City Hall Insider … 10/28/25

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Oct. 28, and all councilmembers, except for Khalil Refai, were in attendance.
Congressman Shri Thanedar, whose 13th District includes Hamtramck, spoke. But before he was about to speak, Ibrahim Aljahim could be heard saying: “You only come during election. … He’s against Palestine.”
Thanedar spoke about the government shutdown at the time, which put a temporary stop on SNAP food payments to low-income recipients.
“These are difficult times right now,” he said. “People are hurting. They use SNAP benefits. This is only $6 a day per person, which is not a lot.”
He said that negotiations between Democratic and Republican Congress members were not going well, and hinged on saving health care for millions of Americans.
Thanedar said Republicans wanted to cut spending for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
“Healthcare is a fundamental human rights issue,” he said.
Mayor Amer Ghalib joked that, while Republicans and Democrats are divided, they were “united against me in the hearing.”
(Ghalib was referring to his U.S. Senate hearing to be approved as ambassador to Kuwait. He faced tough grilling over his past social media likes and activities, and there was concern about past comments that were considered antisemitic. Ghalib spoke more at length about the experience later in the meeting.)
Councilmember Mohammed Hassan urged Thanedar to funnel more grants to Hamtramck to help fix the city’s aging water and sewer system.
“Water is second life,” Hassan said. “I want you to support justice.”
Thanedar said he directed $25 million in grants to his district, and that he is allotted at least $15 million in grants each year for his district.

During public comment, a resident emailed a complaint about some police officers and detectives being abusive and discriminatory while investigating sexual assault threats.
The resident said she has filed numerous complaints, and even has a state investigator looking into the matter. The resident said the city has repeatedly failed to answer inquiries by the state investigator.
“Are these your tactics when your officers break the law?” the woman said.
Naji Chowdhury, the host of the podcast “Made in Banglatown,” said that there is “growing disconnect and miscommunication between city staff and the community.’
He said residents don’t know where to go to get information about the city and updates.
Former Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury, who at this time was seeking re-election, said he wants to serve the public “because I live here, I work here; I’m always seeing our beloved residents daytime, nighttime, any time.”
Choudhury, who later won a seat on city council, said the city needs to hire more “police force,” and expand city services.
He said the city is “not engaging in our communities. … That’s what I hear on the streets.”
Also, Choudhury said there are a lot of complaints about water bills continuing to increase.
“We need to come up with a plan,” he said.
Attorney Mark Koroi noted that Congressman Thanedar is more pro-Israel than pro-Palestine.
Councilmember Hassan said Thanedar “has to be on the Palestinian side.”

In new business, the council OK’d a new contract with city hall employees who are members of the union AFSCME Local 666.
The four-year contract will cost the city an additional $80,000 a year over the next four years. The union has 26 members.
Mayor Ghalib asked whether it is a good deal. Finance Director Syed Aamir Hassan said it was a “fair agreement.”

At the urging of Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri, the council discussed whether to allow a property owner to buy back a house he once owned that was foreclosed on by the city.
The house in question is a rental dwelling at 3381 Doremus.
Alsomiri said the property owner was confused because he was given several tax bills from Wayne County for different addresses.
But Isabel Allaway, the Director of Community and Economic Development, said that the property owner owns several rental dwellings, and it is his fault for not keeping track of his tax bills.
Allaway said the city does allow homeowners who lost it due to delinquent taxes to purchase their houses back from the city if there was financial hardship and they actually lived in the house.
Allaway also noted that the former owner of the Doremus house continued to collect rent even though he no longer owned the house.
She said the fair thing to do is put it up for auction and allow the former owner to bid on it.

In the mayor’s report, he spoke at length about his confirmation hearing with U.S. senators.
He said the hearing was “Not fair. Like there was a lot of misinformation and deception by the media that was every question based on. I don’t think I was given the opportunity to express my knowledge about the main subject, which is the Kuwait-American relationship.
“I prepared myself very well to impress them of how much I know of even small, little details, statistics and names – everything. There was zero questions about that. … It was all about the media, the social media, which is biased. Every senator would ask a question and say ‘This year you like the comment,’ while the fact is like seven-eight years ago.”
Ghalib said he had been trained “to say this is misinterpretation, taken out of context and it doesn’t really represent my sentiment.”
At the hearing, Ghalib was grilled about why he “liked” a comment on Facebook from a person who compared Jews to monkeys.
Ghalib said he has a “bad habit of clicking on likes to everybody who comes to my page. I would click on this comment as a ‘welcome.’ It doesn’t mean I agree with you, especially when I’m arguing with you and telling him things that we are against.”
(During the Senate hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, didn’t buy that explanation, saying that clicking on “like” to a comment “Actually… means exactly that.”)
Ghalib said that, if the Senate fails to confirm him “based on this, I think it’s a shameful point on history of the United States of America because it’s not great. The information are inaccurate, taken out of context.”
Regardless of getting confirmed, Ghalib said it was an “honor” to be considered.
“I’m not mad about if I don’t get confirmed as long as I maintain the support of the community, and I found tremendous support of the community because everybody thinks the hearing was not fair, the questions were not fair,” Ghalib said.
Ghalib continued: “As long as I don’t lose the support of the community, I’m still a winner. … I think it’s history for us as Hamtramckans. The journey is not finished yet.”
Ghalib also said that President Trump called him after the hearing and told him “I will have something better for you.”
Mayor Pro Tem Abu Musa said he’s “really proud” of Ghalib, and that the Senate committee “was very united to put you down. The whole community with you.”

Councilmember Hassan called for a “freeze” on water bill increases. He said that, in the next few years, “we can do it and then we can go from there.”
It was not immediately clear what he meant.
As for the upcoming Nov. 4 election, Hassan said voters will support candidates “who can take care of Hamtramck, not who you like or family member or friend member because no matter what, finance showing the budget things you’re going to see reality very soon. So it’s not’s easy day coming.”

Councilmember Muhtasin Sadman commented on the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
“As long as our innocent affiliate brother giving blood we will not support Israel,” Sadman said.
Speaking about Ghalib and his confirmation hearing, Sadman said, verbatim: “If for what reason, like, if you give up the ambassador position it’s OK like we will not support Israel as long as our innocent blood of Palestinian brother is taken out.”
Ghalib responded, saying: “We are enjoying the value of freedom of speech in this country and, at this point, the people of Hamtramck tell me what to do. I’m an elected official by the people of Hamtramck. So there was a lot of stuff that I was asked about which is the decision of the people here, not even my decision as a person.
“So this should be recognized that in the Unites States, in local government, every person, every mayor or elected official has to do what the people tell them to do.”
He said that, if President Trump appoints him to a position in his administration, “he (Trump) is my boss. But this time my boss are the people of Hamtramck. I don’t understand how some people don’t understand this equation. It’s very simple and I cannot be held responsible for people’s statements.
“I was asked about one of our commissions, that I disagree with, which is a very aggressive statement, and I kept telling them (the senators at his confirmation hearing) I’m not responsible for a commissioner who is a volunteer position.”
Ghalib was referring to a comment from a member of the city’s Planning Commission, Nasr Hussain, who said that Jews were punished in advance during the Holocaust for their actions decades later against Palestinians.
Ghalib was asked by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) whether he “condemned” that statement by Hussain, and Ghalib said “I did tell the media that I don’t agree with them.”
Posted Dec. 5, 2025