Mark you calendar for March 26 to attend a fundraiser for video students at Dearborn High School.
The event takes place at 7 pm the Dearborn Elks Club, 25000 Michigan Ave. Proceeds from the event will go to students making the video Saints Cove.
Door open at 7 p.m. and tickets are just $8 for a night with the Joint Chiefs of Detroit and special guest Rusted Blue.
For more information, please contact 313-827-1635.
One for our readers sent along a notice about the following upcoming event.
The 7th Annual Relay For Life of Dearborn Spaghetti Dinner brings people together to enjoy good food and good company for a great cause.
The Relay For Life of Dearborn Spaghetti Dinner brings people together to enjoy good food and good company for a great cause.
In anticipation of the April 30th Relay For Life, the Dearborn planning committee, working with representatives from Fr. Patrick O’Kelley Knights of Columbus Hall, is hosting an all you can eat dinner buffet benefiting the American Cancer Society on Sunday, March 27th from noon to 6 p.m. The fundraiser is well attended and open during times to accommodate both lunch and dinner patrons.
The success of the spaghetti dinner is due to the support of dozens of teams volunteering to bake goods for the dessert bake sale, solicit and donate silent auction items, sell tickets and volunteer to work shifts throughout the day. The Dearborn community is encouraged to bring their families to spend some time with 2011 teams and meet cancer survivors and caregivers. Tickets are available now or can be purchased at the door.
“Through events like the Spaghetti Dinner, we’re able to reach out to people in the community, talk about cancer and give hope to patients currently battling the disease – all in a relaxed, fun environment,” says Vice-Chair Alysia Schuler.
The Relay For Life of Dearborn supports the Society’s mission to save lives by helping people stay well, get well and by finding cures and fighting back. This inspiring overnight event unites the entire Dearborn community in the common goal of creating a world with less cancer and more birthdays.
Planning for the Relay For Life of Dearborn has become a year round effort organized by a dedicated group of volunteers who focus on increasing cancer awareness in the Dearborn community while raising funds for the American Cancer Society. The Society reports 142 people in Michigan are diagnosed with cancer everyday, 30 of whom are from Wayne County. Participating in the Relay For Life of Dearborn is one way to help those people get well, bringing them closer to programs and services offered by the American Cancer Society.
The Relay For Life of Dearborn will take place on April 30 – May1, 10 am-10 am at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. Visit www.relayforlife.org/dearbornmi for more information or contact event chairperson Denise Abdullah at deniseabdullah@hotmail.com, 313.522.8785.
Event: Relay For Life of Dearborn 7th Annual Spaghetti Dinner
When: Sunday, March 27th, 12 – 6pm
Where: Fr. Patrick O’Kelley Knights of Columbus Hall, 23663 Park, Dearborn, MI 48124
Cost: $10.00 per person ($5 for ages 4-10)
Details: All you can eat spaghetti, plus salad, rolls, coffee and pop. Music, bake sale dessert and silent auction items will also be available.
All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society through the Relay For Life of Dearborn!
Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) will host the fourth annual “Taste of the Town” fundraiser event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, 2011.
Attendees will be able to sample a wide variety of delicious food items from local restaurants and have an opportunity to win valuable prizes donated by area businesses. Rain or shine, the community is welcome to attend this indoor school event which is located at 466 N. John Daly in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.
Shelley Boatright, DHMC’s communications coordinator, advises people to purchase tickets in advance for this sell-out event. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students. Children under three years of age are free. Ample parking is available.
Providing food for this year’s event are Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, Applebee’s, Bangkok 96, Cutter’s Restaurant, Dearborn Sausage, Del Taco, Jimmy Johns, Mexican Fiesta, Morsels of Traverse City, Papa Romano’s, Panera, Pizzapapalis, Rio Wraps, and others.
Businesses contributing prizes for the gift basket drawings include Creatopia Pottery, Dearborn Racquet and Health Club, English Gardens, Entertainment Express, Gordon Food Service, Om Spa, Upstairs Downstairs Remodeling and many more. Prize baskets will include a variety of items from toys to event tickets to electronics, featuring an iPad and XBox 360. There will also be a special raffle for a cruise from Corporate Travel, a seven course meal for 20 people at Antonio’s Cuciana Italiana, and a $500 tuition voucher from DHMC.
