FULL INTERVIEW: Mary Sheffield Details Her Role As Councilperson, Running For Mayor + More

Mary Sheffield Details Her Role As Councilperson, Running For Mayor + More

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's way yep. But Angela Yee, I'm Angela Yee. And
Jasmine from the Jasmin brand dot Com is here. Yes,
and president no, city council president. What do I call you,
Mary Sheffield?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Whatever you want to call me?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
What's what's the official title?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
See council president?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Okay, City council President. Mary Sheffield is here.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Thank you for being here.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
And I want to talk to you about just even
when I first met you, right, I've always been like
I just really like her.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
I don't know at first you were a count you
are a councilwoman.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I was a council pro tim. What is it called
pro tim?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Okay? What is this?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Just like the vice president?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Okay? Okay? District five which is a district by.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
The way, where I have my property, the upcoming one
or the Boston Edison. Yes, So can you talk about
what your role is and what it means to be
a council person.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
So I am the president of the council. I am
one beneath the mayor.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
So if anything ever happens to the Mayor of Detroit,
I will be second in line to pretty much take
over and run the city of Detroit.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
The city council oversees.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
A two point five billion dollar budget, and we're responsible
pretty much for quality of life issues within our city,
so responsible for garbage pickup, our police response, ems response, fire,
and we approve all city contracts that are above twenty
five thousand dollars. So I mean, we really are I think,
just instrumental in delivering quality service for residents in our city.

(01:25):
And we also are policy makers, so we create law
and legislation that impacts the lives of detraders.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
And for you, just personally, what made you even decide
this is the field that I want to get into,
because this is really a field of service.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
It is so for my life is a little bit
different how I grew up. So I was raised in
a servant leadership household. My father is a legendary civil
rights activist. In fact, he grew up and was best
friends with Revenuel Sharpton, and so as a young girl,
I grew up like marching with Reverend Sharpton and Jesse
Jackson and Dick Gregory and Cornell West and so all

(01:58):
these legendary people I think got a young age really
molded me and shaped me to really understand the importance
of service, and so I was really kind.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Of exposed to it at a young age.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
My dad kind of pushed me in that direction, and
by the grace of God, I just loved it. I
love service, I love public service, I love giving back,
and I believe we need more authentic, genuine people in
the area of politics as well.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I agree with you in that.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
And you're also the youngest person to ever be elected
to the Detroit City Council, which is amazing. But it
feels like you've been kind of set up in a
way that you've had a lot of exposure yep, to
what goes on. What makes you not feel sometimes jaded
by politics, because I'm sure that can happen to.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
I mean when I ran, I had no experience whatsoever
in politics. In fact, I really didn't even follow politics
at all. Again, it was my father who really exposed
me to the importance of public service. And so I
came in as a fresh face, as a young, new
voice in politics, and people always say we need new
We knew we need new energy, new innovative ideas, and

(03:02):
so I think that is what really kept me just
different because I had never been in office before, and
I was bringing something new new?

Speaker 5 (03:09):
What kind of Detroit is a unique place? What kind
of challenges unique challenges does Detroit have?

Speaker 4 (03:15):
So I think Detroit it is unique, and I think
one of the greatest assets that we have is the
people of our city. But I think that when we
talk about rebuilding Detroit, we have a high poverty rate,
and so we still have to overcome the issue of poverty.
So many of our residents are below the poverty line,
and so trying to raise the income of detroiters I
think is really really important. And then we also still

(03:36):
struggle with violence in Detroit. I know at one point
in time we were at the top as relates to
violence compared to Chicago and other urban cities around the country.
We're getting better at it, but we have to address
the issue of violence in Detroit, and they're making sure
that more people are coming out of poverty and really
raising their income levels as well.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, what are some things that you can do to address,
like you said, the issues of violence you talk about,
you know they level and making sure that people have
adequate housing.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
I know it's important an opportunity.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
What are some things that you see that that really
have directly worked in connection with the crime rate.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
So we actually just kicked off a program that I'm
excited about which gives money to community, grassroot organizations that
go out and do the work every day. So I
love our police department. I think that they play a
role as well too, but I think when we talk
about gun violence, you have to give money to and
support to these grassroot organizations that really do the work

