January 5, 2006
Today is a day for celebration. We celebrate the end of a long election process that finally came to a close last week. We celebrate the start of new terms in office for those of us on this stage. And we celebrate Detroit and all the things that make this city the great city that it is.
I want to begin by thanking the people of Detroit for the opportunity to stand before you today to once again take the oath of office as your Mayor.
I especially want to thank all the volunteers whose efforts made it possible for me to stand before you today. I thank you for your confidence in me during times when many thought we didn’t have a chance. I thank you for stuffing envelopes, for walking door-to-door, for working late into the night and for caring about this city. For all the things that you did to make this day possible – I say, “Thank you.”
I want to thank Shannon McCarthy who is not with us today because of injuries she suffered in an auto accident on New Year’s Eve. She worked so hard to put this event together and I know she is watching from Henry Ford hospital and I want to say, “Thank you, Shannon.”
And finally, I want to thank my family. There has been no Mayor in this city’s history, no Governor, whose family was scrutinized more and I want to thank you for keeping your heads up and staying strong.
I want to take a personal moment as well to extend my heartfelt words of gratitude to the woman we honor here today, Maryann Mahaffey. Her commitment to Detroit and to fighting on behalf of the people of Detroit is legendary.
We haven’t always agreed in the last four years. But never in those four years did I doubt her love for Detroit and her devotion to Detroit. Madame President, you’ve earned your retirement and I know I join everyone in hoping that you will enjoy it as much as you have enjoyed serving the people of Detroit. Thank you.
I also want to congratulate the members of the City Council. Being a person whose political career started in the legislative branch, I understand the important part that you play. There has to be a relationship between our two branches of government- a partnering – if we are going to move this city forward.
President Cockrel . . . President Pro Tem Conyers . . . members of the Council . . . congratulations on your success. I look forward to working with you and I pledge today to constantly be in communication with you to involve you as a partner in the total revitalization and restoration of this great city of Detroit. Thank you.
Finally, I want to congratulate our new City Clerk, Janice Winfrey. As a former teacher myself, I value her background as an outstanding educator. She brings a very special warmth, spirit and energy to her new job and I look forward to working with her in the coming years.
This inaugural ceremony comes at a very unique moment in Detroit history. On the one hand, we face tremendous challenges that reflect the economic pressures brought to bear on the world around us. We are preparing to make basic decisions to completely transform city government.
On the other hand, one month from today we will host the largest single spectator sporting event in the world.
Only 12 cities have hosted a Super Bowl. This is our shot.
In truth, the game is not nearly as important as all of the events that go on around it. Those events will give us a platform to start changing the image of the City of Detroit around this nation and this world. They give us an opportunity to focus on the progress we are making in rebuilding Detroit and on the many attractions to be found here that hopefully will bring people back for a second and third visit.
When people come here they are going to see a new Detroit – a Detroit infused with a new spirit and energy. As our visitors start to talk about what they actually see here, that will begin to transform the messages that we’ve been sending out and have been hearing about ourselves around the country and around the globe.
The pride and the spirit our visitors will see is visible through economic development, through improved city services and more access to recreation, through more trade shows, more national conventions and more national sporting events than we’ve seen in Detroit at any time in our history.
But the ultimate discovery our visitors will make will be the people of this great city. Because our number one asset here in Detroit is the people of Detroit. And I, for one, can’t wait for our visitors to make that discovery.
This is a time of change in Detroit. As we look back on our history as a city, the distant past is often remembered as a more stable time, when things were much better. But a closer, more realistic look shows that, from the beginning to the end, the 20th Century was a time of constant change in Detroit, some for the better and some not.
We grew from a city of 270,000 in 1900 to a city of almost 2 million by mid Century as people came here literally from all over the world for their piece of the American dream. But the dramatic growth of the first 50 years turned into a steady exodus of jobs and people in the second half of the Century until our population declined to back below one million.
The challenge before us today is to develop the public policies that will reverse that decline and that will make this city the same beacon of opportunity and hope that it was for much of the 20th Century.
As we set about that task, we need to start with our own attitude.
In her 1937 book, “My Story,” Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the great Americans of the 20th Century, told us, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Detroit, today is the day we stop giving our consent. Detroit needs to stop apologizing for itself. This is a great city. We are a city of grit. We should be proud of our grit. We are a city with some rough edges. We should be proud of those rough edges. We are a city of love.
There are too many people around here who don’t like the City of Detroit and who noisily voice that opinion too much. It’s no longer an issue of the world not liking us. Now, it’s us not liking us and sending that message out to the world. It’s time for that to change. We are a great city. We should remember that and take pride in that.
That is not to say we do not face challenges as a city. But life is a series of challenges. The important thing is how we face those challenges, how we face the inevitability of change.
Change has many different meanings, depending upon your attitude.
It has been said, “To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.”
We are here today because we faced with confidence an election in which many doubted us. When others doubted, if I had not been confident, if our team had not been confident, if my family and supporters had not been confident, we wouldn’t be standing here.
