Hundreds of Dearborn students from kindergarten through high school will share their artistic talents at the first ever Dearborn Youth in Arts Festival, sponsored by the Dearborn Community Fund, on May 11 at 7:30 p.m.

The public is invited to attend this free program at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., in Dearborn to watch hundreds of talented Dearborn students perform, display and demonstrate their arts.

“We called this the Youth in Arts Festival—not just a concert—because of the variety and high spirited energy of the program,” explained EmmaJean Woodyard, executive director of the Dearborn Community Fund (DCF). “It’s really exciting for everyone involved because it’s the first time that all of the schools in Dearborn have pooled all of their arts initiatives together at one time, in one place, to demonstrate how many of our young people are involved in the arts.”

Visual Arts

The Youth in Arts Festival includes the all school exhibit in the Padzieski Art Gallery featuring the artwork of K-12 students.

Fifth grade students will demonstrate the ancient art of kumihimo, a decorative form of Japanese braiding. Their work will be for sale with all proceeds donated to the Red Cross to aid Japanese earthquake victims.

In addition, high school students from the Pockets of Perception (POP) design team will be on hand with designs of their project which culminates later this year with the installation of two outdoor sculptures, one in west Dearborn and one in east Dearborn.

Choral

Choral performances will highlight the voices of students in the Elementary Honors Choir directed by Jim Walters, the Secondary Honors Choir directed by Jennifer Pegouske, and the Edsel Ford Choir, directed by Robert Doyle.

Dramatic Arts

Edsel Ford High School Musical Theater students will add a dramatic element to the program under the direction of Robert Doyle.

Instrumental Arts

Representing the power and passion of instrumental arts, performances include the Fordson Jazz Band conducted by Scott Guthre, Dearborn High School 10th Grade Concert Band conducted by Jeff Oshnock, and the Maples Music Ensemble conducted by Catherine Prowse. The Dearborn Youth Symphony Flute Choir directed by Donna Olkowski will perform in the theater lobby as guests arrive.

Special guests for the evening will highlight Dearborn schools graduates, all of whom have gone on to pursue careers in the arts. The guest list includes: pianist John Boonenberg; comments from Mike Mosallam, director of the Film Initiative for Wayne County; and, conducting the program’s closing number,

G. Kevin Dewey, director of choirs, Henry Ford community College.

The Youth in Arts Festival is sponsored by the Dearborn Community Fund (DCF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the mission to support cultural and recreational programs in Dearborn.

Honorary chairs for the event are Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr.; Karen Nigosian, chair, DCF; and Brian Whiston, superintendent, Dearborn Public Schools.

The Youth in Arts Festival Honorary Organization Committee includes: AAUW Dearborn Branch, Artist Society of Dearborn, the Dearborn Public Schools, and the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra.

For more information about the Youth in Arts Festival, other projects sponsored by the DCF, or how to contribute to the Fund, call 313-943-5478.

Lifelong Dearborn Resident Helped Shape City for More Than 61 Years

City Planner John Nagy, who worked for Dearborn 61 years and had a hand in the design of every major development in the City since the 1950s, passed away on April 28. He was 84.

Dearborn resident and City Planner John Nagy, who worked for Dearborn 61 years, was considered an institution in our city.

Mr. Nagy was considered an institution in Dearborn, and his breadth and depth of knowledge of the development of the City, as well as individual properties, was remarkable.

It was information he freely shared, and he often helped clarify complex issues with first-hand facts from years before.  I had the pleasure and opportunity to work with Mr. Nagy while a writer at The Detroit News and later as a City Plan Commissioner. Mr. Nagy was the consummate gentleman and a wonderful man to work with and simply be around. Like many others whose lives he touched,  I will miss him dearly.

He was well-respected in the planning community and continued to bring fresh ideas to Dearborn by visiting other cities on his free time.

He was an incredibly creative and flexible thinker who often generated solutions to planning problems that stumped others.

Professional and precise in his dealings, he was universally respected and thought of fondly by his City Hall colleagues and the City Plan Commissioners with whom he worked.

“It was impossible not to enjoy any interaction with John,” Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. said.

Several years ago, to honor him for his contributions to Dearborn, John Nagy Drive, the road just south of City Hall, was named after him. In 1994, he received the first Michigan Society of Planning Officials Community Planner of the Year Award.

