points of view >> Send letters to: letters®thejewishnews.com Publisher's Notebook Editorial A Common Thread: Understanding demographi cs and the loss of influence. hree seemingly unrelated stories that impact our Detroit Jewish community — the planned redrawing of U.S. Rep. John Conyers' 14th District, the sale of the former Eagle Elementary School in the Farmington school district to the Islamic Cultural Association and opportunities for Jewish day schools to capitalize on the budgetary problems of area public school districts — share a common thread. That thread is declining population, loss of influ- ence by our Jewish community and no comprehen- sive strategy or plan to address it while dealing with its continuing consequences. Welcome To The 14th District With the 2010 U.S. Census requiring that Michigan lose one of its congressional seats, the Republican- controlled state House and Senate approved last week new district maps drawn by their respective redistrict- ing committees. As expected, they showed the elimina- tion of the district seat currently held by Democrat Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township. As expected, most of the commentary was about the legality of the dis- trict boundaries and whether Peters would run against 12th Congressional District Democrat Sander Levin of Royal Oak in a 2012 primary. But what caught most map readers off guard is most of the Jewish community — all of West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Orchard Lake, Southfield and Oak Park — will fall into the creatively drawn 14th Congressional District of John Conyers. Conyers, who has been entrenched in his seat since 1965, and the Detroit Jewish community have strong differences of opinion. Need an example? Last year, when the House of Representatives voted 410-4 to further assist Israel on its lifesaving Iron Dome missile defense system, the only no votes were Conyers, Ron Paul, R-Texas; Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; and Pete Stark, D-Calif. During the months the redistricting com- mittees were going about their work, my Lansing sources tell me its members were not engaged by representatives of the Jewish community or influ- ential Jewish Republicans to educate them about the potential pairing of Conyers with the Jewish community. Would relationship building, nudging and cajoling by representatives of the Jewish community have made a difference on the committee's final decision? Could it have put most of the Jewish community in another dis- trict? We may never know. As congressmen from the soon-to-be extinct Ninth Congressional District, Peters and his prede- cessor, Republican Joe Knollenberg, were friends of the Jewish community and understood the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel. They also found ways to bring millions of federal dollars to the district to assist an array of organizations and agen- cies, including the Holocaust Memorial Center, Jewish Family Service, Friendship Circle, Michigan Jewish Institute, JVS and JARC. While our Jewish community representatives con- tinue to do admirable work with Lansing legislators With John Conyers recently celebrating his 81st birthday, a strategic next step for our Jewish community would be to build relationships with up-and- coming Detroit-area politicians who will want to succeed the congressional veteran. relating to a specific line item in the state budget that provides funds for Jewish, Arab and Chaldean social service agencies, we as a Jewish community got caught with our pants down on this one, and it could cost us dearly — in political influence and federal dollars — until the next redistricting after the 2020 U.S. Census. With Conyers recently celebrating his 81st birthday, a strategic next step for our community would be to build relationships with up-and-coming Detroit-area politicians who will want to succeed the congressional veteran (including some Detroit City Council members). Muslim School Uproar The passionate discussion and debate that preceded the Farmington school board's unanimous June 14 decision to sell the for- mer Eagle Elementary School to the Islamic Cultural Association has been framed in many ways. Some attending the meeting objected to the sale because they felt the school board had violated procedural issues. Other attendees voiced objections based on an array of building-use concerns and fears about Muslims. But the underlying reality, once again, is changing demographics. The 14 Mile-Middlebelt area, where Eagle is situated, straddles the Farmington Hills-West Bloomfield line and was a desirable and attractive area for a substantial number of Jewish families with school-age children. The public schools were a good option for those who opted not to send their children to the nearby Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit. Today, however, homes in Olde Franklin Towne and other nearby subdivisions that once teemed with Jewish school-age children are mostly empty nests. Empty nests don't fill seats in schools. While the overall school-age population in Oakland County is in slow decline, our Jewish community's drop in these age cohorts is more pronounced, even when you include significant pockets of children in North Oak Park and Huntington Woods. The bottom line: Eagle is empty, the surrounding neighborhoods don't produce enough children to fill it and the area's Muslim community appears to have a legal use for it and the dollars to purchase it. Everything else, as they say, is commentary. Common Thread on page 25 24 Jul 7 2011 EDITORIAL BOARD: Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar Eagle School Sale Concerns Linger I n the simmering aftermath of the sale of Eagle Elementary School in the Farmington school district to the Islamic Cultural Association of Franklin (ICA), three significant matters remain: • The ICA owes it to neighbors to clarify its plans for the West Bloomfield property. ICA President Dr. Firas Nashef told the JN a small part of the building would be used for prayer, but the rest "would be used as a community center for recreation, community programs and holiday celebrations." • Further, the ICA was represented at the June 14 Farmington school board meeting by CAIR, the Council for American-Islamic Relations, an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror-finance trial against the Holy Land Foundation and its former officials. • The school board says it "complied with all of its internal policies and obligations under Michigan law" in negotiating the sale, which followed an "unsolicited" offer. Still, the board could have acted more prudently on behalf of district taxpayers. Against this disturbing backdrop, the $1.1 million sale will move to the West Bloomfield Planning Commission for zoning and usage considerations. Regarding future use of the building on the northwest corner of 14 Mile and Middlebelt, the ICA can't dawdle in providing more details about its intent. Neighbors were blindsided by the oddly unassuming sale of a prominent parcel. Will the building, in effect, be a mosque? Houses of worship are permissible under current R15 zoning. As a community center, would the building be open to the neighborhood or limited to ICA members? Clarity between now and the sale's finalization would contribute to better communication between the ICA and neighbors. ICA ties with anti-Israel factions also merit scrutiny. • Last August, the ICA set a talk at Huda School in Franklin by Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish critic of Israel and of how Jews approach the Holocaust. The ICA canceled the talk only after community complaints. • Speaking on behalf of the ICA at the school board meeting was Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan Office of CAIR. Walid's group has denounced Al Qaida, but by not also denouncing Hezbollah, Hamas and other Middle East elements that preach anti-Semitism, religious bigotry, oppression and violence, CAIR appears more concerned about Islamic PR than fighting hatred and terror. U.S. senators, counterterrorism experts and moderate Muslims alike have positioned Washington-based CAIR to be a radical fundamentalist front for terrorist groups, reports Daniel Pipes, a respected pro-Israel commentator. Meanwhile, it appears the school board sold Eagle school for its appraised value without actively seeking offers. Fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers means the property should derive the highest and best value for the district and the specific piece of real estate. Inviting offers may have brought higher bids, especially by suitors eyeing commercial development. If the ICA and the school board were proactive in openly and honestly anticipating and addressing the legitimate concerns raised by the Eagle school sale, the suspicions and distrust that contribute to Islamophobia could have been neutralized. I_ _ I