PROFILE

A WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN ...

C I TNY HALL

LINDA WATER

Special to The Jewish News

B

en Rothstein says he
is trying to rescind
the 19th amendment.
That's the one which gave
American women the right
to vote. But he says it with a
chuckle and a twinkle in his
eye. After all, he has been
married for 40 years to
Charlotte Rothstein, Oak
Park's mayor.
Mrs. Rothstein has been
the mayor since 1981, but
her path to Oak Park City
Hall was not through
hallways of smoke-filled
rooms and political

"This city has
been a very
important part of
my life for 38
years, and I have
been part of the
city government
for more than 18
of those yearsP

— Mayor Rothstein

caucuses. Instead of a
resume peppered with polit-
ical organizations, one is
more apt to see a career
where the PTA shares space
proudly with Brandeis B'nai
B'rith Women.
Mrs. Rothstein is,
nonetheless, a committed ac-
tivist who has had more im-
pact on the community in
which she lives than most
people ever dream of.
"I love Oak Park and I love
being the mayor," she said.
"This city has been a very
important part of my life for
38 years, and I have been
part of the city government
for more than 18 of those
years."
Mrs. Rothstein was born in
Detroit, 66 years ago, as
Charlotte Waterstone. She is

a mother of two and grand-
mother of seven. Her son,
Alan, lives with his family
in Southfield and is assoc-
iated with Triple M Financ-
ing. Her daughter, Rachel, is
an attorney for the Immigra-
tion and Naturalization Ser-
vice and lives with her fami-
ly in Vermont. Her 93-year-
old father still lives in the
area. A sister and brother
and their families live in
Oak Park.
Prior to holding political
office, Mrs. Rothstein's life
revolved completely around
her family and the commun-
ity. She was a PTA mom and
and an active part of wo-
men's organizations. She
spent years as a volunteer
for the United Way and
other local charities.
"It got to the point where I
would be working as a vol-
unteer for some charity or
another, and I would ring a
doorbell," she said. "A child
would come to the door and
say, 'Mom, that same lady is
here again collecting
money.' That's when I decid-
ed to be a chairman."
Her husband, Ben, who
retired six years ago as a
printer, is also active in the
community, taking senior
citizens shopping on
Wednesdays and delivering
Meals on Wheels every Fri-
day. He has also been active
in the Downtown Synagogue
for 16 years.
"Charlotte and I each do
our own thing," he said.
"But dinners are sacred. We
always try to be together at
dinner, a holdover from
when the children were still
at home and we always ate
together and on time, no
matter what our com-
mitments were."
Those commitments run
deep for this couple. Mrs.
Rothstein's political life
started in 1967 with her first
run for the Oak Park City
Council. She said that her
opponent campaigned by

Photos by Gle nn Triest

Oak Park's mayor has been a fixture in city politics for years.

Charlotte Rothstein: "I love Oak Park, I love being the mayor."

saying that a Jewish woman
belonged at home with her
children, not in the council
chambers. She lost that elec-
tion by 138 votes and took
the loss as an opportunity to
learn more.
In 1973, Mrs. Rothstein
became the first woman
elected to a city council seat.
"I never campaigned as a
woman candidate," she said,
"just as a qualified can-
didate. The children got
tired of it. We used to get
stopped in the supermarket
all of the time by people who
wanted to talk about com-
munity issues. Eventually,
they just stopped coming
along."
Mrs. Rothstein spent eight

years in the city council,
holding the job of mayor pro
tern in 1976-77 and 1980-81.
That was when her political
life really changed.
That was because then-
Mayor David Shepherd died
suddenly, leaving her to
assume leadership of her
city.
"I was well prepared," she
said. "But, no one is ever
really ready to step into a job
like that."
Mr. Shephard had been in
the middle of a campaign at
the time of his death, and it
was too late for Mrs. Roths-
tein's name to be put on the
ballot, so her first campaign
for Oak Park's mayor was as
a write-in candidate.

"We had stickers made up,
along with a pamphlet that
explained to people how to
vote for a write-in. At the
polling places, people would
come up to us with the pam-
phlet and say, 'Tell me again
now, how do I do this?' It was
a tough run, but worth the
fight."
Since that first mayoral
election, she has run and
been re-elected four more
times, most recently in 1989.
How seriously does she
take it? Her husband says
that if you phoned their
home the day after a
mayoral election and asked
for Charlotte, you would
probably be told that she
was out campaigning.
Local government covers
more than Oak Park where
Mrs. Rothstein is concerned.
Recently returned from the
conference of the National
League of Cities in Houston,
she has served on the U.S.
Conference of Mayors' Ad-
visory Board, Arts Commis-
sion, Recreation Commis-
sion and Human Develop-
ment Committee and is a
graduate of that organiza-
tion's Leadership Institute.
She is a founding member of
the U.S. Conference of Wo-
men Mayors and a past pres-
ident of the Michigan
Association of Mayors.
Mrs. Rothstein is also fa-
miliar with lobbying on
Capitol Hill where she was
part of a group that lobbied
successfully for more than
$7.5 million in HUD funds
for senior housing and for
retention of millions of
dollars for 1-696 freeway
decks in Oak Park.
The mayor also admitted
that she was at one time ap-
proached about a possible
congressional run, but turn-
ed away from it because it
would have meant too much
time away from Oak Park.
And Oak Park is where the
conversation always turns

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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