“Whether you know it or not, all of Dearborn benefitted from Mr. Nagy’s planning expertise,” said Mayor O’Reilly. “John clearly loved Dearborn and worked tireless to ensure its long term vitality.

“As Dearborn grew with new residential, retail, office or industrial complexes over the decades, he worked to make sure there was logic to the progress. He preserved the integrity of our neighborhoods while allowing for beneficial economic development,” Mayor O’Reilly said.

“Beyond that, he is just an incredible example of a dedicated public servant, unmatched in 61 years of service to Dearborn,” he said.

Mr. Nagy was first hired in the City Plan division in 1947 as a level one draftsman. In 1953, he was appointed acting city planner by the Dearborn City Plan Commission. He became a planning technician in 1954.

In 1960, he was appointed Housing Commissioner by Mayor Orville Hubbard. The Dearborn City Council appointed him as urban renewal director in 1963.

He left Dearborn to become an assistant city planner in Livonia in 1964, but returned in 1967 to become the City Planner following an appointment by the Plan Commission.

Over the decades, he worked closely with Ford Motor Land Development as it was developing much of the center of the city with offices, residential, retail and research facilities.

He was most proud of supervising the Operation Eyesore project, a program begun by Hubbard in the early 1960s in which substandard houses are purchased by the City, then sold for the construction of new homes, helping to keep the City’s housing stock attractive for young families. More than 1,300 properties were purchased in his time and about 600 new homes built.

Mr. Nagy directed the City Plan Commission, which makes recommendations on zoning issues and land use to the City Council.

He was instrumental in the development of the first Dearborn Civic Center at Michigan and Greenfield, Dearborn’s senior citizen towers, and the first master parking plan in the west Dearborn business district more than 40 years ago. Because of the length of his service, he experienced two or three cycles of development on the same property.

This year, he was overseeing the creation of a new master plan for the city to allow for its long term success by anticipating future residential and commercial needs.

Economic and Community Development Director Barry Murray, who has worked for the City for five years and often turned to Mr. Nagy as a resource, said, “John was truly a fountain of knowledge about the community and his passion for Dearborn was clear in the fond way he would recall a story about a development or planning process that improved his home town.”

Mayor O’Reilly said: “Dearborn will never be able to replace the talent, the knowledge, and the dedication that John represented.”

The loss is personal as well.

“John was a colleague of, and later a department head for, my father but more than that, he was a treasured friend of both my parents,” said Mayor O’Reilly, whose father was also mayor.

A lifelong Dearborn resident, Mr. Nagy was a Fordson High School graduate and attended Dearborn Junior College. He served in the U.S. Army 1944-46.

A Memorial service for Mr. Nagy will be held Monday, May 2, 2011 in Studio A at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center at 10:00 a.m.

After five years sitting vacant, the Quality Inn Motel on Michigan Avenue and Brady is finally gone.

With the Quality Inn at the corner of Michigan and Brady now gone, what does the future hold for this prime piece of real estate in West Dearborn?

But now what is going to happen to this prime piece of vacant real estate in the heart of West Dearborn?

With a clean slate, the Dearborn Historical Museum has the opportunity to rethink the future of persevering the city’s past and bring some new development to this very busy intersection.

Kirt Gross, chief curator for the Dearborn Historical Museum, will host a presentation on the history of the museum site and the museum’s plans and goals for future development on Wednesday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m.

This is one worth attending if you can.

For more information, call 313-565-3000.

The city of Dearborn sent out a release today that nicely explains the city’s actions as it relates to Pastor Terry Jones. Despite some comments posted here, the city clearly has afforded Jones a venue to spew his hate.

The release begins below:

Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr.

The City of Dearborn has always offered Pastor Terry Jones the opportunity to exercise his right to free speech, and so his announcement to return to Dearborn on April 29 to protest in one of the City’s permit-free zones is consistent with Dearborn’s position all along.

The City is not anticipating any pre-determined outcome to Pastor Jones’ protest on Friday. The City will be preparing appropriately to manage the large crowds that may be drawn to support or counter Pastor Jones’ message.

Since the content of Pastor Jones’ message has never been the issue, the City also believes it is on solid ground regarding potential legal challenges to any action it has taken so far.

The City also notes that Pastor Jones has been given due process under the law at every step from the moment he filed his application to protest in Dearborn, initially set for April 22.

Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. praised Dearborn residents for their measured response to Pastor Jones last week, and for their participation in events promoting the unity of the community.

On Friday, a peaceful gathering at the Henry Ford Centennial Library, one of the city’s designated permit-free zones, attracted about 400 people.

On Thursday, 700-900 people participated in an event at the Islamic Center of America, organized by the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit.

This week, Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. encourages residents to continue to focus on the community’s unity and respect for all of the faith traditions.

Because of the high-profile of this case, people may be learning about Dearborn from misinformed sources, so the community’s positive actions will paint an accurate picture of a united Dearborn.

Mayor O’Reilly also feels it is important for residents to understand what happened last week amid the whirlwind surrounding the plans of Pastor Jones to hold his demonstration on April 22.

Mayor O’Reilly recognizes that the dizzying details may have left some with legitimate questions about what really took place.

“I’ve been approached by a number of Dearborn citizens who were confused by what happened last week and why. So, as we look ahead to the pastor’s announced return on April 29, I thought I should try to clarify what has occurred so far,” said Mayor O’Reilly.

He provided the following:

 “Dearborn never questioned the pastor’s right to exercise free speech. The question we differed on was where this demonstration should take place in order to protect both the pastor’s rights as well as the rights of those wishing to observe religious services,” he said

 The pastor’s preferred location was on a grassy area near Altar Road, a two-lane road with limited access serving four Christian churches, which, on April 22, were hosting Good Friday services. The road also serves a mosque, which hosted weekly prayer services on April 22.

 This location does not have any public parking or public sidewalks, and is adjacent to the six-lane Ford Road. The grassy area is not designed for human occupation.

 The City requires groups that want to hold special events not on public sidewalks or permit-free zones to apply for a special event permit with the police department. The department looks at public safety concerns and logistics to minimize the impact on adjacent property owners and traffic, amid other concerns.

 The City has areas in which no permit is required for a special event. These zones provided high visibility, can accommodate large crowds and have plenty of public parking, including for supporters and the media.

 The City denied Pastor Jones’ special event application for Altar Road, but referred him to City Hall, one of the permit-free zones.

 Pastor Jones said publicly that he intended to protest at the Altar Road site despite the City’s denial of the permit. Pastor Jones has not appealed the denial.

 Other groups also applied for special event permits at the Altar Road site and were denied. They were referred to the permit-free zones.

 Meanwhile, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office on April 15 initiated a process in the 19th District Court to determine if Pastor Jones should pay for a “peace bond.”

 A jury decided the “preponderance of evidence” showed that Pastor Jones and his associate, Wayne Sapp, would likely cause a breach of peace if they protested at the Altar Road site on April 22 at the time that they chose.

 This verdict prompted the judge to set the conditions of the peace bond. He set the amount at $1 for each man. He also set a condition that neither man visit the planned protest site or the Islamic Center of America for three years.

 Pastor Jones and Mr. Sapp refused to pay the $1 bond. So they were initially taken into custody to be processed for the Wayne County Jail.

 During the processing, each agreed to pay the $1 and were released Friday night.

 Pastor Jones later announced he would return to Dearborn for a protest on Friday, April 29.

The 19th District Court will be closed to the public for one day on Tuesday, May 10,  as Dearborn welcomes the justices of Michigan’s Supreme Court for a special educational program in which high school students observe as the justices hear oral argument on a pending case.

Payments of fines and costs or other monies due that day can be deposited in a drop box located to the left of the main entrance. Filings and other court documents due on May 10, 2011 will be extended to the close of business on May 11, 2011.

The 19th District Court will be open for regular business again on Wednesday, May 11.

For those who have lamented the lack of a good Mexican restaurant on the west side of Dearborn (we have), the spicy side of your palate will soon have something to smile about.

A new Mexican restaurant called Frida is coming to West Dearborn.

A new Mexican restaurant is going into the building once occupied by Annam, the Vietnamese restaurant that closed in July 2009.

The new restaurant on Michigan Avenue, between Monroe and Mason, is called Frida and it will serve Mexican cuisine. It isn’t clear when the new restaurant will open but a sign outside of the business says it will be “soon.” We look forward to having a place to go in West Dearborn that serves good Mexican food. Currently, there is only the Fuego Mexican grill on Schaefer near Warren in East Dearborn that fills that void.

