Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan talks blight, education, housing at 2022 State of the City

Mayor Mike Duggan was in Washington, D.C. when somebody told him "we've got a museum here with a Detroit exhibit, you've got to go over and see this," he said on Wednesday.

But the exhibit turned out to be pictures of ruins in Detroit, Duggan said Wednesday night in his State of the City address, in which he highlighted efforts to remove blight and increase jobs, affordable housing and entrepreneurship.

"Who is low enough that you would go to a museum and look at pictures of another city's misery?" Duggan said. "And every single one was images of the decline of this city."

But the mayor went on to celebrate a number of redevelopments of some of the city's most recognizable abandoned structures. They include the Book Tower, Metropolitan Office Building, Park Avenue Hotel, United Artists Theater, Hudson's site, Lee Plaza, Fisher Body Plant, Ford's renovation of the Michigan Central Station, Cadillac Stamping Plant, American Motors Corporation site, Packard Plant and the Michigan State Fairgrounds.

Removing all blight in the next four years has also been a promise the mayor made since winning his third term. Besides alleviating commercial blight, Duggan said he is most proud of eliminating dilapidated homes in neighborhoods. He touted the city's removal of 23,000 vacant homes under Proposal N.

Watch replay: Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's State of the City address 2022

"In the next four years, we are going to demolish or renovate every abandoned house so no child ever grows up ... where they have to walk past blight," Duggan said.

Duggan said property values have risen broadly across city neighborhoods. . He added that the city will create a website showing all available affordable housing and qualifications for Detroiters to find homes.

Rising property values are a source of great wealth for Detroit homeowners, he said. But there is a second issue.

"If you’re a renter, you have the potential of being pushed out," Duggan said. "We have made a commitment to protect affordable housing. We are one of the few states in America that when low-income housing expires, when federal tax credits expire, we never let a single property go to market rate and push people out."

Throughout the pandemic, many Detroiters were at risk of evictions, Duggan added. The city helped prevent 3,000 evictions through federal funding but Detroiters can expect more.

"Council President Mary Sheffield is going to come forward soon with a plan to provide legal representation to low-income tenants so that if your landlord is attempting to evict you unfairly, you will have protection," Duggan said.

The mayor also touted free college tuition for students at Detroit-based high schools through Detroit Promise.

"If you’re accepted into a two-year community college, we cover your tuition. If you're accepted into a four-year university with a 3.0 GPA or 21 on your ACT ... the tuition is also covered," Duggan said.

Duggan said he also hopes a plan to provide a full day of pre-K for all 4-year-olds in Detroit moves through the state Legislature.

"I think we're going to get it through this spring," Duggan said.

Prioritizing Detroiters for jobs was also a big focus of the speech. He cited the employment program Detroit at Work, which he said has contracts with 10 major companies and gives Detroiters first preference. The program has more than 13,000 open jobs.

Through the American Rescue Plan Act, Detroit At Work received $100 million in scholarship funding to offer Detroiters who did not complete high school the chance to take classes and get paid $10 an hour, Duggan said. Other options include being paid to learn a new trade, working for the city and attending classes twice a week, or having records expunged for returning citizens who want to find employment.

Duggan praised numerous Black entrepreneurs for investing more than $500 million in the city. He highlighted developments including the Rivertown Meijer, and numerous residences and mixed-use buildings.

"Black developers, Black ownership are rebuilding the city," Duggan said.

Duggan has made a priority of creating beauty and vibrancy throughout the city's public spaces, such as renovations to Riverside Park and a stretch along Grand River Avenue, which will hold the future University of Michigan Detroit Innovation Center.

"We took the run-down Livernois corridor we built into the Avenue of Fashion. We have taken the walls of the city that were ugly and turned them into beauty, 100 murals," Duggan said. "And we are now building the new Joe Louis Greenway starting at Warren, working up to Plymouth and taking the ugliest part of the city and making it into some of the most attractive."

In 2021, the city cleaned 1,700 alleyways and Duggan expects 2,000 more to be cleaned this year. Detroiters can buy up vacant side lots near their homes for $100 to build communal spaces, such as gardens or parks. To date, 20,000 Detroiters own side lots, Duggan added.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority is also kicking off a "Create a Project" program to build a public space. Duggan said that 50 projects a year may be eligible for grants from $500 to $15,000 to develop land in the neighborhoods.

The mayor delivered his ninth State of the City address at the General Motors Factory ZERO, located on the Detroit-Hamtramck border. The speech was presented virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact Dana: dafana@freepress.com or 313-635-3491. Follow her on Twitter: @DanaAfana.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: State of the City: Mayor Duggan talks blight, housing and education