At the beginning of the year, newly elected Mayor Mike Duggan said to watch what happens in six months. The media partners of the Detroit Journalism Cooperative did just that, examining how the city is functioning while in bankruptcy and how the leadership of Mayor Duggan is impacting services and neighborhoods.

Next Chapter Detroit posted the DJC’s coverage of the mayor’s first six months in office as it was released…and now brings this compilation of all the partners’ work:

We start with a look at the mayor himself. Here’s a profile by Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham. Also Bridge Magazine’s Mike Wilkinson looked at Mayor Duggan’s penchant for creating his own performance measures, both how they’re defined and reported.

Benchmarks from Bridge

After this introductory piece, Bridge magazine published a series of stories looking at how well Mayor Duggan is meeting certain benchmarks, some of which he set for himself, at the beginning of his term. They are:

City Services, written by Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham   Jobs, written by Rich Haglund   Livability, written by Nancy Derringer   Public Safety, written by Michigan Radio’s Sarah Hulett   Public Transportation, video by Hailey Zureich and John Zyski   Schools, written by Michigan Radio’s Sarah Cwiek

The Craig Fahle Show

Craig hosted guests for several segments to talk about aspect of the mayor’s work and the Detroit Journalism Cooperative coverage. He was joined by Bridge Magazine’s Nancy Derringer, Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham and WDET/Next Chapter Detroit’s Sandra Svoboda to discuss what the mayor has — and hasn’t — done.

Craig also spoke with listeners on June 23 to hear their assessments of Duggan’s performance. Generally they think he’s doing a good job — but say the city needs more.

In Mayor Mike Duggan’s first six months in office, one of the biggest difference between him and previous mayors has been his relationship with the City Council: Council member Saunteel Jenkins tells Craig it’s a cordial one that works. “It’s different because the mayor has actively pursued a relationship with council,” she says.

Detroit Public Television

On the television airwaves, DPTV aired two programs with discussions about Mayor Duggan’s first half year. First, the MiWeek team evaluated some of the mayor’s biggest successes and remaining challenges. Then American Black Journal dug into the Blight Removal Task Force, one of Mayor Duggan’s signature efforts.

Michigan Radio

Every Detroit mayor for decades has talked about blight. One of the biggest problems facing Detroit is the huge number of abandoned houses, buildings, and vacant lots. Here’s a look at what’s changed in how that issue is addressed since Mayor Mike Duggan took office, by Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham. 

Graham also reported that one out of every three Detroit households doesn’t have a car. They rely on the bus system. But it’s broken. People at the Rosa Parks Transit Center in downtown Detroit disagree whether it’s gotten any better since Mayor Mike Duggan took over the Detroit Department of Transportation, but officials at the department say they’re working to get more buses on the roads.

Michigan Radio’s Stateside program on June 23 featured Detroit Reporter Sarah Cwiek and Investigative Reporter Lester Graham who talked about Mayor Duggan.“He’s showing some real leadership skills for a guy who has been elected to serve a city with no power,” Graham says on the program. Stateside also hosted a conversation about transportation in the city.

Until recently, almost half the streetlights of Detroit were dark. Thousands of new streetlights are replacing the old broken ones. Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham caught up with one of several crews installing streetlights in neighborhoods around Detroit and discovered fewer, less expensive lights to power and maintain means a big drop in cost.

When elected, Mayor Duggan took over a city run by someone else: state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. Still, Michigan Radio reports that doesn’t mean Duggan has been denied all the rites of passage of the job including the schlep to Lansing to ask the state Legislature for something. Every mayor has to do it. And Duggan had to go to Lansing with a really big ‘ask.’ We’re talking about the $195 million dollar rescue package for his city (that’s right, ‘rescue,’ ‘settlement.’ Just don’t call it a ‘bailout.’)

WDET

WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter found some Detroit residents say the initiatives undertaken by the Mayor are producing mixed results as he works to create what he calls a “livable” city – one that attracts new residents and maintains a stable tax base. WDET’s Pat Batcheller looks at efforts to improve the city’s bus system and transportation department.

Mayor Mike Duggan acknowledged one of the single biggest hurdles city residents face when it comes to transportation during his State of the City address in January: the high cost of auto insurance. WDET’s J. Carlisle Larsen takes a look at what the situation is for drivers in the city.

To get a sense of how a candidate plans for success and how they go about implementing such a strategy when elected, WDET’s Travis Wright spoke with former Mayor Dennis Archer. Twenty years ago this week, Archer, a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice was wrapping up his first six months as mayor. When Archer looked back on those crucial first months in 1994, he said it all started when he tapped six University of Michigan professors to help him craft a city improvement plan in 1990.

-By WDET’s Sandra Svoboda

@WDETSandra and nextchapter@wdet.org