Topics about Hamtramck , but occasionally other stuff.
Hamtramck_Guy
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Snyder proposes reforms for MEDC, public worker benefits
Dec 21st
Number of View: 281
Paul Egan / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing — A streamlined Michigan Economic Development Corp. and more sharing of services among municipalities and school districts are among the state government changes the public can expect to see in the near future, Gov.-elect Rick Snyder said today.
Snyder also said bringing public employee benefits and total compensation more in line with the private sector will be a priority in addressing chronic budget deficits, including one for the coming year projected at $1.6 billion.
The web site of the MEDC lists a president, 10 vice-presidents, a chief financial officer and a director…… More >
Bird Attack!
Dec 21st
Number of View: 299
By: TimDockery1
When filming some basic shots in Hamtramck MI a angry bird let me
know he did not want me there by blasting me in the face.
HAMTRAMCK CREAMERY FIRE
Dec 20th
Number of View: 358
By: gjokaj203
THIS IS THE FORMER HAMTRAMCK CREAMERY LOCATED ON HOLBROOK AND GALLAGHER THAT BURNED ON DEC 18TH 2010 FIRE WENT THROUGHOUT
Tax Dispute Squeezes Detroit’s Neighbor
Dec 20th
Number of View: 772
Hamtramck City Manager William Cooper, top, says the municipality could run out of money as soon as March
By KATE LINEBAUGH
HAMTRAMCK, Mich.—Auto-plant tax revenue has helped power this working-class city of 22,000 for years, but a halt to this stream of cash amid a dispute with neighboring Detroit is driving Hamtramck to the brink.
Detroit used the send Hamtramck about $2 million a year in tax revenue from a General Motors Co. factory that is now building the Chevrolet Volt electric car. The plant straddles the two cities, but since January Detroit has stopped giving Hamtramck any shared tax revenue, saying it has overpaid $7 million through the years.
In September, Hamtramck sued Detroit for the GM tax revenue and Detroit countersued in early October, with the dispute headed to court. In the meantime, Hamtramck is left with a $2 million hole in its $18 million budget and is considering across-board service cuts, emergency borrowing from the state and a bankruptcy filing.,,,,,, More >
Fancy ATM skips the folding cash, spits out gold
Dec 17th
Number of View: 324
By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press – Fri Dec 17, 11:26 am ET
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Shoppers who are looking for something sparkly to put under the Christmas tree can skip the jewelry and go straight to the source: an ATM that dispenses shiny 24-carat gold bars and coins.
A German company installed the machine Friday at an upscale mall in Boca Raton, a South Florida paradise of palm trees, pink buildings and wealthy retirees.
Thomas Geissler, CEO of Ex Oriente Lux and inventor of the Gold To Go machines, says the majority of buyers will be walk-ups enamored by the novelty. But he says they’re also convenient for more serious investors looking to bypass the hassle of buying gold at pawn shops and over the Internet.
“Instead of buying flowers or chocolates, which is gone after two or three minutes, this will stay for the next few hundreds years,” Geissler told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The company installed its first machine at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel in May and followed up with gold ATMs in Germany, Spain and Italy. Geissler said they plan to unroll a few hundred machines worldwide in 2011. He said the Abu Dhabi machine has been so popular it has to be restocked every two days.
A bank in Vietnam installed its own brand of the machines in a country with a much poorer population but one that values gold more than paper money……. More >
Hamtramck’s Budget Nightmare: Michigan Town Left With Nothing Else To Cut
Dec 16th
Number of View: 627
By: William Alden
Bill Cooper, the city manager of Hamtramck, Mich., surveyed the possible solutions to his looming budgetary catastrophe, all of them various flavors of bad.
He could lay off firefighters or police officers, whose services comprise nearly two-thirds of the city’s $18 million annual expenditures. Their unions, however, had already absorbed substantial hits and would surely fight back. Public safety, too, would suffer — no minor consideration in this suburban community bordering Detroit.
As he confronted the ugly prospect of municipal bankruptcy, Cooper focused on the few programs he considered discretionary, beginning an awkward, even bewildering process of nickel-and-diming his city back toward solvency.
He laid off the city’s crossing guards, all five of them, logging a grand total of $8,000 in annual savings.
He laid off two parking attendants, leaving just one to look after scofflaw parkers in this city of 20,000 people scattered over about two square miles. Here was another $60,000 in annual savings. The auto-industry town, beset by red ink, now beckoned as a haven for double-parkers.
“You have a better chance of not getting caught today than you had a year ago,” Cooper says….. More >
Meet Louis Schimmel
Dec 15th
Number of View: 558
By Brian C. Louwers
C & G Staff Writer
WARREN — Underneath the name “Louis H. Schimmel,” the text of the man’s resume projects expertise in municipal finance.
Schimmel, 72 of Waterford Township, was recently appointed by Mayor Jim Fouts to serve as an executive administrator at City Hall.
Previously, he was appointed by the state to serve as the emergency financial manager of Hamtramck in 2000, as the city struggled to maintain basic services like garbage removal. Before that, he served as the executive director of the Municipal Advisory Council of Michigan, a nonprofit municipal bond research and information company. And before that, he was the court monitor for the city of Ecorse from 1968 through 1999, including a five-year period as the city’s court-appointed receiver beginning in 1986.
It’s safe to say that Schimmel’s list of political activities, appointments and memberships is just as long and as seemingly impressive as the work he’s accomplished in other cities.
As it pertains to Warren, what he’ll recommend in an advisory role under Fouts will undoubtedly turn heads in the weeks to come. He’s already making some strong recommendations for the Warren Police Department, in a city that has long championed its police and an aggressive approach to combating crime. More >
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