It’s late Saturday afternoon at a block party on Hawthorne Street on Detroit’s west side, and mayoral candidate Lisa Howze is schmoozing, shaking hands and answering some rather pointed questions.
“What is different about you?” asks resident Anthony Bowens as he works the outdoor grill. “I’ve heard just about everything from everyone in office now, but they’re all the same.”
Howze, unrattled, responds: “You want someone who can walk the walk, not just talk the talk. It’s about personal sacrifice for me. I’m my biggest contributor. There are no millionaires or billionaires funding my campaign. It’s me and people like you.”
In the final stretch of the campaign, Howze, a former state representative and certified public accountant, who’s considered an underdog, has limited funds. So she can’t launch an expensive, last minute TV and Radio ad blitz like the front runners in the race who have far more money, some of which comes from suburban business people.
But she can do the next best thing: Pound the pavement, ring doorbells, shake hands and get one vote at a time.
Landing Votes
Apparently on this day, she’s having some success.
Her conversation continues with Bowens who expresses concern that city’s leaders are focusing too much on a rebounding downtown area while ignoring the inner city.
“Business is going downtown, and that’s good, but come out here, and we’re broke,” he said. “C’mon now. Isn’t that backwards? When is the average man going to feel this?”
Howze mentions her jobs plan and agrees with his concerns, saying: “There are haves and have-nots, and the haves have a way of controlling the situation.”
Several minutes later, Bowens promises to vote for Howze.
“I’m sold. You’ve got yourself a vote.”
The final days of any campaign leading up to a primary election are always hectic as Howze can attest to as she tries to rack up as many last-minute votes as possible.
Last Saturday, it meant talking to folks like Bowens, driving through the city, greeting voters in both affluent and downtrodden neighborhoods, asking for their vote
Meeting Up WIth Volunteers
The day of campaigning began around 11:30 a.m. when Howze left her campaign headquarters located inside the Union Grace church on W. Grand Boulevard in the New Center area to meet up with volunteers who already distributing flyers in the affluent Boston Edison neighborhood.
She’s joined by two volunteers, including former Calhoun County Clerk Marcus Gray, a sharp-dressed, boisterous character who more or less served as Howze's chauffeur for the day.
After meeting up with campaign director Brandon Jessup, a young and well-spoken man who was already in the area meticulously coordinating door-knocking with other volunteers, Howze speaks with a middle-aged Detroit landscaper who was mowing the lawn of a house on Chicago Street. He expresses concern about the ability of the city and its residents to turn things around.
"We've got to get off our behinds and get down to business soon," he said.
Howze concurs.
"If we're going to turn things around, we're going to have to do it ourselves," she says. "It's not coming from D.C., and it's certainly not coming from Lansing."
Central Message
Throughout the day, she echoed that central message to residents at each of her several campaign stops. Detroit will have to rebound on its own, she said. Congress can barely keep itself functioning, let alone vote to aid the city, and she sees Gov. Rick Snyder as a hostile, anti-Detroit figure.
So, it's up to the city to figure out how to get itself back on its feet following bankruptcy, and Howze wants to be the one to lead it.
Candidates have to develop thicker skin on the campaign trail. She knocks on several doors in the Boston Edison where many homes date back to the early 1900s. But only a few folks bother to answer the door. But when they did, Howze was in the ready to seize on the opportunity.
Being a Woman Candidate
One senior citizen who answered the door said the chance to make history was enough for her to vote.
"You're a woman, and that might be reason enough to vote for you," she said with a chuckle.
Howze and Jessup proceeded to give her additional reasons to win her over.
“You can fix the city’s finances, but if the people are still struggling to pay their bills, we’re not doing too well,” Howze said.
Throughout the day, Howze told the woman and others her plan to put people to work by putting to better use to the “missed opportunity” that is Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport to accommodate companies hoping to ship their products to Detroit and elsewhere.
“I’m the only candidate to come forward with a jobs plan,” Howze said. “That’s one thing we need more of in this city: Jobs.”
While earning a vote was all well and good for Howze and her campaign, the opportunity to place a lawn sign in the woman’s front yard as a large graduation party was about to begin might have been even better.
But it’s establishing connections with voters that Howze hopes will push her over the top come Tuesday’s primary.
“Our polling has us essentially tied for second,” Jessup said. “You only got to get to No. 2 to get to November, and we feel good about where we’re at.” A poll released on Thursday, however, had her in fourth place.
Safety is Top Priority
The top priority for most undecided Detroit voters remains safety, and that was abundantly clear when speaking to a middle-aged voter in a downtrodden neighborhood just blocks from Boston-Edison.
“This is a dangerous street,” she told Howze. “Little kids ride by on their bikes clocking you to see when you’re home. I’ve been broken into twice since moving here. It’s scary.”
Howze told her her top priority as mayor would be to get the city’s streets safer.
“Unless you do that, you won’t see a comeback,” she said.
Jessup, as he and Howze did frequently throughout the afternoon, cited a bill Howze sponsored in Lansing as proof she’s serious about making the city safe.
“The $160 million Lisa brought to Detroit to get its street lights working again with that bill is an investment in fixing the system,” Jessup said. “That’s how we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to fix it through democracy because the mayor and city council don’t do much of anything and the emergency manager doesn’t care.”
After a few hours of door-to-door campaigning, Howze made her way to HOPE Village on Oakman Boulevard for a debate with several other candidates, including Tom Barrow, Fred Durhal and John Telford.
The debate was scheduled to take place outdoors as a part of a larger event that showcased local business initiatives and gave local children a place to play outside.
The Debate Gets Underway
A brief but heavy downpour forced the candidates and the rain-soaked crowd to move indoors, but that didn’t stop the candidates from making their cases to the audience.
While Barrow, as one might expect, spent much of his time viciously attacking Mike Duggan, Fred Durhal played up his history with Coleman Young. Howze made a point to promote the idea that Detroit is in control of its own destiny.
“The game has changed,” she said. “When we sought justice in Sanford, Fla., for Trayvon Martin, we got no justice. When we sought justice for the emergency manager, we got no justice. All we have is just us.”
In response to a question from an audience member, Howze promised to bring business back to Detroit, not just downtown but in the inner city.
“We have to learn how to support each other,” she said.
Her last stop of the day would be at the beautiful, two-story home of Anita Banks, a supporter who invited her neighbors over for a town hall-style session with the candidate.
Banks is the wife of a former Detroit police officer, and the bankruptcy filing has both of them worried.
“We’re shattering our teeth with what’s going on with these pensions,” she said.
When her neighbors arrived a bit later than expected, Howze gave her audience a similar talk that she’s given the rest of the people she ran into that day, emphasizing her airport project, investments in safety and education and attracting businesses beyond downtown and into neighborhoods.
She made sure to let everyone in the house know that what’s about to happen in bankruptcy court could change how city governments around the nation approach pensions and public services.
And she said she wants to be in charge to make sure citizens come first.
“The eyes of the world are on Detroit. It’s time we give them something to look at,” she said.
