Take a look back on the first six months of the year

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib

By Charles Sercombe
Well, here we are, at the end of 2024.
With the year largely in our review mirror, we once again follow our tradition of presenting a two-part “Year in Review.”
This week, we’ll take a look back at the first six months of 2024.
Settle in and grab something to drink, because it was a roller-coaster year.

JANUARY
Hamtramck’s newly-elected city councilmember Muhtasin Sadman summed up his inauguration with just a few words: “Today is the best day of my life.”
The political newcomer, who previously lived in Warren, joined Councilmembers Mohammed Hassan and Mohammed Alsomiri in being sworn into office on Sunday, at a ceremony held at the Hamtramck Public Library.

Hamtramck Police Chief Anne Moise announced her retirement. In 2015, Moise made local history by becoming Hamtramck’s first female chief of police. In fact, up until then, there had been few women who were even in the department.

Former Police Chief Anne Moise announced her retirement.

Planet Ant Theatre celebrated its 30th anniversary. It has been the city’s only theater in town since then. Here’s to another 30 years.

Mayor Amer Ghalib, who took office two years ago, gave his State of the City report at the public library.
He said Hamtramck’s financial picture has made a drastic turnaround in recent years.
Ghalib is the city’s first Yemeni-American and Muslim mayor in Hamtramck’s over 100-year history of being a predominantly Polish enclave.
He said that, prior to taking office, the financial forecast for the city was dire, with anticipated deficit spending that would eat up the city’s budget and possibly lead to a third state-appointed emergency manager to take control of the city.
That prediction turned around, he said.
“For the past two years, Hamtramck has achieved a lot of success,” he said. “There is so much stability in city hall. There’s prosperity, economic growth, population growth as well. And for the first time, two consecutive years of a budget surplus – something that was not in the mind of the most optimistic person.”
(In the few years leading up to Ghalib taking office, Hamtramck had a budget surplus but was in deficit spending.)
Ghalib acknowledged that Hamtramck had received $32 million in various grants since 2023. Some of those grants were in the works before Ghalib took office, and most of them were one-time only.

Incidents of retail fraud increased 60 percent since 2022, said Police Chief Moise, amid part of her larger report on city crime.

FEBRUARY
Now that Police Chief Moise had retired, it was time to search for a new chief.
It didn’t take long — and her successor was also a historic appointment.
Jamiel Altaheri, who was at that time still a chief inspector in the New York Police Department, was hired to become the city’s first Yemeni-American to be appointed to the position of police chief.

Newly-hired Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri received a rock star’s welcome at his swearing in ceremony.

Altaheri emigrated to this country when he was 4 years old.
Mayor Amer Ghalib said he expected the transition would be “smooth,” and that he has the “confidence in our police department to work as a team.”
Ghalib added that Altaheri and his family plan to live in Hamtramck, which proved to be true.
Councilmember Khalil Refai said that Altaheri “will bring in diversity,” and that proven to be true under the new chief’s command. He took office later in the year in May.

Mayor Ghalib came under a scare: a Canadian man was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot him.
The FBI assisted Hamtramck investigators in tracking down the suspect. No other details were released about the man.
Mayor Ghalib had said that he receives many threats but that this one, in particular, seemed serious enough to have the police department intervene.
On his Facebook page, Ghalib said:
“Many thanks to all the parties that accomplished the task, and we hope that through the investigations we will find out the motives and those behind this terrorist threat.”
At that time, authorities had reported a marked increase in threats to both Jewish and Muslim people, perhaps tied to frustrations about the ongoing Israeli war against Hamas unfolding in the Gaza Strip.
Hamtramck came under national attention for becoming a city mostly populated by those of the Muslim faith, and also became an international news item for being the first known city where the mayor and city council are all Muslim.

The Hamtramck Board of Education said it wanted to do something about its poor attendance record.
The year before, the board failed to meet at least once in three separate months. Some of those meetings were canceled ahead of time, but there has also been another nagging reason: not enough board members show up in order to call a meeting to go forward, and some missed meetings for months on end.
According to state law, public school boards are required to meet at least once a month, and violations of this law can include fines and jail time.
The board does not have a policy on absences in its bylaws – something that most public bodies do have. To this day, the board is still without an attendance policy.

