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Speaker 1: It's way yep. But Angela Yee, I'm Angela Yee. And

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Speaker 1: Jasmine from the Jasmin brand dot Com is here. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and president no, city council president. What do I call you,

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Speaker 1: Mary Sheffield?

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Speaker 2: Whatever you want to call me?

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Speaker 3: What's what's the official title?

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Speaker 2: See council president?

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Speaker 1: Okay, City council President. Mary Sheffield is here.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for being here.

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Speaker 1: And I want to talk to you about just even

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Speaker 1: when I first met you, right, I've always been like

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Speaker 1: I just really like her.

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Speaker 3: I don't know at first you were a count you

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Speaker 3: are a councilwoman.

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Speaker 2: I was a council pro tim. What is it called

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Speaker 2: pro tim?

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Speaker 3: Okay? What is this?

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Speaker 2: Just like the vice president?

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Speaker 3: Okay? Okay? District five which is a district by.

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Speaker 1: The way, where I have my property, the upcoming one

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Speaker 1: or the Boston Edison. Yes, So can you talk about

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Speaker 1: what your role is and what it means to be

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Speaker 1: a council person.

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Speaker 2: So I am the president of the council. I am

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Speaker 2: one beneath the mayor.

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Speaker 4: So if anything ever happens to the Mayor of Detroit,

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Speaker 4: I will be second in line to pretty much take

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Speaker 4: over and run the city of Detroit.

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Speaker 2: The city council oversees.

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Speaker 4: A two point five billion dollar budget, and we're responsible

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Speaker 4: pretty much for quality of life issues within our city,

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Speaker 4: so responsible for garbage pickup, our police response, ems response, fire,

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Speaker 4: and we approve all city contracts that are above twenty

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Speaker 4: five thousand dollars. So I mean, we really are I think,

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Speaker 4: just instrumental in delivering quality service for residents in our city.

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Speaker 4: And we also are policy makers, so we create law

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Speaker 4: and legislation that impacts the lives of detraders.

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Speaker 1: And for you, just personally, what made you even decide

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Speaker 1: this is the field that I want to get into,

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Speaker 1: because this is really a field of service.

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Speaker 4: It is so for my life is a little bit

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Speaker 4: different how I grew up. So I was raised in

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Speaker 4: a servant leadership household. My father is a legendary civil

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Speaker 4: rights activist. In fact, he grew up and was best

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Speaker 4: friends with Revenuel Sharpton, and so as a young girl,

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Speaker 4: I grew up like marching with Reverend Sharpton and Jesse

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Speaker 4: Jackson and Dick Gregory and Cornell West and so all

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Speaker 4: these legendary people I think got a young age really

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Speaker 4: molded me and shaped me to really understand the importance

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Speaker 4: of service, and so I was really kind.

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Speaker 2: Of exposed to it at a young age.

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Speaker 4: My dad kind of pushed me in that direction, and

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Speaker 4: by the grace of God, I just loved it. I

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Speaker 4: love service, I love public service, I love giving back,

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Speaker 4: and I believe we need more authentic, genuine people in

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Speaker 4: the area of politics as well.

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Speaker 3: I agree with you in that.

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Speaker 1: And you're also the youngest person to ever be elected

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Speaker 1: to the Detroit City Council, which is amazing. But it

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Speaker 1: feels like you've been kind of set up in a

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Speaker 1: way that you've had a lot of exposure yep, to

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Speaker 1: what goes on. What makes you not feel sometimes jaded

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Speaker 1: by politics, because I'm sure that can happen to.

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Speaker 4: I mean when I ran, I had no experience whatsoever

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Speaker 4: in politics. In fact, I really didn't even follow politics

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Speaker 4: at all. Again, it was my father who really exposed

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Speaker 4: me to the importance of public service. And so I

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Speaker 4: came in as a fresh face, as a young, new

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Speaker 4: voice in politics, and people always say we need new

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Speaker 4: We knew we need new energy, new innovative ideas, and

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Speaker 4: so I think that is what really kept me just

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Speaker 4: different because I had never been in office before, and

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Speaker 4: I was bringing something new new?

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Speaker 5: What kind of Detroit is a unique place? What kind

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Speaker 5: of challenges unique challenges does Detroit have?

