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.
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Authentically Detroit
Candidate Series: Passion, Development, and Legacy with Fred Durhal
This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with Fred Durhal III to discuss his vision for Detroit’s future. This episode is the third in a series of interviews with candidates in the race for Detroit’s 76th mayor.
Fred Durhal III is a Detroit City Councilmember, representing District 7 since 2021. He also serves as the Chair of the Budget, Finance, and Audit Standing Committee and Vice-chair of the Planning and Development Standing Committee.
Durhal’s legislative career began in 2014 when he was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives for the 5th House District. He quickly rose to leadership roles, including Assistant House Democratic Leader and Minority Vice-Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Durhal’s passion for improving Detroit extends beyond his official duties, having volunteered with organizations like AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity, and UAW Local 60006. His focus remains on stabilizing neighborhoods, increasing public safety, and fostering economic development throughout Detroit.
To learn more about Fred Durhal III and his vision for Detroit, click here.
Up next, fred Durhall III joins the Authentically Detroit Candidate Series to share his vision for the city as Detroiters prepare to select the 76th mayor. This will be the third in a series of interviews. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages. Interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events or resource fairs? The Mass Detroit Small Business Hub is a 6,000 square feet space available for members, residents and businesses and organizations. To learn more about rental options at Mass Detroit, contact Nicole Perry at nperry at ecn-detroitorg or 313-331-3485.
Speaker 1: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 start the world. Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit broadcasting live from Detroit's East Side at the Stoudemire inside of East Side Community Network. I'm Orlando Bailey and I'm Donna Givens-Davidson. 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. 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 each mayor, hopeful to get to know why they want to be Detroit's 76th mayor. Next up we have Fred Durhall.
Speaker 1:Fred Durhall is a Detroit City Council member, representing District 7 since 2021. He also serves as the chair of the Budget, finance and Audit Standing Committee and vice chair of the Planning and Development Standing Committee. Durr Hall's legislative career began in 2014, when he was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives for the Fifth House District. He quickly rose to leadership roles, including assistant House Democrat leader and minority vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee. During his tenure, durhall passed significant legislation, such as Public Act 111 of 2016, which aimed to protect public infrastructure and save taxpayer money. He also secured substantial funding for Detroit, including over $1 billion for local programs and $250,000 to keep the Dexter M Hearst Community Center open.
Speaker 1:After leaving the Michigan house in 2019, durr Hall worked as a community liaison for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, providing affordable housing solutions to over 1 million Michigan residents. Durr Hall's passion for improving Detroit extends beyond his official duties, having volunteered with organizations like AmeriCorps, habitat for Humanity and UAW, local 6006 or 6-0-0-0-6. His focus remains on stabilizing neighborhoods, increasing public safety and fostering economic development throughout Detroit. Fred Durhall, welcome to Authentically Detroit. Thank you, I can't believe this is the first time we're saying that I'm pretty sure we've never interviewed Okay.
Speaker 3:I'm a little disheartened, you know what?
Speaker 1:Don't start. Don't start, fred, you being a former DSA achiever you are.
Speaker 3:You know like I am my feelings are.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, what year. You're on the far east side, oh man.
Speaker 2:You're on the far west side and we're on the far east side. I think that's probably.
Speaker 1:That's crazy, though, that he went to DSA. Oh yes, I missed you by a year Did you graduate in 2003? I came in the fall of 03. I just missed you.
Speaker 3:Well, my brother graduated in 2004. In the class of 2004? He was? What was his name? Brian Brian Durhall. They called him Mikey.
Speaker 1:Mikey, and what major.
Speaker 3:Instrumental.
Speaker 1:Instrumental. Okay, okay, wow. Now that's crazy. You know, dr Cotton and I still keep in touch.
Speaker 3:I talked to Dr Cotton as recently as this past week.
Speaker 1:Right, a couple weeks ago. Oh really, let me tell you what Dr Cotton likes to do. She likes to call when she gets to town, not before there's no warning, and say Orlando, I'm here, meet me here. Absolutely, and I do exactly as I'm told, because I still feel like she's in charge. Yeah, yeah, that's Dr Cotton always yeah well, we're happy to have you for the first time. Don't shade us.
Speaker 3:I'm not, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 1:Well, you're the third of many to come, because there are a lot of mayoral hopefuls running this year. We're happy that you said yes. Do us a favor and introduce yourself to our listeners, since our listeners, who may not listen to any other podcast in the city, maybe haven't met you yet.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so again Detroit City Council member Fred Dur Durhall, serving technically my second term on Detroit City Council was sworn in at the end of 2021. Obviously, there was a resignation before I got sworn in. So we won the November election and we got appointed by a vote of the council, so started a little bit early into November, early December, and then got sworn in fully for the full term in January, and prior to that I served as a state representative two terms. First term, as you mentioned, assistant Democratic leader of the House. Second term, ranking them over House appropriations in a budget there. Went to work for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. A son of Detroit. Graduated Detroit Public Schools. Attended Eastern Michigan University oh my God.
Speaker 1:Did I follow in his footsteps or what? What's going on here?
Speaker 3:It's very strange, it's so crazy.
Speaker 1:I also attended and graduated from Eastern Michigan.
Speaker 3:Smart people, Smart people. But I am a husband and a father too Two beautiful, wonderful children my wife's beautiful as well and just looking to do what I believe God put us on this earth to do, which is serve people. So I have some questions.
Speaker 2:In the introduction it says you secured substantial funding for Detroit, including over $1 billion for local programs. Was that new money? In addition to the revenue sharing, what specifically constituted that $1 billion?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you're looking at about $793 million in revenue sharing, and every session in the House, obviously, we were threatened with cuts to revenue sharing, particularly Detroit's revenue sharing, which is money that funds police, fire, ems, city services, but on top of that, just a lot of programs.
Speaker 2:But you secured. You protected about $793,000 and then secured a couple hundred million dollars in addition to that right.
Speaker 3:More million than that, more million than that, more million than that. So you're looking at, even when you add that number up and you go even further. You're looking at about $2.5 million for the Flip, the Script program which we secured. You're looking at $347,000 for DAPSA.
Speaker 2:I understand, I was just looking at billions and I was like there were not billions of dollars coming in here in addition to I'm just thinking about that time frame. Well, yeah, yes.
Speaker 3:And we always. When we talk about revenue sharing, particularly statutory revenue sharing, it was something, as you know, over the years here in the city of Detroit was not necessarily guaranteed or we got our fair share Traditionally, even over years that were previous, based off of the formula. When I served, the formula changed a few times, whether it was EVIP, the Incentive Vitality Incentive Program, or Economic Vitality Incentive Program that Governor Snyder pushed forward. There were threats to cuts to our revenue sharing from that side. So we say we secured it because we kept it safe.
