DETROIT

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

M

ayor Charlotte
Rothstein may be
calling it quits, but
don't expect her to leave Oak
Park.
After 10 years at the city's
helm, Mrs. Rothstein, 66,
will finish her fourth term as
mayor Nov. 12 and retire
from political life. Sort of.
"I'm going to be around
here. I will not desert the
city," Mrs. Rothstein said. "I
love the city too much."
That's why, during the up-
coming city elections, she
won't be standing on the
sidelines, wondering who
will take her place. She'll be
on the campaign trail
pushing for mayoral hopeful
Robert Naftaly, a 14-year
council member and mayor
pro tem, and city council
candidates Raymond
Abrams and David Dystant.
All have government expe-
rience and she feels comfor-
table leaving the city in
their hands. Oak Park resi-
dent Paul Braunstein has
also thrown his hat into the
mayoral race.
, In fact, Mrs. Rothstein's
resignation announcement
long before November clears
the way for Mr. Naftaly.
While asking citizens to sign
his ballot petition, many told
Mr. Naftaly they wanted to
support her for a fifth term,
Mrs. Rothstein said. She felt
she had to clear the confu-
sion.
' Although Mrs. Rothstein
is accustomed to mayoral
campaigns, she doesn't find
it odd that this time her
name isn't on the petition.
"When you've made up
your mind you're not going to
run it isn't strange
anymore," said Mrs. Roths-
tein, who talks as if Mr. Naf-
taly has already won the
race.
Mrs. Rothstein has been a
fixture at Oak Park's City
Hall since 1973 when she
became the city's first
woman council member,
after losing a 1967 council
campaign by 138 votes.
Then, in 1981, Mayor David
Shepherd died suddenly. As
mayor pro tern, she assumed
the city's leadership and
made it official shortly
afterward by winning the
November election as a
write-in candidate.
During her term as mayor,
she successfully lobbied for

14

FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1991

more than $7.5 million in
HUD funds for senior hous-
ing at Jewish Federation
Apartments. One of the few
personal items she's taking
from the mayor's office is a
picture of a hill of dirt taken
during the construction of 1-
696. Labeled Charlotte's
Mountain, the picture is a
testament to the 1-696
freeway decks for which she
campaigned and secured

"I don't have any
guilt feelings about
leaving."

Charlotte Rothstein

money. She is also proud of
her role in welcoming new
business ventures to Oak
Park, including the con-
struction of Park Woods
Plaza - at the corner of
Coolidge and 10 Mile roads.
Mrs. Rothstein has also
been active in the U.S. Con-
ference of Mayors' Associ-
ation, attending conventions
throughout the country. She
recently returned from a
mayors' convention in Israel
where she met Jerusalem

Mayor Teddy Kollek and
Israeli Prime Minister Yitz-
chak Shamir.
She only wishes she was
able to change Oak Park's
liquor law to allow restau-
rants to serve wine and beer
by the glass, Mrs. Rothstein
said. But the decision now
lies with Michigan's
legislature and Liquor Con-
trol Commission.
Still, Mrs. Rothstein has
no regrets about her service.
Instead, she is looking for-
ward to her retirement. She
and her husband, Ben, a
retired printer, plan to take
their motor home and go
fishing and camping. And,
maybe, she'll find time for a
game of tennis. Although
she used to be a good tennis
player, she hasn't had time
to hit the courts since the
1973 election, Mrs. Roths-
tein said.
"Sure I'm going to miss
this office. I've made a lot of
good friends here," Mrs.
Rothstein said. "I don't have
any guilt feelings about
leaving. I think I've done a
good job.
"When I tell people that

Photo by Glenn Triest

Oak Park's Ten-Year Mayor
Has Active Retirement Plans

Charlotte Rothstein: Retirement plus a little campaigning.

I'm leaving, they get upset,"
she said. "Then I explain
that it's a lot of time out of
my life. They seem to under-
stand that."

"It's much better to go out
in a blaze of glory than to be
kicked out," Mrs. Rothstein
said. "I'm leaving because
I'm ready to retire." ❑

Home Seeks Increase In Private Pay Clients

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

or Alan Funk, the
following scenario is
getting all too famil-

iar.
A Jewish family is faced
with putting a parent or lov-
ed one in a nursing home,
and when it comes time to
decide on which facility,
they choose a private place
in the outer suburbs. The
thought of bringing them
into the city to the Jewish
Home for Aged is not a real
possibility.
But then when the money
runs out or when the parent
outlives the money supply,
then Mr. Funk, the Jewish
Home for Aged's executive
vice president, gets a knock
on his door.
In the past it was easier for
the Home to accept any
state-funded Medicaid pa-
tient. But now, when
families come to the Jewish
Home for Aged seeking
Medicaid-funded placements,
especially those families who
spent their loved one's sav-
ings at a private home, it is
becoming more and more dif-
ficult for him and for the

Home to swallow.
Indeed, Mr. Funk said the
Home is facing increased fi-
nancial problems at a time
when it needs every nickel it
can garner for a possible
move out of the city. The
Home is, however, operating
with a private-pay client
load of about 23 percent. The
optimum number for the
Home is a 35 percent pri-
vate-pay client load. The
reasons are simple. Each pa-
tient, be they private-pay or
Medicaid-funded costs the
Home $100 a day. But the
state Medicaid pays $70 a
day. When you multiply that
$30-a-day difference by 300
patients, it comes to dra-
matic losses that the Home
and the Detroit Jewish
Welfare Federation are forced
to cover. The Federation is
loaning money to make up
the deficit at a clip of $1
million a year.
And with cutbacks, the
overriding theme of the cur-
rent state administration,
the Home could be facing
even greater deficits.
"On a priority basis, we're
in a position where we have
to give priority to private-
pay clients," Mr. Funk said.
"This is a problem that

doesn't seem to go away."
Jewish Federation Exec-
utive Vice President Robert
Aronson said the Jewish
community needs to recog-
nize that survival is the key
issue facing the Home. He
added that the Home is in a
no-win situation if it cannot
positively position itself in
the thinking of potential
Jewish clients and their
families.
"The Jewish Home for
Aged is committed to pro-

The Home is losing
$30 per day on
each Medicaid
resident.

viding services to the com-
munity," Mr. Aronson said.
"But the community needs
to show some positive re-
sponse to the Home."
Federation President
Mark Schlussel agreed with
Mr. Aronson when he said
the Home does a good job of
providing services within a
Jewish framework to the
Detroit community.
However, when it comes
time to deciding where to
place an elderly loved one,

there are too many distinc-
tions, he said, based largely
on the Home's location.
Moving to a suburban
location is very much part of
the Home's future plans.
But, as Aronson said, it
takes a great deal of money,
and "things are tight all
over now."
It is the feeling among the
Home administration and
Federation leadership that
the Home can't afford to
wait for the future.
"The Jewish community
has felt that it has a respon-
sibility to those in our com-
munity who do not have the
resources to care for them-
selves during the twilight
years of their lives," Mr.
Schlussel said. "I think the
Jewish Home has done an
admirable job in providing
that care as part of its mis-
sion to the community.
"However," he continued,
"the quality of the services
we hopefully provide in the
Jewish community should
make the Jewish Home a
desirable place for those who
can afford to pay for the ser-
vices rendered. The experi-
ence of being in a totally
Jewish milieu for the aged is
the most important aspect of

