HAMTRAMCK, Mich – On Thursday (March 24), Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence announced millions of dollars to support projects in her district.
Around $6 million of federal funding is all going towards community projects, fixing water systems, funding hospitals, and even improving parks like Veteran’s Memorial Park, the home of the historic Hamtramck Stadium.
“Once again, I want to say thank you for bringing home the bacon,” said a woman speaking at the podium. “We are going to put it in the pan and fry it up.”
U.S. Representative Lawrence is bringing home a whole lot of bacon (money) for her district for 10 community projects.
“Our appropriation is $1.1 million,” said another female speaker.
When asked about their money, City Manager of Hamtramck Kathy Angerer said: “$653,000.”
That $653,000 is going toward something crucial at Veterans Park.
“Men’s, women’s and handicapped restrooms at the park,” Angerer said. “No more porta-potties. That’s what we’re excited about.”
“We need this money,” said Hamtramck City Council Member Amanda Jaczkowski. “We don’t have the funds to do this on our own. So being able to get this from a federal level is amazing because it means that we’re going to be able to benefit the whole community.”
Hamtramck City Council members told Kim DeGiulio that it’s a big job, but adding real bathrooms to the park will attract more people to Hamtramck stadium.
“We believe this is a national treasure, one of five parks in the country that have a historic Black, negro league stadium,” Angerer said. “And so for us, it’s going to be attracting people from all over the world to Hamtramck.”
The stadium will be the initial attraction, but the city will keep people coming back.
“We are the international city in Michigan most diverse in Michigan, and we welcome everyone there,” Angerer said.
“We have a lot to offer the world, and so it’s time to show it off,” Jaczkowski said.
The goal is to show off the city and those new bathrooms as soon as possible.
“We’ve got the drawings,” Angerer said. “It’s time to put it out to bid, attract contractors to this and work together to get this done. We hope by next year, this time, that will either be building or in those bathrooms, flushing the toilet, washing your hands.”
Hamtramck’s city council says with these new bathrooms at the stadium that, people will be able to stay for hours at a time, enjoying this historical gem for even longer.
Each community representative gave a big thanks to Congresswoman Lawrence, who brought this funding to town and said how much they’d miss her.
Lawrence recently announced she won’t be running in the next election.
