DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield has been on the job for just over a week, and spoke one-on-one with our Alicia Smith ahead of the city's public investiture ceremony and her inaugural ball on Friday.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report:
The investiture ceremony took place at 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 9, at the Detroit Opera House, where Sheffield was sworn in, alongside Detroit City councilmembers, Detroit police commissioners, and City Clerk Janice Winfrey.
You can watch the full swearing-in in the video below
Following the investiture, Mayor Sheffield went to Pershing High School, where she and Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Dr. Niccoli Vitti both spoke about how they can work together to help Detroit's young people.
Watch Simon Shaykhet's report on the Pershing visit:
"Mayor Duggan held the seat for 12 years. You worked with him all along the way. Which of his initiatives are you planning to continue, and where will you take a different approach?" I asked.
"Yeah, I mean, there's several initiatives that the mayor, working with the council, that we launched. One is the Down Payment Assistance Program. Some of the support that we do for our small businesses through Motor City Match. Those will all continue. I think it's not really about the differences, about how do we build upon the work that has been done, but also address some of the outstanding needs, like poverty, like the social issues in Detroit that are very near and dear to my heart, and then making sure that the resurgence goes deeper now into our neighborhood so that everyone benefits from Detroit's growth," she said.
You can watch our full interview with Sheffield in the video below, and read her responses below the video.
"If you could give one promise to the people of Detroit for a target that you're going to meet in those first 100 days, what would that one promise be?" I asked.
"Well, you know, we, our intent was that this transition in 100 days will be bold, that it will be inclusive, and that it would be very rigorous. And we have honored that. We have included over 300 Detroiters as a part of our transition committees. We've already launched the largest baby prescription cash program in the nation in Detroit, for mothers and kids. And stay tuned, we'll also be announcing some things are getting around poverty within the upcoming months and also some new appointments that actually prioritize the issues that matter to Detroiters. So again, we just wanted Detroiters to feel a part of this process, but also addressing the needs that they raised during the campaign," she said.
"And I know you're also planning to open the Office Gun Violence Prevention. It'll be launched soon. What will success look like one year from now?" I asked.
"So, with that office, we want to continue to drive down crime in every category of violence in Detroit. And we also want to ensure that perception of crime has changed. While we know the numbers are going down, how do people feel in their communities is very important to me. But then also, how are we empowering and focusing more on prevention so that young people have access to safe spaces, that there's more job training and mentorship and conflict resolution within our neighborhoods. And so that will be the focus of the office. It's both prevention and accountability, but more of a focus on the human perspective of violence in our city. And that is how we will measure the success of that office," she said.
"When you talk about neighborhoods, I know this has been a priority for you for many years on the Detroit City Council and as president. What are the steps you're going to take to help those neighborhoods and the people who live in them also see improvement?" I asked.
"So we're going to be bringing government back to the people. We want to ensure that government is as accessible as it can be, and so we're gonna be hopefully opening up some opportunity hubs within the neighborhoods. We're also going to highlight neighborhood infrastructure, trying to expand access to home repair grants and sidewalk improvement and beautification grants so that legacy Detroiters who have been in their homes for years have access to funding to stay in their homes. And then lastly, we have a new focus on neighborhood economic development where we're trying to activate our commercial corridors and bring more retail back into the city of Detroit. So we're very excited about every project, every initiative really highlighting and uplifting the need for neighborhood development," she said.
