The Dearborn Commission on Disability Concerns is seeking new members.

If you are a Dearborn resident interested in disability concerns from a personal or professional perspective, the commission would like to hear from you.

The Commission promotes full access to city programs and services for both communication and physical barriers. It also provides educational forums and up-to-date information about the implementation of the Americans with Disability Act.

Appointments to the commission are made by the mayor. To receive an application to be considered for an appointment, please contact the Dearborn commission at (313) 943-2789 TTY, call (313) 943-2835 or email Marsha Koet at mkoet@ci.dearborn.mi.us

The unfortunate part about any person seeking public office is that politics is ugly business. We saw it this year in Dearborn in the State House race between council members George Darany and Suzanne Sarini.

Tom Tafelski

It was also ugly during last year’s general election. In the city council race, Dearborn Council President Tom Tafelski became the target of an anonymous attack/smear campaign both on the Internet and in the mail.

We approached Tafelski when the mailings began, providing him the opportunity to set the record straight last November but he declined. Instead, he said he would speak openly to us when this investigation was done.

True to his word, Tafelski took time out to discuss the results of the investigation, which are now public. There are many tails to the origins of the Tafelski attacks.

While it isn’t yet crystal clear who actually penned the mailing or email, an investigation did reveal that the email was forwarded by a Dearborn councilwoman. The investigation also turned up evidence that one of the mailings was stamped from the company of a Dearborn councilman to-be, Tafelski tells DeepsaidWhat. And, a Wayne County commissioner apologized to Tafelski for forwarding the email once.

Worth noting is that Tafelski had this information ahead of the November election. But he decided against releasing it because he said he didn’t want to stoop to the negative campaigning he so despises, which was a good call on his part.

While it is unlikely anyone will be charged for any of this, Tafeslki tells DeepsaidWhat he is going to refer the information to the city’s ethics board, along with the county and state election commission. He also said he is evaluating filing civil lawsuits. So this has the potential to live on and get a littly messy.

“What they all did was unconscionable. The fact remains it hurt my family because they wanted to get ahead in politics. And shame on them. Now they are scurrying behind the scenes. When you start talking to attorneys and possible charges . . . people dime out people pretty quick,” Tafelski said.

But first a recap from last November.

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Back in August after the primary election, we wrote that former Dearborn council-candidate David Bazzy would indeed be joining the city council, despite his earlier election loss.

That was because Dearborn Councilman George Darany and Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini were competing for the 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives. With Darany’s victory on Tuesday, Bazzy will now join council in January. Bazzy you will recall finished just 548 votes shy of landing a seat on the Dearborn City Council in the last general election, finishing just behind Councilwoman Nancy Hubbard.

David Bazzy

DeepsaidWhat.com  caught up with Bazzy on the day of the election to get his thoughts on what he views are the biggest issues facing our city and what he hopes to accomplish when he finally does join city council. He says he is excited about joining the council.

”I ran because I felt I had some value to add to the city during these tough economic times, certainly the toughest in my 52 years living here in the city,” he told DeepsaidWhat.com.

Bazzy says while he may make some mistakes on council, he will always act and vote in a way that is best for the city.

He says the city’s two biggest problems right now include managing a huge budget deficit with a declining tax base and finding a way to fill the many vacant building in our city.

“These vacant buildings are detrimental to us being able to move the city forward. That is both vacant commercial buildings and residential housing. We have problems on both fronts.

“We need to focus on being a consumer advocate on individual owned homes,” Bazzy added, referring to how mechanisms in place today create an area of more foreclosures because of those who short-sale homes in our city.

“We have to get smarter and more creative to get younger couples to move into the city. We need to put things in place to attract them to move here and then work with them to help them become owner-occupants of homes.”

Bazzy said he will “work hard and I will listen” on council.

“Public service is not unlike a private business,” he said. “There is a process. The city has to move things at a faster pace because business is moving at a faster pace.”

Bazzy, 52, is a life-long Dearborn resident who graduated from Edsel Ford and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Wayne State Univesity. Today, he is the President of Kenwal Steel and Kenwal Pickling in the east side of the city. He and his wife of 26 years have three boys, all of them now in college (two of his sons graduated from Divine Child, one from Dearborn High School). He was elected to the Dearborn Charter Commission in 2005 and served as its president. He formerly served on the Zoning Board and Recreation Commission.

Bazzy wouldn’t say who he voted for State House because he said whatever the outcome, he will need to work with one of them on City council. “Whoever gets elected, I know they will do what is in the best interests of our city and the state.”

Spoken like a true politician.

Woronchak Retains Commission seat

Dearborn Councilman George Darany Tuesday night edged Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini for the 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives.

Despite being outspent by Sareini by a fairly large margin, Darany squeaked out a victory, defeating Sareini by 2,122 votes, 12,408 to 10,220.