(04:32):
day in and day out that it's not just about
locking people up, but it's about addressing the underlying social
issues around education, housing, mental health. And so we just
launched a program that actually gives grants to nonprofit organizations
that are assisting with the police department in high crime
areas to really tackle the issue of violence.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
That's a great thing.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
And then another thing I want to talk about since
while we talk about other ways to address some of
these issues, is housing and Detroit.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
I love housing. It's a favorite issue.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Okay, favorite issue, Yes, all right, So let's talk about
that for a second, because you know, I've invested into
some properties right in Detroit, but you see so many
houses that have been just abandoned, dilapidated. You see the
land bank, you see you know, people like let me
invest but then they're not doing the proper things that
they need to do to take care of the properties
that they're purchasing. But then they have a program to

(05:22):
make sure it can't sit for too long.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
You have to fix it up. You know, there's all
these rules when it comes to blights.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
And what do you think about people coming and investing
in the troite Because there's also a balance of wanting
to make sure.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
That people that are there, that live there have.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
The opportunity and people who are investing are people that
you're like, Okay, do care about the city?

Speaker 3 (05:39):
You know? Also, so it has to be.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
About it's like you just said, I think Detroiters want
the ability to have generational wealth through owning properties.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
And what we've seen with the.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
Land bank is these investors come in and take large
portions of land and then it's not accessible to people
who been in Detroit. So I think we want to
rebuild Detroit, we need.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
People to invest that that's good, but.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
We also want to create opportunittunities and pathways to home
ownership for people who live in the city.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
And so it's important in Detrade.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
Right now, our real estate I think is probably below
market through up from a lot of other cities, right,
I think you can get property trade at a lot
lower weight than you can in New York, Chicago and
anywhere else anywhere, right, And so I think it's a
great opportunity for people to actually get home and home
ownership any trades.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
We just have to continue to create opportunities for people.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
To do so.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
And what are some ways that you can do that,
because I know that is something that is at the
top of your list.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
So we're looking at programs that provide down payment assistance.
We just actually launched a program where you give twenty
five thousand dollars for first time home buyers a grant
twenty five thousand dollars to actually purchase their first home.
This is a brand new program that we just launched
for first time home buyers. And then we're just trying
to create more policies within the land Bank that will
give access to homes and properties at a discounted rate

(06:52):
and allow them time to actually fix and rehab the homes.
I'm sure you know that when you purchase a house
with a land bank, that's one thing, but then rental
rehabbing it can cost a lot, and that's another thing.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
That I feel like needs to be worked done too.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
It's hard to find contractors, right because there's so much
work that has to be done, and it is expensive,
and then we all know when it comes to getting
a contractor ends up being way more than what they
initially quote you as a price. And so I feel
like that's another issue too, is and I always feel
like there's a great opportunity for people who do that
work or want to be involved with that work. You know,

(07:26):
there's so much that has to be rebuilt that that
is a great feel to be in and making sure
those opportunities also are going to people who are I
love how they do a lot of things with women,
you know, with black women and women of color too,
and making sure that they're more involved in that whole process,
you know, with homes. But how can you find like
good contractors. It's one thing to buy a house, it's
a whole other thing to make.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
It find contracts.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
And we right now have a list of about two
thousand people who are waiting for home repairs, and we
don't have contractors to do the work. As you just mentioned,
we also have a lot of development taking place in
our city and we're looking for individuals to go into
the skilled trades, and so it's a real issue with
the amount of construction and development happened in the city.
Trying to get people up and running creating businesses that

(08:08):
tackle the issue of home renovations, et cetera is important.
So we always host fairs. We try to get people
connected how to do business with the city, how to
start your nonprofits, your LLC, or your business. Because there's
so much opportunity in Detroit, people just have to be
ready to work and really understand the process of how
to do business with the City of Detroit.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
We gotta get OGC license. Jasmine, what do you think.

Speaker 5 (08:31):
Oh, my goodness, can you talk about the explain with
the inclusionary housing ordinances?

Speaker 4 (08:36):
So, yeah, the clusionary Housing Ordinance essentially requires that all
new development that comes to the City of Detroit and
receive some type of incentive or tax abatement, that they
have to set aside twenty percent of the units for
affordable housing. And so that was my way of making
sure that there was inclusion in the new development in
the new Detroit that we're creating. So we're seeing all

(08:57):
of these high rises, all these beautiful apartments votings, but
we want to make sure that if you're getting tax
dollars that a portion of it be set aside for
low income housing.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
And if I live in Detroit, I'm a Detroit native,
how do I know if I'm eligible for affordable housing?