HPS Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed

Speaking of school district absences.
A few weeks after getting a job evaluation that said she was “minimally effective,” Hamtramck Schools Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed took a paid leave of absence.
Neither the district nor Ahmed offered an explanation for her leave, nor did they say how long the leave will be. Ahmed did not respond to an email for a comment about her job performance evaluation.
“Minimally effective” is one step up from the poorest job evaluation of “ineffective.”
That evaluation came after the school board met for three hours, in a closed meeting, to discuss her yearly job performance. According to sources, it was a heated meeting.
Boardmembers did not explain their decision. To this day, Ahmed is still being paid for not working. Her salary is over $220,000 a year.

Once again, local zine “Stupor” came to life at Planet Ant Theatre.
“Stupor” is local print zine created by resident Steve Hughes, who collects anecdotes from local folks, mostly at Hamtramck watering holes.
Hughes said that some stories “felt like… wow… I can’t believe you did that, or how is that possible? Of course, we were at the bar collecting the stories. That means, most of us were enjoying ourselves with a drink or two, and most of the patrons we talked to were in good spirits as well.”

One thing that stood out this year on Paczki Day: It was weird that New Martha Washington Bakery was no longer there.
The last “Polish” bakery – well, they were once owned by Poles way back when, but haven’t been for many years — left on Jos. Campau is now New Palace.
And, as usual, there was an insanely long line that snaked around the corner of New Palace and past the alley, meaning the wait to get a dozen or so paczki from there was the usual two hours or so.
Around the corner of New Palace, Whiskey in the Jar had its usual giant heated tent set up, but at 10 a.m., another strange thing had occurred: Where were the people?
Usually, by then, the place is packed with revelers.
Same at Baker’s Streetcar bar nearby.
That was the talk of the morning, and it’s anyone’s guess as to why so few folks were out and about.
We did run into musician Frank Howard Woodman IV in the morning, just down the street from Whiskey, who said he was initially also going to wait to come out later, but then “I heard the call of music.”

Former HPS Board Vice President Salah Hadwan

There was more drama in the Hamtramck Public School Board.
A clash erupted between Board President Jihan Aiyash and Vice President Salah Hadwan.
The two had been in what appeared to be an alliance for the past year, but that relationship took an unexpected turn for the worse.
Hadwan came out swinging at the beginning of the February meeting, trying to get two resolutions added to the meeting’s agenda. One of the resolutions was to reverse the 700-percent pay raise the board had previously approved, including for Hadwan.
Aiyash only allowed Hadwan’s resolution to accept his resignation as vice president to be included in the board’s agenda for the meeting.
Eventually, Hadwan stopped attending the monthly meetings. As for Aiyash, she would later lose her bid to be re-elected to the board for another six-year term.

Mayor Amer Ghalib’s ongoing media exposure continued to catch the attention — and concern — of folks in town.
In the latest incident, the mayor agreed to sit down for an interview with a state-controlled media outlet.
This time he was interviewed by the television outlet TRT, which is considered a propaganda arm of Turkish President Erdogan and his administration.
TRT is registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department.
According to Wikipedia:
“In March 2020, the United States Justice Department required TRT World’s Washington operation to register as an agent of the Government of Turkey, engaged in political activities, under the anti-propaganda Foreign Agents Registration Act.”
Erdogan critic Steven Stalinsky had this to say about TRT in a 2019 Washington Post opinion piece:
“Turkey’s modus operandi of silencing domestic critics while spending millions on PR abroad is mightily aided by TRT World.”
Previously, Ghalib has been interviewed by the Russian state-controlled television network RT, which is also registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department.

