Hamtramck City Council voted on June 12 to establish an Economic Development Corporation for the city and seated its first board. The group will work to improve and develop the city's industrial areas which, for the most part, border Detroit.
For this reason, the board is populated with several representatives from the City of Detroit, including Doug Diggs from the Planning and Development Department and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation's Michael Dempsey. This cross-border collaboration is unprecedented, but Hamtramck's community and economic development director, Erik Tungate, believes it to be necessary. "We are in a regional-global economy," he explains. "Hamtramck is not an island unto itself. As those industrial neighbors around us prosper, we will in turn prosper and that is the main thrust in having a more regionally-based board of directors."
Tungate says the body will now begin to draft a plan to meet its goals, but hopes to build on the location of the
proposed Hamtramck certified industrial park, which is adjacent to the city of Detroit's I-94 business park which, in turn, is adjacent to City Airport. He sees potential for investment from alternative energy and logistics companies in this area.
In other news, the Hamtramck Downtown Development Authority published a Storefront Design Guidelines manual for business-owners in its district. It illustrates allowable design elements and encourages awnings, knee-walls in front of parking lots and attractive signage along the Jos. Campau corridor.
Source: Erik Tungate, City of Hamtramck
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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