Sta f f p ho to by Ang ie Baan

Metro

Digging In

Huntington Woods residents rally around
Save Rackham campaign.

Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor

L

' awn signs are everywhere.
The Web site went up last
week. An early July meet-
ing at the recreation center drew
500 of Huntington WOods' 6,100
residents. And, in one month's
time, a no-name grassroots
organization has raised $40,000
toward a $400,000 goal. --
"In my three decades of living
in Huntington Woods, I've never
seen any issue that has mobi- •
lized the community like this:'
said state Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-
Huntington Woods.
The issue: the city of
Detroit's effort to sell the vener-
able Rackham Golf Course in
Huntington Woods, next to the
Detroit Zoo,to developers.
According to Ken Silver, spokes-
man for the Save Rackham
group, the golf course's 120
acres represent about 20 per-
cent of Huntington Woods' land.
Developing homes there "would
be a huge alteration" in the char-
acter of the city.
The tempest began this spring
when Detroit Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick announced that he had
a $5 million offer for Rackham.
Kilpatrick wants to use the money
to help offset the city's multi-mil-
lion-dollar budget deficit.
In the weeks since the offer
was made public, the city of
Huntington Woods has stated
its objections and offered to buy

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the course itself, Detroit City
Council has forced the issue into
an open bidding process, the
heirs of donors Horace and Mary
Rackham have been contacted to
see if they would vacate the deed
restriction that requires the land
be used as a public golf course,
and Huntington Woods resident
Burton Shiffman is lead attorney
on a case in Oakland County
Circuit Court seeking a declara-
tory judgment against develop-
ment because of an earlier deed
restriction.
In the meantime, Huntington
Woods residents are ratchet-
ing up the Save Rackham effort,
including raising money to defray
legal costs for the city to fight the
development.
Monday night, the Huntington
Woods City Council voted to raise
their bid to buy Rackham from $6
million to $6.25 million, the mini-
mum established by the Detroit
City Council.
Twenty-two-year resident
Alex Cooper has a long list of
reasons why he's involved in Save
Rackham: open green space, the
historical role played by the golf
course, and the decline in home
values he said development would
bring.
"I've spent most of my life in
close proximity to Rackham Golf
Course and the Detroit Zoo:' he
said. Cooper grew up in Oak Park,
just south of thecourse. "In 1968,
my bar mitzvakyear, I had cheder
lessons at B'nai Moshe [a mile

A Neighborhood

Huntington Woods is roughly a mile
square, bounded by 10 Mile, Coolidge,
11 Mile and Woodward. Many people
describe it as a real neighborhood,
where people know each other well
Andy Zack has lived in Huntington
Woods long enough to remember all
the elm trees lining the streets before
Dutch elm disease wiped them out.

west of Rackham] and golf les-
sons with [Rackham professional]
Ben Davis."
Davis is believed to be the first
black golf professional in the
United States and Rackham was
one of the first golf courses open
to blacks. Save Rackham support-
ers say boxing champ Joe Louis
once held a charity tournament at
Rackham because no other course
in the Detroit area would allow
blacks to play.
Cooper also remembers that "as
teen boys, we would sneak into
Rackham at twilight and see how
many holes we could play" before
nightfall.
Cooper's father, Marx Cooper,
75, still lives in Oak Park and still
cross-country skis around the
perimeter of Rackham when there
is enough snow on the ground.
"If Rackham were developed
— 200 to 400 homes — what
would it do to the tiny Huntington
Woods infrastructure Cooper
asked. "It would really change the
character of Huntington Woods."

Jewish Population
-
The city presently has 2,400
homes. The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit estimates
there are 720 Jewish households
with 2,017 residents in the
48070 Zip code. But that does
not include several Huntington
Woods streets north of the Zoo
that are in the 48067 Zip code.
Sen. Jacobs is actively involved
in the Save Rackham effort. She

Zack, an attorney, has lived in the city
"off and on" since 1952, taking time
out only for college, law school and
three years in Washington, D.0
"I'm one of the many people who
grew up and moved back to Huntington
Woods," said Zack. "lhave friends here
who I attended Burton Elementary
School with. This is a phenomenal
place to raise a family and I hope it
always will be." Burton, in Huntington
Woods and part of the Berkley school

Huntington Woods residents Robert Lebow, Ken Silver and Andy Zack
are part of the Save Rackham effort.

said Huntington Woods residents
are outraged "that another gov-
ernmental entity would do this."
Cooper added, "The city of
Detroit is in desperate financial
shape. But if they sell Rackham,
they'll still be in the same shape
Sen. Jacobs stresses regional
cooperation. She has been trying
to arrange a meeting with Mayor
Kilpatrick's office on the issue.
"We shouldn't be pitted against
each other;' she said.
The Save Rackham group has
several strategy committees work-
ing on the issue, with resident
volunteers doing all the legwork.
Among them, Brent Pliskow
designed the saverackham.
corn Web site and retired Norup
. Middle School teacher Barry
Lepler is training the volunteers
who will go door-to-door to edu-
cate residents and fundraise.
Longtime resident Andy Zack
said,"Apparently, a number of
people in the business world have
been looking at Rackham for a
number of years. And the city
[of Detroit] has very real budget
problems. But what is this [sale]
worth, and at what.price and to
whom?

system, is the only public elementary
school that serves the city and is a
magnet for residents.
Zack and his wife, Helaine, raised
three daughters in Huntington Woods.
Helaine serves the area as a county
commissioner.
Zack said the Save Rackham effort
demonstrates the city's closeknit
qualities. "There has been a massive
community outhouring," he said. "Five
hundred people attended the meeting

"I'm not going to bash the city
[of Detroit]. And I'm not going to
bash the developers. But as a resi-
dent of Huntington Woods, if this
goes through it will permanently,
adversely affect Huntington
Woods."
Published reports link two
Farmington Hills develop-
ers, Steve Friedman and Gary
Shiffman, with the original
Rackham purchase offer. They
have declined to talk to the media
about their offer. Save Rackham
proponents say Huntington
Woods resident Scott Kaufman
is also involved and sent a letter
to residents backing the develop-
ment. Kaufman did not return a
telephone request for information.
Huntington Woods filed its
court action in Oaldand County
based on the original deed restric-
tion between the Davis Land
Company and the Rackham fam-
ily. The city contends this deed
restriction supersedes any action
by the Rackham heirs. That case
is pending.
And in Detroit, the bid-
ding deadline for offers on the
Rackham Golf Course is Tuesday,
Aug. 8. O

at the recreation center. That's one61if'i
of every eight adults in the city.
"People are not just upset and voic-
ing it, like in other communities. They
are contributing money to help the city
fight" the development of Rackharn.
"That's extraordinary," he said.
"I'm not so naive to think that devel-
opers will be put off by some local
opposition," he said. "But it's nice to
see."

August 3 • 2006

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