11/5/08 Granholm to join Bangladesh celebration

by Charles Sercombe

It didn’t come easy, but a celebration of Hamtramck’s fastest growing ethnic community will definitely take place on Nov. 8.

Amid accusations from some in the Bangladesh community of “sabotage” and “hijacked,” the Hamtramck City Council approved the placing of honorary street signs on Conant on Nov. 8.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and an ambassador from Bangladesh are expected to be on hand for a short ceremony at 4 p.m. The ceremony is tentatively scheduled to be at Conant and Caniff.

The ceremony has been in the works for at least one year. Councilmember Shahab Ahmed has been in charge of planning the event but he said political divisions within the Bangladesh community have thwarted past attempts to put it together.

Calling it a political division, though, may be an understatement. In a recent council meeting, dozens of angry Bangladesh residents and non-residents packed the council chamber and shouted down the council as the issue was discussed.

The main point of contention?

The objections raised came down to a group of people who simply dislike Shahab Ahmed and do not want to see him be a part of the celebration or even the planning of it.

In frustration, Mayor Karen Majewski, who chairs the council meetings, called for a five-minute recess in order for Ahmed to hammer out an agreement with his opponents. That hallway meeting turned into a shouting match and threats of launching a recall election against the mayor and Ahmed.

Majewski then called for a meeting outside of the council chamber at a later date in order to draw up a list of names of those who would participate in planning the event. That meeting, however, also turned chaotic and three groups splintered off to draw up their separate lists of names.

So, what’s planned now is for a short ceremony in which the street sign will be unveiled, a few short speeches and that’s it. But still, not everyone in the Bangladesh community is pleased by this arrangement and a splinter group said it will hold a separate ceremony at the Knights of Columbus hall at 4 p.m. on Nov. 8.

The Bangladesh community has shot up population-wise during the 1990s and has transformed Conant from a seedy business district with mostly empty buildings to a bustling market center, filled with restaurants, clothing stores and food stores specializing in Bengali staples.

The honorary street signs will be placed on top of the Conant signs, from Caniff to Carpenter. There will be four signs attached on top of the existing signs along that stretch of Conant.

The signs will read “Bangladesh Ave” on the top line and “Celebrating Our Diversity” on the bottom line.

City officials are hoping that the celebration won’t be the scene of political combat.

“All eyes from Bangladesh will be looking at Hamtramck,” Majewski warned those who were criticizing the event.

Ahmed, once a rising political star in the city and who had been tapped by the U.S. Justice Department to represent how Muslim-Americans integrate into American society, said he is at a loss in explaining why there is such a large rift within his community.

“I just don’t know what they want,” Ahmed told The Citizen.