City Hall Insider …. 11/26/24

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Nov. 26, and all councilmembers were in attendance.
A presentation was made by Hennessey Engineers about the 15 ongoing construction projects happening in the city. The projects include replacing lead water lines and upgrading the city sewer network.
All of these projects are being funded by various financial sources.

During public comment, attorney Mark Koroi, who is from Plymouth, talked about the recent presidential election. Koroi is a Trump supporter, and he said the election “was very good for the GOP.”
The one disappointment, he said, was the election of Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, to the U.S. Senate. She is replacing Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who retired from public office.
An Oliver St. resident complained about what appears to be a gang breaking into cars on his block. He said his backpack was stolen from his car, and that the suspects have been seen driving a Dodge Charger.
“Every day, it gets worse and worse,” the resident said.

In new business to consider, the council took the final step in adopting a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone – the first of five to be created.
This first one is located off of Conant, and encompasses residential parcels bounded by Conant to the west, Vincent to the north, and Miller to the south.
In the resolution adopted, it said, in part:
“The creation of a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) is a tool to incentivize the redevelopment and revitalization of residential areas by reducing property taxes for property owners and developers in designated zones for up to 15 years. …”
The council later OK’d blocking off Belmont, next to Pope Park, in order to allow a Winter Night Bazaar to be held on Dec. 14.
The event featured 18 vendors inside a heated tent.
The resolution approving the bazaar said, in part:
“The Winter Night Bazaar will feature 18 vendors from the local community and will provide an opportunity for gifts, commerce, and community engagement during the holiday season.”

The council also approved the sale of a house at 12026 St. Aubin to the previous owner (who is still a current resident) of the house. The city took ownership of the house through a county tax foreclosure.
While the city owned the house, a number of code improvements were made at the city’s expense.
The former owner, who has continued to live in the house through this legal process, is paying the city $6,287, and must continue to make code upgrades.

In another property sale, the council agreed to sell a lot at 3269 Jacob to a resident who lives next-door to the property. The purchaser paid $10,000. There are no immediate plans to build a dwelling on the lot.
A similar deal was reached in the sale of a city-owned lot at 2330 Grayling.
The council approved a proposed development at a lot located at 3011 Holbrook. At this lot, the owner will be constructing a combined unit with a commercial space on the ground floor and residential units above.

Once again, the city renewed a deal with the Hamtramck Parks Conservancy to manage the baseball stadium and city parks.

Moving on, a lengthy discussion was held on how the city enforces property codes.
Councilmember Mohammed Hassan said there have been complaints about the city’s code enforcement officers. In one incident, Hassan said, the code enforcer went onto private property.
He also complained that residents are getting tickets for other addresses not belonging to them.
Councilmember Muhith Mahmood said the errors and complaints are “becoming a big issue.”
“Code enforcement is getting too aggressive,” he said. “We need to fix this department.”
City Manager Max Garbarino said it’s legal for code enforcers to come onto the property to knock on a door, but otherwise they are told to stay off private property.
As for residents getting code citations for properties not belonging to them, Garbarino said it’s not a widespread problem.
“There is going to be human error,” Garbarino said.
He said the code department has had an ongoing turnover of part-time employees, who require constant training.
As for issuing citations and warnings, he said the city is flexible when the violations are fixed, and that the city attorney regularly dismisses tickets if the issue has been taken care of.
“The only thing we want them (residents) to do is remedy the code issues,” he said. “We’re trying to clean up the city.”
That effort, Garbarino said, has paid off.
“The city is looking a lot better. … We get it all the time about how the alleys are looking better,” he said. “We haven’t seen it like this. The streets are looking better, garbage is down.”
He conceded, however, that “we have a long way to go.”
Councilmember Mahmood disagreed with Garbarino, and said that the streets are not clean.
He said it’s unfair to ask residents to take care of their property when the city is not “doing our part.”
Garbarino said that the enforcement comes after decades of the city not enforcing codes.
“There’s going to be some growing pains until we get exactly where we need to be,” he said.
Mayor Amer Ghalib said he was a “victim” of receiving a code violation that included a photo of a residence of someone else.
He said residents don’t have time in their busy lives to go to city hall to straighten out the matters.
The council also talked about what they think is an increase in street crime.

Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri addressed that issue, and said he has been reorganizing the department and reassigning some supervisors.
One supervisor, the former head of the detective bureau, admitted that he didn’t know how to conduct investigative work.
“We made the necessary changes,” the chief said.
Altaheri also said that he has changed work schedules of detectives “cause a lot of detectives were leaving early. How can you follow up if you’re home by 2 p.m.?”
He also said the department is doing crime mapping, and keeping a close look at crime data, to pinpoint stepped up patrols in certain areas of the city.

In his report, Mayor Ghalib said that the office of Wayne County Executive Warren Evans told him he could not speak at a ceremony, back in November, to commemorate the end of a decades’ long housing discrimination lawsuit filed against the city.
Ghalib said that if he had not agreed to that condition, Evans would not attend.
Ghalib said this was punishment for his supporting Donald Trump in the recent presidential election.
Trump is a Republican and the county is largely supporters of the Democratic Party.
Ghalib said this was an “unethical” and a “childish” demand.
“The mayor is part of this historic event,” Ghalib said. “I’m very proud that, under my leadership, we closed this case with my colleagues here. … The mayor is the spokesperson of the city, and I will be there, and the mayor will speak and welcome the people.”
He said he was going to present a certificate to Evans.
“Kill them with kindness,” Ghalib said. “We’re not going to act like children here. We all know the election had something to do with it. …”
As it turned out, Evans did not attend the ceremony.
Posted Jan. 10, 2025