(Source: League of Women Voters for Dearborn and Dearborn Heights (LWVDDH) press release)

The League of Women Voters of Dearborn-Dearborn Heights is presenting the movie “Blue Gold – World Water Wars,” based on the ground-breaking book by M. Barlow and T. Clarke of the same name.

The movie sheds light on the world’s rapidly approaching water crisis and suggests wars of the future will be fought over water, as they today are over oil, as the source of all life enters the global marketplace and political arena.

As Michigan struggles to maintain shoreline beauty and improve water quality, some places struggle to find drinkable water. Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. The film finishes with some problem-solving examples.

The public is invited to join the League on Thursday, April 29, 2010, 7:00 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 120 N. Military, Dearborn. Please contact 313-278-6476 for questions and to register so the League can plan seating and snacks.

Oversight of Henry Ford’s historic Fair Lane estate on the grounds of the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus is being turned back to the Ford family-run board that runs the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores. The family gave up direct ownership of the Henry Ford Estate in the 1950s after Henry’s wife, Clara, died.

A designated National Historic Landmark, the estate will return again to the stewardship of the Ford family heirs and later undergo some major renovations.

The Detroit Free Press reports today that the Fair Lane estate will close for extensive renovations at some point in 2011 and reopen partially to the public in 2013 in advance of the building’s centennial anniversary in 2015.

The paper reports that university regents signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday that indicated ownership will be transferred to the board of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House beginning July 2011. The estate will remain open to the public through at least Dec. 31, 2010.

“Both the University of Michigan-Dearborn and the Ford House share a vision that the estate should be operated to the highest standards of museum practice,” Ken Kettenbeil, UM-Dearborn’s director of communications told the Free Press. Kettenbeil said the Fair Lane Estate needed at least $12 million in renovations and “and for the university to take it on, we would have to re-evaluated our core mission — which is teaching and research.”

The University of Michigan-Dearborn system allocated $300,000 annually to the estate’s operations, Kettenbeil said.

Henry Ford’s Fair Lane estate is nestled along the Rouge River inside the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus. The automotive pioneer employed more than 500 masons, wood carvers and craftsmen beginning in February 1914 to erect the estate, which was constructed from Ohio limestone, according to the estate’s Web site.

Ford lived there for more than three decades until his 1947 death. When his wife, Clara, died three years later, the Ford heirs commissioned an auction house to sell off its furnishings.

Ford Motor Co. bought the estate from the family in 1952, and established its corporate archives there through 1957. That’s when it donated the mansion, its powerhouse and the adjoining acreage to the University of Michigan, which used it to establish the university’s Dearborn campus. For the full story, click HERE.

(Source: City of Dearborn press release)

The General Henry Dearborn Quilting Society is presenting “Quilted Pleasures: a Quilt Show” on Friday, April 23 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday, April 24 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Admission is $3.

Enjoy quilts from artists Sheila DeRose and Kathy Connor and the Dearborn Historical Museum’s collection. Raffle tickets for a bed quilt made by society members and gifts will also be for sale.

The exhibits will be displayed at the Dearborn Historical Museum Commandant’s Quarters, 21950 Michigan Ave. at Monroe Street; and the McFadden Ross House, 915 Brady Street.

Please note that the Commandant’s Quarters is not wheelchair accessible. No baby strollers please.

For more information, call 313.565.3000.

(Source: City of Dearborn press release)

A variety of basic computer workshops will return to the Henry Ford Centennial Library throughout the month of May.

All workshops are free, but advanced registration is required.

Those learning to use a computer for the first time will be interested in the Basic Computers workshop. No computer knowledge or experience is required. Basic Computers will be offered on Monday, May 3 from 6-8:30 p.m. and Friday, May 14 from 2-4:30 p.m.

Internet Basics, a workshop targeted towards those who already have basic computer skills but want to learn more specifically about how to search and use the Internet, will be offered on Friday, May 7 from 2-4:30 p.m. and Monday, May 17 from 6-8:30 p.m.

Those interested in learning how to establish and use their own e-mail account can register for E-Mail Essentials, which will be offered on Monday, May 10 from 6-8:30 p.m.

Registration for each class begins one week prior to the class meeting. Visit or call the HFCL Adult Reference Desk at (313) 943-2330 to register or for more information.

Fliers containing the entire spring schedule can be picked up at the Reference Desk and the schedule is available on the library website at www.dearbornlibrary.org

Workshops are limited to 14 seats so register early.

Library card holders and Dearborn residents will receive preferential registration, space permitting; nonresidents will be placed on a wait list and will be notified shortly before the class date if any seats are still available.

All workshops will meet in the training room on the first floor (southwest corridor) of the Henry Ford Centennial Library, 16301 Michigan Ave.

(Source: City of Dearborn Press Release)

The Dearborn Community Arts Council and Dearborn first lady Christina O’Reilly cordially invite you to the Annual First Lady’s Tea, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 1 at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course on Telegraph Road. Advance ticket sales are $ 35.

This is your opportunity to experience the charming, creatively decorated tables that were the talk of the town last year. A captivating afternoon luncheon promises to offer the finest teas, good company and the opportunity to experience the creative flair that is uniquely Dearborn.

Proceeds from this very special day benefit the Dearborn Community Arts Council and the Dearborn Senior Services Cultural Arts programming.

