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Lining Up
Some Jewish activists take sides in the Detroit mayoral election.
JENNIFER LOVY
Special to the Jewish News
T
0
10/12
2001
28
he vast majority of the
Detroit Jewish community
now live in the suburbs,
but Jews continue to
maintain emotional and financial ties
to the city. These bonds are particu-
larly prevalent in the hotly contested
mayoral campaign.
With the Nov. 6 election less than
a month away, it's no surprise that
Jews are throwing their support
behind the two candidates, Gil Hill
and Kwame Kilpatrick.
Hill, the city council president,
and Kilpatrick, a state representative,
were the top vote getters in the
September primary. The field was left
wide open when Mayor Dennis
Archer did not seek a third term.
Joshua Opperer, an attorney in
Detroit, first heard the name Kwame
Kilpatrick five years ago. "Watch him
— he'll go places," a friend told him.
Opperer has since joined the candi-
date's finance committee.
Kilpatrick has been to Israel; the
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit took Kilpatrick
and other lawmakers in 1999. Since
then, Kilpatrick has reached out to
the Jewish community for support
and advice, according to Opperer.
David Farbman, a Detroit real
estate developer, lists a number of
reasons why he thinks members of
the Jewish community are supporting
Kilpatrick. Although Hill would be a
good mayor, Farbman says, "Kwame
is a great negotiator, he is intelligent
and he has tremendous bridge-build-
ing skills.
"He is a doer and not a talker, and
he has a fantastic ability to get along
with everyone. He also realizes that
there are a lot of macro issues to
address in the city, which will
encourage business growth and
development. I think Kwame is the
key to making Detroit work."
The day that Archer announced he
would not seek re-election,
Kilpatrick told Opperer that he was
seriously considering running for the
city's top job. Early on, when
Kilpatrick was not doing well in the
polls, Opperer suggested that
Kilpatrick consider waiting four years
before making a bid for the office.
Opperer was impressed by the state
representative's response: "He told
me, 'It's not worth waiting. I have
kids who will be start-
ing school and I don't
want the wrong per-
son in office. —
Opperer is support-
ing Kilpatrick because
he believes he will
help the entire state,
not just Detroit resi-
dents and businesses.
Kilpatrick says he is
running because the
city is in dire need of
moving forward. "A
Gil Hill
lot has been done in
the last eight years,
but there is a lot more
to do. We need to
maximize city
resources, form coali-
tions and deal with
racial polarization."
candidate is elected, Hill will be a
frequent guest in the Jewish commu-
nity. "I've talked with him in the past
about the [Jewish] community and
about Jewish issues. If we ask for his
presence, I think we will definitely
see him," said Ackerman.
Says Kilpatrick about the suburbs,
"The mayor has to
reach across county
and municipal lines.
We need a transporta-
tion system that works,
we need national trade
shows to come to the
area and we need open
and honest dialogue
about racial polariza-
tion."
On the subject of
education, Kilpatrick
says the top reason res-
idents move out of
Detroit is because of
the quality of educa-
tion. He advocates cre-
ating and enhancing
after-school programs
to develop cognitive
skills. He believes the
key to fixing the school
system is pursuing
Campaign Trail
state and federal
Hill maintains he has
resources.
"the best plan and
Hill is also con-
background" to help
cerned about the quali-
the city. His top prior-
ty of education being
ities will be improving
provided
by the
Kwame Kilpatrick
the quality of life for
Detroit Public Schools.
residents of Detroit,
One of his proposals
cleaning up city parks and streets,
involves establishing a "Reserve
and providing city services to resi-
Officer Training Corps" program for
dents on a regular basis.
high school students to start pursing
Both candidates agree that metro
careers in police, fire and emergency
Detroit plays a crucial role in the
medical work.
success of the city and both acknowl-
Ackerman is confident that Hill
edge that a revitalized Detroit is ben-
has the right plans and ideas for the
eficial for everyone in southeast
city, and describes him as a hard-
Michigan.
working, effective leader.
Hill says he plans to be an obvious
"He will be responsive to the local
presence in the suburbs as well as the
community and we need someone
city. "I want to be the mayor you see
who is going to get things done,"
everywhere," he says.
says Ackerman.
Troy attorney Alan Ackerman has
"He has the desire and the ability
known Hill for 30 years through his
to improve the city and he's paid his
legal work and predicts that if his
dues for a long time."
❑
New York/JTA — Major Jewish
donors who gathered in New York last
week raised more than $66 million to
provide psychological and grief coun-
seling for Israeli families affected by
the ongoing violence in Israel.
The funds, which will also go for
added security within Israel, were
raised under the aegis of the United
Jewish Communities' IsraelNOW
Solidarity Campaign.
"The terrorist attacks in the United
States brought home the physical and
psychological damage that have afflict-
ed our brothers and sisters in Israel
since the very first days of its exis-
tence," said veteran philanthropist
Max Fisher of Franklin.
Israelis Counted
Among N.Y. Dead
New York/JTA — Three Israelis are
known to have perished in the Sept.
11 attacks on the United States. Two
were aboard the planes used in the
attacks and one was recovered amid
the rubble of the World Trade Center.
A fourth is missing in New York and
presumed dead, according to the
Israeli Consulate in New York. The
consulate revised downward its previ-
ous estimates after Israelis traveling
abroad called home to notify relatives
of their whereabouts.
East Germans
Stole From Dead
Berlin/JTA — The secret police of the
former East Germany exhumed the
bodies of 600 Jewish victims of the
Nazis and removed their gold teeth,
according to The Associated Press,
which cited papers newly discovered in
Berlin.
The gold, dug up in the 1970s, was
probably melted down by the East
German government.
Kibbutz Man Dies
In Suicide Attack
Jerusalem/JTA — A 43-year-old Israeli
man from Kibbutz Shluchot in the
Jordan Valley was killed Sunday morn-
ing by a Palestinian suicide bomber near
the entrance to the farming settlement.
The bomber apparently detonated