By Charles Sercombe Recycling is coming to Hamtramck in a big way. But not in the way you would think. This isn’t about home recycling. It’s about a huge plant that will sort out paper, plastics, Styrofoam and other office waste products, as well as light industrial metals, and turn them right around into more [...]
By Charles Sercombe As Pontiac firefighters marked the last day of the Pontiac Fire Department on Wednesday, Hamtramck firefighters had mixed feelings. Actually, there seems to be confusion among firefighters over who to blame for the department’s closing: Pontiac Emergency Financial Manager Lou Schimmel or firefighters with Waterford Township, or Pontiac firefighters themselves? Let’s back [...]
By Charles Sercombe The word is getting out. School is the place to be. For parents. A new group of parents have formed a Parent Teacher Association in the public and charter schools, and are seeking to get more parents involved. So far, 50 members have joined. Leaders of the new group recently met with [...]
By Charles Sercombe Hamtramck’s finances look really good. Well, for the fiscal year of 2011 — which ended last June 30 — that is. That was the word from the city’s audit company, Alan C. Young & Associates. Jay Wilds, who represented the company, met with the city council Tuesday night and gave a brief [...]
By Charles Sercombe We are now three weeks into the New Year, and it’s time to polish our crystal ball and take a look into the year ahead. What do we have to look forward to in 2012? Well, the big story of 2011 was new housing development, and that issue will still dominate the [...]
By Charles Sercombe Hamtramck’s financial survival may depend on two key things: Providing police and fire services to Highland Park, and getting retired public employees to agree to a less expensive health insurance and/or kick in co-pays. Those topics were among several options and issues raised in a budget work session for city council on [...]
By Charles Sercombe and Alan R. Madeleine Let’s all kiss the year 2011 good-bye and say good riddance. It’s now a new year that’s worthy of a new attitude. In with sunny optimism, and out with cranky cynicism. Yes, it’s time once again to take a look at what to welcome in and what to [...]
By Charles Sercombe Hamtramck police officers may be the first group of Michigan public employees to challenge a new state law. Officers here got a Wayne County Circuit Court injunction, from Judge Robert Ziolkowski, to temporarily halt a city health insurance plan. The new plan calls for officers to carry most of the weight of [...]
What is our City Council up to these days? We have the highlights of the latest council meeting. By Charles Sercombe The city council met on Jan. 10 with only Mayor Karen Majewski absent. The meeting ran for two hours. Councilmember Abdul Algazali took over chairing the meeting until the council agreed on a mayor [...]
By Charles Sercombe The year 2011 is now old news. But the year did produce one major story – albeit a story that’s been told before. The year’s “Newsmaker of the Year” award (sorry, no drum roll this year, we had to cut back on costs) goes to Hamtramck’s $15 million housing redevelopment story. Think [...]
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