Hip Hip, Hooray! for Hamtramck’s grandstands
Thank you very much for your story on the history of the grandstands at Veterans Park. Baseball historian Gary Gillette brought up very significant incentives in the potential preservation of…
City should have committed to festival months ago
We hate to be party poopers, but it looks like trying to organize this year’s Hamtramck Labor Day Festival is a bust. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a lengthy debate…
No matter how you look at it, there are few choices for city employees
There’s been a lot of talk about city budgets in the news lately. Many communities are asking their unionized employees – including police officers and firefighters – to take temporary…
Council four made a reckless financial decision
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a majority of councilmembers decided to commit financial suicide. Councilmembers Tom Jankowski, Cathie Gordon, Kazi Miah and Mohammed Hassan refused to step up and make…
For some councilmembers, they need to focus on job at hand, not higher office
Between 2005, when the new city charter was implemented, and 2009, the City Council and the mayor, working with the city manager, adopted four balanced budgets. Those budgets realistically spent…
Elected leaders would rather see Hamtramck die than dare raise taxes
No one likes to hear about raising taxes. But not all tax increases are equal. Take the case of Hamtramck where the City Council has the option of raising property…
Let’s keep shining a light on local government
Recently, we had a chat with Hamtramck City Manager Bill Cooper who gave us an interesting tip. There is pending legislation in the Michigan House in which local governments would…
Hamtramck students well represented in essay contest
In an essay contest open to all students and all schools in Metropolitan Detroit for grades 4-8, HPS had two of the five winners out of approximately 5000 entries. The…
City needs to put the pedal to the metal in setting speed limits
Hamtramck may want to rethink its aggressive traffic enforcement program. Michigan’s Public Act 85, which requires municipalities to study traffic patterns in order to assess appropriate speed limits, poses an…
From the publisher … A cup of coffee a week
By John Ulaj It’s no secret that Hamtramck is facing tough economic times. During the past few weeks, the City Council has met to discuss the deficit Hamtramck is facing…
