Mayor Bing wins 4-year term in Detroit

DETROIT, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Pistons star Dave Bing, who became mayor of Detroit in a special election last year, won a four-year term Tuesday.

With all votes counted, Bing led with 58 percent to 42 percent for the runner-up, Tom Barrow, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Bing heads a city battered by long-term economic decline -- first the movement of auto plants out of the city and the decline of the U.S. auto industry and, more recently, the national recession. The mayor's office became vacant when Kwame Kilpatrick resigned after pleading guilty to perjury.

"Thank you, Detroit," Bing said Tuesday night. "Thank you for the chance to finish the job that was started several months ago. Together we can now put Detroit back on the right path."

Bing, who worked in a bank during the off-season while he was with the Pistons, founded Bing Steel in 1980, opening with four employees. He built it into a conglomerate, the Bing Group, which is still headquartered in Detroit.