Speaker 2:I think it's important to say that you secured it. I just was trying to see if you were bringing in new money, because other people may not understand that. Can you talk about the formula and how the formula changes were conceptualized and what you did to keep them in place?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think at the time what they were looking at was smaller cities or municipalities, and those smaller cities and municipalities don't obviously get as much revenue sharing as the city of Detroit got, because their population was different and they also had different programs and they had different numbers of officers and or police, fire, ems and their city services were set up different. So in order for that to become more competitive around 2017, the governor was pushing for EVIP, which kind of leveled the playing field quote unquote relative to revenue sharing. And because we're the biggest pot in the city of Detroit or in the state of Michigan, excuse me, because the city of Detroit's the largest city in the state that pot is always looked at.
Speaker 3:And so I remember, even in my first term serving, even though I was the assistant Democratic leader, I was the minority vice chair of the general government subcommittee, where revenue sharing falls under and I remember having tough discussions with the chair at the time, who was Laura Cox Tough or adversarial. I remember these Well, yeah, very tough conversations about how we could not have our revenue sharing cut. They were, at one time, looking at close to about a 5% cut and we pushed forward. We had tough conversations with the governor and his administration, and Detroit did not receive one cut. So when I talk about securing that, revenue sharing.
Speaker 2:That's important information. Yeah, and you know, I think when they talk about level playing field, though, the level playing field would suggest that Detroit is getting a disproportionate share over and above our population size. There are some fixed expenses and other things in Detroit. Do you think that Detroit is getting more than its fair share over and above population size? Do you think the fact that we're just such a large city gives us that disproportionate share?
Speaker 3:I don't think the share is disproportionate. Again, you look at the largest city in the state with the largest population. You look at one of the largest budgets in the state, close to a $3 billion budget. So when we talk about our city, when we talk about our assets that we have, when we talk about how many officers it takes to cover over 147 square miles, we are talking about that need for that funding to be able to come from the state, Particularly as we look at our state and we look at the city of Detroit. We're different from other states in our region because the state of Michigan is primarily dependent, because of 1994 and the Headlee Amendment, off of property taxes and in exchange for that we receive a lot of that statutory revenue sharing that comes to us as well.
Speaker 2:So, no, we need it because we are the largest city, the biggest, baddest city, I believe, in the state and we need that money to fund our city services for our residents and, as I recall, when Dennis Archer was mayor, dennis Archer negotiated a reduction in the income tax that Detroit was charging, as well as he negotiated an agreement to not fight the end of residency for Detroit employees, both of which cost Detroit revenue, for Detroit employees, both of which cost Detroit revenue, and in exchange there was supposed to be an increase in revenue sharing. That did not come forward. So there's a broken promise there, right?
Speaker 3:Oh, I believe it.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 3:I mean it's fact right? No, no, no, it is a fact. You know, when we talk about, the city of Detroit went through one of the largest municipal bankruptcies in US history. A big contributing factor to that was not an adequate amount of revenue sharing that was promised paid to the city of Detroit.
Speaker 1:I remember Joe and Watson ringing that alarm all the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to ensure that we were going to have the ability to do or pay for city services. And so what you see over the years was a culmination of less revenue generated. And then, when you get into an era where we did a little bit of bad bonding, that happened. You see the city's fiscal stability it became in jeopardy.
Speaker 2:When you say bad bonding, can you describe what you mean by that?
Speaker 3:So obviously in the early 2000s, you know, we went to New York and we bonded for water here in the city of Detroit and some of those interest rates on those bonds were astronomical, which sent us into a particular difficult situation as far as how much debt we owe. And again, based off of the revenues that we were able to generate, depending on property tax revenue, and we saw the degradation of our neighborhoods. So we started collecting less property taxes, we stopped, we weren't getting our adequate share of revenue sharing payments here, and then you look at the money that we have to pay back. That put us in a fiscal tailspin here in the city of Detroit and contributed to pushing us into bankruptcy.
Speaker 2:The only reason I ask about bad bonds, as I understanding, is there was a credit swap that was arranged and people will criticize Detroiters and we can move on from here, but I recall really how the Wall Street gave awards to the city for this bad bond deal. Wall Street gave awards to the city for this bad bond deal, how the Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, the municipal unions, the Chambers of Commerce all celebrated this deal the credit swap deal, which is the proximal reason for the bankruptcy. And then, when it happened, people were called irresponsible. Mother Joanne Watson was at the council table saying no, this is irresponsible and council would not support. And they got a great deal of pushback.
Speaker 2:And so it looked like the mayor was providing really good leadership, according to what the financialized world was saying he should do. And then it backfired because you had the housing recession running for mayor balancing off all of these interests Wall Street, chambers of Commerce, financialization. They have led us wrong in the past and when things didn't work out, detroiters were left holding the bag and blamed for something well beyond our control, because not a single citizen in the city of Detroit voted for this bond deal. So my question to you is how is your leadership different, given your financial acumen and your knowledge of all of this? How is your leadership different and how would you avoid making the same kinds of mistakes and pushing back, perhaps against some of those same interests that demanded that we get into this deal in the first place?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you've just got to be one. You've got to be very careful. You know my grandmother used to say all advice is not good advice. You know you take it with a grain of salt, but you look at the times that we're in. We are in still a pretty vulnerable state here.
Speaker 3:Yes, we have a triple credit rating upgrade here in the city of Detroit. Yes, it is saying that we can pay our bills back if we borrow here in the city of Detroit, but that doesn't mean that you go out and buy the fresh, brand new Cadillac. What that means is you still remain fiscally prudent, you still remain responsible. And what I say to answer your question, what I would say is that if we look at bonding coming up, depending on what we are trying to push forward whether that's fixing our broken infrastructure here in the city of Detroit we have to be very careful. Yes, we take financial advice, but we don't become penny wise and pound foolish and we look at what our revenues are that we have, but we also look at the trends.
Speaker 3:I often state that one of the most important conferences that you can go to here in the state of Michigan or the city of Detroit is our consensus revenue estimating conference and although that these are estimates that exist, you have to pay attention to the trends. So if it looks like, ok, we're trending down and we don't have a particular amount of surplus dollars, as we enjoyed in previous fiscal years, then you don't go create multimillion dollar programs that will become legacy programs that will push you further out into the future in an environment that is not predictable. So you've got to stay the course and I think you've got to be very careful. How will we operate? We're going to be very careful. I'm going to tell you. The next mayor is going to probably have to make some unpopular decisions. You're going to have to tell a lot of folks no, and you're going to have to have the strength to be able to do that but still provide for our residents with what we have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we can get into that. I just want to just clarify though this was not advice, this was political pressure.
Speaker 3:No, I get it.
Speaker 2:This was lobbying by some of the same people who still hold a lot of power in the city of Detroit. They didn't just say hey guys, I think you should do this. There was a heavy push, if you go back and look at what was happening there and in 2006,. How old were you?
Speaker 3:In 2006, I was about 22.
