Authentically Detroit
Authentically Detroit is the leading podcast in the city for candid conversations, exchanging progressive ideas, and centering resident perspectives on current events.
Hosted by Donna Givens Davidson and Orlando P. Bailey.
Produced by Sarah Johnson and Engineered by Griffin Hutchings.
Check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @AuthenticallyDetroit!
Authentically Detroit
Candidate Series: The Audacity of Saunteel Jenkins
This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with Saunteel Jenkins to discuss her vision for Detroit’s future. This episode is the second in a series of interviews with candidates in the race for Detroit’s 76th mayor.
Saunteel Jenkins is a lifelong Detroiter, former Detroit City Council President, gun violence prevention advocate, and former CEO of The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW), where she kept families healthy, safe, and warm.
Saunteel worked as a social worker, director of the residential treatment center at the Mariners Inn homeless shelter for men in Detroit, national business development director for a private education company that provides services to low-income children in at-risk school districts, and at one time ran her own dessert catering company, Petite Sweets.
She is a proud graduate of Cass Technical High School and Wayne State University, where she earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work.
To learn more about Saunteel Jenkins and her six priorities for Detroit, click here.
Up next, santil Jenkins joins the Authentically Detroit Candidate series to share her vision for the city as Detroiters prepare to select the 76th mayor. This will be the second in a series of interviews. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages. Detroit One Million is a journalism project started by Sam Robinson that centers a generation of Michiganders growing up in a state without a city with one million people. Support the only independent reporter covering the 2025 Detroit mayoral race through the lens of young people. Good journalism costs. Visit DetroitOneMillioncom to support Black independent reporting. Hey y'all, it's Orlando. We just want to let you know that the views and opinions expressed during this podcast episode are those of the co-hosts and guests and not their sponsoring institutions. Now let's and the world. Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit broadcasting live from Detroit's East Side, at the Stoudemire inside of the East Side Community Network headquarters. I'm Orlando Bailey.
Speaker 2:And I'm Donna Givens-Davidson.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. Welcome back to the Authentically Detroit Candidate Series, where we're interviewing mayoral hopefuls to get to know why they want to be Detroit's 76th mayor. Next up we have Santil Jenkins. Santil Jenkins is a lifelong Detroiter, former Detroit City Council president, gun violence prevention advocate and former CEO of the Heat and Warmth Fund, also known as Thaw, where she kept families healthy, safe and warm. Where she kept families healthy, safe and warm.
Speaker 1:Santia worked as a social worker, director of the Residential Treatment Center at the Mariners Inn Homeless Shelter for Men in Detroit, national business development director for a private education company that provides services to low-income children and at-risk school districts, and at one time ran her own dessert catering company, petite Sweets. That's so cute. She is a proud graduate of Cass Technical High School and Wayne State University, where she earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work. Santeel, welcome to Authentically Detroit. Thank you for having me. We're so excited to have you. Thank you for saying yes, donna. It's been a couple of weeks since we've gathered How's it going, how you doing Beautiful outside.
Speaker 2:As I was just telling you earlier, we just walked through the first house that we're almost completing, that we pulled from the land bank, pulled it out of the demolition pipeline and it will be ready to sell or rent. We're still trying to figure out what to do with it when it's done, but I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 3:It's so fantastic. Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have, and thank you for doing it. Thank you, we've got four houses on the same block and they were all headed for demolition. If we restore them, we actually maintain that block and it really speaks to my values about maintaining things and preserving culture and history and the buildings that we have in our community, instead of always thinking the best thing to do is tear them down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how are you?
Speaker 3:doing. Happy Monday. Happy Monday, I'm fantastic. The sun is shining. It's warmer Not warm, but warmer, it is warmer. I'll take it, though. It's a good day in Detroit. It is a good day. It's a good day in cold.
Speaker 1:I think we hit over 60 degrees today, so I will definitely take that. Sanchil, we're happy to have you on and, of course, we have a ton of questions that I know that we won't be able to get to, but we want to afford you the opportunity to just reintroduce yourself to Detroiters. I think the last time you were an elected public official, people who are voting now weren't able to vote back then. So there is a new crop of Detroiters. There's a new crop of Detroit voters who may not know who you are, and so what would you say to them? How would you introduce yourself to them?
Speaker 3:I am Santil Jenkins. I am a lifelong Detroiter and the last time I served it's been over 10 years since I was an elected official, but I've still been serving Detroiters. I've never left. I've never stopped serving. I've given my life and my heart to this city and it won't ever stop. So I am a social worker much of what you said. I grew up on the west side, near Cody High School.
Speaker 1:We're giving Because you know we're on the east side. We are on the east side.
Speaker 3:I live on the east side now, Okay good, good, good and I spent all morning on the bus on the east side.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, oh wow.
Speaker 4:What buses?
Speaker 3:did you take? I was on East Warren. I took the Warren bus all the way around and back.
Speaker 1:Were you with.
Speaker 3:Cunningham. I was with Cunningham.
Speaker 4:You were with.
Speaker 1:Cunningham. I was with Cunningham.
Speaker 3:We go way back to city council days?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, he's still at council.
Speaker 3:It was nice to me when I came up here.
Speaker 2:Tell me what you learned on that bus tour.
Speaker 3:I learned a few things that I knew already. I knew that the bus app wasn't as great as it could. Be right, because it doesn't tell you when the bus is coming in real time.
Speaker 3:And it's so ridiculous that it doesn't when it can, when it can. Right GPS makes it so simple. Yeah, so it's like that's in my mind. That's such an easy fix and I don't know why we haven't done it. But talking to people on the bus, it was fascinating. First of all, I love just being with people, but it was fascinating to me because I heard people say we need more buses and they need to show up on time. But I also had a couple people say the buses are showing up. It's rarely late. I get to work on time. So it was very and the same bus. It was on the same bus.
