Detroit Council's Pugh, Brown Look Ahead

Detroit (WWJ)  -- One day after the election, the top two finishers in the election for Detroit City Council are already looking ahead.

Former Fox 2 anchor Charles Pugh, who will be the new Detroit City Council president, says "there are a lot of problems in the city that need fixing" and that "they need to clean up their own backyard first." He says there needs to be "better relationships at the council table and with the Mayor's office" and believes that should be "as high a priority as the other problems known so well."

Pugh also doesn't want to see city workers laid off, but there might not be a choice. He says there is an "impasse between the Mayor's office and the major unions" and that "avoiding layoffs should be something they should be trying to do; however, that may be what they have to do in order to move forward."

Fighting crime is also on the already-full plate for the incoming president. Pugh wants every night to be Angels' Night and they "had a very, very, very successful Angels' Night weekend." He says "that is a proven crime-fighter in the community at the grass-roots level" and says the first thing that he wants to do "is to put together a task force so that we can do Angels' Night year-round."
HEAR MORE:  

Former Detroit police officer Gary Brown is also among the new faces on the council. The new Detroit City Council pro tem received the second-highest number of votes and says he's not afraid to shake things up, even if it means busting up some of Detroit's 'old guard. Brown says he's "ready for it and has been a change agent all his life, and that Detroiters want change. He also says they're "going to take the city in a new direction and make sure they get it."

Unfortunately, Brown says layoffs will likely be a necessary evil if Detroit is to stay out of receivership and maintain a balanced budget. He says they will "need to negotiate the work rules with the unions in order to get all the clerical and administrative police officers out on the streets and that need to happen as soon as possible."

Brown also plans to stick to his pledge to not embarrass the city. He says he "promised all along, for the whole campaign, that he wasn't going to embarrass anyone, that he's going to make them proud, and is going to work extremely hard to do that."
HEAR MORE: 

Meantime, Governor Granholm said voters in Detroit spoke loudly not only for who they elected to the mayor's office and city council, but their support for proposals favoring council districts and the school bond issue. She told reporters it  "indicates there's hope in Robert Bobb's leadership and the school system, new configuration in council, so there's real possibility and hope."

Granholm also hoped the council would be open to new ideas such as the greening of Detroit. "The ability for Detroit not only to be a center for renewable energy," said Granholm,  "but also for wide land use urban farming a lot of vacant property, can we go green with that?"

She also looks at the Macomb county Adoption of a county executive style government as a good sign. "People are interested in change. the status quo is not acceptable, things are  not working. they are excited about putting people in who are committed to transformation and that's very good for our state," Granholm  said.

The governor was the keynote speaker this morning at the Small and Community Wind Conference's opening day at Cobo Center, giving special attention to the supply chain aspect to the turbine industry. The governor told industry representatives Michigan is "ready, willing, able and hungry" to help provide solutions research and development that would help create jobs and make the state the leader in creating clean energy.