Speaker 2:You were about 22. I was older I'm not going to say how old, but I was older and I think I was more conscious and present at that time of some of the political happenings that other people may not have seen. There was a groundswell of support for this. If you push back on it, it made you unpopular and, like you said, we have some thorny days ahead and there's going to be some unpopular decisions that have to be made. Will those be made at the expense of downtown development community or will they be made at the expense of residents who've already sacrificed so much? How do you avoid asking people who live in our neighborhoods to sacrifice even more than we've already sacrificed over the years?
Speaker 3:I think we look at again what is the most vulnerable population that exists. We look at how can we balance both ways. I am unapologetic, knowing that we need business here small business and otherwise to be able to continue to generate revenue, but we cannot get back into the habit of balancing our budget on the backs of our residents. And so when we look at how we move forward with that budget and those decisions and tough decisions that we make, we make them dependent on where we are at that time. What we're dealing with particularly.
Speaker 3:You know we're going to roll out a comprehensive tax relief plan here in the next few weeks in our campaign that talks about putting more money into the pockets of our residents and having a lot of other folks pay their fair share. Now, that's not necessarily a popular thing to put out, but it's something that's necessary to keep this city going. And I do believe that a lot of those strong conversations come with having a strong relationship with the business community and a strong relationship with our residents, bringing both to the table and saying, look, from the folks who are putting business here, this is what we need you to do to be able to keep this city going, because if we don't, then we'll be caught into a situation where they will not even be able to do business here or the residents won't benefit, and so I think we'll be really good at that, bringing folks to the table and making those tough decisions that are necessary, just have one follow-up, though, go ahead and that is that businesses bring revenue, but so do residents.
Speaker 2:Even the poorest resident brings revenue when they bring census dollars here, when their census dollars help attract dollars from the federal government.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We've lost population since Duggan was elected and he said if I cannot increase population, then I shouldn't be mayor, or something like that.
Speaker 2:And then he lost population and changed his mind, right We've lost population and he blames it on council and working on the east side, where you see if somebody's home is foreclosed on and somebody loses wealth because we've also had a stripping of black wealth inside of our communities when these things happen people leave because they can't afford to stay. If I don't have water service in my home, I cannot afford to stay.
Speaker 2:And if you're not building and fixing up housing for me, then I'm going to take me and my three or four or five or six family members with me to the suburbs while you attract that one cool kid from downtown. Now they may bring more property tax revenue or income tax revenue, assuming they claim Detroit as their residence, but that's gaining one for the loss of six, and so we're losing population, and that has a very significant financial impact on the city, as you pointed out revenue sharing dollars and the formula dollars that come from the federal government. So can we begin looking at even low-income residents as being financially viable and important to the city? Because I feel as though we have a way of saying businesses are what matter.
Speaker 3:Well, so I've never said that they're not.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 3:And I don't want it to be misinterpreted as such.
Speaker 3:We need all of our residents here, no matter what their income level is, and when you hear me talk specifically about development and you hear me talk about business, I look at it in a different lens.
Speaker 3:Businesses, as well as industry, creates jobs, and let us not be under any mistake that one of the reasons that the city of Detroit had a population over one million is because there was a tremendous amount of opportunity here, as well as jobs here, so folks were able to make money, go back to their neighborhoods, pay their rent, pay their mortgages, but there were also opportunities to start small businesses or entrepreneurship, where we looked at a lot of our commercial corridors here in this city, where we had shoe shines, we had flower shops, we even had gas stations and supermarkets here.
Speaker 3:Now, you don't see that as much, particularly in the commercial corridors that are adjacent to our neighborhoods, but it is a firm belief of mine that we do not have to create a level of division that exists between downtown and Detroit. What we do have to do, though, is have strong leadership that talks to those heads of industry and say, yes, I want to be able to employ my folks there. I want my folks to have these jobs here, and we've also got to become more competitive to attract more jobs here to the city of Detroit, and what that is going to take is creating an environment that's conducive for them to thrive. But that doesn't mean again that folks who are low income should be forgotten about.
Speaker 1:But, fred, is this division that exists is not from our imagination, is it? It's a very real chasm here that nobody really wants to, nobody really running for office really wants to talk about and sort of unpack. This is not a division of our imagination, this is a very real thing. And so how are you thinking about closing this division? Because it's there already. We're not creating it. It's there, it's structural, not creating it, it's there, it's structural by way of the Downtown Development Authority.
Speaker 2:The dollars that are taken from the Downtown Development Authority or diverted to the Downtown Development Authority can only be spent downtown. That is a structural division. It's an institutional division, it's not an imagination.
Speaker 3:And I'm glad you say that because you're feeding into a plan that I have to expand a downtown development authority and change the definition into our commercial corridors. That way those dollars stay in those corridors.
Speaker 1:Are you breaking news right now? Okay, so what you're saying is— Well, I'm not going to go as deep as you want me to go. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 2:When you say, expand it and you will have basically a TIF inside of these corridors, will they be able to keep their property taxes and spend them down where they?
Speaker 3:are In their corridors.
Speaker 2:While downtown keeps all the money that is being generated in a very wealthy and wealthier downtown for downtown. Is that your plan?
Speaker 3:Because that authority was created for downtown. But when we expand that into our corridors and create a corridor improvement authority per se, those tax dollars that are in those corridors stay in those corridors to allow them to remain vibrant, to allow small businesses to be built up in those corridors, to allow for folks in those small corridors, whether they're neighbors of that community or just Detroiters, have opportunity. Don't hire Detroiters. Have opportunity to get access to generational wealth.
Speaker 2:That would work very well in Corktown and that would work very well at Lipsitz.
Speaker 3:I think it would work well a lot of other places.
Speaker 2:Okay. So if you have corridors where nobody's investing and there's no increase in property values, there's no real mechanism for those corridors to generate a large share of income.
Speaker 2:You can't capture income that you're not generating, and so my question is this how do you stop? Is it something like $68 million a year goes into the Downtown Development Authority. There's no way that Harper Avenue is going to be able to generate even a tenth of that unless there's investment there, because first the investment is what generates the increase in value. It sounds good, but it seems to me as though, as long as we allow the Downtown Development Authority to keep all of that money downtown, then all of that money that we've been subsidizing over the past 40, 50 years in downtown just stays there and everybody else is playing on a very unlevel playing field and now told you're equal.
Speaker 3:No, but that's why, again, you change the definition and you look to expand it, and so what we're saying is when those dollars get captured again, they stay there. You talk about development. This is not something, first of all, that happens overnight. And when you talk about how we're going to get developers in those commercial corridors, what is the big word that everybody throws out? Incentive? So our incentive is we want you to build in these commercial corridors so we can create walkable neighborhoods, so folks can have access to fresh groceries, folks can have access to retail, folks can have access to a pharmacy within one mile of their home and create walkable neighborhoods.
Speaker 2:What's the point of an incentive, though, is to stimulate development right.
Speaker 3:To incentivize and attract development as well.
