Published
Wed, Jun 28, 2017, 21:19
- The group discussed highlighting local talent and extending licensing hours with a receptive mayor.
Prominent members of the Detroit techno community met with mayor Mike Duggan to talk about dance music in the city last week.
Theo Parrish, Mike Banks, Omar-S and Underground Resistance manager Cornelius Harris all met with Duggan, the city's Democratic mayor, at the record store and techno museum Submerge. According to the Detroit Metro Times, the group discussed how Detroit could better support its local techno scene, as well as relaxing licensing laws in order to improve the city's nightlife. Though no official policy directives or changes have come out of the meeting yet, Duggan sounded receptive to the ideas, and seemed open to the idea of hiring a staff member to look after nightlife.
"I feel like if the government designates something as the place where the creative types should go, I get a sense that a bunch are going to go the other way, just by their nature," Duggan said.
"I don't have any problem with [allowing parties to go later]," he added. "I was supportive of the 4 AM bar activity. We need to do it in a way that's sensitive to neighbors and the like, but I think if we plan it together we can do it."
"We can get the people here, we can do all that," Harris also said. "We don't need help from the city for that, we're just looking for an environment that's amenable for that kind of thing happening."
The mayor also discussed proposals for making the city more friendly to drag racing for its community of auto enthusiasts, including making the costly and underused City Airport into a racetrack.