Three hems
Enter County Race
Three candidates are trying to succeed Gilda Jacobs
as the 23rd District's county commissioner.
JULIE EDGAR
News Editor
I
mproving the quality, quantity
and delivery of mental health
services in the county is a key
concern of the three candidates
vying to represent Huntington Woods,
Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge and a sliver
of Royal Oak on the Oakland County
Board of Commissioners.
They also believe the southeast end
of the county has gotten short shrift
from the majority Republican board,
not receiving its fair share of dollars
for programming, roads and the like.
In many ways, Nathaniel Warshay,
Michelle Friedman Appel and Bruce
E. Klein are on the same philosophical
page. All hope to succeed Gilda
Jacobs, who has represented the heavi-
ly Democratic 23rd District on the
commission since 1994. She has
launched a race to succeed State Rep.
David Gubow, D-Huntington Woods.
The three commission candidates,
all Jewish, will face off in an Aug. 4
Democratic primary election. The
commission post pays an annual salary
of $25,111. Terms are two years.
At 35, Warshay is the youngest of
the three and the only one who has
not held public office, although he
served as a precinct delegate in Oak
Park's last two elections.
But, he points out, he is the only
resident of Oak Park in the trio of
hopefuls.
Like the others, Warshay, director
of resource development for the
Traveler's Aid Society, is concerned
that the county is neither properly
managing state dollars nor spending
enough on mental health services. He
pointed out that of a half-billion-dol-
lar budget, only $40 million is devot-
ed to those services.
"I hope to accomplish the goal of
getting Community Mental Health
(the state-funded entity which con-
5/8
1998
10
tracts with mental health service orga-
nizations) better organized and more
able to serve the public.
"Lansing has made so many cuts in
its mental health services, people who
are mentally ill have no place to go.
The county jail had to hire psychia-
trists because they had to deal with
people who were in jail primarily
because of mental illness.
"In the past, the police would've
taken the person to Clinton Valley (a
former state hospital that served peo-
ple with mental illness), which no
longer exists. We need a better
response to it," Warshay said.
And, he said, he wants to put
southeast Oakland County "on the
map" by fighting for a greater share of
county tax dollars and by establishing
a south-end county office where resi-
dents can do routine transactions like
obtaining marriage licenses and filing
assumed names.
Warshay, a member of the
Reconstructionist Congregation
T'Chiyah and father of two, would
also like to see the SMART and
DDOT transportation systems work
better together.
Likewise, Appel would like to see a
county branch office closer to home
and more attention paid to southern
communities in the form of more tax
dollars, particularly in the area of
downtown development.
Fixing roads, boosting mental
health services and winning county or
state dollars to fix the 12 Towns Drain
are at the top of her wish list.
Appel, a domestic law attorney and
mother of three, has served on the
Huntington Woods City Commission
since 1994, currently as mayor pro-
tern. She is a board member of
Kadima.
An Oakland County commission
post, she said, would be an extension of
the experience she's had negotiating
and planning budgets on the city level.
She is opposed to making the
Berkley-Huntington Woods Youth
Community Mental Health board a
Assistance, the Suicide Prevention
separate authority like the Road
Task Force, the Wellness
Commission, and said she
Network-AIDS Hotline, the
would fight hard for more
Tri-Community Coalition
dollars for roads.
for the Prevention of
Appel, the daughter of
Drug and Alcohol
Oak Park District Judge
Abuse and served as
Benjamin J. Friedman,
vice president of the
noted that she was
Huntington Woods
instrumental in winning
Men's Club.
county monies to redo
He gravitates
the 11 Mile and Coolidge
toward social issues,
intersection.
like mental health ser-
And although
vices, which he'd like to
Huntington Woods residents
see bolstered on the county
would not be hit as hard finan-
level, and he'd like to beef up
cially as other county residents
youth assistance programs.
when a section of the 12
"There needs to be an
Towns Drain is rebuilt,
infiision of dollars. A
Appel plans to fight for
number of kids who go
county dollars to help
astray could be dealt
offset the cost of the pro-
with at a much earlier
ject.
age through interven-
"We need help,
tion. It takes person-
whether it's county, state
nel and commitment
or federal. It's not a realis-
from county and local
tic position to put local
governments," Klein
communities in. Pleasant
said.
Ridge, which is also in the
As a school board mem-
district, has a budget like
ber and president, Klein
Huntington Woods and can't
backed a bond issue to
afford to be put in this posi-
update technology, add
tion over and over again,"
media centers and bring
she said.
in "safeworkers" to
Klein, a former presi-
assist students in deal-
dent of the Berkley
ing with substance
School Board, lists his
abuse issues.
top priorities as: more
He also supported
support and funding for
the establishment of a
programs aimed at pre-
multi-cultural curricu-
venting drug and alcohol
lum.
abuse among youths; more
Klein, the father of
support for mental health ser-
two, is a full-time instruc-
vices and services for seniors;
tor of speech and commu-
and raising the profile of the
From top to bottom: nications at Wayne
south end of the county.
Nathaniel Warshay County Community
Klein's history of commu-
Michelle Friedman College. He and his family
nity service runs deep: He
are members of Temple
Appel
has been involved with
Emanu-El.
Bruce E. Klein
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