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

By Charles Sercombe
Well, here we are at the end of 2023.
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 2023.
What a year is was.

JANUARY
In an expected move, a majority of city councilmembers, along with the mayor, voted in favor of allowing ritual animal slaughtering to be conducted at homes.
The council had been wrestling with this issue for several months.
The practice of animal slaughtering is allowed in the context of a religious observance.
At a council meeting, which ran for over three hours, a number of residents spoke out both for, and against, the practice.
Those who are for it argue that it’s their First Amendment right to practice their religion. For those of the Muslim faith, animal slaughtering happens at Eid, the festival held at the end of the Ramadan fasting month, and the sacrificed animal’s meat is consumed.
The general practice among Muslims is to slaughter lambs or goats, but there is nothing in the city ordinance that bars the slaughter of cows or pigs.
The new city ordinance thus opens it to those of other faiths to likewise be allowed to slaughter animals, which could conceivably happen at any time of the year.
The issue also helped to usher in a heightened era of ongoing national — and international — media attention for Hamtramck.
Hamtramck’s search for a new city manager resulted in a roster of many candidates, albeit with few coming anywhere near being qualified for the job.
In fact, only one person came close, and that was the city’s current interim city manager, Max Garbarino.

City Manager Max Garbarino

Over 130 applications were submitted.
Garbarino said that most of the applicants were weeded out by the city’s Human Resource Department because they had even fewer qualifications than those being considered.
As it turned out, to no one’s surprise, Garbarino was selected for the job.

FEBRUARY
Not everyone welcomed the city’s new bike lane on Jos. Campau.
First, some background:
Hamtramck’s portion of the Joe Louis Greenway bike path had been continuing to take shape more or less on schedule.
Street markings for the bike path were laid down on Jos. Campau, starting at Holbrook and running south to Hamtramck Dr.
The path is intended to be only for bikes, and there is no parking in that lane.
It’s all part of the ongoing installation of the 30-mile path that will ultimately connect Hamtramck to Highland Park, Detroit, and Dearborn.
Eventually Hamtramck Dr., starting at Jos. Campau and proceeding west, will get repaved and have its own pathway.
Part of the path runs through the Jos. Campau alley on the west side, from Caniff to Holbrook.
Funding for the project is coming from several sources, but the main source is the federal government. It is expected to be completed within several years.
Reaction to the project was mixed on social media.
Former City Councilmember Phill Kwik praised the project.

Is the bike lane in the southend racist?

“This is wonderful news. Congratulations. It is the culmination of decades of hard work by a lot of people,” Kwik said on the city’s Facebook page.
For some Yemeni-owned businesses on the southend, the bike lane threatened a loss of customers, because parking has been lost in front of their markets.
Nasr Hussain says it’s “racism” at work.
The city council started the wheels in motion to triple their own annual salaries, as well as double that of the mayor.
The council approved a resolution to have voters change the city charter to allow the increase.
City council members are currently paid $3,249 each year, but the proposed increase would have raised their pay to $9,749.
That would come out to a total of $32,500 more for five of the councilmembers.
For the sixth councilmember, who is the mayor pro tem, the increase would have gone from $4,874 to $11,374 a year. That’s an increase of $6,500.
And for the mayor, the current yearly salary of $6,499 would have gone up to $12,998, which would have also been a $6,500 increase for the year.
The total increase for the council and mayor would have totaled $45,500 for the year.
However, later in the year, voters would reject the proposal, along with two other city charter revision proposals.

Steve-O!

This year’s Paczki Day festivities had one uninvited guest: a bitter cold, gusty wind that could, for example, freeze your forehead while walking northward on Jos. Campau.
After a couple weeks of unseasonably warmish weather, it was a rude reminder that winter was not done with us yet.
But for those … ah … fortified with spirits, it probably didn’t faze them all that much.
A familiar group of gawkers crushed into PLAV Post 10 for the annual paczki eating contest, held on the second floor of this classic old hall.
There, at high noon, several contestants arranged themselves at a long table and punished their bodies by stuffing down as many of those lard-infused pastry bombs as a human stomach can hold – well, if a human had the multiple stomachs of a cow.
As it would happen, the winner turned out to be that guy-about-town, the one-and-only STEVE-O (Steve Paljusevic).
Yes, Steve-O, Hamtramck’s top pop culture observer, scarfed down 12-1/2 paczki. It was, truly, a baffling sight, since last year he could only manage to get a few of them down.
Even more amazing, he scarcely seemed punished by the pastry onslaught.

MARCH

Another freshman city councilmember resigned from the council.
This time, it was Amanda Jaczkowski, the only woman on the city council.
She left because of health issues.
“As many people know in 2017, I was seriously injured in a bicycle crash. Part of my healing process has been recognizing my new limitations in life,” Jaczkowski said, on a Hamtramck-focused Facebook page.
“It has become apparent over the past year as your councilwoman that I am not able to balance the professional obligations to my standard and maintain my physical health, and therefore I have made the extremely difficult decision to resign as councilwoman.
Jaczkowski followed former Councilmember Adam Albarmaki to the exit door. Albarmaki, who was also in his first term, quit because of his work obligations.

