DETROIT
7 5 14
2 7 NISAN 5754/A PRIL 8, 1994
B'nai David To Vacate
Synagogue By May 31
Congregation meets Sunday to decide its future.
ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR
uild, merge, or
bring a 102-
year history to
a close? After
wrestling with
that question
for four years,
Congregation
B'nai David
will be forced
to make the
choice on Sunday.
The members will meet at 1 p.m. to
decide the congregation's fate, follow-
ing a decision by the board of trustees
last week to leave their Southfield
Road building by May 31.
"Quite frankly, we're trespassing,"
said B'nai David President Lawrence
Inside
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Contents on page 3
Do Judaism and politics mix?
B'NAI DAVID page 10
Michigan Eyes UHS Buses
Messy, imprecise files at UHS Transportation garage confuse investigators.
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
tate officials are investigating
whether United Hebrew
Schools Transportation, which
is operated by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, violated Michigan law
by continuing to run buses af-
ter they had been "red-tagged"
— judged unsafe for passenger trans-
port.
The Michigan State Police Motor
Carrier Division also has taken UHS
Transportation off an "honor system,"
which allows private bus companies to
oversee their own repairs on red-tagged
vehicles.
Officer Kevin Hogan, a certified me-
chanic with the state, red-tagged 29
UHS vehicles last year. In February, he
returned to the UHS Transportation
garage in Oak Park to reinspect four of
those vehicles. In each case, he found
repeat violations.
S
Although these defective buses
should have been taken off the road,
their odometers showed an average
increase of 4,000 miles. "That
doesn't happen just driving them to
the body shop for repairs," Officer
Hogan said.
In mid-March, the Jewish
Federation denied allegations that
red-tagged vehicles operated un-
lawfully. However, Federation
Planning Director Lawrence Ziffer
said: "There have been problems.
We've improved operations and are
looking at options for the future."
UHS Transportation offers door- UHS Transportation is the target of a state investigation.
to-door service for more than 500
Jewish children attending Hebrew day nearly 100 buses and vans, about 50
schools. It also provides transportation are in use. Most were bought second-
for the Jewish elderly and students at hand and are almost a decade old.
some local private institutions like
The Michigan State Police
Detroit Country Day School.
Department's Motor Carrier Division,
Although the UHS fleet contains BUSES page 8
Photo by Dan iel Lippitt
B'nai David president Lawrence Traison.
Traison. "And we're losing $1,000 ev-
ery day."
The congregation sold its building
at Southfield Road and Mt. Vernon to
the city of Southfield in 1990. The city
plans to use the facility as a cultural
arts center.
The three-year, $1.5 million deal
had an option of one additional year
for the congregation. That extra year
ran out March 14.
B'nai David members hold a 10-acre
parcel on Maple Road in West
Bloomfield for the congregation. But
a building fund campaign has not
added enough funds to entice a bank
to back construction of the West
Bloomfield facility. The congregation
received $1.5 million for its Southfield
facility.
B'nai David has been seeking mort-
gage financing since late 1993.
Congregational officers were expect-
ing to hear April 5 from one bank. "If
they turn us down, everyone else will,"
said Mr. Traison.
Pending that information, he said,
the congregation on Sunday will have
four options:
* Build in West Bloomfield.
* Rent space in the Maple/Drake
Jewish Community Center until the
new facility is completed.
Congregation B'nai Moshe did this