Kwame Kilpatrick said he was a "pretty good" mayor before, but he'll be a "great mayor" for the city of Detroit in the next four years.

From tax reductions to Detroit's Hispanic community to the city's new clerk, Kilpatrick addressed issues that he'll tackle during his next tenure as the mayor of the country's 11th largest city during a press conference Wednesday morning.

Kilpatrick said public safety will continue to be a big issue, with specific emphasis on the Detroit police department, and that he'll work to roll back taxes in the city over the next three years.

Regarding Janice Winfrey's stunning win over Jackie Currie for the Detroit City Clerk position, Kilpatrick said the blame for that department's shortcomings should not have rested solely on Currie.

"We need an intensive look into the city clerk. I don't believe that it was all Jackie Currie. I think there are some deep-seeded issues in that department," said Kilpatrick.

On Wednesday, Kilpatrick promised he would be a better communicator in his second term.

His challenger, Freman Hendrix, conceded defeat at 10:20 a.m. The former deputy mayor under Kilpatrick's predecessor, Dennis Archer, says he plans to spend the rest of the day celebrating his wife's birthday.

"Although we have lost an election, we have nothing to be ashamed of," said Hendrix.

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Other Races Of Interest

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The re-elected mayor said he respected Hendrix and that "he brought nothing but the best out of our campaign."

Kilpatrick, the charismatic 35-year-old, avoided becoming the first Detroit mayor since 1961 to be defeated for re-election.

The win came even though he placed second behind challenger Hendrix in the August primary and trailed in recent polls.

"There was absolutely no reason for anybody to come to our campaign ... when you're 11 points down after the primary," Kilpatrick said Wednesday morning during a news conference at his office. "But people continued to come to the campaign -- the turning point was people coming to the campaign.

"When we were out of money, we found a way to do more with less."

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Kilpatrick had 117,354 votes, or 53 percent, and Hendrix had 103,446 votes, or 47 percent. Early returns had shown Hendrix with a 12-point lead, in line with some pre-election polls.

City's Struggles

Kilpatrick will get four more years to lead the city as it struggles with poverty and decades of population decline. He will have to deal with issues that have come to the forefront in recent months as the city faces a multimillion-dollar budget deficit and the possibility of financial receivership.

"This is our moment, where unity is the thing we all strive for. Oneness," Kilpatrick said.

Kilpatrick brushed aside the doubts by portraying himself as the leader of a city addressing its shortfalls and heading in the right direction.

He implied that the media was out to get him with scrutiny that included his use of a city credit card on expensive out-of-town travel and a city lease of a luxury sport utility vehicle for his family. He also tried to shake the label of "hip-hop mayor," removing his trademark diamond earring.

Hendrix, 55, topped Kilpatrick 44 percent to 34 percent in the nonpartisan primary, focusing attention to the city's troubled finances and laying the blame for much of it on Kilpatrick.

But his contention that he wouldn't embarrass the city as he implied Kilpatrick did wasn't enough to win the race.

Some city services have improved under Kilpatrick, who points to getting the grass cut in parks on a regular schedule and plowing snow from streets. New homes and downtown construction speak to revitalization efforts, but blight pervades many neighborhoods.

FBI Investigation

The drama of Election Day included action in court as the Justice Department obtained an order for the secretary of state to preserve the roughly 46,700 absentee ballots cast in the mayor's race, the applications to get them and the envelopes in which they were sent. The order was requested on behalf of the FBI.

The Justice Department said it was investigating allegations that votes were cast in the names of dead people and that the city clerk improperly helped incapacitated people to vote by absentee ballot.