Flint, Michigan: Government Considering Abandoning Parts of City, Cutting Off Police & Fire Service

Originally posted by xbranscombex
That is where Michael Moore lives..
Everyone can go eat at his house!!

Do you seriously expect me to believe that Michael the Hut would give up any of his grub to the masses he claims to defend? LOL!

There was an article in the Freep today about using vacant land for farming.
It would create jobs, but depending on how safe the area is, I'd be a little worried about getting a job there.

www.freep.com...
Farm could make Detroit hot spot for fresh foods

Detroit could become a center of locally grown food and put large swaths of vacant land back on tax rolls under a proposal to create the city's first large commercial farm. Businessman John Hantz of Detroit, in an exclusive interview with the Free Press, unveiled his plans for Hantz Farms -- a concept that would convert hundreds, even thousands, of vacant parcels in the city into urban agriculture.

reply to post by virraszto


Thanks for that...These are the kind of innovative ideas people need to come up with to pull things back together. Things like this can work when nobody else wants the land. What did people do with the land before building all over it? grow food. What happens when some places that you built over don't work the way you thought they would? go back to the way things were. Makes sense to me. I think part of the problem is people worry about making an old economy last, instead of focusing on a transition to innovation when something is dying out.

On topic...

Not a good state of affairs for Flint, and that's a shame. Order could be maintained by a local militia, but in these violent times would many volunteer?


Off topic...

reply to post by kreinhard


See this kinda thing is why I love ATS! You find out stuff without even trying!

I didn't know any of that info about Gibson, I've always assumed they were sitting pretty throughout their existence, with no Fender CBS type troubles. Just wanted to make a point about you criticising the 70's short term profit plan - perhaps, given that synthesizers were gaining prominence at the time, Gibson didn't foresee a great future for the Guitar? So maybe they were trying to screw as much cash out of it before it died? Yeah it bit them on the ass, but it did look as if synths were killing guitars for a bit in the 80's...

Very sad situation indeed.
I used to visit friends in Detroit's inner city. There were several empty lots around them where homes once stood. As a result, several families of wild pheasants had moved in - the long, uncut grass made a perfect habitat.

My friends would regularly go out and leave grain near their back fence for the adult birds and their brood to feed. It was all very "back to nature".

Michigan has an abundance of natural resources and resourceful people. This change away from an old style industry is extremely difficult, but it is not the end. Whether or not it continues to have any heavy industry, it will some day find a new way of life and making a living for its citizens.

I hope so. I count many friends over there.
Also there's the fact that the auto companies here in Canada are going the same way. We here are facing that new reality as well, and so far are not prepared.

There is many parts of Flint that police will not go if you call for help. They will give you a place a close as they can where it is safe to meet them. These area's have police boxes on telephone poles that have camera's that monitor those areas. These are the same area's that you will get shot at for going into if people dont like how you look what you are driving. There is even some neiborhoods that people will stop you and ask you why you are going into their neiborhood and who you are there to see before they will let you in. People die all the time in house fires there because all the windows and doors have bars on them almost in every area of Flint. If a fire starts at the front door people cant get out of there burning house because the bars are made withstand any break in atempt.
When a local high school team goes to Flint to play a sport they are escorted by police because the away teams bus will get shot at if there isnt any protection. I have been to many cities in America and Flint is one of those places where you do not for any reason go to anywhere but the shopping centers. Untill you have seen a whole neiborhood that has a shot up house then the next house is borded up the next house is half boarded up but people live in it the next lot has a completely burned down house with a lot filled with 100's trash bags and a couple of burned up cars then the next house is shot up but has people living in it you cant begin to know how bad it has gotten there.

Looking through forclosure listings there are hundreds in 10-20K range and thousands if you go a little higher.

Not looking good.

I'm going to apologize now if someone else has already said this but I'm sick and kind of out if it so, that being said:

This is exactly what they did in Robocop!!!!

Old Detroit got to be too infested with crime and drugs that the corporations that ran everything (OCP, who also owned the police force) decided to just abandon it and build a New Detroit!

Jeez, I mean it is one of my favorite movies but this is kind of scary.

reply to post by Shadowflux



Holy crap, you're totally right!

Now watch ford come out with a new car, the 6000SUX!
I'd buy that for a dollar!

Good catch!

reply to post by cbianchi513


hahaha, I just hope they fix the target recognition coding in the ED-209 before it hits the streets, that thing used to scare the crap out me.

""You have 30 seconds to comply"

reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira


The crime rate has been going down in Flint because back in the 80's most of them moved to my home town of Lansing.

I moved out of Lansing because it has become ridden with crime. At one time it ranked as one of the most comfortable cities to live in tha nation. It had low crime, good jobs and fair priced houses.