Hamtramck’s four cannabis outlets proved to be profitable for the city.

Hamtramck’s marijuana dispensaries continued to be a money pot for the city.
According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, the city’s four recreational retail shops contributed $207,364 to the city’s coffers from taxes and fees in 2022.
In all, over $59 million was distributed by the state to 224 cities and counties. That breaks down to about $51,800, on average, that each retail outlet paid, according to the state.
Hamtramck’s revenue is not earmarked for anything specific, but rather is put into the general budget.
Despite the revenue produced by the dispensaries, there are some in town who would like to close them down, or not allow the licenses to be transferred to new owners if any plan to sell their businesses.
They claim the dispensaries lead to more crime, although daily police incident reports do not bear this out.
Hamtramck property still attracted top dollar.
In an auction of eight city properties, which included both empty lots and houses, the city netted $442,601.
Two of the winning bids went to local elected officials: a Hamtramck councilmember and state representative.
Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri purchased two industrial lots for $81,000 combined, which are next to the Hamtramck Recycling facility; one at 2930 Denton and one at 7901 Jos. Campau. That business submitted the lowest bid for the lots, at $62,699.
State Rep. Abraham Aiyash purchased a two-family house at 5008 Yemans for $65,601.The house will require extensive repairs.
Michigan Democratic legislators promised voters that, if they became the majority in the state legislature, they would take swift action to make changes.
One of those changes included amending the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections for the LGBTQ community.
In other words, gay and transgender citizens will be legally protected from discrimination.
Predictably, this led to pushback from conservatives, including from some in Hamtramck’s religious community.

State Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) championed LGBTQ rights in Lansing.

And, taking some of that heat was Hamtramck native State Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D), who was a co-sponsor for the amendment.
Aiyash is the first Yemeni-American from Hamtramck to be elected to the state house, and he is the first Arab-American to be the floor leader.
Hamtramck Public School Boardmembers gave themselves a salary boost.
But the pay raise caused division among some board members, and pushback from teachers.
The initial proposal was to increase boardmembers’ salaries to $5,000, and $6,000 for the board president. But the board later agreed with new member Victor Farris, who suggested upping it to $6,000 per board members and $7,000 for the president.
His reason?
He said that, after doing some research, he concluded that the current pay rate is “probably why the board might not be so good,” and added that better pay would attract more “serious” members.
Boardmembers Moortadha Obaid and Regan Watson voted against the increase, saying that the positions are largely voluntary.
“We all came to this position as a volunteer job,” said Obaid.
Earlier in the year, city officials received some sobering financial news.
At that time, the financial projections for the city were that there will be less money coming into the city, and more money going out.
The city received millions more in revenue than projected earlier, and the city now should be able to break even on the budget.
“It’s not a surplus or a windfall,” cautioned City Manager Max Garbarino. “We’re in a solid place right now.”
The additional revenue came from several sources: state revenue sharing increased, thanks to an uptick in the city’s population; an increase in income tax collection (also thanks to an increase in population); marijuana dispensary revenue; parking meter revenue; and more property taxes being collected.

APRIL
There was potential big development news.
American Axle & Manufacturing was considering a plan that would have returned a portion of their business back onto Hamtramck soil.
According to a Crain’s Detroit Business report, American Axle was looking at a plan to create a $460 million electric vehicle research and supply park next to its headquarters.
To date, it appears to be a pipe dream. But, if that plan had gone forward, Hamtramck would have once again benefitted from collecting property and income taxes from the company.
Quite a while ago, American Axle moved its plant, from here in Hamtramck to Mexico, and then leveled the site, which meant a huge loss in taxes for the city.

Dan Tatarian re-located his popular store Showtime Clothing here in Hamtramck.

It’s Showtime!
As in, the return of a favorite metro area retailer, Showtime Clothing, which was a preferred shop for rock-n-rollers and club kids.
Owner Dan Tatarian re-opened his store here on Jos. Campau, much to the delight of his many fans.
Asked why he chose Hamtramck to make his return, he said:
“I like the different ethnic groups, Blacks, Arabs, Asian, Polish – I love them all.”
Hamtramck’s fourth cannabis retail outlet was back in business.
3Fifteen, on Jos. Campau near Zinow, was temporarily closed for a few weeks while a court case was settled over who currently controls ownership of the company.
As it turned out, Skymint became the sole owner of the store, although 3Fifteen still holds the business license in Hamtramck.
A spokesman for the company, Jeff Gaunt, told The Review that Skymint holds all of the assets, and is in the process of taking over the business license.
However, the return wouldn’t last long – a few months later, it closed its doors for good.

