DETROIT

Road Warriors
No Longer

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

O

n an average day, it
takes Charlotte
Dubin about 15
minutes to get to work. Not
bad, by Detroit standards.
It wasn't always this easy.
Mere months ago, Mrs.
Dubin, who is the director of
communications for the Jew-
ish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, spent
close to two hours a day
behind the wheel. Driving
from her Farmington Hills
residence to the Butzel
Building downtown would

Federation's move
has made a lot of
people's lives
easier. "One of
the best things is
that people who
were never at the
other building
have started to
congregate here."

Allan Gelfond

consume time and energy
that could have been applied
to other pursuits.
"There's a whole world out
there," she said. With the
extra time she now has,
she's thinking about taking
up a long-forgotten hobby:
tap dancing.
The negative, Mrs. Dubin
said, is that her commute
once meant hearing an en-
tire symphony; now, it
means only one movement.
Federation's move uptown
has made a lot of people's
lives easier. "One of the best
things is that people who
were never at the other
building have started to
congregate here," said Allan
Gelfond, Allied Jewish
Campaign director. Mr.
Gelfond's worst days would
take him back and forth
from the old Federation
building three times.
"From my point of view,
there's not a negative to it,"
he said.
Robert Aronson, the Fed-
eration's executive vice pres-
ident, said his life hasn't just
been improved by moving
business uptown; it's a diff-
erent life.
In a worst-case scenario,
Mr. Aronson's business day
would start at 7 with a
breakfast meeting. Then,
he'd have another. And an-

14

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1992

other. By the time he finally
got downtown at 9:30, he
"felt like going home to take
a nap."
With notes sticking out of
his briefcase and phone mes-
sages coming out of his ears,
he'd try to do some work
before a lunch meeting —
uptown, again.
At 1 p.m., he'd pull into a
parking lot to make phone
calls from his car. Or a res-
taurant. He frequented cer-
tain restaurants so often
that not only did they know
him by name — they let him
use their fax machines.
"It was four o'clock and I
was exhausted and I felt like
I haven't accomplished a
thing," he said.
The move uptown did come
with some negatives, say
some Federation staffers.
Michelle Passon, director of
leadership development,
loves the new location for its
proximity to home, but
misses the city.
And for some staffers, the
move actually made the
commute longer. Several
staffers live in Detroit or the
Grosse Pointes.
But for Campaign staffer
Rick Krosnick, the move is
welcome, but hardly earth-
shattering.
"It hasn't exactly restruc-
tured my life," he said.
"Work is work." 111

Candidates Represented At Political Forum

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

S

abina Heller pretty
much had her politics
in order last Sunday
night. But the Southfield
resident came to the Beth
Achim-hosted political
forum to nail down those
convictions.
Ms. Heller was one of
about 250 other concerned
voters who attended the
forum, which was co-
sponsored by Beth Achim,
the National Council of Jew-
ish Women and the Detroit
Jewish Community Council.
The forum, which was
moderated by Jewish News
associate publisher Arthur
Horwitz, gave represent-
atives of most of the major
presidential candidates, an
opportunity to speak on
issues ranging from U.S. re-
lations with Israel to health
care.

Candidates represented
included Democrats Paul
Tsongas, Gov. Bill Clinton,
Sen. Tom Harkin, Gov. Bob
Kerry and Republican Pres-
ident George Bush. Pat
Buchanan's representative
was a no-show.

"It was nice to hear some
of the answers," said Ms.
Heller, "even though some
of the questions really
weren't answered."
Perhaps the night's big-
gest challenge came to Pat,
White, who heads the presi-
dent's re-election campaign
here in Michigan. When the
candidates were asked to
comment on the growing
tension in Israel-U.S. rela-
tions, Mr. White called the
tension "short-term." He
said that President Bush
regards Israel as the
cornerstone to $53 billion in
U.S. foreign aid.
Barry White, of Mr.
Tsongas' national campaign

staff, said that the only way
to remove the U.S.-Israel
tension was "by removing
George Bush and putting
him back into private life.
"You have a Secretary of
State (James Baker) who
doesn't understand the spe-
cial relationship between
Israel and the United

It gave
representatives of
most of the major
candidates an
opportunity to
speak on issues
ranging from U.S.
relations with
Israel to health
care.

States," he added. Mr. White
also said that he was not at
the forum to find differences
with the other Democrats.
He wanted to challenge the

Bush campaign, instead,
head on.
In addition to what the
representatives said, forum
organizers were also im-
pressed with the turn out for
the event.
"You can see here that
people were really interested
in learning about the
issues," said organizer Lin-
da Lutz of NCJW.

NCJW president Carol Sue
Coden said the evening af-
forded an opportunity for
voters to learn about fine-
line differences between the
candidates.

"I came here to learn more
about the candidates, and I
think I came away with a
great deal of information,"
she said.
Lissa Hurwitz, represent-
ing the Jewish Council, said
that the evening gave people
a chance to participate in the
process. It brought them
closer to the candidates. ❑