Outgoing Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan sat down Thursday at the Mackinac Policy Conference for a candid talk with billionaire Dan Gilbert, reflecting on the former’s unconventional path to becoming Detroit’s mayor.
Duggan had been in a “dead heat” with the late former Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon during his first run when he was thrown off the ballot over a residency requirement dispute.
Polling afterward showed his popularity climbing. It shot up even more, he told Gilbert, after a Detroiter named Michael Dugeon joined the fray, further confusing potential write-in voters.
“People were so angry. They began to see me as a guy that the system was screwing. If I hadn’t been thrown off the ballot I don’t think I would have won,” Duggan said.
Gilbert asked, “Is he (Dugeon) going to run for governor, do you think?” Duggan quipped: “Jocelyn (Benson, the secretary of state and a gubernatorial candidate) is talking to him right now.”
Gilbert and Duggan laid out gains with developments and public safety fixes during Duggan’s tenure, with an emphasis on the strict metrics he requires his cabinet members to meet as well as an MBA training program he forged to position Detroit police leadership to meet the goals. Duggan touted Detroit’s Real-Time Crime Center, Project Green Light cameras and a “sophisticated” police leadership team.
“It’s no coincidence that they’ve delivered the fewest homicides since 1965. This department is just outstanding,” he said. “I’m sure no matter who the mayor is, they are going to keep the top management of the police department.”
Gilbert said he regards Detroit’s downtown as safer than others he visits across the country. Duggan shared a story of a 1991 visit from then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who insisted on shaking hands with the public on Woodward Avenue to promote his presidential campaign. He was shocked at the time, Duggan said, that the thoroughfare was vacant.
“You come downtown today there are more people on the street in the evenings and weekends than at lunchtime. It’s a completely transformed city,” Duggan said.
The Thursday conversation also covered Campus Martius, now ranked as the No. 1 public square in America, population growth, jobs, nearby business and housing growth and efforts to streamline the business licensing process that they believe will “get (more) restaurants open in Detroit.”
Duggan also joked with Gilbert about the anticipated opening of an Apple store downtown.
“Have you formally announced the Apple store yet?”Duggan asked. “Sorry.”
Gilbert responded that “the Apple thing took eight or nine years,” and “by the way, it’s not us, they want to announce it themselves.”
Duggan highlighted how the Detroit riverfront has been a unifying place and reupped Gilbert’s plans to take down two of the Renaissance Center towers as part of a redevelopment plan.
“You’ve done so many amazing things,” Duggan told Gilbert. “I think at the end of the day, what you’re doing on the riverfront with the Renaissance Center, if you can pull that off, it’ll be the biggest accomplishment for the city. People are starting to understand, it’s the right thing. The three towers are critical to Detroit’s image in the future. You’ve got the right vision here.”
When asked by Gilbert what advice Duggan has for the next mayor, Dugan sort of brushed off the question, saying: “The next mayor is going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
MORE DISPATCHES FROM MACKINAC:
- Detroit mayoral hopeful Mary Sheffield: I’m the business partner
- Kinloch to blanket Detroit with campaign ads
- Perkins ‘busting through a door’ in Detroit mayoral race
- Detroit mayoral hopefuls clash over vision, experience at Mackinac debate
- Mayoral candidates build support on Mackinac Island
- Duggan proposes $4.5B investment, ‘punishment’ for failing schools in Mackinac stump speech
- Vitti talks marijuana dangers for kids and fighting poverty at Mackinac
- The 2025 Mackinac Policy Conference: Leaders discuss Michigan’s successes and challenges | One Detroit