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: From Party Stores to City Hall with Joel Haashiim
This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with Joel Haashiim to discuss his vision for Detroit’s future. This episode is the ninth in a series of interviews with candidates in the race to become Detroit’s 76th mayor.
Joel Haashiim believes that for radical change we must refocus our energy from fighting the old, to building the new. At 20 years old, he opened up his first store called brothers party store on 7mile and Hartwell. Afterwards, he opened two more stores. Later, he sold those stores and became a wholesaler and distributor. Throughout his career, he sold to chain stores like Kmart, Spartan, and Wynn Dixie.
He has experienced and witnessed the many ups and downs Detroit has gone through. That's why he stepped up to the plate. He believes he understands what is needed for our city to come out of the mud and regain the crown we once had. For Joel, this is about us and making sure we Detroiters will have a say in the revitalization of our great city.
To learn more about Joel Haashiim and his vision for Detroit, click here.
Up. Next, joe Hashim joins the Authentically Detroit Candidate series to share his vision for the city as Detroit is prepared to select the 76th mayor. This is the ninth in a series of mayoral candidate interviews. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages. 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. 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 the East Side Community Network. 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 each mayor or hopeful to get to know why they want to be Detroit's next mayor. We thought we were done, but we have one more. Next up is Joe Hashim. Joe Hashim is a name to remember. He has nine children and 18 grandchildren in Detroit. His mother, a devoted Pentecostal minister and a prominent member of Greater Grace Temple, was the first person to introduce him to the spiritual. His father, a foreman at Chrysler Auto and a vegan, him our health is our wealth.
Speaker 1:Joel grew up in a family of seven, one brother and three sisters. His parents afforded him the opportunity to study at Vaughn's bookstore on Dexter Street in Detroit. It was there that his thirst for knowledge was fueled. At the age of 12 through 19, he joined the Nation of Islam and participated in many other Afro-centered groups and organizations. He was part of any movement that sparked positive changes. At 20 years old, he opened up his first store, called Brothers Party Store, on 7 Mile and Hartwell. He also opened two more stores shortly afterward. Later he sold those stores and became a wholesaler and distributor. Afterward Later, he sold those stores and became a wholesaler and distributor. This started his travel in the US and internationally selling to chain stores like Kmart, spartan, winn-dixie and more.
Speaker 1:Within his accomplishments, he attended college and learned several trades, all the while being a world traveler. He has experienced and witnessed the many ups and downs of our city, has gone through. It is with great responsibility that he steps up to the plate. As a true resident of our city, he understands what is needed for Detroit to come out of the mud and regain the crown Detroit once had. For Joe, this is about Detroit and making sure Detroiters will have a say in the revitalization of our great city. Joe, welcome to Authentically Detroit.
Speaker 3:Thank you for that great introduction and thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1:We're happy to have you, Donna. Welcome back to the studio. We're here again. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well.
Speaker 1:You're doing well yeah. Running around, running around, you got a big event coming up tonight.
Speaker 2:right, we have a reception for our Stoudemire Wellness Hub. We have a capital campaign. We're trying to raise money to invest in this facility and also in the land around us to create what I am now thinking of an east side urban utopia where people can come and it won't feel like you're in the city of Detroit. We have been exposed to so much environmental destruction, so much damage and disinvestment in our community and we want to give back to our residents and make something great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, I'm excited, I'm excited. And ECN is celebrating 40 years this year, right, well, 41. 41 years, we're over the hill yeah Over.
Speaker 2:ACN is celebrating 40 years this year, right, well, 41.
Speaker 1:41 years, yeah, we're over the hill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whoo Over the hill, but way under mine, right. And y'all I really want to say I'm excited to read that you had a party store at 7 Mile and Hartwell. I have to tell you I'm a West Sider at birth, right, and so I was always on my bike at 7 Mile and Hartwell. It's the brother's store. Yes, how long ago was that?
Speaker 3:I was 20 years old and I'm 75 now. All right.
Speaker 2:So that was probably around the time I was on my bike in that neighborhood. Right Grace Hospital is right over there and there was a mobile gas station because you were just east of my west of Myers, right.
Speaker 3:Right West of.
Speaker 2:Miles. Yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that was a great neighborhood. It was a great place to start my first business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome and you know we are still looking to see more business owners invest in our community. I would imagine that a big part of what you are proposing for our city is not just more businesses, but more black owned businesses as well. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I like to use the term economic empowerment because I think that's the most important part of this that people don't mention. The fullness of economic empowerment for a community is money circulating in the community and we leave that out. And so we think, think, oh, all you have to do is just go start a business and you're fine. No, there's some other things that are needed to make sure that that business is uh empowered and we have longevity. Too many of our businesses are out of business in five years that's right.
Speaker 1:Can you talk about what you feel is needed for, as your bio said, for the city to come out of the mud and regain the crown we once had? First of all, tell me what that crown was and tell me what the current condition in the mud looks like.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know when I was here coming out of the mud. It's very evocative.
