Duggan Takes Center Stage On Mackinac Island To Highlight Progress In Detroit

MACKINAC ISLAND (WWJ) - Mayor Mike Duggan took center stage Wednesday at the Annual Policy Conference on Mackinac Island where  all of the states powerbrokers meet to discuss strategy.

WWJ Citybeat Reporter Vickie Thomas reports that the mayor told a crowd of conference attendees that since he took office his team has prioritized population growth in the city of Detroit.

"We get up every day, the entire cabinet, and we focus on what we can do to reverse the population decline in the city of Detroit. It governs every single decision we make, we do not have a future if we don't start growing. And there has been one other very dramatic change and there's partnership now, with the mayor and city council," said Mayor Duggan.

Lisa House is the legislative liaison for Duggan, helping push through a $195 million Detroit bailout package through the state Senate - now that it's passed the House with bi-partisan support.

"It all boils down to leadership, Mayor Duggan is a true leader, he's a visionary and he want's everything done, like, yesterday," said House. "He holds people accountable and so when you think about what we have done; we've gotten more than six-thousand lights, LED lights up in neighborhoods in the city of Detroit, we launched the Building Detroit ... website."

[Visit this link for more Mackinac Conference coverage].