This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson interviews James Tate, the new president of the Detroit City Council, about the legislative agenda for 2026 and key issues he plans to address as leader of the city’s legislative body.

Tate reiterated his earlier comments in the interview, stating that the legislative body would not serve as a rubber-stamp institution and would work with the new administration of Mayor Mary Sheffield on a shared vision to address the city’s increasing affordability crisis.

He pointed, for example, to the poverty crisis unraveling in the neighborhood of Brightmoor, a historic community where many families are said to earn less than $30,000 a year, and noted that this was a severe reality of economic inequality facing Detroit.

During the interview, Tate emphasized the need for more truly affordable housing in the city to ensure that Detroit remains accessible not just for those with deep pockets but also so that longtime residents can still call the city home.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson talks with Mary Waters, one of the most outspoken members of the Detroit City Council, about the agenda for the legislative body in 2026 and her expectations for the new mayor, Mary Sheffield.

Waters, a former Lansing legislator and the highest vote-getter in the last election, discusses several issues facing the city that the City Council should address. These include the troubled Detroit Land Bank Authority, whose governance has been publicly questioned by frustrated residents, hiringDetroiters and placing them in jobs that pay livable wages, as well as the pressing issues of affordable housing and the state of homelessness in the city.

Waters, who has been assigned to the council’s Budget Committee, also discussed her recent conversations with the current Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, about helpingto address the homelessness crisis in the city, especially regarding resources for shelters to house families.

During the interview, the councilwoman advised Mayor Sheffield to build a mutually respectful relationship with the City Council to ensure an effective partnership that prioritizes the needs of all residents, including the most vulnerable.

This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson discusses the road ahead for Detroit's incoming mayor, Mary Sheffield, who is set to take office in January 2026. Sheffield faces a series of challenges in the city, including how to address the stark poverty crisis highlighted by the 2024U.S. Census report. The Census data show that Detroit has the highest poverty concentration among cities with a population of half a million or more.

Additionally, the report indicates that more than half of Detroit’s children live in extreme poverty.

Thompson believes that the new Sheffield administration must act quickly to address the issue of inequality, because many Detroit families are facing a crisis of affordability, including seniors who are being priced out of their once-affordable apartments around downtown.

Central to the discussion is who will oversee the jobs and economy portfolio, especially after Sheffield announced her longtime chief of staff, Brian White, as the next deputy mayor for Detroit. Thompson urges listeners and viewers to pay close attention to whoever is appointed to the influentialroles in jobs and the economy, because that position will connect to affordability concerns for economically disadvantaged Detroiters, as well as to mega investors who are looking to the new administration to back their development deals.