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January 24, 2013
I
NKSTER
- W
AYNE
- W
ESTLAND
Wayne City Council OKs McDonald’s plan
Teacher honored for World War II history project
There will be a new McDonald's
restaurant indowntownWayne.
Members of the city council
approved a site plan last week for a
McDonald's at Michigan Avenue
West and Wayne Road, the current
site of Rex' Pancake House, which
will be demolished.
The council approved the site
plan, already approved by the plan-
ning commission, noting that there
were no city ordinances in place on
which a denial could be based. The
site is currently zoned for a restau-
rant with a drive-through window
allowed.
The planned McDonald's will be
open 24 hours a day for dine-in and
drive-through service and includes
an outdoor seating area, according
to Tom Gergich, a representative of
McDonald's Corp.
“We're trying to make it more
café-like,” he told the audience at
the city council meeting last week.
“There are no fastened-to-the floor
seats. We try to serve the customers'
needs. We have flat screen televi-
sions, fireplaces, even some fish
tanks. Most of the operators do a
very fine job with the decor and
matching it to the community,” he
said.
The approval did not come with-
out some comments from residents.
Former Councilwoman Susan
Rowe reminded the council mem-
bers that the master plan for the
city included the creation of a more
walkable downtown area.
“We spent a lot of money on this
plan, but there is no overlay district
ordinance. We had town hall meet-
ings. We made promises that would
make downtown more walkable,”
she said.
She also criticized the exterior
plan for the building noting that
new development should look like
existing buildings in the communi-
ty.
Rowe's criticisms were echoed
by Ron Roberts, a long-time resi-
dent of the city.
He told the council members
that allowing McDonald's to open
would allow other fast-food drive
through franchises to follow
“If you approve this, it will
change the face of the city forever.
All that we worked for for years will
be over,” he said during the public
comment portion of themeeting.
Council members did question
the décor at the Dearborn
McDonald's which was an apparent
model for the planned Wayne
restaurant. They referred to it as
“stark.”
Gergich responded that the fran-
chisees make the decisions about
the décor in the restaurants, within
guidelines fromcorporate offices.
Currently, there is a McDonald's
restaurant located at 1675 S. Wayne
Road, 1.2 miles from the proposed
site and another on Michigan
Avenue in Canton Township, 5.6
miles from the downtown Wayne
site.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
Post and Auxiliaries 4553 chose John
Glenn High School history teacher
Michele Anderson as the winner of the
Teacher of the Year for 2013. The award
was presented to Anderson earlier this
month for her Veteran's Oral History proj-
ect.
Under Anderson's direction, students at
John Glenn interviewed World War II vet-
erans anddefenseworkers. The interviews
were videotaped and submitted to the
Library of Congress as an oral history of
personal experiences and remembrances
of the war. Participants will receive a copy
of their interview to share with their fami-
lies at the World War II USO Dance
planned for 6 p.m. May 8, the 68th anniver-
sary of theAmericanVictory inEurope.
The project and the dance were funded,
in part, by a grant from the Michigan
Humanities Council, an affiliate of the
National Endowment for the Humanities,
Rotary of Westland, the American Legion
and theVFW.
Andersonwill nowbe a candidate in the
VFW state competition for Teacher of the
Year. The winner will be announced this
month during the annual conference in
Kalamazoo.
reading of the device.
Residents began receiving skyrocketing
bills last year. One resident, who has consis-
tently paid his bill on time for many years,
usually had a bill for about $230 for three
months. That escalated to $6,900 with the
new meters. Other bills, Nolen said, are
$3,000, $1,200, $1,000, amounts that the city
administration insists the residents pay with-
out checking the newmeters for accuracy.
“They are told to come in to city hall for a
meeting to work out a payment plan. These
people can't pay these amounts, no matter
what kind of payment plan is proposed,”
Nolen said. “City officials tell the residents
that they must have a leak and to get some-
body out to look at it. A$6,000 leak?” he said.
“They absolutely will not admit there
could be a problem with some of these
meters and that these bills are correct. They
also claim that the large bills may include
past use that wasn't properly recorded. Can
they go back in time?That's ludicrous.
“I believe that they are concerned with
taking responsibility after they voted for
these meters, the current debt and some
other decisions in the city,”Nolen said.
Nolen said that a church in the city
received a water bill for $19,000 for three
months but that had been adjusted after a
meetingwith city officials.
Nolen said the city defended the water
rate increase by citing the water debt offi-
cials claim they did not know about. “How
does that work? They got $5 million in debt
because an official hid the bills fromthem?”
Nolen's claim that the city was demanding
that residents allow the installation of new
meters or denying them water service was
validated last week when a DPS worker
admitted that he had been told to shut the
water off at the street of homes that refused
the newmeters.
Nolen also dismissed the proposal of the
city to hire a water “expert” from Canton
Township to do a random check of meters in
the city for accuracy.
“What a waste of money. Why not check
the meters of those getting these astronomi-
cal bills.What goodwill a randomcheck do?”
he said.
Editor's Note: Due to the holiday, Inkster
officials were unavailable for comment by
deadlineMonday.
Lawsuit
FROM PAGE 1
John Kowalczik, at left, James Galen, winner
Michele Anderson, Lorianne Swails and
Beverly Burton were al l smi les when
Anderson received the Teacher of the Year
award.