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Committee advances two mayoral appointees to Economic Development Corporation amid push for neighborhood retail
Summary
The Internal Operations committee interviewed Alexa Bush and Crystal Perkins for seats on the Detroit Economic Development Corporation and voted to forward both appointments to formal committee; council members pressed the candidates on strategies to attract grocery and national retail to neighborhoods to improve walkability.
The Internal Operations standing committee interviewed two mayoral appointees to the Detroit Economic Development Corporation and advanced both nominations to formal committee with recommendations to approve.
Alexa Bush, the city's current director of Planning and Development, told the committee she has worked in planning since 2015 and described tools the department uses for neighborhood engagement: renderings, before-and-after visuals, case studies, and programs such as the Strategic Neighborhood Fund and Motor City Match. "We create renderings. We create plans. Sometimes we'll model things 1 to 1 scale with residents," Bush said, adding that financing tools (bonds, tax incentives and grants) are frequently used to get projects built.
Council members pressed Bush and later Crystal Perkins, director of General Services, on a recurring theme in the meeting: Detroit's lack of large national retailers and grocery options in many neighborhoods. Member Callaway said Detroiters must often leave the city to shop and urged a targeted effort to bring stores such as Target, Walmart, Costco or Kroger into residential corridors. "Where are we going to walk to? The liquor store? The gas station?" Callaway asked. Bush said national retailers' underwriting practices and a changing retail market since the pandemic are key obstacles, and that the city is pursuing streetscape, transit and infrastructure investments to make neighborhoods more attractive to retailers.
Members moved to combine the relevant agenda items and to send Alexa Bush's and Crystal Perkins' appointments to formal with recommendations to approve. The chair announced "hearing no objections, that action shall be taken."
Both nominees described experience working with neighborhoods and expressed commitment to using EDC tools to support local entrepreneurship and retail that serves Detroiters. The committee's discussion repeatedly stressed that neighborhood retail is essential to walkability and quality of life, and members asked both nominees to make the issue a priority if confirmed to the EDC board.
