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For Sale Again
Eagle School site goes back on
market; Islamic association asking $1.99 million.
Don Cohen
I Contributing Writer
for sale sign is up on
the northwest corner of
Middlebelt and 14 Mile Road
in West Bloomfield. The former Eagle
A
Elementary School property, closed by
the Farmington Public Schools (FPS) in
2010, is on the market again.
The property's first sale, which
closed January 2012, drew controversy
when, after the school district voted
to demolish the building and insisted
it was not for sale, the Eagle property
was quietly sold to the Franklin-based
Islamic Cultural Association (ICA),
which said it would build a school,
community center and mosque.
An unsuccessful lawsuit against the
FPS seeking to stop the sale was filed
that August, and subsequent appeals
were dismissed finding that plaintiffs
had no standing to sue. This past May,
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette
turned down a request for a grand jury
investigation.
FPS maintained it followed proper
procedure and broke no laws;
nonetheless a critic of the sale was
elected to the school board. Civil rights
and clergy groups rallied to affirm
the right of the Islamic community to
build a mosque, with some calling out
the prejudice they say they saw in the
opposition.
A site plan for the building was
withdrawn from the West Bloomfield
Township's consideration last October
after concerns regarding parking,
traffic, building height, and impact on
the ecology and the homes abutting the
property were raised. The property has
been sitting quietly ever since.
According to Rajaei Abbass, the 3DX
Realty agent handling the property, the
asking price is $1.99 million, almost
double the $1.1 million that the ICA
paid to the FPS. It is zoned residential,
but there is commercial development on
each of the other corners.
Should a sale be arranged, the school
district has the right of first refusal
to purchase the property at the same
terms. The school district has previously
told the JN it has no interest in the
property.
❑
>> here's to
Aaron Bernard of
Birmingham, a senior at
the Roeper School,
placed fifth in the nation
at the National Catholic
Forensic League Grand
National Tournament in
May in Philadelphia. He
competed in the Public
Forum Debate Category, with partner Tom
Allen, focusing on the question of whether
the main goal of U.S. public education
ought to be to close racial and economic
achievement gaps.
Bernard
Kevin Lasser of Rochester has been
appointed chair of the MTAM mHealth
Advisory Committee. He is CEO of
Michigan-based JEMS Technology, the
mobile healthcare solution that enables a
medical consult anytime, anywhere.
Set designer Jennifer Maiseloff of West
Bloomfield, who earned a graduate degree
in theater design at the Royal Academy for
Dramatic Arts in London, won the Page
Award for Outstanding Set Design for A
Little Night Music performed at the Players
Guild of Dearborn.
14
July 4 • 2013
JN
The Community Foundation for Southeast
Michigan announced that Macomb
Community College President Dr. James
(Jim) Jacobs was selected for the 2013
Mariam C. Noland Award for Nonprofit
Leadership. Jacobs has more than 40
years' experience at Macomb Community
College and became president in 2008.
Specializing in the areas of workforce
skills and technology, economic develop-
ment, worker training and community
college workforce development, he has
demonstrated local, regional and national
leadership on the vital role that commu-
nity colleges can play in supporting social,
cultural and education policy.
Hal Baker of Adat Shalom Synagogue has
been presented with the Ma'asim Tovim
Award from the synagogue for his years of
service to the Federation of Jewish Men's
Clubs, his shul, his region and the com-
munity. He has served as president of Adat
Shalom's Men's Club, vice president of the
Michigan region of FJMC, has served on
numerous synagogue committees and
been an active supporter of the Muscular
Dystrophy Telethon.
Hearshen
Josh Hearshen, formerly
of Oak Park, has been
hired as rabbi at
Congregation Rodeph
Shalom in Tampa, Fla.
The rabbi, his wife, Carrie,
and daughter Ayelet are
looking forward to the
new community.
The president-elect of
the American Society of
Transplant Surgeons,
former Detroiter Alan
N. Langas, D.O., became
the first osteopathic phy-
sician to lead the organi-
zation. As the director of
his hospital's Center of
Transplantation, Langnas oversees all liver,
kidney, intestinal and pancreas transplants
at the University of Nebraska Medical
Center Omaha. In a more hands-on role,
he directs the center's liver and intestinal
transplantation programs, spending much
of his time in the operating room. He also
supervises several treatment programs for
people with liver, pancreatic or intestinal
diseases who don't need transplants.
111
11
Langnas
Kim Yost, Art Van
Furniture CEO, has been
honored by the Anti-
Defamation League's
National Home
Furnishings Industry
division with the
American Heritage
Award. The award is
given to those who, through their leader-
ship, serve as an example to others in the
fight against discrimination and all forms
of bigotry.
Yost
Former Detroiter Dr. Joan Luby was elect-
ed president of the International Society
for Research on the mental disorders of
children and adolescents. Luby is a pro-
fessor of child psychiatry at Washington
University Medical School in St. Louis
and the director of the early Emotional
Development Program. She is the daughter
of Dr. and Mrs. Elliot Luby.