DETROIT
Oak Park And Southfield
Begin Using 1-696 Parks
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
B
en Rothstein came
home last week and
told his wife, Oak
Park Mayor Charlotte
Rothstein, that she just had
to see the new parks above
the 1-696 freeway.
"So my husband and I
drove over last weekend to
take a look," Mayor Roths-
tein said. "And I couldn't
believe what I saw. The state
is doing a magnificent job in
landscaping and installing
all the lighting, benches,
courts and play equipment. I
can hardly wait for the
grand opening."
The 1-696 plazas, which in-
clude the two decks above
the highway in Oak Park
and one nearby in
Southfield, are not schedul-
ed to officially open until a
special dedication ceremony
Aug. 25, according to Steve
Woodberg, director of
recreation for the City of
Oak Park.
"But that's not stopping
the neighborhood kids or
local residents from already
playing there after school
and on the weekends or us-
ing any of the pedestrian
walkways," Mr. Woodberg
said. "If anything, people
can't wait for the parks to of-
ficially open."
Mayor Rothstein, who
worked for more than 10
years along with Jewish
community leaders to ensure
that the construction of 1-696
would not destroy the vital-
ity of Oak Park or prevent
its local Orthodox residents
from accessing synagogues
on Shabbat, is more than
happy with the results.
"I don't think any of us
imagined what it would
eventually look like," Mayor
Rothstein said. "It's one
thing when you see it on
blueprints; it's quite another
when you see a park come to
life and people using it every
day."
Rabbi E.B. Freedman, ex-
ecutive director of Yeshiva.
Beth Yehudah and a mem-
ber of an Orthodox trium-
virate that lobbied against
the construction of 1-696,
said he expected the worst.
"This goes beyond any of
my wildest dreams," Rabbi
Freedman said. "Ten years
ago, when construction
started, we thought it would
"The state is doing
a magnificent job."
Charlotte Rothstein
saw our neighborhood in
half. We thought it would be
the death knell of the neigh-
borhood.
"Instead, our children can
walk or ride their bikes to
Oak Park stores and schools.
They come on Shabbat or on
holidays and play. I'm show-
ing it off to anyone who will
listen."
Rhoda Raderman, director
of the Neighborhood Project,
said that between the
highway and the completion
of the parks, more families
than ever are signing up for
the project's waiting list.
The Neighborhood Project
gives interest-free loans to
Jewish home buyers who are
interested in moving to Oak
Park or Southfield.
"It has bridged the gap
between Oak Park and
Southfield and increased the
desirability of our area,"
The fitness course on the 1-696 deck behind the Oak Park JCC.
14
FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1991
Mrs. Raderman said. "Last
year at this time, we had 35
applications in. This year,
we're processing 51. Even
the housing prices are
becoming fixed around
$125,000. We couldn't have
predicted that 10 years ago."
Mr. Woodberg said the
decks in Oak Park each cost
$1.1 million. One of the
decks is situated behind the
Jimmy Prentis Morris Jew-
ish Community Center and
the Federation Apartments,
which houses about 450 Jew-
ish senior citizens. The
other, which is connected by
cement walkways, is Vic-
toria Park, behind the
former B'nai Moshe syn-
agogue which is becoming
the new home of the Sally
Allan Alexander Beth Jacob
School for Girls. The
Southfield deck is off Fairfax
Road. They all have the
latest in modern, plastic
play equipment, Mr.
Woodberg said. Everything
was designed around the
needs of the neighborhood.
"We have shuffle board
courts, game tables, an out-
door stage, benches, a walk-
ing trail, a physical fitness
course, and state-of-the-art
play equipment," Mr.
Woodberg said. "Victoria
Park has three play struc-
3
0
0
Michigan Department of Transportation workers planting trees.
tures that just haven't gone
up yet.
"The best part of all of this
is that it's being paid for by
the federal government and
the Michigan Department of
Transportation," he
said. "The cities of Oak Park
and Southfield will pay for
the parks' upkeep."
Eli Kaplan, the liaison
between the Jewish com-
munity, the city of
Southfield, the Michigan
Department of Transporta-
tion and the Federal
Highway Administration,
said construction on all
three decks is progressing
according to schedule. He
said the parks still have a
few months to go in terms of
installing more lighting and
finishing a highly contested
1 6-spot parking lot.
However, some residents
like Southfield Councilman
Sid Lantz still worry about
the Southfield deck having
sufficient lighting and police
patrols.
"I have no problem with
the two decks in Oak Park,
but the one in Southfield is
still too isolated. I still main-
tain that the city is selling
out our natural resources."
But the final word goes to
the kids who'll get the most
use out of the parks. Aryeh
Zentman, 11, and Dovid
Ellenberg, 11, were riding
their bikes along the decks
in Oak Park this week after
school.
"We think the parks up
here are totally gevaldik
(cool)," they said in
unison. ❑
Ex-Detroit Federation Leader
Takes San Francisco Job
STAFF REPORT
ayne Feinstein, who
served as executive
vice president of the
Jewish Welfare Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit from
1982 to 1986, has been nam-
ed to a similar position with
the San Francisco Jewish
Community Federation.
Mr. Feinstein has served
for the last five years as
head of the Los Angeles fed-
eration.
Mr. Feinstein, 39, is retur-
ning to his wife's hometown
and to a community where
he served as federation so-
cial planning and budgeting
associate and campaign as-
sociate. He had been brought
to San Francisco in 1974 by
Brian Lurie, the man he is
replacing. Mr. Lurie is leav-
ing San Francisco to head
the national United Jewish
Appeal.
Mr. Feinstein reportedly
experienced problems with
the fragmented Jewish
leadership in Los Angeles.
He told the Northern
California Jewish Bulletin:
San Francisco is a "Gold
Rush community, which
means there have been Jew-
ish leading families now for
four generations. As a
result, it's possible to arrive
at community decision-
making in a way that isn't
possible in Southern
California."
He described Los Angeles
as a post-World War II com-
munity "without that con-
tinuity of leadership and
without leadership models,
norms and expectations."
Prior to coming to Detroit,
Mr. Feinstein had served as
director of leadership devel-
opment for the United Jew-
ish Appeal-Federation of
Greater New York and as di-
rector of the campaign plan-
ning department of the
Wayne Feinstein:
Moving again.
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions.
Mr. Feinstein is expected
to start his San Francisco
assignment in September. ❑