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Speaker 4: So I think Detroit it is unique, and I think

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Speaker 4: one of the greatest assets that we have is the

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Speaker 4: people of our city. But I think that when we

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Speaker 4: talk about rebuilding Detroit, we have a high poverty rate,

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Speaker 4: and so we still have to overcome the issue of poverty.

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Speaker 4: So many of our residents are below the poverty line,

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Speaker 4: and so trying to raise the income of detroiters I

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Speaker 4: think is really really important. And then we also still

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Speaker 4: struggle with violence in Detroit. I know at one point

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Speaker 4: in time we were at the top as relates to

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Speaker 4: violence compared to Chicago and other urban cities around the country.

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Speaker 4: We're getting better at it, but we have to address

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Speaker 4: the issue of violence in Detroit, and they're making sure

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Speaker 4: that more people are coming out of poverty and really

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Speaker 4: raising their income levels as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what are some things that you can do to address,

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Speaker 1: like you said, the issues of violence you talk about,

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Speaker 1: you know they level and making sure that people have

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Speaker 1: adequate housing.

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Speaker 3: I know it's important an opportunity.

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Speaker 1: What are some things that you see that that really

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Speaker 1: have directly worked in connection with the crime rate.

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Speaker 4: So we actually just kicked off a program that I'm

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Speaker 4: excited about which gives money to community, grassroot organizations that

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Speaker 4: go out and do the work every day. So I

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Speaker 4: love our police department. I think that they play a

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Speaker 4: role as well too, but I think when we talk

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Speaker 4: about gun violence, you have to give money to and

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Speaker 4: support to these grassroot organizations that really do the work

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Speaker 4: day in and day out that it's not just about

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Speaker 4: locking people up, but it's about addressing the underlying social

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Speaker 4: issues around education, housing, mental health. And so we just

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Speaker 4: launched a program that actually gives grants to nonprofit organizations

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Speaker 4: that are assisting with the police department in high crime

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Speaker 4: areas to really tackle the issue of violence.

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Speaker 3: That's a great thing.

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Speaker 1: And then another thing I want to talk about since

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Speaker 1: while we talk about other ways to address some of

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Speaker 1: these issues, is housing and Detroit.

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Speaker 2: I love housing. It's a favorite issue.

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Speaker 1: Okay, favorite issue, Yes, all right, So let's talk about

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Speaker 1: that for a second, because you know, I've invested into

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Speaker 1: some properties right in Detroit, but you see so many

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Speaker 1: houses that have been just abandoned, dilapidated. You see the

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Speaker 1: land bank, you see you know, people like let me

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Speaker 1: invest but then they're not doing the proper things that

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Speaker 1: they need to do to take care of the properties

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Speaker 1: that they're purchasing. But then they have a program to

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Speaker 1: make sure it can't sit for too long.

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Speaker 3: You have to fix it up. You know, there's all

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Speaker 3: these rules when it comes to blights.

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Speaker 1: And what do you think about people coming and investing

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Speaker 1: in the troite Because there's also a balance of wanting

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Speaker 1: to make sure.

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Speaker 3: That people that are there, that live there have.

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Speaker 1: The opportunity and people who are investing are people that

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Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, do care about the city?

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Speaker 3: You know? Also, so it has to be.

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Speaker 4: About it's like you just said, I think Detroiters want

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Speaker 4: the ability to have generational wealth through owning properties.

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Speaker 2: And what we've seen with the.

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Speaker 4: Land bank is these investors come in and take large

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Speaker 4: portions of land and then it's not accessible to people

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Speaker 4: who been in Detroit. So I think we want to

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Speaker 4: rebuild Detroit, we need.

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Speaker 2: People to invest that that's good, but.

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Speaker 4: We also want to create opportunittunities and pathways to home

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Speaker 4: ownership for people who live in the city.

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Speaker 2: And so it's important in Detrade.

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Speaker 4: Right now, our real estate I think is probably below

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Speaker 4: market through up from a lot of other cities, right,

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Speaker 4: I think you can get property trade at a lot

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Speaker 4: lower weight than you can in New York, Chicago and

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Speaker 4: anywhere else anywhere, right, And so I think it's a

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Speaker 4: great opportunity for people to actually get home and home

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Speaker 4: ownership any trades.

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Speaker 2: We just have to continue to create opportunities for people.

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Speaker 3: To do so.

