Bill De Blasio Takes Early Steps to Seat of NYC Power

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013

2 killed, 7 injured in Detroit shooting

DETROIT: Gunfire broke out Wednesday evening at a with each other. “Somehow someone shot into the barbershop is in a strip mall along a major road on the Detroit barbershop known for gambling activity, leav- building, and that’s when people rushed out of the city’s east side. Nearby businesses include a Chinese ing at least two men dead, police say. The shootings building and were running into other area businesses restaurant, auto repair shops and a convenience store. happened about 6 pm at Al’s Barber Shop, said police for cover,” she said. Both of the dead men were inside Craig said Al’s is a known illegal gambling spot. “We’re spokeswoman Kelly Miner. She said nine men were the barbershop, she said. Lorne Carter told the Detroit not sure if this was over a bad debt. We have no idea,” shot and two of them were confirmed dead. Details Free Press that he was smoking a cigarette against the the police chief said. “We know it’s a barbershop and were sketchy because police were still investigating wall of a nearby business when he heard what sounded gambling has occurred in this location.” what happened, and it wasn’t yet clear how many peo- like 30 to 40 shots. He told reporters that police were looking for two ple opened fire. Police Chief James Craig told reporters “It sounded rapid,” Carter said. Police used yellow vehicles that the suspects might have been using: a at the scene that “suspects engaged a couple of vic- crime tape to cordon off several blocks around the 2004 white Chevrolet Impala that possibly has a broken tims” before “several shots were fired.” He said it’s not shooting scene. A frantic Elaine Williams waited behind window and bullet holes in the back, and a 2004 black known if any of the victims fired back. the tape to learn the fate of her 29-year-old son, who Impala. Miner said police would continue to question Miner said two cars pulled up outside the barber- had gone to the barbershop for a haircut, The Detroit witnesses late Wednesday and would release no further shop and people in the vehicles exchanged gunfire News reported. “Help me find my son,” she cried. The information for the night. — AP

