According to former Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams, the good people of Detroit deserve better, and that is what the long-time politician wants to provide to the city that is practically his heartbeat.
Adams shared his political views during an interview with The Michigan Chronicle staff inside Real Times Media’s Studio 1452 recently. There, he spoke at length of his passion behind infusing fresh ideas to his beloved city that he’s served for over 30 years in a variety of roles.
Under Adams’ campaign slogan, “We Detroit. We Deserve Better,” he divulges what is at the center of his platform’s message: “the people who live in the city of Detroit … deserve much more than what they are getting.”
“The people who have been through thick and thin, the people who have struggled, the people who have paid high tax rates, high insurance rates… suffered through crime … we can do much, much better for the people who live in the city. We can expect more for ourselves and we deserve more,” he said.
Adams is described as a progressive leader ready to change the status quo of the current Mayor Mike Duggan administration.
“We must be progressive in our approaches,” Adams said previously.
Adams outlined his four central campaign pillars: crime, equity, the senior citizen population and improving the quality of life of residents.
Adams would bring a versatile background to the position if elected. He has worked with former Mayor Coleman A. Young as an executive assistant and under Kwame Kilpatrick, where he said that he left his position as the then-deputy mayor unscathed after Kilpatrick’s legal troubles. He also has experience serving with the Detroit Public Schools District and the Detroit Water Department in varying capacities, coupled with his work as an attorney in the legal realm.
“I do have so much experience understanding what government is and what government should be and how government should serve the people,” he said. “These experiences have allowed me to have much broader experiences … and understanding of how we really need to do things the right way in the City of Detroit, and I think those experiences are what separates me from any other candidate.”
Listed as the most dangerous city in the nation by the FBI in 2019, Detroit’s elevated crime rates were addressed with tips to combat the issues while addressing poverty levels, which he said are related.
Adams said that the city should redefine its approach to addressing crime and shift its focus from criminal prosecutions to civil infractions.
“Part of what is happening in the City of Detroit is we criminalized a lot of conduct and what we’ve got to begin to do is decriminalize a lot of things that actually occur in the City of Detroit,” he said, adding that young people hanging out in parks after dark might receive misdemeanor convictions — what they need are lesser-punishable sentences.
He added that misdemeanor convictions on their record make it difficult for them to get jobs.
“We’ve got to change how we actually enforce different laws in the City of Detroit,” Adams said, adding that traffic infractions or equipment violations have a direct result of people living in poverty and not being able to fix their car. “Why do we continue to criminalize that type of conduct?”
Adams said that the mayor needs to be the face of how residents are policed and the police chief would follow suit.
From community intervention specialists working on helping residents before a situation escalates to more residential involvement on city happenings — Adams wants to bring about real change that gets the residents fired up for what could be on the horizon if he’s elected.
Getting ahead also means being financially stable and receiving potential support from the government. Adams wants to bring about change in the form of policy advancements including a universal basic income living wage. This would help boost the residents (a large percentage) who are bringing home roughly $27,000 annually in comparison to the state of Michigan’s average residential income being over $50,000.
“We are already under income in the city,” he said, adding that a large percentage of the population are essential workers — another set of residents are working outside the city at underpaying jobs. “We have a lot of different federal programs.”
Adams said the standard income in the city could be bumped up so that the average resident makes $40,000 from funding sources through a more “robust” human service agency to help the “under-resourced” and “overtaxed” residents. From being overtaxed to blight issues, Adams said the answer to solving home-related issues is twofold: keep people in their homes and promote homeownership.
“Detroit used to be a beacon of hope for homeownership — you cannot build wealth in a city if people are renting,” he said adding that keeping people in their homes stabilizes neighborhoods.
From an economic standpoint, Adams said that equity in the city is a myth with the current administration with the 80 percent Black city receiving only about 5 percent of the contracting opportunities.
“We’re getting minuscule dollars,” he said adding that it is time to see “who is actually getting paid.” “Detroiters are not getting paid … I’m unabashedly supporting Detroit Black businesses pure and simple. I believe that they have been left out. I believe they have not been included and I believe we can change that.”
Detroit’s Mayoral Election is Tuesday, November 2.
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