Speaker 2:You know it might be the time of day that people ride the bus. You know my issue. So a few years ago we had this challenge let's take the bus and try to encourage people in Detroit to take the bus, because Detroit transportation, bus transportation feels like it's for young people, old people, disabled people and poor people. The people who have choices, don't use our public transit in the way that they may in other communities and because of that, we're talking about people who don't have social capital to really demand changes. So it's like this idea we're going to have this bus challenge. So we got here the Detroit bus people, whatever it is, I know it's, I can't think of the name.
Speaker 3:True, I was here. I know it's. I can't think of the name.
Speaker 1:True, you were remember when you were here, I was running that. I think I ran it, you did so.
Speaker 2:Remember? They came, the transportation department came here and they talked about it. At that time, you had to go to like a Rite Aid or CVS to buy a bus ticket. You couldn't purchase them electronically, which is nonsensical in 2021. No, it was actually 2019. Anyway, so we wanted to do that and our problem was not that the bus didn't come on time. It came early and when the bus came early, we were going to go east, but we had to wait another 30 minutes for the next bus to take us east, so we ended up going west. Do you remember?
Speaker 3:that, yeah, I do, because the bus came like— which is the same problem when it comes—like.
Speaker 2:the bus should come as scheduled, and if it gets there early, it should wait until the time and wait on the riders, but it didn't happen and again, I think it's important that people—so I commend you for getting on the bus and really experiencing what people experience on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:You know I neglected to introduce Kenneth and I apologize. One of our young people. You all know the voice very well. He's a part of our Volta Youth Voices program. Kenneth is also here to share in the interview with Santil Jenkins. Welcome, kenneth, welcome back.
Speaker 4:Hello. So you bringing up the bus situation is very logical because, like, especially for like students around my age trying to get to school and having to catch multiple buses, it makes it harder for us to get to school and then on top of it, like it affects the education, our grades.
Speaker 4:So it's like it's very sentimental also for like the scheduling. So like if the buses had like how we time step, our stuff when we go into work. We should have like a schedule within the bus, like how it has on top our destination. It should have like where Time stamps yeah, so like tells you when should you be there, your current location, and then on top of it, like when you leave and the expected amount of bodies that you should have within the bus yeah, when you leave, and the expected amount of bodies that you should have within the bus.
Speaker 4:Then on top of it, like I think that we should have like trainings for the bus drivers, especially newer bus drivers, so they could get incorporated into that new flow for bus routing and it makes it easier for people and it possibly could give, like the bus companies, more opportunities for people to join. You know their job.
Speaker 1:Well, let's park here, pun intended on the bus situation. You know, I think Mike Duggan, detroit's current mayor, has been very open about his struggle with the Detroit Department of Transportation and how he has not been able to fix the bus system, fix what's wrong with it. What needs to be fixed in DDOT from your vantage point, and how would you go about fixing it?
Speaker 3:Thank you for the question. First I want to say, kenneth, you make my heart sing.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Yes, young people like you give me hope for the future. So thank you for being so amazing and for being him being a part of this conversation. I hope it's not our last conversation and I hope you run for office.
Speaker 2:And it's Kenneth Russell by the way just in case Don't wear the name out.
Speaker 4:I know it sounds good.
Speaker 3:So for DDOT there are some simple fixes, like we talked about With GPS. There's no reason why the bus app can't tell you in real time when the bus is showing up. We have to make sure that our salaries are competitive. When our competing bus system, smart, is paying bus drivers $7 to $10 more an hour, it makes it really hard for us to paying bus drivers seven to ten dollars more an hour. It makes it really hard for us to keep bus drivers. So we have to increase, you know, salary for our bus drivers. During covid, when I was at thaw, we started a frontline workers program for bus drivers, for environmental workers in hospitals, people who make enough money to make them ineligible for most assistance programs but that don't always make enough money to really make ends meet.
Speaker 1:That missing middle, that is the missing middle right, it's Alice right what we always talk about as the Alice population. I was on the United Way board.
Speaker 3:for a long time I was on United Way board yes, but I always say I was raised by Alice, right, I know exactly what that is. And when you're providing such an important service, you should be able to pay your light bills and your gas bill and your water bill. Thoughts shouldn't have to step in and help. So we need to make sure that our bus drivers are making enough money to take care of themselves and their families and to make it competitive. But also, you look like you were going to jump in there, donna.
Speaker 2:I'm waiting for you.
Speaker 3:I'm waiting. We have to make sure that what we're paying our mechanics is competitive, so that we are competing with not only for mechanics it's not just other bus systems, right, it is other companies in general, because if we have buses and don't have enough mechanics to keep them in service, then the problem is the same we don't have enough buses on the road. We have to increase the funding to a level that makes sense, and what that is we honestly don't know right now because there hasn't been a study in quite a while to understand.
Speaker 1:The city council just approved an increase and wanted to give more, but the director of the Department of Transportation was like well, hold up.
Speaker 2:We need to figure out how we're going to do this first Department of Transportation is, until recently there was an interim or longstanding director who lived in Chicago and was directing Detroit. You know DDOT and you know it seems a little bit off to me because, just because you have a professional, skill set does not mean that you understand this terrain Right.
Speaker 2:So I have two questions for you. One of them is something that is near and dear to many Detroiters. For you, one of them is something that is near and dear to many Detroiters. I know that it's illegal to demand residency from the people who work for the city, but what are your thoughts around hiring people and prioritizing the hiring of local people, and why do you think so many people are being hired for some key positions who are not Detroiters?
Speaker 3:Well, that's a question for our current mayor. I would assume that, from their perspective, the best talent maybe they're looking for that wherever they believe it's coming from, looking for that wherever they believe it's coming from. I definitely know, as I think everybody around this table knows, we have some really smart, highly talented people right here in this community.
Speaker 2:And they know the community Right. Yeah, so talent is partly intellectual and is partly that relationship building. How would you go about hiring then, given what you're saying, what would you look at in terms of bringing people on? How would you fill your administration if you were mayor? With who would you choose and what would your process be?
