Monday, September 15, 2008

Mayor puts drag racing plans in reverse

I hate to break the news to all the Flint Expatriates and residents who were gearing up for the drag racing season, but Mayor Don Williamson, in his infinite wisdom, has pulled the plug on his own ridiculous project. At least for now.


Joe Lawlor of The Flint Journal reports:

Plans for a drag strip on Bluff Street have come to a screeching halt.

Mayor Don Williamson on Saturday said it's too late in the season to do any racing on Bluff Street.

"These things take time, and you need to do planning," Williamson said. "We ran out of time, and we ran out of gas."

That means racing on Bluff Street likely won't happen at all, because Kettering University is building a research center there, and Williamson said he's moving forward with plans for a permanent drag strip south of the Flint River at the "Chevy in the Hole" site. The permanent drag strip would be built in the spring, the mayor said.

But don't worry, the mayor has created the perfect venue for illegal street racing — at taxpayer expense:

Resident Tina Morris, who lives near Bluff Street, said she's happy it's not happening.

"That's great news," Morris said. "I'm glad. Now if we can just get (racers) off the street in the middle of the night."

Morris said in some ways it's too late. Racers are using Bluff Street illegally anyway, because now there's a newly paved street that has start and finish lines marked for the racers.

"We need the police to patrol there," Morris said.



1 comment:

  1. another king don projected getting put on the back burner that's not something you see on regular basis

    how about the following

    kids petting zoo, now the site of the mega lot on linden rd

    veterans hospital at the site of the old winchester hospital across from the poop factory...oh yeah the cemetary bought the property

    the mega sports complex now mt.williamson

    lots of ideas and signs...we must have very short memories

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.