The city of Dearborn is informing residents that it has a number of “cooling stations” for those troubled by the extreme heat.

Residents are invited to visit the four public libraries and the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center during regular business hours to cool off in the air-conditioned public buildings, the city says in a recent press release.

The Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., is open from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Residents are invited to sit in the lobby area. Inside the Center, senior citizens are welcome to stay in the Senior Center, which has a lounge. The Senior Center’s regular business hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call The Center at 943-2350.

The library locations and their hours are as follows:

 Henry Ford Centennial Library, 16301 Michigan Ave., Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

 Bryant Branch, 22100 Michigan Avenue; Esper Branch, 12929 W. Warren Ave.; and Snow Branch, 23950 Princeton Ave. Branch hours are Monday and Tuesday 12:30-8:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For more information about the libraries, call 943-2330.

Overdue fines at Dearborn libraries is being increased to 25 cents per day, per item.

The Dearborn Library Commission recently voted to increase overdue fines and increase the daily Internet pass fee to $2 and the annual pass to $20 for all non-resident library cardholders. Overdue fines for entertainment videos and DVDs remain $2 per day.

All increases took effect July 1, 2010, the start of the City’s new fiscal year.

For the first time, through July 16, the Library is offering a Food for Fines program. During this time, patrons may donate non-perishable, non-expired food items and receive $1 reduction in overdue library fines for every item donated. All donated items will be given to the Dearborn Firefighters for distribution to families in need through the Burn Drive program.

For more information, stop by any one of the four Dearborn Public Library locations, visit www.dearbornlibrary.org or call 313-943-2330.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. will present Rima Fakih, recently crowned Miss USA, with a Key to the City on July 10 at 10 a.m. at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

“We’re celebrating her win and offering an opportunity to hear Rima speak about her path to success,” O’Reilly said in a city press release.

The free event takes place in the Center’s Michael A. Guido Theatre. According to a city press release, Fakih will “deliver an inspirational message to motivate young people on how they too can reach their goals.” A short reception will follow.

Tickets must be picked up in advance from the theatre box office (313-943-2354).

Fakih returns to Dearborn after traveling abroad as Miss USA. Since being crowned on May 16, she has made appearances in China, Rwanda and many cities in the U.S. She is posting a video blog of her activities on www.missuniverse.com. Fakih, who grew up with her younger brother in Dearborn and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Michigan – Dearborn, says she plans to attend law school after completing her reign as Miss USA.

Dearborn’s new trash and recycle pickups begin tomorrow so residents should begin using their 96-gallon trash carts. This also marks the first week the city will be using Republic Services rather than Waste Management. Republic was the lowest bidder for Dearborn’s trash pickup contract.

While city offices will be closed on Monday for the holiday weekend, regular trash and recycle pickups will take place. Recycle trash hits the curb every other week. Residents in section “B” should roll their green recycle carts to the curb (there is an A or B section designation at the front of the recycle cart lid.

As for complaints by some that the trash carts are too large, the city of Dearborn says that residents with physical hardships to get their trash to the curb or anyone else having problems with the new 96-gallon carts can call 943-2085. Residents can request a smaller 64-gallon cart by calling that number.

Dearborn City Council Needs to Quickly Reinstate Powell

If the Dearborn City Council doesn’t do everything in its power to make sure Marge Powell is legally able to exercise her duties as a Civil Service Commissioner, residents in this city will be left with the impression that our elected officials do not want the qualifications of potential city employees scrutinized.

At least that’s the conclusion of Morris Goodman, a Dearborn attorney, past president of the Dearborn Democratic Club, a longtime political activist and observer and regular reader of Deepsaidwhat.com.

Goodman’s column on this topic, one we’ve covered earlier HERE, begins below.

Morris Goodman

Anyone who knows Marge Powell cannot understand how there can be any question about her status as a member of the Civil Service Commission. She apparently was not asked to take the Oath of Office within 10 days of her appointment in the spring of 2009, but that problem can be immediately remedied by the City Council by its simply extending the time for the administering of the oath. That is, the City Charter would allow in a circumstance such as this — where through inadvertence an oath was not given in a timely manner — for the time to be extended.

The Council says it needs to have a Study Session on this topic which is scheduled for August 5th. There is no need to study this issue. The City Attorney, Deborah Walling, has made it clear that the Council can take this action. So why hasn’t it done so already?

For the last 17 years, Marge Powell has served with great distinction on Dearborn’s Civil Service Commission and has been elected President of the Commission by her peers many times. Before that she was a City Councilwoman for eight years. If there is anyone who can be called the “Conscience of Dearborn”, it is Marge.

One of the primary reasons that Dearborn has been so well governed for so long is that the Civil Service Commission makes sure that those who are to be appointed to positions of importance are in fact well qualified to do the jobs in question. Marge Powell has been the leader in making sure that Dearborn, unlike so many other jurisdictions (think Detroit, Chicago, FEMA under President Bush), does not have cronies of Mayors and Council people appointed to city positions as a “thank you” for help in getting them elected or re-elected.

