Relative prosperity of Hammtramck

[Hamtragedy]

Two things:

If Hamtramck is to remain viable it must step up code enforcement on some of the businesses and not just landlords. It must respond to neighbors complaints the first time when a complaint is received by their office, because, frankly, I finally got tired of calling about the trash the bar down the alley throws over the fence into the alley, or the dumping that remains in alleys off of Jos. Campau all summer long while several businesses are "remodelling." The proliferation of amateurishly painted signs also needs to be reigned in. And I'm sorry, some of the businesses should not be allowed to open until the exteriors meet a required standard. Brick covered in Liquid Nails looks great to some people, but not to me or the neighbors. And if I see another beautiful brick building get painted tan, sans primer,.....................

Second, Hamtramck needs to recognize how important their border blocks are. Because the residences and landlords of my block manage to maintain their own properties, [[and often maintain several other properties), the several blocks south of us are the direct beneficiaries of our efforts. If our block falls, then the northern portion west of Campau is in trouble. We call police, we call about issues in regards to code enforcement. We hate when our complaints are not addressed. This needs to change.

[Modusvivendi]

The fact that Hammtramck is surrounded by Detroit but doing so much better makes you wonder whether Detroit could have done some of the same things Hammtramck has done to maintain itself as a viable and intact community. Comparing hammtramck with Highland Park is even more interesting. Both are of relatively similar sizes, but HP is worse than most of Detroit while hammtramck is not. Makes you think that somewhere along the way HP really made some bad choices. Although perhaps the tight knit ethnic community of hammtramck was just an intangible asset that couldn't be duplicated elsewhere.

[Baron_Haussmann]

Days Fashion is not closed or closing. The owner actually just spent several hundred thousand dollars to combine two stores directly across the street to make a new bridal store named "Your Special Day." He is selling Days Fashion merchandise out of this building while he makes similar upgrades to the original Days building which will reopen in about a month.

The word on the street is that the CIty is about to announce a redevelopment plan for Shopper's Word that will include new lofts and refurbished retail on the first floor.

There have been some stores on Joseph Campau close over the past few years, but several have opened as well - Value World, Maria's Mex-Asian Fusion, The Yoga Suite, Lo & Behold Records - just to name a few.

Don't forget about indie shops such at Detroit Threads, Record Graveyard, Recycled Treasures, and the Detroit Zen Center Living Organic Cafe and Market. There are also a ton of restaurants, bars, and grocery stores ranging from the Polish Market, to the European Market, to the Hamtramck Islamic Market.

In addition to all of the smaller indie stuff mentioned above, there is a good mix of chain retail ranging from CVS, to Auto Zone, to Mr. Allens, Payless and Footlocker.

It may be rough around the edges, but I would hardly say Joseph Campau is dying.

[RickBeall]

And what is this "relative prosperity" of Hamtramck? We live like kings. :-)

[rjk]

If Hamtramck is to remain viable it must step up code enforcement on some of the businesses and not just landlords. It must respond to neighbors complaints the first time when a complaint is received by their office, because, frankly, I finally got tired of calling about the trash the bar down the alley throws over the fence into the alley, or the dumping that remains in alleys off of Jos. Campau all summer long while several businesses are "remodelling." .

Hamtramck does have a big problem with litter. Whenever I take some of my Polish relatives who live out of state to Hamtramck they always comment how dirty JC looks.

[Danny]

The relative prosperity of Hamtramck is largely due to its being its own political entitity. If Detroit owned Hamtramck, then Hamtramck would have been treated like Delray or Poletown.

Are we saved by the immigrants? Yes! But why do they come to Hamtramck instead of Delray? Delray was ethnically very similiar to Hamtramck. It is because we have our own little government, fire dept, and police force. We sometimes do not know how we are going to continue to pay for our city services, especially when you factor in the retired city workers of various sorts, but those city workers give the rest of us enough safety to live our day to day lives.

Let's compare Del-Ray to Hamtramck.

Del-Ray was and still is a early boomtown area. Immigrants from Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia come to work in its River Rouge plants to the underground salt and coke mines. This is from 1900 to 1970s. When suburban development loomed in most downriver areas and other Del-Ray neighborhoods were slum cleared to expand its plants, lots of its future descendents quickly move away. The area was replaced by Appalachians, few blacks and later Mexicans and other Latinos. By then Del-Ray neighborhoods became an instant ghetto and fell into despair, a blighted urban prarie with little or no new housing development.


Hamtramck was and still is early boomtowm area. Immigrants from Germany, Poland, Albania, Czechoslovakia come to work in the Packard Plants, Ford Highland Park Assembly Plant and other plants around Detroit and Highland Park borders. By the 1950s most suburban areas like Warren and Sterling Hieghts had offered GM, Ford and Chrsyler cheap open land, they built their factories along Van Dyke and Mound area to 20 Mile Rd. Thanks to those Automotive plants, suburban development increased and lots of second to fourth generation descendents left Hamtramck. Then as Poletown was destroyed by Coleman A. Young and his friends from General Motors and Chrysler to build their main plant, Hamtramck was replace by new immigrants from Yemen, India, Bengladesh, Sri Lanki. However there are some Poles, Albanians left in Hamtramck.

[GUSHI]

hamtramck, prosperity, same sentence. The south side is ghetto. Miller Dorothy, Oliver all ghetto, the north side even more ghetto. With the future closing of catholic church, those neighborhoods gonna be come hoods to.

[gameguy56]

hamtramck, prosperity, same sentence. The south side is ghetto. Miller Dorothy, Oliver all ghetto, the north side even more ghetto. With the future closing of catholic church, those neighborhoods gonna be come hoods to.

The area is only 22% polish now. I think there's already been a demographic shift towards new immigrants as opposed to the existing catholic poles.

[GUSHI]

The area is only 22% polish now. I think there's already been a demographic shift towards new immigrants as opposed to the existing catholic poles.

The new wave is mostly Islamic, you may have a few poles and Albanians that live there that are catholic, the older poles are dying out, the Albanians moving out if they can afford it, I went to st lads and florian, campau has changed, I just hope they don't close florian or lads, would be a shame,

[rjk]

I read in the Hamtramck newspaper that Florian has a $1.85 million dollar dept from keeping their two schools open. I believe the HS closed in 02 and the GS a few years later.

[Modusvivendi]

So if immigration has been a strength for hamtramck and other places like Dearborn, it makes me wonder if eventually those areas might start growing into Detroit and revitalize it that way. If Detroit generally continues it's trend of depopulating, perhaps there will be such a vacuum that hamtramck can slowly expand and fill in some of the surrounding areas after they become vacant. That's just my random musing and I realize that for that kind of growth to change Detroit it would have to occur over a period of decades. But if immigration to hamtramck remains high it could be a source of hope not just for hamtramck but for Detroit as well.

[Detroitnerd]

So if immigration has been a strength for hamtramck and other places like Dearborn, it makes me wonder if eventually those areas might start growing into Detroit and revitalize it that way. If Detroit generally continues it's trend of depopulating, perhaps there will be such a vacuum that hamtramck can slowly expand and fill in some of the surrounding areas after they become vacant. That's just my random musing and I realize that for that kind of growth to change Detroit it would have to occur over a period of decades. But if immigration to hamtramck remains high it could be a source of hope not just for hamtramck but for Detroit as well.

That's already sort of happening, as Bangladeshi immigrants populate the neighborhood north of Carpenter and between Gallagher and Conant.