“For a long time now I’ve felt that we haven’t been meeting our service goals with regard to our Building and Safety Department,” O’Reilly said.  “Despite our employees’ best efforts, they’ve been undermined by a structure that just didn’t work.”

The mayor said the reorganization will be built around residential customers and business customers.

“For too many years we’ve blended these groups together despite their distinct needs, frustrating everybody,” O’Reilly said.

So under the mayor’s new plan, a new Residential Services department will be created to offer current and new residents the services “they require to maintain and improve their properties,” he said. The leadership of the Dearborn Area Board of Realtors also provided valuable feedback to the city about the new system.

“Our goal is to give (residents) the time and attention they deserve using the tools and processes that will make it much more convenient to do business with us,” O’Reilly said. “We’ve already made a major improvement for those selling or buying a home in Dearborn. Through new technology, we’ve converted hard-to-read and often confusing inspection reports to reports that are clear, printed and produced on the spot.”

O’Reilly said the new technology in the Residential Services department will be linked to the city’s scheduling system to dispatch inspectors more efficiently. The technology also will be tied to the city’s record system so that the city will always have “complete and clear documents to eliminate confusion and misunderstanding. We won’t end up with missing or lost documents,” O’Reilly promised.

An important focus of the new Residential Services department will be on the city’s Neighborhood Stabilization program, which since May 2008 has been purchasing marginal or undervalued foreclosed homes with the intention of reusing the property in ways that bolster the surrounding area.  Dearborn will receive $2.4 million in federal neighborhood stabilization funding in 2009 to continue this work.

Dearborn City officials are urging MDOT to keep the traffic signal at Fordson and Telegraph operational.

Area residents upset that the traffic signal at Telegraph and Fordson may soon be removed received some good news Tuesday night in the form of a motion passed by the Dearborn city council that urges the Michigan Department of Transportation to keep the signal operational.

The suggestion to pass such a resolution was made by Dearborn Mayor John “Jack” O’Reilly, Jr.  The mayor said the city should go on the record to inform MDOT that given the high vehicle speeds on Telegraph, the multiple roads that tie into this area of roadway and the dangerous line of sight issue, the traffic signal should remain.

Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini made the actual motion, with support from Councilman Doug Thomas, and the resolution was unanimously passed. We’ve written here multiple times about this signal and the need to keep it in place, something nearly all residents in the area support. For our earlier story, click HERE.

While the council’s adoption of the resolution doesn’t guarantee that the signal will remain, the council’s actions,  along with a Dearborn police recommendation to keep the traffic light for safety concerns, does ratchet up the pressure on MDOT to keep the signal in place. 

A decision by the state on whether the light will remain will be made by mid-March.

Below is a video report on the same topic by Dearborn Councilman Doug Thomas.

The Dearborn School District could see a cut in state funding of nearly $8 million if Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s budget recommendations are approved in its current form by the Michigan Legislature.

Such a cut would be devastating to the Dearborn School District, which already is facing an $11 million deficit for the 2009-10 school year, including a $1.8 million reduction in state aid.

Gov. Granholm, however, decided to cut much deeper for Dearborn and several other school districts.  The Dearborn district is now looking at an overall reduction of $17 million or about 10 percent of the district’s total general fund budget.

The governor’s proposal included the following cuts for Dearborn Public Schools:

1. $59.00 per pupil cut = $1,064,411
2. 20J Cut = $616,928 (20J Funding was created in 1999 to ensure equal funding increases to all school districts.)
3. Bilingual (Sec 41) = $381,000
4. At Risk 31a = $5,875,000 (31a funding helps those students who are at risk of not being successful in school.)

All of us understand the need for cuts given the state’s current economic condition, but cuts need to happen across all districts equally. That isn’t happening under the current plan.

The Dearborn School District is seeing both its 20J and 31a funds slashed. Hardly equitable when you consider that Dearborn sends more local tax dollars to Lansing to fund public education than it receives from the state. In all, Dearborn taxpayers send $14 million more to Lansing than the district receives back, thanks in large part to Proposal A.

Dearborn’s own House and Senate representatives understand the impact such cuts will have on our district and are fighting to ensure that if cuts need to be made then all districts across the state should be cut the same per-pupil amount.

Gov. Granholm, however, doesn’t quite understand that part so it would be in all of our best interest to call her office at 517-373-3400 to ask her to treat all school districts the same. What is on the table now is unfair to Dearborn.

