A near capacity crowd in the Dearborn Council chambers got a surprise tonight — Mayor John B. O’Reilly said all pools would remain open this year.

Many in attendance were expecting just the opposite.

O’Reilly discussed the proposal to close the six pools with the council ahead of the meeting. It appears each council member agreed it wasn’t the right thing to do, at least not this year. While the pools will remain open this year, O’Reilly cautioned those in attendance that he was not promising anything in the future because the funding problem for the pools wasn’t going to go away.

Dearborn Councilman George Darany says the city will have to find new ways to raise additional money down the road to properly maintain the city’s eight public pools. One source of revenue is through the purchase of pool tags. Residents fighting to save their pools can help by purchasing more pool tags and getting their neighbors to do the same. 

Another option to raise funding for the pools was to try and sell ad space along the fencing that rings each pool as well as selling ad space in the bottom of the pool. Darany says whatever the idea, “let’s explore all of the ideas until we exhaust them. We really need to come up with solutions.”

A lot of credit for changing the minds of the mayor and council go to 15-year-old Danielle Misovich and her sister Elizabeth who launched a Facebook group — Save Dearborn’s Small Pools — to let other pool supporters know what the city was proposing. Today the group is nearly 3,400 strong.

Thanks to their efforts, Dearborn residents will all be able to swim for another day.

Should Library Consider a Property Tax Levy for Direct Funding?

With our economy still sputtering and unemployment still rising, libraries are noticing a surge in business. This is good news for Dearborn libraries but higher usage doesn’t guarantee protection from the city’s budget cutting axe.

One of the current proposals being discussed would see the elimination of seven full-time library positions, leaving each of the city’s three branch libraries with just one full-time librarian and a host of part-time workers.

The good news is that the branch libraries would at least remain open, albeit with the same current short business hours — but at least open — under this proposal.  The collection of the Dearborn library system contains 297,070 volumes and circulates about 954,785 items per year, according to lib-web-cats.

This brings us to another idea on the best ways to keep our library system intact.

Other communities have floated library millages for the sole purpose of having proper funding for what is one of the single most important items for a city and its residents. Nearby communities in metro Detroit operate their libraries this way and it appears to be an effective way to ensure that libraries don’t end up with table scraps when it comes city budget time, which likely could happen to our libraries here in Dearborn when the budget slashing is done.

But millages can be double-edged sword as one can never predict how a community will vote, particularly in today’s economy. That said Jennifer Brash, a staff writer at the entertainment blog thecounterproject, raises some interesting points, comparing how West Bloomfield Township was able to levy a property tax for direct funding of its library services and it has never looked back. You can read that history HERE.

Could something like that work in Dearborn? Hard to say but the idea is an intriguing one.

Barrage is a high-octane fiddle-fest that features an international, multi-talented cast performing an eclectic mix of music and dance.

The show is at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 6 in the Guido Theater at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $25-35.

With its latest show called Animado!, Barrage will perform for one night in Dearborn, a show perfect for the entire family.

With the allure of Riverdance and the power of Stomp, Barrage has entertained millions of people around the world, including audiences in North America, Europe and Asia.

Dearborn audiences will see the performance titled Animado, which means “lively” in Spanish.

Since its creation in Calgary, Canada, Barrage has been featured at many international events and has played for presidents, prime ministers and princes. The group has also had its productions aired on several international networks including PBS, the BBC and CBC.

For more information about Barrage, visit the group’s website at www.barrage.org

Buy tickets by calling the Box Office at 313-943-2354, online at www.dearbornfordcenter.com or at The Center at 15801 Michigan Ave.

So what else might be on the chopping block for the city of Dearborn as it wrestles to find a way to overcome a $10 to $20 million shortfall for the budget year that begins July 1?

In an interview this Sunday in the Dearborn Press & Guide, Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. says “we’re looking at everything”, including the potential sale/privatization of the following:

•Camp Dearborn

• Ford Community & Performing Arts Center

• Dearborn Ice Skating Center

•Dearborn Hills Golf Course

• Dearborn Towers in Clearwater, Fla.

• And the elimination of the city’s curbside leaf collection program, which we reported HERE earlier.

Other items discussed here earlier include the closure of six of the city’s public pools, which has generated significant controversy in several stories posted HERE.

City officials claim that closing the Crowley, Hemlock, Lapeer, Summer-Stephens, Ten Eyck and Whitmore-Bolles pools would save Dearborn $132,000 a year in operational costs. In addition, the city claims future savings of $3.8 million by not pursuing investments necessary to keep the pools in a safe and healthy condition.

Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. can expect to be peppered with questions from residents about the city’s proposal to close some city pools and cut other city services when he speaks to the Howard Park Neighborhood Assn. on April 15 at Lindbergh Elementary School.

