Mayor Mike Duggan (screenshot)
Aware of criticism that not all are benefiting from Detroit's much publicized comeback, Mayor Mike Duggan delivered his fourth State of the City address, emphasizing the need for job training, affordable housing and the rebuilding of neighborhoods.
“We’ve improved the basic services but if we’re going to fulfill a vision of building a Detroit that includes everybody then we’ve got to do a whole lot more,” Duggan said Tuesday night at the nonprofit human rights organization Focus: HOPE, according to The Detroit News. “You can’t have a recovery that includes everyone if there aren’t jobs available for everyone willing to work.”
The mayor pushed again for affordable car insurance, reports Joe Gullian of the Detroit Free Press, who writes that "after his city-specific proposal, 'D-Insurance,' failed to gain enough support in Lansing, his new efforts will focus on statewide car insurance reform."
Christine Ferretti of The News writes:
Duggan on Tuesday conceded that the federal government's decision to suspend the demolition program for 60 days beginning in August was warranted. But the city has since overhauled procedures and made improvements to get the program back on track. The next ramp up, he said, will get down 10,000 homes in the next two years and the city is “treating this issue with the urgency it deserves.”
On the public safety front, Duggan said Detroit’s Police Department will get new officers, equipment and technology. He announced the launch of Detroit health department’s SisterFriends program, a volunteer program that provides support to pregnant women and their families.
On the fiscal side, the mayor pointed to balanced budgets for 2015 and 2016 and said the city’s budget will be balanced again at the close of this fiscal year in June. That progress, he said, will help the city get out of oversight and back to “self determination” by 2018.
