Mayor Mike Duggan
Mayor Mike Duggan has been a long-time fixture in the local political landscape. He was Wayne County's assistant corporation counsel and then deputy County Executive under Edward H. McNamara. He was elected as Wayne County Prosecutor and went on to become president and CEO of the Detroit Medical Center.
He was elected mayor in November 2013 and took office in January 2014. There's always speculation that he'll make a bid for governor, and at this time in light of the Flint water scandal, the political winds may favor a Democrat. But so far, Duggan has denied having any interest in that Lansing job. Skeptics don't believe him.
New York's Mayor Ed Koch was famous for asking New Yorkers: "How am I doing?"
Duggan hasn't quite done that, though he has made himself available at neighborhood meetings.
The other day, someone going by the name "coldplaying" posted this question on Reddit Detroit: "Detroiters: What do you think of Mayor Duggan?"
It's not clear how many folks who commented are from the suburbs, but one identifies himself as being from Grosse Pointe, another from Ann Arbor.
Here are responses:
JJWoolls: Maybe he's lucky, but under his watch Detroit has definitely made progress. I like him.
tonydelite: Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! But I think he's both. He's worked hard to get the lights back on, improve public services, etc.
Augustushomme: I think he's wonderful, a nice breath of fresh air when Detroit truly needed it. He might be one of the only politicians I have a little faith in.
ginger_guy: I have retained since before he was elected that we aught to be optimistic as well as skeptic of Mike Duggan.
Before he was mayor he earned his reputation as a man who can turn things around by taking control of the DMC and making it profitable, before that he was deputy County Executive of Wayne County from 1987 to 2001 and a Lieutenant in the McNamara machine. During his time at the DMC he garnered a few corruption allegations due to a rather shady handling of "no-bid" contracts and in addition to this a secret recording between Bernard Kilpatrick and Synagro vice-president James Rosendall reveled that Duggan would work with McNamara to "carve out deals" that were border-line illegal. These scandals plagued his 2013 campaign early on but regardless of them he still managed to win the election.
I think he has more than proven that he can be an effective leader, and it is for that reason I will probably vote for him come the next election. I will state here once more what I did back in 2013: If you vote or Duggan, hold all screams of shock if he is caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
ALittleCrackpot: Yeah, well...Detroit politicians could teach Chicago a thing or two about corruption. But Duggan seems to be not the worst of a bad lot.
pacifist112l: Here is my feeling about his corruption history. From what I've seen he very well could be a little crooked, but I'm more than willing to let a little bit slide because of how good he has been for the city so far.
tonydelite: I like his male pattern baldness.
BlindTiger86: boldness
tonydelite: Snap!
bean7887: Far better than Kwame, Bing, and Archer so far
Augustushomme: A monkey would be a better mayor than Kwame though, and that's not even exaggerating.
QW1Q: Don't draw the line there. Edit: Haha, it looks like I've irritated a Coleman fan.
jeanduluoz: Coleman Young's reign was one of the worst things to happen to detroit
bean7887: Can't speak to that far in the past;)
Khorasaurus: I think he's great. I love his focus on the neighborhoods while letting Gilbert do his thing downtown. I also love his proactive programs, with things like replacing streetlights, rehabbing parks, tearing down blight, the Detroit Promise, etc.
If he's corrupt, he's corrupt in a way that greases the wheels of bureaucracy and gets things done, and that's a big upgrade over using public funds for hookers and blow.
I think he should run for governor in 2018 and I'd vote him in a heartbeat (and I say that as a big supporter/defender of Snyder). Especially because Detroit seems to actually have a decent "bench" of mayoral candidates on the city council right now.
ti3ed: I'm skeptical of a Detroit politician in Lansing. I fear that one would ignore the rest of the state and funnel every penny they can into the city. I love Detroit and I want good things to happen, but I don't want it to be done by taking from every other district and sending the money to a place most of them will never see or go.
jeanduluoz: Classic NIH attitude. It's been killing detroit for years
something-clever: I see him downtown all the time. Walking around, having lunch, always meeting with people. I never saw Kwame or Bing once out in public. Seems like a nice enough guy. Always friendly. Not that this means a whole lot, but it's nice to see the mayor out and about for things other than photo ops.
Norfolkpine: That is a light form of campaigning.
wolverine237:Future governor Mike Duggan
wasted_viaticum: I like Duggan. He definitely has the necessary political savvy for a big city mayoral gig. Although it is important to note that through the bankruptcy he was gifted a city budget that did not have a crippling debt obligation our other mayors had to work under. He also was able to let the EM play bad cop for cuts that were unpopular and would never have flown under previous administrations.
BlindTiger86: I think he has a done a very good job. He has made tangible progress, and continues to push forward. While it appears there are allegations about potential behavior previously, whatever it was seems to be in the past, it seems like he really strives for transparency and I haven't heard any big allegations otherwise relating to his time as mayor.
One of the big knocks has been cost of demolitions. In a perfect world yes we would like to have the most efficient allocation of demo funds possible, but in the real world we have to consider the real world consequences and benefits of getting blighted houses torn down. There is a bit of a trade off that happens, as I would most certainly like to see more houses demolished quickly at a slights higher cost as opposed to a slow pace that extracts the absolute most out of every dollar. This is one thing I don't understand about some of the news articles that were pointing the finger and decrying higher demolition costs. Yes, the costs do appear higher, but 1) what is the reasonable alternative, and 2) is there any evidence of a lack of fair play or lack of transparent process for bidding? The answer to question 2 was no, there was only speculation.
20thsieclefoxwarrendale: Seems like he is getting things done, better than some other mayors.
BlindTiger86: Is this discussion only supposed to be open to people who live in the city?
coldplaying: Nah. I'm from Ann Arbor, anyone can answer. "Detroiters" is just a cool name
itissinthecookies: He's nothing new or special. the winds are favorable.
username_goes_where: I think he's doing a great job, especially with what he had to work with and through. 30 years of mismanagement doesn't get fixed overnight. Fight on for us Mr. Duggan!
