Detroit, MI
Sheffield sets focus on key issues in first State of City speech. How to watch
Mayor Mary Sheffield
Mayor Mary Sheffield speaks during a press conference announcing her plan to set a “livable wage standard” for all city of Detroit employees on March 9, 2027, in Detroit, MI.
Detroit ― Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield is set to deliver her first State of the City speech Tuesday night as she is expected to focus on her plans to improve the city’s neighborhoods and crack down on smaller crimes such as property theft.
Sheffield is expected to unveil more details on how she aims to boost neighborhood spending and investment and her plan to crack down on “smaller crimes,” such as larcenies as well as breaking and entering into homes and cars, that many residents say is a major concern, Deputy Mayor Brian White told The Detroit News on Monday.
Sheffield is making her speech at Samuel C. Mumford High School on the city’s west side at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The address will be livestreamed on the City of Detroit’s official YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn, with streaming beginning at 6:30 p.m. About 800 invited guests are expected to attend the event in person.
How to watch State of the City speech
Viewers can watch and listen to Sheffield’s speech across a variety of platforms that will start streaming at 6:30 p.m., about a half-hour before the speech is scheduled to begin:
Why Sheffield chose the high school as the site of her speech
The mayor chose Mumford High School for her first State of the City address to reinforce the theme that “she’s going to be a neighborhood-focused mayor,” White said.
“The high school is a prime example of what can happen when we put our lives together and rebuild,” White said. “Her leadership style has always been about inspiring people to dream big and go further into the neighborhoods with development.”
She will tout the executive orders and other changes in policies and initiatives she’s already enacted, the deputy mayor said.
Some of those policies include expanding a nonprofit program into Detroit that gives cash to every new and expectant mother; creating both the Office of Neighborhood and Community Safety and the Human, Homeless, and Family Services Department; implementing a new compliance program for senior citizen housing facilities; and amping up safeguards of home demolition sites, among other measures.
New mayor sets first in Detroit’s 324-year history
The former city councilwoman is the first female mayor, along with the first Black woman mayor, in Detroit’s 324-year history. She succeeded Mike Duggan, who in his three terms and 12 years in office is widely credited with stabilizing the city’s finances after the city entered Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy in July 2013 and exited it at the end of 2014.
Sheffield was the council president before being elected in November. She won in a landslide, nabbing 77% of the vote over the Rev. Solomon Kinloch. She’s also a fourth-generation Detroiter.
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