In Detroit’s District 3, an 11-year incumbent faces a block club president who touts a life built around service in the community in the bid to represent neighborhoods on the northeast side of the city.

District 3, north of Hamtramck and Highland Park, is bound by Woodward Avenue, E. McNichols Road, Gratiot Avenue.The area is home to 85,740 people, according to the Neighborhood Vitality Index survey data from 2024, and neighborhoods such as Regent Park, Mount Olivet, Conner Creek and Campau-Banglatown, where many Bangladeshi immigrants reside. 

The district’s boundaries were redrawn last year, as part of a 10-year, charter-mandated redistricting process, and go into effect in January, when the new council takes office. 

The old Michigan State Fairgrounds, at Eight Mile and Woodward Avenue, is located in the district. So are logistics buildings and a transit center. Also in the district: Bel Air Luxury Cinema and one of two Buddy’s Pizza Detroit locations. 

In District 3, 80% of residents are Black, according to the Neighborhood Vitality Index, while 8% identified as white and 7% as Asian. Nearly 22,000 of residents are under 18, while more than 11,500 are over 65. Just above half of residents are homeowners and 16% reported owning a business. 

The majority have lived in the city for at least six years. When it comes to neighborhood conditions, 28% reported being satisfied with the state of vacant land in their community, while just under a quarter were content with the condition of vacant commercial buildings. Forty-two percent of parcels are vacant. 

The median housing value is $57,686, according to the Neighborhood Vitality Index, and the median gross rent is $1,065. 

Most residents said they were satisfied with their quality of life and more than half reported feeling safe. Forty percent were able to pay bills and 46% could purchase adequate food. Less than half said they were satisfied with “retail and service amenities” in their community. 

Who is running

Scott Benson is a three-term incumbent and said he’s running again because there’s still work to do. His focus is jobs, he said, and bringing more investment to District 3. Residents need to see the benefits of being a Detroit resident. Benson, 56, touted improvements in city services over the years. 

“Police, fire, street lights, infrastructure, recreation – they were nowhere near the level of services that we’ve been able to deliver and there’s still room for improvement,” the Regent Park resident said. He wants to see recreation centers open every day of the week and ramp up public transit. 

Public safety, affordable housing, blight and wealth generation are among the concerns in the district. Benson wants to help move low-income families into the middle class, retain the existing middle class in Detroit and ensure the city is a place where middle class and wealthy families want to move back to, he said. 

“That’s all part of creating an environment where people want to live, work, play, worship and thrive with their families,” he said. 

Benson created the Wealth Generation Task Force to close wealth and income gaps in the city. The task force found a lack of estate planning that hinder the ability of Black families to build wealth. He backed a program to provide free estate planning and legal services to help Detroiters keep their family homes. The services are important, officials have said, because there are at least 5,500 intergenerational properties in Detroit — worth more than $268 million — with unclear ownership, according to a report released last year by the think tank Detroit Future City. 

Benson said he supported companies and developments such as Flex-N-Gate, Linc and the old Michigan State Fairgrounds. Jobs, he said, are a “critical component for our residents.”

“The best way to bring a family from low income into the middle class is to give them a living wage job,” he said. 

Benson said he has the experience and the “ability to get things done.” He cited his hard fought support of an ordinance requiring restaurants to post color-coded inspection signs. Benson has backed the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the city’s 0% Interest Home Repair Loan program. He was an early supporter of Shotspotter, the controversial gunshot detection technology used by the Detroit Police Department.

In a pre-primary filing, Benson reported raising $66,615 between Jan. 1 to July 20. Among the donors were the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan PAC, Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Rock Holdings state PAC and Detroit Firefighter Association PAC. He spent $36,084 and had $42,095 on hand. 

Benson graduated from Westchester High School in Los Angeles, Calif., where he was born and raised. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University and a master’s degree from Wayne State University. He served 24 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and is a former real estate developer, according to his biography. 

Cranstana Anderson, a born and raised Detroiter, said she decided to run for city council because she knows what it’s like to repeatedly ask for city services and has been overwhelmed by what she sees as the “disinvestment” in the district. 

Anderson didn’t plan to run but is doing so because there’s a need for change, she said, adding that she wants to give residents an option to choose someone who can not only do the job, but has built their life around service in her district. 

“We need people who really care about our community and that’s actually from here,” Anderson, 56, said. 

