Who were the best and worst Mayors in Detroit History/

[Ocean2026]

Once again I'm not from Detroit but was always an admirer of Frank Murphy as a US Supreme Court Justice. He was one of few who voted against the internment of Japanese Citizens during WWII. I just wonder where he ranks among Detroit Mayors.

[Detroitnerd]

Best would be Hazen Pingree. Murphy was a good guy too.

Worst might be Richard Reading, elected in 1937.

[65memories]

Frank Murphy was definitely one of the best, although his reign was too short [[I think 3 years). Al Cobo was one of the worst and his reign was too long. Obviously we don't need to mention Kwame in this discussion...that's a given.

[Detroitnerd]

Frank Murphy was definitely one of the best, although his reign was too short [[I think 3 years). Al Cobo was one of the worst and his reign was too long. Obviously we don't need to mention Kwame in this discussion...that's a given.

If I remember right, Cobo loved seeing the streetcars disappear under his watch, and poured money into building expressways, which residents called "Cobo canals." And, just seven months after he killed the Woodward car, he died of a heart attack. Nice.

Jeffries Jr. could have been a good mayor. He may have been the best-educated mayor Detroit ever had, but he wasn't a great leader. The 1943 riot killed his political career, and he was dead seven years later.

Now, his father, the great Edward Jeffries Sr. was probably the greatest judge ever in Detroit!

[bartock]

Kwame essentially did what Reading did for almost 4 times as long.

[Carey]

A book that was published by a history prof outside of Detroit about 10 years ago put Pingee as the fourth best mayor in American history since 1820 [[!) The placement was the result of recommendations from other academic experts.
The book is titled "The American Mayor," and its editor is Melvin Holli, who is Pingree's biographer.

Check it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/holli-mayor.html

[gnome]

I've never heard anyone call the xways cobo canals 'cept you.

Cobo was a money guy loaned to the city from Burroughs. He was only mayor for 7 yrs. The longest serving mayor, CAY, deserves a seperate category. Beyond bad, beyond good ...bood,or gad or just the old hmfic

one of the bet has to be John Lodge

[Detroitnerd]

I've never heard anyone call the xways cobo canals 'cept you.

I heard it from an old-timer and I just love repeating it. Were you there in the 1950s?

Yeah, Al Cobo's great achievements in business for himself were running a few candy stores. Then he worked as a bean counter. He may have understood many things, but never seemed to understand what we have come to call "urban design." Seriously. Cobo made Orville Hubbard look like Jane Jacobs.

[Hypestyles]

what was the mayor like who immediately preceded Young? What happened positive/negative during his tenure..

[kryptonite]

My personal thinking is that Coleman Young was the worst. Nothing much seemed to go right in Detroit during his time in office. He seemed to cover up for a lack of competence by inflammatory rhetoric. He created enemies in city council, the county, neighboring counties, at the state level, the federal level, etc. We just watched Detroit continue to deteriorate without any noticeable concern on his part.

In some ways I did admire him, but not as a leader with a vision and the skill to accomplish parts of the vision. Kwame at least seemed to be able to get along well with suburban leaders and state and federal government. It was sad to see his demise by his own doing. But Young never seemed to show any political skill other than getting himself re-elected.

[Detroitnerd]

My personal thinking is that Coleman Young was the worst. Nothing much seemed to go right in Detroit during his time in office. He seemed to cover up for a lack of competence by inflammatory rhetoric. He created enemies in city council, the county, neighboring counties, at the state level, the federal level, etc. We just watched Detroit continue to deteriorate without any noticeable concern on his part.

That's the consensus of a younger cohort. The oldsters remember STRESS and how FINALLY a mayor reformed the police. Young would have been a great two-term mayor, if he'd decided to just ... let go.

[Gistok]

what was the mayor like who immediately preceded Young? What happened positive/negative during his tenure..

That would be Roman S. Gribbs... who's still alive. The major thing of his 1973-77 tenure... was the announcement and building of the Renaissance Center. By the time it opened, Young was in office to cut the ribbon with Henry Ford II.

Gribbs later became a State Court of Appeals judge, and is currently retired in a Detroit suburb at the age of 85.

[bartock]

That would be Roman S. Gribbs... who's still alive. The major thing of his 1973-77 tenure... was the announcement and building of the Renaissance Center. By the time it opened, Young was in office to cut the ribbon with Henry Ford II.

