke to Tom and explained what had happened to ensure that matters were not taken out of context, and I apologized to him and his family for forwarding the email I received.

I believe that Tom understands the situation and realizes that I was not the drafter or originator of any negative emails or web campaign against him. I maintain that my intentions were not malicious; however I cannot speak to the motive of the person who re-forwarded the email.

I have personally experienced the pain that is caused to a candidate and their family by others who choose to twist words and tell half-truths.

This can all be avoided if we as an electorate choose to focus on the issues; the candidate’s record and vision for the future rather than negative and misleading ads.

As Council President Pro-Tem, I will continue to focus my energies on what is best for Dearborn and its residents.

Last Pickup for Leaves Raked in Street is Friday, Dec. 3

The City of Dearborn is reminding residents that curbside yard collection will take place on trash days until Friday, Dec. 17, weather permitting. That means residents can place yard waste, including leaves, in proper containers on scheduled trash days through the week of Dec. 13-17.

Yard waste pickup continues through Dec. 17, weather permitting.

The 2010 City of Dearborn calendar states that the curbside collection of yard waste will end on Friday, Dec. 3, but that information is outdated.

The City extended the curbside yard waste collection season when it chose a new trash, recycling and yard waste collection contractor in the summer. The extended season is part of the City’s expanded curbside service made possible by the new contract.

Residents are reminded that yard waste must be properly bundled. It also must be in a properly marked 32-gallon container or paper landscape bag. Yard waste in plastic bags will not be picked up.

The City’s loose leaf collection of leaves raked into the street is scheduled to end Friday, Dec. 3.

However, residents may still bag leaves and place them in proper containers on their trash day the week of Dec. 13-17 as part of the curbside collection service.