Duggan takes wait-and-see approach on Trump
Washington — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan expressed uncertainty about the future of Detroit’s partnership with the federal government as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.
Duggan, who was in Washington Friday to tout city improvements that have been through by his partnership with President Barack Obama's administration, said “we’re going to see” if the Trump administration will take the same interest in working to better conditions in Detroit in part by providing more aid.
“When the president-elect gave his speech on election night, the first thing he talked about was rebuilding cities,” Duggan told reporters after an appearance in the Partnership for Public Service’s headquarters with outgoing Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan.
“He’s talked quite a bit about infrastructure,” he continued. “If the administration goes in that direction, we look forward to working with them and hopefully this will be a model. But I think it’s too early to know what direction they’re going in.”
The comments came as the Obama White House released a new report that highlighted the federal government’s work to boost Detroit between 2011 and 2016. Obama has maintained a senior adviser to serve as a liaison to Detroit since the city emerged from bankruptcy in December 2014.
The White House report showed about $388 million in federal money flowed to Detroit in addition to the technical assistance of federal agencies. The city also won a $140 million Defense Department research laboratory and $41 million in tax credits, according to the report.
Specifically, the report said Detroit demolished 10,000 blighted homes since 2011 with $260 million freed up from the Treasury Department’s Hardest Hit Fund for mortgage assistance and $13 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of a “neighborhood stabilization” plan.
The report also highlighted that Detroit’s progress included “resilience and stabilization” that saw the Department of Energy provide “technical assistance resulting in the city selecting a new lighting system that saves 46 million kilowatts of energy and $3 million annually.”
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $5 million for job training and the Department of Transportation provided a $25 million grant for 80 new fuel-efficient buses and $37 million to support the QLine streetcar system that is under construction. The Treasury Department kicked in another $41 million for the M-1 rail system, according to the report.
Donovan, the OMB director, said Friday he hopes the Trump administration will continue to see the merits of investing federal resources into Detroit.
“The fundamental idea of this work is not a Republican or Democratic idea,” he said. “Our first step is to go in and say ‘what is the local vision for this community? What does this community want and how we do we orient what the federal government is doing around that vision.’”
Duggan said he was not surprised Trump performed so well in the election in states such as Michigan, although he supported Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“I could feel what was happening in Michigan coming,” he said in a reference to Trump’s surprising victory in Michigan. “There are a lot of people in this country, white and black, who are making no more money today than they were 10 years ago, even though we’ve come out of the recession. And people who are willing to work hard, add skills, make their lives better for their families don’t know how to do it. That was the frustration.
“You have, in our area, blue-collar white folks who turned to Donald Trump because they kind of figured he understood their problems, maybe he would do it,” he continued. “I was just amazed in this last campaign how little time was talked about workforce development and creating opportunities for people. So Donald Trump effectively tapped into the anger.”
Duggan expressed optimism about having good relations with the incoming Trump administration since the president-elect has offered the Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary’s nomination to Detroit native Dr. Ben Carson, although the retired surgeon has yet to accept it.
“I’ve got a relationship with Ben Carson,” Duggan said. “When I ran the Detroit Medical Center, the Ben Carson High School was established right next door, which he came in and dedicated. ... He never completely lost his connection with the city of Detroit, but we’ll see whether he actually is going to be taking this position or not.”
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Twitter: @Keith_Laing