WATCH: Duggan's State of the City focuses on public safety, blight, opportunities

Public safety was a big topic during the speech. Detroit's murder numbers have gone down, with about 300 last year, Duggan said that "nobody in this room is ready to celebrate."

"We have to change the culture in this city," he said, adding that the murder number is still too high.

He also said that officers will be getting body cameras and announced a new Detroit Police Department 9th Precinct to open on Connor Avenue.

Duggan would like to have public safety connected to cameras around the city for real-time policing.

"I don't know if it will work but we have our best team on it," he said.

Improvements to the EMS service were also mentioned as Duggan said the average response time has dropped from 18 minutes to 11 minutes. He added the goal is to reach the national average of eight minutes.

Duggan spoke of his aggressive blight removal campaign that includes demolishing thousands of vacant houses and finding owners for others that can be rehabilitated. 

He said under previous leadership the most houses torn down a week was about 48. Under his leadership, more than 200 per week have been demolished.

He also announced lower property tax assessments for many residential properties in Detroit.

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