DETROIT (WXYZ) — Mayor Mike Duggan focused on the future Tuesday night in his 10th State of the City address, highlighting the former Michigan Central Station in Corktown. The iconic Detroit train station, which closed in 1988, is being refurbished by Ford Motor Company for a new Detroit campus.
“Bill Ford could have gone to Silicon Valley, he could've gone to Ann Arbor, but he came here to the City of Detroit,” the Mayor said during his address.
The campus includes a street that wirelessly charges electric vehicles and a dedicated autonomous vehicle lane on Michigan Avenue that will extend to Ann Arbor. The mayor also highlighted new affordable and low-income housing units in Corktown.
“We are doubling the number of Section 8 housing in the community, there’s not another city in America that does that,” Duggan said.
The Mayor also highlighted a low-income apartment building being totally replaced for residents with no rent increase should they choose to stay.
Our partners the Detroit Documenters with Outlier Media were fact-checking the Mayor's address. They noted the rent will still be subject to a renter's income.
The Mayor also highlighted housing and rising home values, adding the city rehabbed more houses than it demolished in 2022, a fact our Outlier Media partners say is true.
“We are going to now deal this year and next year with these private homes with the goal of getting every vacant house out of the city by 2025,” Duggan said.
2023 marks 10 years since Detroit declared bankruptcy. In the years since Duggan said the city has cleaned up thousands of alleys and cleaned up tons of debris. Another major focus in neighborhoods is safety.
“The kind of violence that we are seeing here, it’s just hard to get your mind around,” Duggan said.
The mayor unveiled a new pilot program investing $10 million into community groups to prevent crime.
The mayor also highlighted new downtown projects like the District Detroit and defended tax incentives for these projects. He highlighted new jobs and new parks, ending with another highlight of the chosen venue.
“This July, this site is going to be the center of one of the most exciting cities in all of America," Duggan said about the former train station.
