Who were the best and worst Mayors in Detroit History/

**Gistok** · November-17-10, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

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 · November-17-10, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

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.

**buildingsofdetroit** · November-17-10, 04:05 PM

My vote for worst, at least in the modern era: Louis Miriani, who succeeded Cobo after Cobo died in office.
Not only was Miriani heavy-handed and went against the people's wishes [[especially in his push to tear down Old City Hall: Only 21% of Detroiters wanted it razed, according to a poll at the time), he also was a crook. No text messages, but the IRS caught up to him anyway. He went to prison.

**Fury13** · November-17-10, 04:33 PM

Bowles and Reading were probably the worst, besides Kilpatrick. Miriani was slightly below average as a mayor... we don't understand his [[and Cobo's) view of "progress" these days, but building freeways and razing obsolete buildings were considered "looking to the future" in the '50s. The crooked stuff for Miriani came later, when he was back to being a council member. Still, a drop in the bucket compared to what Kilpatrick did. I'd rate Murphy and Pingree the best. Maybury was above average, as were James Couzens and John W. Smith. And I think Jerry Cavanagh gets a bad rap... he was way above average but was swept aside with the tide, post-1967.

**rb336** · November-17-10, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

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

**Gistok** · November-17-10, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

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

You're right... that's what happens when you depend on your memory

... but CAY was mayor for 20 years [[74-94). But the RenCen was announced under Gribbs tenure...

**EastsideAl** · November-17-10, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

CAY's reign of being blamed [[everything bad was caused by those people south of 8 mile!)

Fixed to reflect the view from this side of 8 Mile.

**EMG** · November-17-10, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

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

Agreed. And the difference between Archer and Young was that Archer wasn't a racist who went around blaming everything wrong with the world on the white man.

Bearinabox · November-17-10, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

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!)

STRESS was started on Gribbs' watch, wasn't it? I'd say that's a pretty significant occurrence, although I don't know how much he personally had to do with its implementation.