(Source: Dearborn Public Schools)

The Dearborn Public Schools City Wide Art Exhibit opens to the public Tuesday, April 27th at the Padzieski Art Gallery located inside the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave, Dearborn.

All student art work will be on display through May 28, 2010.

There will be a brief presentation at 4:10 p.m. then viewing of the art work. Outstanding senior artists will speak about their art work and plans for the future at 5:30 p.m. in the gallery.

For more information, contact Wendy Sample, Art Resource Teacher 313-827-3088

(Source: City of Dearborn)

Dearborn residents can safely dispose of confidential papers through a free event sponsored by the City on Saturday, May 1.

The free event takes place from 8 a.m. to noon at the Department of Public Works (DPW) Yard, 2951 Greenfield Road south of Rotunda Drive.

The limit is a maximum of 50 pounds or five bags or boxes of papers per resident.

This event is open to Dearborn residents only. Proof of Dearborn residency will be required in order to participate.

The East Dearborn Development Authority (EDDDA) tells us it is partnering with the City of Dearborn to explore a new and creative approach to a potential economic development project with Artspace, the nation’s leading nonprofit real estate developer for the arts.

The next step, however, requires community input. That’s where Dearborn residents can help. An Artspace discussion will be held on April 28, 9 a.m. – noon, in the Dearborn City Council chambers. An Artspace representative will conduct a presentation and question and answer session with the city and residents.

The EDDDA tells us that the Artspace mission is to “create, foster and preserve affordable space that serves the needs of artists and arts organizations of all disciplines.” This in turn helps the continued growth of the arts in our community.

Dearborn has a distinct and vibrant marketplace of people, food and cultures as well as the $70 million mixed use development under construction at Michigan and Schaefer. So the EDDDA is well positioned to support an innovative and creative project such as the proposed Artspace.

Melissa Kania of the EDDDA says the arts and cultural industry is one of growth and has a direct economic impact on the community. She says nonprofit arts and cultural organizations support more jobs then other fields such as accountants, lawyers, public safety officers or teachers. And, she says, the arts and culture industry attracts audiences, increases tourism, spurs business development and generates revenue. That’s all good business.

To learn more about Artspace and its success in other communities, you can visit their website at www.artspace.org  The scope of this Dearborn project will require a solid strategy and community involvement from all sectors: financial, civic, arts and culture for this to be successful. So if you can join the meeting on April 28, please do so.

Metro Times magazine’s annual “best of“ awards is now on newsstands in metro Detroit so we thought it would be good to list what Dearborn establishments this year were chosen either by readers or the staff of the Metro Times.

There are many great Dearborn places that didn’t make this year’s list but the 12 establishments that did certainly deserve the recognition. We just think there are a lot more “bests” in this city that should be on the magazine’s list. Perhaps it’s just a little bit of the hometown bias . . .

We’ve pulled out the Dearborn locations in each category and pasted the link for the complete metro Detroit list. Take a look for yourself.

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With the Dearborn City Council’s approval this week of a new seven year, $33 million contact with Republic Waste Services for residential trash service, recycling compost and leaf collection, we thought it would be a good idea to list out in a question and answer format what residents can expect. The 20 questions and answers below are from the City of Dearborn.

Dearborn’s new curbside trash/recycling program begins the week of July 5.

Q: Why is the City switching to this system?

A: The City believes a system using two large carts will encourage more recycling, reduce litter problems and concerns about rodents and pests, and give a more uniform appearance to neighborhoods on trash days. It also allows for an automated system for curbside collection, which will help to contain the cost for trash and recycling pickup.

Q: Will my trash collection day change?

A: No.

Q: Since curbside recycling is every other week, how will I know which week to place my recycling cart at the curbside?

A: Each household will receive a comprehensive information packet including a recycling schedule for their neighborhood when the cart is delivered.

Q: Should I put my address on my carts?

A: There is a spot on the lid for addresses. Please do not write on any other location on the cart.

Q: What should I do with my current trash cans?

A: You might want to keep them for yard waste containers or other purposes. If you want to dispose of them, please put a sign on them that says “Please pick up as trash” and Republic will dispose of them.

Q: What if I my 96-gallon trash cart is full and I still have more trash?

A: That is not a problem, if it occurs on an occasional basis. All qualified materials will be picked up at the curb, even items not in your 96-gallon cart.

Remember you must use your gray trash cart every week. But you may place excess trash on the easement behind the curb in an appropriate container or plastic bag. However, if you have more trash than can be contained in the cart on a regular basis, you may be asked to purchase an additional cart for a one time charge.

Q: What about bulky items that don’t fit in the trash cart?

A: The City will continue to offer curbside collection of bulky items, like furniture and appliances, as part of the regular collection service.

Note that special fees will still apply if a large number of items are left at the curbside following a move out.

