For the past two weeks we have explored a very curious situation.
During this past school board election, it came to light that some candidates own houses in another city, and claim to live there through the Homestead tax exemption.
Yet at the same time, they also claimed to live here.
Which is it?
There have been other candidates in past years who have raised suspicions that they don’t really live here.
It appears that for some, Hamtramck is a political playground. It’s where people get to play the political game here and go home in the suburbs at night, far away from Hamtramck.
We know Hamtramck can be infectious, in the sense that if you have lived here and then moved away, there is something about Hamtramck that pulls one back.
But seriously, what is the motivation of some who claim residency in more than one city yet run for office here?
What immediately strikes us is that there is an ulterior motive other than being able to boast you are an elected official.
And there is the special case where some have claimed their spouse lives in another city, but they live here, separately. Doesn’t that stretch believability?
Are we supposed to believe that these folks are living apart from their spouse in order to serve some higher purpose by being a Hamtramck elected official?
Oh, how noble and self-sacrificing these folks are!
Yeah, sure.
Again, it brings up the question of motive, and what are they getting out of it.
It would be nice if those in charge would look deeper into this strange phenomenon happening in Hamtramck. But we realize Hamtramck is a small concern compared to the other problems cities face.
Ultimately it’s up to voters to weigh in on this matter.
Roadman
November 15, 2014 at 1:37 am
It is not a strange phenomenon – because if you are Bengali you can easily get elected in Hamtramck.
Huda may be trying to use the school board seat to give him public exposure in the upcoming years to position himself for a future mayoral run.
The Bengali community believes that they will have one of theirs in office in the mayor’s seat after the next election.
Remember when Antelope, Oregon became Rajneeshpuram?
MR
November 17, 2014 at 10:56 am
I’m Bengali, although I didnt vote this year (I am a registered voter in a different city and even though I have my old Hamtramck voting card, I choose not to abuse the system), I have never voted a Bengali official. These candidates are all inexperienced and dont even know the full “job details” of the position they are running for. If you’re running for school board and have businesses and taxing as an issue you would like to address, then you need to sit your *** down and look at your schools.
I’ve re-elected Mayor Majewski because she knew what she was doing. She had experience, is ACTIVE in municipal activities, attends meetings on behalf of our city in Ann Arbor, and even has a degree in American Culture. I do my research before voting.
There is no way in hell that I would vote for somebody because “theyre my own kind”.
Its just these older Bengali folks who want their third world politics (Bangladeshi people are awesome, but Bangladesh government is trash) to come over here. Younger generations like us hate this ideology. They have different political parties in Bangladesh clashing everyday, destroying buses, setting things on fire, destroying infrastructure and etc. What kind of example is your political party setting for themselves.
Unfortunately, these political parties have made their way into our community. We have “BNP” and “Awami League” and all of these political groups here. WHY? Why do you need to build a political group here? They have no intentions of using their political groups for something here but just as a support to which political group they belong to in their home country. I find it really unnecessary. Remember the two groups of Bengali people who were fighting to get an honorary name for a street in Hamtramck? The battle between the honorary name was because of the political background. Psssht. We dont need that here. What did that “honorary person” do to better us here in the United States?
To all future Bangladeshi candidates: Know how the American government works, from federal level to municipal, with at least a strong emphasis on municipal. Start small, get involved in community activities. and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GO TO QUESTIONING PANELS! When you dont show up to a panel, you automatically lose my vote. It just shows how much you care for our city.
I love being Bangladeshi and have nothing against Bangladeshi people. But these candidates are making us look really bad. The older generations are making us look bad.
Mamazi
November 17, 2014 at 8:07 pm
Mohammed Huda and Ataur Khan I want to see how you guys going to lower the houses and businesses taxes as HPS candidates. This was said just to get the votes, you candidates know but lied and gave the wrong message to the hamtramck residents. Please show us how you going to do that or tell the truth why you guys said this.
Hala
November 17, 2014 at 8:14 pm
Huda, any plans on making charter schools since you became a HPS board member? As you know we know what’s in your head.
Sanzida Rai
November 18, 2014 at 12:07 am
I am happy to see citizens from minority communities are getting involved in politics. As citizen our first and foremost duty is to participate in election, both by voting and also by running for electoral offices. Voters in the city of Hamtramck should be happy that they now have a school board that is diverse and represents minority communities of the city. New board members have good educational background with one of them having more than one masters degree including one in Education. I am confident they will bring positive energy in the board. Bangladeshi-American voters, in particular, should be proud of them.
Mo
November 18, 2014 at 1:13 am
We need better candidates for the city for any public position. I think we all agree on this, but the residents is being confused and told wrong information by some candidates, to take advantage of the voters. All future candidates PLEASE think before running for any election.
Nazi
November 22, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Yeah, one of them has education but what about the rest of the candidates. The one that has education go find what intention he came with to become HPS board member, because his mind is in making charter schools and making money somehow.