Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s state of the city speech last night didn’t focus a whole lot on the city’s financial problems.
Instead, Mayor Bing talked a lot about slow but steady progress on some of his administration’s big goals.
He started by briefly addressing the city’s grim finances, and laid some of the blame at Lansing's feet.
“The total amount of cutbacks in state revenue sharing to Detroit over the past 11 years is more than $700 million,” said Bing.
Bing says this has forced him to make some difficult and unpopular decisions, but he says the city has made progress cutting costs, combating blight and bringing in new development.
“While we can proudly point to all these successes, my job is not done. And neither is yours,” he said.
While he says there’s more to accomplish, Bing still won’t say whether he'll run for re-election in November.
During the speech, he focused on some of his big policy initiatives, and on his success in getting the private sector onboard with those ideas.
He announced a new initiative in the speech.
“Bill Pulte, of Pulte homes, one of this nation’s largest home-builders, has created a private, non-profit group called the Detroit Blight Authority. The group is working with my office to eliminate blight,” said Bing.
Bing says he’s also taken steps to address Detroit’s persistent crime problems.
He says the police chief will launch a new collaborative program this month to crack down on gun crimes.
You can watch the speech online here:
