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Hamtramck's Flying Circus

You wouldn’t exactly expect an expert on incineration to be the kind of guy who would have an audience rolling in the aisles, but Hamtramck environmental activist Rob Cedar sent out an e-mail Monday offering this review of a talk given last week:

"It was standing-room only as Dr. Paul Connett informed and entertained local residents and environmental activists in Hamtramck. Addressing the problem of local and international incineration, Paul eloquently mixed good science with a sometimes Monty Python delivery that kept the crowd of 100-plus riveted to his every phrase and fact."

Brought to town by the Hamtramck Environmental Action Team (HEAT), Connett helped focus attention on calls to close a medical waste incinerator that has been operating in Hamtown since 1991.

Though they may have been somewhat less than Pythonesque, several local officials joined in the event, including Hamtramck Mayor Gary Zych and Council President Phillip Kwik, who offered a detailed history of problems at the local incinerator which, according to Cedar, has had five different owners in just nine years.

Also lending their support were Wayne County Commissioner Jewel Ware, who recently helped gain a commitment from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit to close its incinerator, and state Sen. Gary Peters, D-Pontiac, who promised statewide incinerator legislation.

"It’s wonderful to have a person of his energy and stature working to help our community by eliminating the dangers of medical waste incineration," said Cedar about Peters.

Yeah, but how good is his John Cleese imitation?

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Demolition fallout

Will the uproar over Pontiac’s failure to protect what remains of Clinton Valley Center continue in next year’s elections? Should Mayor Walter Moore be worried?

"Everywhere I go, I hear people complaining about this," council member John Bueno told News Hits.

Not long ago, Moore was seen as an ally of citizens fighting to save the 1870s structures along Elizabeth Lake Road. He helped bring a lawsuit against the state to protect the buildings, but only at the 11th hour, after many significant structures were already partially demolished by a state contractor who stands to receive up to $5 million for the demolition.

After a state-hired appraiser said it wasn’t economically feasible to rehabilitate the buildings, the state asked a judge to dismiss the suit. When the mayor and attorneys for the city stood silent, a judge threw the case out.

Moore, who has claimed the state has ultimate control over the buildings, did not return phone calls from Metro Times on this issue.

According to Bueno, even though the City Charter says the council has the last word on civil litigation, council members were not consulted about the decision not to contest Oakland County Judge Steven Andrews’ dismissal of the suit Wednesday.

State Management and Budget spokeswoman Penny Griffin says the state plans to demolish buildings by July. Meanwhile, the city has been taking bids to replace them with upscale housing on 220 acres.

The episode has people wondering whether Moore ever intended to help save the buildings. Pontiac architect Bruce Smith, a leading preservationist, says there is talk of organizing an effort to replace Moore. The mayor and council are up for re-election in November 2001.

"It’s a sad ending," Bueno says. "The state and city might have won the battle, but I think they’ve lost the war on this, because it’s turned a lot of people off. Even for Gov. Engler, this has just been egg on his face."

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Healthy donation

What do you do with a dead hospital? If you’re Detroit Mercy, you give it away. Or try to.

Last week, Mercy Health Services announced that it intends to give away its only Detroit hospital, which it closed in March. The key is finding the appropriate taker. This need not be a health care provider. Lee Sullivan, manager of corporate communications for Mercy Health Services, says the new owner must use the facility to enhance the east-side neighborhood, share Mercy’s vision of tending to the poor and needy, and have the financial resources and practical experience to redevelop and manage the property. That is a tall order considering that the five-building complex is nearly 300,000 square feet. The new owner must also allow Mercy to provide free primary medical care to uninsured adults at the facility; that will cost Mercy about $2 million annually.

Mercy closed as a result of state and federal Medicaid cuts that began in 1997. About 80 percent of the 40,000 to 50,000 patients Mercy served each year had Medicaid coverage; Mercy was $100 million in the red when it closed.

Interested? Contact Elizabeth Vaci at Dynamis Healthcare Advisors, Inc., in Cleveland, 216-595-3999.

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Unbalancing act

It may not sound like much, but to a tiny organization such as Alternatives for Girls the possibility of losing $37,000 in city funds is more than unsettling, says executive director Amy Good. "It will be devastating," she says.

The $37,000 is enough to house 100 homeless girls for one month, Good says. The organization provides temporary shelter and other services to girls and young women living in the streets. AFG’s $1.8 million 1999 budget includes about $187,000 in block grants, which are federal funds that the city distributes to community groups serving low- and moderate-income people. AFG is slated to receive $150,000 this year.

If the Detroit City Council approves the mayor’s 2000-2001 budget, AFG may not be the only community group to take a heavy hit.

Dave Hacker, executive director of the Hunger Action Coalition, which assists emergency food providers, says his group is slated to receive $25,000 in block grants, a 50 percent reduction from last year. He says the coalition requested $100,000 because of increased demands for food. Unless another funding source is found, Hacker says some programs will be cut.

The United Housing Coalition may lose $107,000, says Ted Phillips, the program’s executive director. Phillips’ group, which runs on an annual budget of about $500,000, provides free legal aid to low-income tenants facing unjust evictions and other housing problems. The potential cut will drastically reduce the organization’s ability to represent clients, he says.

Based on the proposed budget, Phillips and other community group leaders project that together the organizations may lose about $1.4 million in block grants. At the same time, the mayor requested an increase of about $3.3 million in block grants for the Planning and Development Department; P&DD received about $18.2 million for the 1999 fiscal budget.

Particularly frustrating, Phillips and others say, is that about 30 block-grant funded planning department positions went unfilled last year.

"So, why are they asking for more staff when they can’t fill old positions?" asks Phillips.

The mayor’s office did not respond before press time.

The council is scheduled to vote on the budget next week.

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Ferndale’s hate numbers

Fifteen hate crimes were reported in Ferndale during the first quarter of this year, four more than the number reported in the city for all of 1999, according to the gay and lesbian community group Friends and Neighbors (FANS) of Ferndale

FANS member Joann Willcock says the reports included the egging of homes and businesses, name-calling and threats. According to Sean Kosofsky, spokesperson for the gay and lesbian advocacy group Triangle Foundation, anti-gay crime reports are also up statewide, and, although one anti-gay homicide has been confirmed so far this year, the increase is mostly due to reports of nonviolent incidents.

One reason could be that the gay community has promoted the reporting of nonviolent hate crimes. On Feb. 24, two days after Ferndale voters repealed a human rights ordinance that would have protected people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation, Triangle launched a poster campaign to encourage the reporting of all hate crimes, no matter how seemingly minor.

"Last year, in the post-Matthew Shepard world, people weren’t reporting anything minor," says Kosofsky, referring to the fatal beating of the 22-year-old Wyoming college student in late 1998.

"They figured if it wasn’t as bad as what happened to Matthew Shepard, it wasn’t worth reporting."

Kosofsky says so far Triangle has distributed roughly a thousand colorful posters, showing a collage of Detroit-area gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender activists with anti-gay slurs emblazoned on their foreheads. Also on the poster is the message "words can lead to violence" and Triangle’s toll-free hotline for reporting hate crimes: 1-877-7-TRIANGLE.

Jennifer Bagwell and Ann Mullen contributed to News Hits, which is edited by Curt Guyette. Guyette can be reached by phone at 313-202-8004 or via e-mail.