Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield to give her first State of the City address
DETROIT (FOX 2) - After nearly 100 days as the new Mayor of Detroit, Mary Sheffield is now set to deliver her first State of the City Address at Samuel C. Mumford High School.
Big picture view:
The first ever female Detroit mayor will deliver her address at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31 and is expected to discuss many topics including blight in the city, the future of transportation and other goals for her administration.
Historic moment for Detroit
As said before, Sheffield's address is a milestone moment for the first woman to ever hold the city’s highest post.
City sources say the Mayor will focus on making big investments in the neighborhoods, reducing crime and launching new services and supports in the Department of Human, Homeless and Family Services.
This will be the first State of the City ever to be given by a woman holding the office of Detroit Mayor, and FOX 2 spoke with former City Councilmember Sheila Cockrel, who runs the group Citizen Detroit, a nonpartisan civic organization, about what this moment means.
Photos courtesy of the City of Detroit.
"It’s historic, as you say, and I mean something, it’s been a long time coming, and I’m very happy to see this occur. I think the mayor has done a really good job, a remarkable job, in making a transition from the legislative leadership role to the executive leadership role in the city," said Cockrel. "I think one of the most important things to say is that the priorities that she had in the City Council in terms of policy issues that affect Detroiters; she’s just very carried them over from the legislative work she did to being in the Mayor’s Office. So we see that in the priorities around housing, around education, about seeking to address the question that there’s a lot of Detroiters who just don’t feel safe no matter the statistics say."
Combating blight in Detroit
On Monday, FOX 2 dug deep into the illegal dumping ground at an abandoned apartment complex on Greenfield. Communities complained, but the city announced they would do something about it.
Mayor Sheffield is likely to mention the need for blight removal in her address. This also comes as the complex has gone through an amazing 24 hours of cleanup and the people that live there are getting help too.
"You know, I saw this on the news this morning and I went to Home Depot and spent $800 Charlie my own money right there in the vehicle and came down here with my own stuff to help aid and assist the city," said cleanup volunteer Frank Mathis.
"Today we have our general services department out here cleaning up the debris the mess, we have our police department out here clearing out the illegal squatters, and we also have our construction demo team out here to board the place back up," said Director General Services Department Crystal Perkins.
The owners of the building will now have to deal with the blight notice. Eventually, there will be a court hearing, and likely they may be in for a big fine or more.
Detroiters talk public transit and blight ahead of State of the City
Jobs, crime and neighborhood development are all big issues Mayor Sheffield will dive into, but a lot of residents are talking about public transportation too. When it comes to public transit, sources say the mayor will talk about the investments she will want to make in that area, but what can be improved? FOX 2 talked with residents and former Detroit officials about it.
Transportation in Detroit
Jobs, crime and neighborhood development are all big issues Mayor Sheffield will dive into, but a lot of residents are talking about public transportation too.
When it comes to public transit, sources say the mayor will talk about the investments she will want to make in that area, but what can be improved? FOX 2 talked with residents and former Detroit officials about it.
"If I could just tell our mayor like just have more consistency with our transportation. Instead of running like every hour on certain days, like run like every 15 minutes to 20 minutes. That way, people can make it to certain appointments or job interviews like I just had earlier," said commuter Andrew Downer.
"We are the only region, major region in the country that doesn’t have a mass transit system," said Cockrel. "That’s a Detroit issue, but it is a regional issue. There has to be a way to connect people from one end of southeastern Michigan to the other seamlessly with with public transportation. Personally, I think it’s going to lead us to bus rapid transit, the BART system that we’ve seen for years. I think that’s going to be the one of the strategies. It’s clearly a priority. It’s always about available dollars and where you allocate the dollars as administration and as a city council."
What you can do:
If you would like to watch Mayor Sheffield's address, you can watch it live at 7 p.m. on FOX 2 or on the FOX Local App on this story.
You can also catch it live on our YouTube and Facebook.
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The Source: FOX 2 used information from previous reporting and from Detroit lawmakers and residents.