A Highland Park woman who transformed her block after gun violence took the lives of her two sons is challenging the city’s incumbent mayor, saying she wants to create a citizen focused government and go further in economic development efforts.
Shamayim “Mama Shu” Harris, 60, launched her campaign for Highland Park mayor this week at Highland Park’s Prayer Temple of Love with dozens of supporters. She is challenging incumbent Mayor Glenda McDonald, who was first elected in 2022.
Harris has experience working within city government, previously leading the Highland Park Charter Commission and Board of Education, and serving as vice president of the city’s housing commission.
Highland Park has less than 10,000 people. Leaders have been trying to remove blight and revitalize the city in the decades after major disinvestment from the auto companies. The city’s decline began after Chrysler left and workers began working out, as did business.
Abandoned homes, hospitals and other structures have turned the city into a hub for urban exploration tourism.
“Sometimes it’s tough getting things done as a citizen,” Harris told Michigan Chronicle in an interview Tuesday. “Just some of the red tape that you have to go through — I’m looking at some of the things that I have to go through just to build some something that is going to service the residents.”
Harris’ path was sparked by the traffic death of her two-year-old son Jakobi RA in 2007 by a hit-and-run driver, and the murder of her 23-year-old son Chinyelu in 2021, which remains unsolved.
Harris said getting permits for certain installations at her Avalon Village on Avalon Street off Woodward and 2nd Avenue has been like “pulling teeth.”
Harris’ community park which includes gardens, a basketball court and a “homework house” for students, has received national attention. She owns dozens of lots along the street.
“I’ve made partnerships, collaborated with different entities and am looking a little further, I’m not just maintaining and i want to take more chances. I don’t want us to just live in what we’re living in now,” Harris said.
McDonald, who was first elected in 2022 after serving on city council, ran unopposed as the only name on the ballot. She faced an unsuccessful recall effort in 2024 led by Highland Park activist and serial litigator Robert Davis. She lost by 28 votes when she ran for mayor in 2019 against former Mayor Hubert Yopp.
McDonald and Harris were both present inside of Harris’ homework house at Avalon Village last month for a community meeting with state Rep. Tonya Meyers Phillips and state Sen. Stephanie Chang.
“Some people don’t know that our mayor is the mayor because of lack of reaching out,” Harris said, adding that she believes there is a lack of collaboration between the city and its neighbors.
“I think different folks in Highland Park, some who feel this way, some who don’t, fear being swooped up by Detroit,” Harris said. “That is a fear and that kind of keeps people over here and not really want to grow or take a chance or see what’s going on.”
“We’re your neighbor, we’re the heart of Detroit. Let’s just talk about Woodward looking all beautiful in New Center, then you get to Highland Park, and we know how that is looking right now, it has potential. Then you go down in that next city, Ferndale, and then the other looks so beautiful down there. We need to get this right here together. Highland Park needs to be healed.”
McDonald, who has credited the county’s assistance in demolishing blighted structures, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The primary election for Highland Park mayor is Aug. 4.
Candidates Attie Pollard, J Douglas Hollie and Joshua LaMere, have also filed to run for mayor.
The mayor held a press conference earlier this year to announce the demolition of Highland Towers, a historic apartment building that will take $1 million to get rid of, city officials say.
A long list of sites will be included in the city’s demolition efforts to rebuild it “from the ground up,” McDonald says.
McDonald has also overseen the construction underway to replace the city’s 115-year-old water infrastructure. Residents faced two boil water advisories in a month last spring, and have reported low water pressure and high water bills. Residents were hit with additional fees to pay for system repairs as part of the city’s agreement to pay off its $55 million Great Lakes Water Authority debt, a move approved by city council and the mayor.
McDonald and her allies coined a new slogan for Highland Park, “A city in motion.”