Proceeds raised at this year’s event will be used to help fund Dearborn Heights Montessori’s upper elementary educational trips to Rock Glen, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and to support the needs of the school’s classroom teachers.
For more details and to request tickets for “Taste of the Town,” call 313-359-3000 or email tasteofthetown@wowway.com
About Dearborn Heights Montessori Center
Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) is a non-profit educational community founded in 1972. Now in its fourth decade, DHMC is the largest and longest-established Montessori school in western Wayne County. Programs include toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school as well as summer programs and academic tutoring. Day care and latchkey are also available for enrolled children. DHMC has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and is affiliated with the American Montessori Society, Michigan Montessori Society, and the Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS). DHMC preschool and latchkey programs, along with its satellites Livonia Montessori Center and Plymouth-Canton Montessori School, are licensed by the Michigan Division of Child and Adult Licensing.
The City Council study session touched on several topics Wednesday night, including whether to raise parking fees or raise parking fines.
City Council is also asking for data on parking tickets, apparently trying to determine whether raising fines might generate additional funding rather than raising parking fees.
When any changes will take place still hasn’t been shared. We are told by one councilman that this is “information gathering” right now and no action is planned yet.
With the parking system hemorrhaging, odds are good a change will come sooner rather than later.
Stay tuned . . .
The contentious issue of paid parking in downtown West Dearborn will be the topic of a City Council study session on Wednesday, March 9, at Dearborn City Hall.
The meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room. We will have more details about the upcoming meeting later today.
While it is a bit early to think about lawn work, the City of Dearborn will start its curbside collection of yard waste material the week of March 14 so residents can dispose of materials left over from the fall and early winter.
Beginning the week of March 14, residents can put yard waste in properly marked containers at the curb on their trash collection day, weather permitting.
The mid-March start up allows residents to get a jump on spring cleanup and dispose of materials left over from the fall.
Residents are reminded to place the yard waste materials in the proper containers at least three feet away from their trash cart and recycling cart.
Residents can place their yard waste in paper bags or in their own 20-32 gallon container. Cardboard boxes and plastic bags are not permitted. Containers should be marked with yard waste stickers, which are available for free at the Dearborn Public Libraries, Mayor’s Office, and Public Works Yard.
City officials say do not put yard waste in your trash cart or your recycling cart. Yard waste is classified as grass clippings, weeds, leaves, and shrub and brush trimmings.
Fruits, vegetables, dirt, sod, and animal droppings should not be mixed in to yard waste. Roots should be free of dirt.
Brush can be up to four feet in length and three inches in diameter. It should be tied with heavy cord or rope and weigh no more than 35 pounds. Shrubs should be bundled the same way, with root balls removed.
For more information, call the Department of Public Works at 313.943.2085.
Heads up to those out and about on Saturday. The northbound and southbound lanes of Southfield Freeway (M-39) will be closed, between Ford Road (M-153) and M-10, for bridge demolition beginning at 9:00 p.m. on Friday, March 4 and ending by 5:00 a.m. on Monday, March 7.
Entrance ramps to northbound and southbound Southfield within the closure limits will begin closing at 8:00 p.m., including those at the I-96 interchange. During the full closure, Southfield traffic will be detoured to Telegraph Road (US-24).
Motor City Brass Band (MCBB), a metro Detroit British-style brass band, is pleased to announce its Motor City Festival of Bands II, which is back by popular request after the success of last year’s Festival of Bands.