Speaker 3:So where does that?
Speaker 2:phrase come from also.
Speaker 3:Well, you know it's important to hit home. Reality is very important. The era that I grew up in Detroit was black businesses all over the city. You had high home ownership. You had the first black mayor of an urban city, which was Coleman Young, and he brought inclusion in right away, and so the fact that for the last 50 years our community have not had inclusion.
Speaker 2:Well, for 50 years.
Speaker 3:Well, you had—.
Speaker 2:Coleman has been gone for 50 years. Well, you had— Coleman has been gone for 50 years.
Speaker 3:Well, you know approximate, I'll use that term.
Speaker 1:He's gone a little over 30.
Speaker 3:So what you have is when Coleman left office, then you start having a strong corporate influence, and their determination was to control the city.
Speaker 1:So are you saying that the deterioration of the fabric and tapestry of black businesses in the city began to happen when Comey unsuncetted his career as mayor in the early 1990s, or were there any precipitating factors that you can point to leading up to him not running for mayor again in the election of Dennis Archer?
Speaker 3:I think that's a real good question because the narrative is during the time that he became mayor he was bringing inclusion from the community. He gave Don Barton and some other big names opportunities to get city contracts. Before that time it didn't exist. Now, when you talk in terms of how many people left the city when he became mayor, now many people see that, as you know, a negative and so we lost. I guess about 300,000 people was the approximation that moved out. Detroit was at a 1.4, 1.5 million population and so when Coleman became mayor, you're looking at about 1.1 million. Ok, once Dennis Archer took over, then we began to see strong corporate influence that was out of balance. For example, we had Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. They wanted to put a theme park here in the city.
Speaker 1:I remember that visit Michael Jackson had. We still have photos.
Speaker 3:And so you know, we always say when they get rich they never come back. But I want to share, they did come back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I want to. I agree with you in part, right, because I grew up in Detroit and I love Detroit and I think that people don't understand. I was at a meeting yesterday and somebody was talking about how people always talk, about how black people need to learn how to be business people. I'm like, come on now. We've been business people. That is our legacy and a lot of times our businesses have been dissolved and we don't have the support we need. So I really appreciate you bringing that to the table.
Speaker 2:Mayor Coleman Young was not averse to business interest. He brought in GM Poletown and he worked very closely with businesses around the Rinson and the PeopleMover. But I think what you speak of right now and I'm trying to interpret this correctly is that he balanced that with an investment in black business and the prioritization of black business so that you didn't only have GM at the table and I mean right now, in 2025, it feels as though black business we have a colorblind mayor who decides he doesn't see race, meaning white people are in charge of everything. So it seems, and so I think what I'm hearing you say is that you want to bring back a focus or an intentionality around black business owners to balance out what you're seeing with other investors in this community.
Speaker 3:That's pretty good. Well said, that's my idea.
Speaker 1:You want to know. What is sort of striking to me is that, being in America's majority black city, hardly any of the other candidates are really comfortable being as explicit as you are about black business and black people in the city of Detroit. Right, very few of them are really explicit in saying this, and I think some of your ideas and some of what you stand on and espouse to on your website seems pretty far left and pretty progressive, and so I'm wondering how, right now, what's in the American zeitgeist of conversation is what happened in the New York City primary, with Zohan sort of advancing to the general and he is part of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, he calls himself a democratic socialist over on the East Coast will and is translating to a city like Detroit when we talk about the progressive ideas that you espouse to on your website and in your platform.
Speaker 3:I think that's a very good question. I don't think it's East Coast influence. I think you pretty much have to have today a progressive, common sense leadership for the city of Detroit. My progressive mindset comes I did 15 trade delegations, three of them for Wayne County, three of them for Wayne County. So the largest trade delegation or business delegation we took out of Michigan was GM, blue Cross, blue Shield, coamerica Bank and 31 other large corporations. We took them to the Middle East and basically we were promoting trade. Promoting trade. Detroit needs a city that has a diverse economy and so, long story short, my progressiveness comes from my business experience and my international travel.
Speaker 2:You know I want to talk. Do you remember Africatown?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I remember trying to get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know, I remember meeting with some folks. I was at that time running Eastside Community I mean running Vanguard Community Development Corporation. I'm at Eastside Community Network now and at that time I sat down with Bishop Vann and some of the people proposing Africatown and I was really excited about the possibility of increasing trade relationships between Detroit and some of our African neighbors. And I remember, even before this reached city council, the pushback being well, detroit's a black city, we don't need an Africatown this mindset that it was almost as though there was an embarrassment even then.
