Last week, the City Council withheld payment to Detroit for water and sewer service. It’s a tit for tat situation since Detroit is withholding a $3 million payment that Hamtramck insists is owed.

The dispute is about a tax revenue sharing plan the two cities have regarding the GM Poletown plant. Detroit says it has overpaid Hamtramck, while Hamtramck says that is not true.

In the meantime, city officials have been forced to lay off city employees because the non-payment has crippled our budget.

One clever way to fight back while Detroit ponders the situation was to stop monthly payments on water and sewer service. It’s no small sum either. Hamtramck pays out $230,000 a month for the service.

That cost is staggering. It also makes one wonder how Detroit can possibly justify charging a little city like Hamtramck so much money. Other communities have challenged Detroit to make public how water and sewer rates are determined, but Detroit has refused.

It seems to us Hamtramck needs to join this challenge and force Detroit to come clean about how it runs its water department.

Four percent.

As outrageous as that figure is, a more important one was noted in the story. The department collects about $1 million a year from a special property tax levy that voters have supported twice since 1997.

That’s great.

Every city should have a recreation program. But the thing is, Hamtramck is not a wealthy town. The department costs way too much. It can be broken down to costing every resident $454 each year. That’s a whopping amount of money.

We bet if you simply gave everyone $454 a year they could come up with their own recreation.

But seriously, that’s an insane amount of money and worse, the department ends up spending half of it on salaries and benefits. Yes, it’s nice that jobs are provided, but not at this price tag.

There is no plan to start an endowment– as first promised when the tax was proposed – to keep the department up and running after the tax runs out. Instead, the public is offered a series of lame programs and events that rarely draw many people.

There seems to be a disconnect between the department and the public. It’s time we re-evaluate the department, its funding and who should manage it. We need to have a public debate about the department’s future.

This is our money and we have every right to make the necessary changes.

In a special City Council meeting called to discuss the city’s finances, City Manager Bill Cooper said – more or less — it looks inevitable that Hamtramck will be heading into state receivership.

Hamtramck’s budget outlook nose-dived within the past year, starting with a dispute with the City of Detroit over how much both cities share in tax revenue from GM’s Poletown plant.

Bottom line: Detroit is holding back $3 million – so far – that Hamtramck had been expecting and already budgeted. An audit is being done to clear up the dispute, but the matter could drag out indefinitely.

In the meantime, Hamtramck doesn’t have enough money to pay all its bills, and the city will be forced to use up its $2 million rainy day fund. By this time next year there won’t be anything left in the fund.

Cooper is mulling over a few ideas on how to survive, including merging police and fire services. But in order to make a major restructuring of the city, the state will have to place it under the control of an emergency financial manager.

While the financial manager won’t have the power to break union employee contracts, the manager can ask state officials to make the necessary changes.

In the coming years, folks, Hamtramck will undergo a change in how it operates. Hopefully, for most people there won’t be a difference in quality of life. But considering how deep in trouble the economy is, we as a region and a country are in for the long haul before things get better.

The number one thing hurting communities here and elsewhere? Jobs. Too many good-paying jobs have been lost. Without jobs, people can’t pay their mortgages and basic needs and therefore cities lose out on tax collections.

We’ve said this before and we will continue to bang this drum: the US needs to force manufacturers to return our jobs from offshore or the security of our nation will be deeply weakened.

That should be a rallying point for anyone who wishes to be elected to office.

It’s outrageous that the department collects $1 million a year and spends half of it — $500,000 – on salaries and benefits. Good grief, a small city like Hamtramck should have a recreation program that costs NO MORE than half a million dollars a year.

What do we get for the money?

Looking at past audits, it doesn’t appear to be too much. It hasn’t been until the last year or so that the department went on a spending spree, buying playscapes and building a splash pad. The department offers some measly programs during the year and several subsidized field trips for kids and adults.

The splash pad is a particular example of the right intentions but the wrong decisions by management. In our opinion, taxpayers got soaked on this one. After spending $115,000 for a spit-sized slab of concrete, Recreation Director Craig Daniels limits the hours of use from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. throughout the week – denying kids a chance to cool off during the day.

