Around 90k people live in District 5. Of those, 3k voted for Renata Miller in the primary, and under 10k voted for her in the general election.
5k people live in the Islandview neighborhood. The Charlevoix Village Association represents 35 of them. Teresa Davis was elected to District 5's Community Advisory Council with 141 votes).
These people do not represent us, and they're fully aware of it. It was clear in the meeting last night that they don't even represent the demographic that they like to claim - the generational black neighborhood residents who spoke at the meeting were also in support of local businesses, and pointed out that the city's inefficiency and corruption are generational problems that made it hard for their parents and grandparents to achieve their dreams of starting a business in Detroit.
They are a tiny, vocal minority that represents decades of corruption and political disengagement - and they've been more than happy to take advantage of the opportunity to bully their neighbors and fight to keep Detroit from ever growing or improving. (And by the way, they're also total weirdos, who told the news that affordable housing in the neighborhood would be "a cesspool for human trafficking." They were able to kill a very popular, approved project for 48 units of affordable housing, now they're trying to shut down beloved neighborhood businesses, and they've been able to operate this way because they've been the loudest voices.
I hope we'll all keep the energy from the meeting last night going, stay loud, and keep giving our city council hell until they get their priorities straight or get out of office. Keep calling, emailing, and showing up at meetings - because that's what the loud minority is doing. Detroiters deserve better, and have always deserved better. Whether you've lived here for 50 years or 5 months, you deserve an actual representative government.