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Speaker 1: And what are some ways that you can do that,

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Speaker 1: because I know that is something that is at the

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Speaker 1: top of your list.

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Speaker 4: So we're looking at programs that provide down payment assistance.

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Speaker 4: We just actually launched a program where you give twenty

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Speaker 4: five thousand dollars for first time home buyers a grant

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Speaker 4: twenty five thousand dollars to actually purchase their first home.

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Speaker 4: This is a brand new program that we just launched

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Speaker 4: for first time home buyers. And then we're just trying

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Speaker 4: to create more policies within the land Bank that will

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Speaker 4: give access to homes and properties at a discounted rate

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Speaker 4: and allow them time to actually fix and rehab the homes.

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Speaker 4: I'm sure you know that when you purchase a house

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Speaker 4: with a land bank, that's one thing, but then rental

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Speaker 4: rehabbing it can cost a lot, and that's another thing.

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Speaker 3: That I feel like needs to be worked done too.

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Speaker 1: It's hard to find contractors, right because there's so much

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Speaker 1: work that has to be done, and it is expensive,

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Speaker 1: and then we all know when it comes to getting

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Speaker 1: a contractor ends up being way more than what they

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Speaker 1: initially quote you as a price. And so I feel

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Speaker 1: like that's another issue too, is and I always feel

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Speaker 1: like there's a great opportunity for people who do that

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Speaker 1: work or want to be involved with that work. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's so much that has to be rebuilt that that

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Speaker 1: is a great feel to be in and making sure

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Speaker 1: those opportunities also are going to people who are I

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Speaker 1: love how they do a lot of things with women,

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Speaker 1: you know, with black women and women of color too,

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Speaker 1: and making sure that they're more involved in that whole process,

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Speaker 1: you know, with homes. But how can you find like

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Speaker 1: good contractors. It's one thing to buy a house, it's

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Speaker 1: a whole other thing to make.

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Speaker 2: It find contracts.

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Speaker 4: And we right now have a list of about two

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Speaker 4: thousand people who are waiting for home repairs, and we

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Speaker 4: don't have contractors to do the work. As you just mentioned,

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Speaker 4: we also have a lot of development taking place in

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Speaker 4: our city and we're looking for individuals to go into

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Speaker 4: the skilled trades, and so it's a real issue with

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Speaker 4: the amount of construction and development happened in the city.

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Speaker 4: Trying to get people up and running creating businesses that

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Speaker 4: tackle the issue of home renovations, et cetera is important.

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Speaker 4: So we always host fairs. We try to get people

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Speaker 4: connected how to do business with the city, how to

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Speaker 4: start your nonprofits, your LLC, or your business. Because there's

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Speaker 4: so much opportunity in Detroit, people just have to be

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Speaker 4: ready to work and really understand the process of how

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Speaker 4: to do business with the City of Detroit.

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Speaker 3: We gotta get OGC license. Jasmine, what do you think.

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Speaker 5: Oh, my goodness, can you talk about the explain with

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Speaker 5: the inclusionary housing ordinances?

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Speaker 4: So, yeah, the clusionary Housing Ordinance essentially requires that all

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Speaker 4: new development that comes to the City of Detroit and

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Speaker 4: receive some type of incentive or tax abatement, that they

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Speaker 4: have to set aside twenty percent of the units for

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Speaker 4: affordable housing. And so that was my way of making

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Speaker 4: sure that there was inclusion in the new development in

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Speaker 4: the new Detroit that we're creating. So we're seeing all

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Speaker 4: of these high rises, all these beautiful apartments votings, but

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Speaker 4: we want to make sure that if you're getting tax

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Speaker 4: dollars that a portion of it be set aside for

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Speaker 4: low income housing.

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Speaker 5: And if I live in Detroit, I'm a Detroit native,

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Speaker 5: how do I know if I'm eligible for affordable housing?

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Speaker 4: So you essentially would have to call or were you

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Speaker 4: applied to that particular building, they will tell you, hey,

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Speaker 4: we have this amount of unit set aside for low

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Speaker 4: income housing. Here's how you would apply for it. And

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Speaker 4: you really just kind of have to know that this

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Speaker 4: is a part of what the city actually is proposing

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Speaker 4: as well.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, and I want to talk about running for

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Speaker 1: office because I feel like looking at you, you were

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Speaker 1: only what twenty six?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was twenty six when I first got elected.