Speaker 3:I guess, so my process for mayor would be my process when I was on council, except it would be expanded greatly because I would need different disciplines and a lot more people, right, but it is, you know, detroiters. First, it is highly qualified, highly skilled Detroiters. And I believe that talents certain talents are transferable, certain skills are not. I mean, we just you know, either you are an expert in finance or you're not right, and the minute we start pretending that somebody's not, we're in trouble again. Pretending that somebody's not, we're in trouble again.
Speaker 3:But there are other skills that are very transferable and we have to consider that. We have to consider experience. Sometimes experience is more valuable than an actual degree, right? So I think when we're looking at talent, it's got to be about life skills and experience it's got to be about understanding of the community, and that's true no matter what the skill set is. Even if we're talking about finance, a finance expert that doesn't understand that government is in the business of people, not widgets, isn't much good to a mayor, right? So it's. There are so many different things and we cannot require people live in the city of Detroit, but we can certainly incentivize.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's so many ways to incentivize. So you know, most people who go to most high schools don't put their high schools on their resumes. But the one thing about people who went to Cass Tech technicians do right, you have to know Orlando's like well, dsa too right.
Speaker 4:I went to Mercy and I'm not.
Speaker 2:I went to Mercy and nobody knows. You know my resume anyway.
Speaker 3:My granddaughter went to Mercy. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:But, being a technician, you certainly went to school with some people who were kind of smart and thought they were kind of talented, right? Only kind of. So what do you think that experience, though? Seriously, what are your experience in high school? You went to Wayne State a hometown college what aspects of your experience would you bring to being mayor?
Speaker 3:That's a great question. My Detroit experience made me who I am. It really did make me who I am, and going to Cass Tech in many ways changed my life. So I grew up Cody Rouge, near Cody High School. My dad is a mailman. My mom, retired from Macy's, she started with Hudson's, so lifelong Detroiters know what that means.
Speaker 1:It went from.
Speaker 2:Hudson's to Marshall Fields? Was she in Northland?
Speaker 3:No, she was at Fairlane. She started downtown at Hudson's and then she was at Fairlane, which is 10 minutes from where we grew up. But everybody in my family, except for my mom, everybody that had a well-paying job and benefits was in a union. And I say this jokingly, but I am so serious and it is not meant to. It's not a bad thing. I thought if you were black and you had like a good job, you were in a union, because everybody in my neighborhood worked for Ford, chrysler, gm or the post office Two cars Right.
Speaker 3:And the two people in my family who actually had college degrees were teachers. I had two aunts that had gone to college. They were both teachers, so I thought that's what it meant for me. And then I went to Cass and I was like your dad's a CPA, what's that, what do they do I mean to Cass and I was like your dad's a CPA, what's that, what do they do I mean. Really, I was like what do they?
Speaker 2:do and I want to for anybody who might be listening. A black CPA at that right, a black. Cpa yeah, Because you went to school with people whose parents were black, people whose parents had professional backgrounds and could expose you. I thought that was just a Cosby show I went to.
Speaker 3:I am so serious. I went to Palmer once and was like black people in it. What Right? It was like mind blowing, right. If they, if we, had had emojis, then it would have been the one where your mind is blown.
Speaker 3:I had no idea and it's not that it was a negative on where I grew up and what I was exposed to. It was just that Cass Tech exposed me to this idea that I thought I'd turn 18. I'd take the test at the post office and then, you know that would be my job. I would do what my dad did, and it was like oh, there's more, there's more, there's more, yeah, there's more. I didn't know, and so it opened my world to the possibilities. I knew I wanted to be a social worker before I knew what it was called, but I assumed I'd take the test at the post office. Wow, because that's what people in my family did. I come from a family of really hardworking, honest, good people who have given back, and I'm proud of my heritage. But the thing that Cass did for me was say almost anything is possible, even being mayor right, you know, and I so. Even being mayor, right, even you know what.
Speaker 1:The first woman mayor, the first woman mayor In the city of Detroit.
Speaker 3:Yes, If you had asked me that at Cass, if you had asked me that at 30, I would have been like don't wait.
Speaker 1:So where does this, where does this audacity come from? How do you have the audacity to run for mayor of the city of Detroit to do something that has never been done? Where does that come?
Speaker 3:from. So let me tell you where it comes from. It comes from being the daughter of a mailman and a sales associate from Macy's, who took nine years to finish undergrad because I would take a class and take a semester off to work.
Speaker 3:Then I'd take a class and take a semester off to work. Then I'd take a class and take a semester off to work. It came from doing things that other people saw as normal, that I saw as impossible for me, and I actually did it. You know, I actually finished school and got my degree. It was tough, I worked for it.
Speaker 3:It comes from being 19 and an awful relationship because I was living on my own and being stuck in a room with a man who said he loved me but had a gun to my head, and I got out alive. Who said he loved me but had a gun to my head, and I got out alive. It comes from having stage 3 breast cancer and I'm here healthy, strong and cancer-free and talking about it. So my audacity comes from the fact that I have survived so many things that in the moment I wasn't even sure I could survive. And when you come through those kinds of things and you come out on the other side, you're like not only is anything possible for me, but the fact that I did makes it that much more important that I'm reaching back and making sure that others see the possibility for themselves. So that's really why I'm in this and I'm getting emotional. That is the reason that I'm running for mayor today. If you had asked me that even six years ago, I would have said never.
Speaker 2:So one of our challenges in Detroit and that's very moving. So I don't want to move too quickly without acknowledging that that's very moving, both stories of near tragedy, near loss and the way you overcame that, and that's admirable. A lot of Detroiters have lost confidence in the possibilities of the city itself to solve their problems and when they go to the voting booth as much as they admire those things about you, they want to know that the mayor is going to do something for them. What vision do you have for people who need to know anything is possible in government, not just in your life, but in government as six priorities.
Speaker 3:science hill, six priorities. The first is neighborhoods that are thriving and affordable for everyone. Two is safe neighborhoods, because safety should not be negotiable. The other tragedy that me and my family have lived through was losing my 14-year-old brother to gun violence. Oh my goodness, about 200, 300 yards from the home I grew up in.
