B sin Photo by Glenn Triest Did Your Mortgage Company Promise You The Whole Wide World But All You Got Was A Rock? Then The Time Is Right To Call DMR, Michigan's Largest Independently Owned Mortgage Banker. We'll Give You The Honest Answers, Just Like We've Been Doing For Nearly 50 Years. Kathy Jacobi at her gallery. Kathy Jacobi Adds Life To Ferndale P.S. Our No Closing Costs Loans Include The Cost Of Title Insurance Unlike Some Of Our Competitors. SUSAN KNOPPOW SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS K 71131A1 MEMBER FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC. Serving Homeowners Since 1946 24445 Northwestern Highway, Suite 100, Southfield 313-827-2436 i;), \ CIAmorm w ■■ . 1 1 U) 1 , $50 Off on Installation of . . . Sprinkler System or Landscape Lighting Lu (Expires 9/30/93) = F-- . ICK WALD • Call For Details • 489•586 40 c.. R athy Jacobi may be new to Ferndale, but the owner of Ubiquity Gallery is already known as one of the city's most visible catalysts for change. Less than a year ago, Ms. Jacobi, 41, who previously owned a jewelry store in Southfield, moved to Ferndale with her husband Rick Jacobi, a local graphic artist. The Bloomfield Township native, who arrived in her new city via Ann Arbor, Lansing and Southfield, now plans to stay in Ferndale. She is interim president of the Ferndale Business Association, spending long hours meet- ing and talking about the city's potential with other business owners to help bring about long-needed change. "When Kathy came into this community, she surely made her presence known," says Joan Stefanski, execu- tive vice president of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce and a 16-year Ferndale resident. "Kathy's not afraid to go out and talk to people." Leslie Ketren, Ferndale's new downtown manager, says Ms. Jacobi is responsi- ble for helping the city's downtown merchants work more cohesively, and she credits the gallery owner ► } with making her job a lot easier. She says it takes a part- nership between the city and its businesses to make a downtown area like Ferndale's work. "Kathy is very dogmatic," Ms. Ketren says. "She gets on the phone every day" until she accomplishes whatever it is that she's after. Those Ferndale residents and business owners who know her best respect that tenacity. They say Ms. Jacobi has helped the city's 25,000 residents and 800 businesses move from con- sidering reshaping the city to actually taking action. She moved to Ferndale shortly after she and Rick were married, and immedi- ately opened Ubiquity, an art and collectibles store. The months since her arrival have been a whirl- wind of working with the people who hope to turn the city into what Ms. Ketren calls "the new hotspot of the region." Ms. Jacobi was recently honored by 34 Ferndale block clubs as the business- person doing the most to revitalize their city. "I've got big plans," she says, though she is quick to point out that she didn't start the change herself. She simply joined exist- ing organizations and