Speaker 2:Now that downtown has been developed, now that the incentives have worked, the idea is that now that you have a functioning downtown, you don't continue to have to incentivize a functioning downtown economy. So the question is, why do you still need to incentivize there when those incentives could now be redirected to neighborhoods? Is there any way that you would conceptualize creating a neighborhood development authority and sunsetting the downtown development authority now that it's done its job?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So as we look at the DDA right and you look at where we're going and I say this even about tax abatements and tax incentives it's not something you get rid of overnight. Do I think we get to a point where we can titrate ourselves off of tax abatements and incentives? Absolutely, and we're going to have to because we can't keep pushing tax collections down for another hundred years. Are we there yet? No, we're not there yet.
Speaker 3:But when we talk about these neighborhood authorities and it's kind of the same idea that we have in conception you are talking about incentivizing development in corridors that are adjacent to our neighborhoods, that allow those dollars to continue to flow through those neighborhoods just as they do downtown, and they add to sidewalk improvement, facade improvement and the overall vitality of those areas. We can have those in our neighborhoods, our corridors adjacent to our neighborhoods, and I think that's how we expand it. But I know folks are saying, hey, we need to eliminate the DDA right away and downtown is all built up and folks say that we still have a ways to go. But do I think that we still do business the same as we're doing right now for the next 20 years? No, but we've got to get to a point where we're like, okay, we're stable here.
Speaker 2:We titrate ourselves off of incentives where we have enough folks who are interested in coming to develop, not just downtown and our commercial corridors and come to the city, because it's unreasonable in our city government and in our current economic framework to expect billionaires to be able to afford projects that cost a couple hundred million dollars, but we expect $100,000, $10,000 heirs to be able to afford small businesses. And we tell them hey, listen, you have to be realistic and you have to balance your budget and you have to create feasible economic plans. So we still have to incentivize the billionaires who are doing business downtown, because what they can't do, it without our millions or they won't do without our millions.
Speaker 3:So I don't say we have to continue to incentivize anyone.
Speaker 3:I think to your point, though, and the point that I'm making is we do need to incentivize smaller developers.
Speaker 3:We do need to get smaller developers in these commercial corridors, and what that takes is also connecting them to some of the developments that already exist, because there is no secret that even our smaller developers face challenges that larger developers don't.
Speaker 3:They don't have the same access to capital, so when they walk into the bank to get a loan, they are facing barriers that other developers don't face, and what is one of the ways to eliminate those barriers that exist is help them build a robust portfolio as well. You know, I would advise you to talk to our black real estate developers here, reed, and they will tell you. As they talk about development here in the city of Detroit, as they talk about development here in the city of Detroit, one key component and the issues that they face obviously are different from other developers, which is why they have pushed even for some of these bigger projects to be able to add to their portfolios and partner. Should it be that way? Absolutely not, and I'm not saying that, but I'm saying we want to open a door to create opportunity for smaller developers to thrive, and I think our commercial corridors is a great way for them to be able to develop.
Speaker 1:We're going to take a quick break. We're going to be right back with more with Fred Doerrhoff. Keep it locked. 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. 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. Welcome back to Authentically Detroit. We are here live with Councilman Fred Durhall, candidate for the mayor of the city of Detroit. So you were making a point about talking with smaller black real estate developers and giving them, or helping them get access to resources, finance packages, all of that. What does that look like?
Speaker 3:I think one. We've got to do a better job as a city of connecting with smaller developers. When we talk about incentives, our DEGC can do a lot more as we talk about how we develop here in the city of Detroit and really be a little bit more honest about the barriers that we face when, know when, we talk about some of these bigger projects that have happened downtown or in Midtown or even further beyond. It's important that even through those developments that are happening, that some of our smaller developers can partner to help build their portfolio and then be able to expand how they do development here in the city of Detroit.
Speaker 1:And, I think, developers and contractors, to get this right.
Speaker 2:Are you?
Speaker 1:happy with the numbers that are coming out of the Human Rights Commission around these big developments. Holding or not keeping their promises to have at least 50 percent or whatever percentage I think it is 50% of their contractors be based in the city of Detroit. These folks are building that loss into their performance.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I would say I am not happy that we do not have over 50% Detroiters on these developments. What I would say, though, is I'm not happy about the pipeline that also exists, because when we talk about building a workforce here in the city of Detroit, we've got to build a pipeline as well that leads to these jobs, jobs, and I think that's going to take us having deeper conversations, even with our skilled trades, with labor, how we connect folks to those jobs and to that pipeline, even at an earlier age, to push them into those pipelines.
Speaker 2:If we're talking about skilled trades and contracting, but I think it's important to build that pipeline, I think. But I mean, I think that the pipeline doesn't have to get built if you can just pay it off a little bit. You know, not too long ago and this is on a separate matter, but you know, stellantis regularly violates air quality stuff and sometimes they get fined $5,000, and sometimes they get fined $20,000. That's like giving me a $5 parking ticket. Okay, that's absolutely no disincentive when you talk about a corporation, maybe even a 50 cent parking ticket. When you consider a $5,000 fine for a corporation, they build it into their business model. If you did not let them build it into their business model and they could no longer get business unless they corrected these problems. They might be more effective working with the unions and other suppliers of their labor to say listen. It might be more effective working with the unions and other suppliers of their labor to say listen, you've got to fix this. But somehow we have got to apply some muscle With the Stellantis plant. This got voted on by your predecessor right before he went to well, he didn't go to prison, but right before he left office. But it got voted on by him right before the Stellantis plant was decided on. There was not a single job guarantee. They said we're going to interview Detroiters first, and you know that union takes precedence over everything and every single time Solantis lays somebody off, a Detroiter who's last hired can be the first fired and there's no guarantee that they're going to even keep their jobs.
Speaker 2:I think people would like to see a tighter correlation between what we're doing and what's happening. And then you know, having worked in hired people over the years, there's always this sort of saying well, I can't really explain that they're not qualified. You're just not the best qualified. You know. You have tech industry saying that there's not a pipeline of black tech workers and yet you have all of these graduates from HBCUs and other places who can't find jobs with tech degrees. So sometimes the excuse of there's not a pipeline also exists and we allow people to use that excuse without even asking them. Show me evidence that you've tried to recruit, show me evidence that these people are not qualified, or is it that they're just not preferred? I don't buy into those pipeline arguments and I think Detroiters have a right to know more about those decisions. But my other understanding is that the Office of Civil Rights is not providing a lot of that data to the people who demand it. Is that true?
Speaker 3:I can't speak for that. I know CREO puts out a report each year and it comes to the Human Rights Commission.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But they put the report out on the 50 percent or 51 percent employment. That's where I got my data.
Speaker 2:But what I'm saying is that when the folks who are part of the community benefits agreement process what do they call those people?
Speaker 1:The NAC part of the community benefits agreement process. What do they call those people? The NAC?