Speaker 4 (09:11):
So you essentially would have to call or were you
applied to that particular building, they will tell you, hey,
we have this amount of unit set aside for low
income housing. Here's how you would apply for it. And
you really just kind of have to know that this
is a part of what the city actually is proposing
as well.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Okay, Yeah, and I want to talk about running for
office because I feel like looking at you, you were
only what twenty six?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, I was twenty six when I first got elected.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
When you first got elected, And a lot of times
when I talk to younger people and when I go
to colleges and speak right, a lot of what I
tell people is, I know it can be discouraging. A
lot of young people feel like does it matter? Like
do politics matter? If I vote? Some people feel like
things are already said. There's a lot of things that discourage
you from voting. And I always tell people, look, you

(09:53):
can also run for office, right, and so what does
it take to run for office? Because people feel like
there's obstacles when it comes to money. They feel like
you have to have money to run for office, or
you have to have some type of connections. Like you said,
you had never even really followed politics in that way.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
So talk about how it.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
Was for you, like even just launching your campaign and
then you know, making it into.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
I had a vision.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
I knew that this was something that God had placed
in my heart to do. You have to have belief
in yourself. If you believe in yourself, other people will follow.
And I think at the end of the day, I
may at the time did not have it all together.
I didn't have all the answers. I still though, you know,
I'm still learning and growing. But I think people saw
my heart and my vision and my compassion for Detroit,

(10:38):
and I think that that was number one. And so
I worked very hard. I mean I was day in
and day out knocking doors talking to people, letting people
know my vision for Detroit, and people believed me, and
so I think ultimately that's what it took. Of course,
you have the fundraise, but I think ultimately my thing
is that you have to have a true passion for

(10:59):
what you do, and you have to have belief in yourself,
and when you do that, other people will follow.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
One thing I noticed is that you do energize a
lot of the younger demographic too. When you go out,
everybody's like, oh, yeah, I know Mary Sheffield. Oh yeah,
that's my girl Mary. Oh yeah, she's having a dinner.
Oh she's doing this. Oh Mary Sheffield's gonna come by.
And so how important is it to really be in
the field, like seeing people, making sure that you're going
and supporting different events and being present.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
It means everything. It means everything.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
When I first ran, people always say when people get elected,
you never see them. They're not accessible, And so that
was one thing that I wanted to just bring when
I got elected, was just to stay real, to stay authentic,
to be accessible, to still be out in places and
not just, you know, get so high up that you
forget where you came from. And so I think that
is one way that I believe has always separated me.

(11:47):
When I got into office. I always worked with artists
and rappers and I just brought the culture right to
politics as much as I could, and I think that
is why so many people resonate with who I am
and why le and what.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
New responsibility coming Being a city council president last year has.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Also I'm sure that ageism is a thing too, just
being young and being the youngest person in that position,
you know.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
So so talk about like.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
These new responsibilities and new challenges that you might have.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, I think it's just more more responsibility from the residents.
Because I'm the president of the council. Even though I
represent District five, people see me as the president of
the council. So now it's more of a city wide responsibility.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Versus just the district.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
Also, as a council president, you oversee the administrative functions
of the city council, so there's a lot more office
kind of work that I have to do as well too,
believe it or not. But yeah, it's just it's more
of a city wide reach versus just a city council
district now that I'm the council president.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
And you know, as I'm investing in Detroit too. You know,
I'm just closing on this building in midtown Detroit. Jasmin's
also invested in it too. I'm getting cash out on board,
you know as well. So I'm excited about that. But
one thing when I was doing some research, it was
saying that there's a lot of a lot more white people.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Moving into Detroit.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, and the gentrification that's happening right now, and talking
about people actually leaving, you know, Detroit.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
So you know, what are.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Some things that because it feels like even being downtown,
I remember when downtown, you know, there was nothing there
and now it's like, no, nothing available and it's overpriced
for a lot of people that have been there forever,
you know, So what are some of the things that
you feel like need to happen in the city because
I know for you, you know, being there and being
on the ground and hearing what people have to say firsthand,

(13:39):
what are some things that people can do?

Speaker 4 (13:41):
So I think in every proposal that comes before me,
I'm very intentional to make sure that there's inclusion, that
there's an opportunity for detroitors to actually benefit from the
redevelopment that we're seeing. A great example was we just
were we had a proposal with District Detroit, which is
going to be renovating the area around the Arena, and
I fought extremely hard to make sure that disadvantaged minority

