Video Tudor Dixon Slams Detroit's Mayor Over Handling Of Crime 'One Of America's Most Dangerous Cities' Former Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon joins Fox Across America With Jimmy Failla to shed light on how Democratic leaders in blue cities such as Chicago, Memphis and Detroit are not paying enough attention to the issue of crime.
Democrat-dominated Ann Arbor is raising eyebrows and garnering widespread mockery for removing all of its anti-crime watch signs across the city to be more "inclusive."
The move even prompted a New York City councilmember, Republican Vickie Paladino, to say, "They’re just insane."
The Michigan city announced on Tuesday that, at the direction of the city council, it completed the citywide removal of more than 600 neighborhood watch signs. In a statement, the city explained that "removing the signs aligns the city’s environment with its commitment to inclusive, evidence-based public safety."
The decision to remove the signs was made in a unanimous 10-0 city council vote in December, according to local outlet The Midwesterner. The city said the move is "fostering trust, belonging and welcoming neighborhoods for all residents and visitors."
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The City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, removed all 600 of its neighborhood watch signs after the city council vote they reinforced racism. (iStock via Getty)
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, a Democrat, further explained the decision in an official video released by the city and set to music. Taylor said that "Frankly, neighborhood watch signs are expressions of exclusion."
The resolution to remove the signs passed by the city council read that the neighborhood watch programs "were often rooted in assumptions about who did and did not ‘belong’ in a neighborhood, reinforcing race-based hyper-vigilance and suspicion particularly toward Black, Brown, and other marginalized residents and visitors," according to The Midwesterner.
In its statement, the city called the neighborhood watch program "defunct," saying that it emerged "during a period of national anxiety about crime and social change."
"Such signage," the city said, "does not reduce crime and can reinforce biased surveillance."
Local outlet MLive reported in January that the city council set aside $18,000 for the removal of the signs. The outlet reported that city officials revealed that removing signs that aren’t traffic-related did not qualify for street funding, and because there were no funds available in the police budget, the city had to draw from its cash reserves.
In a video released after the last sign was finally removed this week, the mayor doubled down, saying the signs are "inconsistent with our values" and that "Ann Arbor is a welcoming community. We don’t want to push people. We want to welcome folks in."
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Ann Arbor Democratic Mayor Christopher Taylor and City Councilmember Jen Eyer, also a Democrat. (City of Ann Arbor official government website)
In the same video, Ann Arbor City Council member Jen Eyer, also a Democrat, said the neighborhood watch program "hearkens back to a time when public safety was about exclusion, was about monitoring and surveilling who belonged in a neighborhood and who did not."
"That is not how we do public safety in Ann Arbor today," she said. "And we don’t want our signage to message to people who are visiting that they don’t belong, because they do."
Taylor, Eyer and another city council member participated in a ceremonial removal of the city’s final neighborhood crime watch sign.
Conservative journalist Andy Ngo posted on X, "The woke believe that law and order are anti-black and anti-POC, hence they call for abolishment."
"Isn't that like encouraging crime?" reacted a popular Michigan-based conservative influencer who goes by the handle "Donnie Detroit."
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Then-Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon campaigns with other Republican candidates at a rally in St. Clair, Mich., on Oct. 27, 2022. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Tudor Dixon, a conservative commentator and former Republican candidate for Michigan governor, also chimed in. She told Fox News Digital that "for years the Democrats have demanded community policing over police funding, but today they have hit a new level of protecting the criminal over the community."
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"There was a time Democrats believed it took a village to raise a child, and now they believe that village is racist," Dixon added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Taylor, Eyer and spokespeople for the city for comment.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
