State of Our City
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivered his fifth State of the City speech at Western International High School on the Southwest side last Tuesday evening. He gave a nearly hour-long power point, getting appreciation from the packed house. Mainstream commentators approved as well, noting his emphasis on neighborhoods rather than downtown development. Most lauded his ideas to improve schools, transportation, housing, and job training. The Mayor talked about reducing crime and improving access to higher education. His basic theme was that those Detroiters who “stayed” should now benefit from neighborhood initiatives. Under the banner “building one Detroit for all of us” he said, “We’re going to do it with the Detroiters who stayed.”
He repeatedly echoed a version of, “Those who stayed are going to have a say in what happens in their neighborhood.” This is the center of his vision for the city.
Most community activists were more critical, noting the lack of public transportation, the absence of a commitment to a real community benefits agreement, and the total silence by the Mayor on the shameful continuation of water shutoffs throughout our city. The People’s Platform engaged community leaders in responding directly to the mayor.
I found Duggan’s vision both hollow and short-sighted. This speech, like much of the Mayor’s reign, was a squandered opportunity to engage us in thinking differently about ourselves, our city, and our future.
The Mayor does not recognize we are living in an unprecedented moment where fundamental questions of what are cities for, what could they look like, and what values should they reflect are critical for our survival.
Instead of inviting people to think together about a different kind of future that would benefit all of us and create regenerative, sustainable urban life, the Mayor’s vision of the future was to trot out ideas from the last century. He thinks that the only purpose of the city is to provide a disciplined workforce for corporate profit-making. Here is the shape of his vision. He said the city can no longer afford to have a large portion of its population not participating in the workforce.
“This is now a competitive issue. In the city of Detroit, we need everybody,” Duggan said. “We need the talented people who have been out of the workforce to come back in so that we can go after and land these big companies. You won’t believe the people who are talking about coming here, and everybody says the same thing: ‘Can you deliver the workers?’”
Duggan does not see “workers” as citizens. Nor does he see we are already creating new, cooperative economies, based on principles that emphasize caring for one another and our earth. He does not ask us to think about our responsibilities to each other. Rather, Duggan fosters militaristic and individual solutions to collective problems. He offers safety with increased police and lights. He thinks respect among people will emerge from requiring percentages of “affordable units.”
Whether talking about staying in our homes or going to college, again and again, Duggan turned to individual stories as his “proof” of change. Yet each of these individuals was stripped of historical context or ties to communities. Thus the value he repeated over and over again was take care of yourself, think about yourself. The fundamental question of how do we develop our people as we develop our city was evaded at every turn.
Duggan’s vision is nothing more than a combination of top-down, big development, technocratic quick fixes, and a call to accelerate individual self-interest. This kind of thinking about cities is the source of the crises we face. Continuing it will not get us to a new future.