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Speaker 1: When you first got elected, And a lot of times

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Speaker 1: when I talk to younger people and when I go

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Speaker 1: to colleges and speak right, a lot of what I

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Speaker 1: tell people is, I know it can be discouraging. A

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Speaker 1: lot of young people feel like does it matter? Like

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Speaker 1: do politics matter? If I vote? Some people feel like

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Speaker 1: things are already said. There's a lot of things that discourage

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Speaker 1: you from voting. And I always tell people, look, you

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Speaker 1: can also run for office, right, and so what does

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Speaker 1: it take to run for office? Because people feel like

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Speaker 1: there's obstacles when it comes to money. They feel like

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Speaker 1: you have to have money to run for office, or

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Speaker 1: you have to have some type of connections. Like you said,

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Speaker 1: you had never even really followed politics in that way.

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Speaker 3: So talk about how it.

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Speaker 1: Was for you, like even just launching your campaign and

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Speaker 1: then you know, making it into.

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Speaker 2: I had a vision.

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Speaker 4: I knew that this was something that God had placed

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Speaker 4: in my heart to do. You have to have belief

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Speaker 4: in yourself. If you believe in yourself, other people will follow.

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Speaker 4: And I think at the end of the day, I

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Speaker 4: may at the time did not have it all together.

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Speaker 4: I didn't have all the answers. I still though, you know,

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Speaker 4: I'm still learning and growing. But I think people saw

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Speaker 4: my heart and my vision and my compassion for Detroit,

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Speaker 4: and I think that that was number one. And so

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Speaker 4: I worked very hard. I mean I was day in

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Speaker 4: and day out knocking doors talking to people, letting people

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Speaker 4: know my vision for Detroit, and people believed me, and

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Speaker 4: so I think ultimately that's what it took. Of course,

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Speaker 4: you have the fundraise, but I think ultimately my thing

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Speaker 4: is that you have to have a true passion for

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Speaker 4: what you do, and you have to have belief in yourself,

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Speaker 4: and when you do that, other people will follow.

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Speaker 1: One thing I noticed is that you do energize a

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Speaker 1: lot of the younger demographic too. When you go out,

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Speaker 1: everybody's like, oh, yeah, I know Mary Sheffield. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's my girl Mary. Oh yeah, she's having a dinner.

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Speaker 1: Oh she's doing this. Oh Mary Sheffield's gonna come by.

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Speaker 1: And so how important is it to really be in

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Speaker 1: the field, like seeing people, making sure that you're going

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Speaker 1: and supporting different events and being present.

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Speaker 2: It means everything. It means everything.

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Speaker 4: When I first ran, people always say when people get elected,

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Speaker 4: you never see them. They're not accessible, And so that

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Speaker 4: was one thing that I wanted to just bring when

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Speaker 4: I got elected, was just to stay real, to stay authentic,

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Speaker 4: to be accessible, to still be out in places and

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Speaker 4: not just, you know, get so high up that you

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Speaker 4: forget where you came from. And so I think that

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Speaker 4: is one way that I believe has always separated me.

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Speaker 4: When I got into office. I always worked with artists

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Speaker 4: and rappers and I just brought the culture right to

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Speaker 4: politics as much as I could, and I think that

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Speaker 4: is why so many people resonate with who I am

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Speaker 4: and why le and what.

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Speaker 3: New responsibility coming Being a city council president last year has.

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Speaker 1: Also I'm sure that ageism is a thing too, just

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Speaker 1: being young and being the youngest person in that position,

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Speaker 1: you know.

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Speaker 3: So so talk about like.

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Speaker 1: These new responsibilities and new challenges that you might have.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's just more more responsibility from the residents.

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Speaker 4: Because I'm the president of the council. Even though I

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Speaker 4: represent District five, people see me as the president of

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Speaker 4: the council. So now it's more of a city wide responsibility.

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Speaker 2: Versus just the district.

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Speaker 4: Also, as a council president, you oversee the administrative functions

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Speaker 4: of the city council, so there's a lot more office

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Speaker 4: kind of work that I have to do as well too,

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Speaker 4: believe it or not. But yeah, it's just it's more

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Speaker 4: of a city wide reach versus just a city council

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Speaker 4: district now that I'm the council president.

