DEARBORN HEIGHTS – Business owner and longtime Dearborn Heights resident Jamal Bazzi has announced his run for one of three City Council seats in the Aug. 6 primary election.

He took time during a busy day of campaigning and knocking on doors in the city this week to talk to The Arab American News about his background and his hopes for the city’s future.

“I believe in our community and its future,” he said. “(If elected), I look forward to working with my colleagues to develop and execute strategies to solve our city’s most important issues.”

Bazzi has lived in Dearborn Heights for more than 20 years. He is married and has five children, all of whom attend schools in Dearborn Heights.

He said he wants to promote and work on creating safer neighborhoods, improving city services such as snow plowing on side streets, building new youth and senior programs, creating transparency in city government and economic and community development.

“I want to work with business owners to open more businesses, whether it’s in the south end of Dearborn Heights or the north end,” he said. “It’s all one city and I would like to work with all the business owners in the area.”

Bazzi owns several gas stations and Subway franchises in the Metro Detroit area.

He hopes to work with Council members to “develop and execute a coherent plan” for issues like the Ecorse Creek, which has created flooding problems in the south end of the city, the Van Born Corridor Economic Development and creating more first responder, firefighter and police support.

He said he’s running for City Council in order to be further involved in the community.

“I see that our city could definitely use more prosperity,” he said. “Dearborn Heights is a beautiful city and is well known all over the world. I travel to Africa and Lebanon and Dearborn and Dearborn Heights are famous.

“We are known for our great food, different ethnicities and how we all get along well. I want to be more involved and listen to residents and their concerns and address them correctly.”

He said he’s aware of the problems plaguing the city at this moment, with the government embroiled in lawsuits and some members of City Council suspicious of Mayor Paletko’s administration.

On his campaign Facebook page, Bazzi also said he believes Dearborn Heights needs a dissolution of political gridlock and bureaucracy so that City Council initiatives and agendas can be implemented, not stalled.

“I have had a positive meeting with Mayor Paletko as well as a few Council members,” he said. “It was a friendly gesture towards all of them. We can all work together to better our city and resolve issues positively instead of bickering with each other.”