A city park on Inglewood Avenue is named in honor of the man who built a modern police department for Rochester and helped to shape the town’s safety and prosperity for almost half a century. Rochester Police Chief Sam Howlett at his desk (Courtesy of Barbara Howlett Bates) Samuel “Sam” Howlett was born in 1909 in the area historically known as the Big Beaver settlement, which was centered around the intersection of Rochester and Big Beaver roads in Troy Township. Howlett’s family roots in … [Read more...]
Déjà-vu All Over Again in Rochester?
September 29, 2010 by
It was over 30 years ago when I started attending Rochester City Council meetings to try to figure out why the city’s zoning ordinance didn’t hold up in court. Single family properties were being “spot zoned” on main roads. I remember City Council Member Sam Howlett telling me that they didn’t want to rezone these properties,but when they didn’t, they were sued and lost. That just didn’t seem right to me, so I started reading anything I could find on zoning, including court cases. Aha! I … [Read more...]
