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Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick addresses a packed house at
Orchestra Hall on Tuesday night.
Marie Iles
Writer/Reporter
Art Landino
Photographer
Tell Us Detroit
 The audience, made up of who�s who in Detroit, from
community leaders, ministers, business executives, city
cabinet, and local citizens.. all welcomed him with a
thundering applause.
The first challenge the Mayor stated was the growth of
this city depends on getting the City�s finances in
order. Two years ago the city was faced with a
potential deficit of $300 million. To prevent
bankruptcy in Detroit unprecedented steps were taken to
save the city, such as closing police and fire stations,
laying-off police officers, the initiation of trash
fees, reducing the city work force and contract
spending. These cuts reduced potential budget deficits
by half, from $300 million to $150 million. The mayor
stated,
The State of the City�s address recapped many of the
successes achieved by the city which are signs of growth
and recovery throughout Detroit. �During Super Bowl
week this year there were actually stories in newspapers
around the country and the world saying, They did it
better in Detroit last year,� commented the Mayor.
New Neighborhood developmental currently in progress is
helping reshape the city.
The mayor addressed comments made about efforts to
renovate the Book Cadillac Hotel. �A lot of people
thought we were wasting our time on this Detroit
landmark. They said we had as much chance of developing
that old hotel as the Tigers had of making it to the
World Series. They were Right.�
Other City Developments include building upscale
condominiums on top of parking garage which will be
built by the Book Cadillac Hotel. Air Right development
will give Detroit the same flavor and style as New York
and Chicago. Also, two of the casinos will open new 400
new room hotels, reflecting total investments of more
than $1 billion.
 The Mayor also stated the administration, �Long term
strategy does not raise any taxes in the city of
Detroit. Nor does it ask for any new taxes for our
citizens in the City of Detroit. In fact, our long term
strategy will reduce both property taxes and income
taxes. That, in turn, will raise property values.�
The Mayor was pleased to announce that all of Detroit�s
laid off police officers have been called back to work
and that over the next 12 months 200 new police officers
will be hired for the Detroit Police Department. The
community has a chance to become involved by attending
one on one meeting with the police department to discuss
issues and concerns of neighborhood crimes. The first
meeting will be held on April 7th.
The Mayor of Detroit challenges citizens of Detroit to
work with the city�s administration to become courageous
and reclaim neighborhoods, family, schools, and churches
to enforce the City to continue to move in a positive
direction to rebuild our community.
Read entire text from speech
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