Dearborn mayor talks preparation for second State of the City address
Dearborn is one of the fastest-growing cities in Michigan, and on Tuesday, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud plans to tell residents how far the city has come.
Hammoud will deliver his second State of the City address at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. The stage is set, and final preparations are underway inside the theater for the annual speech that the mayor and his team have been working on for many months.
"It's a lot ... I'm very particula in how I write. I wanted to showcase stories, you know, making sure things are tangible, understandable," Hammoud said. "You want to inject humor. I mean, you might see a few baby photos of myself up there."
Combating reckless driving is the mayor's No. 1 priority.
Speed bumps and light-up stop signs have already been installed across the city, and more traffic-calming measures, including new roundabouts, are on the way.
"We'll show you some of the first engineering examples outside of traffic calming measures, kind of reconstructing some major intersections where we have a lot of accidents," Hammoud said.
Another highlight is the return of traffic school.
"We're already maxing out the amount of people per session each week, and we're looking to double or triple the amount of traffic schools that we host per week," Hammoud said.
Dearborn is attracting a lot of new businesses.
"Michigan Avenue West and East, you have like a 95% occupancy rate. And really the ones that are vacant are under construction," Hammoud said. "We'll be showcasing some renderings based off a new Warren Avenue facade program that we're using to uplift small mom-and-pop shops."
While the mayor is keeping some surprises for the speech, he says you won't want to miss what else is coming.
"What you're going to see is the investments we're making in our families, in every corner of the city, the investments we're making in civic spaces, the investments that we're making to ensure that Dearborn is a place that recognizes you have families of all abilities," Hammoud said.
Tuesday's speech begins promptly at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6 p.m. It's free to attend, but registration is required.
