At least 65,000 people lined Michigan Avenue to watch the 54th Detroit parade on March 11, sponsored by the United Irish Societies. The parade started on Michigan Avenue at Sixth Street and continued to Fourteen Street in gorgeous, sunny 60 degree weather.

The 2011 edition of the parade was witnessed by approximately 30,000.

In 1959, the United Irish Societies sponsored the first St. Patrick’s Parade in Dearborn, Michigan. The current parade route follows along Michigan Avenue through the area known as Corktown, named after the largest ethnic group of newcomers to Detroit, most of them from County Cork. The Corktown neighborhood is Detroit’s oldest surviving neighborhood.

Environmental Maintenance Engineers was founded in 1997 and currently combines the talents of Michael L. Kelly (President) and Don DeRoo (Vice President).

Team EME has managed environmental projects up to $1,000,000 with 20 man crews. EME is experienced in dealing with sensitive issues, difficult construction schedules and managing client’s needs.

CREDIT: THOMAS HAWK The Bell Building’s iconic sign was 32 feet by 48 feet.

Environmental Maintenance Engineers teamed with the Neighborhood Service Organization when a skilled partner was needed to renovate the former Michigan Bell Telephone Co. Building into 155 one-bedroom apartments for Detroit’s homeless.

NSO bought the 273,300 square-foot, 12-story structure in Detroit near Highland Park and will spend $50 million on the conversion, which is expected to be complete in the fall of 2012. Team EME joined the project in April 2011 to provide asbestos abatement, lead paint abatement, universal waste and PCB cleanup.

NSO raised $40 million of the project’s cost through donations, equity financing, tax credits, loans and grants and $10 million from donors, corporations and foundations.

The Bell Building was built between 1929 and 1930 as the Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse. The Art Deco-style structure will be headquarters for NSO’s social services programs as well as the supportive housing.

Residents of 882 Oakman Boulevard will have access to vocational training and educational programs through Focus HOPE, as well as, addiction treatment; mental-health counseling and case management services; life skills training; a library; computer, art and music rooms; a gym and fitness center; chapel; laundry; walk-out roof gardens; and a small sundry shop.

• Project contributors include the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, City of Detroit, Wayne County, Kresge Foundation, McGregor Fund, National Trust Community Investment Corp., Bank of America, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corp. and Opportunity Resource Fund.

• Key consultants on the project have been Environmental Testing and Consulting, Testing Engineering and Consultants and NTH Consultants.

• The key supply vendors are Quest Environmental Safety Products, Aramsco and Eagle Sanitation.

• The project’s impact includes 232 construction jobs, 299 permanent jobs, and $878,400 in local taxes and $1,158,200 in state taxes.

• The renovation project was funded by MSHDA (Michigan State Housing Development Authority). EME was working with O’Brien Edwards Construction and key sub-contractors Birks Works, EQ Environmental Services, DKI Demolition, RAM construction and Daniel Electric.

• Chad Grossa and Michael Houston have been the Team EME field supervisors on the Bell Building project working with Project Manager Jeff Chaney.

 Mike:

I have to tell you that I was more than surprised. Whenever I work, I try to work with everyone on the site to make what could be a difficult task a little more bearable. It has been my pleasure to work with not just your foreman, but your field personnel on such a professional and personal level. I thank you and your crews for helping me in many ways. Mike Houston is one of the best guys that I have had the pleasure of working with. I looked forward to seeing him on a daily basis as he was always quick with a laugh or smile. He made days go by quickly. Chad Grossa was hard working and very easy going and always in a good mood. Jeff is so easy to work with and flexible. You are blessed to have such good guys on your staff that I believe is a direct reflection on you as the owner.

Bob Leporowski
Field Superintendent
RAM Construction Services
Livonia, MI

 

 

Santa Mike was making a special appearance while still recouping from recent hip replacement surgery. Don and Mike offered a huge thank you to EME team members for making 2011 one of the most successful years ever in the environmental maintenance company’s 14 year history. Special awards were given to employees for their hard work and dedication throughout the year.

EME is beginning its 15th year and plans to celebrate with another great year. Team EME continued its annual holiday tradition of pausing to remember the brave military members and loved ones lost during the past year (especially Rickey Zepeda), and also the less fortunate in the world.

We all have very different dreams, paths and paces, but we share a common bond with people we work with on a daily basis. Team EME’s success is about collecting great people and their skills and sharing them with our customers.

Team EME lost Rickey Zepeda Jr. and Adelina Zepeda lost a father in October of 2011 in a senseless crime that still impacts our organization.

Team members are not easily replaceable because they are not only a combination of the right skills, but of intangibles like trust, affinity and mutual respect. Trust, affinity and respect do not come off the shelf. They’re earned. They are developed at home and in our churches and schools and with our neighbors. That is precisely why you build a workforce like a family.

Family comes first, but during our working years we often share strong attachments with those we work with who are also building toward life and career goals. We part after long hours and successful projects to nurture our families and friends, but return again to our jobs and co-workers who depend on our skills.

