Here are the candidates running in Detroit City Council's at-large race

Yahoo

6 days ago

Two incumbents, a former city councilwoman and five others make up a crowded list of candidates vying for at-large seats on the Detroit City Council in the primary.
During the Aug. 5 primary, Detroiters will get a chance to vote for their top two candidates, with the top four vote-getters moving on to the general election on Nov. 4.
Two at-large council members sit on the nine-person legislative arm of city government and represent all residents, as opposed to the other members who each represent the city's seven districts. In the running are the following candidates, whom the Detroit Free Press and BridgeDetroit have interviewed:
Levan Adams
Levan Adams, 47, said he has been on the ground for more than two decades as a Detroit police officer and detective. He said he knows the neighborhoods and the people, what works and what doesn't.
"I'm not a career politician. I'm someone who shows up, listens and gets things done," Adams said. "I've led in tough situations, stood up for fairness as a union rep and worked with families during their hardest moments. And I'm running to bring real accountability to City Hall and to make sure Detroiters, not developers or outsiders, are the priority."
He describes himself as someone on the front line, working with people dealing with poverty, job loss and mental health crises.
Adams said his main focus would be making sure Detroiters are safe. He'd like to see more police officers out on the streets, legislation to keep guns away from young people and programming for middle and high school-age youths.
"We gotta catch them while they're young, because just putting handcuffs on people is not going to solve the problem," he said.
Adams, who joined the Detroit Police Department in 2000, said more officers should live in the city of Detroit. He lives in Detroit's Harmony Village neighborhood.
Janee' Ayers
Former Council Member Janee' Ayers has spent the last few years "doing the work without the title," she said. She has taught, consulted and worked for the city's parks and recreation department — back where she started 26 years ago.
"I am running again because the work that we started is not finished," Ayers, 43, said.
Ayers lost her council seat in 2021 amid a federal public corruption investigation into several officials, related to the towing industry. That case closed in January.
"Was it fair? No. Was it judged in the court of public opinion? Absolutely. But am I upset about it? Absolutely not," she said. "Because they had a job to do and they did their job; and through their job and the due process, everything that I've said from the beginning — I haven't done anything — has been proven to be true."
The experience has taught her what it means to have the true spirit of Detroit, she said.
"I know what it means to be counted out. I know what it means to be drug through the mud. I know what it means to swing and keep fighting," she said.
Ayers feels as though the timing of the investigation cost her the 2021 election, but it also "cost the people representation," she said. She didn't come to the decision to run again lightly, she added, but the closing of the case and interactions with community members prompted her desire to return to public service.
"I know exactly what our constituents are looking for in a leader. And, more importantly, what it is that they're looking for in their neighborhoods, because I stay with boots on the ground, knowing what it is that people are looking for," she said.
She cited fiscal responsibility, public safety and neighborhood growth as pressing issues for Detroit and Detroiters. Ayers currently lives in the Minock Park neighborhood.
James Harris
James Harris, community relations chief for the Detroit Fire Department, said he's not a politician, he's a public servant.
"I'm not trying to make a career out of being a politician. I want to get elected to serve the people," Harris, 54, said.
Harris said not all Detroiters have felt the same resurgence as certain parts of the city, like Corktown, downtown and Midtown, and he wants to see similar development and small business growth in other neighborhoods. He said he'd create programming similar to the Motor City Makeover, Detroit's annual citywide volunteer cleanup and beautification initiative that takes place each May, bringing together thousands of volunteers to clean and beautify neighborhoods, parks and playgrounds, and around businesses, schools, and places of worship.
"I want our neighborhoods to look good. I want our trees to be cut. I want our grass to be trimmed. I want everybody to feel the rebirth of Detroit," he said.
Safety is No. 1 on his list. He emphasized the importance of educating the public on fire safety and pulling over to the right for first responders. He said he'd work with Community Violence Intervention groups to prevent crime. He said he'd also like to hire more firefighters to go out and educate the public on hands-only CPR, for instance.
Detroiters, both new and longtime residents, and regardless of their income, want to be safe, he said.
"When you go to work in the morning, when you leave out of your house, you want to be safe. You want to make sure your streetlights are on if you got to go to work in the dark so you can see where you're going. You want to make sure when you dial 911, not only is the fire department coming, the EMS is coming, but the police are coming," he said.
Harris, who has been with the Detroit Fire Department for nearly 28 years, said he lives in District 1, north of Rosedale Park.
Shakira Lynn Hawkins
Attorney Shakira Lynn Hawkins said she has more than 20 years of legal experience — much of it in the public sector — and describes herself as a public servant who lives and works in the community.
"I'm a progressive. There are things that I have seen that need change," Hawkins, who didn't share her exact age, said. "I did not see anyone necessarily stepping up and addressing the causes that matter to me."
The top three issues Detroiters are confronting? Affordable and emergency housing, public safety and youth education and economic empowerment, according to Hawkins.
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"For a while now, residents have been displaced. And there has been a prioritization of development downtown and that has been at the expense of our neighborhoods, our families, our schools and our libraries. And I will be the voice that our residents need," she said.
In 2020, Hawkins ran for a 3rd Circuit Court judgeship on a platform of fighting for criminal justice reform. Though she did not win that election, she said that experience helped her realize that her true passion was in policy.
"We all know that there is a pipeline to prison, and I wanted to try to keep as many people out of that pipeline as possible. But once you're in the criminal justice system, you're there," she said. "If I can do something to effect policy and make better outcomes for people, then they never enter that system to begin with."
In 2024, she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in Congress, representing Michigan 13th Congressional District, which is comprised of a sizable chunk of Detroit, as well as portions of western Wayne County and Downriver.
