Welcome back. I’m still Malachi Barrett.
Detroit will have a new mayor in one month. You have a chance to influence her agenda.
Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield invited residents to the historic Marygrove Conservancy campus on a snowy Monday night. In the century-old Madame Cadillac Building, Detroiters charted a course for the city’s future in a work session about Sheffield’s policy priorities for the first 100 days.
Roughly 50 attendees had small group discussions on advancing the pillars of Sheffield’s agenda: Public safety, transportation, affordable housing, home ownership, restoring neighborhoods, social services, economic empowerment and quality education.
More sessions will be held in January, and Sheffield plans to release a citywide community survey in 2026.
Attorney Melvin Butch Hollowell, Sheffield’s transition team chair and a participant in mayoral handoffs dating back to Coleman Young, said the public feedback effort is unique.
Sheffield said it’s about undertaking “the most rigorous, inclusive and community-driven transition” in Detroit’s history.
Keep reading to see what happened at the first meeting.
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Anatomy of a mayoral transition
Let’s take a step back. What is a mayoral transition?
Simply put, it’s the transfer of power from one city leader to the next. You probably already knew that.
Academics define transitions as an investment in the personal, relational and organizational resources a new mayor needs to be effective. It’s also a moment where campaign promises meet reality. The incoming administration has to fit its priorities within legal, political and financial constraints.
Hollowell participated in outgoing Mayor Mike Duggan’s transition in 2013. He said Sheffield’s transition is significantly different, since Detroit was on the path out of bankruptcy when Duggan took office.
“We weren’t even sure what power we had,” Hollowell said. “Gov. Rick Snyder had issued a number of emergency manager orders which had effectively stripped the power of the mayor’s office. It was a whole different world.”
Hollowell said transitions are a legally-grounded process starting with the City Charter’s definition of the mayor’s responsibilities. The new administration is then reorganized to best fit the mayor’s vision, informed by best practices across the country and staffed with top talent.
“The style that each administration (has) is always different; the personalities are different, the methodology is different,” Hollowell said. “The core is what must you do by city and state law, and then you build from there.”
Hollowell said the charter allows for up to 36 departments, but “we’re not going to have anywhere near that” number.
Harvard’s Kennedy School interviewed mayors about their transition experiences.
“It’s not about following in somebody’s footsteps,” said former Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher. “It’s about making your own footsteps.”
Sheffield said Duggan has been “very helpful” to ensure a seamless transition. Hollowell expects her administration will have a mix of Duggan appointees and new talent.
“We want to ensure that we’re keeping those who provide institutional knowledge as part of the process, but also welcoming in new, innovative leadership,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield said 1,200 job applications have already come in for 21 key positions. Hollowell said “some decisions have absolutely been made,” but declined to say how many or who has been hired yet. Iris Ware, a human resources officer for the city, was hired to vet candidates and sort through resumes.
A jobs board includes positions you’d probably expect — like chief operating officer and Health Department director. It also includes a few new positions.
Sheffield campaigned on creating offices and departments focused on senior services, gun violence, homeownership, population growth and small business. Job listings show she’s following through.
“We try to stay true to what we talked about throughout the campaign: Prioritizing seniors, community violence intervention, the first ever human, Homeless and Family Services (Department) as well,” Sheffield said. “You’ll see that reflected in the organizational chart.”
Harvard researchers found that new mayors in other cities often lack prior government experience, making the transition process a training speed run. Sheffield said it’s been a learning experience, but 12 years on the City Council endowed her with useful knowledge on city operations.
The transition team includes 18 committees with nearly 230 members from a wide range of Detroit institutions. Hollowell expects the group will continue advising Sheffield in some capacity after she’s inaugurated.
“It won’t end on Dec. 31, and that’s different,” Hollowell said. “We’ve got this team together, we’re going to keep them so even as we go into 2026 and 2027, we want to keep them around to continue to have the benefit of their wisdom and their skillsets and thoughtfulness. We’re structuring that as we speak.”
Detroiters connect the dots
Monday’s event was an effort to tap the experience of residents. It was facilitated by HR&A Advisers, which published a transition playbook that recommended including people who are historically left out of decision-making processes.
Sandra Turner-Handy, director of the Denby Neighborhood Alliance and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, said the room represented committed Detroiters who are invested in their neighborhood’s future. She challenged the group to bring others into the process.
Westside resident Jackie Dunlap said more young people, especially, need to be at the table. Others said low literacy rates and a general lack of civic engagement hinder residents from being more empowered to participate.
Entrepreneur and content creator Amber Lewis said the city should release more data on economic empowerment investments and outcomes, and support gig workers and creatives struggling to make ends meet.
Conversations at other tables connected their theme to various other issues.
Jo Darby, a media producer for the police department, said economic empowerment is directly linked to homeownership and public safety. She advocated for rent-to-own programs through the Detroit Land Bank Authority and for keeping recreation centers open in the evenings, so children have safe places if their parents work late.
At the transportation table, committee co-chair Megan Owens led a discussion on improving bus frequency and reliability, and finding transit options that could address chronic school absenteeism.
Oronde Williams said bus stops and transit centers need to be cleaned up, while Lakesha Green said improving safety should be a top priority.
At times, Williams found it difficult to discuss possible solutions without knowing what funding is available for them.
“We can say what we want, but how much does everything cost?” Williams said.
Sheffield said discussions about next year’s budget are happening now, but declined to go into detail about what it will look like.
“It will be balanced and it will uplift the priorities that we mentioned,” she said.
Adventures on Detroit internet
I’m chronically online, which means I see a lot of interesting things that I don’t know how to talk about in person. Here’s a few things I’ve been reading and watching on the wild wild web lately.
One of my favorite new TikTok pages is @pplmovin, an interview series asking Detroiters: What’s movin’ you? It started on the actual Detroit People Mover, probably iterating on a viral format popularized by Subway Takes. The creators agreed to an interview, so stay tuned.
I’m obsessed with searching digital libraries on the Internet Archive when I should be sleeping. It’s a treasure trove for old print media about Detroit. (and it’s free). Did you know the Marygrove College Library was digitized?
A two favorites to skim on your own time:
- Media guides for the Detroit Lions and Tigers give you every stat you ever wanted going back decades. It also includes some of the coolest promo art I’ve ever seen.
- Ever walk by a sculpture and wonder what that’s all about? Art and architecture guides got your covered.
Now’s your chance to get Detroit’s best muralists up on your wall. The city is hosting an artists showcase from 5 to 9 p.m., Dec. 5 at Design Studio 6. It features muralists with the City Walls program. Best of all, artists keep 100% of the proceeds.
Tuesday was the 51st anniversary of a super blizzard that killed 27 people in 1974. The Detroit Free Press takes a look back at the storm. Did you Detroit has a snow removal team? Seniors and disabled residents can receive help shoveling snow from volunteers during winter emergencies.
Protests against a data center in Saline Township are gaining momentum. Planet Detroit broke down why residents are mounting bipartisan resistance (Hint: It has a little to do with DTE Energy)
Can Duggan beat the odds and become governor? That’s the subject of a feature from the always readable Steve Friess in Hour Detroit this week.
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