Dearborn Councilman Darany wins State House seat.

Darany was very statesmanlike in his victory Tuesday night, crediting his win to the many friends on his campaign who helped go door-to-door.

“I think the 17,000 doors we knocked on really made a difference. You can’t discount that,” he told DeepsaidWhat.com from his campaign victory party Tuesday night. “We went door-to-door and it paid off.”

The race between the two Dearborn council members turned ugly with just over a week to go before the general election.

Darany’s Democratic Party recently mailed a flyer to homes that labeled Sareini “Suzanne Chapter 7 Sareini,” claiming she had to file for personal bankruptcy twice. “And she thinks she knows how to fix Michigan’s economy?,” the flyer states.

On the other side of the ticket, Sareini’s Republican Party called out Darany for voting against a project in Dearborn (the Dearborn Town Center at Michigan and Schaefer that is nearly complete) “to keep and create over 500 jobs . . . Darany now claims that jobs are his top priority.”

While it’s difficult to determine just how much of an impact the attacks on Sareini from the Democratic Party really played in this election, the fact that a Republican candidate was unable to close out a victory in a year when Democrats are under fire suggests the mailings did indeed stick in the minds of voters when they went to the polls.

Following his victory Tuesday night, Darany said he only wanted to campaign on his credentials.

“I am sorry about the ugliness,” he told DeepsaidWhat.com. “Unfortunately, that is politics on the state level. When the two political parties got involved, it turned a corner that I didn’t like.”

An impressive 43.2 percent of registered voters in Deaborn cast ballots Tuesday.

In other races, Gary Woronchak was reelected, easily defeating J. Scott Saionz for the 13 District Wayne County Commission seat, 16,994 to 6,921.

In the Dearborn School Board race, it appears incubant James Schoolmaster could keep his seat. With all of Dearborn reporting, he was ahead of Roxanne McDonald by just 137 votes. Schoolmaster finished with 8,838 votes to McDonald’s 8.701 in Dearborn. It isn’t clear yet how the two did in Dearborn Heights. Residents living around the River Oaks school could determine the outcome of this race. As of 10 p.m., we did not have results for Dearborn Heights.

To see how Dearborn residents voted overall, click HERE.

The City of Dearborn wants residents to know that homeowners can lease an additional 96-gallon trash or recycling cart from the city for a one-time $55 fee.

To lease an additional cart, residents must complete and sign a request form at www.cityofdearborn.org on the Department of Public Works page, or by calling the Department of Public Works at 943-2085.

Residents will be billed the $55 per additional cart when they return their completed and signed request form to City of Dearborn, DPW, 2951 Greenfield, Dearborn, MI 48120.

The city says carts, which remain the property of the City of Dearborn, will be delivered within two weeks from when the order is received.

There is no additional charge for weekly curbside pickup of an additional trash cart and no additional charge for biweekly curbside pickup of a recycling cart.

With just over a week to go before the election, the race between Dearborn Council members George Darany and Suzanne Sareini for the 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives is getting ugly.

Darany’s Democratic Party recently mailed a flyer to homes that labeled Sareini “Suzanne Chapter 7 Sareini,” claiming she had to file for personal bankruptcy twice. “And she thinks she knows how to fix Michigan’s economy?,” the flyer states.

On the other side of the ticket, Sareini’s Republican Party called out Darany for voting against a project in Dearborn (the Dearborn Town Center at Michigan and Schaefer that is nearly complete) “to keep and create over 500 jobs . . . Darany now claims that jobs are his top priority.”

It’s hard to determine just how severe damage from either flyer will be to the candidates’ respective campaigns but it’s likely the flyers will cost each candidate some votes on Nov. 2.

Separately, Sareini, who has been endorsed by the Detroit Free Press, recently picked up the endorsement of The Detroit News, as well. The News said “Republican hopeful Suzanne Sareini should succeed term-limited Democrat Gino Polidori.

The City of Dearborn has been recognized for its work to foster entrepreneurial growth and economic development in a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Dearborn’s Center for Innovation Research (iLabs.)

The city in a press release Wednesday said it was honored as a four-star community through the program known as eCities for its efforts to promote investment in the community and for its support of businesses pursuing innovative endeavors.

The eCities research surveyed more than 100 communities in the State of Michigan that are home to 128, 242 entrepreneurs, earning $3.4 billion in annual income. These communities also had $1.2 billion in commercial development last year. They account for nearly half the state’s commercial property.

Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. said the four-star designation reflects Dearborn’s commitment to fostering a vibrant and diversified economy.

“Dearborn has a history of promoting economic development, and in these challenging times, we know it is even more important to continue to pursue entrepreneurs and commercial investments. We appreciate this distinguished recognition of our efforts,” O’Reilly said.

“We are pleased to have participation from so many communities throughout the state in eCities 2010,” 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 entrepreneurship.”