Speaker 1:So when I say the struggle is real, I know. But also a real Detroit experience. It's a real Detroit break. That's a Detroit experience.
Speaker 3:My life, my entire life, is a real Detroit experience and I think it's a blessing to say not all Detroiters have experienced the bad things that I've experienced, but too many Detroiters have, maybe not in immediate families.
Speaker 2:But how many Detroiters have not been touched in some way by gun violence? And I really want to stop before you get to the next four, because there is a bill right now in the state Senate. What is it? Police protection or, you know, community violence reduction whatever that bill is and one of the things it will fund is community violence intervention. But it also adds funding to policing and it looks like the policing part of that bill is bigger than the community violence intervention. Where do you stand on that? The current mayor is really enthusiastic about it, and so is Karen Whitsitt, but what?
Speaker 1:are your thoughts. Can I just add to it too, as you answer it, can you also put in perspective where you stand on the side of surveillance technology being used in Detroit, in the Detroit Police Department, things like Shot Spider and other tools of surveillance that have been the cause for many, many debates?
Speaker 2:in the city. Thank you for adding that.
Speaker 3:So first I will say when I talk about safety, I talk about it from two perspectives. Right, as a social worker, I always have to talk about prevention, you know. So to speak on the bill, I think we do need both. We need the community violence intervention and our police department does need to be properly funded. But the way to make a community safer is not to over-police a community. So when we start talking about safety, we can't only talk about we need more police. We need more police. We do need more police, but we also need to structure our police department in a way where we aren't only seeing police when bad things happen.
Speaker 2:Well, I see police all the time though.
Speaker 3:But do you know?
Speaker 2:what I see the police all the time, Whenever I go downtown.
Speaker 1:I see police every few minutes, and so we keep saying we need police and you know if you're on the Riverwalk, sometimes you're tripping over police.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:My question is also deployment. If you talk to the people on the bus today, they would say we need more police.
Speaker 2:I don't see police in my neighborhood and when I do, it's when something bad happens, right, but what I'm saying is and I'm sorry too, I just want to emphasize this point it's not just the sheer number of police, it's how they are deployed and who we decide to protect Absolutely. If we simply move some of the police who are guarding, you know, people on skateboards on the riverwalk to people's neighborhoods, we might, you know, see something. If actually, when you had a concert downtown, the concert promoters had to pay for policing, as opposed to people in this community paying for policing, don't you think that would make a difference? I'm sorry, you're preaching to the choir.
Speaker 3:You're preaching to the choir, so. So I'm with you 1,000% on all of those things. So when the casino development agreements were when we were working on those, part of that was when they had additional policing they had to pay for it, right. That was when they had additional policing, they had to pay for it, right. So that should be true, for, like, if you're drawing police from the neighborhoods, you should be paying for the additional policing. But we need more police, not just when things are bad. Community policing should be. The police are there and they are a part of the community, part of that. It will help if they lived in the community as well, but it is. We're not only seeing police when something bad happens. It's what Benny Napoleon used to call beat cops. Right, you're actually walking the beat. The folks know you. They're like hey, officer Orlando, because we see you all the time. We know who you are. I'm stopping in the coffee shop and the cafe and saying hello and talking to the people. I'm not just showing up because something bad happened.
Speaker 4:So that's the first thing. I'm sorry, ms Jenkins. No, go ahead. Kenneth. So you're saying you want the cops to like on a family community type basis, so like if something were to happen you could go to the cop and tell him anything and you can not have to worry about you getting in trouble or nothing, even though, depending on what you tell them, Well, you wouldn't get in trouble because I know you wouldn't do anything, yeah, but I'm just saying, like in a deeper basis, like being able to go to the cop about anything and have like a community-based, community-based cops, basically like having so many cops within the district code.
Speaker 4:And you're building trust, yeah, building trust with the cops, and then they know what happens in the area and it makes it easier for them to go into investigation and then they know what happens in the area and it makes it easier for them to go into investigation. So if something happens within the area they can go back and track the records down from what happens in the community, because they're always there and they know what happens and what doesn't happen.
Speaker 3:They know where it's happening, they know who the troublemakers are or are not, and the community is less hesitant to talk to them because trust has been built. So, yes, but the other piece of that I do think the other side of the equation that's really important to talk about is the prevention piece.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right and people make bad choices more often than not because they haven't been given many good choices.
Speaker 3:You know when my brother passed in 1991, I was in school and going through my phases of grief. When I got to my anger stage I decided I was quitting school. I told my mom I'm done, I don't care. My brother was a good kid, I mean, he was at 14. He was the little boy who wasn't embarrassed to hug and kiss his big sister in front of his friends or his mother in front of his friends, and I felt like if somebody thought that his jacket was worth more than his life.
Speaker 4:I didn't want to help anybody.
Speaker 3:My mother, even in her grief, said to me your brother was loved. He was fortunate because he was loved every day. The kids who thought that need you to finish school because they need intervention, they need nurturing. If we take care of those kids, your brother might be alive today. So when I talk about safety, I talk about it from that perspective too, and that's why it's important that we have.
Speaker 3:Part of my platform is stronger schools for a stronger community, and it talks about partnerships with schools and making sure that we have strong after-school programming that includes arts and musics and teaching kids how to do YouTube channels, because, kenneth, if you're doing this, you're not outside getting in trouble. We need safe spaces and places for all kids and we have to give kids hope. And if you aren't exposed just like I hadn't been exposed to black CPAs if you're only exposed to negativity, you're more likely to choose that. So we got to make sure that our kids are offered hope in the form of choices and activities during those hours of three and eight, which are the hours when kids are most likely to get in trouble.
Speaker 1:We are over 30 minutes and we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with Santeel Jenkins, interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events or resource fairs. The MassDetroit Small Business Hub is a 6,000 square feet space available for members, residents and businesses and organizations residents and businesses and organizations. To learn more about rental options at MassDetroit, contact Nicole Perry at nperry at ecn-detroitorg or 313-331-3485. Have you ever dreamed of being on the airwaves? Well, the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network is here to make those dreams come true. Formerly known as the Deep Network and located inside the Stoudemire, the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network offers studio space and production staff. To help get your idea off of the ground, just visit authenticallydetcom and send a request through the contact page.