Speaker 2:This is when, prior to our current administration, it has not felt to me in the past 30 years that Detroit is a very progressive city. It feels to me as though Detroit is a city that is trying to appease people and trying to prove to people still that we deserve a seat at the table. So when we talk to a lot of candidates and you talk about, my pet peeve is the Downtown Development Authority If you know me, you know that Right and the fact that we need to restructure it so that we can release some of those resources to the other part of the city. And we had a debate on Saturday and you know this and I apologize that we limited the participation, but because not one single person sitting at the debate stage was willing to say they were willing to even modify the Downtown Development Authority, would you, if you became mayor, be willing to modify the Downtown Development Authority so we would have the resources for some of your ideas?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I think, the fact that Detroit gives the downtown development $200 million and right now we're looking at, I think, $162 million shortfall getting ready to hit our Detroit. So, yes, I want to downsize it and I want to take some of those resources right away to head toward the neighborhoods. Now, what that amount would be toward the neighborhoods, now what that amount would be, I won't say right now, but we certainly need to downsize it. Most of the development has taken place in downtown Detroit. Remember, with the 30 and 35-year tax abatements, our schools suffered, our libraries suffered, our libraries suffered and our infrastructure suffered, Still are Keeping in line with this conversation on Detroit's economy.
Speaker 1:Your website says you want to sunset the Detroit Business Authority. What is the Detroit Business Authority?
Speaker 3:That's basically speaking about the Detroit Economic Group.
Speaker 2:Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. Is that what you're referring to?
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm like is there another authority? She?
Speaker 3:made the point right away that those resources are trapped downtown, and so all the money stays there. Nothing ever comes to our community.
Speaker 1:So can we talk about the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation? If that's what you're referring to, it's sort of quasi-governmental. Of course it leans under the influence of the mayor, but the mayor doesn't directly control the DEGC. Well, it's quasi right.
Speaker 2:It's quasi, but this mayor. Even if you look at the organizational chart for the city, there's a dotted line between the mayor and all the quasi all the authorities and what the mayor, this mayor has done, which other mayors had not done, is, I mean he puts his appointees on the boards that control these entities.
Speaker 1:So, even if you don't, really control these non-profits, Because the DGC is a non-profit Well it's a certain kind of non-profit, but it's definitely operating under a state law.
Speaker 2:that gives them certain powers and duties, and the quasi-governmental entities used to function in a quasi-governmental way, meaning that George Jackson, when he controlled the EGC, really had a lot of autonomy.
Speaker 1:And this that Rod did not have. Well, I mean first, when I got to ECN in 2016,.
Speaker 2:I sat down with Rod and that was his first complaint. He said wait a minute, I don't have control of this thing. You have put the mayor, created the JET team, jobs and Economy team and put Tom LeWand over that, and Tom LeWand was having control over him, as well as the appointees and all of these positions, and so, even though he doesn't control it, he controls it.
Speaker 1:Why do you want to get rid of it?
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, we clearly see it's out of balance. Detroit is out of balance. We clearly see it's out of balance. Detroit is out of balance. The corporate entities is on steroids, the tax abatements increment financing, tax capture. It's all out of balance, and so the communities have suffered greatly as a result of this thing being out of balance. So when you talk about I think we talked about the state of Detroit, detroit is really. We're not progressive as a community, we're stagnant. We don't have a diverse economy. We have a few corporations auto plants and a few service companies, and they see this whole economy Well today, if you want change, if you want to be progressive, you've got to be able to bring in international companies and other domestic companies to build this diverse economy. And so I have a plan to bring in a diverse economy and I want to bring in a new industry manufacturing housing.
Speaker 1:Can you talk a little bit more about that? I know that you know in Detroit and in Michigan we're really used to singular economy centered around the automotive industry. Right there is a movement toward propping up tech companies, sort of becoming the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. But manufacturing housing Detroit, of course, is known for a single family housing stock. Can you say more about that? Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Because, first and foremost, understand the land. Is there A third of Detroit?
Speaker 1:is land.
Speaker 3:Yeah, now you've got to build a diverse economy. So now we can go into modular homes manufacturing. We can create 10,000 jobs, we can contribute to economic development. Another stream of revenue also going into our city treasury If we set up our own factory right here in Detroit for homes.
Speaker 3:For manufactured homes, for modular homes, for modular homes, but I'm speaking about on-site assembly. But we have a lot of vacant buildings or factories throughout Detroit that are not being utilized. So now we want to look at how is it that we can put 10,000 people to work? So you're looking at Detroit resident realtors sales. You're looking at Detroit resident real estate developers, builders, contractors, skilled trades, et cetera, et cetera. So now look at how many people we need in Detroit.
Speaker 3:To bring it back to the time of Coleman Young, Mayor Coleman Young, we need 1.1 million. We're talking about approximately 350,000 to 400,000 people we need to provide housing for here in the city of Detroit. Now let's look at how many billions of dollars is on the table. So you're talking about a possibility of $30 billion worth of real estate development, and this is why I speak about the community. The people don't understand how much money is actually on the table here in the city of Detroit. So now, this is a one-time opportunity, because if you don't select the mayor that has the knowledge to bring this together, Don't select the mayor that has the knowledge to bring this together.