Now its thug city USA.

Fire rescue in north Flint is at its wits end. They dont need to be getting the station shot at. I think its station 3 if I'm not mistaken. The entire Battalion is sick of it. So are the Police.

And it's really bad for all of Michigan...

One family every 12 minutes is leaving Michigan

Really sad.

Probably in a few years, the government will be so bankrupt that they'll have to ``abandon`` part of the country... or force people out of certains region to put them in ``government controlled cities`` or government camps for homeless... where of course you have no rights.

[edit on 2-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by TheComte

I wonder what would happen if they do create this "no-man's land."

My guess would be that things would go 'out of control' in pretty short order.

Which is a perfect segue to NORTHCOM's appearance on the scene, suspension of posse committatus, and viola' - the 'change' Obama promised : martial law.

First at the 'city level,' then up-up-and-away, where the 'sky is the limit.'

Got your passports ready ?

Consider a plane ticket before they close the borders ...

reply to post by News And History

WHOA WHOA!! I live and work in Flint Michigan, for Lear Corp. We supply T&B (Truck and Bus) with seats. I'm a rep of UAW Local 524 district C.
I agree that we have taken some heavy hits and people have lost their homes, but..... I would disagree that Flint is a "ghetto"!! Where do you live and how many times have you been to Flint? We have GOOD hard working family's that care about the community.

A "little" knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

reply to post by goblue


Bull crap!! Where are these places? I live in Flint so please enlighten me!
I went to school with several Flint cops and I'm still in touch with them. So please feel free to enlighten me.

Well Growing up in Flint all my life I sure can tell ya that things have changed.
I was raised on the northwest side of the city in the Historic Civic Park District Here.
On This Page is my elementry school "That is closing" HERE TOO.
My Child Hood Home Where Most of my Child Hood Memories are from this house. Here is a Map of the Place If you back out just a little you can see Civic Park Elementry in the lower bottom of the screen
Use Birds Eye View for a Better look.
Now look at it from the Ariel view From Welch Blvd. To Clio Road up to 475 just past ColdWater RD. all the way back down to 5th Ave. There are Houses just like that one.
And that is just part of the city.
The farther north you get to Carpenter & ColdWater RD. is where it is realy bad.
I am only 26 and when I was a Kid it wasen't that bad.
It was bad but not like this, I seen it coming when I was younger in the early 80's after GM started closing up shop around these parts.
Flint went from a Booming city to a place I would suggest you stay away from.
You know how every Action Has a Equal But Oppisit Reaction ?
That is What GM is Facing now, Its reaction from Screwing My City.
If it was not for the factories in Flint in WWII, I think that we would all be singing a Diffrent Tune,
Something German I presume.
Flint is Where General Motors was founded This is the place that Made the Horse Carrage "With Shocks" that eventualy turend into the Moder Automobile
Look Up the History of this Once " AMERICAN DREAM " city.HERE
I was not even out of elementry school before people I knew were getting killed.
Im talking 6th and 7th graders getting killed by Gang Violence.
Tim Hill was a friend of mine his mother was a lunch lady, on June 6, 1996 tim was playing basketball at a friend's house when he was killed in a drive by shooting.
Another Friend of mine Tykese Buggs was a Twin Brother of Tyrese Buggs on September 16, 1996 Tykese buggs was killed in a drive by shooting. On 08/24/2001 Tyrese Killed the man that slane his twin brother and is now serving a 34 year sentance.Here is Tyrese.
Here is another class mate that is conviced of Murder. Here This cases has a twist
Mr.Sealey killed a young girl while trying to kill someone else in the car she was in.
Now that little girl was a Niec of a Local Rapper by the name Bone Skanless of the Skanbino Mob.
2 weeks after her death Bone Skanless was shot to death in front of his mothers house with a Ak-47 he was hit 25 times acording to word on the street.
Within 72 hours of his death Young Kee the other half of Skanbino Mob was found Slain on his Aunt's Porch.Here is the Link.
Between those 2 weeks Other Unsolved Murder's involving people that Killed the Little Girl were also Killed.
Rember those kids who cought the train from HighLand, Mi Here
Well This Class Mate Here Was the Shooter.
And that is just a few of the stories I have from My Lovely Up Bringing. : )

Sorry for grammar I have a Flint, Education.






[edit on 2-4-2009 by FlintTownRaised]

Since I got into conspiracies, I hear a lot about Flint, Michigan.
oh, yeah, Michael Moore comes from FLint, this explains that

I grew up in Flint Michigan. When the economy in Flint started drying up in the 1980's my family moved to the West Coast to follow the jobs. The small city of 55,000 where I currently live in Oregon has an unusually high percentage of Flint refugees.