She said the district needs more than parks and recreational centers for children and believes that vacant spaces should be turned into learning hubs. She criticized the “proliferation” of marijuana and liquor shops which she said are too accessible to children. 

Anderson, who lives near the Conant Gardens area, said one of the biggest problems in the district is blight and that she’d support a process to not only fine residents for not doing their part but also go through training to learn how to maintain properties and remain compliant. 

“Affordable homes shouldn’t just be you renovating buildings and schools and churches and putting people in these apartments,” she said. “To me, affordable housing … leads to homeownership where we’ve got resources to train people on how to live productively.” 

Anderson said she’s not a career politician. She stressed the importance of landscaping and wants to “create a momentum of beautification and compliance.” She said she’d push for infrastructure, investment and jobs. What sets her apart as the candidate for District 3 is that she’s a native Detroiter, focused on saving the city, she said. She supports economic growth, engaging residents and the stabilization of the district. 

She noted the progress downtown, but said “here in the neighborhood, we’re still not good. We’re still struggling along the way.”

Anderson is a self-employed tax preparer. She retired from the UAW Local 235 in 2005. She’s been the president of the Gardenia Community Block Club since then, focused on public safety and keeping the environment clean. 

Anderson formed her campaign committee in April and is not required to file any campaign finance documents until mid-October. 

She attended Pershing High School and Kettering High School, before leaving in the 11th grade to work. After obtaining her GED, she went on to study at Wayne State University and Oakland Community College. 

The District 3 write-in candidates are Tonia Gladney and Joyce Jennings-Fells, according to the city of Detroit election department’s list of write-in candidates. Sexture Ragland is also in the running, though he was not on that list. 

Voices from the district 

Residents of District 3 want their next council person to participate more in the community, provide resources for seniors and offer additional activities at a recreation center.

Edith Floyd’s neighborhood feels like living in the country, she said. 

Her street only has four houses and she’s used the end she lives on to plant a community garden. One lot is reserved to grow food for a nearby food bank. The garden, called Growing Joy, grows tomatoes, collard greens, fruit trees and flowers and has honey bees. 

“The area (feels) like you’re on a farm. It’s so nice and quiet,” said the longtime Mount Olivet

resident and founder and president of the Mt. Olivet Neighborhood Watch, which started the garden. She loves to see the flowers and vegetables grow. It’s a place where you can sit on your porch and relax. 

She’s been living in District 3 for 52 years. When she first moved into her area, there were about 62 houses on her block, Floyd said. After the Dodge Main factory in Hamtramck closed and the arson of Devil’s Night, residents started moving out, leaving vacancies. People stripped the homes so bad that no one would want to buy them, she recalled. She saw the closure of public schools. 

Residents in the area – primarily seniors – need new streets, curbs, sidewalks and a playground, she said. She wants the city to sell more lots to grow on – a process she said has been a paperwork-ridden hurdle.

She wants the next council member to ensure the area is clean. Floyd said Benson has helped get things done, including help buying lots, and is responsive. She plans to vote for him. 

Elois Moore, president of the Binder Street Block Club OR (Outer Drive and Ryan), has lived in the Farwell neighborhood since 1980. She values that her area has longtime residents. Still, there aren’t enough businesses in the district, she said. 

Moore, a retiree, sits on the city of Detroit’s Board of Zoning Appeals for District 3. She was surprised when Benson asked her to be a part of the board. He knows she’ll “give him hell everytime,” she said. She doesn’t have a problem with him and when does, she goes to him to rectify the issue. Moore said she plans to vote for Benson. 

From the next council member, Moore wants to see more involvement, improvements and resources for seniors, who need ramps and the sidewalk fixed.

Lynette Orr, who lives close to the Farwell Recreation Center on E. Outer Drive, has lived in District 3 for more than three decades. She wants something done with a nearby abandoned school, Van Zile Elementary School, which she said had caught fire. 

Benson, she said, helps sometimes and is a “regular politician.” Orr, still undecided on which candidate will get her vote, said she wants the next council member to participate more in the community and pay attention to seniors who live alone. Speaking inside the Farwell Recreation Center on Sept. 23, the longtime Detroiter said she’d like to see more improvements and activities to the rec center itself. 

“If you go to Northwest Activities Center or Butzel center, they are jam packed all the time,” she said. “This is halfway vacant. I would like to see more stuff going on here.”