Speaker 3:Now that land and all that development will be contracted and everything will be in place in four years from now. What we'll be looking about is oh, we should have did this. Why? Because you're looking at the Gilberts, the Illegers, the 25 Corps and all the real estate developers that are coming from outside Detroit. Warren Buffett, all these big people. That's what they're looking at. They're looking at the billions of dollars, so some of those billions can come into our community. I've spent 23 years in what you call concept building, where we utilize different types of materials and methods to produce quality homes and reduce the cost.
Speaker 2:What kind of homes have you developed and where have you developed those homes?
Speaker 3:I've actually been around the world selling them. I've partnered with Bob Martin of Ready Wall, which is an ICF block. Are you familiar with ICF block? Yeah, it's insulated concrete form. I live in one of those houses. My biggest bill is $65 in the cold this winter.
Speaker 1:Sign me up this summer Sign me up.
Speaker 3:So basically, here again we had a war of making sure we can get the information out to the people. But building this diverse economy not only creates 10,000 jobs, but it also brings back the population because we can mass produce quality homes.
Speaker 1:You can do it at cost.
Speaker 2:Are you working at all with any of the black developers? In Detroit there's quite a few housing developers that have come together to try to I've spoken with some.
Speaker 3:I don't think I should name names but basically you know when I speak about stagnation, a lot of times in the building trades we don't incorporate new technologies and systems right away because you know people have been building homes, the traditional Jefferson. I don't know if you've seen that one.
Speaker 2:They're doing the manufacturing housing in Romulus and they're shipping it in and they're just putting it together, sort of like Legos on Jefferson, and that's a new way of doing business. And so I talked to some of our planners and said, have you thought about that? They said no, it's not less expensive in Michigan, it's actually more expensive because you've got to work through the bureaucracy to make that happen.
Speaker 3:It depends on the system, See you're talking about insulated concrete forms. Like I said, I've been over 23 years in this industry. I've been around the world selling these systems in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, et cetera. Right, so you know, when you're talking about housing, we're talking about alternative materials. For so you know, when you talk about housing, we're talking about alternative materials. For example, you can utilize recycled glass, you can use recycled rubber. You could use a lot of different products to build homes today.
Speaker 2:My question is whether or not you can easily work with the Detroit Building Authority or any of the folks who control and have to approve and permit construction in our city to make that happen, because my understanding is, when there's something different, the process is also slowed down in the city of Detroit because of a lack of understanding.
Speaker 3:It's taken me—.
Speaker 1:Especially on contaminated sites.
Speaker 3:It's taken me since the Kwame—actually since Dennis Archer. I grew up in the Kettering area.
Speaker 1:Okay, and.
Speaker 3:I wanted to rebuild my old neighborhood and I spoke with Bishop Elder Fence. In fact, he built a few new homes over there 10, 15 years ago. Basically, we got to look at what is involved when you're talking about setting up this industry correctly. For example, if you build 10,000 homes on the low end, 1,200 square foot, three bedroom, two bath you're talking about a billion and a half dollars for every 10,000 homes. So we have a system that is already in place, the technology's already been utilized and I just want to say it took me 20 some years to try to get the ICF blocks built here in the city of Detroit.
Speaker 3:What we went through when we built the two homes on Chippewa Northline. I live in that house, I just remodeled it and basically when I share with the benefits of it good quality indoor air, fire retardant, low energy bills, et cetera, et cetera it has lack of mold, mildew and fungus. It doesn't do that. So now you're talking about homes that could actually stand. They're tornado and hurricane proof. We're staying strong 150, 200 mile an hour winds. You know these homes are the greatest homes to build right now.
Speaker 1:We're going to take a quick break, but I want to sort of tee up the next question for you and then we can move on beyond the housing conversation with this desire to increase population and build for the people who are coming. To increase population and build for the people who are coming, how do we want to know how to do it at cost and how to make sure that they're affordable, and who are these? You know, how do you carry this tension of building for new people and the Detroiters who have been here, who also need quality and affordable housing More with candidate for mayor Joel Hashim? When we come back from this quick break, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1: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. 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. To learn more about rental options at MassDetroit, contact Nicole Perry at nperry, at ecn-detroitorg or 313-331-3485. Welcome back to Authentically Detroit. We are live here at the Eastside Community Network sitting with mayoral candidate Joel Hashim. Joel, I want to punt back to the question that I just sort of teed up before the end of the break, sort of carrying this tension toward building for the people to come and the people who are already here, and what is affordable, what's considered affordable?
Speaker 3:the people who are already here and what is affordable, what's considered affordable? Well, what we've done is put a new sting on it, because we have a lot of young people. They need to qualify for home ownership. We know that builds generational wealth. So what we will do is we will partner with a financial institution until Detroit gets ready to have their own municipal or public bank. A financial institution that will first of all partner with the city so that when we build these homes to make sure they're affordable, we'll introduce the 35 to 50-year mortgage, depending on age, to make these homes more affordable.