The challenge made us better because of our confidence. So we must face the changes before us with confidence.
Our first order of business in this new term is a basic restructuring of city government. This is not about fixing things. It’s about transformation.
That is why we call the team we have assembled to chart our course for the new term transformational teams, not transition teams. Nothing is off limits as we begin this new term. Our first order of business in this new term is not to administer a basic restructuring or to merely fix some things. Rather, it is a major transformation of City government.
The decline in our resources shows we have to change the way we do business as a city. We must provide better service to the citizens of Detroit in a much more efficient way than we have done in the past.
A key part of that process is the work being undertaken by the Municipal Restructuring Team I have appointed to conduct a thorough review of city government. The committee is headed by New Detroit President Shirley Stancato, NAACP President Wendell Anthony and former DTE executive S. Martin Taylor.
Their assignment is to identify the tough decisions we’re going to have to make to get our city budget situation back under control. They were given 90 days to develop those recommendations and are well into their process.
One key area everyone recognizes must be changed is employee benefits. Pensions and health benefits costs are rising beyond our control. They will literally eat us alive if we don’t change them now.
If you are a city worker today, you have a health benefit package that requires either no co-pay or very small co-pays on the basic insurance and prescription co-pays of $2 and $5. If you work in the private sector, you know those kinds of benefit levels disappeared from your workplace a long time ago.
On the retirement side, we are saddled with 25 and out retirement plans, with people eligible to retire with full benefits in their mid-40s. This is in an era when improved health care gives these retirees every reason to expect to enjoy a retirement that is longer than the number of years they actually worked for the City. We simply cannot afford that anymore. Future employees have to have a different benefit plan, with more realistic benefit levels.
We’re also looking at how we deliver city services and whether a city of fewer than one million people needs the same number of parks, recreation centers, police precincts, fire stations and other facilities as a city of 2 million once required.
The Municipal Restructuring Team is on target to deliver its report to me by March 1. That report, in turn, will have a major impact on the budget that I present in April. That budget will be a different budget than we’ve seen in the city’s history.
I’m looking forward to meeting with Council members throughout this process, so there are no surprises on either side. I believe we can work and get there together.
The fact is a lot of the changes being made should have been started 25 years ago. But the times were different and did not lend themselves to these kind of changes.
We also need to understand, Detroit, that closing a building does not by itself mean a reduction in services. For instance, there are more officers on patrol now than there were when 12 precincts were open last year. By redeploying personnel and getting them from behind a desk, we have been able to put more people actually on the street. We’re going to continue doing that this year.
Just because a particular piece of real estate is closing doesn’t mean a service or focus is being reduced. We may close four small places and replace them with a bigger, better, nicer, more functional and more technologically sound facility.
We also are looking at the cost effectiveness of living in Detroit or having a business in the city of Detroit. That means a thorough review of areas such as the corporate income tax, the personal income tax, property taxes and insurance rates and looking at what we can do creatively to start to ease the burden in all those areas. We need to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start a small or medium sized business in Detroit, and reduce the burden places on families by high insurance and taxes.
We made a significant start last year last year when we submitted to the Legislature and got it to approve legislation that amends the Neighborhood Enterprise Zone Act to allow Detroit and other urban core communities in Michigan to cut property taxes for qualifying current and future residents in high tax areas of the city. I believe this legislation will have a significant effect in helping make homes more affordable for people who were being scared off by the high tax burden they would face as new home owners in Detroit.
I want to thank Governor Granholm, who is with us today, for signing that bill into law just yesterday. The new law will enable us to reduce property taxes in 23 neighborhoods in 2006, 12 neighborhoods in 2007 and 10 neighborhoods in 2008. I will announce the 35 neighborhoods that will be covered in 2006 and 2007 within the next 30 days.
Another key to the future is identifying and targeting emerging industries that hold promise for future growth. Remember, 100 years ago the automobile industry was an emerging industry.
One of the transformation teams helping us plan for the new term is the Growth Team headed by Detroit Renaissance President Doug Rothwell and Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan. Their mission is to promote a market-based approach and cutting-edge solutions to build healthy economies in Detroit that create jobs, income and wealth for local residents. They can help give Detroit the competitive advantage we need for future growth, particularly in emerging industries like health care and technology.
Another key source of potential support and assistance as we work to rebuild Detroit is the philanthropic community. We have seen how critical they can be to move a project forward in the Kresge Foundation’s support of the east riverfront redevelopment and the recent announcement by the Ford and W. K. Kellogg Foundations that they are targeting development grants in the area east of Woodward and north of the River stretching out past Belle Isle.
Both public and private foundation leaders in town, including foundations like Kresge, Skillman, Hudson-Weber, the Community Foundation, the DTE Energy Foundation and Fifth Third Bank Fund are dedicated to building a stronger and greater Detroit. I will be working with the foundation leaders of the City and the region in the coming months to maximize the potential that they offer us. I specifically will ask City Connect Detroit under the leadership of CEO Geneva Williams, whose job is developing effective collaborations, to become an active partner in this process.