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Speaker 1: And you know, as I'm investing in Detroit too. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm just closing on this building in midtown Detroit. Jasmin's

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Speaker 1: also invested in it too. I'm getting cash out on board,

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Speaker 1: you know as well. So I'm excited about that. But

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Speaker 1: one thing when I was doing some research, it was

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Speaker 1: saying that there's a lot of a lot more white people.

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Speaker 3: Moving into Detroit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the gentrification that's happening right now, and talking

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Speaker 1: about people actually leaving, you know, Detroit.

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Speaker 3: So you know, what are.

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Speaker 1: Some things that because it feels like even being downtown,

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Speaker 1: I remember when downtown, you know, there was nothing there

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Speaker 1: and now it's like, no, nothing available and it's overpriced

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Speaker 1: for a lot of people that have been there forever,

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Speaker 1: you know, So what are some of the things that

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Speaker 1: you feel like need to happen in the city because

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Speaker 1: I know for you, you know, being there and being

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Speaker 1: on the ground and hearing what people have to say firsthand,

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Speaker 1: what are some things that people can do?

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Speaker 4: So I think in every proposal that comes before me,

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Speaker 4: I'm very intentional to make sure that there's inclusion, that

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Speaker 4: there's an opportunity for detroitors to actually benefit from the

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Speaker 4: redevelopment that we're seeing. A great example was we just

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Speaker 4: were we had a proposal with District Detroit, which is

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Speaker 4: going to be renovating the area around the Arena, and

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Speaker 4: I fought extremely hard to make sure that disadvantaged minority

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Speaker 4: businesses have access to that retail space, have access to

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Speaker 4: what's happening in that area, to ensure that detroiters, that

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Speaker 4: black people, right, black businesses will be a part of

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Speaker 4: the revitalization. So I just think we have to be

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Speaker 4: intentional as policies and programs come that we're making sure

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Speaker 4: that we're keeping a focus on how detroitters can benefit

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Speaker 4: and have access to what's happening.

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Speaker 1: And then Dan Gilbert does a lot in the city

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Speaker 1: of Detroit, and but it is like kind of a monopoly,

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Speaker 1: you know, on things. So what's the balance when it

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Speaker 1: comes to investing and doing so many great things and

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Speaker 1: making it look amazing and drawing more people to come

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Speaker 1: in and work, but then also being like, all right,

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Speaker 1: you know, we want to make sure other people.

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Speaker 4: I think it has to be a balance because we

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Speaker 4: need and I've realized it, we need our businesses, We

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Speaker 4: need the private community and sector to be able to

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Speaker 4: help revitalize our city.

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Speaker 2: But it has to be done in an inclusive way.

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Speaker 4: It has to be done where Detroiters actually benefit and

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Speaker 4: have access to the opportunities. If people are just coming

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Speaker 4: in and investing in gilberta is just buying up properties.

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Speaker 4: But there's no opportunity for Detroit based businesses. That's a problem.

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Speaker 4: But I will say that I've worked with the Gilbert Foundation.

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Speaker 4: They've done an amazing job and making sure that there

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Speaker 4: are opportunities for Detroit based businesses to actually scale and

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Speaker 4: be a part of the revitalization in our city.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, my girl Jazmine, she works with the with that foundation.

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Speaker 1: Not no, And I do see a lot of people

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Speaker 1: that are from Detroit that actually work and you know,

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Speaker 1: run a lot of the organization.

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Speaker 3: So that's a positive thing.

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Speaker 5: What's your most challenging part of your role?

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Speaker 4: Your job, the most challenging part, you know, I I,

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Speaker 4: in a in a perfect world, will want to be

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Speaker 4: able to please you know, a lot of people, and

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Speaker 4: I just feel like I try to do so hard.

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Speaker 2: So to do so well, excuse me.

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Speaker 4: And making the best decisions that I can every single

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Speaker 4: day for the people, but you just can never please,

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Speaker 4: you know, and it's just crazy, and I'm I'm not

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Speaker 4: trying to please everyone, but it's just it's sometimes it

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Speaker 4: can be discouraging when it's like you're out here fighting

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Speaker 4: every day doing the right thing and steal it's.

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Speaker 2: Not not initiative.

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Speaker 5: What initiative are you most proud of? Who?