Speaker 3:Why that's important is because we're in an inflationary cycle and building materials are shooting through the sky. So what we would do to actually make these homes affordable is a little bit of reducing our building costs and our material costs and our labor costs by utilizing mass production concepts, also using the technologies of new concept building, 3d printing, etc. Etc. So incorporating all of this new technology and systematically being able to mass produce the housing and make it affordable for everyone. So that's the challenge and we've already worked the kinks out on it. It's not something that's new. Icf block has been around for some 20-something, almost 30 years Actually. It started in World War II in Europe, so I won't go into the history of it, but it's just the building trades and different people in these areas of growth and development. They're not looking at the new concepts that technology already provides.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I guess my question is for you and I want to go back because we heard some of the candidates have talked about changing the systems of approvals at the city levels to reduce the cost. And you built a house on Chippewa and North.
Speaker 3:Lawn.
Speaker 2:And when you built that house at Chippewa and North Lawn, did you run into any barriers through the approval permitting process or was it real smooth selling?
Speaker 3:We did, because the inspectors were not familiar with the different building systems, and so that was our biggest challenge, and so they had to go back and do their research and see that it was something that was viable, useful, and so then things move quickly and that's the biggest challenge making sure that, whatever building systems you incorporate, that they have the knowledge and understanding of how the system works.
Speaker 1:Can we talk about what your first 100 days will look like, or your first year? There's a section on your website that talks about the things that you immediately want to address and I'm sure a lot of people would want to hear these items making the city of Detroit retirees whole, which is a budget imperative, right? The Detroit population decline. Residency for city employees, which is a legislative imperative. The reduction of the privatization of city work I'm sure so many people would love to hear about that. Tax abatement, tax capture and tax increment. Finance policy We've talked about that. Public safety and crime and crime prevention. Homelessness and mental health I'm really interested to hear why you paired the two of those homelessness and mental health, poverty and, of course, the $600 million overassessment poverty and, of course, a $600 million over-assessment. Let's start with homelessness and mental health, because I think that is an interesting conflation. Why?
Speaker 3:connect the two. Well, a lot of our mental health people are homeless and we don't have any real mental health facilities to deal with the mental health issues that we have in the city. We clearly have not addressed the homeless situation of our vets and people who are just homeless and families who are homeless. We've dropped the ball in all those areas. Okay, so it's paired together, because we need housing is a big part of that, and since we have the knowledge to mass produce housing, then we can group together in each of those categories what is needed.
Speaker 3:The resources for the mental health have not been put there for Detroit since they closed Herman Kiefer. Since they closed Herman Kiefer, detroit being the largest city in the state of Michigan, yet does not have enough help for mental health issues, and so I want to address that, because I think a lot of people are suffering in Detroit and so we need help ASAP. As mayor, I'll go to the governor, the legislative body, and I'll let them know we need those resources in Detroit. There's a mental health budget, and a good portion of that should be coming into Detroit. Wayne County receives a huge mental health funding from the state of Michigan, and Detroit is seeing little to none of it.
Speaker 2:Well, the money runs through the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Authority. Are you saying the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Authority is not spending its money in Detroit, or are you saying that that money should come directly from the state to the city of Detroit?
Speaker 3:I'm saying both, because you only have a few locations in the city of Detroit where mental health people can get help. That's number one. You have little to no facilities for the large population of mental health that we have. So clearly the funding is not being put in a city that has a high poverty rate, high mental health issue, high homeless issue. Those resources have not been put in the way that they should have been.
Speaker 2:We were both in the city living here when Engler cut mental health and residential facilities and when he cut general assistance, which was used to provide some support for people who were mentally ill, a lot of whom lived in single residency occupancy places, you know, and they got enough money just to pay for them to have a roof over their heads. But those were state budget cuts that impacted everybody across the state and very few people who have those types of mental health issues have support anywhere in the state of Michigan. How would you make the case to the legislature that they need to allocate more funding to that? In fact, there's some people who would say that prisons have become the mental health treatment center that replaced those closed facilities. Can you talk about the argument that you would make to the state and why you think the mayors prior to you when you hoped to be elected, why previous and existing mayors have not done this?
Speaker 3:Well, first and foremost, we're looking at Michigan and Detroit. We make up 14% of the population, nearly 70% of the incarceration rate. That needs to be looked at. So when I make my case to the legislative body, understanding that people have a right to self-determination, if your lawmakers do not correct problems for you, you have a right to correct those problems for yourself. Problems for you. You have a right to correct those problems for yourself. So the state legislative body not only has dropped the ball as it relates to those other issues, but then we got to look at insurance. We have to look at the other problems that we have in auto insurance and home insurance. You just need to group it all together. The state has failed Detroit, the legislative body has failed Detroit, the political apparatus at the state level and the city level has failed Detroit. That's just plain. You can't argue with the facts. So when I make the argument to the state, I will let them know Detroit will do whatever it has to do to correct its own problems and it has the resources to do it. So give you an idea. He just shared what I would do within the 100 days the first day in office as mayor of the city of Detroit.