Gribbs later became a State Court of Appeals judge, and is currently retired in a Detroit suburb at the age of 85.

I was in front of a panel that included Roman Gribbs in a Case Evaluation in Oakland County two years ago [[which is something a retired attorney can do for a few bucks). Couldn't believe it.

[rb336]

That would be Roman S. Gribbs... who's still alive. The major thing of his 1973-77 tenure... was the announcement and building of the Renaissance Center. By the time it opened, Young was in office to cut the ribbon with Henry Ford II.

Gribbs later became a State Court of Appeals judge, and is currently retired in a Detroit suburb at the age of 85.

Gribbs was mayor from 70-74 and my dad's tennis partner from 80-92. I don't think he had much of an impact, except for setting the stage for CAY's reign of blame [[everything bad was caused by those people north of 8 mile!)

Archer is the best mayor in MY memory, which essentially stretches from Roman to now

[Johnlodge]

one of the best has to be John Lodge

Thanks gnome, you're OK too.

[Detroitej72]

Thanks gnome, you're OK too.

Isn't John Lodge currently[[for the last 30-plus years) standing in as a member of the band, "The Moody Blues?"

[fanniemae]

Coleman Young and Kwame are a tie as worst. Coleman started a lot of the bloated city departments with do nothing fat asses. Ok, I know a lot of politicians do this. But the tenure of these bastards did a ton of damage to Detroit. I credit Archer with at least improving our image a little. Archer was savvy enough to avoid a lot of controversy, had a Mr Clean image. I don't recall much accomplisment by him though. I remember Roman Gribbs a little. He was a straight forward guy. Again, don't remember much there. As for the others before my time, just don't know except what I read.

[douglasm]

Where does Jerry Cavanaugh fit into the list? I know he forced through the city income tax in the wake of Con Con and was mayor during the riots, but overall what do you think? I've always felt a little sorry for the guy, a decent mayor with a sad city history.

[fanniemae]

Where does Jerry Cavanaugh fit into the list? I know he forced through the city income tax in the wake of Con Con and was mayor during the riots, but overall what do you think? I've always felt a little sorry for the guy, a decent mayor with a sad city history.

As I remember there were rumors of a booze problem and he was cozy with some undesirables. He died before he could defend those rumors.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Yeah, I mentioned him in a earlier post. Miriani was a racist too. As crooked as any Mayor we've had. But Kwame was the worst by far.

[Gistok]

Fnemecek.... as far as Bing goes.... I'll grant you that it's hard to find a "lower key" politician than him. He hasn't exactly exuded a lot of enthusiasm as KK used to. But I think it's too early to write the obituary just yet. He said he was going to be a 1 term mayor... and by all appearances, that's the way it seems.

What he's doing behind the scenes is hard to determine... and that can be frustrating. Although that would mean wait-and-see... I'll grant you that the city can't afford to wait and see.

[gnome]

I believe TIME ran a piece The Decline of Detroit, in 1961.

[kryptonite]

CAY was a vulgar buffoon without any people skills and to my knowledge few political skills. Do people recall that after he made numerous insults about Ronald Reagan that Detroit's funding for a Woodward subway line just disappeared? The People Mover was still built but no subway. I never cared for Reagan myself, but as mayor of a large city in the days that large cities received substantially more federal funding you don't bite the hand that feeds you. CAY never learned to work with other elected officials for the good of the city, hew was too busy insulting them.

From what I can recall of Kilpatrick, he seemed to have substantial skills as far as working with other officials at the state and county level, and his mother assured him good access to some federal politicians. Kilpatrick in my opinion had great potential but god did he blow it.

[5thSFGP]

An easy choice - Coleman Young was by far the worse mayor. Young's departures from reality are far too numerous to list. "Nero" Young fiddled while the city fell down around his ears and served as the role model for the baffoons who followed him into office. While it may be said that the city was set to implode before his time, he did little of note to prevent - and even hastened the city's crash.

[kryptonite]

I never had the impression that Young even realized Detroit was turning into crap. His ego was so huge that he seemed to think he was doing a fine job and all of Detroit's problems were caused by suburbanites.

I lived in Detroit most of the time he was mayor, I never noticed much of anything improving.

And what a racist, he never improved race relations in the least, I guess because he didn't want to.