City Council President Mary Sheffield is running for Mayor, leaving District 5 open for new representation for the first time in more than a decade.

District 5 police Commissioner Willie Burton and UAW retiree Renata Miller are facing each other for the seat.

Burton’s campaign

Willie Burton was the youngest police commissioner in the U.S. when he took his seat in 2014. Before his election, he served for two years on the Detroit Public Schools Police and Public Safety Oversight Committee and then as Director of Community Relations for Wayne County Commissioner Martha Scott.

Burton’s campaign website calls for improving public transit, lowering water rates, and pushing for more affordable housing.

But Burton says his biggest concern is improving mental health support and services in the city. He says if he wins, he plans to hold a mental health symposium within his first 100 days in office.

“Our community has to be educated as well when it comes to crisis intervention training, which is Mental Health First Aid, as well as training our officers,” Burton said.  “So we have our officers as trained, which is one thing, but our community has zero training. The business partnerships in the city has zero training.”

Burton says he wants to see Detroit receive a state-of-the-art triage center and social workers with more boots on the ground to help with issues from domestic violence to homelessness.

Miller’s campaign

Renata Miller is a UAW retiree. She is a founder of the Detroit Historic District Alliance and a community ambassador to the Detroit Opera House. Miller has served as president, vice president, and membership chair of the Historic Indian Village Association. She is also the program director of the Lawn Academy, an organization that teaches environmental stewardship and provides job training to youth in Detroit.

Miller’s campaign page says she is committed to protecting Detroit’s historic neighborhoods—advocating for community-led development, and ensuring government transparency.

Miller also advocates for more jobs in the city, quality affordable housing, and improved safety in the neighborhoods.

At a candidate meet and greet event hosted by the community group and podcast Detroit is Different, Miller said the best way to serve the public is to meet with the public.

“You have to get out to your residence,” Miller said. “You’re not, you shouldn’t even act or move without coming to the community. They know what they want, and they know what they desire for their neighborhood. Some of them have plans that you will never think about, but if you don’t engage with them or talk with them, you’ll never know what the desire is.”

Controversial candidates

Both Miller and Burton have faced criticism in the media. The Detroit Free Press described the race for District 5 as an “unenviable choice” for its residents, as both candidates have had their fair share of legal issues in the past.  

Burton was arrested during a Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting in 2019, where the Detroit police department’s controversial use of facial recognition was being discussed. The board chair had Burton removed after warning multiple times that he was out of order. Burton was handcuffed, but not charged.

Renata Miller’s record includes a 2001 bankruptcy filing, multiple lawsuits with Southfield and Bloomfield Hills landlords, and a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction in 2003.

Political analyst Mario Morrow says it’s in both candidates’ interests to speak up about their faults.

“Before they take the seat, they need to go out here and campaign hard and admit their flaws. Then, when they get into the seat, say, ‘We won’t make those mistakes again, and we’re going to do better by our constituents, ’” Morrow said.

Morrow says the issues that most affect residents in District 5 are the same for the rest of the city, so the next council member in the seat needs to be able be dependable.

“It doesn’t matter who the mayor is, the city council has a big role to play, even though it’s a strong merit mayoral endorsed government. People are really concerned about the future of the city, and… people are fearful of change, and this change over is causing a lot of confusion, especially in District 5,” Morrow said.

*After multiple attempts by WDET, Renata Miller declined to be interviewed.

More election coverage

For months, Detroiters and suburbanites have had their eyes on the mayoral race. That’s for good reason: Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor and the mayoral race is the most competitive it’s been in years. It’s also very likely that the city will have a Black mayor once again.

But other races in Detroit deserve attention. Twenty-two candidates are competing in the Detroit City Council primary races. Those seats matter — the people who win those positions are the city’s legislators. They decide what ordinances get passed, what norms are established, and which ones fade away. 

Bridge Detroit has been hosting town halls in every Detroit district leading up to Tuesday’s primary election. For more on what issues are uniting and dividing residents, The Metro brought into the WDET studios the two people leading those town halls: journalists Bryce Huffman and Malachi Barrett.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

More stories from The Metro

Federal immigration enforcement has ramped up under the Trump administration, leaving many in Detroit’s immigrant communities feeling anxious and unsettled. Policies have shifted the ground beneath them, especially in District 6, home to much of Southwest Detroit’s immigrant population.

Gabriela Santiago‑Romero represents that area on Detroit City Council. For her, the issue is personal. She’s a Mexican immigrant who grew up in the same neighborhood she now serves. Since enforcement efforts have increased, she’s been more present in the community, talking with neighbors about their rights and advocating for ways they can live with less fear.

Today, she joins us on The Metro to talk about the pressure, opportunity, and accountability shaping both her work and her community and what it means to take on issues deeply connected to her own identity.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

More stories from The Metro

Michigan’s conservation districts are raising concerns as they face increasing financial challenges and potential cuts in federal funding. 

Officials from the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts are asking lawmakers in Lansing to boost state funding to help support the many environmental programs managed by these local groups. 

“The main goal of conservation districts is to provide locally led efforts to protect and manage natural resources in each community,” said Rivka Hodgkinson, director of the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts. “One of the strengths of these districts is that they can respond to the specific needs of their local areas.”

Michigan has 75 conservation districts that work to connect private landowners with state and federal resources. Their work covers urban areas, farmland, forests, and shoreline environments. Since more than half of Michigan’s forests are privately owned, educating and supporting landowners is very important.

For example, in the Herman Vogler Conservation Area along Lake Huron, forester Jacob Grochowski helps landowners manage their land responsibly. Grochowski says most of his time is spent talking with landowners.

“My main job involves visiting their land, discussing their goals, and exploring management options,” he said. “I then put together reports to help guide their decisions.” 

He also assists landowners in qualifying for programs like Michigan’s Qualified Forest Program, which offers tax benefits to landowners who manage their privately-owned forests in sustainable ways.

“This program gives a tax break and exemption from certain school taxes to encourage active management of their forests,” Grochowski said. “The idea is to make it more affordable for people to keep their land as forests rather than developing it.”

However, conservation districts often don’t have enough staff to do all the work they need. 

“I have my full-time job helping landowners with forest management, but I also try to handle other district tasks to keep services running,” Grochowski said.

Currently, districts get about $40,000 a year from the state to operate, but Hodgkinson says that’s not enough.

“Our biggest challenge is that we have a lot of work to do across the state, but not enough funding to do it,” she said. “We’re required to do this work, but there’s no guarantee we’ll get the money to cover it.”

There is also concern about funding cuts at the federal level, specifically from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). 

“Reducing staff at NRCS and USDA offices doesn’t reduce the need for conservation efforts in those communities,” Hodgkinson said. “Unless they receive more money to support their work, they’ll be asked to do more with less.”

In Lansing, Hodgkinson is pushing for an additional $10 million in state funding. 

“Having stable staffing in key positions would make conservation efforts more consistent and effective throughout the state,” she said. 

She warns that if support isn’t increased, there could be long-term problems. 

“If we don’t take early steps now to conserve resources voluntarily, we’ll face bigger costs in the future,” she said. “It’s cheaper to prevent problems now than to fix them later.”

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.