Speaker 3:I would look at some of those our water company and some of those city assets that were taken. They were taken unlawfully. We have enough attorneys that have studied this and seen where they were taken unlawfully. Now look, the water department brings in a Great Lakes Water Authority approximately a billion dollars a year. That was Detroit's water and we only get 50 million dollars and they charge us a water runoff and take the 50 million back. Then you have other municipals like Livonia and others that have a cheaper water bill than Detroit. So now I'm going off topic here a little bit because it's all tied in, it's all connected and if we think for one minute, we can solve any of our problems without understanding that everything is connected. It has an effect, a negative effect. So Detroit would do well to have about $950 million if we had control of our own water again.
Speaker 2:So you know, you've seen the shirts and you've seen the hoodies Detroit versus everybody, and that's the way, you know, we've existed in this state. We don't have the legislative representation to change systems. In order for us to really get any of those systems changes, it feels as though we need to partner with other places in the state where they're experiencing similar harms. Do you agree with that and, if so, who would you want to coalesce with in order to try to make these changes at the state level?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, discrimination is another animal, gentrification is another animal, gentrification is another animal. So what do you do when you have these factors involved in making the decisions about your quality of life? So racism is clearly there, taking those resources away from Detroit. It wasn't right. We paid the price for it, but in 2025,.
Speaker 2:Most black Detroiters do not live black Metro Detroiters do not live in the city of Detroit.
Speaker 3:I understand that too, so my question is about coalition building outside of Detroit.
Speaker 1:Short answer.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go to all the other municipals in Detroit and come with a coalition. I think that's important because you look at Benton Harbor, you look at Flint, you look at Highland Park, you look at all of these municipals that have taken—.
Speaker 3:Significant black population. Same scenario have taken the same scenario. So we need to first come together and then we need to formulate a plan to bring ourselves out of that. Because anytime you're looking for the legislative body of Michigan to do for you and I disagree with the fact that we have to rely on the state no, we have other options. We can put something on that ballot and Detroiters can vote on it, and we can set up our own insurance companies. We can set up our own energy municipals. We can do a lot of things, and I think that's a part of having an open mind and looking at ways to overcome challenges, looking to overcome and bring solutions to your table. If I'm waiting for the legislative body all these years to solve my problems, guess what? They're never going to be solved, and so we've been living with these stringent insurance rates in the city of Detroit, taking away our disposable cash.
Speaker 3:Gentrification has been in play here in the city of Detroit. Gentrification hits 99.9% black communities only. If we go to southwest Detroit, where the Latinos live, you don't see gentrification. You go to Hamtramck, where others live, you don't see the gentrification. So we need to address this in a holistic way. We need to keep it real. This is about getting down to the reality of why our quality of life is going down in Detroit, why we don't have enough entrepreneurship, why we don't have economic empowerment, even though we have money, why we don't have political empowerment, even though we have votes, why we don't have educational empowerment, even though we have self-education or our education as individuals. All of these empowerment ideas we don't have. So now we need to address that. If you don't address it at that level, then we're going to be another 50 years, our children, our grandchildren suffering under the same situation.
Speaker 1:How do you understand what the function of the mayor to be?
Speaker 3:First thing the mayor and any political representative should be is to protect the people's money, Make sure the people are safe, free of crime, and protect the taxpayers' dollars.
Speaker 2:When you say safe, can you be more explicit about what safety means in your view?
Speaker 3:Safe means you know when you can walk to the store or walk somewhere and not worry about getting robbed or, you know, hurt, you know that you excuse me. You actually feel safe to be able to walk out your door and walk wherever you want to walk, knowing that if anything happens safe, you know, safety is there, you're safe, the neighborhood is safe.
Speaker 2:So what about environmentally safe? What about environmental?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a big issue. We've been dealing with some of the highest rates of pollution in our water and air. People are getting sick. Our children have a high rate of environmental pollution where they're having all these ailments and lung diseases, asthmas, et cetera some of the highest in the country. So now we're talking about corporate pollution and how they've been allowed to get away because of weak leadership and no one that was standing up for the people to shut that down. We have Stellantis right down there. They've been allowed to pollute. I've been up there. I've smelled it early in the morning. It's terrible smell right there on Jefferson.
Speaker 2:It's right in our parking lot. You can look outside and see it, jefferson, too, but that new plant was constructed directly behind us, and so we feel very strongly what you're saying.
