- Mayor Sheffield will unveil her vision to address neighborhood improvements and a renewed focus on crime prevention.
- Sheffield will deliver her first State of the City speech at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31 at Mumford High School.
- The speech will be streamed on cable channels and the city’s social media platforms.
Mayor Mary Sheffield is set to deliver her first State of the City address Tuesday evening, March 31, laying out a vision which she hopes will inspire everyday Detroiters to have hope for a brighter future, according to Deputy Mayor Brian White.
White said Sheffield is expected to tap into how her administration is delivering — and future plans to deliver — quality of life improvements based on some of the needs residents voiced to the mayor on the campaign trail, particularly in the city’s neighborhoods outside of the downtown area.
“She talked a lot about investing in neighborhood commercial corridors, so she’ll be unveiling a plan on how she plans to address that issue — and not picking winners and losers, but making sure every neighborhood sees some sort of intention and investment moving forward,” White said.
Neighborhood investment beyond downtown
Throughout the speech, Detroiters can expect to hear about Sheffield’s housing efforts. She recently signed an executive order to steer more money from the sale of commercial property in to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to provide gap financing, loans and grants to developers to keep units affordable.
Sheffield has thus far announced plans to build 1,000 new single-family homes in her first term, and speed up home repairs, with details to come. White said the city is facing some spending limitations with its budget and the draw down of leftover federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to address home repairs, but added that the mayor will find “creative ways” to increase funding by leaning on federal and state sources, as well as philanthropic partners.
“The mayor has been sort of the ‘Queen of Home Repairs’ since her time in office (she served on the City Council for 12 years before being elected mayor in November) and don’t expect that to change any time soon,” White said.
Sheffield will kick off her speech at 7 p.m. inside Mumford High School. Viewers can stream the speech on cable channels or the city’s social media platforms.
Why Mumford High School was chosen
The mayor specifically chose to deliver her speech from inside Mumford High School to highlight the theme of her focus on the city’s neighborhoods, officials said. White added that several Detroiters who graduated from Mumford gave back to the city.
“You’ll understand why that’s important toward the end of speech, just showing that you can do great things right out of the neighborhoods in Detroit,” White said.
Education partnerships and student outcomes
Sheffield expects to spotlight her achievements in her first 100 days as mayor — hitting the mark in April — including establishing teams to address educational barriers, public safety and boosting affordable housing.
“Throughout the campaign, she’s always said the mayor can’t control the educational system, but we can be better partners and deliver better outcomes for our students. The mayor will definitely be speaking to that throughout her speech, and ways she plans to get involved to help improve absenteeism and educational outcomes for Detroit students,” White said.
Sheffield in February announced a new team dedicated to boosting educational needs for young Detroiters. They will be responsible for building strategies across city government in partnership with the Detroit Public Schools Community District and charter schools.
Public safety and quality-of-life crimes
And while crime has dropped in the city for several years, White said many Detroiters still do not feel safe in their own homes due to gun violence and property crimes, like break-ins.
“You’re going to see a renewed focused from this administration. She’ll be talking about those quality of life crimes that force Detroiters to not feel safe, or even worse, choose to move and live in a different place,” White said.
Population growth and Detroit’s economic future
The mayor also expects to unveil a plan to address what her administration believes “is one of the cruxes of the issues Detroit faces moving forward,” White said.
“We just don’t have the population to sustain a lot of things in the city: whether it’s businesses; whether it’s any kind of downturn of market with respect to income taxes, or wagering taxes; we’re really heavily dependent on things we can’t control,” White said. “Increasing our population and growing our revenues and economy is central to her philosophy in how to move Detroit forward.”
One of Sheffield’s campaign priorities was to hire a chief growth officer to address population, among other tasks, including diversifying the city revenue streams and attracting new investment. The mayor has not yet filled the position, but White said residents can expect a related announcement in the speech.
“I think people have been inspired since her election. I think after this speech, they will continue to be inspired by her leadership and want themselves to be part of Detroit’s future and lean in even more to make sure that Detroit can take its resurgence further into the neighborhoods and invest in people,” White said.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.