Speaker 2:And we're back with Santil Jenkins. We just got done talking about policing, but I believe Kenneth has a question. He says it's a good one, kenneth, what's your?
Speaker 4:question. So I was going to ask, and this is what I thought about from going to school all my life. It's like, how would you want to incorporate, like, the kids' influences on what they want to do when they get older, and how would you want to incorporate the prevention within the schools, like, would you want to bring it in at an earlier age, like pre-K, kindergarten, or do you want to bring it in towards, like right before the barrier when they are about to, you know, get into their adolescence, them wanting to be more exploring, going outside, like middle school-ish? How would you want to incorporate that?
Speaker 3:I think it should be from cradle to career. Cradle to career is how we should be investing in our kids. So it means it's before kindergarten, right, it is early childhood education, it is preschool, it's making sure that it's available to all families and then, as you enter your K-12 years, the city should be partnering with schools, all schools, dps and the mayor. What school? All schools, you know DPS and the mayor, the superintendent and the mayor. The school board and the mayor should have each other on speed dial.
Speaker 4:Yeah Right, we need you to have speed dial with VD because we need more snow days, that's exactly what the mayor's priority should be.
Speaker 2:More snow days, more snow days. But I want to go back to Orlando's question about surveillance Greenlight and ShotSpotter. Where are you in using technology? As facial recognition in crime prevention. Where are you in that?
Speaker 3:So I support things that will make our communities safer, but I believe that technology can be used for good and it can be used for bad, and I believe that technology that is underdeveloped is more often than not used poorly against people of color, and I think facial recognition has been an example of that. So I do believe that it can do good things. I support the Green Light Program.
Speaker 2:I do support the Green Light Program, so here's my question, though If I hear a gunshot and I call 911 and the police don't respond, and then you put some technology up and the technology hears a gunshot and the police respond to technology, shouldn't you just be answering my 911 calls? Why is it that people don't get the police protection when they call? I feel like there's a whole lot of shot spotters out here already.
Speaker 3:And so the answer is yes, yes and yes. If shot spotter hears it and the police respond, they should. But when you call 911 and say I hear gunshots, the police should respond too.
Speaker 2:The thing about ShotSpotter is it's never been proven to work anywhere, but we keep on doubling down.
Speaker 1:The police department says well it works and we actually more than doubled the budget.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't. There's no evidence that it works. We don't use evidence-based solutions here. If you hear, if the you know whatever they hear the shot spotter and they hear a gunshot and Kenneth happens to walk outside soon after that, then Kenneth is a suspect because you know there's no eyes on the street from shot spotter. They don't know who did it, and so there's also been evidence that shot spotter and technology, that nature actually increases police brutality against young black men. And it concerns me that we don't ever have those real conversations about the technology and we don't look at data from Chicago, from LA and other cities where they've used it and stopped using it. So would you be willing to look at the data?
Speaker 3:I'm always willing to look at data. I am a data person. Anybody who's ever worked for me or with me will tell you that I am a data-driven person. So yes, and just so we're clear, I said I support the green light program.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I hear you. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't get those two mixed up. And when I was on council we didn't have ShotSpotter because council did not approve the contract for ShotSpotter.
Speaker 2:They tried to bring it before council in 2000, when you were on council. Wow, yes, they did.
Speaker 1:I want to switch gears a little bit, because a lot of conversation is being had around the concentrated and targeted investment in downtown at the expense of targeted investment in neighborhoods. Right, and a lot of the development happening in the 7.2 square miles of downtown, midtown and New Center is being heavily subsidized by Detroit taxpayers, sometimes to the dismay of a lot of folks, especially folks who go down to city council and express their dissent in public comment on the redistribution of TIF dollars captured in a downtown development authority. Right, because right now that money can only be used downtown and it's like does downtown even need it anymore? So we want to make sure that we get your take on that, because a lot of folks are talking about that.
Speaker 3:So when I talk about neighborhoods in my platform, one of the pieces of my platform is a strategic master plan for each of the seven districts, and I know right now the city is going through a master planning process. But I think the one the city is going through is basically focused on land use only, use only. And I want us to do master planning, like I said, one for each of the seven districts. But it's not just land use, right, it's land use, it's public safety, it's education, it is resilience, it is all the things layer that create a strong and vibrant community. But part of that is, of course, it's community input.
Speaker 3:So, once we are in District 4, and District 4's master plan is decided upon in partnership with the community and this plan says we need a community center, a movie theater, a community center, a movie theater, a library, pick something. What we're saying is developers. These are the incentives that we're offering. District 4 said they need a movie center, a movie theater, a community center and a grocery store I won't say library, because that's a different system, but a grocery store. So if you can come to District 4 and build these things, we are offering these incentives.
Speaker 2:The challenge with that, though, is that there's no money, and what the city will say is you know, the city has the 10 strategic neighborhoods. They don't do all of District 4. They just say what does Jeff Chalmers?
Speaker 4:want.
Speaker 2:They pick, and choose, but the other thing is, the city cries broke whenever you say that you want a project done in your neighborhood.
Speaker 2:The current administration, the current administration right, and yet we never have. We're never too broke to demolish the Rensen and build something, build Waterfront Park. We have a bottomless fund of money when it comes, and the reason is because of that. Tif, the Downtown Development Authority captures property taxes that can only be used downtown, and so as we invest in downtown and it becomes more and more valuable I think last year maybe $68 million was diverted from not just our general fund but schools and libraries to support these billionaire projects building office space you don't need, and so the question really is would you be willing to consider the recommendation of dismantling, beginning the dismantlement of the Downtown Development Authority to free up those resources to be used in neighborhoods?
