Yes, Sally, there is a Great Pumpkin!

Yes, Sally, there is a Great Pumpkin! But don't miss out on Trick-or-Treating!
We've gotten a couple questions to the Contact Us form here on sodadearborn.com from new residents in the area asking if there will be trick-or-treating in the neighborhood or if the Track-or-Treat event was the only thing. This year's Track-or-Treat event was a huge success and possibly the largest event to ever have been done at Penn-Vassar Park with over 500 people. But Track-or-Treat is just and extra fun event to get the neighborhood and families out together.

Trick-or-Treating is definitely happening on Halloween!

Smartasset.com recently ranked the city of Dearborn 8th in the entire nation for the Best Places To Trick-Or-Treat. While some of that ranking was due to Halloween Nights at Greenfield Village, it should not be overlooked that it's also due to the many houses that give out candy, the short distances kids have to travel, and community safety.
Halloween is one of my personal favorites, and as my birthday is only 4 days before Halloween it has always felt like an extended birthday party. Although I may not dress up and go out ticking for treats anymore, I still enjoy taking my own kids around on the 31st and decorating our home for the fun frightful night. More and more residents in the neighborhood are decorating their houses for Halloween, and S.O.D.A. will be announcing awards next week at our November 5th meeting for the best Halloween decorations.

A couple things to note about Halloween Trick-or-Treaters:

• Trick-or-Treaking Time: 5:30pm - 8:00pm or until your candy runs out
• Turn ON your porch light to let the kids know you have candy
• Turn OFF your porch light when you'tr done, otherwise you'll have knocking well past 8:00pm
• Later in the evening (or even earlier) you may see a car load of kids come around. It's OK. Not every neighborhood does Trick-or-Treating, and not every neighborhood is a place where kids can feel safe. Be happy that these families are out enjoying Halloween together, and take pride in the fact that our neighborhood is a safe place for them to enjoy it.
• The group of almost adult, half costumed, pillow case carrying teens; they know their childhood is almost over, don't make them feel worse for it. Give them a piece of candy with a smile. They will all to soon be an adult, let them have some fun while they still can.

Also the Dearborn Police have put together a list of Halloween Safety Tips:

1. Parents should help their children pick out a costume that will be safe. The costumes should be fire resistant, masks should have eyeholes large enough to allow for good peripheral vision and the costume should allow free movement.
2. If your child will be carrying a prop such as a pitchfork or sword make sure the tips are flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen on. Of course, never carry real weapons of any kind.
3. If you set jack-o-lanterns on your porch with candles in them, make sure that they are far enough out of the way so that children’s costumes will not accidentally be set on fire. Better yet, use battery operated pumpkin lights.
4. Make sure you know the route your children will be taking for trick or treating, if you are not going with them.
5. The best bet is to make sure that an adult is going with the children during trick or treating. If you cannot go with your child see if another parent or a teenage sibling can.
6. Children should stay together as a group if going trick or treating without an adult.
7. Make sure your child carries a flashlight, glow stick or has reflective tape on their costume to make them more visible to cars. Tell your children to only cross streets at cross walks.
8. Instruct your children never to go into the home of a stranger or get into their car.
9. Make sure you set a time for your children to be home and stress the importance for them to be home at that time. Finally, instruct your children not to eat any treats until they bring them home to be examined by you.

From myself and the rest of the S.O.D.A. board,
have a safe and fun time Trick-or-Treating!
Happy Halloween!!

Timothy S. Harrison
S.O.D.A. Vice President

Don't Become A Victim

Dearborn has started a Lock It or Lose It campaign in order to inform Dearborn residents that you can do your part in avoiding becoming a victim of crime. While the Lock It or Lose It campaign focuses on vehicle larceny, which Dearborn  Police Chief Ron Haddad has stated are now up to about 700 a year in the City of Dearborn, another alarming trend has been home invasion. It would seem that criminals have determined that if Dearborn is complacent about locking our cars, then maybe we don't lock our houses either.
Just this Thursday a friend of mine, whom I will not name here, and who lives in the Highland Neighborhood of Dearborn posted this on Facebook:

"Last night at about 2:30 am we woke up when the doorbell starts ringing and knocking on the front door. Went to investigate and no one was there. Then we saw 3 or 4 guys in the backyard pushing on a window. I turned on the yard light and they scattered, and sped off in a newer black Explorer with their headlights off. Police responded within a couple minutes." "Saw our neighbors security video of the perps. About 8 of them and had 2 cars. checking out house by house. neighbors yards, then mine. then took off when I hit the yard lights."

