Thursday, June 23, 2011

More On Civic Park School Vandalism

Blake Thorne of The Flint Journal reports on the urban miners stripping Civic Park School:

Authorities have been called to the school at 1402 W. Dayton St. seven times between June 7 and 21, said Stephen Todd, Flint’s 911 administrator.

Some of the calls were for reports of suspicious people, two were for malicious destruction of property and at least two callers also requested the fire department, Todd said.

Flint School District officials are aware of the problem, and workers will secure the openings “as soon as possible,” said district spokesman Robert Campbell.

“It’s an old, tired game of keep-away,” Campbell said. “You secure the structure, you do what you can do to keep people out of it and the vandals do what they can to get in.

“It’s extremely frustrating and disappointing,” he said.

Go here to see the earlier Flint Expatriates post on the vandalism, including photos.


13 comments:

  1. The city should remove the building and salvage what's left and try to figure out the next target of of the "urban miners" in the vicinity. I don't know how sophisticated they are - as far as trucks and equipment they use to strip these buildings but, it seems like someone on the receiving end should know that the materials are stolen. Next, it will be Summerfield or Longfellow and the primary units in the area. Alarm systems have to be answered if the buildings are in use. Who knows if anyone will show up anyway though. They are strapped if they are off fighting a rash of other fires someplace else as happened last week. It's summer again and here it comes.

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  2. I'd pay good money for one of those classroom American flag stands with original flag, as a present for my Dad who attended Civic Park.

    I don't know how to proceed on that other than to steal one, though, and that wouldn't exactly be consistent with the concept.

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  3. It never ceases to amuse me that the two least moral business categories in the known universe, pawn shops and scrap buyers, are totally immune from even vaguely sensible responsibility for the socially destructive criminal actions they enable and profit from.

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  4. http://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/index.ssf/2011/08/letter_civic_park_neighborhood.html


    Hello everyone,
    I don't have a profile here yet...not really sure how to make one anyhow.
    But I saw this story/letter online and thought of FlintExpats. This is a great site; glad my sis pointed it out.
    I grew up until I think I was 8 ('78) on little Colby St by Civic Park Elementary...I see my cousin has a profile here - - David, and his brothers Paul & Phillip lived on the other side of the school on Forest Hill.
    It looks so sad now there in that area. I haven't driven through in awhile but my cousins have and posted pics on FB. I did go onto Google Earth streetview and saw how it looked - sheesh! So many boarded up houses!
    I have great memories of living there -- some fuzzy memories though too that I wish I had a clearer recollection of.

    Troy M.

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    1. Hi Troy I also lived on Colby St. I lived there for a long time. I remember a Troy and his sister living across the street although I do not remember her name I think your fathers name was Eddy.

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    2. Hello,
      Rachel is her name.
      My Mom's is Pauline.
      And the clincher is the "Eddy" part. LOL. I'm named after him so he's also Troy.

      Might I ask who you are?
      Which house were you in? Remember, I was pretty young so some memories are fuzzy.
      My friend Pat lived down on or by the corner towards....Rankin. Rachel was friends with his sister, Sarah. My other friend Jason lived on Rankin; if I recall, his parents and sister were deaf but he was not!
      You said you lived there a long time. Shall I assume you were an adult back in the 70's there?
      .........I miss Double D Market. Used to ride by bike there BY MYSELF and buy 3 loaves of bread for $1. LOL!
      Used to ride our Big Wheels around the block and the "mean old lady" at the other end...Dartmouth?...would yell at us for being too loud. HAHA

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    3. Hello,

      I'm Troys sister, Rachel. I remember right across the street from us there was a family with a son named Gary if my memory is correct. Next to there was a large family. I remember a Tony, and his sister Anna.... We called her Anna Banana. Not very unique, I know!

      It was nice to be able to actually play outside after dark in those days

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    4. Hi, this is Pauline, Rachel and Troy's mom; one family mentioned that lived across the street was the Pastue's- they were a large family and included Joey,Anna-Banana and Tony. Next door neighbors were the Tilley's with Darrell and unable to remember parents names. We moved there in 1972,our first house. We were glad to find a house there as classmates in high school had grown up there and we knew Civic Park to be a great place to raise children and the school good. Mature trees lined the neighborhoods. Troy was able to play in our front yard at the tree with Tonka trucks, the real metal ones. The history of those 2 story homes with slate roof and stucco outside was that they were all put up quickly when General Motors trying to provide housing for workers-so known as GM Tract homes. We enjoyed the time we lived there and it really is terrible to see the neighborhood now.

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    5. Hi Troy, Rachel , & Pauline. I am Tony Pastue. It is wonderful that you remember my families names (Don't know if that is good or bad lol) that was so long ago. Yes I remember Jason Scheminour (spelling) his parents were deaf. Gary lived next door to me and his parents were also deaf. Gary and I were best of buds and inseparable, we did everything together. What a wonderful childhood on Colby street wonderful friends and neighbors. Yes the Tilleys lived next to you. Wayne & Mimi, (Father & Mother) Mimi recently passed away. Cathy was my age, Darrell was a little younger. Then the older kids Barbera, Mike, then another girl I do not remember her name. We moved a about 1976 or 77.

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    6. I remember you Tony... for some reason I can remember seeing your room with Elton John posters on the wall lol. I've got an old birthday photo that has Anna in it - let me know if you can see it or not https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1146739510702&l=d1cd54e1ad
      I only always knew our neighbors as Mr and Mrs Tilley - one of those funny things as a kid where you don't realize the grownups have first names.

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    7. Who is this? I do not have face book. Although would love to see the pics. And know how your family is doing. And where everyone ended up.

      Delete
  5. Kirkwood McClellanMay 31, 2013 at 6:38 PM

    That is a lot of Colby St. up in here right now. I knew 2 families from Colby: Scotts and Kellys and I'm not even a Civic Parker. You know 'em?

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  6. I do not remember the Scotts although the Kellys sound familiar probably acquaintances of my siblings

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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.