Mayor Duggan delivering his victory speech on Aug. 8, 2017. (DD photo)
Mayor Duggan delivers a victory speech Tuesday. (Deadline Detroit photo)
Is the divide between downtown Detroit and the neighborhoods "fiction," as Mayor Mike Duggan told Katrease Stafford of the Detroit Free Press Tuesday night after his convincing primary win?
Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker thinks not, calling Duggan's remark "bold and outrageous." He continues:
The deepening divide between downtown and the neighborhoods is anything but fiction.
Under Duggan’s watch, foreclosures, water shutoffs and poverty reached new highs, while downtown has experienced an unprecedented boom. While neighborhoods have suffered, Duggan has demolished houses with money originally intended to save people from losing their homes. He’s championed the water shutoffs to more than 80,000 homes since 2014, despite serious health risks to neighbors.
And the mayor’s administration is under investigation for its demolition program that has endangered neighborhood residents by failing to properly remove asbestos.
Duggan's remark came after receiving 67 percent of the vote. When Katrease Stafford of the Freep asked about the divide between neighborhoods and downtown, he replied:
"I don't know what you are looking at," Duggan said. "The margins you are seeing tonight are historic, it appears we carried every precinct. So again, I really don't want to talk about this narrative anymore.
"It's a fiction coming from you. It really is."
