MAUREEN LOUISE STAPLETON
Chair, Public Lighting Authority
Founder and President, Community Enterprises LLC
SHOWING DETROITERS THE LIGHT AND THE WAY
By: Donald James
As a young girl growing up on the west side of Detroit, Maureen Louise Stapleton told friends that she would one day become the city’s first female mayor. She also told them that she wanted to be the next Barbara Jordan, the Texas Civil Rights advocate, who in 1973, became the first African-American woman from the South to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. While Stapleton, as an adult, has not served as mayor of the Motor City, yet, her impact on Detroit and its citizenry has been profound and would make Jordan proud.
Stapleton currently chairs the city’s new Public Lighting Authority (PLA), a five-member board of Detroit residents whose task is to develop and support plans to improve public lighting in the city. She was appointed by Mayor Dave Bing and does not receive a salary for her services.
