(gentle jazz music) - So I was really intrigued by this speech, because usually these final speeches tend to be a lot about legacy building.

But really, I mean, much like usual Stephen Henderson, this mayor was sort of into the nitty-gritty.

What did you make of Duggan's final State of the City address?

- Well, I mean, it was like most of the others, right.

I mean, he does like a lot of detail.

He loves slides.

He is the best friend PowerPoint has ever had in politics.

You know, every speech is a journey with him through all of this data.

You know, I have a lot of conversations these days with people about Mike Duggan.

People want to say, well, how did he do?

And do you think he should be governor?

And things like that, and I always answer the same way I say, there is not a way to interpret the last 10 years or 12 years in the city without noting all the things that have been changed and fixed.

And yet there are some people who still feel, you know, negatively toward the mayor or as if what he did didn't reach enough people.

And he will always answer that, again with these very specific examples.

I mean, he doesn't argue so much as he counterpoints that kind of stuff with the kind of data we saw during the speech.

I'll also note that this week I also had an interview with the folks who run Grow Detroit's Young Talent, which is the summer work program here in Detroit.

It's 10 years old this year.

This is a program that gets 5,000 young people a year placed in community organizations, you know, nonprofits and businesses to get work experience.

That's a program that's started under this mayor that's touched the whole city.

Incredible amounts of opportunity, wraparound services that include, you know, housing assistance and food for those families.

The mayor didn't even mention that during his speech, that's how much has changed.

That's how much has gone on in the city.

I think it's really hard to argue against it whether you like him or you don't.

- Yeah, Nolan, I asked the mayor about that actually Wednesday morning after the speech.

I spoke to him and I said, "Look, we always talk about this sort of the, the growth within the sort of city center versus the neighborhoods."

- Yeah - And, and he really pushed back quickly and said, "Well ask the 600 block captains what they think about it."

And so that is, and he does do that with data.

Nolan, whether it be data, whether it's gut feeling, what did you take away from the mayor's final state of the City address.

- Well, it clearly was a rehearsal of his stump speech for his run for governor.

It was very upbeat, and that's the message he's gonna try to bring to the governor's race.

He's convinced that Michigan voters are ready for a positive leader, a positive campaign.

So we talked a lot about his ability to work across the political lines and divisions, which, you know, he believes will sort of open the door for his independent candidacy.

He talked about, oh, we don't give corporate subsidies out.

We give discounts on tax revenue, we wouldn't otherwise have.

It was messaging designed for a statewide office.

And, of course, part of that is boasting of his accomplishments.

He's not gonna.

You know, he's got what year left or he's not going to be saying, oh gosh, we got this undone and that undone and that undone.

You know, he's talking about what they did and what they accomplished, and it's funny, about an hour after the speech, I got a phone call from George Jackson, who is the city's former head of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.

And he was livid to say the least, screaming in the phone.

"He's lying when he says that he opened the riverfront up to the public."

He said, "We did that before he ever took office.

We put that in place.

and he's taking credit for everything everyone else did."

And, you know, George took it very personally, and was, again, very angry.

But it's the kind of scrutiny these claims are gonna get when he takes 'em on the statewide campaign trail.

- Well, let's talk a little bit about folks working together, because as you noted, Nolan, Steven, the mayor, really talked a lot about folks working together and the difference, right from a decade ago.

He had a line where it used to be sort of the people who blamed each other the loudest, that was the workable strategy.

What do you think in a post Duggan Detroit world, can this positivity, this working together, whether it's business leaders, foundations, city council, can this continue or is it going to be a sizable change come next year?

- I think one of the key indicators of what the future might look like is unfolding now in the mayor's race to replace Mike Duggan.

You've got 10 candidates who have at least said they wanna run and the filing deadline's still a month away.

So we don't know if all 10 of them will make it, but they've already started to talk about what they want to do and talk about the distinguishing characteristics among them.

But more than anything, what you are not hearing is people say, you know, the city's headed in the wrong direction.

Things are awful and, and I'll fix it.

Or this candidate who is running against me doesn't understand these things or is, is out for them for themselves.

We've seen so little of that this time.

And I think that does suggest that the mayor's approach here has changed the politics at least, at least a little bit.

They are all praising his record.

All of the candidates say he's made tremendous progress and they acknowledge the things that are different.

They all say they want to keep building on that I can't think of the last race in Detroit where that was the tenor of the conversation.

Now, it's early and things could change, but I think things are different in some ways, at least right now.