In other cities kids are allowed to use the pads throughout the day without the need of supervision. Daniels insists on having a lifeguard on duty, which is why there are extremely limited hours for use.

We asked a playground supervisor at Pulaski Park, where the pad is located, what kids can do to cool off and we were told that lawn sprinklers are available.

Why did the department even bother to build a splash pad if the only option for kids to cool off is to use sprinklers? The department could have saved taxpayers a boatload of money by just setting out several sprinklers for kids to run through.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that there is no oversight of the department. Daniels has reacted with hostility and an exaggerated sense of being picked on when School Boardmembers dare to question him.

He has snapped at us, saying he has no obligation to answer our questions. Someone needs to remind Daniels that he indeed owes answers to taxpayers and those who represent their best interests.

It all just makes you wonder what is going on over there.

This building is historical in itself. It was built by World War I veterans in 1925, and has been the PLAV home since then. How many buildings can claim that in Hamtramck – to have one owner for 85 years and be used for the same purpose all those years?

Having been a member of Post I for over 30 years, I am thrilled that it will now be preserved for future history as well as past.

Joan Barrios
Hamtramck

But it is yet another example of these hard financial times and how when things get tough, Hamtramck pulls together.

With just three days until layoffs take effect in City Hall, the union representing those workers agreed to contract concessions. The city hall employee union, AFSCME 666, agreed to 26 days off without pay over the next two years and a wage freeze, among other concessions.

In return, city management must not layoff employees for the next two years or the deal is off.

City Manager Bill Cooper has countered, saying the city can’t guarantee there won’t be a need to lay off employees since future revenues may continue to nose-dive and the cost of health insurance will likely continue to jack up.

If the union is truly united, it would accept Cooper’s counter offer and cross its fingers that things at least won’t get worse — financially-speaking — during the next two years.

There truly is no guarantee on how things will go. Obviously, if the city needs to trim costs to avoid going into deficit spending, which is illegal, it has to do what has to do.

Hamtramck is facing a $700,000 deficit by this time next year, which will force it to dip into the city’s savings. That savings account, at $2 million, will be gone within two years if revenues don’t increase.

Cooper has asked for all four of its city employee unions to agree to concessions. The firefighters’ union agreed to some, namely waiving its 3 percent salary raise this year.

The two police officers’ unions have refused to make any concessions.

We can understand why city employees would be reluctant to concessions, because times are tough for them too. But the reality is, many cities are being forced to make huge cuts and lay off their employees – including police officers and firefighters.

Heck, the state-appointed emergency financial manager in Ecorse just raised property taxes by 10 mills.

Which drives home this point: Homeowners here in Hamtramck also have to shoulder some of the financial pain. And city councilmembers have to man-up and increase the city’s property tax rate to its cap.

So far, only Mayor Karen Majewski and Councilmembers Catrina Stackpoole and Shahab Ahmed have voted for the 2.3 mill increase. Other councilmembers have taken the cowardly route by refusing to support this sensible small tax increase.

Not raising taxes is a very safe way to vote and a way to appease voters. But it’s not leadership. It’s not being responsible. Anyone can play it safe and make voters happy.

A leader, however, is brave enough to go against the will of the voters in order to ensure this city’s financial stability.

Councilmembers Cathie Gordon, Kazi Miah, Tom Jankowski and Mohammed Hassan: Stand up and do the right thing – even if it means losing a few votes come re-election.

If they aren’t willing to be responsible, you can bet that when the city exhausts its rainy day fund and goes broke, the state will appoint an emergency financial manager who won’t hesitate to raise taxes.

At that point the only accomplishment these four councilmembers will be able to“boast” about is that they lost control of the city.

Ceremonies were attended by Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski and most of the City Council. Also in attendance were a group of veterans that are residents of Hamilton Nursing home in Detroit.

Many residents came to honor the fallen soldiers that have paid the ultimate price with their lives to grant all of us our freedoms we enjoy being citizens of the greatest democratic nation the world has ever known.