I still have extended family that lives in Flint and have recently considered moving back because of the low cost of Real-Estate there. Even though Real-Estate in Oregon has plummeted in the past 18 months, it is still beyond the affordability of the Median Salary for this region. It's tempting when you consider the cost of a down-payment on a $450,000 home in Oregon compared to buying a comparable house outright, all bought and paid for, for but a fraction of that in Flint. And I know I'm not the only Flint Refugee that has considered taking advantage of low home prices and moving back.

Unfortunately, the neighborhood I grew up in the first half of my life hasn't been as hard hit as others. The price of Real-Estate in my old haunting grounds is comparably high still.

Flint (and all of Michigan for that matter) simply has to redefine themselves in these tough financial times. The storm had been brewing in Flint & Detroit for 30 years now but their Civic Leaders have failed them giving in to corruption and taking bribes under the table instead of renovating their economy. Still, all is not lost for Flint. It is simply time for these communities to come together and come up with solutions that better the community as a whole, rather than line the pockets of a few corrupt Politicians and Union Members and CEOs.

Sometimes, it is darkest before the dawn. Sometimes, things have to get incredibly bad in order to wake people up to do something for themselves and their community instead of expecting Corporations and Government to take care of them. It's beginning to sound like it's getting as bad as it could possibly get in Flint. Perhaps if enough people wake up and take their community's welfare into their own hands, a new day will dawn on Flint.

reply to post by FlintTownRaised
Just so ya know...

I'm from Jackson...

One of the first cars in Michigan was produced here...The Jaxon...

We had the largest Railroad system in Michigan in the early part of the century...

Our whole manufacturing base was built on autos...

Heck at one time we had Yardman...Kelsey-Hayes...TRW...Clark Eq...Good Year...Aeroquip...Lite Metal Diecast...S. S. Kresge...Woolworths...Fields...and the list goes on...

Now...vacant factorys...lots...fast food joints...

The 2 Goodwills in town get more traffic in town now than K-mart...

Sad...even Hot-n-Now & Rallys left...

Edit: A "Holla" at my old college buddy "Dominic" from S.T.I.R.C. ...Firefighter in Saginaw!!!

[edit on 4/2/2009 by Hx3_1963]

I would like to add that Flint’s woes and Michigan’s in general aren’t just confined to those small, now seemingly rendered obsolete cities and towns.

As someone who has worked in the and in support of the Automotive Retail Industry I can tell you 1 out of every 7 Americans up to a year ago where either directly or indirectly employed in the process of manufacturing automobiles, manufacturing parts for automobiles, manufacturing electronics for automobiles, shipping automobiles, parts or electronics for them, repairing automobiles or electronics for automobiles, selling automobiles, parts or electronics for automobiles and advertisers and event promoters specializing in the automotive retail market.

Automotive retail sales are an economic engine that disperses a wide variety of profits through a pipeline that stretches from the Dealer’s showroom to the floor of the plant that produced the vehicle to even further beyond.

Companies like General Motors have long instructed its 12,000 strong Dealership Body and the independent owners of those retail establishments that the best advertising money can buy is through local charities. Youth, civic, church, athletic and educational programs have long and traditionally found their best source of charitable funding to be Auto Dealers.

What starts in Flint, what started in Flint, wound its way profitably into every nook and cranny of America.

In many ways, as strange and hard as it is to believe, Flint’s good fortunes were our good fortunes as a nation as all along the line the train really did produce gravy for everyone at the myriad and varied stops along the way.

It might be easy to turn a blind eye on Flint’s plight, to blame it on backwards thinking by the Corporations that once made it a might town, or the unions that made sure the average worker got their fair share, or some combined ineptitude of both.

Yet one thing is likely for sure, just as Flint and its sister manufacturing cities were the engine of economic progress and prosperity, their decline certainly is marking the nation’s economic decline as a whole.

With domestic automobile sales 60% off and foreign automobile sales 48% off, many of those foreign companies including Toyota and Honda that use Delphi parts for some critical emissions and diagnostic components, what you have is a whole lot less money finding it’s way in everyone’s hands from the little league baseball player in California that no longer has a source of funding for his new uniform, to the after market custom shop in Memphis that no loner needs to soup up brand new V-8 engines, to the Car Dealer in Florida, to the Truckers in Virginia and the Carolinas to the Railroad men in the Midwest. They are all people who just might have been stopping by to spend some money at the business that employs you, but no longer can.

Ultimately this thread really is about Flint’s newest and next export, Urban Blight, a disappearing middle class, a deepening of poverty in the poorest class, and the wholesale abandonment of people and places that can’t keep pace in a global economy when the businesses they spawn go global and leave the people who helped them behind and forgotten in their wake.

Coming soon to a showroom near you, blight, joblessness, hunger, poverty and despair.