Community needs to pull together to avoid blight

I am a member of the South-end Block Club, and would like to bring your attention to the state of our beautiful, diverse city.

I am sure you have seen various news reports about murders, beatings and robberies of old people on the television, but there are a lot of things going on that have not hit the 6 o’clock news but are still very real here. A few months back an ice cream truck was robbed and a family beaten on the same block on the same day and another resident on the same street has been broken into three times in one month.

Another resident from the senior center was knocked over on her bike while riding down Joseph Campau on the sidewalk and was run over by a young person and was severely injured. I have other stories that are too numerous to list. The problem is not the Hamtramck Police Department, which has a very quick response time when called, but it is coming from lack of caring in the entire community of the citizens who turn their heads much too quickly and don’t want to get involved and from the landlords who are more worried about money than they are in having good tenants in their houses.

Our neighborhoods are full of trash up and down certain streets and around many of the stores dumpsters are overflowing. I was born and raised in the city of Detroit and know for a fact that it once was a very beautiful city, but one just has to watch the news and see what happens when people stop caring about their community.

One way to start having your voices and concerns heard is by showing up to the Block Club meetings on the last Thursday of every month on the corner of Danforth and Jos. Campau at 6:30 p.m. This is a good community with a lot of good people of all colors, backgrounds nationalities and religions. Let’s pull together as one community and show everybody how it’s done Hamtramck style. (For more info about the Block Club call 313-999-5483 or 313-418-2097.)

Kimberly Gretsinger
Hamtramck