Hor. Coleman A. Young founder's Bio
Coleman Alexander Young (May 24, 1918 – November 29, 1997) served as mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 1974 to 1994. Young became the first African-American mayor of Detroit in the same week that Maynard Jackson became the first African-American mayor of Atlanta.
1973 Campaign [Five terms as Mayor]
Young's 1973 Mayoral campaign addressed the role of the violence inflicted upon an increasingly black city—the black population in Detroit was slightly less than fifty percent in 1972—by a disproportionately white police department. Young pledged the elimination of one particularly troubled police decoy unit, STRESS (Stop the Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets), whose officers had been accused of killing 22 black residents and arresting hundreds more without cause during its two-and-a-half-year existence.
The unit's operations were suspended in 1972 by order of the Mayor preceding Young, Roman Gribbs. In November 1973, Young narrowly defeated former Police Commissioner John F. Nichols, who was fired by Gribbs because he refused to resign while campaigning for Mayor. Nichols would later be elected as suburban Oakland County Sheriff.
Mayor
Mayor Young promptly disbanded the STRESS unit, began efforts to integrate the police department and increased patrols in high crime neighborhoods utilizing a community policing approach. Young's effect on integrating the Detroit Police Department was successful, the proportion of blacks rose to more than 50 percent in 1993 from less than 10 percent in 1974 and has remained at about that level. Both actions were credited with reducing the number of brutality complaints against the city's police to 825 in 1982 from 2,323 in 1975.
Young won re-election by wide margins in November 1977, November 1981, November 1985 and November 1989, for a total of 20 years as mayor, based largely on black votes.
Although Young had emerged from the far left element in Detroit, he moved to the right as mayor. He called an ideological truce and won the support of Detroit's economic elite. The new mayor was energetic in the construction of the Joe Louis Arena, and upgrading the city's mediocre mass transit system. Highly controversial was his assistance to General Motors to build its new "Poletown" plant at the site of the former Dodge Main plant, which involved evicting many long-time residents. Rich argues that he pulled money out of the neighborhood to rehabilitate the downtown business district, because "there were no other options."
Young was an outspoken advocate for large Detroit construction projects, and his administration saw the completion of the Renaissance Center, Detroit People Mover, the General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly Plant, the Detroit Receiving Hospital, the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant, the Riverfront Condominiums, the Millender Center Apartments, Harbortown, 150 West Jefferson, One Detroit Center & the Fox Theater restoration, among other developments. During Young's last two administrations there was opposition among some neighborhood activists to these large construction projects. This opposition typically manifested itself in rigorous budget debate rather than in serious electoral challenges against Young. Most of the time Young prevailed over this opposition, seeking jobs and economic stimulus as a way to help rebuild Detroit's neighborhoods.
In 1981, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.
Personal Life
Young was twice married & divorced. He has one son. His son, Coleman A. Young II, was a State Senator in Michigan's 1st State Senate district and was previously a State Representative in Michigan's 4th State Representative district, the same district where Young lived as Mayor and served as State Senator. Young was a Prince Hall Freemason. He died from emphysema in 1997. Upon learning of Young's death, former President Jimmy Carter called Young "one of the greatest mayors our country has known."
Republican Michigan Gov. John Engler called the former Democratic mayor "a man of his word who was willing to work with anyone, regardless of party or politics, to help Detroit -- the city he loved and fought for all his life."