Speaker 2:When the people for the NAC is asking CREO for information, creo is not giving them information on a whole lot of matters, and so agreements get reached. I haven't heard that, but Well if you're planning to be mayor, though, you would have to be over that. So my question is how would you reform CREO to make sure that there's greater transparency and accountability and that we put some muscle behind these goals that get set up?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll tell you. The first thing that I would want to do is reexamine the community benefits ordinance.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely A lot of folks. Right now. I'm like, hey, this is something great, that works, that works. And, to your point and we've heard it on both sides, whether it is sometimes folks from the NAC or sometimes folks who are on the business side or development side what does that look like to ensuring that we are meeting what our desire is? And that desire is to get Detroiters employed first and foremost. That should be the number one goal right to get what the community wants and to get Detroiters employed and get them these jobs.
Speaker 2:But shouldn't the community itself have some benefits?
Speaker 3:Well, no, absolutely Well, I said that. I said so community benefits first and foremost, along with jobs. But the issue that happens is we do have a process Now, and this is what I tell folks about the CBO that sometimes they get mad about the CBO. You get a NAC. These are community folks there.
Speaker 1:They come there, they sit at the table Appointed, appointed, appointed, let me say that, yeah, say that.
Speaker 3:Appointed community folks that come and say, okay, this is what we want.
Speaker 2:I run a nonprofit that's adjacent to Stellantis and I was not considered. Orlando was my second in command. At that time he was not considered. So when you talk about community folks, when you don't bring on people who are directly impacted, if you pulled in this parking lot, you saw that plant and I was not given a role at that table. So when you talk about it and I probably had more knowledge at that point than many of the people who were appointed so sometimes-.
Speaker 3:So I apologize to you. I wasn't the mayor then. You weren't the mayor and you were not our city council person and I wasn't on council. No, you were not our city council person, but I agree with you though.
Speaker 2:What I'm pointing out is the process was rushed. How long was that process? Was it six weeks?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:A six-week process.
Speaker 2:With Stellantis and we had not even completed an environmental impact study. But the jobs are more important than people's health, than people's financial well-being, than housing values.
Speaker 3:No, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:But that's what happens when you do not appoint people who can equitably participate in a transparent process.
Speaker 1:Well, we know that. The appointment, well, my summation of it is that the people who are appointed are folks who would work to get the deal done as quickly as possible right, regardless of whatever side that they're on. And sometimes we lose a lot of fidelity in these planning processes for the CBO because the timeline is just too quickly. It's just too quick. But I'm really interested to hear what your reexamination of the CBO process would look like. I really want to know what you would do.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I mean, I think you hit the nail right on the head. I do think we want more transparency, and that was kind of getting to the crux of where I was going. You have a NAC and these folks, whether appointed otherwise, they live in that impact area, right? What ends up happening, which lets you know that the ordinance is not particularly working that well, is that once that decision and that agreement, the CBA, has been signed, it comes right back to council and then it becomes a Christmas tree effect where other ordinances get hung or other ornaments, should I say, get hung on the Christmas tree.
Speaker 3:And so when you look at that, if you're a person making that decision on that agreement, you have to ask yourself is this something that has been reflective of what that community really wanted to see?
Speaker 3:Or are we now crafting this at the council table, assuming that this is what the community wanted? And or were there other members from that community reaching out to us saying, hey, this didn't get in here and this is what we really want, and so you would have to agree. That's not an equitable situation for everyone who is in that impact area, regardless to who and who was appointed or who appointed them or for whatever reason. And so from my standpoint, when you look at something that is broken because it's not getting the 51 percent of folks hired, it's not getting folks there are folks still in the community that still have issues with what happened through the process you still get to a council table where council members are saying there needs to be more in this. It lets you know that process is broken. So what we look at and what we will look at is okay. How do we improve processes of transparency? How do we do kind of a vetting process per se for folks who are sitting on this board for appointments?
Speaker 1:These folks are vetted.
Speaker 3:Well, let me say I can't speak for another administration in all fairness. What I can say is for my administration and I do believe the folks are vetted, but I'm saying that in my administration maybe an appointee that I would want to have, maybe somebody who I know is a nonprofit or have boots on the ground or who have already had boots on the ground that really want to serve.
Speaker 1:Can I say this, donna? I'm actually really happy to hear you say that, because the current ordinance literally locks out neighborhood institutions like Eastside Community, who's been around for 40 years. Even in the case of the Stellantis plant, the liquor store right there on St Gene in Mack had no say, and that store has been there forever. It locks out neighborhood anchors and institutions from this process, and so what I hear you saying is that a Durhall administration will welcome individuals from neighborhood institutions. No, no, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. You got to know I am a community-oriented guy. Yeah, you know you mentioned earlier about the Dexter Amherst Community Center. Why am I so? Why do I push for that center so much? Because I sat on the board at one time. Where does my love from public service come from? My dad was a neighborhood city hall manager for Mayor Coleman Young, right. My grandmothers who who got started in politics, so she was a PTA president and a block club president.
Speaker 3:Community and that voice of community is important and I know that. And that's not just to say so you don't have to hear the community groan, okay, is that you are getting something equitable that they really want to see? So an administration of mine and that's not even to slap the other administration, because I don't get into that. My thing is how do we identify what I may feel becoming the next mayor? How do I make that better? How do I make it more palatable to me, knowing what my vision is, what my experience is? And I do want a better voice for the community at the table, but a good voice, you know, a good voice that, pardon me real quick, a good voice that can really iron out the needs of what that community really wants.
Speaker 2:I'm glad that you mentioned Coleman Young and your dad's role with Coleman Young. We know who your dad is, but I'm glad you mentioned it here, because I really want to spend a moment talking about Coleman Young.
Speaker 2:Coleman Young had a very challenging task as mayor of a city where business was fleeing and people were leaving whatever. But he never at one point failed to stand up for the community that elected him mayor. People knew that he was acting on their behalf. If he was acting with business, he was not sacrificing people to business and saying, well, you know, you are basically an impediment to the economic objectives of this city and I think it's important that we, without attacking individuals, critique their actions in public service right. So I don't get into personal name-calling or attacks on this administration, but I do have criticisms about the way that a resident leader and a resident such as myself feels I don't feel loved by this administration. I don't feel like this administration will go to Stellantis and fight for me and fight for this community and say we want you to do business here and here's how it needs to be, so that a resident doesn't have to come up and try to be equal to a billionaire corporation. Coleman Young was able to take his influence and use that to create institutions for our community and also to build power.
Speaker 2:You started seeing black people in banking because he wouldn't want to work bank with black banks that didn't have black people working there. You started seeing black people in all of these different areas of and working with black businesses. We can't make those decisions based on race, you know, in the same way that we used to be able to because of you know it's seen as bias, but there's got to be a way for an administration that would be a Durhall administration to stand in and make a person like myself and some of the people I serve feel loved. What would you do differently to make sure that we feel cared about? Because I'm going to say this last thing I know people who are leaving the city because they feel like they are not loved. I'm living in a city where I don't matter to the people. Mayor Coleman Young made people feel like you matter. What would you do differently?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the first thing I would say is, as we've done house parties, you know you get sentiments both ways. There are some folks that don't feel that way. There are some folks feel like that we've made tremendous progress in the city and they feel that they're loved. Some places here on the east side, as I go, talk to folks not so much. This is one of the areas that has lost the most population here in the city of Detroit.