Speaker 3:Yes, and then we hear again, like I say, everything is connected. We try to dissect our problems. We haven't looked at our problems as being holistic. We're reacting to situations and systems and policies that negatively impact our community, and then we don't have anyone that's going to stand up against the corporations and the rich about this environmental pollution and they've already termed it as warfare. It's environmental warfare on our community and we need to stop it and as mayor, I will.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you about the $600 million over-assessment. We've been told that the city government cannot issue direct payments to Detroiters. We've been told that that kind of policy priority will bankrupt the city of Detroit. What's your take?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, I don't agree with the $600 million overtax assessment. That's what they acknowledged. I think it's much more than that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we do too, and so but basically, in order to address that issue, any Detroit's a corporation and, yes, we have a charter and we have, you know, systematic procedures. But in any corporation you have a CEO. He will always make an injustice to the public once it's brought to his attention. That's a good corporate citizen. Citi has the ability to pay back those people, just like it has the ability to make the Detroit City retirees whole. Each year. They said, oh, we have a surplus. We have a surplus. Well, that surplus came off the back of the Detroit City retirees and none of our leaders said, hey, let's send some of that surplus. Came off the back of the Detroit City retirees and none of our leaders said, hey, let's send some of that surplus toward the Detroit City retirees. And none of our leaders-.
Speaker 1:Well, they've been putting some money aside in the fund.
Speaker 2:I think what you're saying is make them whole from the cuts that took place right, absolutely. Nobody's even talking about the things that happened in terms of the cuts Gotcha, we've moved on.
Speaker 3:Yes, you're bad Sorry. And so that's wrong, and if we were treated like that individually, we wouldn't like it. And you know honesty, integrity, transparency, common sense. You know you don't do people that way, and that's the low value that they put on our Detroit city retirees.
Speaker 2:We posed that question at our debate on Saturday. We said pretend like these are Detroit Grosse Pointe residents and answer that question. Don't answer this like these are Detroit residents. But what would you do if you overtax you know, I don't know $6 billion in Grosse Pointe? What would happen?
Speaker 3:It wouldn't be first and foremost we as a community here in Detroit. We've accepted all the disrespect. We've accepted all of our assets taken. We've accepted our public education, which ranks somewhere approximately 170th in the country. We've accepted so many slaps in the face. We've accepted a bad transit system, disrespected our children trying to get home after school, waiting two and three hours for a bus in the cold, in the rain, in the heat, not having shelters. I mean, we have accepted so much disrespect in Detroit, and so that's one of the reasons why I'm running for mayor. I have all the children in the city belong to us. It takes a village to raise a child.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you talk extensively about a vision for education and partnership in your platform.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We have a $3 billion budget. We have hundreds of millions of dollars that no one is talking about, that are missing out of Detroit city departments. So that's why I called for a forensic audit or business audit, so that we can see where this money is going, make sure we can make our city departments more efficient. Take that fat, take that extra finance and find positive ways to use it.
Speaker 2:So you say the money's missing. You're saying we can't account for some of the money, or are you saying that we're misusing it, or both?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm not there to say what has happened, but it has already been acknowledged. You already had some Department of HUD investigations. You had $70 million missing out of the city's demolition department. This is public knowledge. Newspapers wrote about it. Hud was going into investigating. You had money that was set aside from the federal government for entrepreneurs and small businesses, entrepreneurs and small businesses. You had a scenario where you had a whistleblower and you had the 80% going to overhead and consulting fees and you had only 20% going to those businesses.
Speaker 3:Come on now, let's keep it real. If you are for the people, you're representing the people. You want to be the mayor. Where are you on these issues? These are real, serious scenarios that nobody's talking about. And so if we want to make Detroit a great place for the residents, improve the quality of life and make sure our children and grandchildren have a future in this city, you put a businessman in office who knows and understands Detroit's a corporation. A corporation's a business and I'm a businessman, 54 years, domestic and international business. So we can dance around these problems and think that we're going to get some help, but if we're going to sidestep the real issues and the solutions, we're going to ignore the facts. We're talking about facts.
Speaker 2:I'm asking these questions not because I disagree with you, but because I'm asking the question about whether we think the money is missing in a lot of instances or it's misspent. Because even if I you know, people talk about a forensic audit, Forensic audits are real complex and take a long, long, long time. If we just look at the audits we have and look how we're spending money, I think we could do a better job just with what we know money.
Speaker 3:I think we could do a better job, just with what we know.
Speaker 2:If I may just say how expensive is it if you don't have an audit? Well, we have to have audits. Audits exist, so the forensic audit is a term.
Speaker 2:I'm hearing and the forensic audit is more detailed, but I'm saying look, for example I'll give an example there's housing dollars where I'm looking like why are these the choices for how you spend HUD dollars? Because they send HUD a report and even without doing any investigation, I have different ideas and I'm wondering if, before forensic audit, you already have thoughts we should spend this money, that we're spending this way differently. Have you looked at the existing audit and determined that some things have been prioritized incorrectly?
Speaker 3:I think, to answer your question, I think it's both. We have money being taken and we have money that's not being spent wisely. You know, the bottom line is that money is missing and no good company or corporation allows for, you know, money to be missing. Or we just see a case the Riverfront, the Riverfront.
Speaker 1:Conservancy $40 million.
Speaker 3:So come on now.