We gain a heartfelt respect for human life when someone as young and skilled at Rickey is taken from us. We focus and rededicate ourselves to the fact that people – our employees and our customers – are the reason that we toil to make things better.

Team EME makes things better. Rickey made us better. We are so honored and blessed to have shared even a small part of our journey with him and give heartfelt thanks on this Thanksgiving for our friend.

Larry Kelly was honored at the 11^th Annual Ancient Order of Hibernian (AOH) Walsh Division golf outing in his name.  The Larry Kelly Golf Outing was held on August 8, 2011 at Glenhurst Golf Club in Redford, MI and was concluded with an awards ceremony at the Ancient Order of Hibernian Hall in Detroit.

A sunny day and a 9:00 a.m. shotgun scramble drew 120 excited golfers.  There was beverages in the carts, lunch on the turn, open bar and a delicious buffet dinner and award ceremony at the AOH Hall.

The Larry Kelly Golf Outing generated $4,500 in donations to Hospice of Michigan and $1,000 in donations for the St. Brigid Scholarship Program.  The Larry Kelly Golf Outing’s committee has been dedicated to the motto, “Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity” for 11 years and has helped raise over $50,000 for charitable organizations.

Larry Kelly’s son, Mike Kelly who is the owner of Environmental Maintenance Engineers, Inc., has been instrumental in building the tournament and its’ charity connection.

Contact Mike Kelly at EME – 313.791.2600 for more information on next year’s event.

Charlie Martin and Michael Kelly may be friendly rivals in the competitive world of remediation and pre-demolition asbestos abatement, but they are putting their competitive differences aside to help First Step, a local non-profit agency whose mission is to provide services to victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Kelly’s company, Environmental Maintenance Engineers, is donating the asbestos abatement and Martin’s company, Next Generation Services Group, is donating the demolition services for the old farmhouse and nursing home that once provided shelter for thousands of women forced to flee their homes due to domestic violence.

“Their support will prepare the property for sale and leave the neighborhood better than we found it,” said Judy Ellis, executive director of First Step. “We also want to thank Canton Township for all their support as we transition into our new facility.”

First Step purchased the home, located on Warren Road in Canton Township in December of 1987 and renovated it to meet the needs of the community. The organization had to vacate it in December 2008 due to irreparable building problems, according to Ellis.

70-year-old farmhouse

“The farmhouse is more than 70 years old,” she said. “It served our survivors’ needs well, but we just could not hold the facility together any longer.”

First Step found a temporary location to house its residents and began to collect donations to build a new facility, which is located in the City of Wayne and scheduled to open in June 2011.

“One of our biggest challenges was raising the funds needed to safely demolish the old facility,” said Ellis. “People will give money to create something new, but rarely will someone donate for demolition.”

That’s where Kelly and Martin came in.

“I heard about First Step and this shelter demo project through their partnership with the Oakwood Healthcare System,” said Martin. “We know that First Step and Oakwood work together to provide the best care for victims of violence. We wanted to help and figured the best way to do that was to lend our talent,”

“We have successfully and safely completed thousands of environmental clean-up projects that have varied in scope and complexity – including many local hospitals and universities” he added. “NGSG is a local company. Our staff grew up here in southeast Michigan; this is our home. We are doing this work for our daughters, our mothers, and our sisters. We are doing this work to help local families have a brighter future.”

Martin estimated the value of the work at $65,000.

EME works with other local charities

“I believe it is imperative to give back to the community, both EME as an organization and myself personally,” said Kelly. “My charity work with the Archdiocese of Detroit, the United Irish Societies and the Detroit St. Patrick’s Parade made me aware of First Step and the fantastic work they do providing support and counseling for domestic and sexual assault survivors and their families”

He added that Oakwood Healthcare Systems and the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Elizabeth Fagan Division keep EME involved with First Step through their fundraising efforts.

“We are pleased to provide environmental remediation services for this project and contribute to the demolition of this facility so First Step can build new beginnings for the future,” Kelly said.

Asbestos removal tackled first

The demolition is weather dependent, but First Step has scheduled the asbestos removal with Environmental Maintenance Engineers for last week. Next Generation Services Group will demolish the structure this week.

Next Generation Services Group is a full service remediation and demolition contractor based in Ypsilanti. It provides asbestos abatement, lead abatement, mold remediation, hazardous waste removal, demolition, salvage, dismantling and industrial cleaning with its own full-time employees.

Environmental Maintenance Engineers Inc. is based in Inkster and provides asbestos abatement, lead-based paint abatement, mold remediation, industrial cleaning, inspections, thermo imaging and universal / hazardous waste removal services for commercial, institutional, industrial and residential clients.

First Step is the only agency in out Wayne County that provides comprehensive services to support victims of domestic and sexual violence. First Step offers temporary emergency housing, counseling, advocacy, SANE Exams, assault response, 24-hour help line services, legal information, children’s services, training and education to survivors and to the community.

Last year, First Step touched the life of 16,480 people. For more information about First Step, visit its website at www.firststep-mi.org or call 734-416-1111.