Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud speaks about future plans for Homecoming at the Southwestern Outer Drive Neighborhood Association meeting March 10 at Whitmore-Bolles Elementary School.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – When and where to have Homecoming was posed to Mayor Abdullah Hammoud during his meeting with residents at a Southwestern Outer Drive Neighborhood Association meeting March 10 at Whitmore-Bolles Elementary School.
Hammoud said the city wants to bring back Homecoming this year, but it may not be at Ford Field.
“I am not saying publicly yet, because it hasn’t been finalized, but we are very close on hopefully finalizing a time and a date and a location to bring back Homecoming after a two-year hiatus.”
He said the planning began in mid-January, which is shorter than the usual year-long time frame.
“I know it is something that can bring the residents together, and hopefully bring up the morale of the residents, and so, we are doing what we can to bring it back this year,” Hammoud said.
The mayor said Ford Field being a flood plain must be considered.
“Most of you know we had catastrophic flooding last summer,” he said. “We actually had a very bad log jam running through the river. It floods our whole golf course, and it floods Ford Field fairly quickly.”
Hammoud said holding events at Ford Field are complicated by the two-and-a-half miles of log jams that have to be cleared out along the Rouge River to alleviate flooding.
“It’s not just the logs that are actually in the river, it is also all the dead trees along the banks,” he said. “What’s happening is if we clear out a log jam, and you have one windy day, all the dead trees fall into the river, and we have another log jam that we have to deal with.”
More from the SODA meeting:
From potholes to policing: Dearborn Mayor Hammoud answers questions for neighborhood group