Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud speaks of changes, challenges at A Tale of Our Cities

 

By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers

DEARBORN – Newly elected Mayor Abdullah Hammoud spoke of the changes and challenges ahead for the city on Jan. 25, at the recently resumed Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual mayoral luncheon A Tale of Our Cities.

The event, held at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course, featured Hammoud and Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi as the keynote speakers.

Hammoud began by joking that, unlike Bazzi, he couldn’t introduce his new directors to the luncheon attendees because “they were all at work.”

He went on to say he was looking forward to a strong partnership with Bazzi and the city of Dearborn Heights for years to come.

“Our cities have so much in common, and so much to look forward to,” Hammoud said. “As two of the state’s most diverse cities, we have shared values around diversity, and ensuring that we are welcoming to anyone who wants to pursue that American dream.

“We have shared challenges and issues like road safety and environmental sustainability. We learned last year, for example, that catastrophic flooding does not respect boundaries or borders, and is a reminder that our success in fixing that problem depends on our willingness to collaborate with one another.”

He said that among other challenges, Dearborn faces a $16 million fiscal shortfall that the new administration inherited after the unsuccessful millage renewal.

“We know that this budget season will be fairly difficult for the city of Dearborn,” he said. “It is a challenge that we welcome, and hopefully it is viewed as an opportunity to innovate, to bring in new resources and to enhance the efficiency of the services that we deliver today.”

Hammoud said the city will never be short of great people, which he said reassures him that Dearborn can make it through any challenges.

“The people of our city are not just dynamic and hardworking, they are a brain trust,” he said. “We should not lean on them only for listening to their concerns, but also lean on them for their ideas and their inspirations and their wisdom.”

Hammoud said the cities’ people have the inspiration and ideas that will propel them into the next decade and beyond.

“Our administration will be a venture in co-governance, side by side, with the people of our city,” he said.

Hammoud said one of his first actions as mayor was to bring together the most competent group of expert public servants the city has ever seen.

“As a team, we will begin and end every conversation with the same question, ‘Is this in the best interest of the public that we serve?’” he said.

Hammoud said in that spirit, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights will work together to address its shared challenges, by drawing insights from the communities and translating them into concrete policies and actions that foster faith and trust.

“For any government, trust is the only currency that matters,” he said. “If you have no trust, you have an inability to then move forward or conduct any of the change that you foresee or set out for yourselves.”

Hammoud said he looks forward to working with Bazzi and other neighboring communities to solve the problems they face.

He said they will work to make the region the most attractive place possible to start a business, to raise a family, and to lay the groundwork for excellence in governance, and to secure the best assets for generations to come.

Hammoud said that after 24 days in office, he has more questions that answers.

“What I am most excited about is the team that we have assembled, because I don’t believe that one person can change the course of a city,” he said. “It takes a team of public servants who are competent, who are trustworthy, who are accessible and who are accountable to the people.”

Hammoud said he looks forward to relying on the abilities of his team, who will help advise and provide direction, and said he looks forward to establishing a shared, collective vision not only with the administrators and public servants, but with the residents.

“Ultimately, we want their vision to become a reality,” he said. “Aside from becoming a new mayor, I am also a new father to a seven-week-old, and when I think of Dearborn 10, 15, 20 years down the road, I now think of my daughter, and I ask myself what will it take to ensure that she raises her family here.”

Hammoud said the reality is that Dearborn has stagnated, and that they have to advocate for positive change, and improve the quality of life for residents in all areas of the city and address the inequities that existed in the past.

He said he looks forward to the partnership with the residents, business people, and officials at the city, state and federal level.

Hammoud closed his speech by thanking U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) for her service to the city, and said she will always have a home in Dearborn.