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Speaker 4: Probably inclusionary housing because when you come to Detroit and

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Speaker 4: you see new development and then I run into people

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Speaker 4: who say, you know, I was in one of the

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Speaker 4: affordable units, I'm like, really, I did that for you

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Speaker 4: when I see a young it was a young African

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Speaker 4: African American woman actually at a new apartment building in

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Speaker 4: Detroit and said I was in one of the affordable

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Speaker 4: units and it was because of my ordinance that created

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Speaker 4: that opportunity for her.

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Speaker 2: So I'm really proud of that, really really proud of that.

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Speaker 3: Have you also you've been ordained as a minister too.

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Speaker 2: When I was fourteen.

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Speaker 1: Yes, okay, that is so interesting to me. So she

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Speaker 1: does right now. We've also been hearing a lot of

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Speaker 1: rumblings about how you cannot spell mayor without Mary.

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Speaker 4: I love that phrase and you came up with it, Okay,

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Speaker 4: so you got to give you the credit.

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Speaker 1: So what can we look forward to with not just

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Speaker 1: President's City Council but also Mayor Mary Sheffield? Is this

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Speaker 1: something that we have our sites set on.

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Speaker 4: I am considering it for sure, and I can tell

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Speaker 4: you that there's a lot of support in Detroit for

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Speaker 4: me to take that next step, and I just appreciate

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Speaker 4: the love, the encouragement. There's people right now that are

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Speaker 4: just gathering, trying to come together to say what does

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Speaker 4: it take to get you to that position? And so

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Speaker 4: when the time is right, I will make an announcement.

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Speaker 4: But I can tell you that I'm ready to do

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Speaker 4: something more to challenge myself and to be able to

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Speaker 4: add more value in a different capacity.

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Speaker 2: So we will see what happens.

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Speaker 5: Is there anything your supporters can do now to you know,

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Speaker 5: support you in that possible effort.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think just you know, understanding my work being

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Speaker 4: engaged with local government, getting out to vote, registering people

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Speaker 4: to vote.

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Speaker 2: We got to get more people to vote in the city,

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Speaker 2: and I think we have.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, she wants her supporters to also help do that, right, No.

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Speaker 1: But I feel like people feel energized just by the

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Speaker 1: fact that you know you're in and to know that

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Speaker 1: there's because a lot of times people vote like I'm

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Speaker 1: choosing the lesser of two evils, right, and they feel

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Speaker 1: that way, And it is rare that you feel like

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Speaker 1: I'm voting for somebody who I really really like.

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Speaker 4: You're excited to vote for them. Because I think that,

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Speaker 4: you know, voter turnout also has to do.

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Speaker 2: With the candidate.

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Speaker 4: Well, yes, if there's a good candidate that gets you excited,

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Speaker 4: it gets you up and going.

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Speaker 2: I mean people will get out and.

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Speaker 1: So all right, well President, Minister Mayor Mary Sheffield.

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Speaker 2: Doctor honorable.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you, no, but I've been wanting to have

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Speaker 1: you up here now that I have like my own

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Speaker 1: you know, liituation I'm on in Detroit.

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Speaker 3: Also a jay, which I'm appreciative of.

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Speaker 1: But anything I can ever do, like to be supportive.

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Speaker 1: You've always supported me. We're going to do some yoga again,

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Speaker 1: and I love things like that. Like in Detroit, you know,

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Speaker 1: we run three one three. Shout out to them. They

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Speaker 1: do their running club and I've run with them before.

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Speaker 1: We did our our hot yoga which was really fun.

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Speaker 1: But I was like, instead of Friday night, instead of

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Speaker 1: going to the club or whatever, let's do some hot yoga.

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Speaker 1: And it was all women. Somebody fell asleep instead this man.

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Speaker 1: I don't know who it was, not me it was.

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Speaker 4: But I want to thank you as well, Angela, because

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Speaker 4: you put on for the city. You have a genuine

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Speaker 4: love for the city. When I first met you, was

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Speaker 4: actually on a panel. I'm not sure if you remember

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Speaker 4: it was on a panel. We were on a penalty

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Speaker 4: and I do remember that, yeah, and then we connected

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Speaker 4: all wards. But I just I appreciate everything that you

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Speaker 4: do and I'm excited about this next this next journey

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Speaker 4: and venture for you as well.

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Speaker 2: So thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: All right, but thank you President Mayor, Minister Mary Sheffield,

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Speaker 1: thank you Angela

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Speaker 3: Well