Mayor and council get special honor

By Charles Sercombe
Mayor Amer Ghalib and city councilmembers are about to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event.
They are going to the White House to meet with President Biden in a celebration of Eid.
The mayor and city council appear to be a first in this nation: They are all of the Muslim faith, and represent the growing Muslim community here in Hamtramck.
Plenty of media outlets have descended on Hamtramck to cover this milestone in the last few years.
And now, the mayor and council have the rare honor of being guests at the White House to meet the president.
Hamtramck continues to be the exceptional community we all know that it is.
The last time city officials had the honor to visit the White House and meet the president was back in the 1970s when Jimmy Carter was in office. They went to the White House in hopes of receiving financial help in the wake of the city’s then top-taxpayer the dodge Main plant abruptly closing.
Current Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury echoed that hope at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“Maybe we can bring money for the City of Hamtramck,” Choudhury said. “I’ve been in the city for 20 years and things need to be fixed, but it wasn’t due to financial crises or whatnot.”
You can read all about the White House experience of city officials in the 1970s in this week’s “Lore of Hamtramck” right here on the front page.
Hamtramck’s historian, author and director of the Hamtramck Historical Museum Greg Kowalski writes about that trip.
Posted April 28, 2023