Speaker 3:To make someone feel loved, I think, involves a key component and I say that being married three years now to my beautiful wife Communication is probably the biggest component. You have to be able to effectively communicate. Hey, this is my vision, this is why I'm doing the things that I do. And if you're on the opposite side and you're hearing somebody saying, hey, that doesn't work for me. This is what I need. You got to find a way to meet them halfway and sometimes even further than halfway, because equality is not 50-50. But in our administration, you know, we want the folks to feel more loved. You hear me bring up my dad? And because I remember being a little boy at the neighborhood city hall on Mack and Chalmers down the street, and that was a community hub where everybody can walk in. There they can get their issue resolved. And I felt like my dad was like the guy right. It was actually amazing at the time, but connected to so many folks and they felt that they would get a response. We've started it already.
Speaker 3:Here in my council office I walked into a situation in a district where folks had lost faith, where folks had a deeper sense of apathy that existed, and says, hey, my leadership doesn't care about me, everybody's got a rec center. Fred, we don't have a rec center. And guess what? Now we got two One, an $8.5 million recreation center at the Dexter M Hearst Community Center that's near and dear to my heart, and another $20 million recreation center that's being built with the Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 3:They said, hey, fred, I can't remember the last time we had a big development come here where we had access to jobs. So we took the old AMC site that sat vacant for over 20 years, got it redeveloped. And it wasn't redeveloped for heavy manufacturing because it's adjacent to the neighborhoods. We knocked the zoning down for light manufacturing and now there's 300 jobs there and the eyesore and the blight is gone. There were folks that said, hey, fred, the last time that we had housing affordable housing built in this district was the old Herman Gardens, which is now Garden View Estates. We got a $30 million bond from the state of Wisconsin that cost taxpayers nothing, and we took the old Hawthorne suite sites and turned it into affordable housing.
Speaker 2:What are the unit sizes there?
Speaker 3:So those unit sizes are one to two bed, yes, so when you— and when you say affordable, what income rate? Yeah, so you're looking—it's deep affordability so you're looking anywhere from 30% to about 60% AMI, and then they also have some, you know, obviously above 60% AMI.
Speaker 2:What percentage is above 60?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know the percentages off the top of my head, but it fluctuates anywhere from 30% to 80% AMI. There are folks there that have vouchers and that's not necessarily considered affordable housing. I come from Michigan. That's literally low-income housing. There's a difference, obviously, but there's a broad range of affordability in that area and most of those units are, and that was because of the agreement for them to be able to build that housing there. We didn't want them to be able to take a $30 million bond and then create a bunch of market rate housing First of all in an area that nobody's going to pay market rate anyway, because we're still working to fix up and we've got affordable housing there and most of those folks who were living in that extended stay because they didn't have enough money to be able to rent. We transitioned a lot of those families into that affordable housing.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned that you are familiar before we started with our organization. A lot of times families into that affordable housing. So you mentioned that you are familiar before we started with our organization. A lot of times because of our environmental advocacy.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:And you know there is no way to our health matters and the health disparities in our community are so significant. One of the ways that we look at some of the concerns here are the downzoning of this area. Well, the upzoning, I don't know if you go from M2 to M4, that's upzoning right, that's right.
Speaker 2:We upzoned the area that used to be the Conner Creek Greenway, st Jean Street, and turned it into M4 right next to people's homes, and it was a cost of doing business whatever, but I think that feels unloved right. And when you talked about being married, what's your wife's name?
Speaker 3:Brianna, brianna, okay, beautiful name Shout out to Brianna. Hey, Brianna, I don't know her, but I look forward to it. That's good. I'm going to feel good when I go home when she hears this, because she knows she's All right. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Brianna, but listen, I want to say this right, I'm listening. Go ahead. If she's anything like most women I know, she also wants to know you have her back. Oh, all the time, all right, you have her back and you will fight for her. Okay, that's what so many people want to know about the people they love is that they'll fight. Question is what kind of fight do you have for Detroit residents who feel like they have been abandoned by so many institutions and politics and all of this? How will you fight for them?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I would say I'm going to fight for them, as I always have, and even stronger as their mayor. I served in Lansing in the minority with the Republican. We had an entire Republican government. Rick Snyder was the governor at the time.
Speaker 1:A trifecta.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, they had a trifecta there.
Speaker 3:And so when you hear us tout some of those accomplishments, we don't say that to brag, but we hang our hat on that because that's not an easy task.
Speaker 3:When you're talking to folks from across the state at the time that says I don't think we can support this program because we have Detroit fatigue, or hey, I don't know about the Flint water crisis right now, but you know, we don't know what we can do or at the time when I served and Detroit Public Schools was going through bankruptcy before it became DPSCD, don't forget before it became DPSCD, don't forget we were on that House floor fighting to make sure that our kids had a school district that still remained and got close to $700 million, as they say, to save it, but it wasn't nearly enough for what they needed. Okay, but we fought to ensure that we at least got that. But as mayor and being back down here on the Detroit City Council, what you learned in the three years? This is the stomping grounds for fighting down here, right? There are so many significant issues here, whether they're environmental. I always use the example of when I first got elected to the state house.
Speaker 3:I had 48217, which is one of the highest polluted zip codes in the state of Michigan in my district and I remember you would hear folks say you know, marathon is right around the corner. You know, I feel like I can't breathe. There are a lot of folks that have breathing issues and I took my chief who's my chief of staff on council now. We went down there, we knocked doors this was back in 2015, 2014, and about 100 degrees that day and I remember going down I said, man, I can't breathe down here. Is it just me? And we got to knocking on doors and every door that we went to, somebody came with a respirator or they had an oxygen machine and it really blows your mind because you hear these stories but when you see it up front you say wow.
Speaker 3:So I remember the first meeting I had with Marathon and they're you know, hey, welcome, representative, so nice to see you, glad to meet you. I remember saying to them and telling them the exact, this exact story and say, okay, what are you guys glad to meet you? I remember saying to them and telling them this exact story and said, okay, what are you guys going to do to lower the emissions? And through some work through the city, as well as some pushing from the states the state those emissions got lowered nearly not as enough as they need to be, let me say that, but they got lower. My point is we will fight every step of the way. The success sometimes from the fight doesn't come as fast as we like, but we will be on the front line. And I think you raised an interesting point because you mentioned Coleman Young. You talk about the pulpit. I don't want to say the bully pulpit, but you talk about the pulpit.
