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Born in Clawson, Pete Mancour is a 44-year resident of Royal Oak who
demonstrated his commitment to Royal Oak by buying houses in the 1980s, against
the advice of some of his colleagues who assured him, "Royal Oak is
dead."
Forget Pete's financial commitment. For about a dozen years, the not-quite-retired, 71-year-old residential remodeling and rehab consultant and inspector has served on the recently dissolved Citizens Advisory Committee and Housing Rehab program, has tutored for more than 10 years at the Boys & Girls Club, has taught real estate investment at the M&M Senior Center, volunteers for organizations as diverse as UAW's Legal program, the Mental Health Association, and the Royal Oak Historical Society, of which he is currently vice president. Mancour brought those multiple perspectives -- property owner, contractor, volunteer -- to bear on the ongoing local debate over the fate of the Water Works Building. His first reaction was to preserve the building. However, when the Citizens Advisory Committee visited the site, "It was obvious that the building is structurally unsound." The CAC voted block grant funds to raze the structure, and the city was moving in that direction when it was halted by a notice from Michigan Historic Preservation Office. That group had been contacted by a Royal Oak citizen committed to saving the building. In true government fashion, though, when State personnel were requested to come see the Water Works Building for themselves, they pleaded poverty and busyness, so the issue is in limbo unless resolution can be accomplished by long-distance communication. During the years his construction company was active (begun in 1970, it was included in lists of the top 200 national contractors by1981), Pete worked on the historic Orson Starr House, on Main Street, providing both paid and free service. Personally and professionally, he has worked to restore and rehab other historic sites and structures, like the Van Husen Farm and the Pleasant Ridge police booth, which was moved off of Woodward, then returned to Woodward. Mancour lives with his wife, Lita, in Royal Oak's South End (he didn't mention and I didn't ask about any north/south divide), near the Oxford Inn, and he found a conversational opportunity to comment that he is puzzled that some condo owners complain about the smell generated by downtown restaurants. "Assuming there is no smell of uncontained garbage, why move into downtown Royal Oak if you find the odor of food unpleasant? Frankly, I sometimes step outside my home and deliberately breathe deeply to enjoy the smell of cooking!" He laughingly recalled earlier years when coal-fired trains and coal-fired facilities spewed dirt and grime throughout downtown.
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About the surge of condos, Pete is matter-of-fact. "It doesn't matter whether I like it; condos are today's style of living for a lot of people." Coincidentally, he worked at rehabbing the Fourth & Main bank building, to which the Skylofts condos are attached, when the building was owned by Wayne Oakland Bank. He understands the difficulty in finding a suitable tenant for the structure -- not because of objections from condo owners but because "the interior configuration of the building doesn't lend itself to many practical commercial uses." Mancour says that Royal Oak began its comeback when the late Barbara Hallman was mayor. Called the "Beautification Lady" by some and the "Tree Lady" by others, Hallman brought excitement and renewed interest, not only about downtown, but also about neighborhoods, and he continues his interest in maintaining the positive aspects of neighborhoods -- which led me to ask for his thoughts about the hope of Easter Seals-Michigan to locate a clubhouse for the mentally ill on Catalpa. Pete became thoughtful, softly informed me that he has an adult son who suffers from schizophrenia, then said: "I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I see the need for such facilities. On the other, I can understand the legitimate fears of the nearby residents." He recalled his experience working with a methadone center where there had to be Plexiglas barriers to protect the nurses from unpredictable outbursts by otherwise under-control addicts. Despite the assurances of professionals, Mancour recognizes that the public-at-large doesn't distinguish between drug addicts and the mentally ill. About the union/non-union issue developing at Eleven Mile and Main, Mancour draws on decades of experience of working in both arenas and in his pragmatic style summarized: "Today, there is no way to avoid working together. Yes, the working man would not be as well off if there had never been unions. Yes, unions now have to adjust to the new world if they want to continue to be seen as a positive factor." In 1994, Mancour suffered a stroke which temporarily blinded him. While recovering from that he endured radioactive treatment for prostate cancer. Neither then nor now did those setbacks do much more that slow down his accomplishments, which include rehabbing 150 houses; conducting 4,000 investigations concerning the quality of work done by contractors; serving as expert witness through 400 trials/hearings/depositions, remaining active in several professional and trade associations. Pete expresses a nostalgia about the good ol' days: delivering coal for Lawson's Lumber; picking up donuts at Hagelstein's and picking up coffee somewhere else; working with the Erbs. Then the middle days: serving low-income home owners; working with different mayors, commissions, city administrations. That was then. This is now.
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At
one time, personally and through his construction contracting company, Pete
owned 15 houses in the city and currently owns 5, plus 20 more in other cities.