Insight Remember When • • From the pages of the Jewish News for this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years ago. Mayoral Race Farmington Hills candidates focus on experience and business. RONELLE GRIER Special to the Jewish News he city of Farmington Hills moved into the spot- light of the Jewish community when the decision was made to build the new Holocaust Memorial Center on Orchard Lake Road, just north of 12 Mile. City Council member Vicki Barnett hopes to increase the city's Jewish presence even further by being elected its next mayor. In the Nov. 4 election, Barnett faces Roger E. Avie, a local businessman making his first bid for political office. Barnett has served on the Farmington Hills coun- cil for the past eight years, including a stint as mayor pro tern. She serves on numerous local and national committees, including representing the city as an alternate delegate to the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) and chairing the information, technology and com- munications steering committee of the National League of Cities. She holds a master's degree in business adminis- tration from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Barnett and is a financial and investment consultant with LPL Financial Services in Southfield. Barnett was instrumental in securing the Farmington Hills site of the Holocaust Memorial Center, based in West Bloomfield for the last 19 years. She organized a meeting between the devel- opers of the center and Farmington Hills planners. "That was two years ago, and the rest is history," Barnett said. "It's a wonderful spot, centrally locat- ed within the Jewish community. I'm very excited about it. The center makes such an important statement because it represents not only the Jewish Avie people, but any group who has ever experienced a genocide." Barnett's husband of 22 years, Mark Steckloff, is an attorney with the firm of Sachs Waldman, PC., in Detroit. They have two children; Jordan Steckloff, a U-M student, and Samantha Steckloff, who attends Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Samantha, who holds the title of Miss Farmington Oakland County, will compete in the Miss Michigan contest next June. Barnett is passionate about public safety, including the improvement of the communications systems used by police, firefighters and other emergency personnel. "One hundred twenty-two firefighters could have escaped from the World Trade Center, but they died because the New York police radios could not communicate with their system to tell them the second tower was about to collapse," she said. "We need to give the people who lay their lives on the line proper equipment." Barnett is also a life member of the Roosevelt Group of TI 10/ 3 2003 28 Hadassah, and has served on the board of the Anti- Defamation League (ADL). She has taught religious school at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township and Temple Kol Aim in West Bloomfield. "Vicki is a mover and a shaker," said Barry Brickner, a Farmington Hills City Council member who is running for his second four-year term. "She knows how to get things done." Focus On Business The other candidate for mayor, a two-year term, is Roger E. Avie, founder, CEO and president of Vi-Spec Inc., which pro- duces video programs as well as post-production and mass duplication services for a variety of indus- trial, educational and business clients. The upcoming mayoral election is Avie's first foray into the political arena. He refers to himself as the "people's candidate," and feels that his corporate background will enable him to improve the business climate in Farmington Hills. "We need to understand that Farmington Hills is a mature community, and that the key to our vitali- ty will be redevelopment and business retention," Avie said. "In addition, the city should actively seek new companies to relocate here as well as find ways to help existing companies to expand their facilities." Some of Avie's ideas for increasing business devel- opment in Farmington Hills include holding a monthly "mayor's night" where business people could informally discuss potential or existing prob- lems, appointing an ombudsman to help business owners navigate the building process and establish- ing a "blue ribbon" committee to review and update city regulations, such as sign ordinances, to better meet the needs of both businesses and residents. He would also like to implement a marketing campaign targeted to the businesses that Farmington Hills would like to attract, including a Web site promoting the city as a business-friendly community. Avie and his wife, Judith, have resided in Farmington Hills for the past 24 years. They have two children, Robert Avie, 23, and Dawn Avie-McAuliffe, 27, and three grandchildren. Four new city council members also will be elected on Nov. 4. Brickner, Randy Bruce, Kerineth Massey and Christopher McRae are running for three four-year term positions. In addi- tion, John Akouri, Rose Christoph, Jess Elson and Paul Molin are competing for a two-year vacancy caused by the recent death of council member John Grant. Farmington Hills has had two Jewish mayors: Ben Marks in 1987 and Lawrence Lichtman in 1994. Three current council members in Farmington Hills, a city of more than 83,000 people, are Jewish: Barnett, Brickner and Jerry Ellis. "That's somewhat unusual for a city that has only a 12-percent Jewish population," said Brickner. ❑ 1993 The world's largest matzah ball is unveiled at the 1993 Michigan Kosher Food Fair at the Jewish Community Center in Oak Park. 1983 Archaeologists for Mac nac Islan State Park Commission spend 10 weeks excavating the basement of what was once a row house occupied by Michigan's first Jewish resident, Ezekiel Solomon. 1973 Soviet police arrest four Jews and disperse more than 1,000 attending a memorial for Jews massacred by the Germans at Babi Yar, near Kiev. The new Army Reserve training cen- ter in Inkster will be dedicated to the memory of 2nd Lt. Raymond Zussman, recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The first Jewish census in Cuba under Fidel Castro shows 2,586 Jews. The first meeting of the newly formed Congregation Shaarey Zedek's young married group will be held this week in the social hall. Detroiter Irving W. Schlussel, was elected president of the Zionist Council of Detroit. The Jewish Welfare Board announces that 50 Jewish chaplains, regularly assigned to overseas sta- tions, will be conducting services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on every front from New Guinea to Italy. The Council of Orthodox Rabbis makes a special appeal to Detroit Jews to buy War Bonds, pointing to "the law of the Torah" that "Thou shalt not stand idly" as demanding complete adherence to the current drive. ❑ — Compiled by Holly Teasdle, archivist, the Rabbi Leo M Franklin Archives of Temple Beth El