Home » Archive » May 2010

Memorial Day in Grosse Pointe Woods

The Grosse Pointe War Memorial has the lake, the mansion, the great lawn and the greater crowd, but there's another ceremony every Memorial Day in the Pointes, at the Circle of Honor at Mack and Vernier in the Woods. Today, a crowd of about 200 gathered there to hear a short program of music, speeches and a military flyover. And even the dogs dressed for the occasion.

Grosse Pointe Soccer celebrates wins,
announces travel-league tryouts

The Grosse Pointe Soccer Association is ready to hold tryouts for girls' and boys' travel leagues, as it celebrates significant recent victories by several of its teams.

The Salvo ’98 Green boys' team coached by Eric Springer took home the tournament's top honors at the Cherry Capital Cup, hosted by Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer in Traverse City the weekend of May 15-16.



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Grosse Pointe Memorial Church
sets summer service schedule

Grosse Pointe Memorial Church will begin its summer worship schedule June 6 with lakeside services on Sunday mornings at 8:30. The casual outdoor service will include music and special time for families. A traditional service will take place on Sundays at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary. The church community invites new members to join the church — which members call "a light by the lakeshore" — at 16 Lake Shore Road in the Farms.

Hollywood, via Grosse Pointe Farms

 

Show business – so glamorous. The term of art is "lights, camera, action," but every time we've seen a working big-budget film set, we see it like this, from beyond the tape, looking mostly at a bunch of trucks. Well, we never were A-listers. Anyway, this is Touraine just west of Ridge in the Farms, where, rumor has it, Greg Kinnear is making a movie at a house on the block. IMDB suggests it's "Salvation Boulevard," which was also shooting in Dearborn earlier in the month. read more...

Grosse Pointe Shores financial outlook
is the bad-news sequel to recall

Grosse Pointe Shores residents might think they've put the city's most recent unpleasantness behind them, but what lies ahead could be just as bad.

That was clear after city council's finance committee met with the Committee of the Whole Tuesday (May 25) to discuss the sinkhole that is the municipal budget. read more...

Bing wants Grosse Pointers
to help revive Detroit

“I do see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not a train,” Detroit Mayor Dave Bing told 250 members of the Grosse Pointe Senior Men’s Club recently.

Bing, who has spent a year in office, didn’t make any fanciful promises about Detroit’s future. He did say that his team would develop a plan within the next 12 to 18 months with the help of the citizenry that would focus on the same things he promised to push in his campaign: jobs, education, public safety and transportation. 

On transportation Bing said the city was moving forward on the light rail system and would focus on developing the Woodward corridor.

On public safety he hired his primary opponent Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans to move the restructuring of the police department faster and is pleased with the job so far.

On education he praised the work of Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager whose contract runs through next March and suggested there was a possibility of greater mayor involvement in the improvement of the schools

On jobs he said, “We are bloated in city government and we’re not the ones that should be creating jobs. We had a city government that had 42 departments when we had 1.8 million people. We are now hovering around maybe 850,000 to 900,000 and we still have 42 departments.” He said entrepreneurs have to be encouraged to bring new jobs to the city. read more...

The EZ Storage in Eastpointe, on 8 Mile Road west of Gratiot, is similar to one proposed for a Mack Avenue parcel adjacent to the former Lochmoor auto dealership. The proposed development concerns some Grosse Pointe municipal officials.

Proposed Mack Avenue storage units
wouldn't hurt Grosse Pointes, says developer

The developer of a proposed drive-through self-storage facility adjacent to the old Lochmoor auto dealership on Mack Avenue has a suggestion for those who might be bothered by it: Relax.

"We will be good neighbors" if the facility is built, said Bill Bowman, president of Great Northern of Ann Arbor, and a partner with Nolan Brothers Inc., the Fort Worth company that specializes in such businesses. The company is "willing to work with" the cities of Detroit, Grosse Pointe and Grosse Pointe Farms to make the 3.5-story design more appealing.

But he cautioned that an EZ Storage is better than abandonment, and might be the best use of the Detroit side of Mack that anyone can realistically expect. read more...

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club hosts
Great Lakes Boating Festival

 

A few early raindrops notwithstanding, the Great Lakes Boating Festival took place Saturday night and Sunday at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. Antique boats, a vendor trade show, sale yachts and more were on display at the club. Sunday's events included an Opti race in the club pool, wine tasting and raffle of a 17-foot Edgewood center console boat. Above is New Old Stock, a 1936 powerboat currently under restoration by Everso Marine Restoration. read more...

Update: Storage facility
for Lochmoor Chrysler property?

The Detroit Free Press is reporting the rezoning of a parcel adjacent to the Lochmoor Chrysler property on Mack Avenue was requested by a group that wants to build a multi-level drive-through storage facility on the site. See the story.

Grosse Pointe Woods Public Safety Director Al "Skip" Fincham is the highest-compensated municipal employee in the Pointes, thanks to his Woods salary on top of a retirement pension he's drawing from the City of Grosse Pointe. Photo by Larry Peplin

Who's on top? Salary/pension blend
shows public-employee cost quandary

Alfred “Skip” Fincham, public safety director in Grosse Pointe Woods, is the highest compensated public employee in all of the Pointes. According to 2010 city records, Fincham, 58, pulls in nearly $153,000 per year in retirement benefits, health care and annual salary.

The details of his career demonstrate how some public-sector employees – traditionally paid less than comparable jobs in private business – can retire at an age when they're still relatively young, and still capable of working full-time for other cities or businesses. read more...

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