There’s a former NFL player running for Highland Park mayor on a platform he says would “end the corruption happening in city hall.”
“I’m very excited, because I’m like a little kid all over again, ready for game day,” said J. Douglas Hollie, who was born and raised in the city before his sports career took flight.
Hollie, 65, said his campaign is a “thank you” to the city that gave him so much in his upbringing. He acknowledged his time in California and Texas, but said his spirit never left the city before he returned in 2012.
He’s one of five candidates running for mayor, including incumbent Mayor Glenda McDonald, Shamayim “Mama Shu” Harris, Attie Pollard, Joshua LaMere, and Elen Robinson.
Hollie, known for his work in real estate, said he’s running to shake things up in city hall and deliver greater public safety to entice new business and residents.
He told supporters he’s previously presented plans to the city in the past like turning the Model T plant into a market with fresh produce and pop-up restaurants.
Currently, he’s the president and CEO of H.E.A.R.T. 2 H.E.A.R.T., Inc., a nonprofit he founded in 2009 to serve vulnerable populations across six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hollie served from 2003-2010 as an assistant district attorney in the city of San Francisco.
Hollie criticized the deal Mayor Glenda McDonald approved to eliminate the city’s water debt with the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) and questioned the process in which city engineers are fixing the city’s water and sewage infrastructure.
“It’s people from the outside giving them a few coins here and there selling their souls to the devil,” Hollie told dozens of supporters inside the gym at Highland Park’s Boys & Girls Club Thursday.
The city agreed to pay $1 million to GLWA to begin to reimburse member partner communities who were paying for Highland Park’s debt. Highland Park owed more than $20 million for failing to pay for its sewer system since 2014. City leaders said city residents were being overcharged for services after it was forced by the state to shut down its own water department and switch to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department over safety concerns.
A Highland Park High School graduate and native of the city, Hollie returned to the city 15 years ago to help his hometown, he said. Hollie was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the 1984 supplemental draft. He played in the USFL before returning to the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks in 1987 and 1988.
“He’s an excellent blend of business savvy, but also having a genuine compassion for people,” said supporter Eric Rice on Thursday.
Community members who showed up to the campaign launch event Thursday expressed frustration toward current and past city leaders, accused local politicians playing politics over who gets funding for home repair or public infrastructure upgrades.
“People put their name from a list, and pull from a hat, and for some reason your name disappeared, and they give it to somebody’s friend,” Hollie said. “Under my watch, that will stop. You have cliques in this town. That’s going to cease.”
Residents at Hollie’s event also mentioned concerns about the permanent closure of the city’s public library and the lack of hospitals and drug stores. Residents said they want to see economic development in their neighborhood and in the city’s main commercial corridor on Woodward Ave.
“It sounds like people aren’t concerned about the citizens of this town, but they’re concerned about how much money is in their pockets,” Hollie said.
Hollie told Michigan Chronicle after the event that he hasn’t spoken to the other candidates, or incumbent mayor Glenda McDonald, and isn’t planning to.
“Why? We already know what’s going on in this city, what’s the purpose?”
You can reach Sam at srobinson@michronicle.com.
