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.ror Sale Or Lease
I'm worried about my daughter,
Samantha. She has a new
boyfriend named Matt, and I'm
not comfortable with the way he's
treating her.
In front of us, he's always friendly
and polite. He brought my wife
flowers when he came to dinner
last Friday night; she thinks he's
charming. But after we went
upstairs, I heard him arguing with
Sam. He was complaining about the
amount of time she spends with her
friends. He said he feels ignored,
that he should come first. She's only
16. She should be hanging out with
her girlfriends, being a teenager.
She's too young for such a serious
relationship.
When she first met him, Sam
seemed so happy. She never had
a boyfriend before. He called her
every day and came over during
the week, and they went out every
weekend. He seemed so interested,
and she liked the attention. Now
she seems different. She's lost her
glow; she seems withdrawn, even
a little melancholy. She spends less
time doing homework than she did
before, and she hardly sees her
friends anymore. She spends all her
free time with Matt. I heard her tell
her best friend, Maddie, she doesn't
have time to hang out anymore
because Matt is so demanding.
When I asked Sam if anything is
wrong, she said everything is fine
and I shouldn't worry. Her mother
agrees; she said all teenage girls
go a little crazy with their first
boyfriend. But I have a bad feeling
about this guy, even though he's
from a nice Jewish family. This
relationship is just not healthy. My
worst fear is that he'll hurt Sam.
What should I do?
1$4,
bad is the call
one you
dod t make.
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12
The United Jewish Foundation releases
RFP for the Oak Park JCC.
frA ome Aug. 31, the operations at
the Oak Park JCC will cease.
What everyone in the communi-
ty wants to know now is what comes next.
The boards of the Jewish Community
Center, the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and the United
Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit
announced the closure of the center in
March to address an ongoing annual defi-
cit of more than $800,000 at the facility.
Federation and JCC leaders said at that
time that they would look to partner with
others to repurpose the JCC building into
an inclusive community facility that con-
tinues to serve the area's Jewish population.
The community is now one step closer
to finding out what the next iteration of
the building will be.
The United Jewish Foundation (UJF),
the financial arm of the Jewish communi-
ty, which owns the building and land, has
issued a public Request for Proposal (RFP)
for the Oak Park JCC.
The RFP comes from the Real
Estate Projects subcommittee of the UJF
and offers information about its availabil-
ity and invites bids from parties interested
in pursuing use of the property.
The UJF Real Estate Committee is com-
posed of volunteer community members
involved in the local real estate busi-
ness. This group lives in and represents
a broad cross section of the community,
including the Oak Park, Southfield and
Huntington Woods area.
According to Scott
Kaufman, Federation
CEO, a number of
agencies have already
expressed interest
in the property. The
Federation and the
UJF are keeping their
options open, either
Scott
seeking one tenant to
Kaufman
oversee the entire prop-
erty or multiple tenants
that could serve the community.
"We're casting the biggest net we can:'
Kaufman said. "If we partner a major user
together with smaller users, it would offer
the chance to make revenue:'
According to Jim Gustafson of the UJF
Real Estate Committee, "The RFP is going
to Jewish agencies and organizations and
others that seem to be supportive of the
community, such as medical, physical or
rehab facilities, kosher restaurants, educa-
tion providers, etc. It's an open bidding
process:'
inLi tridow
it lath
4INEGARDENS---
Grassroots
Effort
Oak Park JCC
committee works
to keep building,
programs going.
Louis Finkelman
Special to the Jewish News
I
14_ 1\
–,
Aerial view of the Jimmy Prentis Morris
Building property, approximately 5.18
acres, in Oak Park
According to the RFP, the Oak Park JCC
will not necessarily go to the highest bid-
der. "Our main objective is mission, not
profit:' Kaufman said.
Levi Smith, an associate broker at
Principal Associates-TCN Worldwide in
Southfield, estimates the 65,000-square-
foot building on 5.18 acres on 10 Mile
Road — perfectly suited for continued
use as a community center, senior center,
hospital rehabilitation center or a religious
organization — could lease for $5 a square
foot, with the tenant paying all operating
expenses and property taxes. That would
bring in $325,000 per year to the UJF.
In addition to issuing the RFP, the UJF
and the Jewish Federation are working
closely with members of the community to
ensure that the entire process is open, fair
and, above all, in the best interest of the
residents of the area as well as the Jewish
community as a whole.
"We've been in constant contact with the
grassroots organization, the Committee
to Save the Oak Park JCC, which, through
its survey, will help inform us to as what
people want to see and do at the facility.
They're a valued stakeholder," Kaufman
said.
Interested parties have until May 15
to submit their RFPS. At that time, the
boards of the Federation and UJF will care-
fully vet the RFPs and make a decision.
No deadline to announce a decision has
been set, but the goal is to announce the
decision prior to the Oak Park JCC's Aug.
31 closing. ❑
The RFP and submission instructions can be
found at www.jewishdetroit.org/oakparkcenter.
he Committee to Save the Oak
Park JCC held its kickoff event
March 30 for its fundraiser and
membership survey at the Jimmy Prentis
Morris Jewish Community Center (JPM).
When leadership of the Jewish
Community Center and the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit cease
operation on Aug. 31, the center will
close entirely unless a different entity
steps forward to manage the facility,
explained Ron Aronson, a commit-
tee spokesman. A Request for Proposal
(RFP) process was initiated last week
by Federation and the United Jewish
Foundation, its banking arm.
All activities of the Committee to Save
the Oak Park JCC are focused on attract-
ing that entity to take over the JPM and
keep it in operation for the Jewish com-
munity and surrounding neighborhoods,
including programming and such ameni-
ties as the pool, gym and fitness centers.
When the JCC and Federation
announced the intention to cease opera-
tions, hundreds of community members
came out to protest. The Committee to
Save the Oak Park JCC grew out of that
meeting.
Aronson describes the committee as "a
grassroots organization of people bound
by their love of the Oak Park JCC, obser-
vant and non-observant Jews, non-Jews,
people of all backgrounds:'
He outlined key committee initiatives:
• A membership campaign to increase
the number of guaranteed, committed
members, thus making the Oak Park
Center a more clearly viable project. For
details, contact Marc Front at (248) 432-
5605 or email mfront@jccdet.org .
• A fundraising drive to support youth
scholarships to make it easier for young
people to become members. The first
two scholarships were awarded March
30 to Aryeh Klein and Wendy Levine. To
donate, go to https://www.crowdrise.com/
savetheoakparkjcc.
• A survey of members will be con-
ducted to generate an accurate picture
of which services meet the needs of the