MARCH
After a 10-year absence, one of Hamtramck’s biggest music festivals, the Hamtramck Blowout, returned to carry on a tradition.
Unlike previous Blowouts, this one was not sponsored by the alternative weekly magazine The Metro Times, which had hosted the events for several years before pulling the plug.
Instead, the folks who organize the yearly Hamtramck Labor Day Festival decided to revive the festival.
(The Blowout is slated to return once again this March in 2025.)

In an ominous forewarning to President Biden, many Hamtramck voters turned against him and voted “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s presidential primary.
A whopping 61 percent of voters here in Hamtramck sent a message to Biden back off from supporting Israel and its invasion of Gaza.
Biden still won the Democratic primary election in Hamtramck with 32 percent of the vote.
Hamtramck voters were out of step with others in the state, who overwhelmingly supported Biden, with 13 percent of state voters voting “uncommitted,” which was within the range of past elections.
Spoiler alert: Biden ultimately stepped down off the ticket, and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, who then went on to lose her election bid in a stunning defeat to former President Donald Trump.

Hamtramck’s ethnic and cultural shift continued to play out. Hamtramck unveiled its newest honorific street name on Thursday.
City Councilmember Khalil Refai received city council support in renaming Holbrook “Palestine Avenue.”
The sign is located at Holbrook and Gallagher.
On Refai’s Facebook page, he said the renaming “serves as a symbolic gesture of remembrance and support for the people of Gaza, Palestine and the Palestinian Americans who, many of them, have lost a family member since the occupation of their land.”
The renaming of the street actually doesn’t change the official name of the street, which remains Holbrook Ave.
Hamtramck’s has allowed a number of honorific street names for various community leaders over the years.

Hamtramck’s marijuana dispensaries proved to be a money pot for the city, tax-wise.

Hamtramck’s marijuana shops continue to be a money “pot” for the city.
According to the state Treasury Department, the city’s four cannabis dispensaries paid the city $236,345, and change, in state fees collected for operating here.
The revenue includes taxes and special fees that all dispensaries in the state pay.
In all, Michigan’s 269 communities and counties that allowed dispensaries to operate within their jurisdictions generated more than $87 million back to the state, according to the Treasury Department.
Hamtramck still has its critics who are opposed to allowing marijuana retailers to operate here, who cite concerns over potential crime, possible effects on young people, or religious reasons.
The dispensaries have not proven to be crime magnets.
Mayor Amer Ghalib is one of the critics of the dispensaries, but blames the prior administration for allowing them.
“All of these dispensaries are in violation of the state law. They all are within 1,000 feet from a house of worship or school,” Ghalib told The Review.

The city’s Historical Museum continued to team up with students on various educational and field projects.
One thing they’ve been actively doing, for some years now, is collaborating creatively with students from Hamtramck High School for their “History Day” projects. History Day is a national academic effort that provides students with a skeletal historical theme or concept, in order to promote some framework for students to do their own takes on it.
The year’s theme was “Turning Points in History,” and so student historians across the country were looking at events, people or what have you for those special cases that somehow impacted history or changed society.
The museum also continued to partner with Detroit’s Wayne State University and their Anthropology Department on field work within the city.

Over the last four years, taxpayers paid out almost $1 million to cover legal fees for the Hamtramck Public School District.
The Review filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see how much the district has been billed for legal fees since the year 2020.
Hamtramck’s schools were facing about a dozen lawsuits from former staffmembers, parents of special needs students and even the district’s own superintendent, Jaleelah Ahmed.
Her lawsuit was eventually dismissed by a federal court.
Some former staffmembers sued for being forced out of jobs, citing a “toxic” work environment created by Ahmed and some of her former appointees.
“The current BOE (Board of Education) and superintendent have been nothing short of intentional in their deconstruction of individuals and central office teams,” said Heather Dorogi, the district’s former student coordinator, in her resignation letter to the board of education.
In all, there were 333 legal bills submitted to the district, totaling $993,046.
Toni Coral, president of the Hamtramck Federation of Teachers, told The Review that the cost of the legal fees “makes me sad and angry.”
She added: “Things do not have to be this way, but when the Board has provided such poor leadership and guidance, it’s not surprising that there has been fire after fire and a fairly consistent level of chaos.”