Q: What do I do with my existing 18-gallon recycling bin?

A: You should no longer use it for curbside recycling. If you don’t want it for other household purposes, put it inside the new 96-gallon green cart and it will be recycled.

Q: Where do I store the carts?

A: Ideally, inside your garage, behind the garage or behind your house. If that is not possible, store them away from your neighbors’ houses as much as possible and try to keep them out of sight from the front sidewalk.

Q: Do I have to bag my trash before I put it in the cart?

A: Yes. Do not put loose trash in the cart. All trash should be in bags when it is placed in the carts.

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With the 2010 Relay for Life of Dearborn just around the corner, we wanted to again remind our readers of the dates (May 1 through May 2, from 10 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center) and of the ways to get involved in the Relay.

To find out more about the Relay For Life of Dearborn, contact ACS Community Representative Deena Gardner at 248-663-3427, deena.gardner@cancer.org or Dearborn Event Chair Denise Abdullah at 313-336-9020, deniseabdullah@hotmail.com, or visit www.relayforlife.org/dearbornmi.

Relay committee member and Dearborn resident Morris Goodman, a cancer survivor, provided the column below to Deepsaidwhat.com. Attending the Relay, as you will read, is a good way to see for yourself the good things being done to help eradicate cancer and to help those effected by it.

Goodman’s column begins below.

As anyone who has read my column over the last several years knows I almost died of colon cancer in June 2007.

Morris Goodman

To remind myself of how fortunate I am to be alive and how important it is for everyone to be informed about the reality of cancer, I have become deeply involved in Dearborn’s Relay For Life. RFL is a major nationwide fundraising and cancer awareness program of the American Cancer Society, which includes over 5000 localities and several million people. The Dearborn Relay is May 1 and May 2 this year on the soccer field in front of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

What impresses me most about Dearborn’s Relay For Life is how very, very inclusive it is. Men and women, young and old, Muslim and Christian (and one Jewish Unitarian- Universalist), white collar, blue collar, and unemployed are all present in large numbers. Just as cancer encompasses all levels and aspects of society so does Relay. While cancer develops in individuals, its impact affects entire families. And it is cancer families, which form the backbone of RFL.

Relay events celebrate cancer survivors and honor those who have succumbed to the disease. The opening ceremony at 10 a.m. on May 1 at the Center will culminate with 150 Dearborn cancer survivors walking around the track to the cheers of those assembled. The entire family can enjoy The Dearborn RFL for 24 hours – with entertainment around the clock, many varieties of food offerings, awareness activities, and fun games, with all proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society.  At 10 p.m. that night there is a powerful luminaria ceremony where those who have passed away are remembered by candlelight by their loved ones.

The American Cancer Society uses Relay to do two critical things – (1) to raise money for cancer research and to aid those battling cancer that need financial support and (2) to increase the awareness of Americans about the need for early detection to combat and limit cancer’s damage and to give hope to all that cancer can be conquered in the future.

  Read the rest of this entry »

(Source: KMS Photography press release)

KMS Photography in Dearborn will be offering a second spring session of Click! Photography for Women: Beginning Digital Photography. The course is designed for women to encourage creativity and learning in a relaxed environment.

Classes will be held Sunday evenings, April 25 – June 6  (there are no classes on May 9 or May 30) 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at KMS Photography Studios, 22312 Garrison St. Dearborn, MI

Course Topics Include:

Camera Operation – Find out what all those buttons are used for.

Basic Photography Terms – What is an f/stop anyway?

Composition – Learn techniques to take better photos

Plus, question and answer sessions after each class and individualized attention.

There will be opportunity for hands on learning because photography is an applied art and the best way to learn photography is by photographing, so make sure you bring your camera to class.

Cost: Only $125.00 for 5 weeks.  To book your spot please call Kristina at 313-278-7171

www.kmsphotollc.com

Hair Designs North, 841 S. Military in Dearborn.

It’s hard to image in this tough economy that any business can afford to give anything away for free.

But that is just what Hair Designs North in Dearborn will be doing on April 25 and April 26 at their store at 841 S. Military. Hair Designs North owner Al O’Sada, his wife, Joyce, daughter Kim Briffa and a host of others will be cutting the hair of unemployed Michigan residents for free.

“I am nervous and excited. That is the feeling I have now,” says Kim Briffa, a Fordson graduate who has worked at Hair Designs North with her parents for 26 years. “I hope we have a wonderful turnout. It feels good to be able to do this for people.”

The free haircut event, called “Hair Care”, will bring together celebrity stylist Maurice Tidy and some 16 other hair stylists from other Dearborn salons and one from Utica. All will be volunteering their time on Sunday and Monday to give free haircuts to the unemployed. Haircuts will be done on a first come basis.

