Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will deliver his first State of the City Address in post bankruptcy Tuesday evening Feb. 10 at the Old Redford Theatre where he is expected to lay out a vision for the city. Before the mayor delivers this annual traditional political speech, here is my alternative State of the City Address. Detroit is challenged. Let’s be honest. Not everyone is feeling a part of the city’s comeback that has been trumpeted so much.
Good evening Detroit. The State of the City is in your hands. Bankruptcy is behind us but we still have to deal with the lingering effects and the responsibility that bankruptcy left us both in terms of the services we must deliver to you and the impact that the bankruptcy has on our retirees whose pensions were slashed as part of the Grand Bargain. The State of the City is as good and strong as you want it to be. It is upon you that the character of this city is being tested tonight, to never return to this low point in history that gave us bankruptcy.
It is not merely a question of rejecting the failures of the past. You don’t need to be told about what took place before we got here. I wish I could have changed the course of history that led us to this point. But we are here together, Detroit. We must find answers to our current problems and for the future. We have to bring back our neighborhoods with the same determination, zest and effort that are being used in bringing back downtown and Midtown.
Let us not fool ourselves. Detroit cannot come back until our neighborhoods, the very anchors of this city’s rich culture and history, are revitalized. Detroit is not going to be a strong city if we have a downtown and Midtown that are bubbling but everyplace else underdeveloped. That is not the Detroit I am asking you to support tonight. That is not the Detroit I will preside over as mayor. I am standing here on a simple request: Your neighborhoods must be at the center of rejuvenating the city so it becomes comparable to other cities you admire.
I am asking each of you to organize and stand up for your neighborhood and let us pull together in making the neighborhoods of Detroit safe and vibrant for our children. Some of you were already doing this before I got here. I encourage you to continue to do so and you will have the support from city hall — my office — and the Detroit City Council. Your cries for help will no longer fall on deaf ears.
We seek be a city that provides timely, efficient and effective city service. Not the service that has come to be known as bureaucracy. Not the kind of service that has sometimes driven opportunities away from the city. That is not how a major city in the 21st century should operate. I give you my word that the culture of feet dragging soaked in bureaucracy, an impediment to progress, will end.
Detroit and where it is today cannot afford the kind of bureaucracy responsible for some of the failures of the past. Tonight is the beginning of a culture change and the way we do business at city hall for the better and to provide excellent service to our citizens.
Since the official end of bankruptcy there has been a lot of talk about the return to constitutional democratic governance at city hall. The city council and my office still have to deal with a financial review commission to make sure we stay on budget with the numbers.
But be rest assured that with or without a review commission, we will get the job done because you elected us to do just that. We have learned our lessons from the past and we will not tolerate any attempt to repeat the mistakes of the past.
I know you have become cynical about political leadership in this city. You have lost faith in what elected office can do for you. You have been disappointed numerous times by administrations that came before you with similar State of the City speeches. Sometimes it was a State of the City festival promising to build castles up in the air.
Others promised to build bridges where there was no river. I did not come here to build castles in the air or to build bridges where there are no rivers. I came here this evening to tell you that your mayor will continue to work for you because you did not lose faith when you elected me.
I realize that this journey of bringing the city back is a long road but it is one filled with promise. We are seeing pockets of promises fulfilled around the city.
For instance , downtown and Midtown have gotten a lot of attention and investors are looking at Detroit as a result of the kind of economic energy these two locations have.We have a business leadership that has shown commitment to making sure we have a strong business district as is the case with any major metropolis. I commend their efforts.
But with this kind of economic energy all over downtown and Midtown comes the question of economic equity to ensure that small businesses and minority owned businesses are part of the economic bounty being realized in the business district.
There has been a lot of conversations about the role of African American and other minority- owned busineses in a new Detroit. This is a legitimate conversation we must have.
As your mayor I promise you tonight that I will ensure that African American-owned businesses and other businesses of color are not left out at the table of opportunity. The vexing question about the progress of race relations is not only a historical and moral imperative, but it is one that anchors on a genuine commitment towards racial progress. My election bears witness to that. I will not sit on the sidelines.
I will use the full weight of the Office of the Mayor to ensure that African American businesses, women-owned businesses and other businesses of color have access to opportunity so they can thrive and grow in Detroit. Helping these businesses means helping Detroit.
Tonight I also want to address our young people who had the option to live elsewhere but have chosen to remain in Detroit. Too often they are ignored in the conversations that matter. Their voices are buried because we have become accustomed to talking to ourselves instead of listening to what the youth of Detroit needs. We cannot talk about a future if Detroit is not creating opportunities for young people to remain in the city and work and thrive.
There will be no future if Detroit’s young leaders are not willing to stay here and raise their families. So my commitment to this important segement of our population is that you have an ally in the mayor’s office. We want our young people to have a voice in the decisions that are being made to move this city to a level of progress they can be proud of and want to be associated with.
Women have borne the burden of raising families in this city serving both as breadwinners and nurturers. A number of them, just like the men, have transportation challenges, depending on our bus system. I hear the criticism that the buses don’t come on time and some drivers are not courteous.
But tonight I give you my word that change is coming to the Detroit bus system. Imagine the sight of a woman carrying her bag on one hand and her baby on the other waiting endlessly for a bus in a sub-zero temperature. That is unacceptable.
Our task as leaders is to make sure these women and all of our citizens who are working hard and contributing to the economic revitalization of this city get to work on time and safely.
Thankfully, President Obama is sending 80 new buses. We’ve already received seven. The rest are on the way.
Finally, if there is one thing the members of the press and our local pundits are itching to hear tonight, it is any insinuation that I would seek the governorship in 2018. Let me be abundantly clear that my full focus is the city of Detroit.
I wake up each morning not thinking about how to run for governor of Michigan, but how to meet the expectations of Detroiters from the length and breath of this city. That is what I am committed to , to ensure that street lights are on and crime is drastically reduced, local investors are encouraged and you get the service you deserve.
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