Hawkins decided to run for a local race so people could get to know her and her passion, she said. She acknowledged how expensive it is to run a campaign and how difficult it is to unseat incumbents, but said she wants to "stay a part of the conversation, even if I don't have a high chance of winning." Hawkins, a former city attorney who currently is in private practice, lives in Midtown Detroit.
Gary Hunter
Gary Hunter said he's a longtime preacher, community activist, photographer and CEO President at Detroit Times Media Group / The Shot News.
'I have a deep passion to address the needs of our community," Hunter, 65, said.
People shouldn't have to fight for resources in the city of Detroit, he said, adding that longtime Detroiters cannot get services, such as roofing assistance and weatherization, compared with newcomers. Other challenges he cited include what he described as a lack of transparency for Detroiters to know what's going on, and extra drainage and sewage fees on water bills. Hunter also said he'd like to see more minority contractors.
'I want Detroiters to feel welcome in Detroit, and right now people in Detroit don't feel welcome in Detroit," Hunter, who lives on the east side of the city, said.
Hunter, in a video from the civic engagement hub CitizenDetroit, said his goal is for seniors to have a safer place to live, for children to have a better place to learn and for communities to have a cleaner area to dwell. "It is not this downtown versus out-town, not the in-town versus the out-town, but one Detroit for one people, with one purpose — that's to live in harmony, to live in peace and to live with quality, safety, education," he said in the video published by CitizenDetroit on June 21.
Valerie Parker
Valerie Parker never thought she'd run for City Council, but decided to do so now because "our kids are in trouble."
"I need the power for the whole city of Detroit, so I'm able to go into these schools and be the eyes and ears and make sure they're not giving our kids cold food; make sure that the kids' bathrooms got doors on; make sure they're doing right by our kids," Parker, 65, said.
She said she wants the city council to hold what she termed unregulated charter schools, accountable. City government has a limited role in education and charter schools typically have their own boards. Parker describes herself as an urban educator who has been fighting for youths since 2005.
"I'm able to stick my hand up in there and pull something out for these kids, and that's what I'm going to do. … I'm gonna do my four years, and then I'm going somewhere and (retiring)," said Parker, a substitute teacher for metro Detroit charter schools.
There aren't many places for kids to just have fun, she said. Parker said she also supports Community Violence Intervention groups.
"We don't trust the police like other people trust the police because of the stories our parents told us, and so I don't argue with the kids, it's their reality. I think the community (has) to come and heal and get to trust the police again, because they don't trust them," she said.
Parker resides in the Castle Rouge neighborhood.
"We got to make Detroit great again," she said. "Mike Duggan … did an excellent job of laying the foundation. And so, as he runs (as an) independent for governor, he's leaving a track record and I hope that we can just build on it."
Mary Waters
Mary Waters, an incumbent, said there's still a tremendous need for housing, employment and public safety improvements.
"Housing is a top challenge and I know that firsthand. I'm talking about true affordable housing. … We have people that make less than $30,000 a year," Waters, 69, said.
She supports income-based housing, she said, and cited the Fast Track PILOT ordinance, offering property tax cuts to developers based on rent prices, as a way to bolster development in neighborhoods.
Waters said she's a seasoned leader and touted her track record as a council member, including a one-stop shop and a call center for housing needs and a $203 million housing plan. She spearheaded the creation of a tenants rights' commission to represent and advocate for residential renters.
If reelected, Waters said she'd advocate at the state and federal level for stronger renter protections, money for down payment assistance programs and home repairs for aging infrastructure.
"If I wasn't doing my job, I can understand why other people would want to take it. But I do my job, otherwise I would not be there and I believe that Detroiters know that," said Waters, who lives in Lafayette Park.
Last year, Waters also ran for Michigan's 13th Congressional District seat, losing the primary election to incumbent U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit. Waters previously served three terms in the state House, from 2001 to 2006, as a Democrat.
In 2010, Waters pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for filing a fraudulent tax return and admitted to accepting a $6,000 watch, according to an FBI news release. She was sentenced to one year of probation.
In a written response, Waters said the plea occurred 15 years ago and said the IRS "eventually said I owed no taxes on the watch."
"All this is mind-boggling given that the people of Detroit elected me to Detroit City Council," she said in a text message to the Free Press.
She cited her "perfect attendance" in the state House, including her role as floor leader, and her journey from Alabama to being a University of Michigan graduate and surviving breast cancer.
Coleman Young II
Coleman Young II said he wants to implement a guaranteed income pilot program, providing $500 to 125 people, based on their income, for up to 24 months.
That idea — and the funding for it — still is in the works, the incumbent council member said. He also listed off a number of other issues he'd like to tackle.
"I want to create more jobs. I want to lower taxes. I want to make sure that buses show up on time. I want to invest in public safety. And I want to make sure that we have a better, more responsive city for the citizens of Detroit because they deserve it," Young, 42, said.
The top challenges confronting Detroiters are housing, public transit, public safety and jobs, Young said.
He wants more mixed-use and multifamily housing, as opposed to single-family housing. What would that look like? Condos, apartment buildings, tiny homes and 3D-printed houses, Young said.
"We also need to expand our community policing program," he said.
He wants to revive police mini-stations, an initiative his father, the late Mayor Coleman Young, started. The idea is to place officers in certain neighborhoods and inside senior buildings. It's a pitch he made in his 2017 bid for Detroit mayor, which he lost. Young previously served in the state Senate and House as a Democrat. He lives in the Islandview neighborhood.
Learn about other candidates running for Detroit City Council at BridgeDetroit: ; , and .
Contact Nushrat Rahman: [e-mail]. Follow her on X: @NushratR.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Candidates for Detroit City Council's 2025 at-large seats
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