11/12/08 Bangladesh community celebrates transforming Conant Ave.

By Charles Sercombe

and Nargis Hakim

Hamtramck’s Bangladesh community had plenty to celebrate on Saturday.

After over a year of wrangling and internal disputes, the unveiling of a street sign honoring the achievements of the Bangladesh community was held. Four, large brown signs will be placed on top of Conant signs between Caniff and Carpenter.

The signs say “Bangladesh Ave.” on top and “Celebrating Diversity” on the bottom. They are in honor of the Bangladesh community’s explosive growth along that strip of Conant.

A crowd of about 100 people, city officials and dignitaries gathered in a chilly wind Saturday afternoon to welcome the signage. Gov. Jennifer Granholm was expected to attend but she had to cancel. Granholm was tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to be a part of his financial transition team.

Mayor Karen Majewski said the signs underscore Hamtramck’s “belief in the ideal of inclusion of everyone.”

Since the 1990s, Conant has become a bustling business center filled with Bangladesh markets, clothing stores, medical centers and a host of other businesses. The community now straddles Hamtramck and the nearby Detroit neighborhoods.

An ambassador from Bangladesh, M. Humayun Kabir, was also on hand and spoke about the strengths of the Bangladesh community.

“If you give them full support, the Bangladesh can be more vibrant and add to the beauty of the city,” Kabir said.

How and when the signs were placed on the avenue is a tortured story of political division in the Bangladesh community, with some upset that City Councilmember Shahab Ahmed – Hamtramck’s first Bangladeshi-American elected to office – was allowed to organize the event.

Ahmed was also accused of hoarding signs that were bought two years ago. Ahmed said he had been waiting for Bangladesh officials to confirm when they would be on hand to visit the city and participate in the ceremony.

He also canceled installing the signs last year because city council elections were underway and there was a potential for disruption at the ceremony.

At one point there was a demand that Ahmed return the street signs or be forced to pay for them. As it turned out, City Manager William Cooper decided to go with a different style of sign and make it brown instead of green and red – the national colors of Bangladesh – to keep all future honorary signs in conformity.

While the event went off without some of the outbursts experienced in heated City Council meetings, there was a moment of levity when the physical unveiling of the sign at Caniff and Conant went haywire: just as a plastic covering was removed, the honorary sign fell off the sign post.

“I know that’s going to end up on YouTube,” said an embarrassed DPW Superintendent Martin Ladd.

Kaberi Das, 14, said the signs are symbolic of the Bangladesh community’s growing connection to Hamtramck.

“Our culture is becoming a part of Hamtramck,” Das said.

After the unveiling of the sign, the crowd was invited to attend a dinner at the Hamtramck High School Community Center. Attendees were able to purchase V.I.P seats for $25. Proceeds went to offset costs of hosting the event. Organizers said $10,000 had been collected through personal and business donations.

Not everyone was pleased with the Bangladesh community’s increasing prominence in the city. Kimberley Willenberg, who helped with the community center set-up, said she disagrees with City Council’s decision to approve the signs.

“First they had the Call to Prayer, now they have street names, sooner or later I’ll have nothing to say,” Willenberg said.

But for the Bangladesh community, many beamed with pride.

Tamannah Begum, 18 is a former resident of Hamtramck. Her father owns a business on Conant.

“I think it’s cool to have a street named after our country.” Begum said.