Does this mean Dearborn has become an unsafe city to live in? No I don't think so, but in order to insure it doesn't truly become that way we all need to be vigilant. We must lock our cars. We must lock our house windows when we're not home. Believe me, I'm the first one to admit that locking your windows is a pain. Just this week I rode bikes with my kids to school; I returned home to find I forget my house key. In the past I have been known to pull a screen and get in through a window. On this day I had locked all the windows and I was stuck outside, but at least I knew the crooks wouldn't be getting in either. Yes maybe the days are gone of leaving your back door perpetually unlocked, but honestly we live in a major metropolitan area, did those days ever truly exist? As the warm summer months come we'll be tempted to let the house air out while we're gone, but we must let the criminals know that Dearborn is not easy pickings and that we are on the look out.

If you see any suspicious activity or crime in progress call 911 immediately!

If you want to help with the S.O.D.A. Neighborhood Watch program please contact Regan Ford, myself, or submit a message in the Contact Us form on the full web version of this site.

Timothy Harrison
S.O.D.A. Vice President

Summary of 2016 Budget Meeting for Pools

Some of this information was posted on other sites, but I wanted to give a summary of what was discussed for those not on Facebook.

The meeting was moved to the Council Chambers in anticipation of a larger crowd. Only about 12 people show up including myself, Regan Ford, Ryan Woods, and Gary Woronchak.

The recommendation from the city administration is to build a new large pool at Ford Woods and a splash pad at Whitmore-Bolles. $218,400 from the Wayne County Parks Millage plus $30,000 from the City of Dearborn general fund would be used to build the splash pad.  The meeting was not a public forum, but they did ask for Gary Woronchak's opinion on what the County's money, which he secured, should be used toward. Gary said he would like to see a splash pad or a pool, but personally would prefer a pool for sentimental reasons. He concluded that any decisions would of course be up to the city / council and should not be based on his recommendation.  After much discussion it seems the council is not inclined to approve ANY new splash pads until they see the results of the two current ones which have yet to be operational due to their late completion last year. Councilman Bazzy is pushing for a pool at Whitmore-Bolles, it seems most of the council is split or uncertain either way, Councilman Shooshanian seems inclined to not have neighborhood pools at all. The Mayor is pushing for a large zero entry pool with lap lanes and "comfort station" (locker rooms) at Ford Woods at a proposed cost of $3.0 million. Since the closing of the Hemlock pool usage at the current Ford Woods pool has dramatically increased.
Councilman Bazzy afterwards said he wasn't convinced that there is full support on the council to even approve the large pool for Ford Woods.

New pool liners are to be installed this fall in the lap pool and diving well at Dunworth as part of the current 2015 budget.

Crowley pool will be razed as repairs are now estimated at upwards of $200,000. The pool liner is heaving and cost to repair is just not feasible. Demolition costs are estimated at $40,000.

It is assumed the original lifespan of the current neighborhood pools that are left was 25-30 years, they are now at 60 years of operation. The city's current stance on the existing neighborhood pools is they will remain operational until such point that repairs are cost prohibitive. Basically repairs less than $40,000 could be done. There is some debate as to whether or not parts can be found to fix the aging pools. The Mayor claims that parts to repair are not being manufactured and hard to find. This may or may not be the case. Given their age the death sentence seems to have been written. It's just a matter of time before they will be closed, could be 1 year, could be 10 years, but probably sooner than later.

There will be a public forum budget meeting on June 2nd at 6:30 pm at the DAC. Residents will be allowed to voice their opinions at that meeting.

As an additional note, it looks like they're going to tear down the fountain in front of the Centennial Library which has not been functional for some time and create the new memorial park there instead of on the soccer field next to the Dearborn Administrative Center. There are no plans now to construct a new enterence road for the DAC or any other construction at this time on the soccer field between the DAC and the library. Also they look to explore the possibility of adding an indoor soccer venue attached to the east side the Preforming Arts Center. No funds other than that for the exploratory commission are being pursued.

This is just a summary of what I got from the meeting.
If there is any inaccuracy please let me know and I will edit this post.

Timothy Harrison
S.O.D.A. Vice President