In addition to Frida, there is talk that the closed Maestro’s in the West Village Commons development, also on Michigan Avenue, will soon be the home of a second Mexican restaurant. Just when or if such a restaurant will open isn’t clear but Post Bar owner Fred Giordano is said to be working to make it happen.

We’re hopeful both restaurants will open soon and take two more vacant buildings in West Dearborn off the market.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. has written an open letter to Pastor Terry Jones, who is planning a protest in Dearborn.

Earlier, the mayor did a video interview with the Dearborn Press & Guide.  Mayor O’Reilly does a nice job of explaining why the location for such a protest isn’t suitable. The mayor also explains how Dearborn is not preventing free speech, despite what others have said.  In fact, Dearborn is one of the only cities that has established, by ordinance, “Permit Free Zones” intended for demonstrations and free speech. The video begins right after a short commercial. 

The mayor’s open letter to the pastor begins below. With all of the nonsense being misreported by media on this protest, someone needed to explain the facts and defend our city. Mayor O’Reilly does just that in his well-written letter:

Dear Pastor Jones:

I watched you on television speaking about the Constitution and Dearborn, and it appears you need more information about both before you come to our city. I can provide insight on the Constitution, and expertise on Dearborn.

First of all, Dearborn supports the Constitution as well as any city in America. Our commitment to the Constitution is unwavering, not merely convenient, which makes your hyperbole about Sharia Law being practiced in the courts or civil law of Dearborn nonsensical. So, you are coming to protest against an imaginary threat that doesn’t exist in our community. Not in our courts, not at our City Hall, not on our streets and not in any of our places of worship.

Still, because we do understand the Constitution here, we are not preventing you from expressing your free speech. In fact, in Dearborn, we’ve even gone one step farther than most communities in support of free speech. We established, by ordinance, “Permit Free Zones” intended for demonstrations and free speech.

One of those zones is at City Hall, where from my office I have heard many rallies being conducted in response to international, national or regional issues. This is a high visibility spot, seen by thousands of motorists but safe from traffic, with plenty of public space for protestors, supporters and the media. It is where we are asking you to conduct your demonstration. The steps of City Hall even make an impressive platform for speeches.

And, if you are unhappy with what you think is going on in Dearborn, than what better place to protest than with City Hall as the back drop?

Instead you insist on protesting in an area that has no public property to accommodate crowds, spectators, parking or the media. There is just a small public road with limited access which can’t be blocked and an adjacent grassy area for drainage. It is parallel to a major state road, but the small shoulder can accommodate people only when they have auto emergencies.

And, this property you are focusing on, in front of the Islamic Center of America, is also adjacent to four Christian churches, all of which will be hosting Good Friday services, adding to the traffic flow and congestion. It is ironic that the road that you want to protest near is called Altar Road, so named because it was first constructed to provide access to a row of churches constructed in the 1950s reflecting Dearborn’s diverse faith communities.

But I can understand if you don’t know the details of the site, or the particulars about Dearborn. But you should know about the Constitution that you claim to be defending.

The Constitution says that your rights must be balanced with the rights of others under the same document. Your free speech rights do not allow you to trespass on the private property of others or prevent them from the Constitutional right to freely practice their religion. I am not just talking about Muslims but members of all faiths.

The members of the Christian churches on Altar Road asked me last week if they should cancel their Good Friday services because of your planned visit. I assured them that they should not because the Constitution does not allow you to violate their rights. I don’t know why you selected Good Friday but it wasn’t very considerate of the significant Christian services being held at that time. I assure you that you will not make them forfeit their services.

You claim that you are coming to protest the radicalism of Islam. Like all of America, we are concerned about the radicalization of any religion that would rationalize extreme actions. However we have not let this concern turn into a twisted paranoia that promotes fear-mongering and misleading generalizations. You state that you are coming to the Islamic Center of America because it is the largest mosque in America. What does that have to do with the radicalism of Islam? While size may matter to you, we prefer to focus on actual behavior. And according to our Police Department and the anti-terrorism agencies they work with, there has never been evidence of any wrongdoing in any of Dearborn’s mosques.

It appears your choice of the Islamic Center of America is not because it has any relationship to the stated object of your free speech but because it symbolizes the Islamic faith in general. If so, that is not truly in line with the Constitution you say you are defending.