Dearborn and 55 other communities were honored at a ceremony at UM-D on Oct. 19.

The annual eCities research project uses date supplied by the participants, as well as other public records, to assemble a six-factor, 30-item index to encourage entrepreneurial activity. The factors are clustering, incentives, growth, policies, community and education.

The study focuses on entrepreneurships because of its importance to expansion and diversification of Michigan’s regional economies and the impact small businesses have on job creation.

Dearborn residents need to put in an order for a city calendar by Nov. 5 if they want home delivery this year.

Faced with growing budget challenges, the city of Dearborn will no longer mail a city calendar to each household.

Instead, residents who would like an official 2011 city calendar delivered to their home will now be required to order one from the city by Friday, Nov. 5.

Those who order the free calendar will receive it in December.

This is a smart move by city leaders and should have been done long ago. Previously, the calendar was mailed to 36,000 households in Dearborn at a considerable cost to taxpayers.  

The new 2011 calendars can be ordered two ways:

 By completing an online order form on the City’s website at www.cityofdearborn.org. The form can be accessed by clicking on “Order a 2011 City Calendar” on the right side of the home page. Orders must be in by Nov. 5 to be eligible for home delivery.

 Or leaving a voice message at 313-943-3003. Callers will be asked to leave a message that includes their name and a complete Dearborn address. They will also be asked to leave their telephone number in case the City needs to clarify their Dearborn address.

If neither way works, you can always find a city calendar in the Mayor’s office at City Hall come December.

A printable, electronic version of the 2011 city calendar will be available at www.cityofdearborn.org in December. In addition, limited quantities of the 2011 City Calendar will be available at City Hall and other public buildings in December.

The Dearborn city calendar is a comprehensive resource for City programs and services, event dates and phone numbers. It includes information about public safety, property maintenance, trash pickup and recycling, leaf pickup and snow removal, and recreation and cultural arts. It also explains the City’s budget by listing revenues and expenditures.

In case you missed it, Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. took to the national airwaves Monday evening to set the record straight about our city, a week after Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle said Dearborn and Frankford, Texas are subject to Sharia law.

Dearborn Mayor O'Reilly speaks with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

O’Reilly did a nice job representing our city with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on AC 360 Monday night.

This is what Angle said at a rally of Tea Party movement supporters.

“We’re talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe isn’t a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it,” Angle said according to audio of the rally obtained by the Washington Post. “My thoughts are these. First of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas, are on American soil, and under constitutional law. Not Sharia law. And I don’t know how that happened in the United States.”

Cooper called Angle out, too, pointing out that Frankford, Texas, is now part of the city of Dallas. All that remains in Frankford is a church. So we’re not sure where Angle is getting her information but her misrepresentations were on national TV for all to view.

O’Reilly sent the Nevada candidate a personal invitation to visit Dearborn and in his letter gave her a good history lesson, too. (You can read the entire letter HERE.) We doubt she will visit but she could at least call O’Reilly.

“I am afraid that many share the perception that Muslims have only recently immigrated to this area and are imposing their culture on our region,” O’Reilly writes in his letter to Angle. ”The truth is that Muslims have been in America since the Revolutionary War, fighting for our independence. The first mosque in the Detroit area was in Highland Park, in the center of Detroit, and was opened almost 100 years ago to serve automotive workers who were flocking to Detroit to earn the unheard of wage of $5 a day at the Ford Motor Co. Model T Plant. When Henry Ford built the still unrivalled Rouge Manufacturing Complex in Dearborn in the early 1920s, the second mosque was opened a short walk away from the plant. Muslims have been practicing their faith in our community for almost 90 years without incident or conflict. To suggest that they have taken over ignores the fact that Dearborn hosts 7 mosques and 60 Christian churches . . .”

” . . . Contrary to the Sharia Law misconception, there are Christina Evangelists who proselytize to Muslims 365 days a year without resistance or interference from anyone.”

You can watch the entire interview by clicking HERE.

The race between Dearborn Council members George Darany and Suzanne Sareini for the 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives is heating up.

Republican candidate Sareini picked up on Sunday the endorsement of the Detroit Free Press. Although the paper did say “either (candidate) would serve the district well.” Just how much weight the endorsement of newspapers holds these days isn’t clear, but here is what the Free Press had to say:

“Democrat George Darany, 54, and Republican Suzanne Sareini, 59, have lined up to replace term-limited Democrat Gino Polidori. Both have served on the City Council and should be well known to voters in their hometown.

Both also have long histories of involvement with civic and community groups, and their platforms are remarkably similar with a focus on job creation, efficient government and education. Either would serve the district well.

But Suzanne Sareini, with her 20 years on the City Council compared with Darany’s two years, seems better prepared for the legislative process, with an almost ingrained urge to find consensus. She makes a good case, in particular, that she knows how to make hard choices.”