Sky Lounge on Warren Ave.

DEARBORN — On the evening of Monday, Aug. 3, a Dearborn Police officer pulled over a biker on Ford Road, after he had led a pack of motorcyclists through traffic, with several of them swerving across lanes, cutting off other vehicles and disregarding all traffic signals— breaking several motor vehicle laws in the process. 

Obnoxious motorcyclists appears to be one of the city’s many recurring issues during the late evening hours.

That, along with careless driving, street racing, blaring music and children staying out past curfew, have led residents in east Dearborn to long feel a public nuisance dominates their neighborhoods. 

“What’s not happening on my street?” asked Hala Dika, who resides on Calhoun near Michigan Ave. “The neighbors don’t sleep— there are kids in the streets, people flying down the streets going 40 to 50 miles per hour. There’s never a parking spot. It’s very crowded and trashy. Neighbors take shifts from sunrise to sunset and nobody minds their own business.”

Dika shares the same sentiments as many other local residents. After spending 15 years living on and off in the city, she said she wants out.

“I’m leaving,” she said. “You can’t sleep when you have kids running around and screaming all night. People park their cars in front of my house and they will block a quarter of the driveway. It’s not only my driveway, it’s every driveway. There’s no parking spots in the streets, it’s just too much. It’s horrible on my street.” 

In recent years, city officials have attempted to pass a wave of ordinances to put a cap on what many feel is a circus. There’s the garage ordinance, the outdoor activity ordinance, the fireworks ordinance and the noise ordinance, but it seems no law is stopping local teens and young adults from enjoying their very public recreational activities.

While the ordinances have been met with mixed reception from residents, some feel they are not being enforced to begin with. 

Dika cited the fireworks ordinance as an example. That city code emphasizes on the state law regarding consumer firework usage, which is limited to 24 hours before and after a national holiday. The Fourth of July might be long gone, but the fireworks have continued, according to Dika.

“I never see the police,” she said. 

According to Dearborn Police, only about 30 tickets have been issued over the summer in regards to consumer firework usage. For residents in the east end neighborhoods who hear fireworks being discharged at all times of the night, that seems like a pretty low number.

Councilman Mike Sareini told The Arab American News that in order for the police department to enforce such ordinances, it would need to get complaints and phone calls. He said one major problem with the community is that residents won’t call the police.

“One of the things we see in our community, is that, culturally, they don’t call or complain,” Sareini said. “They will tell someone ‘hey, can you shut it down?’ and most people comply. That’s why you get data lost and it could be an issue that we just don’t know about.” 

Sareini noted that recent data has shown a significant up-tick in vehicle accidents involving pedestrians. Over the last few months, The Arab American News covered some of these accidents, including a story about a local girl who was hit by a car on her way to school and a local boy whose parents claim he was intentionally hit by a careless driver.

An Oakman Street resident told The Arab American News that bikers have become an increasing burden in her neighborhood. 

Motorcycles appear to be the latest trend in east Dearborn, especially if one were to spend a couple hours one evening on the patio of one of the city’s many hookah lounges. The bikers have become well established here and loudly make their presence known.

“They always want to race,” said the Oakman resident. “Especially on Ford Road. They always rev up their engines; it could be at three or four in the morning and it will wake you up.”

The resident said she and her neighbors have had many sleepless nights because of the excess noise. She noted that bikers, street racing and children roaming the streets are all commonplace in her neighborhood, but she rarely sees police combating the mayhem. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the cops get people for noise,” she said. “I live on a very busy street and I never see it. There are always a bunch of kids outside and it could be any time of the day. If there are no cops around, they will race. They will do at least 60 down a side street and it’s ridiculous. And the noise is loud.”

While Oakman Blvd. gets a lot of traffic, it is not the east end’s biggest hurdle. Residents seem to agree that Warren Ave. takes the cake for leading the chaos. 

The two mile stretch that begins at Greenfield and ends at Wyoming, and which houses hookah lounges, bakeries and fruit markets, is prone to a great deal of reckless driving. Many disgruntled residents say the recent expansion of the restaurant and hookah bar Sky Lounge to include outdoor seating has added to the pandemonium.

In recent months, customers at the restaurant have been seated just inches away from the Warren Ave. curb, blocking the public sidewalk at Warren and Jonathan Street.

The owners of the restaurant installed barriers to separate customers from oncoming traffic. According to Mayor Jack O’Reilly, inspectors recently cited the business for operating on the public sidewalk, because it is breaking several city codes.

However, the city appears to be caught in a bind, as Sky Lounge received a permit from the county to expand its outdoor operations.

“The city did not approve anything going out to the sidewalks,” O’Reilly told The Arab American News. “They apparently had permission from the county to use the sidewalk, however they still have to meet the city’s requirements and get a permit —especially since it’s a traffic danger. We told them they can’t have seating beyond their overhang.”

O’Reilly said it’s a rareity in the city for a business to operate on a public sidewalk. City officials tend to be weary of these practices because it could result in a public danger — including breaking fire codes and blocking the right of way for disabled residents.

Michael Habhab, who resides on Jonathan Street, told The Arab American News that Sky Lounge was one of the main reasons why he decided to move out of the city. He will be moving to Dearborn Heights in a few weeks.

“I hear their music all night long; it lasts until 5 a.m.,” Habhab said. “It’s just become too much. People are chilling out in front of Sky, racing and revving their loud engines.”

He added that young kids are out in the neighborhoods until 2 or 3 a.m. and that he’s always scared someone is going to get hit by people racing up and down the street.

In addition, Habhab said he’s fed up with his negligent neighbors. He said that vehicles blocking his right of way has become a frequent occurrence.  

“My neighbors like to park in my driveway,” Habhab said. “The driveways are very narrow. It always gives me a problem and I’m late to work every morning. I have to figure out whose cars it is every time. They’re from different houses and it gets really frustrating. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be moving out of here.”

For some former east side residents, it wasn’t necessary to leave the city. They simply moved to the west side of Dearborn, where they found a drastic change of environment. 

Nemir Jaffer, a former east side resident who now resides on Monroe Street, told The Arab American News that he couldn’t be happier with how quiet his neighborhood is. 

“It’s a whole different world when you go into west Dearborn,” Jaffer said. “It seems that everything from the parks, to the stores, to the streets are cleaner and more organized. There is far less chaos. You don’t have kids running around unsupervised. In the east, you see kids all the time, out in the streets alone until late hours. In west Dearborn, as soon as it gets dark the neighborhoods are quiet.”

Jaffer noted that he never sees street racing and rarely hears bikers revving up their engines on Monroe Street, which gets a lot of traffic during the day.

“You might hear one or two motorcycles throughout the whole night,” he said. “But even living on a main street like Monroe, I will leave the windows open at night because it gets extremely quiet. You can actually hear the crickets.”