Speaker 3:The answer is yes, Donna. I would consider anything and again, I am data-driven right. So the answer is yes and I don't. Yes, the city has cried broke, but I'm not sure. For the last several years, we've been crying broke. We've had almost a billion dollars in federal dollars, and yet there's people who can't get their sidewalks fixed.
Speaker 2:There's people who can't get their dead trees torn down. There's people who cannot get things in their neighborhoods because there's not enough money. And people have said there's not enough money. So, yes, they're not crying broke about what's happening downtown, but they absolutely are in these neighborhoods. They're not crying broke about what's happening downtown, but they absolutely are in these neighborhoods.
Speaker 3:So what I would say to you is that the way we prioritize is through our budgeting right. People show priority by where people put their money right and, at the end of the day, whether it's me or whoever is in office, at whatever level it is local, state, federal, I mean budgets are a statement priority period and the TIF is not the only way to finance projects. It's not the only way to incentivize a project and there are other ways to do it. We just have to make it a priority.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So some of this is real challenging, though, because right now you have a downtown lobby and you have wealthy people downtown who have the power to demand that we continue investing downtown. And there's a theory that if we put millions and millions and hundreds of millions of dollars into these projects downtown, that somehow the city is getting better, even as many people's lived experiences in our communities aren't. I was looking at the average income, for example, in 48215. We're in 48215 right now and the median income in 48215 is still $28,000.
Speaker 2:All this money that we're spending and we're not rising the quality of life. We put a whole factory in this community, the Stellantis, and subsidized it with hundreds of millions of dollars, and yet the median income in this community has not budged. And so you know, coming from the perspective that I think you know, stellantis has more of a voice than I do, and all those folks who are developing iliches, I mean they can just continue to fail and fail and fail, and they keep getting tax breaks and extensions on their agreement. But I'm trying to upgrade a home from the Detroit Land Bank Authority and I have six months, and then I'm threatened, and so it feels to me as though there has to be something different. I guess the question for me is how would you, as mayor, go about pushing back on the powerful, wealthy voices that have really influenced so much of what we do in our city right now?
Speaker 3:So there are two things and first I want to say I don't believe it's either. Or I do believe that we need a strong downtown. I do believe that I believe that more opportunities come if we have a strong downtown and we need business and we need jobs. But we also, when we're doing it there, we have to hold people accountable, and the only thing I can tell you is what I've done. When I was on council and the proposal came for Quicken which is now Rocket Mortgage, but back then it was Quicken Loans and the proposal was a tax abatement for them and they were moving into CompuWare and it was them becoming a part of CompuWear's abatement I was the council member who said this will never do.
Speaker 3:Dan Gilbert, if you're going to make us promises, we need this to be the Dan Gilbert agreement. Peter Carmanos can't agree on your behalf. You have to agree to this and these are the very specific things that you need to do and we have to have clawback provisions. So there are ways for us to hold people accountable. And I will say for that agreement, he did what he committed to do. When LCA came to council and the language was may my best efforts. You know, I was like this isn't like, this is a. No, I'll try. We got to do better than this, right? So when I was on council, I was constantly pushing back on the language. I will work with business. I don't believe that it has to be either, or it can be both and but we've got to hold people accountable.
Speaker 2:But it can't be both. And if I mean it can be both and, but you can't spend $50 million twice, You're either going to spend $50 million here or you're going to spend it there, because we don't have a bottomless pit. So there still have to be choices.
Speaker 3:I mean, I would love to believe that we can make. But if we spend $50 million, we have to hold them accountable for doing the things that they said they were going to do and it can't be best efforts.
Speaker 2:But what I'm saying is that if there's $50 million at stake and you have $50 million, you have to decide will we spend this to expand downtown, or is it reasonable to expect billionaires to spend their own money, While we expect thousandaires to spend their money in the hood? But billionaires can't do anything without subsidy and it doesn't make sense. What it really means is they get the lion's share of the resources and then there's no money left. I mean, I would love to believe that we can do all things with money, but choices have to be made sometimes. And I'm not saying we don't need a nice downtown. I think it's kind of nice right now. So my question is.
Speaker 3:I think it's really nice.
Speaker 2:So at what point do we say we don't have to continue subsidizing new projects? Because if we don't have leadership that says and you know, because there are some budget realities, Pretty soon we're going to be out of ARPA funds, we're going to. We have some other expenses that we have not even really looked at. We have downtown buildings that were built and there's vacancies. You know, when we built what's that new Hudson's building, they were supposed to bring how many new jobs earning $75,000 more, and instead they moved the people over from GM and they said we need your tax dollars to tear down the Rinson.
Speaker 4:At what point do?
Speaker 2:we stop and say it's time for the neighborhoods, and how do we have that courageous conversation?
Speaker 3:So I and again, I don't think it is either or I think it can be both, but the courageous conversation has to take place with each of these projects. If you're doing a project on the east side that makes sense for this community and it needs tax incentives to make it work and it's going to provide housing for families and it's going to revitalize a neighborhood, then yes, we should be finding resources to help make that happen.
Speaker 1:Satele, I want to drive the conversation forward because I will get in trouble if I don't ask this question for every mayoral candidate, and that is about affordable housing. Get in trouble if I don't ask this question for every mayoral candidate, and that is about affordable housing. The nation is in a severe affordable housing shortage and we're talking about affordability.
Speaker 1:We're not even talking about public housing, which nobody talks about anymore the need for completely subsidized housing, and part of what makes living in Detroit hard and unaffordable is that there is a mandate on residents to really keep up these 100-year-old homes, and they can't. It's very costly and there's not enough money in any pot to solve for the affordable housing and the home repair crisis that is percolating in the city of Detroit. What is your vision for affordable housing in the city of Detroit? How can we ensure that the people who want to be here, the Detroiters who want to be here, can actually afford to stay here? Right, and is there a legislative priority that comes along with making Detroit more affordable, like, is that something you need to take up with council or in Lansing? How would you go about doing that?