The idea to offer free haircuts for the unemployed was hatched several months ago after Briffa ran into Tidy at, well, a hair event, of course. Tidy had held a similar program for the unemployed in Charleston, SC, the place he calls home, also calling it “Hair Care.” Briffa says she suggested a similar program be held in Michigan where unemployment also is running high. Tidy agreed and will be coming to Dearborn to take part in the two-day free haircut marathon.

Hair Designs North will be offering free haircuts to the unemployed April 25 & 26th.

With so much negative news lately around town, it is nice to see a local business such as Hair Designs North working so hard to try and do their part to help out-of-work Michigan residents make a great first impression.

Hair Designs North, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in Dearborn in January, is getting help from a number of other nearby Dearborn residents who have volunteered to help with this free event, too. Some of those helping (in no particular order) include:

Lynn Killion from Post Net in Dearborn, who Briffa says has printed flyers and anything else needed.

Hair stylists volunteering to cut hair include all of the staff at Hair Designs North, as well as those at Dearborn’s Mr. Franz Salon; Platinum Salon; Sylvia’s on Monroe and Hue Salon in Utica. Area high school kids have raised their hands to volunteer to wash and fold towels; another student is helping to take photographs of the event. Still other volunteers include, Dr. Linda M. Kinczkowski from Eastern Michigan University and Johanna Seidel.

Senate Coney Island’s Dearborn and Taylor stores are donating the food for the volunteers for both days of the event.

To help get the word out about the event, Hair Designs North reached out to Leslie Herrick in Mayor John B. O’Reilly’s office; Dearborn BNI; Dearborn Chamber of Commerce; Capitol Consulting, who provided the information to John Dingell’s office; Barb Jones from Century 21 and Mike Magnone, just to name some.

“I have had great response so far from other businesses wanting to help,” Briffa says. “I am still receiving more volunteers each day.”

So will some who aren’t unemployed come and try to get a free haircut? Briffa says she and her staff talked about that being a possibility but that was simply a byproduct of trying to do something like this on such a large scale.

“We are excited about doing this that and being able to give back,” Briffa says. “We need more of this giving back in our town. How did we get away from that? We see about 3,000 people a month in our salon and that is what we talk about, trying to figure out what else we can do to help each other.”

We’d say free haircuts are a generous way to help. Let’s hope it becomes more contagious.

The Dearborn City Council last night approved a new seven year, $33 million contact with Republic Waste Services for residential trash service, recycling compost and leaf collection.

The approval, much to the dismay of some city leaders, means the end of work for Waste Management, whose contract expires June 30. Republic was the lowest bidder for the contact.

Below is the official press release from the City of Dearborn:

A new contract for the pick up of residential trash and recyclable materials will introduce a more efficient curbside collection system, encourage even more recycling, reduce blowing litter and improve the overall look of neighborhoods on “trash day”.

The City approved a seven-year contract with Republic Waste Services for curbside trash, recycling and yard waste collection on Monday. The contract and the new automated collection system are effective in July.

All materials currently picked up will still be collected at the curb under the new contract.

All Dearborn households will receive two containers: gray for trash, green for recycling.

And, as part of the improvements, all Dearborn households will receive two containers for the storage and curbside pickup of their trash and recyclable materials. The trash container will be gray and the recycling container will be dark green.

These 96-gallon containers, known as carts, have wheels and handles so they can be easily maneuvered from storage areas to the curbside and back. They also have attached hinged lids to keep out pests, reduce odors and prevent blowing litter.

These two carts will be delivered to every Dearborn households beginning in mid-May, with all households receiving them by the end of June. Delivery will be to about 1,000 homes a day and take six weeks.

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Dearborn city council tonight is expected to vote on whether to award a seven year contract to Republic Waste Services for residential trash service, recycling compost and leaf collection, a deal valued at more than $33 million.

The approval would mean the end of work for Waste Management, whose contract expires June 30, and the beginning of a new waste and recycle pickup service for Dearborn residents.

Council will vote on whether to spend $2.7 million to purchase new trash bins, such as the one pictured here, for residents citywide.

Council members also will vote on implementing a new trash and recycling program that would provide each home with one large container for trash and one large container for recycling. Providing two new containers to each home will cost the city $2.7 million, a contact that would be awarded to Cascade Engineering for the residential waste and recycling carts.

The city put in place a pilot program last year to test the new larger trash and recycle containers with homeowners in East Dearborn. Neighborhoods there saw a dramatic decrease in litter and residents were very pleased with the new trash containers. City leaders are hoping for similar results if the council approves going to the new trash collection system on a city-wide basis.

“It is hoped that we will be moving citywide to a system like the one in the pilot area, with one large container for trash and one large container for recycling,” a spokeswoman for the city told us earlier. “The pilot area has experienced a dramatic decrease in litter with this system.”