Speaker 3:Another or one of the, uh, biggest components about being the mayor of the city of detroit is having that fight and to be able to advocate for your city in lansing. Lord knows, we're going to have to do it on the federal level for the next four years and to be able to still deliver when those times get tough. I'll fight for these residents with everything that I have. I've dedicated my life to public service and, to be honest, people ask hey, why are you running for mayor? Because I have two children. To be honest with you, I had to convince my wife to move back here. My wife, she's a superstar. My wife's an attorney. You know I'm overshooting my coverage, but I remember we had a tough discussion before we got married and she could have went DC anywhere in the country. I said I want you to come back here. I said because I'm going to fix it. And she says you know, okay, sure, and I'm like no, I'm serious, I'm going to fix this.
Speaker 3:That's the fight that I have the birth of our son. We're riding home from the hospital, okay, I'm kind of smiling, looking in the back rear view mirror, looking at her, like, yeah, I told you, I got you here. Now we're gonna do this. But that fight is not just for me and not for those that came before us, but for the kids. I don't want my kids to go off to college and not come home and come back here. I don't want my son to grow up and become a victim of gun violence. I don't want my wife to go to At 5 o'clock even though she don't pump her own gas let me just be fair but I don't want her to fear having to go to a gas station at 5 pm. So the type of fighter that you need is somebody who's realistic, somebody that's experienced, but somebody that doesn't give up. But, again, somebody that, at the core of their decision-making, is going to be the people.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Breonna, there's another Breonna in your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my baby sister Brianna there's another Brianna in your life yeah, my baby sister. Your baby sister, who is a colleague of ours and has been a great support to so many community-based organizations and really does believe that there's a significant role that we play in helping to preserve the city and promote Detroit's future. What lessons have you taken from her and how do you see yourself investing in organizations like the ones that I run and other people that she supported run, to make sure that we're all in it together?
Speaker 3:So you're not going to let me live this down now. Man, I got to give her all the credit. No, what I would say is one my sister is an amazing, amazing person. Man, urban planner for the city of Detroit, now works in a nonprofit space always had a heart for the people. We get that genetically, by the way. A lot of the lessons that I've learned from her, on the side that she is, is a lot of the struggles that our nonprofits face. Right, we tend to think sometimes from the governmental side that we're just going to throw money at you guys and you guys do the work.
Speaker 2:You're throwing money. I don't wish y'all threw money at nonprofits. How can I catch you?
Speaker 3:So I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:We had about $827 million and what happened was, and how much of that came to nonprofit sectors like ours.
Speaker 3:Well, no, a significant amount of money from ARPA came to nonprofit. I don't know how much came to ECN.
Speaker 2:No community development as a whole did not get money carved out.
Speaker 2:There may be some nonprofits but I'm just telling you I could go program for program. We had a program rebuilding home together. We were working with Arthur Jemison trying to get money to support acquisition and rehab of homes for low-income people in the city of Detroit. We couldn't get $1 committed from the city. Mista gave us some money, the city gave us and we still have from the city zero, not just my organization but all of the organizations working on it. If you talk to Reed and those developers and talk to them about the amount of subsidy they're getting from Detroit to subsidize housing in their communities not nearly enough.
Speaker 3:I agree Almost none. Now I will agree with you that we do need more subsidies. I do understand, coming from MSHDA I came from MSHDA the importance of CDFIs right, I understand the importance of CDCs and the amazing role that we play. I mean, we partner with some for our down payment assistance program you know National Faith Home Buyers and some others. But what I would say is is to the point. In the question that you asked me earlier, one of the things that I learned is that we've got to have a stronger partnership from the government side, because they're simply things that we as a government are not an expert at, and one of the main things you've heard about lately is homelessness solutions. We are not an expert at being a government, at solving homelessness or providing those services, but what we can do is partner in a way where we provide funding, provide grants and opportunities and then align and communicate what programming looks like to solve the issues for folks who are underserved, issues, for folks who really need the assistance.
Speaker 2:It would be really great if there was funds out there to allow us to innovate. You've got a lot of brilliance right at the community level. You know, we're the people who know how to make a way out of no way. I agree.
Speaker 2:How to make a dollar out of 75 cents. Right, we have to do it in order to survive, I agree, and we have our ears to the ground. We're connected to the people. Government does not just have all the solutions. You don't have all of the ideas. That's right, and so what would a Durhall administration look like in creating pathways for people with really good ideas to do things?
Speaker 3:Oh, it would be open. Again, I'm heavy on communication. I'm heavy on partnership. I think a lot of times when we talk public-private partnership, we're just thinking about the big guys, right? Not public-private partnership with our nonprofits. And so I'd be open. I'm definitely open to that. That door is always going to be open, but we're going to find ways to provide more funding, particularly for a lot of our nonprofits that exist. One of my favorite nonprofits sorry, ECN. You know we're developing our relationship now, but I love the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Michigan who is doing tremendous work here in the city. But I think we don't have a strong partnership, or we could have a stronger partnership, should I say, with them.
Speaker 2:There are other nonprofits throughout the city, National nonprofits run with majority whiteboards that do not prioritize people like us. My first job, my first professional job in 1985, working under Coleman Young's leadership was for an organization called the Community Health Awareness Group. The Community Health Awareness Group was formed in the wake of HIV AIDS. The Community Health Awareness Group was formed in the wake of HIV AIDS and it was created through the Detroit Health Department to provide ways for residents to figure out a way to stop the spread of HIV AIDS at a time when HIV AIDS was a death sentence. The AIDS Project at the Detroit Health Department was extremely creative.
Speaker 2:There are local people in Detroit who have local ideas. We've had teen centers. I've had teen centers in every job I've had. I'm not trying to take away from boys and girls clubs, but I think that's the safe place for the money because you have a national reputation and you have national you know almost this stamp of appeal. I used to work for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I was vice president for programs there for a couple of years. Again, the stamp of approval.
Speaker 2:But I can also tell you that when I got to Eastside Community Network and Orlando Bailey was our community engagement coordinator at that time before he moved up, several jobs before he finally left us, but anyway, prior to that he worked with young people and made an impact on young people's lives. That is indelible and you can't compare anybody and say they did a better job than Orlando Bailey fostering relationships and helping to promote these young people indelible. And you can't compare anybody and say they did a better job than orlando bailey fostering relationships and helping to promote these young people. We also need rest support, and so I don't even want to compete with big with with boys and girls clubs.
Speaker 1:We can't well, I don't.
Speaker 2:We're not the same organization but I'm just saying that it's interesting to me that that's the frame yeah, I don't think you have to compete, and so I don.
Speaker 3:So I don't want to get confused with what I'm saying, but I don't think you have to compete, even though when you're talking about grants, you guys end up competing for those dollars anyway.
Speaker 3:No, we don't.
Speaker 3:Well, if you have put in for them, if you are able to be in that space.
Speaker 3:But what I'm saying is that the access to those grants do and I agree with you, they do need to be for some of our smaller nonprofits or profits who our community developed nonprofits.
