Duggan Announces Re-Election Bid, Wants to Create More Family-Friendly City

Mayor Duggan makes his announcement

Update,: 1:05 p.m. Saturday: Before a cheering crowd at a gathering that felt very much like a pep rally, Mayor Michael Duggan on Saturday afternoon announced his bid for second term, saying he wanted to focus on what still needs to be done and create "a city where people want to raise their families.”

He also acknowledged that crime was still too high before the crowd at The Wellness Center at The Samaritan Center at 5555 Conner St. on the city’s east side.

Before stepping up to the microphone, a host of supporters including neighborhood activists, religious leaders and politicians, delivered hearty endorsements for Duggan's re-election. Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoloean, who ran against Duggan last time, delivered some kind words and put his arm around the mayor and said: "Our race never got dirty."

"It's good for him and I to now be back together," Napoleon said. "He and his first lady have done remarkable things for the city of Detroit."

Duggan said he planned to work with the Detroit Public Schools Community District School Board to "fight the irrational closing of these Detroit public schools.” The state recently announced plans to consider closing underperforming schools.

“Reform means first you work with the teachers in the school to raise that performance at that school. Second you don’t close the school until you’ve created a quality alternative,” he said. “Neither one of those has happened here.”

Friday afternoon article:

etroit's mayor, already clearly in campaign mode this election year, makes his re-election bid official today at an east-side event open to the public.

Mike Duggan, who beat Benny Napoleon by 13,806 votes in November 2013, announces this year's candidacy at a 90-minute event Saturday at Samaritan Center, a hospital on Conner Street. Register here to attend the noon event. (Early arrival is suggested.)

The mayor speaks about public safety Thursday at Seaway Market Place on West Chicago Boulevard. (City of Detroit photo)

The mayor has started this year with a series of campaign-like events and announcements touting his administration's achievements:

A graphic "Detroit Dashboard" graphic illustrates 2016 gains in employment, small business support, park upgrades, blight removal and other categories.
Vice President Joe Biden joined Duggan on Jan. 10, a week before the change in administrations, at ceremonies where 15 Detroit entrepreneurs earned Motor City Match grants to open or expand.
That same day, a lengthy New York Times article notes that "the last of this city’s 65,000 new streetlights blazed on" in December and quotes Duggan as voicing hope that interim Census Bureau "numbers will reveal, for the first time in decades, the population holding steady or even rising."
Two weeks ago, the mayor's team launched an outreach and education campaign to help eligible Detroiters get bigger tax refunds through the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.
This week began with word of significantly expanded bus service, the second such announcement in six months.
The latest splash came Thursday, two days before the formal campaign launch. Duggan and his police chief spoke at Seaway Market Place on the west side to welcome it as the 100th Project Green Light participant in an anti-crime effort using live video monitoring by police. His office posts seven tweets about the ceremony, including three video clips.

In a Free Press campaign preview last fall, Matt Helms noted that Detroit is "seeing a boom in certain areas, but a persistent lack of business activity and recovery in many of its neighborhoods." He described Duggan as "a formidable campaigner and fund-raiser with deep support among metro Detroit’s business elite."

If re-elected Nov. 7, Duggan would be 63 at the end of a second term.

Helms, a politics and government writer, added in his October look-ahead:

Political analysts say it’s his race to lose, evidenced by a lack of candidates signaling an interest — privately or publicly — in challenging an incumbent who can point to some improvements since taking office, such as street light replacement, faster police, fire and ambulance response times and the incremental expansion of bus service. . . .

"Maybe nobody wants the job,” Duggan said in jest. But, he added: “The mayor of Detroit is always a hotly contested race, and if I run next year I expect it will be a hotly contested race.”

Prospective candidates have until May to enter the nonpartisan race.