DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan presented his 11th State of the City speech at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on Wednesday night.
Duggan began the speech by acknowledging that it is unusual for the mayor to give such a speech in a neighborhood but recounted how he launched his campaign for mayor in 2013 in the neighborhoods, and that's what he wanted to focus on Wednesday.
“Detroit's future to me always comes back to where it started: to the neighborhoods," Duggan said.
Watch Duggan's full State of the City address in the video player below:
Duggan also said that the people coming to Detroit for the upcoming NFL Draft will be coming to a very different Detroit than the last time we were in the national spotlight— when the city declared bankruptcy — listing many of the projects that have been launched in that time.
He said it was time to declare the Detroit "ruin porn tours" as canceled.
"Ten years ago we were in the headlines, it was "carjack city" and "murder capital." In February, President Biden called Chief James White to the White House to lead a national conference on how to reduce gun violence in the country," the mayor said.
Duggan promised to cut taxes while he keeps working to enact the Detroit Land Value Tax in Lansing, pointing out a $1 million tax cut in July 2023 and another that will go into effect in July 2024. He also promised another one will go into effect in July 2025.
While celebrating the success of Project Greenlight, Duggan announced that they would begin installing a camera network along Detroit’s freeways this summer. It will be funded by a $30 million grant from the state of Michigan.
Duggan also announced a plan to put solar fields in blighted areas of Detroit, with eight neighborhoods already chosen to compete for the first one. The plan would put the fields next to areas, which will also receive money to repair their blocks.
The plan will launch with the first three neighborhoods being sent to city council. Duggan says all eight neighborhoods could possibly be selected by 2026 if the program is a success.
“We are going to give the residents in these neighborhoods the quality of life they deserve," Duggan said.
Business owners on Detroit's northwest side say it's about time the focus turned from downtown to them.
“Most of the jobs are going downtown," owner of IB Cuttin Barbershop Isaac Brown said. “Kind of hard getting people to work in the area because there's other places that’s nicer.”
Duggan also celebrated work done in multiple neighborhoods to reduce blight, saying that as of 2024, they have gone from 40,000 blight homes to 4,400. He promises the rest of those will be demolished or sold by the Land Bank by the end of the year.
The address ended on a positive note with the mayor dedicating the Dexter-Elmhurst Recreation Center to honor a community leader and rename it to the Helen Moore Community Center.