There is no Sharia Law in Dearborn, only Constitutional Law. Sharia Law is church- or faith-based law that is applicable only to the followers of that faith. For me it is Cannon Law of Catholicism, in Judaism it is Torah Law, and for Muslims it is Sharia Law. The actual originator of the event you plan to hold in Dearborn, Frank Fiorello of the Fraternal Order of the Dragon, accepted my invitation to learn more about Dearborn, and after seeing the truth, he canceled his protest.

But, if you don’t believe that Dearborn follows the Constitution, here are some realistic facts for you. Businesses in Dearborn lawfully meet the diverse needs of our Greater Detroit area, but if Dearborn practiced Sharia Law, would we have three adult entertainment bars and more alcohol licensed bars and restaurants per capita than most other cities? None of that should be allowed under Sharia Law.

How about this? A business we boast about, the nationally known Dearborn Sausage, opened more than 60 years ago across the street from the first mosque in Dearborn and is famous for its sausages and spiral sliced hams. It is one of many meat packing operations in our City and no one has ever objected.

Dearborn is also famous for The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, where more than 1.5 million visitors come each year from across the country and the world to learn about the foundations of our American way of life.

Dearborn is a diverse, safe and unified City that is addressing its future in a proactive manner. We cherish the American Dream that brought so many people here during the last century to earn a decent wage and enjoy a high quality of life thanks to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. And for Dearborn, our success and our identity is tied to welcoming people of all backgrounds who have chosen to make America, and our community, their home. We are proud to have welcomed them.

As we work hard to balance your rights with the rights of others in Dearborn, you will be extended every courtesy during your visit – as long as you follow the law based on the Constitution’s protection of everyone’s rights. That should be a familiar statement to you.

You have said over and over that “Muslims are welcome as long as they follow the Constitution.” Surely, then, you wouldn’t ask less of yourself.

Look for some heated discussions at Dearborn City Hall in the coming weeks as several pools and library branches are now on the chopping block, actions city leaders will need to take to wrestle down a $20 million budget deficit.

These are both hot topics with residents and it will be interesting to see if the City Council is up to making the tough decisions that need to happen in our city.

Snow Library on the west side and the Esper branch on the east side are the current branches in the crosshairs of the city, according to the Dearborn Press & Guide Henry Ford Centennial and Bryant Library will not be touched as they were donated to the city by Ford and are required to remain libraries or they would revert back to Ford Land ownership, Mayor John O’Reilly told the paper.

As for pools, it appears Ten Eycke, Whitmore Bolles, Lapeer, Crowley and Hemlock are on the endangered list.

Pool usage and geography will be the determining factors for what pools will remain, according to the paper.

“The ones that look to be the most likely for staying open start with Dunworth,” O’Reilly told the Press & Guide. “That’s one that’s not proposed for any cuts or closure – and Ford Woods in the east end. Then after that, the next highest in location and usage is Summer-Stephens and then after that we get into a whole other situation where geography really factors in more.”

O’Reilly told the paper that Crowley and Lapeer are the highest priority to keep open because they are located in neighborhoods hemmed in by major roads.

“The goal is to provide reasonable access to everyone,” O’Reilly told the Press & Guide.

The Wayne County Department of Public Services, the City of Dearborn, and Vintage Tech Recyclers are sponsoring a free electronics recycling event on Saturday, April 16, in Dearborn.

The event will be at Henry Ford Centennial Library, 16301 Michigan Avenue, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is open to all Wayne County residents and small businesses.

People are encouraged to donate televisions, CRT and LCD monitors, desktop and laptop computers, computer keyboards and mice, printers, fax machines, copiers, VCRs, DVD players, microwaves, stereos, speakers, miscellaneous cables, telephones and cellular phones and game consoles.

Also accepted are handheld electronics devices such as iPods, CD players and Game Boys.

For more information, contact the Wayne County Department of Public Service at 734.326.3936.

The City of Dearborn will sponsor a free document shedding day on Saturday, May 14 from 8 a.m. to noon at the DPW Yard, 2951 Greenfield Rd.

This is open to Dearborn residents. Proof of residency is required,

Please note that the limit is a maximum of 50 pounds or five office paper sized boxes of documents per person. For information on the May 14 event, please call the Department of Public Works at 313-943-2085.