Hamtramck city officials notched a couple of “firsts.”
The city council was one of the first dozen public bodies in the country to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
And the council passed a resolution calling for the U.S. to cut military spending, as part of a nationwide movement called “Move the Money.”
Mayor Ghalib said passing the resolution would make Hamtramck the first community in the nation to take this position.
“We hope our government will listen to us and to the people of the U.S.,” Ghalib said. “Local communities are suffering and struggling.”
Ghalib added that the U.S. has been supporting oppressive regimes around the world.
“I think we should stop that. Democracy is our main value here.” He said.
It was also a “first” when city officials gave Holbrook the honorific name of “Palestine Ave.,” a move which garnered attention from a number of media outlets.

City officials considered a plan to slow down traffic on Conant.

APRIL
City officials considered putting Conant Ave. on a diet, but not because it was looking overweight.
By “diet,” they meant that the traffic lanes need to be slimmed down in order to force drivers to slow down.
Road diets have become a traffic redesign that is all the rage – and we don’t mean road rage – in urban design circles.
City Manager Max Garbarino said “This is a hope for a start that could be a very beautiful streetscape for Conant.”
Some of the suggestions included widening sidewalks, extending curbs, creating more crosswalks and planting trees.
Currently, there are no trees on the street.

Some homeowners were learning a harsh lesson: When you pay $150,000 to $250,000 or more for a home here, your property tax bill is going to go through the roof.
That lesson, however, appears to be lost on a number of folks who came to city council meetings pleading for a reduction of their tax bill.
Also influencing property values is when homeowners construct an addition to their house. That adds value, said City Assessor Konrad Maziarz, and that means property taxes also go up.
For most homeowners, property taxes can increase no more than 5 percent, or the rate of inflation – whichever is less – per year. That is the state law.
But as soon as you purchase a new house or add additions, the house value gets uncapped, and you could be hit with a huge tax increase.
To this day, homeowners continue to complain about their tax bills. Unfortunately for them, there is nothing the city can do about their bills, since state law controls how property taxes are calculated.

Hamtramck’s rumor mill was swirling with speculation about an investigation into last fall’s city council election.
That rumor was finally confirmed by multiple sources who said that, indeed, the state’s Attorney General’s Office is interviewing residents about who handled their ballots.
There were accusations that some candidates conducted ballot harvesting, even potentially going so far as to fill out ballots for some unsuspecting residents.
According to one source who was knowledgeable of the investigation, there is surveillance footage from city hall showing a person, or persons, dropping off bundles of ballots in the city’s drop box.
“They (AG agents) are adamant, and pushing through with this,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.
The Review reached out to the AG’s Office for comment, but no one responded. To this day, no legal action has been taken, but there is still speculation that charges will eventually be coming down.

MAY
The city’s longstanding housing discrimination lawsuit finally came to an end.
Although the final fulfilling of the provisions of the lawsuit had been touted several times in past years, this time the lawsuit was truly over, and in fact concluded when U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth A. Stafford issued an order of dismissal, thus ending a legal odyssey that began in 1968.
The lawsuit has the dubious distinction of being the longest-running federal lawsuit ever.
The lawsuit goes back to the early 1970s, when a couple hundred African-American residents accused city officials of targeting their neighborhoods with home demolitions, under the guise of “urban renewal.”
Using federal money at the time, city officials razed dozens of houses in those targeted neighborhoods to make way for supposed development — development never came.
That move by the city would come to haunt city officials for decades. But eventually, the city (ultimately, with the help of federal, state and county funding), built 200 new homes to settle the matter.
Unfortunately for those who were forced out of their homes, they had all long-been deceased by the time the houses were built. However, their family members were eligible to purchase the homes, with the generous help of federal financing.

State Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) announced he would not seek re-election.