Speaker 1:Let me kick. We have a few minutes left and I want to get, I guess, just a few quick hot takes from you. Where do you stand on the I-375 resurfacing?
Speaker 3:One of my favorite subjects because that is gentrified land. They displaced over 100,000 people and hundreds of viable businesses. Yep, this we know when do you stand. I'm for making sure that inclusion is there for the jobs, the real estate development entrepreneurs from our community having a right to have their business in that location. Making sure that everything is inclusive.
Speaker 1:Where do you stand on reparations? Right now, there's a task force to just study reparations and there's been another extension. This is the third extension. Where do you stand on reparations?
Speaker 3:For reparations. I think, though, the proper way to approach that is to speak to the everyday person that lives in the city that was affected by the racist policies of the city of Detroit. I'm not for taking my tax dollars to pay me for the inequalities that the city of Detroit did. I think that's taking us for a loop, because it's our tax dollars. The purpose of reparations is to repair the damage, but the person or group that is supposed to repair that or pay for that, are the people who infringed on those people's rights.
Speaker 1:That's a great delineation. I haven't heard a lot of people delineate it in that way. And I'm for restitution. You're for restitution. Is water a human right?
Speaker 3:Water is a human right. Oxygen or air is a human right and what we have allowed is, here again, the corporation we allowed them to take our water. We didn't have but a few people fighting. My hat goes off to those strong people who stood up to fight it. However, we need to take it back because they've broken their lease already. I won't go into detail, but attorneys have looked at this and they say, yes, we can get it back and I'll fight. We'll use our Detroit City Water Law Department to take it to the Supreme Court.
Speaker 2:Which attorneys have looked at this?
Speaker 3:I won't call names.
Speaker 2:Why not? Because I know that I've talked to Alice Jennings, for example. I know she's been fighting this issue. Jennings, for example, I know she's been fighting this issue. I know that the NAACP and other organizations have somehow played roles in this issue. I know that we, the people of Detroit Monica Lewis-Patrick has really led our efforts and I'm just interested in whether you can point to a legal precedent or a legal opinion that—.
Speaker 3:I have a very fine— I have some very fine legal minds that I've spoken with, but I think you have to understand that people have fear in Detroit, for whatever reasons. They have fear. I don't have any fear, so I can stand up and say what I say, as long as it's factual, as long as it's right. You know I'm going to do the right thing. I didn't watch our great leaders Noble Jew, ali, marcus, garvey, elijah Muhammad, martin Luther King, nevers I mean, we can go on and on Great black leaders. They stood strong, they set an example for black men and black women to stand up, and that's all I'm doing. I'm standing up and speaking the truth and I want change.
Speaker 1:Where do you stand on using surveillance technology and policing the city? I'm not for it.
Speaker 3:The surveillance technology is too many mistakes and abuses have taken place. Black community don't need no more abuses.
Speaker 1:You're listening to Joel Hashim, mayor or candidate for the city of Detroit. We're going to give you the last word. What would you like to leave our listeners with?
Speaker 3:Well, if you want a mayor that's going to fight for the people truly fight for the people Don't hold the corporations and the rich one copper penny. I only want to serve the people. I want to make sure that we have economic empowerment, political empowerment, educational empowerment and improve the quality of life for our seniors, for our children, our grandchildren and for the residents here in the city of Detroit. Go to my website joelh4mayorcom. Joelh4mayorcom, joelh4mayorcom, reach out to me if I'm your type of candidate. If you really want change, reach out, get up off of our backside, do something. If you're for me, reach in your wallet and put out some money and go on the website and donate if you really want change.
Speaker 1: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 X, or you can email us at AuthenticallyDetroit at gmailcom. Donna, it's time for shout outs. Do you have any shout outs?
Speaker 2:I want to shout out the candidates who showed up on Saturday. I thought that we had a good event. I want to shout out Jera Stays and Norris Howard Howard, thank you for joining us and I want to shout out everybody who showed up. I thought we had a good event. I thought it was and I want to shout you out, of course, as the co-host and just doing your work, and I think we did a good job.
Speaker 1:I think so too. I would like to shout out, breonna Rice, over at Outlier Media, the news organization, that I, your absentee ballots. Go to outliermediaorg to take the Meet your Mayor quiz, or, if you're waiting until August 5th, you know, take your quiz results into the ballot box with you as a reference. And so, joe, do you have anybody you'd like to shout out?
Speaker 3:Just to the residents who are conscious in the city of Detroit that want change. I think this is we must take a holistic approach, and so I just want to let the residents know that if you, whatever candidate you vote in, make sure it's the right one, because we've got a downsizing economy, we've got so many things that are changing at the federal level. Someone's going to have to be able to get in, run our city and, at the same time, correct all of these problems. So shout out to the people Power to the people, Power to the people.
Speaker 1:All right, everybody. We thank you so much for listening and until next time be sure to love on your neighbor. We finally got a piece of love. It's so bright in the kitchen the beans don't burn on the grill. No-transcript.
