Mayor Mike Duggan (Campaign photo)
Mayor Mike Duggan (Campaign photo)
The Michigan Chronicle, a weekly newspaper serving the African American community, is endorsing Mayor Mike Duggan for re-election, but acknowledges his flaws:
Nevertheless, at the end of the day, Duggan has worked hard to make Detroit better, and he has surrounded himself with a team of similarly committed and highly qualified individuals who appear to be on the same page and on task when it comes to building a better city.
The endorsement notes his accomplishments:
Now nearing the end of that first term, it’s hard to make a credible argument that Detroit is no better than it was four years ago. That simply isn’t true. And although some of Duggan’s accomplishments may have been built on what was begun by his predecessors, that’s no crime nor does it negate the part he played in getting things done. Getting the street lights turned back on was a big deal, even if it wasn’t as big and sexy as District Detroit and all the other development occurring in and around downtown.
The appearance of new and improved neighborhood parks like Gordon Park at 12th and Claremont, known for the past half century as the location where the ’67 Rebellion began, is something that makes a noticeable difference in a community. The recent announcement of plans to bring back Fitzgerald neighborhood on the city’s northwest side is also worth celebrating as a harbinger of things to come.
Still, it is difficult for many residents living in the far too many remaining impoverished Detroit neighborhoods not to feel left out whenever they hear about the New Detroit because the dramatic difference between what they see happening downtown versus what they see happening on their own block in their own corner of the world is, well, dramatic.
The speed of change in downtown and Midtown almost has to be seen to be believed, and critics are not wrong to question why they are not sensing this same sense of urgency outside of that 7.2 square miles. While some would argue that the city’s core downtown had to take priority as the city’s economic heart, others might look at the desperation in the faces of so many Detroiters and wonder just how much longer they can be expected to patiently wait their turn.
Nevertheless, the plans revealed by Planning and Development Director Maurice Cox for the revitalization of at least seven Detroit neighborhoods gives definite cause for optimism, not because they are drawings on a board but because visual progress can actually be seen. And remember that Cox, nationally acknowledged as a planning and development superstar, was hired by Duggan. If Duggan wasn’t serious about neighborhoods, he never would have brought in Cox.