Before closing today, I want to take time to discuss two issues that, if they are not dealt with forthrightly and in a spirit of good will, could sabotage all of our efforts to rebuild and rejuvenate Detroit.
For too long we have been hung up on turf and race in this region. If we don’t start dealing with both issues in a more constructive manner we’re going to fail as a city and a region and a state.
Race hovered over this city and region throughout the 20th Century. It flared up in 1925 when Dr. Ossian Sweet was forced to violently defend his right to live where he wanted. It flared up in 1943 when a city united in purpose as the Arsenal of Democracy was still torn apart by a race riot. It flared up in the late 1940s when it took the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw restrictive covenants in a case originating here. It flared up in 1967 in an outbreak of violence that for many still remains a defining moment in their view of Detroit. And it flares up with regularity as a sort of trump card in the politics and public debates of this region.
Unfortunately, just raising the issue of regional cooperation can generate a negative reaction, no matter which side of Eight Mile Road you live on. “Regional” can sound dangerous to people in Detroit. We think sometimes it means taking things from us. And “regional” can sound equally dangerous to people in the suburbs. They think it means they have to give up something.
Dr. Martin Luther King told us that “All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” That means us, all of us, in Detroit, southeast Michigan and the state of Michigan.
We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the leadership of New Detroit, President Shirley Stancato and Board Chair John Rakolta, for their decision to move ahead this coming October in sponsoring a summit on race relations right here in Detroit.
I’m excited at the possibilities for this summit and will join New Detroit in asking the entire region and state to participate because we have to deal with this issue head on. Again, it’s not about fixing things, it’s about transformation.
In a nation that is increasingly diverse, that is embracing the Asian community, the Hispanic community and other communities from around the world, here in Detroit we are mired in the issue of black and white.
I believe many of our regional partners, not just elected officials, but business owners, philanthropic organizations and ethnic organizations, feel the same way.
That’s why we’ve had such a positive reaction from mayors in the region to the formation of the Tri-county Mayors Conference. We’re going to Lansing during the first quarter of this year to lobby together on issues that are important to us all. We need to have genuine conversations, genuine engagements and genuine relationships that produce fruit for everybody.
I’m committed to working with my fellow mayors. I’m committed to working with business leaders. I’m committed to working with Bob Ficano, Brooks Patterson and Nancy White. I’m committed to working with the county commissions. I’m committed to working in any way that will help us break out of this obsession with turf and race that is literally killing us.
One of the greatest success stories around here in recent years, particularly in the current year, is the story of the Detroit Pistons. In the current voting, the Pistons won’t have any starters on the All-Star team. But they are the best team in basketball. And that is because they are a team. They work together. Nobody cares who gets the most points or the most rebounds. As we work on the issues that affect this state and region and city, we need to stop worrying about who gets the most points or the most rebounds. We need to focus on winning.
President Harry Truman once said, “Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”
We have skillful leaders in this city, this region and this state. It’s time for those leaders to demonstrate the courage needed to seize the opportunity to change things for the better. I include myself in that challenge. And I pledge to you today that I will do my part and more.
The truth for all of us who hold public office is that 20 years after we leave office people will remember not the political fights we were in, not even the 2005 election, but rather the sum total of what we did to move the city, the region or the state forward.
Several years ago I was fortunate to travel with members of the Jewish Community Council on a trip to the Holy Land. We met with Israeli leaders and we met with Palestinian leaders as well.
In each of those conversations, the leaders with whom we met were talking about how they had to come together in their region to build tourism. They were working to get rid of terrorism to build their economy.
As I listened to them, it occurred to me that if Israelis and Palestinians can have an honest discussion about how they can work together to economically improve their region, then surely we should be able to have a similar conversation between Detroit, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties.
We are all in this together.
No matter where you live in this region, you’re from Detroit.
So ultimately, it’s about Detroit love.
What’s Detroit love?
Detroit love involves countless experiences that are unique to Detroit.
Having two Coney Islands and some chili fries at 2 a.m. – that’s Detroit love.
Volunteering for Angels’s Night—that’s Detroit love.
Three young men running on to I-75 to save a trucker from a burning tanker—that’s Detroit love.
Going to the DIA on Saturday – that’s Detroit love.
Cheering the Pistons winning a championship in Auburn Hills – that’s Detroit love.
A cold Faygo and some Better Made on a summer day—that’s Detroit love.
Detroiters coming together to help Katrina victims—that’s Detroit love.
A jazz concert at Chene Park—that’s Detroit love.
Ice skating at Campus Martius—that’s Detroit love.
Roller skating at Skate Land or Northland –that’s Detroit love.
Hosting Super Bowl XL and showing the world what we are about – that’s Detroit love.
Bringing your family to the world’s greatest auto show – that’s Detroit love.
This year, even when you boo the Lions, that’s Detroit love.
Detroit love is all the wonderful things that make Detroit the city that we love.
I love Detroit. And I pledge to you today that I will spend every waking hour of the next four years working to help Detroit achieve all that this wonderful city can be.
Thank you.