Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan officially launched his reelection bid today.
Duggan’s first term was focused on new streetlights for the city’s neighborhoods and blight removal projects. Now, he is pivoting his focus to public education and crime.
“We are going to fight the irrational closing of these Detroit Public schools,” Duggan said.
The state has placed two dozen Detroit schools on the list for potential closure this year because of consistently low test scores.
“You don’t close a school until you’ve created a quality alternative,” he said.
Duggan says he's happy crime numbers have gone down since he was elected in 2013, but said there’s work to be done
“The violence in this city remains much too high, and we are going to go after it on a lot of different fronts,” Duggan said.
He said his initiative to get the streetlights back on throughout the city was largely about residents feeling safe in their neighborhoods.
The focus on improving neighborhoods also included his blight removal project, now the subject of a federal criminal investigation into questionable bidding practices and high costs.
Duggan has taken some responsibility for the issues with the Detroit Land Bank, but says he has no intention of letting that investigation stop him from being reelected.
He did not speak on the progress of the investigation during his announcement today.