A unique addition this year is an incredible glass sculpture which was designed by Mayor John O’Reilly Jr.

It was crafted at the Dearborn Glass Academy and will be raffled off at the Annual First Lady’s Tea on Saturday, May 1. Raffle tickets for this sculpture piece are $ 10 each.

If you are interested in supporting DCAC and Dearborn Senior Services cultural programs by purchasing a raffle ticket, or attending the Tea, contact the Dearborn Community Arts Council at 313-943-3095 or by email at sgreene@ci.dearborn.mi.us

With the demolition and cleanup of the Orchard Street bungalow where hundreds of Chihuahuas were found this summer expected to be completed by Monday, April 19, Dearborn officials will now turn their attention to finding a way to collect the nearly $50,000 in costs for the work.

Prior to the demolition of the home and the garage on Thursday, crews had to remove some small amounts of asbestos and spray the home with insecticide because many neighbors were worried what might come out of the home once it started to come down.

Cleanup costs and the removal of the hundreds of dogs cost the city more than $40,000, not including the $8,000 and change in demolition costs. It is not clear how the city will ever collect those costs from Kenneth Lang Jr., 56. Lang is currently serving a five-year probation for the hoarding of the dogs. As part of the restitution listed for Mr. Lang following his criminal case, he was ordered to pay the city for the cost of the cleanup. 

A city spokeswoman says there is a lien on the property for the cost of the demolition so if the family tries to sell the property the city would need to be paid first.

Given Lang’s financial situation, it is unknown how he would be able to pay,  the spokeswoman says.

Interesting and timely report from the American Library Association (ALA) on the state of America’s libraries.

The ALA report says that when jobs go away, Americans turn to their libraries to find information about future employment or educational opportunities. This library usage trend shows that Americans have turned to their libraries in larger numbers in recent years.

However, the report also shows that increased library use did not lead to an increase in funding for libraries. The research by the ALA and the Center for Library and Information Innovation at the University of Maryland suggests a “perfect storm” of growing community demand for library services and shrinking resources to meet that demand.

While library use soars, a majority of states are reporting cuts in funding to public libraries and to the state library agencies that support them.

For the full report, click HERE.

Morris Goodman, a Dearborn attorney, past president of the Dearborn Democratic Club, a longtime political activist and observer and regular reader of Deepsaidwhat.com, attended this week’s meeting at city hall to discuss the future of six of the city’s small neighborhood pools.  He sent this column to us on the matter of the city’s budget.

In his column below, Goodman writes that he thinks there might be some interest in trying to get Dearbornites to make voluntary contributions equal to their reductions in property taxes to specific projects in Dearborn (pools being one of them) if tax deductions could be obtained. It is an interesting idea and one Goodman says he has shared with our elected officials.

His column begins below:

No, this is not a column about Dr. Suess, but the problems Dearborn faces because of the sharp decline in our city’s property values could be a scary fairy tale.

Morris Goodman

As everyone knows throughout the State of Michigan, local tax assessors, especially Dearborn’s, have verified that property assessments have gone down, with the result that property tax revenues will decrease. Mayor John B. O’Reilly has cautioned that there is up to a $20 million shortfall in the city’s budget for 2011-2012.

Clearly, there are many, many people in Dearborn whose reduced economic condition makes a decrease in property taxes very welcome. Presumably, however, there are also many, many Dearbornites whose incomes and wealth (excluding their home’s value) have not only, not gone down, but in fact increased. Presumably thousands of Dearborn residents are either Ford workers, retirees, or just shareholders. Ford’s profitability and stock value have both soared. A Ford share’s value was about $1.50 a share in March 2009 and is now in excess of $12.50 a share, an over 800% jump. Moreover, Ford workers are about to get profit sharing checks.

For those who are doing OK financially, it might be more important to them that Dearborn’s historically wonderful services – both municipal and educational – be maintained rather than they pocket the difference between what they previously paid in property taxes and the smaller amount now. If these people could be convinced that if they contribute this property tax “windfall” to a specific fund that certain services they prize will be maintained maybe they will do so.

Read the rest of this entry »

It appears Biggby Coffee and a new coney island are going into the Norm Newman-owned strip mall on Michigan, just west of Military.

Signs promise new business in a Newman-owned strip mall.

Signs in the window indicate a Biggby Coffee will soon be moving into the strip mall. A visit to the Biggby website says the same, showing a new store at 22445 Michigan Ave.

The new coney restaurant is called Cedars Coney Island and will occupy the building that once housed Village Islands Coney, which was closed after a fire.

Our fingers are crossed these two businesses will open, and soon. It was more than a year ago that Mr. Newman put up signs in his vacant Inca and Pier 1 buildings promising a “Redevelopment Coming Soon.”  Thirteen months later, the buildings still sit empty.

Dearborn will soon be losing the Ritz-Carlton name, according to the Detroit Free Press.

In today’s edition, the paper reports that the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn has been sold to an investment group and will be managed by Greenwood Hospitality Group, a hotel investment and management company. As of June 2, it will no longer be a Ritz-Carlton, said Vivian Deuschl, a Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman.

Employees at the Ritz say the hotel will undergo a complete renovation and remain an upscale hotel but under a new name.

For the full story, click HERE.