Flint to Downsize Itself

[DetroitDad]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/bu...t.html?_r=1&hp

FLINT, Mich. — Dozens of proposals have been floated over the years to slow this city’s endless decline. Now another idea is gaining support: speed it up.

Instead of waiting for houses to become abandoned and then pulling them down, local leaders are talking about demolishing entire blocks and even whole neighborhoods.

The population would be condensed into a few viable areas. So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.

“Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life,� said Dan Kildee, the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint. “We need to control it instead of letting it control us.�

[ccbatson]

Thank you liberal socialist union happy Michigan.

[Gannon]

Thank you wisdom and logic for showing these leaders in this down-and-out city a way to a manageable future.

You are such a one-note fear-monger, Cc, that you are unbelievable to the extreme!


I've been saying that Detroit needs to do this too, for years. Get the population close to the support services...make it so the police, fire, and oversight don't have such a wide coverage area.

It only makes sense.

[raptor56]

So you move people out of their homes into a more centralized area. Sounds like the formation of ghettos.

[ccbatson]

Come on now Raptor...PC liberals call it "combating sprawl"

[Detroitej72]

So you move people out of their homes into a more centralized area. Sounds like the formation of ghettos.

Not if they pay them fair market value for the houses they vacate. Since Flint is so depressed, it shouldn't cost much.

[vivadetroit]

They are tearing down a 6-block area of historic homes near Hurley Hospital to build a "park". My sister-in-law's family owned a gorgeous 3-story home, built in 1895, across the street from Hurley. Hurley bought it for less than $60K. They are tearing it down in 6 weeks. Sad since this house was amazing.

[oladub]

“Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life,� said Dan Kildee, the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint. “We need to control it instead of letting it control us.�

"We need to control IT instead of letting IT destroy US"? That statement might be saying a lot about the problem in Flint. At first read, Dan Kildee seems to be speaking for all the people in Flint. A different read is that Mr. Kildee is speaking of the government's ability to control its subjects. Somehow, if the same subjects who laid waste to Flint were just herded into a smaller area, they will be more controllable by the same people who previously ran their factories and government. Think prisons. Without jobs though, how are all these newly confined people going to have money to shop at the newly condensed stores? Maybe they could spend the fair market value that they were offered until it runs out.

After the residents had been condensed and received "fair market value" so they could be better managed elsewhere, some huge profits could be made. The vacated and cleansed neighborhoods could be put up for sale to developers. Since the old neighborhoods already have grids of water lines, sewage lines, and streets, and the infrastructure to support them, the old neighborhoods could be built from scratch and marketed to retirement communities or whatever new demographic groups could be attracted. Clearing and rehabilitating could be paid for by taxpayers and the profits could be made by private developers. Of course, government entitees such as Mr. Kildee, "the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint" would then be able to assess the vacated properties at their new and higher value. This is exactly what happened when in "Kelo vs. New London" the Supreme Court ruled, in part, that because New London had a development plan, eminent domain could be extended to chase residents from their homes because proposed develpoment could bring in more tax revenue.

[Mama Jackson]

"What "the other hospital" are you referring to?"

We also have a hospital named McLaren and Genesys, though Genesys is outside of the city limits in Grand Blanc. Genesys used to be St. Joseph Hospital, on the east side serving city residents. They built out of Flint, a beautiful new facility, tons of acreage-room to grow. You probably have seen it on one of your trips up north.