So what’s the problem with simply extending the time now for this person who everyone publicly says has done a fine job and should be re-appointed? Well, Council President Tom Tafelski wants to make it “crystal clear that this [situation] is not about Marge Powell or her appointment — it’s about policies and procedures that were in place in the civil service commission itself, where you have to follow certain policies, procedures, and protocols.” The problem for Mr. Tafelski is that in fact Marge Powell has been following “policies, procedures, and protocols” so well that the person he wants appointed to a particular city job did not sail through the Civil Service Commission.

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Motorists who travel Michigan Avenue between Brady and Outer Drive now have something to smile about – the three month, $2.1 million repaving project is complete and all lanes were reopened Monday.

Woodworth becomes Woodsboro High School in the movie Scream 4.

Dearborn’s Woodworth Middle School will be named Woodsboro High School when it appears in the upcoming Scream 4 movie, which is expected to open in the spring of next year.

We wrote about the school’s starring role in the movie a week ago (see earlier story, HERE).  Well, now we have some official photos of what the school will look like in the movie.

The Woodsboro name also appears inside Woodworth Middle School.

For the next four days (Tuesday, June 29 – Friday, July 2) Dearborn will have a “fourth” high school with the addition  of Woodsboro High School in Scream 4. The photographs show how the front of the school has been changed for the movie.  Film crews also have done some work on room 208 and in the hallway outside the classroom.

The school will return to Woodworth Middle School once filming wraps up.

For those wondering, the school is being paid $500 per day for each prep and take down day and $1,000 a day for each filming date.  While we don’t have the exact number of days right now, school officials say film crews currently are scheduled for four film days and about eight days of prep and take down. So that would be a check to the school district of $8,000.

The building that was once home to first-run motion picture films on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn is now but a pile of rubble.

Dearborn Theater, which later became Showcase Cinemas, is expected to be replaced with a Hampton Inn hotel, if all goes according to plan.

Construction on a Sonic burgers still is slated to begin this summer next door to the razed theater. City officials say construction likely will begin once the theater site is cleared. The front of the building, shown in this photo, was taken down late last week. For our earlier story, click HERE.

If you haven’t already checked out Dearborn entrepreneur Peder Blohm’s new website to buy and sell almost anything you should. His site, MyNewMarketplace.com went live Thursday and is nicely done.

We earlier wrote that his site was coming (click HERE for that story). Now it’s officially open for business.

Blohm says MyNewMarketplace.com offers easy navigation and a variety of options to buy and sell products and services, promote new businesses, post and search job openings, and support the local economy. He stresses that the site does not include personal ads.

Individuals and businesses can use the beta version of the web site as much as possible and place ads, at no cost, until Aug. 1, 2010. After that Blohm says charging low fees will help to ensure accountability and prevent people from hiding behind fake identities that have plagued other web sites such as Craigslist.

To promote the site, Blohm is holding a social media contest to enable users to refer others locally and nationwide to the new site with the winner receiving up to $1,000 in advertising.

“It’s important that we receive everyone’s comments and suggestions, so that we can make continuing improvements on the site,” said Blohm. “It’s going to be an evolution.”

Blohm’s partner in developing the new web site is Essential IT, founded by Brian Surowiec, a Michigan entrepreneur and technology consultant who has more than 15 years of experience providing IT and Internet-related services for a variety of industries.

Blohm says he and his partner utilized all Michigan-based businesses in developing the site, including the award winning firm of JCI Design and the public relations firm of Margaux & Associates, LLC.

“We want to show that Michigan is still the birthplace of innovation,” Blohm said. “Our goal is that by earning customers’ trust and confidence, we can take MyNewMarketplace.com from southeast Michigan to local markets nationwide.”

Richard Miller

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., has appointed Richard Miller, a lifelong Dearborn resident and a retiree from the city’s fire department, as Dearborn’s new fire chief.

“I’m pleased to appoint Richard Miller to the top leadership position and know that he will work well with the outstanding men and women of our Fire Department to continue to move it forward,”  O’Reilly said. “His priority is my priority: to keep providing excellent public safety services to the residents of Dearborn. He also has a good understanding of how to maintain that high standard within the economic reality that all cities face today.”

Below is the press release from the City of Dearborn.

Miller retired as senior battalion chief from the Dearborn department in 2007 and moved on to high level jobs in the private sector, where he has been focused on ways to preserve efficiencies while reducing costs or generating new revenues.

Miller also has an extensive education background in fire science. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University’s School of Fire Staff and Command in 2001, from Madonna University in 1984 with a bachelor of science degree in fire science/occupational safety and health, and from Henry Ford Community College in 1980 with an associate’s degree in fire science.

He has professional certifications in many areas from the State of Michigan Firefighters Training Council, including in incident command, tactical operations and hazardous materials and is certified as a fire inspector and an emergency medical technician.

Mayor O’Reilly said he chose Miller from a pool of strong candidates because of his background with the Dearborn department, his education credentials, and his experience in the private sector.

O’Reilly said that Miller’s combined experience can provide a complementary perspective as the city continues to address financial challenges, including the need to increase efficiencies across the board, manage limited resources, and still produce desirable results.

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