DETROIT
Vandalism
Continued from Page 1
Sinai Creates New
Decision-Making Group
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
Photos by G le nn Triest
S
Babysitter Merlin Walters and Casey Weiss view the graffiti.
ing the park, and it hasn't
even opened yet.."
The park, which will be of-
ficially dedicated Aug. 25, is
one of three federal- and
state-funded decks built atop
1-696. The decks, which each
cost $1 million and were
designed as pedestrian
walkways, were designed to
keep the freeway from
dividing neighborhoods.
Steve Woodberg, director
of recreation for the City of
Oak Park, said the Michigan
Department of Transporta-
tion is likely to pick up the
cost of the cleanup and or
repairs since they haven't of-
ficially turned the parks
over to Oak Park.
Rhoda Raderman, director
of the Neighborhood Project,
a program which provides
loan incentives to Jewish
homebuyers, said she was
heartsick over the news.
"The parks were one the
most eagerly anticipated
byproducts of the freeway,"
Mrs. Raderman said. "We
worked long and hard to see
this dream come true. The
parks are for the entire
community. It should be in
everyone's best interests to
keep them clean and hate-
free."
Irma Starr, director of the
JPM, said she discovered the
letters YNCT painted on a
rear door Friday morning.
"I didn't think very much
of it," Mrs. Starr said,
"because I'd never seen the
letters before and didn't
think it was anything more
than a child's prank. I just
asked maintenance to clean
it off."
Mrs. Starr said she didn't
make the connection until
Saturday afternoon when
she was walking through
Victoria Park and saw the
ant-Semitic slogans.
A worker at the James N.
Pepper Elementary School
on Church Street, said the
letters YNCT were painted
"YNCT" was sprayed on a playscape and at the Morris JCC.
on an outside wall of the
school in June.
Dave Ginsburg, assistant
superintendent of Oak Park
Schools, couldn't say if they
were the same letters, but he
did confirm that graffiti in
the form of random letters
was reported and subse-
quently removed from the
building's west wall.
The school, which is closed
for the summer, is located on
Church Street, one block
south of JPM.
Richard Lobenthal, direc-
tor of the Michigan Regional
office of the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith, said he didn't know
what the letters YNCT
meant.
"We are working with the
police, but as far as I can tell,
the graffiti doesn't have the
traditional markings of neo-
Nazi skinheads," Mr. Loben-
thal said. "We're checking
into it, but I've never seen it
before and it may not mean
anything."
Lteve Fairman, direc-
tor of the Oak Park in-
vestigations bureau, said
this kind of vandalism is
among the most difficult to
solve. He said police have
taken paint samples from
the site but that so far there
are no suspects.
Rabbi E.B. Freedman, ex-
ecutive director of Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah, said he was
not going to let the work one
sick individual dampen the
spirit of the community.
Rabbi Freedman was part of
an Orthodox Jewish lobby
which gain funding for the
freeway decks.
"We won't let bigotry and
racism ruin what still is a
gorgeous park," he said.
inai Hospital's board
of trustees last week
approved a seven-
person ad hoc committee to
make interim decisions for
the 38-year-old institution.
"The ad hoc committee
will act for the board of
trustees while we discuss
whether we will restruc-
ture," said trustee President
Merle Harris, who will serve
on the ad hoc committee
with trustee officers Carolyn
Greenberg, Robert Sosnick,
Richard Roth, Marvin
Novick, Mery Manning and
Dr. Milton Goldrath.
The committee was formed
last week after the board of
trustees heard a report by
the Hunter Group, a
Chicago-based health care
consulting firm, that just
completed a comprehensive
analysis of Sinai's strategic,
operational and financial
situation.
In the last few years,
Sinai, one of Detroit's last
remaining independent
health-care facilities, has
focused on teaming up with
other health care systems.
Sinai officials met with
Henry Ford Health Care
Corp. and the Detroit
Medical Center. Each time,
merger talks were called off.
Doctors then formed a co-
alition to help increase the
hospital's census. When the
coalition began, the hospital
had been losing about
$750,000 a month. With the
coalition under way, the
hospital's outlook became
more positive. The hospital's
third quarter loss was
$300,000 — the best of the
last six quarters.
"The Hunter Group made
their report, and there are
many things we can do," Mr.
Harris said. "If we do listen,
they are confident we could
make a contribution to the
health of the Jewish com-
munity and be successful.
They didn't recommend one
new thing. They just focused
on what we already knew."
The board voted
unanimously to endorse the
Hunter recommendations
and to begin implementa-
tion. Sinai released few
specifics of the plan, but offi-
cials said they will provide
information as details unfold
within four weeks.
Being considered is hiring
the Hunter Group to tem-
porarily manage the
hospital, which has not had
a chief executive officer
since the board dismissed
Robert Steinberg in
February.
Daily operations have
been divided among admin-
istrators, Mr. Harris and
Chief Operating Officer
Larry Greene. Mr. Harris
said Hunter recommended
maintaining significant
Jewish involvement in the
health-care industry of
greater Detroit, including
searching for a Jewish CEO.
"They (Hunter) felt we
made important contribu-
tions to the Jewish commun-
ity," Mr. Harris said. "They
interviewed people who said
they wanted a 'Jewish-
sponsored hospital. The
Hunter Group recom-
mended:
• Restructuring the board
of trustees, management
team and medical staff.
• Undertaking a substan-
tial improvement in the per-
formance of the hospital.
• Positioning Sinai to
thrive in the local market,
Consultant
recommends
changes, believes
the hospital is
strong.
reducing salaries and supply
expenses to bring hospital
costs to competitive levels.
• Evaluating advantages
of joining a health-care
system.
Mr. Harris said the ad hoc
committee will meet on a
continuing basis for many
weeks.
Hunter assesses hospitals
and "manages extraordinary
situations," said Hunter Chief
Operating Officer Merrilee
Gerew.
"We usually get called into
an institution when they are
looking at some major stra-
tegic initiative," Ms. Gerew
said.
To. date, Hunter has rec-
ommended closing fewer
than five of the 30 health-
care institutions it has
assessed. They have manag-
ed 15 of the 30 on a short-
term basis.
"If there was a concern
that Sinai would close, it
should be known that it is
not a closure candidate," Ms.
Gerew said. "Sinai is having
some problems, but it has a
lot of strong assets in terms
of where it sits in the com-
munity."