Conversation with Gayle Chinn

Both those who brag about and those who bemoan the fact agree that Royal Oak has 50-some parks – more green space per capita, apparently, than most Michigan cities. “So, instead of penalizing downtown retailers by closing the streets why doesn’t the city or the DDA hold promotional events like the Clay & Glass Festival in, say, Memorial Park?”  

Over the years, city hall has adopted “different postures” when dealing with business property owners. On balance, “The city has never been pro-business. Business owners and the Chamber of Commerce have had to fight for everything they have.”  

Orange barrels and barricades are “the curse of Royal Oak retailers. Do you ever see orange barrels blocking the entrances to Oakland Mall?” Churches don’t pay taxes, business owners do. “What is the logic behind changing the days or locations for events to accommodate churches?” (Well, if one is counting votes . . . )  

Not in anger, but quietly, such thoughts were voiced by Gayle Chinn, owner of Chinn Jewelry, currently on Washington, south of Lincoln, where the store moved in 1995 after 28 successful years on Fifth Street, just east of Washington. Because Gayle and I were civically active together in the late Seventies and early Eighties, this conversation in his office was as much nostalgic as informative. We remembered: Breakfast at 4 a.m. at the former Nugget restaurant (where Beirut Palace is now) before going on duty to herd exhibitors into the Garage Sale. . . . Chamber Board meetings on his boat. .  . . Cooperating with and challenging now-deceased Mayor Barbara Hallman, dubbed “the Tree Lady” because of her sharp and persistent focus on beautification.  

Chinn moved his shop from Highland Park, where his Dad founded it in 1934, into Royal Oak "on May 1, 1969," after an aborted robbery which included his running toward the store and being mistaken for one of the robbers by arriving police. Why Royal Oak? “Affordable rental space was available.” Coincidentally, the woman who was his first Royal Oak customer had visited his current shop the day before our conversation.  

Gayle, 63 is married to Tracy, who also works full-time at the store, as does his son Wayne, a Resident Graduate Gemologist from The Gemological Institute of America. Chinn has no plans to stop working. ‘Retirement has killed more people than hard work ever did." Civically active for decades, Chinn consistently resisted assuming the presidency of the civic organizations he served, like the Boys & Girls Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Either his business or his civic work would be compromised, he said.  

Gayle’s approach to dealing with disagreements with colleagues and with irritations from officialdom has characteristically been simultaneously serious and good-natured. Gayle remembers, for example, disagreeing with Holiday Market owner and fellow activist Tom Violante, who supported special events for their promotional impact. “Tom understood my complaint when I suggested that the events be staged on Main in front of Holiday Market,” Gayle chuckled. "Tom said, 'like h--- they will!'”  

The jewelry business has changed with economic times. Spending on jewelry is more moderate than previously, so stores like Chinn’s add less expensive watches, bracelets, rings, and necklaces to their merchandise and operate repair departments.  

What doesn’t seem to change with economic times is the tension between property owners and city officials, at least “those ego-driven officials who seem to thrive on making repetitive nit-picking demands or making questionable unilateral decisions to demonstrate the power of their position.”

As an example of the latter, Chinn mentioned the “Barbell suit.” Part of the confusion over DDA/City control of income which might be generated from the south end property at Main and I-696 arose when the official description of the Downtown Business District was revised to include two feet down the center line of Main Street to that south end property. Several downtown property owners tried unsuccessfully to stop the acquisition in court. Among the results of acquiring that property was the displacement of a very successful auto dealer. To this day that property sits vacant.  

Chinn also described his and others’ experiences with another format of city hall bureaucracy which adds to the cost of meeting codes: After weeks of inaction by the building department, one is told, “Sorry that happened. John Brown has been on vacation. We’ll hand your file to Jim Smith and you’ll be hearing from him soon.” Several weeks later: “Oh, Jim Smith has been on vacation.” Over the years, Chinn maintains, the City of Royal Oak has lost millions of dollars in property taxes because of delays caused by such indifference or inattention.  

Gayle remembers feeling “constantly harassed” when he moved “into this boarded up building to begin renovating it.” As have other business owners, he cited code interpretations which in his mind had no health and safety dimension. Even now, he expects to endure a little static over relocating the signs on his building, forced by construction of a new structure next door. (One hears from sign companies that Royal Oak “is a helluva lot more difficult to work in than Novi or Wixom.")  

Going way back, Chinn recalls, together with other business property owners, fighting to get the first McDonald’s Restaurant approved. “The mood at city hall was that fast food places would destroy the image Royal Oak had of itself.” The McDonald people had thoroughly documented demographic data which the city was prepared to ignore, he remembers.  

Chinn is not sure how it might be accomplished, but he sees the need for an overseer of sorts to monitor the not always logical decisions of city employees. -- 11 Oct 06

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