The concert is Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. at the Michael Guido Theater in Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
MCBB will be joined by four Michigan bands, with each band playing a 20-minute segment. The concert will begin with a massed fanfare of cornet and trumpet players from all five bands. The end of the concert will feature two massed-band pieces in which all 288 band members participate. The participating bands are:
• Farmington Community Band under the baton of Damien Crutcher, Resident Conductor and Music Director
• Motor City Brass Band under the direction of Craig Strain, Music Director and Conductor
• Oakland University Brass Band, under the baton of Dr. Kenneth Kroesche, Director
• Plymouth Community Band under the direction of Carl Battishill, Director
• Washtenaw Community Concert Band guided by Dr. Jerry Robbins, Director
MCBB will perform three pieces starting with Paul Dukas’ “Fanfare” from La Péri, from the composer’s final work. The London Overture by Philip Sparke will follow. Sparke is a British composer noted for his band music. “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein will bring a taste of Broadway to the performance.
All five bands will combine under the baton of Charles Greenwell to perform Amparito Roca by Jaime Texidor. This piece will feature the mallet percussionists from all bands in an arrangement by Craig Strain, Motor City Brass Band Musical Director and Conductor. The concert will conclude with The Pines of the Appian Way from The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.
Guest conductor Charles Greenwell has conducted many ensembles in his career including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, among others. Currently he is Conducting Assistant with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and holds the title of conductor and Music Director of both the Southern Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra.
Ticket Information
Tickets purchased from the FCPAC Box Office are $15 for adults and $12 for students & seniors. The FCPAC Box Office can be reached at 313-943-2354.
Concert Information
Motor City Festival of Bands II
Motor City Brass Band
Sunday, March 13, 3:00 PM
Ford Community & Performing Arts Center
15801 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, MI 48126
The City of Dearborn’s Recreation Commission is hosting a public hearing on March 8 to discuss a series of improvements to Camp Dearborn, including a new walking path, canoe launch and a shore fishing platform.
Residents will be able to comment on a proposed Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant application for improvements at Camp Dearborn in Milford.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Board Room of the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave.
The grant would fund the installation of a multi-use path that will connect the Milford Trail on General Motors Road to Camp Dearborn. The path will include a canoe/kayak launch and a shore fishing platform on the Huron River.
City officials say all improvements to be funded with this grant are proposed to be universally accessible; therefore, the City would especially like to receive input from citizens with disabilities.
If you are unable to attend in person, written comments about this grant proposal can be addressed to Greg Orner, Director of Recreation, City of Dearborn, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, MI, 48126.
Individuals with disabilities who require special accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to attend or participate in this public meeting should contact 313-943-2350 or TTY 313-943-2199.
Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr.
With the city looking at a $20 million gap between revenues and expenditures, Dearborn city officials will be asking for a tax hike this year.
At his State of the City address Wednesday, the Dearborn Press & Guide reports that Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly said he would “recommend the City Council approve a 1.38 mill increase as they formulate the budget, which must be balanced and adopted by June 30. Currently the city has an operating millage of 13.62. If the increase is adopted it would be the highest rate allowed under the City Charter.
“For a house with a taxable value of $70,000 — about the average for Dearborn — the bottom line would be about $100 more in annual taxes. The increased cash flow would be a needed step in the right direction, said O’Reilly.
“If that measure proves insufficient, O’Reilly said the city could issue a ballot proposal asking for an additional 3.5 mill increase, up to 18.5 mills. The maximum allowed under state law is 20 mills. Either increase still would equate to a total tax bill less than what most property owners paid in 2006, though. And if it does come down to a ballot proposal said the proposal would come with a five-year sunset clause.”
The mayor also said that while the city has reduced general employee staffing by nearly 30 percent over the last decade, there are plans to cut 40 more positions in July. As far as cutting police and fire staffing levels, the City Charter-mandated police and fire minimum staffing levels makes that much more difficult.
“No one likes to hear it, and I prefer not to say it, but we have to face it,” O’Reilly said. “The voter-approved City Charter provisions of our police and fire departments severely reduce our flexibility to manage costs.”
The Press & Guide reports that the mayor underscored the staffing mandate predicament by saying that public safety costs in Dearborn are about $51 million a year, while the city’s operating tax — the lion’s share of city revenue — only pulls in about $48 million annually.
“We need to understand that mandating the number of officers and firefighters doesn’t automatically correspond to our desired level of security,” O’Reilly said.
For the full State of the City story written by J. Patrick Pepper in the Dearborn Press & Guide, click HERE.