There’s a new street name in Hamtramck

By Charles Sercombe
Add former Mayor Karen Majewski to the growing list of local notables having a street renamed in their honor.
Majewski was mayor of Hamtramck for 18 years – tying former Mayor Robert Kozaren for having served in that position for that length of time.
Majewski lost her bid for re-election last November. Kozaren, coincidentally, which, if had won, would have made him the longest serving mayor.
Anyway, on Tuesday evening, city officials and residents gathered right across from city hall to unveil an honorary street sign that sits atop the Winfield St. sign. The honorary sign reads: and Mayor Karen Majewski Ph.D St.
(Majewski has an academic doctorate degree from the University of Michigan.)
Also happening Tuesday night was the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the city’s 100th anniversary of becoming an incorporated city.
That incorporation happened way back in 1922, for those of you not quick in the math department.
Majewski said the dual honors made it a “historic moment” for the city.
As for her honorary street sign, she said:
“This is a great honor, and I’m very moved by it. When I was persuaded to run for city council back in 2003, I was full of apprehension not just about the difficulties of elected office in a city like Hamtramck, but about the ways my life plans, my career, my direction, would change.
“I was right — my life did profoundly change, and my career did shift direction. But the journey was also a great and challenging gift, and this final gift from the city is a most touching culmination.”
As for others in town who have received honorary street signs, they include: Kozaren (a sidestreet near the Wayne County Jail on Conant), former City Councilmember Abdul Algazali on Jos. Campau, Hamtramck’s Little League baseball legend Art “Pinky” Deras at a sidestreet near the historic baseball stadium, former pastor of Corinthian Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Joseph R. Jordan on Caniff and a sign on Conant honoring the Bangladeshi community.
Posted July 15, 2022