This meeting was canceled for lack of quorum when Shahab Ahmed, Scott Klein, Alan Shulgon, and Karen Majewski failed to attend.
Zwolak said they needed to elect a new mayor pro tem, and nominated Algazali. He said Ahmed received a $1700 pay raise for being appointed to mayor pro tem and failed to show twice. Solidarity members did not inform the others that they were boycotting the meeting.
Zwolak suggested that Crawford give a report. He apologized to George of the White Star bar for holding up his license transfer and to the citizens for not conducting city business. He asked if anything required scheduling of a special meeting.

Babij called the roll, and explained that no decisions could be made due to lack of quorum. Algazali apologized to the owner of the White Star and suggested a special meeting. Zwolak asked if it would be possible to have a special meeting next week. Crawford said it was possible.
Crawford read a communication from Klein. Klein is attending a MSHDA conference in Chicago with Majewski. Klein asked that the e-mail be printed and given to other councilmembers, not forwarded. Shulgon called and said he had to go to a dentist in Washington Township.
Crawford said they had failed to establish a public hearing on the proposed roll-off container ordinance, which was just as well since there was no quorum.
Crawford read the consent agenda. The girl scouts will be selling nuts and/or cookies from October 1-22, December 10-19, and February 8 to April 1.
10 buildings have been demolished through Wayne County Nuisance abatement in the past year, and more are scheduled. A list of properties that the owners promised to fix and didn’t will be going to court on October 16. There are a lot more demolitions coming, and the city doesn’t have the money to purchase them all and tear them down. 28 properties north of Caniff are on the list.
The city will borrow money for repaving service drives until it is reimbursed by grants. The grants should be in before the project is complete. Construction should occur next summer.
The tax abatement for R-31 properties is required by the consent decree, and the NEZ certificates are for condos where the city-owned post office parking was on Mitchell Street.
Progress has been made on Alice street. There have been some surprises. The water to Metropolitan Bakery was accidentally shut off because their line was connected to a little old line on Alice instead of a major line. Some water customers will have a brief outage when the switch to the new line takes place. They began connecting properties to it that day. The streets will be repaved when the connections are completed. The concrete on Alice Street was three layers deep and two feet thick in places. The detention basin at JC and Holbrook is enclosed and ready for something to happen. Other street maintenance will be completed in the next two weeks.
Hood asked why he and others on council are not in the loop on absences and Cities of Promise seminars. The full council doesn’t get reports. He asked why the state is flying people to Chicago when they are going bankrupt.
Zwolak asked if the $2 million adjustment had been made. Crawford said they probably fixed it because they knew what they needed to do, but he hadn’t been informed.
Algazali verified there was no letter from Ahmed or Majewski regarding their absences.
Zwolak asked about progress on the profiling ordinance. Crawford said Allen was circulating the draft from Detroit to interested organizations before presenting it.
Zwolak suggested public comments. Algazali opened the floor.
Beatrice Woods called DTE about a light at 5056 Evaline, and a woman named Carolyn said they would fix it in 2 weeks. It was done in a few days. She told Carolyn about the traffic light on Edwin and Buffalo that is down. In the ’50s, she went to council meetings twice a week to ask for the light because children had to cross there to go to school. Someone could be killed by cars running the stop sign. Carolyn said she would see about it, and the city isn’t doing a thing.
It’s a shame that only a couple of councilpeople know what’s going on. The citizens voted for 6 people, and it’s a disgrace that the mayor is always the deciding factor because the vote is always 4 against 3. They vote that way even when the decision is wrong instead of using common sense. She called for the citizens to think twice before they vote because the council people who were not there chose not to be there. They know that if they did come, they would be outnumbered.
Mr. Hood ran for the 4-year term, and Shulgon ran for the 2-year. She said Hood should have been put on automatically, just like Majewski automatically appointed Ahmed to be mayor pro tem. She encouraged the other elected officials to take their complaints to Lansing and Washington.
She believes that one of the absent council members told Bill Meyer to but on the African-American recognition dinner before the election to make black people think they’re doing something. Meyer came to her house four times, and she showed him an appointment from the President. Her husband was Economic Development chairman for six years, and he is the reason we have the plaza because he brought $2 million in for that. Her husband went to Washington twice to get $32 million for Poletown, which wasn’t mentioned. Black people were here before the Polish, before the streets were paved. She was born on Joseph Campau, which was paved. A graduate who played for the Detroit Tigers, Horace Coleman, Clarence Harris’ radio station, five Black doctors, her husband’s father’s business, Mr. Greg’s (where the FRD Pharmacy is), and the Blue Note beer garden weren’t mentioned. Mr. Royce owned the only trucking company with 18-wheelers on Hanley.
Others on the council only care about themselves. The two in Chicago are running around with the governor and Mayor of Detroit. Detroit will be getting grants instead of Hamtramck. The way the city of Hamtramck is getting grants and not hiring black contractors to build houses is not right. A HUD higher-up told her it was wrong. The city had to pay $13 million dollars back when revenue sharing was stopped. The city had been getting grants and not doing what they were supposed to do. If not for her husband, all of the people would have been taxed to pay it. School money was lost. The others shouldn’t stand for the absences, and this is all politics, and everything is being done at the last minute.
Simona Smith went to a meeting at Corinthian Baptist Church about the R-31 houses, and Juanita Jones told her that the city has her money. She has no money and no house. Crawford said there is $4 million dollars set aside in the R-31 account that is to be spent in accordance with the court orders. The corporations, Barnhart and Judge Keith oversee the spending. Smith wanted Crawford to ask Jones what she meant.
George of the White Star has been in business here for 23 years. He asked those present to pass the liquor license transfer if they have time. Zwolak explained that there was no quorum, and apologized because the decision had already been delayed two weeks due to a procedural error. Zwolak suggested a special meeting.
Babij said that if people are not happy with the council, call them. People have a right to know why they aren’t here. Hood said he was told by a former member of the council, who was a lawyer, that you have to pick your battles and know that you can’t win against a ball point pen. They don’t have a propaganda machine to get the message out that the people are being shortchanged.
Woods said he should write letters to the media. The others on council will look like idiots because that is how they act. She has lived here for over 80 years, but will probably be leaving soon. The city is filthy and no one cares, and the corner of JC and Holbrook looks bad. The people on the council haven’t been here long, and they are probably being paid under the table. She believes the city took shrubs from near her house to sell them. Nothing has been done in her neighborhood even though she is paying taxes. She said a grand jury is needed.
Zwolak asked Crawford to review the curfew procedure for Halloween so the information can be distributed at the schools.
Hood said he hasn’t shirked his duty, and he was born a warrior. He has written to newspapers, but his letters are never printed. He won’t buy the Michigan Chronicle anymore because they don’t print his letters.
The meeting was adjourned. Zwolak wished Melanie Babij the best, and said hers are tough shoes to fill.