Speaker 3:I think it's all of the above and this. What you're talking about is the flip side of this conversation about how much are the value of our homes has increased and what a wonderful thing that is. Well, that's great if you're selling your home. It's not so good if you already are struggling to pay your property taxes. So in a city that is so heavily taxed, we have to find a way to reduce property taxes for homeowners property taxes for homeowners but we also have to have affordable housing for renters, for people who cannot buy a home at this point in their lives or don't want to buy a home and the rent is high.
Speaker 1:It's high in Detroit and one of the things that I would infer is that the current set aside, the 20% set aside for affordable homes or housing in the city of Detroit, their studios, their one-bedrooms what are we doing for families? Families can't live and grow in a studio or a one-bedroom right, and that's not a conversation that the current administration wants to have.
Speaker 3:I've tried For all intents and purposes. I know that we all know the awful story about those babies who die and the conversation about whether a bed was available or not. The CAM system is broken. It's broken, we need to fix it, and it should be a lot easier to fix it because of technology. However, with the best technology, if there isn't a place available, like on any given night, it's hard to find a bed for a single person, let alone a mom and five kids, right. So we really need to rethink not only how we're approaching homelessness, but we have to find ways to create affordable housing for for everybody. To your point, because Do we need?
Speaker 2:do we need an affordable housing plan?
Speaker 3:but that should be part of this strategic master plan. Yes, we need an affordable housing plan, but the the strategic master plan has to include affordable housing right and it should account for every income level in the city. It it should account for our expectations of growth. It should account for everything. And that's a part of why the plan is so important, because it should be a guiding document, so we're not guessing about the things that we want to do or just waiting for somebody to come in and tell us what's best for us. We already know what's best for us and we've decided. And I'll say it again, we are demonstrating our priorities through our budget and how we spend our money.
Speaker 2:You know, Orlando and I went to Minneapolis a few years ago, and Minneapolis actually has a housing plan, not just a master plan, but a housing plan and they have all of these different resources and mechanisms to fund housing.
Speaker 2:Right, they've set aside money and so I think you know Atlanta has a housing plan. I don't know what they're doing with it, but they do have a plan, and when I talked to the mayor about putting together a plan for housing for the city of Detroit, he said well, I don't want to promise things I can't deliver on, and therefore putting together a plan and documenting need is not something the mayor wants to prioritize, because then it looks like he's failing. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 3:Well, I disagree. First of all, I think that any plan should be part aspirational, right. We should have this guiding star that we're shooting for right. My aunt always says shoot for the moon. If you miss, you'll land up amongst the stars. So we should have this guiding document that is helping us to set priorities. But also, it is not a bad thing. In fact, I'll go a step further and say it's a good thing for us to have data and to understand where we are versus where we need to be. I mean, that's just logical, and I understand the political downside of not wanting to document negative things or not wanting to create false hope. But that's why you have real conversations, tough conversations, and talk about these are the things that we can do, these are the things that we can't do, these are the things we might be able to do. I don't know, but we're going to try our best and that's where political courage comes in.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you another question. I think right now, just taking a retrospective look over the years of how Duggan ran the city and his corporation council ran the city, when there is a justice-oriented initiative that is before council that residents are bringing the sentiment from, corporation Council has been a lot of that is against state law right, with no real plan or attempt to lobby the legislature to do something different, right, without ever admitting that it's a misalignment within his own priorities. I want to ask you about your legislative priorities, both for council both for the legislature in the state of Michigan what needs to get done in Lansing, what needs to get done at the council table for you to govern the way that you need to govern?
Speaker 3:Thank you for the question. One of the things that needs to get done in Lansing is we need to restructure our taxing system in Michigan, the way taxes are collected and redistributed to municipalities. We definitely need to change the way schools are funded in Michigan and our priorities for schools and curriculums, because it's not just Detroit schools failing Michigan schools are failing. They're failing our kids, which means we're failing our kids right. So that's got to be a legislative priority as well. The priorities for council for me me would be working with council on this strategic master plan. That includes everything.
Speaker 4:When.
Speaker 3:I say everything. This is our guide for the next 10 years in this city and what those priorities should look like. So, since we have nine members seven in districts and residents who are looking to them and holding them accountable, they should be a very integral part of the conversation. But flowing from that isn't just one or two things. Right, if this master plan is inclusive and aspirational, there are going to be multiple ordinances that will be required. There will probably be some state legislation around taxing, whether that's TIFs or neighborhood enterprise zones. I'm sure there will be legislation. But before we get there, we have to decide on what it is that we all want to do together.
Speaker 2:So what about water affordability? It's a big concern for a lot of us and we keep hearing, because of a Bolt decision in Lansing, that you cannot have differing rates of water bills. But at no point does the city go to Lansing and say, hey, can we change that? Is that a priority for you to somehow make water affordable to low-income people in Detroit?
Speaker 3:That is absolutely a priority for me.
Speaker 1:Do people come to Thaw looking for water assistance? They do, they do.
Speaker 3:And one of the first things I did when I started at Thaw was create a Detroit water assistance program, was create a Detroit Water Assistance Program. Now it's a statewide assistance program because I knocked on the doors of legislators for so long saying this has to be a priority. In my first year they were like water is affordable. What are you talking about? Nobody's worried about it. Yes, people are worried about water, and I was finally able to get them to include a line item for the first time for water. And I think 2018, the first program in 2015 was privately funded, but 2018, I think, was the first time it had ever been put in the budget as a line item. It got zeroed out, but it was progress, like it was the first time enough legislators said we need to do this.
Speaker 3:And then 2019, thaad got funding for statewide water assistance as well as plumbing repairs. Because, to your point about old homes, part of the problem is the toilet is leaky and it's old Even if it's not leaking. You flush it and it's 30 gallons of water right and then you have leaky pipes. So if we can spend a few hundred dollars just repairing minor things in the home, then you're saving hundreds on the water bill. So water affordability, yes, is a priority, affordability, yes, is a priority and, yes, I would be willing to work with the legislature to change our laws so that we can make, and one of the places in the country that very early stages of the RAP program, the Water Residential.