O’Reilly will speak to the neighborhood association at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of the elementary school, located at 500 N. Waverly St.  Everyone is welcome to attend the session.

The association says O’Reilly will discuss the current state of the city, as well as future plans and developments within Dearborn.

The Howard Park neighborhood consists of the area between Telegraph Road and Outer Drive, bordered by Ford Road to the north and Wilson Street to the south.

In yet another example of why Dearborn still has that caring small town feel, a group of Dearborn city employees are holding a benefit spaghetti dinner to help a couple recovering from surgery.

We received word of this benefit spaghetti dinner for Craig and Donna Bechtel from a reader who passed on a flyer to us.

Below is what the flyer said:

Craig Bechtel, a city of Dearborn carpenter, is suffering from a long battle with Lupus. Due to the severe affects of this illness, Craig was in need of a kidney transplant.

Craig’s wife, Donna, who works in Dearborn’s Recreation Department – Senior Services, was selected to be the donor for Craig’s March 12, 2010 surgery.

In an effort to help this family financially, a group of City of Dearborn employees are hosting this fundraiser to help offset the loss of income, until they are able to return to work.

Here are the details for the fundraiser:

When: 3 – 10 p.m. – Saturday, April 24

Where: Patrick O’Kelley Knights of Columbus Hall, 23633 Park St. Dearborn

What: Dinner will include:  All you can eat spaghetti, salad, dinner roll and soft drink; cash bar will be available. Proceeds will benefit the Bechtel Family

Donation:  Tickets are $10

For more information, please call:

• Craig Champagne at 313-801-6539 or email cajchamp@aol.com

• Maria Santigiago Powell at 734-522-5372 or email mesantiago57@yahoo.com

• Nancy Niner at 313-943-2239 or email nniner@ci.dearborn.mi.us

Treat mom to something extra special for Mother’s Day this year by enjoying brunch in the elegant atmosphere of Henry and Clara Ford’s Fair Lane home.

-Meet the Henry Ford Estate’s own Mrs. Clara Ford, Michigan Mother of the Year for 1950!

-Purchase beautiful flowers for a very special mom!

Price: $32 Adults, $12 kids(5-12), & 4 & under free

Where: 4901 Evergreen Rd. Dearborn, MI 481248

For reservations: Call 313.593.5590

Advance reservations are required. All sales are final and non–refundable.

Seatings available at 11 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.

WHAT: Public is invited to attend the “Art of Spring” Hand Sculpted Glass Show & Sale this weekend, featuring a colorful variety of bird and flower glass sculptures, vases, and magnets, along with the demonstration and sale of “glass memory” wood engravings. In addition, visitors will have the opportunity to purchase paper birds for $1 each to assist The Greening of Detroit. No admission to attend.

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12, 2010

WHERE: Glass Academy

25331 Trowbridge

(near Gulley Road & Michigan Avenue in west Dearborn)

313-561-4527

www.glassacademy.com

WHO: Glass artists Chris Nordin & Michelle Plucinsky, owners of the Glass

Academy and Furnace Design Studio. Other glass artists will also

participate.

A former supervisor in the Dearborn Building and Safety Department who pled guilty to two counts of fraud and resigned from his city job is scheduled to have a sentencing hearing on April 26 on the misdemeanor charges.

Andrew Pizzino

Andrew Pizzino pleaded guilty to the fraud charges last week.  He also was charged with two counts of ethics violations of the City of Dearborn Charter but those charges were dropped. Pizzino, who resigned from his job last week, will still collect his city pension as he was employed longer than 10 years, a spokeswoman for the city says.

Pizzino was one of four former Building and Safety department employees to face criminal charges, the result of a more than two-year police and FBI investigation of the department initiated by Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr.

Dearborn has since closed its investigation into the Building and Safety department. For earlier stories, click HERE

Dearborn residents upset about a proposal to close six small neighborhood pools are turning up the heat on the mayor and city council, this time using YouTube as a way to amplify their voices to city leaders.

About 175 Dearborn residents rallied Monday evening at Summer-Stephens Park (one of my favorite parks as I took swimming lessons there as a kid) to protest the potential closure of six of the city’s public pools.  There is also a new SaveDearbornPools channel on YouTube.com. You can click HERE for that link.

City officials have argued that closing the Crowley, Hemlock, Lapeer, Summer-Stephens, Ten Eyck and Whitmore-Bolles pools would save Dearborn $132,000 a year in operational costs alone.

On Monday at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, city officials are holding an informational meeting where they can expect to hear from residents vehemently opposed to closing pools, even if the city says it will save $3.8 million by not pursuing investments necessary to keep the aging pools in a safe and healthy condition.

From where we sit, given how this is shaping up, there is a strong likelihood council members will not approve closing any city pools.