We owe the men and women who serve in the United States of America Armed Forces the utmost gratitude.

So again, thanks to all who attended both at Hamtramck Memorial Park and afterward at PLAV Post 10 for coming to celebrate these fine Americans living and deceased.

David Pomainville
PLAV Post 10

While we still think it pays to have a professional in charge of running a festival of this size, something’s come up to change our mind.

A group of young enthusiastic and connected people have stepped up to volunteer to organize this year’s festival. Judging by what they had already planned out and where they wanted to take the festival, and the fact that the mayor and city manager are on board, it just might work.

The group is connected to a lot of local folks who have promised to donate their time and services, and even city officials have said they will pitch in all they can.

Bottom line, it looks like this could not only work but be a success, albeit on a scaled-down level.

We have a story in this issue about some of the details being talked about. We’re sure you’ll agree once you read it that these volunteers are on the right path.

The important thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people from outside the city are expecting the festival. If we hold off this year and wait for better times, we may forever lose that audience.

Hamtramck needs the festival. We need to promote the city, and we need to feel good about ourselves, especially in these financially trying times.

Hamtramck is a small city but it is a city with a wonderful heritage. This is a heritage, which must be preserved and passed on to our children. Study after study shows that American children are not being taught their heritage and do not understand in any meaningful way the unique story of the American struggle for freedom and self-determination.

This should change not only at the national level but right here in our own hometown. A community historical museum will help to strengthen our children’s understanding of the history of our city. In doing this, we are building their commitment to our city, a commitment, which will last their lifetime. In the end, this will build a stronger city for us all.

In addition, the history of Hamtramck is rich in the proud exploits of the labor movement. Our workers and citizens were heroic leaders in the founding of the UAW and other unions. Now more than ever in these hard economic times, their stories need to be told and passed on to the next generation, so they are not forgotten.

If one goes to the Veteran’s Monument in Veteran’s Park and counts the names of the residents who gave their lives for our country, one can only be amazed at how such a small city could make so great a sacrifice.

A community historical museum will be able to highlight the greatness of these young men so as to inspire both our children and adults. The residents who made the ultimate sacrifice will no longer be names on a marble stone but can in a sense come back to life in a section of the museum dedicated to residents who have served in the armed forces.

Our city is named after a great American hero, John Francis Hamtramck and is honored to be his final resting place. But who in the city really knows his story, how he left Quebec as a teen to join his destiny to our new nation?

How many of us know that he fought all through the American Revolution and was one of the officers who helped lead the charge at Yorktown that won the Revolution?

How many of us know that at the Battle of Fallen Timbers he helped free Michigan from the British and then became the first American Commander of Detroit?

A museum will change that by helping to tell the story of this great hero.

Finally a Hamtramck historical museum will highlight the story of our people and the journey they made to come here from all around the world. African Americans, Poles, Ukrainians, Albanians, Yemeni and other Arabic people, Bosnians and Bangladeshi all have found their way to Hamtramck. This is truly a great story, which can and must be told. A Hamtramck community museum will strengthen us both as individual ethnic groups and as the one people we are.

One final way a historical museum will assist the city is in economic development. Hamtramck has been home to many families and individuals who have a great love for the city. In addition it is such an outstanding example of diversity that there is a real regional and even national interest in it. A community museum will have a multiplying effect by bringing in new visitors and former residents who will eat at our restaurants, shop at our stores and may even decide to live here.

A community historical museum is a small investment, which will pay off in so many ways. It is our hope that the City of Hamtramck will make a Hamtramck Historical Museum a reality.

Thomas Cervenak

Executive Director
People’s Community Services

Baseball historian Gary Gillette brought up very significant incentives in the potential preservation of the grandstands such as Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, as well as potential grants.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Negro League Baseball Parks one of the “Top Eleven Endangered Historic Sites” in America this year. The timing to recognize our grandstands in Hamtramck and to fundraise for their preservation is urgent.
Your story did much to gain recognition of the grandstands’ place in Hamtramck history and did much to help change opinions.

Rebecca Binno Savage

Hamtramck