A rendering of Dearborn High's new $2 million synthetic turf football field. The current football field can be seen in the upper left part of the image.

We thought it would be worth sharing color renderings of what Dearborn High School’s new football field will look like when the roughly $2 million project is completed this fall.

As a Dearborn High graduate, I’m actually saddened to see the football field move from the valley, where it was surrounded by trees and hills to give it that special outdoor bowl feel. Now the football field will be  the top of the hill alongside the rush of vehicle traffic on Outer Drive. The uniqueness of the Pioneer football field and its bucolic setting will forever be lost come the start of football in the fall of 2009.

But we all knew it was headed this way. Once Fordson High School had its synthetic football field installed in 2007 at a cost of  more than $1 million, followed by Edsel Ford in 2008 for its new football field, another cool $1 million plus, Dearborn High wouldn’t be far behind. No school wanted to be left behind. 

This artist rendering shows the new football field viewed looking toward the high school, just out of view to the top left of the image.

Natural grass, much like Michigan State University and U of M football use today, could have worked here at Dearborn High, even though the field is in a floodplain. The key here would have been to limit traffic on the field to just football so it wouldn’t get so torn up.

That would have meant a separate natural grass field for soccer and field hockey teams to play and practice on.  Such a field could have gone at the top of the hill now that new tennis courts have already been constructed behind the high school. Though we doubt the folks pushing for a fancy new synthetic grass field would have supported such an idea.

For those of you wondering,  Dearborn High’s graduation ceremonies still will be held down in the bowl.

If you’re from Michigan, we all have some type of memory or story about Vernor’s Ginger Ale, America’s oldest continuously produced soft drink.  Ours goes back to the Saunders store that once operated in Dearborn’s Westborn Mall.

Vernor's Ginger Ale is America's oldest continuously produced soft drink. A lecture on the history of the drink is being held at the Dearborn Historical Museum on March 4.

There patrons could order a tasty Vernor’s float while sitting at the horseshoe shaped counter. My pals and I would go there there after our paper routes. Those days are long gone but the tasty drink remains, albeit minus the glass bottles which somehow always made Vernor’s taste better.

The Dearborn Historical Museum is hosting a free public lecture about the history of Vernor’s at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4. If you have time, it could prove to be an interesting lecture.

Vernor’s is a great American story whose history goes back before Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Hires or Moxie.

It was James Vernor who created the drink. Vernor opened a pharmacy in Detroit and then a barrel of ginger ale extract he had created before the Civil War, which he returned from, the story goes, in 1866.

He discovered the four years of aging had mellowed the taste to perfection. A new deliciously different flavor had been created and Vernor’s Ginger Ale was born. From a small drugstore in Detroit to a product enjoyed across America and Canada. The lecture will bring to life the story of a small back-room product turned into a highly successful brand.

At more than 140 years old, Vernor’s remains America’s oldest continuously produced soft drink. Lecture attendees will be taken on a journey from pharmacy to factory, from entrepreneur to franchised corporation.

For more information about the lecture at the McFadden-Ross House, 915 Brady Street, call 313-565-3000.

When is a full day of kindergarten school class better than a half day of class?

When the state of Michigan says it is and says it will reduce by half the amount of per student funding it will provide school districts who decide otherwise.

But is it really that much better to have 5-year-old kids in class for eight hours a day?

We will soon find out as the Dearborn School District races toward making the state-required switch to a full day of school for kindergarten kids, which could occur as early as the fall of 2009 here. Not making the switch means the potential loss of millions of dollars in state school funding. It won’t be an easy change as Dearborn school officials are now discovering, trying to grapple with the challenges associated with a longer school days. 

The change is part of new state rule set to be implemented in the fall of 2009 for “developmental kindergarten” classes and in the fall of 2010 for traditional kindergarten classes. While the Dearborn district doesn’t offer developmental kindergarten, a special committee is looking at what it would take to begin the longer school day in the fall of 2009 rather than waiting until fall 2010.

Among the challenges Dearborn faces:

1. Some schools lack the space required to operate full-day kindergarten classrooms
2. Deciding which elementary schools will convert to full day kindergarten classes and which ones will not
3. Having to hire more teachers to handle the longer day
4. Additional materials

School districts across Michigan are facing similar challenges with the new rule. School districts have the option of not changing anything and continuing with half days for kindergarten kids. But doing so means the loss of  millions of dollars in state funding per child. Under the new rules, the state will reduce by half the amount it pays per child in a school district if the child doesn’t attend a full day of kindergarten school.

