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January 10, 2013
P
LYMOUTH
- W
AYNE
One of the most revered busi-
nessmen in Wayne was honored by
both the city council and the
Chamber of Commerce recently on
his retirement.
Paul Franks, the owner of
WilliamFranks Furniture, formerly
located on Wayne Road near
Glenwood in the city, announced
that he would close the family busi-
ness which opened in 1963 and
retire. The business was started by
his parents, William and Betty
Franks, and operated continually
until a devastating explosion and
fire leveled the building at about 9
a.m. Dec. 29, 2010.
Two people were killed in the
natural gas explosion and Franks
was seriously injured and hospital-
ized for several weeks. Employees
James Zell, 64, and Leslie
Machniak were both killed in the
explosion which required emer-
gency response teams from every
surrounding community to quell.
The explosion was reportedly
heard as far away as Romulus and
GardenCity.
At the time of the incident,
police closed Wayne Road at
Michigan Avenue, as well as parts
of Sims and Glenwood. The blast
also triggered evacuations in the
neighborhood behind the scene
where windows were shaken in the
frames and broken from the force
of the blast. A number of business-
es in the areawere evacuated.
Franks was pulled from the
burning rubble by bystanders who
were also later honored for their
actions in saving his life by the city
council. He was rushed to the
University of Michigan Hospital
BurnUnit in critical condition.
The explosion was so severe
that a motorist was injured while
driving by as the building detonat-
ed.
Franks' family re-opened the
business in anotherWayne location
where they have been operating for
two years.
Wayne Mayor Al Haidous told
Franks, “You're a special business-
man in Wayne and the region. You
were involved inmany things in the
community. I thank you for your
service and the contributions to the
community. We'll miss a business-
man of your quality.”
TheWayne City Council present-
ed Franks with a formal resolution
honoring him and he was also pre-
sented a plaque honoring his con-
tributions to the community from
Wayne County Commissioner
KevinMcNamara, D-Belleville.
Franks thanked the council
members andHaidous.
“I'll miss the business. I leave
with my health, my family, my
friends and your kind words,” he
said.
Organization
Specialist
Brittney Hoszkiw, from the
Michigan Main Street Center, will
speak at the 7 p.m. Jan 17meeting
in Wayne to help residents and
business owners develop next
steps for achieving a vibrant,
beautiful, thriving downtown
using Main Street methods,
explained Sherrie Pryor Brindley
of TheRippleEffect.
The Ripple Effect, a non-profit
downtown revitalization group
will host the visit from the
Michigan Main Street Center at
the Greater Than Dreams
Church, one of the most historic
buildings in the city, at 35118
Michigan Ave. in downtown
Wayne. All Wayne and Westland
residents and business owners
who are interested in seeing
improvement in downtown
Wayne are encouraged to attend,
PryorBrindley said.
In 2012, The Ripple Effect vol-
unteers applied to the State of
Michigan to be included in the
Main Street Program. Downtown
Wayne was selected to participate
at the Associate Level for 2012.
Wayne was the only community in
southeast Michigan that was
selected in 2012.
Since the creation of the
WayneRippleEffect inDecember
2010, volunteers have made good
progress in getting the word out
about their mission to create a
vibrant downtown, Pryor
Brindley added. The goal of the
group is to provide a walkable,
pedestrian friendly downtown
experience for people from
throughout the area, she said.
The Ripple Effect has elected
to continue at the Associate Level
for another year in 2013.
For more information visit
www.downtownwayne.org
I thank you for your service
and the contributions to the community.
We'll miss a businessman of your quality.
”
Plymouth honors retiring owner of furniture business
Ripple Effect plans meeting to discuss downtown
(all day) parking lots behind the Penn
Theatre and at the corner of Harvey and
Wing, as well as the upper level of the park-
ing deck.”
The letter also reminded businesses in
the area about private parking.
“If you choose to park in a private lot, you
will not be ticketed by the city. However, you
maybe subject to being towed by the owner
of the private lot.”
The letter urged all business owners to
inform employees and customers of the
changes and new fees “to avoid any confu-
sion and avoid receiving tickets.”
The letter reminded business owners that
the city is purchasing the parking lot adja-
cent to the Christian Science facility on Ann
Arbor Trail, west of Harvey Street. The letter
assured businesses that the completion of
that transaction would provide an additional
100 spaceswhichwill allowall-day parking.
Ben Henderson is getting a little help
withhisEagleScout project.
Henderson asked permission fromCity of
Plymouth officials to help in his efforts to
collect men's cold weather clothing to be
donated to thehomeless inDetroit.
The city agreed and a temporary drop box
for donations of men's knit hats, galoshes,
boots, coats, shoes, gloves, long johns, blan-
kets, sleeping bags, pants size 34 38, shirts,
newunderwear and socks.
Henderson plans to sendwhatever he col-
lects, with the help of other Scouts in his
troop, to theOpenDoorHomelessMission in
Detroit.
Items can be placed in the box which is
located in the Church Street lobby of
Plymouth City Hall until Jan. 20. The box is
accessible for donations 24 hours a day by
using theChurchStreet entrance.
The Scouts working on the project have
also dropped off plastic bags along with an
explanation of the project to several resi-
dences in the city. They plan to pick up
donated items from those homes as indicat-
ed on the information sheets.
More information about the project is
available at bthenderson@ameritech.net.
days to complete the work, which will have
the landscaping, or greenery and trees added
next year.
Glessner said the design took her nearly
two months to complete, because the home-
owners travel extensively for their business
making meetings and consultations some-
times difficult to schedule.
“I don't think any of the jobwas actually dif-
ficult,” Glessner said, “but that could be
because I love all the aspects ofmywork.”
She said that she really enjoys working
with people so the original consultation with
the clients went really well and the subse-
quent meetings, emails and the construction
processwent off without a hitch.
Glessner may not have found it difficult,
but most people would find ordering and
installing several trainloads of base material
and a steady streamof tons of hardscape prod-
ucts a bit daunting. Glessner said the difficult
part was scheduling the products to be at the
sitewhen theywere needed so therewould be
no delay in construction because materials
were not onhand.
The design includes 6 and 4-foot limestone
steps, some weighing about 2,000 pounds. She
included retention walls, limestone blend
pavers, charcoal pavers, flagstone, an artificial
flagstone product, put in a built-in gas grill,
kitchen sink and countertop along with a gas
firepit and a built-in 10-foot square umbrella.
Baldwin explained that some of themateri-
als used were a man-made product exactly
replicates the look of natural stone, but is
made in a controlled environment so it does
not absorb water and come apart the way nat-
ural stone does.
Glessner said the actual 800 man-hour job
was exactly as she had designed it. She said
that she might have included more greenery
and softscape or plantings in the design but
that the clients wanted the project to be low
maintenance small beds of plantings.
“Other than that, I wouldn't have changed
much,” she said.
Fees
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Design
FROM PAGE 1
Scouts seek men’s clothing