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The State of Majority Black Detroit, a State of the City watch party. (Photo: Violet Ikonomova)
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan walked onto the stage of an east side high school to resounding applause ahead of his sixth State of the City address Tuesday night.
But miles away in an office in New Center, his entrance on the TV screen was met by boos.
“Are we allowed to (boo)?” a woman in the room asked, excitedly.
“Oh yes we are!” another woman replied.
And so began a State of the City watch party hosted by the Detroit People’s Platform, an advocacy organization that has been at the center of the city's community benefits and affordable housing debates. Dubbed the State of Majority Black Detroit, it was billed as a gathering for likeminded people who recognize the city is still struggling and believe Mayor Duggan is failing residents most in need.
Over the next hour, nearly every platitude and promise made by the mayor would be picked apart by the several dozen community activists and residents on hand in the style of sports fans aligned with the losing team.
When Duggan highlighted several companies bringing jobs to the city, guests shouted at the screen: “What are you paying them?” and “They need a living wage with benefits!”
When Duggan announced the city’s traffic lights would soon be outfitted with Project Green Light cameras, one man muttered “Police state for real,” and a woman worriedly asked, “Is anyone else freaked out right now?”
The group grew especially angry when he touted the city’s community benefits ordinance, shouting “Shut up” and “Liar!” The ordinance that passed three years ago was a toothless version of the one proposed by some of the people in the room.
Duggan Bingo
There was also a lighter-hearted game going. Bingo cards had been dispersed with squares that included topics likely to be mentioned in the speech. At the center was the “free space” for water shutoffs, because “you know he’s not going to mention that.”
The rowdy exercise in democracy signals the beginning of a period of heavy lifting for the Detroit People's Platform. Duggan’s speech is a precursor to his proposed fiscal year 2019-20 budget, and the organization is hoping to influence the final version.
Their asks include $10 million dollars for an affordable housing trust fund that has not seen significant investment since it was created via a 2017 ordinance. Instead, the mayor later created a separate, similarly named “affordable housing leverage fund” that funds developments offering discounted housing to people who earn up to 80 percent of area median income — or more than $40,000 per year. The original fund created with help from the Detroit People’s Platform was to pay for affordable housing for people earning up to 50 percent of area median income — much closer to median income in the city proper.
And it’s that kind of context DPP hoped to bring to the mayor’s annual address.
“What we wanted was an affordable housing trust fund that other cities have,” Amina Kirk, a policy specialist for the organization, told those gathered after the speech. “And [Duggan] has actively fought against it; he stripped it out of the budget last year when it was supposed to be funded with $2 million. Meantime he’ll show us the city has built 100 affordable units here and there and we all clap, and it’s thousands that we could have.”
Unspoken words
Then the conversation turned to subjects the mayor avoided.
State of the City bingo includes free space for water shutoffs. (Photo: Violet Ikonomova)
“He never said gentrification.”
“He never said racism.”
And the bingo game proved prophetic: He never said water shutoffs.
“With the one hand he talks about how great the city is and with the other hand he’s selling everything at deep discount prices,” said DPP’s Gregg Newsom, pointing to major incentives to lure companies like Ford.
“How do we hold him accountable to some of these statements?” asked one woman.
Newsom had the crowd flip over their bingo cards, where an email and phone number for the mayor’s office were listed. He encouraged they send a letter airing their grievances.
