OTHER VIEWS
Keep The Buses Rolling
hen was the last time you
"took the bus" to get to
your destination? If you
are like many of us in
Oakland County, you may say you can't
remember, or perhaps it was the green
bus you took to camp.
For many of our senior citizens
•
though, as well as people with disabili-
ties and workers in the service industry,
the bus is a lifeline to independence. For
these people, the only way to get to the
doctor, the grocery store, or to work is
by bus.
SMART (Suburban Mobility
Authority for Regional Transportation)
is the suburban bus system serving
Oakland, Macomb and Wayne coun-
ties. SMART service provides more than
10 million rides a year on large, fixed-
route buses and smaller, community
transit buses. More than 1 million sen-
ior citizens take advantage of the smaller
community transit buses for medical
appointments and shopping at a 50-per-
cent discount off the regular fare.
This year, at the Tuesday, Aug. 6, pri-
mary election, SMART is asking for a
millage renewal in order to keep the
buses rolling. If approved, this proposal
will replace the .33 mill levied by the
Oakland County Public Transportation
Karen Fink is associate executive director
of Jewish Family Service, which has
offices in Southfield and West Bloomfield.
Authority from 1998-2001 with .60 mill
for the years 2002-2005. The effect of
this millage on the taxpayer equates to
the owner of a $200,000 home paying
$5 per month — a small price to pay to
further the independence of our commu-
nity's older and disabled adults. If our
county does not approve this millage,
public bus service to Oakland County
will be discontinued by Labor Day.
With no local public bus service, sev-
eral of our community agencies and
their clients will be negatively affected.
The Jewish Family Service operates a
transportation service for the frail elderly
and disabled in our community. JFS
provides more than 25,000 rides a year
to older and disabled clients. Seventy-
six percent of these clients are 70 or
older. The current wait time for a ride is
consistently five to seven days. If
SMART discontinues service, the wait
time for escorted transportation will
increase, and our senior citizens will be
in danger of not getting to medical
appointments.
At JVS, a smaller SMART communi-
ty transit bus routinely picks up clients
to take them grocery shopping, to the
bank, to volunteer jobs and a few cul-
tural outings. This same bus transports
clients to the Brown Adult Day Care
Centers, offering welcome respite to the
caregivers. If SMART is no longer in
business, this special bus will need to be
returned to SMART and will no longer
be on permanent loan to JVS.
ees that depend on the bus
Kadima, JARC and JVS
find it easy to get to their jobs.
clients depend on the availabil-
JAS has even begun to have
ity of the SMART system for
bus-dependent employees
transportation to their employ-
come to the Oak Park campus
ment. Janette Shallal, execu-
and then JAS transports them
tive director of Kadima,
out to Hechtman Apartments
reports that 95 percent of
on the West Bloomfield cam-
Kadima mental health clients
KARE N
pus to work their assigned jobs.
do not have access to cars and
FIN K
Not having SMART. will nega-
their survival depends on
Comm unity
tively impact the employee
SMART for getting to work
pool our seniors depend on.
Vie ws
and for groceries, laundry, psy-
The Detroit metropolitan
chiatrist appointments and
area is well known for the lack
other doctor visits.
of mass transit. Imagine the difficulty
Lack of affordable regional transporta-
that will occur when there are no
tion will cut these people off from the
options for basic bus service. Available
world, forcing them to lose their job,
workers will not be able to get to
their freedom and their self-respect. For
waiting jobs. Needy senior citizens
the elderly and disabled, a lack of trans-
will be unable to access basic support
portation can lead to premature nursing
services. Disabled persons and those
home placement.
with mental health challenges will be
In addition, many of our community
unable to access the key to their inde-
service workers depend on SMART
pendence — transportation. Please
These people, employed in Oakland
vote with your heart on Aug. 6. ❑
County, but living in Wayne County,
are our homemakers, respite care work-
Oakland County Millage Renewal: If
ers, nursing aides and store and restau-
approved, this proposal will replace the .33 mill
rant workers.
