Housing, immigrant rights, voter apathy and thoughtful community revitalization were among the topics discussed during a Monday night candidate forum in northwest Detroit. 

Detroit City Council Pro Tem and District 1 representative James Tate appeared at Artist Village Detroit alongside at-large City Council hopefuls Levan Adams and Valerie Parker for a BridgeDetroit “Meet the Candidates” event. 

The conversation, moderated by BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett, served as the kickoff for a nine-part series being held in each council district across the city throughout the summer to uplift the voices and viewpoints of residents and the City Council candidates vying to represent them ahead of the city’s Aug. 5 primary election. 

READ MORE:

• District 2: Police interactions, surveillance dominate Detroit candidate talk
• District 3: City Council candidates debate value of land bank, home repair programs

Unlike Adams and Parker, Tate is unopposed in his bid for another four-year term. He will not appear on the primary ballot and instead will advance to the November general election. 

First elected in 2009, Tate is the council’s longest-serving member. He reflected Monday on navigating emergency management and bankruptcy as well as the devastating health and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“Through 15 years, there have been a lot of changes. I am thankful to be in a position to play a role from where we were to where we are now,” Tate told a crowd of about a dozen community members. The city, he added, is much better off today than it was during his first term, but is “a long way from declaring victory.”

Tate, who consistently hosts three monthly community district meetings, said the rallying cry for his next term will be working more closely together as a community.

The councilman said he makes no apologies about focusing on the district’s most challenging neighborhoods, including Brightmoor, which he said has faced difficulties for his entire life. The area has been plagued with blight, vacant housing, poverty and other challenges. 

He said he’s focused on revitalization, “and making sure neighborhood revitalization truly means revitalizing with the community and not to the community. This is very key.” 

Adams, a 25-year Detroit police veteran, said he’s running for an at-large seat on the council with a strategy to put neighborhoods first. He said affordable housing, economic growth and resources for returning citizens and veterans were among his top priorities. He also floated the concept of transforming vacant Detroit schools into shelters for the city’s unhoused population. 

Although Detroit races are nonpartisan, Parker, a former Detroit educator, touted her Republican values on Monday. She also said she’s zeroing in on schools, efforts to lower taxes and broken systems, like the challenging hurdles associated with retrieving stolen vehicles from impound lots. 

The candidates also weighed in on the council districts – like Tate’s – that won’t have a primary and the lack of interest in candidates running for the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners. 

Tate noted there were 168 candidates for nine City Council seats when he first ran for office. But, “all candidates are not created equally,” said Tate, noting challenges associated with fundraising and folks who perceive they’ll have to “sell their soul” to venture into politics.

“In this ever-changing world we’re in right now, with so much instability, folks are more willing to do the work outside (of public office) rather than running for office,” he said. 

Adams said making a run at public office isn’t easy.

“Trust me, it’s hard. People are getting complacent. They get used to the same old names, the same old recycled promises and people are done with politics,” he said. “Especially with the last (presidential) election and the vitriol going on. But people care about this city. I am one of them. I’m coming out of my shell because I care. I love my neighbors and I want to see Detroiters prosper.”

Adams said it’s the responsibility of candidates to find voters who believe “politics aren’t for me” and to get them more engaged in the civic process. 

“I’m going to do my part,” he said. 

Parker said she’s targeting young college students before they become disenfranchised. 

“I’m trying to make sure these kids know what’s going on,” she said. 

The group also touched on the fate of the city’s agreement with the Detroit Land Bank Authority and its programming. Some council members have recently argued for dissolving the land bank and revising how the city’s inventory of programs and vacant parcels and properties are handled. 

Tate noted that there’s misinformation about who is purchasing land bank properties. There’s a thought that most purchasers of DLBA properties are not Detroiters and are not Black, but he said that’s not true. The sales information, he said, is transparent and publicly reported. 

Tate, Parker and Adams also fielded questions from the audience about affordable housing, community land trusts and protections for immigrants amid rising tensions in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented individuals.

Tate said immigrants serve a major positive role in the city. In District 1, there’s a sizable Afro-Caribbean population that “look a lot like us in this room.”

He said Trump’s return to office has created a “chilling effect” on those who are here and an integral part of the community. 

“We’ve got to remove this idea that because you are an immigrant that you are evil, bad and violating the law,” he said. “This country itself was founded on immigrants who moved here and took it over.

Tate cited the limitations of local government when it comes to federal laws that “we all are subject to.”

“I could create all types of ordinances about ‘don’t do this, don’t do that federal government,’ but I get ‘trumped’ every time, no pun intended,” said Tate, stressing: “If there’s a policy element to it that we may be missing from a local level in City Council that we’re not addressing, let me know … I’m truly asking, ‘What’s the expectation from a local official?’”

BridgeDetroit will host its next “Meet the Candidates” event from 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday at The Raw Space, 8420 W McNichols Rd, with candidates from District 2.

For more information about the series or to sign up for our free upcoming events, click here.