Speaker 1:Assistance.
Speaker 3:Affordability. I was a part of the task force that was working. The end product was not what I don't think anybody expected it to be, but one of the places we looked at was Philly and how they're doing it, and they found a way to do it and make it work, so it's possible.
Speaker 1:I know we have Go ahead Donna.
Speaker 2:Just one more question about that, because you know, my friends at we, the People of Detroit, would say that water affordability is not a subsidy, it's actually a discounted rate.
Speaker 3:I understand.
Speaker 2:And there's right now, I think you know there's a lot of discounted rates, but it feels like it's impermanent and so we have it now like the Lifeline program, and that goes away and so, and then you run out of funding, Right program and that goes away, and then you run out of funding. So do you believe that there is the possibility of legislative change on that front for us to fight for?
Speaker 3:water, I do believe it yeah. And again, I would use Philly as the example, because it is not a subsidy or an assistance program. It is actually your water rates are tiered Right, right, based on income, so it works. There are other places where it has worked, and you know, before we voted to change the Constitution, there are many things that we could not do in this state, exactly so yeah, we have a few minutes left. I could not do in this state, exactly so yeah.
Speaker 1:We have a few minutes left. I got to ask you this question because it is in the Detroit zeitgeist and that is around your departure from city council. Why did you leave city council and what do you say to people who feel like you deserted the city at a really, really precarious time?
Speaker 3:I'm so glad you asked the question, Thank you. I was elected in 2009,. Started in 2010 the first time, and I was elected the second time. 2013 started 2014. 2014, during the height of this city's most horrific, most difficult financial crisis in the history of this city. We started then. We didn't create it, we came at the peak of this crisis.
Speaker 3:We weren't there at the onset, but we were there when, literally, we hit the end of the road. The can had been kicked, we were all out of road and I was there for a whole lot of difficult discussions and conversations and decisions, heart-wrenching conversations and decisions. I was at the table, I was on the front lines, I helped negotiate the bankruptcy settlements and helped to reduce the damage to retirees, because it was going to be a whole lot worse and retirees still suffered. They still took a hit, a material suffering. It was going to be a lot worse. So I was there for the toughest times and my last day at council was the day we announced we were exiting bankruptcy. I spent my last day literally at the federal courts announcing we were exiting bankruptcy. And then I served Detroiters in a different way. For over 10 years I've been keeping families healthy, safe and warm with water that we just talked about, heat, electricity, and I am so proud of the work that I've done at Thaw because I've kept tens of thousands of families.
Speaker 2:How many did you?
Speaker 3:serve every year.
Speaker 1:I know the allergies is bad.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it varied from about 10,000 to over 20,000, depending on the amount of funding that we were able to secure each year, but since from the time I started at Thaw to the time I left, we provided over $100 million in utility assistance, that's service that I will never be ashamed of or back away from, and I've never deserted Detroit or Detroiters.
Speaker 1:Thank you for clearing that up. We wanted to make sure we cleared that up for our audience, because a lot of folks are having this conversation. We are out of time, but I want to let you you know answer. Leave us with this question. Answering this question what do you want to leave Detroiters with concerning your vision for our collective future as a city? Right? What do you want to leave our audience?
Speaker 3:with. My vision for our collective future is a Detroit with neighborhoods that are safe, vibrant, thriving and affordable for everyone, whether you rent or own. My vision for Detroit is a mayor who is committed to the people, who has given her life to the citizens of this city and who is not afraid to make tough decisions or have tough conversations, because my decisions won't be based on the next election cycle. I'm trying to change Detroit for the next 40 years, not the next four. So that's the vision and my goal for Detroit.
Speaker 1:Sontieljenkinscom Can't leave without saying that If you have topics that you want discussed on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit, on Facebook, instagram and Twitter, or you can email or X, or you can email us at AuthenticallyDetroit at gmailcom. All right, it's our favorite part of the show where we do shout outs that we're never ready for Donna. Do you have any shout outs? No, I'm not ready. Do shout outs that we're never ready for Donna. Do you have any shout outs? I'm not ready. So do you want to shout anybody out who's around you, like who's on your team? You know who's helping. Who's helping erect this campaign for you.
Speaker 3:I see the billboards. You look nice. I like that blue on there. Go ahead, thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to start by shouting out my life partner, my husband Carl Bentley, and my mom, who I was talking to on the way here, and my entire family, my sister, nieces and nephews, and my team Colleen, greg, maureen I got Maureen. Stapleton, I got Greg Bowens, I got Colleen.
Speaker 4:Robar.
Speaker 3:Yes, I have a phenomenal team of folks who have been in elected office, who have worked on campaigns, who have worked for elected officials. Yes, and I'm really proud of the work we're doing and it's just a preview for the work that we will do if Detroiters decide that I am their choice, and I hope they will All right, thank you.
Speaker 1:You got any shout outs?
Speaker 2:now I do choice and I hope they will All right, thank you. You guys need shout outs. Now I do. I want to shout out LaWanda Villard, our director for sustainable housing, for the work that she has done in helping to complete our first home. Lawanda does a lot of things. She does our energy efficiency upgrades and our home repair program and she has been also working on this house that we've been renovating Short staffed Because she has just had a new staff person start today. Really happy that she's got a team, but she does a great job. Thank you, lawanda.
Speaker 1:I would like to shout out my colleagues in journalism. Nicole Avery Nichols at the Detroit Free Press sat with Outliers Editor-in-Chief, dr Aaron Perry, at the International Journalism Festival in Italy to talk about what it's like being two black women heading up news organizations in the city of Detroit, and Outliers founder Sarah Alvarez also talked at the International Journalism Festival about our founding and our info needs, priorities and all things outliers. So we were well represented overseas last week and I'm really, really proud of the work the outlier is doing. So shout out to you guys All right, y'all. We. Thank you so much for listening. Stay tuned for our candidate series. All the mayor candidates will be here in Authentically Detroit, so be sure to tune in. But until next time, love on your neighbor. Outro Music.
