SHOW BIZ page 1 Jewish Life Moves In The Fast Lane. Can You Spare A Few Minutes? Subscribe To The Jewish News. How Can You Afford Not To? JUST A FEW MINUTES A WEEK GIVE YOU ALL THE IMPORTANT LOCAL INFORMATION AND NEWS DELIVERED TO YOUR MAILBOX ONCE A WEEK. DETROIT' THE JEWISH NEWS wma rum mem mom mom mmm mm mmA145; Save 28% off the newsstand price by responding today. Receive 52 issues of The Jewish News plus five issues of Style magazine for only $42 ($58 out-of-state). Yes, I'd like my own subscription to The Jewish News. 1 1 1 I El Please bill me. Name ❑ Charge to my ❑ MasterCard lil Visa Address Exp. Card # City Signature (required) City State Zip Phone My Name Gift Card Message My Address 1 ❑ I'd like to send a subscription as a gift to: TI Payment enclosed. State Zip Phone New subcribers only n . Please send all payments along with this coupon to: The Jewish News, P.O. Box 2267, Southfield, MI 48037-2267. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Tr For faster service call 810-354-6620 and charge it to your Visa or MasterCard between the hours of 8:30 am and 5:00 pm mmo mmm mm-m mmm mrm mmm vmm* mmm mmm mmm mms I AD395 request. If Franklin fails to fight the development, the judgment would have to be amended: As it stands, the property may only be used for office buildings until 2004. When or whether it will come up again at a future Franklin council meeting is anybody's guess — the clerk for the Village of Franklin said there has been no request for another date to take it up — but Mr. Gendel thinks it's a dead issue. "Bluntly, they got to them. Money talks, everything else walks. If they table it, it means they're not interested," he said. Not necessarily, said Mickey Nemer of Forbes/Cohen/Nemer, which plans to sell 20 acres of the Galleria property to Sony Corporation and Loeks-Star Theatres for the multiplex. "The Franklin Foundation, be- cause they had two people out of the city, weren't ready to talk to the village, and I'm not sure the village even wanted to be put on the spot. The foundation, when they're all together, may decide to vote on it, but I guess they weren't comfortable," Mr. Nemer said. Members of the group were not available for comment. Mr. Nemer, a Franklin resi- dent, believes the project will be a boon for Southfield. The art- deco complex will boast 6,000 seats and feature either four restaurants or a combination of restaurants and retail, such as a Walt Disney store. Fountains, spires and palm trees will com- plete the Hollywood-style ambi- ence. "Do we wait until Southfield is a has-been? You have something that's an enhancement and at- traction while the neighborhood is still vital," Mr. Nemer said. The Southfield City Council seems to think so. Despite raucous opposition by Mr. Gendel and nearly 150 oth- ers who staged protests and made speeches at council meetings, the council approved the use of the site, the construction of the en- tranceway between Case and Lockdale roads, directly across the street from Wellington, and a new traffic signal at Dufty and 12 Mile roads. Dully runs north between Wellington Place, the Knights of Columbus Hall and a city fire station. Council members Sidney Lantz and Joan Seymour were the only dissenters in the June 26 vote for the new entranceway. "Can you imagine the thou- sands of cars getting out of that driveway at peak hours? The traf- fic now is horrendous," said Mr. Lantz. He said the problem will be compounded by the planned rerouting of the southern portion of Franklin Road within the next few years. Southfield traffic engi- neer Robert Northrup said the road will cross Northwestern about a quarter-mile south of 12 Mile and intersect with 12 Mile a few blocks east of Northwestern, near Mr. Joe's bar. "They were playing hardball," Mr. Lantz said of the Sony-Loeks representatives. 'They could have moved the entrance in front of Dufty, but they didn't want to change the whole site plan." He noted that the theater will also inconvenience other near- by residents. Approximately 4,000 people live in the nine com- plexes in the area. Mr. Gendel, who called him- selfa "movie buff," said he has no plans to move out of Wellington Place, although he worries that the value of his property will de- cline. The presence of the theater will compromise the very quality of life for families nearby, he said. "This is going to radically change our lives," he said, noting that at least one resident has al- ready moved out. But the major complaint of the Gendels, Smith and other resi- dents is the new driveway. "The theater might be a nice thing if they transposed the build- ing and put the entrance on Case," Mr. Gendel said. "There are a lot of oldies in Wellington and these people are not going to be able to do what I do," which he explained as "aggressive" driv- ing. Smith said when a gate is re- moved to allow Wellington traf- fic onto Dufty, the Wellington complex will be a convenient thruway for outside traffic, among other problems. Frieda Gendel fears the addi- tional traffic will prevent ambu- lances from getting to residents. "We'd be satisfied if they put no entrance off 12 Mile," she said. "We had hoped Franklin Village would use the judgment and tell them they could not do it." But Brent 0. Bair, managing director of the Road Commission for Oakland County, said an of- fice complex "would have a greater impact on traffic than a movie theater. From a traffic standpoint, it's a friendlier de- velopment." Mr. Bair said there are no plans to widen 12 Mile Road, al- though Mr. Nemer said his com- pany has been in discussions with the city over using the eastbound left-turn lane for through traffic to ease the congestion. "I don't think the theater will cause that many problems where we'll have to look at it," Mr. Bair said. The theater developers will pay the costs of coordinating the traffic signals at Dufty, Lockdale and Case and reconfiguring east- bound 12 Mile Road. Barring opposition from either Franklin Foundation or the 12 Mile residents, the multiplex could be up within the year, Mr. Nemer said. El