Farms council nears completion
on park-use policy revisions

A refined Pier Park guest policy moved close to approval at the Monday (Feb. 22) work session of the Farms City Council.

The policy addresses rules for park and guest pass privileges and community building and Kerby field house reservation procedures, as well as picnic, shelter and gazebo reservations.

Additions include a requirement for non-residents with temporary park passes to show identification along with their pass to enter the park. read more...

Man found in Farms driveway ID'd;
apparent hospital walkaway dies

Grosse Pointe Farms police have identified a man found suffering from exposure and a serious head injury in a driveway on Lake Shore Road Monday afternoon.  read more...

Farms council opts to wait before
fighting state garbage tax hike

The Grosse Pointe Farms City Council grappled Monday with a proposed state garbage tax that would increase solid waste dumping fees from 21 cents per ton to $7.50 per ton.
 
The council discussed whether to hire a lobbyist to fight the bill in the Senate – an action favored by some of the other seven members of the Grosse Pointes/Clinton Refuse Disposal Authority.
  read more...

Urgent and other info now sent
to Farms residents immediately

Grosse Pointe Farms has a new way to keep residents up to date on city events, information and emergencies.

The Farms’ police department adopted the Nixle Community Information Service about two weeks ago. It's an automated system that sends registered users e-mails or text messages about items of urgent interest.

Residents who sign up for the service can determine what kinds of messages they receive and how they receive them. read more...

Farms council considers limits
on number of nonresidents in parks

The Grosse Pointe Farms City Council held a work session Monday night to discuss and propose revisions to the city’s park policies.

City Manager Shane Reeside proposed to reduce the number of visitors allowed per resident for picnics or when using community buildings in Pier Park. read more...

Search continues for missing woman

Divers continued to comb the waters of Lake St. Clair on Monday, searching for Joann Matouk Romain, a Grosse Pointe Woods resident who has now been missing for a week. Police have reported no new developments since Matouk Romain's disappearance from the area around St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church. See story.  read more...

A cold, wet nose for Winterfest 2010

Grosse Pointers love their dogs, and this playful pup returned the feeling, welcoming revelers to Winterfest on the Hill in the Farms this weekend. Hot cocoa and ice sculptures were among the diversions for those who ventured out on what was a fairly mild couple of days, by January's standards. With temperatures right around freezing for the next few days, we expect ice dog will slowly become a little more abstract. Better on the Hill than by the hearth; this pooch will leave a pretty big puddle behind. Photo by Ihor Balaban for GrossePointeToday.com read more...

A new era at Cottage Hospital
turns toward specialty care

Recently announced changes at Henry Ford Cottage Hospital in Grosse Pointe Farms are only the latest to grapple with the central problem of the facility–it's a small hospital in the midst of a long-running trend toward bigger ones.

The coming closing of all inpatient services, including medical/surgical, behavioral health and rehabilitation units raises the question: Is this a transition to an eventual closing?

“I really don’t think that’s what they’re doing,” said Sharon Maier, executive director of Services for Older Citizens. “This is actually very exciting news because they’re turning it into a medical center, and it’s going to enhance the senior’s end of medicine in our area.” read more...

Where is Joann Matouk-Romain?
Family searches for missing mom

There are many faces on Facebook. But there's only one the family of Joann Matouk-Romain wants to see–hers.

The family has turned to viral social networking, on Facebook and Twitter, to help spread the word that their mother is missing, and they want her to come home. They've also put up an additional site, as well.

Ryan Thompson, a family friend, set up the Facebook page to serve as a clearinghouse for information and deflect pressure on the family. "Bring home Joann Matouk-Romain" was posted Thursday (Jan. 14) with the few facts that have been made public since the  disappearance of the Grosse Pointe Woods woman two days previous:

Matouk-Romain was last seen around 7 p.m. Tuesday night, Jan. 12, sitting in the back row at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church on Lake Shore Road in the Farms. Her car was found a few hours later in the church driveway. Police said at the time that footprints leading from the car to the water's edge, along with a mark apparently left by a person sitting down, led them to suspect Matouk-Roman may have jumped or fallen into Lake St. Clair. A search by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Farms dive team that night and the following day turned up nothing, and the water search was called off. Farms police said Wednesday night that the matter was being handled by the Woods public-safety department as a missing-persons case.

Thompson said the family strongly rejects the idea that Matouk-Romain was suicidal. 

"We know it was not a suicide," Thompson said. "She lives for her kids. If she could see the agony they were going through now, she wouldn't have have done anything to cause that." read more...

Henry Ford Cottage is small,
but offers service close to home

This is the first in a series of profiles of the Pointes’ three hospitals.

Henry Ford Cottage Hospital is the smallest of the massive metro health-care system launched nearly a century ago by auto baron Henry Ford .

Cottage has a modest 87 beds, compared to its main campus Detroit parent, Henry Ford Hospital, which has 802. Still, the red-and-white brick building at 159 Kercheval at the top of the Hill in the Farms offers an intimate, neighborhood feel, and provides the same basic care as any large hospital. read more...