In a surprise move, State Rep, Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) announced he would not seek re-election.
He did not respond to email questions from The Review as to why he won’t run again, or about his plans on what he will do outside the legislature –or, whether he is gearing up for a run for a state senate seat.
Aiyash, however, told the Detroit News that he would pursue “more opportunities to serve our communities in different ways.”
It was pointed out that Aiyash is likely angling to run for state senator in 2026, and that, in order to serve two full terms he had to quit his seat as a state representative.
Aiyash was the first Yemeni-American to be elected to a state representative position. Aiyash also served as Majority Floor Leader, which was another first for an Arab-American.
Aiyash distinguished himself during his years in office as a champion for expanding LGBTQ civil rights, a position that did not sit well with many in the Muslim community here who are socially conservative.

Hamtramck’s new police chief got a rock star’s welcome to the community.
A swearing-in ceremony was held for the city’s first Yemeni American police chief, Jamiel Altaheri.
Altaheri was greeted with hugs and congratulatory kisses on the cheek from many in attendance.
The swearing-in ceremony was held in Zussman Park under sunny skies and amid a summery 80s degrees. A number of those attending, out of a crowd of 100, or more, came from out of state to witness the moment.
Altaheri had just retired from the New York Police Department, where he served for 20 years, the last several in the role of chief inspector.

JUNE
Another month, another history-making moment.
It was widely reported in local media when Hamtramck’s mayor and city council passed a resolution calling for the city to pull out of any financial investment in Israel, and also called for a general boycott of, and sanctions on, the country.
The resolution, which was partly prepared by Bill Meyer, a self-described peace activist, was part of a national movement calling for the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS) of Israel.
Hamtramck was the first municipality in the state to take such action, and the third city in the nation to do so.
Israel continues to come under criticism for its invasion of Gaza, where about 50,000 Palestinians have been estimated to have died. Israel invaded Gaza after it was attacked by Hamas militants, who killed about 1,200 Israelis back in October, taking another couple hundred hostage (some of whom remain missing).
To this day, the conflict continues.

Improvements to Veterans Park continued throughout the year as grant money continued to pour in.

Improvements continued at the city’s largest park.
On the heels of the state issuing the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation to the Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium, in honor of the renovations done at the stadium, there was another project about to get underway.
The city had just received a federal grant, worth almost $654,000, to install restrooms at Veterans Park.
And then it got even better.
State Rep Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) announced there would be an additional $300,000 coming from the state to add to the restroom project.
The state grant went toward installing a drinking fountain; making improvements to the stadium’s utility infrastructure; and repaving a pathway from the park’s restroom to the stadium’s parking lot.

Speaking of the stadium, Gov, Gretchen Whitmer made an unannounced visit there to commemorate a Juneteenth celebration.
While there, Whitmer signed a bill, crafted by State Rep. Helena Scott (D), to designate May 2 “Negro Leagues Day” here in Michigan.
The Hamtramck stadium was the home of the Detroit Stars of the Negro League.
Noting the historical significance of the stadium, Gov. Whitmer said “legends played here.”
She also gave a nod to the massive renovation done to the stadium, courtesy of various grants.
“I am so proud this stadium was restored,” she said.
Not everyone was pleased with Whitmer’s visit. Some, including the mayor, complained that they weren’t given a heads-up notice of her appearance before the fact.
On his Facebook page, Mayor Ghalib said:
“The mayor, city officials and administration didn’t know about this surprise visit,” Ghalib said, referring to himself in the third person.
Ghalib continued:
“We will conduct an investigation to find out where the disconnect and miscommunication were?
“If it was from the governor’s team, I understand that she doesn’t like me for some reason, and I’ll take that as an expected unprofessional and disrespectful behavior to neglect the city leadership when coming to an event in our city. …”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made an unannounced visit to the city, but that didn’t sit well with some city officials, including the mayor, who were not notified of the visit. Photo by Konrad Maziarz

Well, that’s it for the first six months of 2024.
One thing that stuck out about this period: a number of historic moments had happened.
So, how does the last half of 2024 play out? Be sure to tune in next week for Part 2 of our Year in Review.

Posted Dec. 27, 2024