levied by the Oakland County Public
Marsha Goldsmith Kamin, execu-
Transportation Authority in 1998, for the years
tive director of Jewish Apartments and
1998 through 2001, with .60 mil/ for the years
Services, says those seniors living on
2002 through 2005, and will allow continued
the A. AlfredTaubman Jewish
support to the Suburban Mobility Authority for
Community Campus in Oak Park
Regional Transportation (SMART) for a public
have been fortunate. This location is
transportation system serving the elderly disabled
on a main bus route and JAS employ-
and general public of Oakland Coun t y.
A Wedding. In Jerusalem
s Nana Schochet married Ari
Lowell on June 24. Some rel-
atives and lots of Shana's and
Ari's friends were there; there
was good food, an excellent band.
We had a great time. Good! Mazel
toy to us all! Why write about this
wedding in the Jewish News?
There was something special about
this wedding: It took place in
Jerusalem.
At every wedding, we recall the
prophecy of Yirmiyahu: Od yishama
b'harei yehudah u'b'chutzot
Yerushalayim, kol sasson v'kol simcha,
kol chatan v'kol kalla. "We shall hear
once more, in the hills of Judea and
the courtyards of Jerusalem, the voice
of joy and happiness, the voice of the
yy
8/ 2
2002
28
Rivka Schochet is an attorney with
Detroit-based Miller, Canfield,
Paddock and Stone. Claude Schochet
is a professor of mathematics at Wayne
State University in Detroit. The
Schochets live in West Bloomfield.
bridegroom and of the bride." Every
wedding in Jerusalem these days ful-
fills the prophecy.
Israel is a very anxious and somber
place this summer. In Jerusalem, the
tension and stress are magnified.
Business is terrible. Security is
noticeably higher, auto traffic is
down, and there are fewer people on
the streets. Many Israelis are fright-
ened every time they leave their
homes.
Yes, it was complicated in some
ways to have the wedding in
Jerusalem. The contract with the
hotel was in Hebrew; the photogra-
pher was not polished; it cost a lot of
money for travel; there were some
relatives who couldn't come and oth-
ers who would not come. Israeli wed-
ding customs differ from ours in
other ways. For instance, Israelis gen-
erally don't RSVP for weddings —
they just show up. This makes for
interesting moments when the hotel
wants to know how many places to
set (and to charge
stop us.
for).
Ari and Shana plan
That's the down-
to live in Israel. Shana
side. The upside was
is already an Israeli
extraordinary. The
citizen and Ari has
feeling one gets from
served in the Zahal
having the chuppah
(Israel Defense
(wedding canopy) in
Forces). Most of their
sight of the walls of
close friends are
RIVKA and CLAUDE
the Old City with
Israelis. They all came
SCHOCHET
Mt. Scopus and the
to celebrate with us.
Community Views
Mt. of Olives in the
Our friends and fami-
background is inde-
.
ly, and Ari's parents'
scribable. The feeling of achdut
friends and family, were there as well.
(unity) at the wedding was amazing.
People came from all over Israel —
We had secular Jews, religious Jews
from tiny settlements in dangerous
of all Israeli flavors, Ashkenazim and
areas, from Haifa, where we lived for
Sephardim, Teimanim — all danced
a year a few years ago [Claude taught
and sang as one. We say in the
at the Technion-Israel Institute of
Shabbat Minchah service Mi k'amcha
Technology], from Alon Shvut, from
Yisrael — goy echad bdaretz. "Who is
Safed, from Kfar Chabad, from Bet
like Your people Israel — one nation
Shemesh, from Gush Katif, from
in their land." That's the way we felt.
north and south.
Amcha — your nation — was cele-
During and after the wedding, so
brating on June 24. We were not let-
ting the matsav — the "situation" —
SCHOCHET on page 30