For the Dearborn school district, which has about 1,000 kindergarten students at about $8,000 per child, not making the change would result in a loss of some $4 million annually.

The change to a longer school day for kindergarten kids already has parents and teachers lining up on both side of this issue and has the potential to get ugly. While some parents like the idea, an equal number of parents and teachers do not. As one Dearborn school official told us, “this is going to get very interesting.”

Indeed it will.

Nearly two years after closing its Dearborn store and putting its building up for sale, the owner of Lynch’s costume store is preparing to return for a summer reopening.

Unable to sell the building at 939 Howard,  just north of Michigan Avenue, the Lynch family could reopen its Dearborn location just in time to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The Lynch store was founded in 1949.

The Lynch family closed its Dearborn store in June 2007, citing paid parking as one of the reasons for departing, and put its building up for sale.  The family consolidated its Dearborn operations into its Livonia and Warren stores. But now, with the state’s economy in shambles, the family is said to be considering consolidating its operations in Warren into the Dearborn store. A sign in the window of the Dearborn store says it will reopen in May but employees say it will be a bit later into summer.

Whatever the reason for the change, we are happy to see the vacant Lynch building will soon be reopened and again selling a wide selection of Halloween costumes, along with the family’s trademark selections of dance attire, theatrical accessories, makeup and other supplies. Given that the Michaels Arts & Craft store on Michigan Avenue is now officially closed and its signs removed, having a store move back to Dearborn is most welcome.

Morley storm sewer separation and repaving is set to begin in March. City officials say the project will be done before Dearborn Homecoming in August.

Get ready for a new round of street construction and detours, due in part to Dearborn’s massive Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project.

Beginning in March, road crews will begin work on a $1.75 million storm sewer separation project on Morley Avenue, between Military and Monroe, shutting the road down to Morley residents only.

The construction project calls for new 8-inch water mains to be installed, replacing existing 6-inch diameter pipes. New storm sewers also will be installed, going from the current 15-inch diameter pipes to new 30-inch ones. The storm pipes will be routed directly into the Rouge River, via Military Street. Existing 21-inch pipes, which currently carry both storm and sanitary waste along both sides of Morley, will not be replaced. These large pipes will become dedicated sanitary sewers for this area.

This project, which also calls for the complete repaving of Morley, along with new driveway aprons for all residents (sod will be replaced in September) must all be completed before Dearborn Homecoming. Yes, that means the end of July, including the repaving of one block of Howard and one block of Mason, both between Morley and Garrison.

Dearborn officials have promised residents along Morley that this aggressive contruction project will be completed before Homecoming in August or the company hired will face penalties. Bids from construction companies to the city were due last week.  Now Dearborn city officials must quickly select a company to kick off the project.

The second part of this project calls for the reconstruction of Oakwood between Morley and Michigan Avenue. This road repair is scheduled to begin in August (after Homecoming) and run through November. That price tag is $450,000.

In 2010,  Dearborn officials are tentatively looking at repaving and replacing pipes along Monroe, between Morley and Michigan. That project, if kicked off, would also run from March to August in 2010.

City officials say similar future construction projects would eventually have to take place along Mason and Howard streets, between Garrison and Michigan Avenue, depending on the needs of future businesses along those streets.

The Dearborn Hills Civic Association is holding a Women’s Self Defense Class on Feb. 11, 18, 25 and March 4 and 11 from 6 pm – 8 pm at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course.

The cost is $80.00 per attendee.  Residency not required.  The course will be taught by a martial arts professional who will train women of all ages basic self defense techniques that may help them get away from an attacker and keep them safe.

Participants will learn basic kicks and strikes, escapes from common attacks such as hair-pulls, chokes, and bear hugs; how to defend yourself on the ground; how to be safe in your car or on the street; and more.  Good health and physical fitness as well as the ability to listen and participate in demonstrations are required.

Physical activity in the class will involve movements such as holds, throws, and strikes that will be first demonstrated by the instructor followed by practice and completion by participants.  The class is limited to 16 participants.  The first 16 qualified applications received will be selected for this class.  You will be notified when the class is full. For an application and more information, visit the Deaborn Hills website at www.dearbornhills.org

Henry Ford Community College is offering free planetarium shows called “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening – A Winter Star Talk” at 7:30 PM Tuesdays through March 17^th. 

HFCC’s 48-seat planetarium is in the upper level of the Science bldg. on the main campus. 

Doors will open at 7:15 PM and close at showtime.  For more information, call 845-9628.