YPSILANTI, MI -- Lois Richardson wants Ypsilanti to be grand.
That’s what Richardson, D-Ward 1, wants residents to know she’ll strive for in her new position as mayor of the city. Richardson was sworn in on June 24, the day after former Mayor Beth Bashert resigned after a week of backlash for a racist comment she made during a city council meeting.
Richardson has served on Ypsilanti City Council for 20 years, filling the second-in-command position of mayor pro-tem since 2008. She previously ran twice for mayor and is running for re-election in Ward 1 uncontested this year.
Her assumption of office makes her the first Black woman to be mayor of Ypsilanti, according to the Washtenaw County Democratic Party.
Bashert, a Democrat elected to the position in 2018, announced her resignation on June 23, saying she wanted to help the healing and allow people of color to experience equity in the city. Bashert came under fire when she said she would be “crucified” if she voted against appointing “any Black person on any commission.” She had been criticized previously for not appointing or reappointing people of color to city commissions, a power only the city’s mayor has.
Ypsilanti mayor resigns after week of backlash over racist comment
Richardson recently discussed Bashert’s resignation and the city’s future with The Ann Arbor News/MLive ahead of her first city council meeting as mayor on Tuesday, July 7. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MLive: Why do you think the mayor’s resignation was important to be part of the city’s healing process?
Richardson: (In medicine,) they have to remove the source of the infection before the real healing can start. You can’t really heal when the source of the infection is right there, ever present. We couldn’t even begin to heal with her still there because there it’s staring you in the face always. The racism is staring you in the face. Considering the fact that just two weeks before, Council had passed a resolution calling racism a public health crisis and naming it a disease. So, you got to get rid of the symptom, and that was a symptom. That was a very overt symptom of the disease, so it had to go.
What do you think are some other actions that the city can take to that declaration of racism as a public health crisis?
One of the things that’s high on my list is I want to establish a mayor’s group of about 40 people from a broad cross section of the city. It would be men, women, boys, girls, all ages, Black, white, Hispanic, Asians – it would be broad. I want this group to come together and I want them to help me formulate a plan for healing and going forward. I don’t have all the answers, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t, but I think that working together, we can do it.
When would you get that group started?
I've already started asking people, seeking people out. And I also have asked a couple of other people to identify people that I can reach out to, so I wanted to get it go on as soon as possible.
I also plan to call a faith counsel. Ypsilanti has a lot of churches and they've been pillars in our community. Churches have been a really quiet force. So I want to pull them together, the pastors together, all across the city and cross denominations, cross faiths, and begin to have some input from them in how to move forward.
What are some of the biggest things on council’s agenda that you are looking forward to addressing?
Well, not necessarily looking forward to address but there’s somethings on council. No. 1, we’ve got to finalize or continue to look at the (Peninsular Dam), whether it’s going to be a removal. Now, grants have kind of dried up for helping us get that paid for.
Remove, repair or remain? Washtenaw County’s aging dams face expensive solutions
Also the train stop, it’s still on the agenda. That had passed in another council and we had set money aside. I believe that the train staff would really truly be a blessing for the city, because we’re bringing business, and I think it would be a blessing for the city, and for (Eastern Michigan University).
It’s time to get something going on Water Street. That’s been there, sitting vacant, for too, too, too long. I don’t know what, given the climate that we’re living in, what can actually be done there but that is something that as council person has never left my radar. I’ve always been thinking and saying and bringing it up to Council every now and then, ‘We’ve got to do something with Water Street.’ I think that that in itself is extremely important.
What can the city do or say to help residents in the pandemic?
I did a PSA asking people to stay home, stay safe, back when we were really under the stay home rule. I say to people now, yes I know it’s summer, but I say to people, ‘(COVID-19) is still alive and well out there. And it’s out there seeking whom it may devour. It can only devour you if you put yourself in that position.’ So I’m saying people to stay home, and if you go out, wear a mask. Take care of yourself. And I think this is a time that we really can’t be selfish we have to think of others as well as ourselves, and if wearing a mask is going to help save somebody else, then I will wear a mask. That’s the thought we all need to take.
There is going to be another city council vote for mayor pro-tem in November after the general election, where you are running for re-election uncontested. That person will then become mayor through 2022. Are you hoping to be the mayor through 2022?
Yes, I do want to be mayor through 2022. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Voters won’t fill remainder of former Ypsilanti mayor’s term until 2022
What do you want residents to know about you and your vision for Ypsilanti?
I’m with them. My heart is with Ypsilanti. Ypsilanti was my birthplace, I grew up here, I’m a proud product of Ypsilanti public schools. I went to Eastern – and that was back in the day when I had no car, so I walked from home to Eastern.
Eastern Michigan University was on the rise. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit
I’m committed to Ypsilanti. I want to see Ypsilanti flourish and I want to do whatever I can to help us flourish. For me, the word ‘great’ has been tainted. I want Ypsilanti to be grand – I want us to go beyond great. We have the potential; we have a university here. I want to see the university and the city really come together, really work together. A president in the past at Eastern had a philosophy that was ‘so goes the city, so go the university.’ I want to see Ypsilanti Community Schools excel because that will also help the city. It’s all of us coming together and all of us being able to say, ‘I love Ypsilanti. It’s my home and I want to see it be all that it can be.’
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