(14:03):
businesses have access to that retail space, have access to
what's happening in that area, to ensure that detroiters, that
black people, right, black businesses will be a part of
the revitalization. So I just think we have to be
intentional as policies and programs come that we're making sure
that we're keeping a focus on how detroitters can benefit
and have access to what's happening.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
And then Dan Gilbert does a lot in the city
of Detroit, and but it is like kind of a monopoly,
you know, on things. So what's the balance when it
comes to investing and doing so many great things and
making it look amazing and drawing more people to come
in and work, but then also being like, all right,
you know, we want to make sure other people.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
I think it has to be a balance because we
need and I've realized it, we need our businesses, We
need the private community and sector to be able to
help revitalize our city.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
But it has to be done in an inclusive way.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
It has to be done where Detroiters actually benefit and
have access to the opportunities. If people are just coming
in and investing in gilberta is just buying up properties.
But there's no opportunity for Detroit based businesses. That's a problem.
But I will say that I've worked with the Gilbert Foundation.
They've done an amazing job and making sure that there
are opportunities for Detroit based businesses to actually scale and

(15:15):
be a part of the revitalization in our city.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, my girl Jazmine, she works with the with that foundation.
Not no, And I do see a lot of people
that are from Detroit that actually work and you know,
run a lot of the organization.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
So that's a positive thing.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
What's your most challenging part of your role?

Speaker 4 (15:32):
Your job, the most challenging part, you know, I I,
in a in a perfect world, will want to be
able to please you know, a lot of people, and
I just feel like I try to do so hard.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
So to do so well, excuse me.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
And making the best decisions that I can every single
day for the people, but you just can never please,
you know, and it's just crazy, and I'm I'm not
trying to please everyone, but it's just it's sometimes it
can be discouraging when it's like you're out here fighting
every day doing the right thing and steal it's.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Not not initiative.

Speaker 5 (16:11):
What initiative are you most proud of? Who?

Speaker 4 (16:14):
Probably inclusionary housing because when you come to Detroit and
you see new development and then I run into people
who say, you know, I was in one of the
affordable units, I'm like, really, I did that for you
when I see a young it was a young African
African American woman actually at a new apartment building in
Detroit and said I was in one of the affordable
units and it was because of my ordinance that created

(16:36):
that opportunity for her.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
So I'm really proud of that, really really proud of that.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
Have you also you've been ordained as a minister too.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
When I was fourteen.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yes, okay, that is so interesting to me. So she
does right now. We've also been hearing a lot of
rumblings about how you cannot spell mayor without Mary.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
I love that phrase and you came up with it, Okay,
so you got to give you the credit.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
So what can we look forward to with not just
President's City Council but also Mayor Mary Sheffield? Is this
something that we have our sites set on.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
I am considering it for sure, and I can tell
you that there's a lot of support in Detroit for
me to take that next step, and I just appreciate
the love, the encouragement. There's people right now that are
just gathering, trying to come together to say what does
it take to get you to that position? And so
when the time is right, I will make an announcement.

(17:34):
But I can tell you that I'm ready to do
something more to challenge myself and to be able to
add more value in a different capacity.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
So we will see what happens.

Speaker 5 (17:44):
Is there anything your supporters can do now to you know,
support you in that possible effort.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
Yeah, I think just you know, understanding my work being
engaged with local government, getting out to vote, registering people
to vote.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
We got to get more people to vote in the city,
and I think we have.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
Yeah, she wants her supporters to also help do that, right, No.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
But I feel like people feel energized just by the
fact that you know you're in and to know that
there's because a lot of times people vote like I'm
choosing the lesser of two evils, right, and they feel
that way, And it is rare that you feel like
I'm voting for somebody who I really really like.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
You're excited to vote for them. Because I think that,
you know, voter turnout also has to do.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
With the candidate.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Well, yes, if there's a good candidate that gets you excited,
it gets you up and going.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I mean people will get out and.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
So all right, well President, Minister Mayor Mary Sheffield.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Doctor honorable.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
I appreciate you, no, but I've been wanting to have
you up here now that I have like my own
you know, liituation I'm on in Detroit.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Also a jay, which I'm appreciative of.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
But anything I can ever do, like to be supportive.
You've always supported me. We're going to do some yoga again,
and I love things like that. Like in Detroit, you know,
we run three one three. Shout out to them. They
do their running club and I've run with them before.
We did our our hot yoga which was really fun.
But I was like, instead of Friday night, instead of
going to the club or whatever, let's do some hot yoga.

(19:08):
And it was all women. Somebody fell asleep instead this man.
I don't know who it was, not me it was.

Speaker 4 (19:18):
But I want to thank you as well, Angela, because
you put on for the city. You have a genuine
love for the city. When I first met you, was
actually on a panel. I'm not sure if you remember
it was on a panel. We were on a penalty
and I do remember that, yeah, and then we connected
all wards. But I just I appreciate everything that you
do and I'm excited about this next this next journey
and venture for you as well.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
So thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
All right, but thank you President Mayor, Minister Mary Sheffield,
thank you Angela

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Well