DETROIT – Coleman Young II said there's a lot of work to be done in Detroit, and he claims he should be the one to do it.
The Detroit mayoral candidate laid out his plan to fix the city as the countdown to the election dips below 120 days.
Young has bashed current Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, claiming he's taking the city in the wrong direction. On Monday, Young took his turn to reveal a plan for Detroit.
Young took a few shots at Duggan, drawing the lines between their candidacies. He said he's the one who's been out in the neighborhoods and truly understands the people's needs. His 10-point plan is all about trying to restore neighborhoods, starting with crime.
"There is no crime in this city that a good-paying job can't fix," Young said. "That's what I want to do, is have community agreements with legally binding mandates. There'll be no project in this city where Detroiters don't have access to those jobs first."
If that doesn't happen, Young said he will sue. He told a small crowd of supporters that he wants to sue a lot of people, such as auto insurance companies and the state government if it doesn't do more for Detroit residents and doesn't restore the residency mandate for police officers and firefighters.
"God forbid if we were to have a terrorist attack in the city of Detroit (and) we have police officers and firefighters who live 30 miles, so far away from the city they would not be able to respond in time if something were to happen," Young said.
Young said he wants to speed up business permitting, create small business development centers and business incubators, and better utilize federal dollars for things such as job training.
He said he wants more police mini-stations and wants to bring back citizen district councils to combat crime.
"The citizens have more of a say over what's going on over the land and development in that area," Young said. "Now we had that before the illegal, unconstitutional emergency manager came, and that was the last thing he got rid of, and I want to bring that back to restore the city of Detroit."
Young admitted he needs more state and federal dollars to fund his plan, and he intends to use a new Department of Neighborhoods to make his plan work.