MAY
Hamtramck’s budget projection continued to look rosy.
Even if just for the next few years.
At a city council meeting, Brian Camiller, from the city’s financial auditing firm, Plante Moran, said the forecast for the next five years predicts that the city will collect more money than it spends, through 2025.
After that, costs go up, and the city will have to go back to dipping into its budget surplus.
The biggest boost in revenue came from an unexpected source: city income tax collection.
Specifically, income tax collection rose by $1.4 million in 2022, and another $1 million extra is expected to be collected this tax season.
In total, the city will realize $5 million this year from taxes, which will continue to increase to over $6 million a year by 2028.

The mayor and city councilmembers were invited to the White House in a celebration of Eid.

Although they didn’t get to meet one-on-one with President Biden, the mayor and city council did enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience visiting the White House as special guests.
Mayor Amer Ghalib and city councilmembers joined other Muslim community leaders across the nation in an Eid celebration at the White House.
“It was a good experience, we walked around and inside the White House, attended the president’s speech, and ate after that,” Ghalib said.
“He (Biden) just spoke and walked out; on his way out of the room he shook hands with people standing in the front, and walked out. He had no bilateral meetings with anyone due to too many people in the room.”
As for those attending, it was a rare opportunity for city officials to meet other officials from different states and “network,” Ghalib added.
There are amazing comebacks in sports.
And there are also some pretty amazing ones for sports stadiums.
Case in point: Hamtramck’s historical baseball stadium, which went from being a dilapidated eyesore to the city’s sparkling new jewel.
The state recognized this comeback, and presented the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation to the Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium in honor of the renovations done there.
The stadium is only one of a handful that still exist that were part of the legendary Negro Baseball League, from a time back when African-Americans were not allowed to play in the all-white Major Leagues.
The stadium was built in 1930. The color barrier in Major League Baseball was finally broken in 1947.
The stadium wasn’t the only major improvement happening in the city.
Improvements also continued to happen at Veterans Park, the city’s largest park and where the stadium is located.
On the heels of the state issuing the Governor’s Award to the Friends of the stadium, there was another project about to get underway.
The city received a federal grant, worth almost $654,000, to install restrooms at Veterans Park.
It got better.
State Rep Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) announced there is an additional $300,000 coming from the state to add to the restroom project.
The state grant will go 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.

JUNE
Hamtramck’s city council added two more holidays for city employees.
The all-Muslim council designated two Eid holidays for city employees to have as paid days off.
The two holidays added are for Eid a-Fitr, which is the celebration for the end of Ramadan, and also for Eid al-Adha, which happens in June and celebrates individual sacrifice.
City officials passed the Eid holidays about a week after the City of Dearborn made the holidays paid days off for its city employees.
At the time, Dearborn was the first community to take this action in the U.S, and their new policy attracted national media attention.

A rash of pride flag vandalism has been ongoing in the city ever since the city council banned the display of the flags on public property. Photo supplied by Karen Majewski

The display of an LGBTQIA+ pride flag has once again stirred controversy in Hamtramck.
This time, it was about the vandalism of a pride flag that was displayed outside of the Piast Institute office on Jos. Campau.
Someone tore down the flag and placed it in a garbage can outside the office.
The issue with the flag underscored the heated discussions, on some Hamtramck-centric Facebook pages, about June being labeled as “Pride Month.”
Some consider Pride Month to be “Sin Month.”
The issue has pitted religious conservatives in town against those who are progressive and liberal.
The issue only deepened when the city council and mayor supported a resolution to ban the display of pride flags on city property in the name of being “neutral.”
In one intense council meeting, public debate on the matter extended for three hours.
That ban led to a rally in Zussman Park, in protest of the ban. Among those attending the rally was state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is openly gay.
Nessel said:
“Take down the wall you have now built that has made this proud city into a national embarrassment, and raise the flag of equality.”
The rally attracted about 50-100 people in support of the LGBTQ community. Several people spoke after Nessel, all of them aiming criticism at city officials.
“When you say one group of people are not welcomed, to the community, it communicates that it’s OK to beat up on them,” said the Rev. Roland Stringfellow, who also said that he, too, is gay.
As for the city council saying they passed the pride flag ban in order to remain neutral, Stringfellow said:
“That’s not ‘neutral,’ that’s taking sides, and it gives people a license to be hateful towards other folks.”
Area refugees had a special picnic. Right here in Hamtramck.
In conjunction with “World Refugee Day,” the non-profit organization Samaritas, which operates one of Michigan’s largest refugee resettlement programs, hosted a picnic at Veterans Memorial Park.
Hamtramck has, of course, long been a welcoming home to immigrants and refugees.
A couple of years ago, the city was chosen as a host site for several refugee families, some from Yemen, in a federally-funded program that built three two-family housing units.
In all, six families relocated here.

Area refugees had a special picnic in Hamtramck in conjunction with “World Refugee Day.”

The $1.2 million project was dubbed “Freedom Village.”
The plan is that refugees would only stay for several months before resettling somewhere else, which will then make room for another batch of new refugees to begin to acclimate to their adopted country.
And there we have it, the first six months of 2023. What a year, eh?
Be sure to come back next week for the winder-upper of July through December.
Posted Dec. 23, 2023