Looking at the year ahead: Our predictions for Hamtramck


Now that Wayne County’s jail in Hamtramck is closed, city officials will have a fight on their hands to force the county to continue paying the city $1.4 million a year to keep the jail here.

By Charles Sercombe
Ah yes, the year 2025.
What do the next 12 months hold in store for Hamtramck?
We don’t pretend that, in the past, we’ve been 100 percent accurate in predicting the year ahead for Hamtramck. But we’ve often been pretty close.
For example, last year we predicted the ongoing openings of new business and city lots being sold and developed into housing units. OK, that was easy and predictable.
We also warned that it was likely Wayne County officials would close the jail here, leaving the city with a financial hole of $1.4 million in revenue from the jail’s operation, and we also said there would be a continued cultural divide between the growing conservative community and progressives.
And indeed that political division grew wider, when the conservative members of the community ditched the Democratic Party in the presidential election and threw their support to former President Donald Trump.
Those boxes got checked.
So now, with our crystal ball dusted and cleared, let’s take a dive into the coming year.
On top of the list of things that might happen is whether Mayor Amer Ghalib will be offered a job with the incoming Trump administration, as a reward for his galvanizing the support of the Muslim community in the metro area for his campaign.
The mayor says he’s not heard anything yet, and at this point one has to wonder if an offer will be coming. You’d think he would have heard by now.

Above: Will HPS Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed continue to be paid to do nothing? Stay tuned to find out the answer.

So the more time goes by, it looks doubtful, but you never know. By the way, Ghalib is now saying that if he has to move, he’ll likely turn down the offer. Or something like that. Sounds like the situation is muddy at best.
As for the Wayne County Dickerson Jail here, county officials did close down its operation now that the county’s new centralized jail is up and running.
So that begs the question: What will Hamtramck officials do about that loss of jail monies, amounting to $1.4 million each year? City officials are still negotiating with the county, and the city attorney insists that, as long as the jail building still sits there, occupied or not, the county still needs to pay up.
We expect a court fight over this one because the city has too much to lose financially.
Last year, we predicted new restrooms would be installed in Veterans Park, but we’re still waiting. It will likely happen this year, however.
For the last two years or so, Hamtramck Public School Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed has been receiving her salary even though she is not performing any district work. In other words, being paid to do nothing.
Nice work if you can get it, eh?
This year, that situation should (emphasis on should) finally come to some kind of closure, and it is highly doubtful Ahmed will continue collecting her $220,000 salary for not showing up – one way or another.
With two new school board members, we expect some answers.
And, speaking of the school board, chances are good that it will finally set a policy on unexcused absences among board members — something that has been abused in recent years.
For the past few years there has been speculation that some city councilmembers are not really residents here, and instead live in Warren or Troy.
It’s a good bet something will come to light about this, and we expect it to be a bombshell. Buckle up.
Speaking of city council, this is an election year for three council seats (Councilmembers Khalil Refai, Mahmood Muhith and Abu Musa) and also for the mayor.
If Mayor Ghalib heads to Washington D.C., the mayoral race will be a free-for-all. As for the city council race, at this point a good question might be: will actual residents be elected to office?
For the past few years, the police department has aggressively hired new officers who are more reflective of the community’s ethnic and racial population – including an increasing number of female officers being brought on board.
This begs another question: will the fire department hire its first female firefighter?
With more and more women entering the fire fighting profession, one could guess that there is a remote possibility, but we wouldn’t bet the farm on it, as the saying goes.
Last year, what was noticeably missing on Paczki Day were people. Yes, there was a long line of paczki lovers wrapped around New Palace Bakery, the last Jos. Campau bakery to celebrate the day, but our local bars and clubs saw a noticeable drop in the number of celebrants.
Are the days of the madcap celebrations of Paczki Day soon to be a thing of the past? Maybe this year will be a better indicator of where things go moving forward.
The Detroit City Football Club says it is leaving Keyworth Stadium in favor of a new stadium it is building near Detroit’s Corktown after next year.
Will the club actually be able to get a stadium built in that short period of time? It’s hard to believe that will happen, and we predict the club will end up looking to get an OK from the public school district to stay at Keyworth for at least another year.
Uh-oh, our crystal ball is fogging up, which tells us that’s it for predicting the next 12 months here in town. Now if only we had bothered to ask for winning lottery numbers.
Next year, for sure!
Posted Jan. 17, 2025

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