The Roundabout: Outgoing Detroit Mayor Duggan reflects, drives down memory lane

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's time in office is coming to an end.

As he wraps up his third term, he is looking back on his time in office as he ramps up his run for governor.

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Duggan spoke about his first day in office with FOX 2's Brandon Hudson during their drive together.

"I got sworn in, in the year of the polar vortex," he said. "It was a monster blizzard that day. I went over to the DPW yard and climbed onto a snowplow. I spent the next two hours with the drivers and having them tell me all the problems they had with getting the snow plowed in the City of Detroit.

"It was a trial by fire."

FOX 2: "What do you think your emotions are going to be on your last day?"

"I'm going to be really happy," he said. "The city's in really good shape going forward. Finances are in good shape. I think there's going to a strong mayor. A lot of investment in the ground.

"Two billion dollars of Henry Ford Hospital going up. It is a special time and we have enough going on that's going carry this city for years to come."

FOX 2: "I know you got a lot of memories, but you got any that still make you laugh, that maybe you don't get to tell a lot, but still you keep them close to you?"

"The opening of the train station," Duggan said. "The opening of the train station. What that empty train station meant to Detroiters is hard to describe, but you would drive in on 96 and it became the national symbol of Detroit's bankruptcy."

He said that when his mother was going to nursing school in Cincinnati in the 1950s, she would take the train station every Friday to visit his father in law school in Detroit.

"He would pick her up, and that's just generational stories of how much that train station meant," he said. "We opened the train station with Eminem and Diana Ross performing, was a great day."

Another huge moment was when Detroit hosted the 2024 NFL Draft - which Duggan explains didn't go as planned at first when the Lions traded their third round pick.

But, when he ended up at the podium to announce a different Day 2 pick with a team legend, it worked out better than he could have imagined.

For more on Duggan's reflections of his time leading the city, watch the video above.