March 8th, 20240
Hamtramck City Councilman Khalil Refai unveiled Palestine Avenue on Thursday afternoon after the City Council passed Resolution 2023-184 in December to rename a section of Holbrook street as a symbolic gesture of remembrance and support to the people of Gaza.
The honorary Palestine Avenue is located between Buffalo and Saint Aubin...
August 12th, 20230HAMTRAMCK – Voters in the Aug. 8 primary election rejected the school millage renewal and elected six City Council candidates, including five Muslims and an LGBTQ supporter, to advance to the November elections and compete for the three open seats.
Lynn Blasey, who favors the flying of LGBTQ+ flags on government property, came in...
August 4th, 20231HAMTRAMCK – On Tuesday, August 8, voters in Hamtramck will go to the polls to elect six out of the nine candidates who are vying for three seats on the City Council. Those six candidates will face off in November to fill the three seats, which are for four-year terms. In addition, Hamtramck voters will also have to decide on a public...
January 25th, 20220HAMTRAMCK — The Hamtramck City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday to censure a judge who made national headlines for shaming and berating a 72-year-old cancer patient for not maintaining his yard.
The Hamtramck community was outraged over remarks made by Judge Alexis Krot towards Burhan Chowdhury in a court appearance over Zoom earlier this...
January 4th, 20220HAMTRAMCK — New members of Hamtramck’s first all-Muslim City Council and its first Muslim Arab American mayor, Amer Ghalib, were sworn in on Sunday, Jan. 2
Judge Alexis Krot swore in Ghalib and new Council members Khalil Al-Refai, Amanda Jaczkowski and Adam Albarmaki. They joined current Councilmen Mohammed Hassan and Mohammed...
October 30th, 20211The Arab American News interviewed the six candidates who are running for the three seats on the Hamtramck City Council and have decided to endorse the following three candidates for the four-year term.
Khalil Refai
Khalil Refai is the front-runner during this election, leading in the polls during the August primary. Recently, he has...
August 3rd, 20212Correction: And earlier version of this story mistakenly noted that Amer Ghalib is the first Muslim primary front-runner in a Hamtramck mayoral election. Abdul Algazali beat current Karen Majewski by 31 votes in 2013's primary election.
HAMTRAMCK — Yemeni American mayoral candidate Amer Ghalib became the front-runner in the Aug. 3...
May 19th, 20210HAMTRAMCK — The city of Hamtramck, known to be the nation’s first Muslim-majority city, is the subject of a documentary set to makes its broadcast premiere on the WORLD Channel (formerly PBS WORLD) on Tuesday, May 25.
A synopsis for the documentary, titled Hamtramck, USA, says it "goes behind the scenes of small-town politics,"...
April 22nd, 20210HAMTRAMCK — After Tuesday’s filing deadline for the upcoming races for Hamtramck mayor and three Council seats, the city now has a tentative list of candidates for an important 2021 election.
The following candidate list is up to date as of Saturday, as candidates had the option to drop out by Friday, April 23.
Hamtramck City...
December 4th, 20200HAMTRAMCK — Construction on a third recreational marijuana retail outlet appears to be underway in Hamtramck, just as a majority of its City Council prepares to prohibit such establishments in the city.
The building is located on Jos Campau and Commor Street, and was the former location of Three Star BBQ. Building records show Puff...
November 13th, 20200HAMTRAMCK — By a 3-2 vote during Tuesday’s Hamtramck City Council meeting, the Council removed member Ian Perrotta from his position as mayor pro tem. Following the vote, Councilman Fadel Al-Marsoumi was appointed the city's new pro tem.
The pro temp, or pro tempore, performs mayoral duties in the absence of its mayor, should the...
November 6th, 20200HAMTRAMCK — A majority of Hamtramck voters said no to two proposals that would eliminate City Charter language that establishes and guarantees a fire and police department, and their chiefs.
Proposals 1 and 2 had been hotly contested, dividing much of the city between those who see the departments as having an undue strain on the...
November 3rd, 20200HAMTRAMCK — Precincts in Hamtramck showed a steady turn out by late afternoon, though the Election Day turn out seemed to be lower than expected for a major election.
Hamtramck City Clerk August Gitschlag told The Arab American News that only 5,183 absentee ballots had been returned as of 3:30 p.m. Just under 700 AV were still...
October 30th, 20201HAMTRAMCK — A petition for the recall of Hamtramck City Councilman Ian Perrotta now has more than 1,300 signatures, according to a press release put out by Councilman Mohammed Hassan this week.
Hassan, who is leading the effort to recall Perrotta for abusive behavior against city employees, had 60 days to gather about 1,300...
October 9th, 20200HAMTRAMCK — The Wayne County Election Commission has approved ballot language for a proposal to recall Hamtramck City Councilman Ian Perrotta.
The proposal, spearheaded by Councilman Mohammed Hassan, seeks to recall Perrotta for angry outbursts, most recently directed at a city employee. Perrotta has been censured by the Hamtramck...
September 22nd, 20202HAMTRAMCK — Almost a month after censuring Councilman Ian Perrotta, some Hamtramck Council members are now taking steps to remove him from office.
A press release put out by Councilman Mohammed Hassan says six current and former Hamtramck City Council members are joining "community leaders and residents" to recall the two-term...
August 28th, 20204HAMTRAMCK — In a meeting on Aug. 25, the Hamtramck City Council voted 4-2 on a resolution to condemn and censure comments made by Mayor Pro Tem Ian Perrotta against a city employee in June.
The resolution contains the colorful language used by Perrotta against the city employee, who had informed Perrotta that his petition to...
July 16th, 20200HAMTRAMCK — The Hamtramck City Council passed a resolution on Tuesday denouncing the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which took effect in India last December, making it the fifth U.S. city to make such a stand against India’s widely criticized new law.
The group Coalition of Americans for Pluralism in India...
July 21st, 20170HAMTRAMCK — When the voters of Hamtramck elected four Muslims to the City Council in 2015, it made headlines nationally and internationally on media outlets like the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, CNN, Fox News and more as a seemingly oxymoronic move in an "American city"— as if those public officials' Islamic faith...