Detroit mayor-elect Bill de Blasio takes early resents focus on race steps to seat of NYC power DETROIT: Detroit’s mayor-elect said Wednesday that far too much had been made of his skin color during a successful cam- paign that will make him the predominantly black city’s first De Blasio vows to maintain public, economic safety white mayor in four decades. Appearing at his first news con- ference as mayor-elect, Mike Duggan said he would meet over NEW YORK: A day after recording a historic landslide victory, with their help.” De Blasio said he was confident that the change of the next two days with Michigan’s governor and Detroit’s cur- Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio sat down with the man he is replacing, power would be smooth and that they would meet again before he rent leaders, including the state-appointed emergency manag- Michael Bloomberg, and began planning for the transition to a liber- takes office Jan. 1. er who currently controls the cash-strapped city’s checkbook. al agenda of what he calls economic inclusiveness after more than The pleasantries at the photo op aside, much of de Blasio’s cam- With Detroit grappling with $18 billion in debt and awaiting two decades of more conservative leadership. De Blasio, the first paign was run as a repudiation of Bloomberg, and the incoming a judge’s ruling on whether it can move forward with a bank- Democrat to be elected mayor since 1989, portrayed himself as the mayor made it clear Wednesday he felt the voters had emboldened ruptcy filing, Duggan said the race of the mayor is not a factor. cleanest break from the 12 years of Michael Bloomberg, the outgo- him with the power to change the course of the city. “The people in “I resent it. I’ve resented it from the beginning,” Duggan said. ing mayor whose policies helped make New York one of the this city have spoken, and the mandate is clear that is our obligation “People in this city got past it almost a year ago, as people got nation’s safest and most prosperous big cities but also one that has to create a city in which our prosperity is shared and there is oppor- to know me and we started to relate as individuals.” become increasingly stratified between the very rich and the work- tunity for all,” he said. Unofficial general election results Tuesday night showed ing class. He has vowed to maintain the public and economic safety gains Duggan, a former Detroit Medical Center chief executive, The mayor-elect’s first move Wednesday was to meet with a man made under Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, but also defeating Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon 55 percent to he frequently criticized during the campaign. Bloomberg presented give a voice to those who felt forgotten by what they felt were the 45 percent. Napoleon is black. Race, more specifically black his successor with an electronic book with information on city agen- Manhattan-centric policies of the previous two administrations. His and white, has defined Detroit for generations. More than 80 cies, and the two men talked for more than an hour, much of it with first hires were meant to signal a commitment to that balancing act. percent of the 700,000 people living in Detroit are black. The photographers’ cameras clicking. Jennifer Jones Austin, who runs a social services organization and last time it had a white mayor, only about 44 percent of “It was a very cordial conversation, a very helpful conversation,” specializes in early childhood education and civil rights, and Carl Detroit’s 1.5 million residents were black and the city was only de Blasio told reporters later at a later Manhattan news conference. Weisbrod, who helped shepherd the economic revitalization of a few years removed from a race riot that left 43 people dead “He and his team have been very forthcoming and very positive Times Square and found the New York City Economic Development and dozens of buildings burned. Corporation, will run his transition. That pledge to fight income “Detroit became ‘black Detroit’ and the suburbs became inequality appears to have resonated with residents of a city where the ‘white suburbs, and people picked sides,” then-mayor and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1. now convicted felon Kwame Kilpatrick told The Associated “This is not a sharp turn to the left; it’s a return to normal,” said Press for a story in 2007. Of the 10 cities of at least 100,000 peo- retired Hunter College political science professor Kenneth Sherrill, ple with the largest percentage of black residents, only New who noted that the Republicans’ unlikely mayoral winning streak Orleans and Montgomery, Ala., have white mayors. The others was in part due to unusual circumstances. “This is the first election in have black mayors. 20 years in which the Republican candidate for mayor was not Duggan’s election could help blur the color lines, but when charismatic, was not a billionaire and there was not a massive crisis he takes office in January Detroit officially could be bankrupt. that would cause people to defect from their normal party loyalties,” He will be expected to have solutions for lowering one of the Sherrill said. highest violent crime rates in the country - in a city that strug- Giuliani, a Republican, defeated Democrat David Dinkins in 1993 gles to respond to 911 calls - and fixing Detroit’s many crum- amid fears about soaring crime rates, and Bloomberg won in 2001 bling neighborhoods. Public transportation is in shambles, as largely thanks to his media fortune and the fallout from the Sept. 11 are other city services. attacks. De Blasio trounced Republican rival Joe Lhota 73 percent to Those are things Paulette Warren wants corrected, and she said she couldn’t care less about the race of the city’s mayor. 24 percent in incomplete, unofficial returns that would provide the “When you call 911 you want to know an ambulance is com- largest margin of victory for a non-incumbent in city history. ing,” said Warren, who is black and voted Tuesday for Duggan. De Blasio, 52, will need that political capital to tackle his signa- “It’s all about who can do the job. It’s not about color.” ture campaign promise: to get Albany’s approval to raise taxes on Race is as much a part of Detroit, its politics, citizenry and the wealthiest New Yorkers in order to fund universal pre-kinder- relationship with suburban neighbors as assembly lines and garten. He said Wednesday that his transition team would soon the cars that rolled across them. In the 1950s, about 1.8 million help select a first deputy mayor, who would then in turn help him people lived in Detroit, but the lure of new homes in fresh sub- fill two key administration posts: a new schools chancellor, who he urbs started an exodus from the urban core. The 1967 riot has- has vowed will be an educator who will listen more to the con- tened white flight. And when a brash, black labor leader cerns of parents, and perhaps most pressing, a new police com- named Coleman A. Young was elected mayor in 1973, Detroit’s missioner. growing black populace began to flex its political muscle. De Blasio comes to office with the backing of most major unions, Young issued a warning to the city’s crime element to leave but they will soon sit at the other end of the negotiating table as the Detroit at its Eight Mile Road city limits. Many whites in com- new mayor addresses a major fiscal crisis. All the city’s municipal munities north of that demarcation were appalled and unions have expired contracts, and many of their leaders are angered. The rift between them and black Detroiters widened. demanding back pay that could total $7.8 billion, a payout many But soon, the same suburbs that earlier welcomed white fami- economists believe would cripple the city’s finances. De Blasio has lies became too attractive for the city’s black middle class to vowed not to negotiate in public but has said retroactive raises ignore. Thousands of blacks also left Detroit for safer neighbor- could be difficult. De Blasio leaves Wednesday for the Somos El hoods and better schools, leaving parts of the city virtually NAPLES: Neapolitan pizza maker Luigi Sorbillo (center) poses Futuro conference, an annual retreat for city and state Democratic empty. They also took their money and much of the city’s tax with the pizza he cooked in honour of Bill de Blasio on leaders in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is expected to meet with several base.—AP November 6, 2013 in Naples, the day after de Blasio was party powerbrokers who will have a hand in shaping the new elected New York city mayor. — AFP administration. —AP