Speaker 3:But I also believe that we don't need a heavy proliferation of a lot of folks that do the same thing, and I will say that we want folks who are providing nonprofit services, who do it, to do it well, whether they're community or national or otherwise, utilize those grant dollars that come, whether that's through CDBG dollars or whether that is coming from ARPA, which is gone now, or other funding mechanisms to be able to use those in a way that are going to benefit folks, to be able to use those in a way that are going to benefit folks.
Speaker 3:I am a fan, a huge fan, of nonprofits, but I also see a proliferation of some nonprofits in the same space and some of them open up and have a shelf life of one to two years. Now some are really great programs and only have a shelf life of one to two years because they are not able to get the funding that they need to be able to continue the work that they do. But there are some that are not great at the work that they do but they get the funding.
Speaker 2:But we don't say that about businesses. How many businesses Motor City Match opened and closed and how many have never even opened at all.
Speaker 3:I say that, I say that about Motor City Match.
Speaker 2:But the thing is that when we look at nonprofits, and you look at those nonprofits that are competing for dollars, most of us have to have certain things in place to get a single foundation dollar. And so just standing up for my partners in the industry that I serve in and in the industry that certainly Breonna actually helps support Because Breonna was actually, when she was at Enterprise, one of the people who was working with up-and-coming nonprofits Look at the Bailey Street Neighborhood Development Corporation. Oh, absolutely, and they're doing amazing things. They're new, they're creative but.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say this justice is always intentional. You can't say well, you can compete with boys and girls clubs, but on equal footing. You have to be intentional about saying I want dollars to flow to places and to people that would ordinarily not be able to get them because of institutional racism and a history of injustice that cannot be overlooked. We can't be colorblind in Detroit. No, I agree. And so my question, my final question for you, is how would you take that to heart and who would you talk to and who would you listen to to make sure that you have a better idea of the strength of nonprofit organizations, those that are really thriving and doing the work in these days? What would you do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so. One we listen to the people on the ground, but I think you also establish your administration to have a direct connection to our nonprofits here in the city, and that's not just creating one or two liaisons that come talk to you guys every six months or whatever the case may be, but kind of having a hub there. I know you guys mentioned Creole earlier, mentioned a couple of other departments, but to be able to be really intentional about having these nonprofits Now, what I will say is you have to be careful, because if you're getting grants from the city, that's a competitive process. When an RFP gets put out, that's a competitive process, and I love all of our nonprofits, but, as they would say, I ain't going to jail for nobody. So, at the end of the day, you have to be above reproach.
Speaker 3:I think the best thing that we can do from a city level, though, is to be able to prepare some of our nonprofits. So you speak about my sister who was working kind of like a nonprofit incubator per se to build up these nonprofits and put them into the pipeline. I think that's good. It starts on that level right Now.
Speaker 3:When they get to that next step, one of the biggest hindrances of nonprofits being able to get access to funds sometime is grant writing right, and when they're writing these grants and competing for these grants, we see folks, great nonprofits I mean we've seen it in this past CDBG process that come and they're thrown out because they didn't have their articles of incorporation. They're thrown out because they didn't have their statement of organization. Just paperwork, things, simple things. Great program, amazing program, but we've got to disqualify them because some of those bases are not there. So in those incubators that are being built up, one of the things from the city level that we should do before we put the RFP out, before we announce what the grant is going to be, is to build those nonprofits up and help them be able to successfully compete for these grants.
Speaker 1:All right, we want to give you an opportunity for last words to our listeners. What do you want to leave our listeners with for it?
Speaker 3:No, I would just say first thank you both for being on here. It was an interview, I really enjoyed you enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, People call it the hot seat. I don't think it's that hot, though. It's all good right.
Speaker 3:I don't want to be disrespectful and say it's not. If you guys felt like you were throwing out the hot questions.
Speaker 3:I've been on many platforms before, but I enjoyed the questions because they're really in-depth and I really think it gives the opportunity to push out what is needed for this city. I tell a lot of folks, and even to your listeners right now your next mayor, you should not decide based off of what folks say, but what they have done, what they do now and what their plans are to continue to move this city forward. We are running for mayor of the city of Detroit because we are the most experienced candidate in this race. No candidate can say they served on the state level or the city level here and as we look at the future of this city, you're going to need experienced leadership for continued growth. You're going to be able to have to connect in Lansing and have relationships that have already been built. You're going to be able to know where the bathrooms are in Lansing. By the way, right, most of the folks that serve in the state Senate are served within the house. But you're also going to be able to have to connect with folks.
Speaker 3:To her point, folks want to feel the love. Do I want a shiny downtown? Absolutely, feel the love. Do I want a shiny downtown? Absolutely, because I want to generate more revenue for this city and I want to bring dollars into this city. Folks don't go to Illinois to go to Peoria. They go to Illinois to go to Chicago and we want them to go to Michigan to come to the city of Detroit. But we also want our residents who have stuck and stayed here over the many years that even come and enjoy our downtown to feel like that it's a place they belong and then when they ride back home in their commercial corridors they feel that someone cares about them. Right.
Speaker 3:The reason that apathy exists is because sometimes folks feel their government has failed them and they don't care about them. And one of the key things that we have done, even in my district, as I've been elected, is help eliminate that apathy. And we're going to continue to do that as mayor of the city of Detroit, across every district here in the city of Detroit, because we are qualified, we are passionate, we love our folks and we're going to move this city forward. And we're tough. You know you hear me bring up Maricoma Young because I kind of come from that old school of thought. I curse a lot less, but you've got to be tough. So we're going to have to say no to a lot of things and a lot of the heads of industry, but you also got to have those relationships because you don't want folks to run out of town, because we need them as well, but you also don't want your residents to run out of town, and across the board.
Speaker 3:So how do we bridge that gap? That is going to be, that is really going to be one of the most tremendous jobs of the next mayor, and I think we have the ability to do it, we have the demeanor to do it and we're going to do it. And so, to the listeners that are listening to us, we are hoping that you have enjoyed it today and we hope to see you on August 5th. We turn in our petition signatures tomorrow. Close to well, we'll turn in a thousand. We've got over 1,000 signatures of folks who we've been talking to across the city, from the east side to the west side, to southwest to northwest. But we want to represent the folks here in the city of Detroit really and create a better path of opportunity for everyone.
Speaker 1:Fred Durhall III, candidate for mayor of the city of Detroit. If you have topics that you want discussed on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials, on Facebook, Instagram and X, or you can email us at authenticallydetroit at gmailcom. All right, really quickly, it's time for shout-outs, Donnie you got any shout-outs? Happy birthday, maverick Fred Derhall, councilman do you have any shout-outs?
Speaker 3:Well, first I got to shout-out my wife. She told me I had to come on this show. She watched the other segments that you guys have done and said you got to go on Authentically Detroit. She does think this is the hot seat, by the way. It is so I think I'm going to come home unroasted a little bit, but shout out to her, shout out to my children and shout out to all of our residents who are listening.
Speaker 1:All right, everybody. We thank you all so much for listening and until next time, love on your neighbor. Outro Music.
