Thursday, January 5, 2012
8 comments:
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.
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I read a few textbooks on Sociology as it was taught about 1970. According to those textbooks, about three percent of the population was considered "Upper Class". The "Upper Upper Class" was "old money" (inherited), and the "Lower Upper Class" was "new money" (first generation larger business owners, etc.). Both were about 1.5% of the population. Reading on the Internet about Sociology recently, the Upper Class, as they define it today, is said to constitute much less than 1% of the population. So I doubt that there are many Upper Class people left in the City Of Flint. Most of those people now live in areas like Bloomfield Hills, Long Island and Manhattan, and Hollywood. Part of the decline of the Upper Class is centralization of business management by mergers and acquistions, as well as attrition of smaller businesses due to economic pressure from centralized big business.
ReplyDeleteSo I think that it is inaccurate to call certain neighborhoods in Flint "Upper Class" and "Rich" today. Most people use those terms relative to the way they percieve themselves. Most of those neighborhoods, that at one time housed auto pioneers and top executives, are now populated by what might be called the "Upper Middle Class" today.
Without getting too technical, the folks that live off East Court and Miller Road are still "rich" compared to most people in Flint, where a third of the population is below the poverty line. Now the "rich" people in Flint might not measure up to the ultra rich elsewhere in the country anymore, that's for sure, unless we include a few Motts that might still live within the city limits.
ReplyDeleteI know a couple of Flint Expatriates who own a "Painted Lady" Victorian home in the Haight Ashbury District. When I looked on Zillow to see how much it is worth, and compared it to some of the biggest houses off Miller Rd., it wasn't even close. So does "Upper Class" depend on "Location Location Location"? I guess so. I bet that same Haight Ashbury house would go for about $10,000 in Detroit.
ReplyDeleteIt would be tough to find any stand-alone house in San Francisco for less than $450,000, and that might be in the worst neighborhoods and/or need a lot of work. But that means many homeowners are willing to spend 50% or more of their disposable income on housing. Of course renting isn't exactly a great option with two-bedrooms going for $2,000-$3,000/month. So are you still rich when half your income goes to housing? Hard to say.
ReplyDeleteAbout five years ago, $450,000 would get an obscured view home on the Bluff in Harbor Springs, but it also would have been a complete remodel, or rebuild. There's several Flint Expatriates that I know up there, also.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video with Flint Central and the Cultural Center. Growing up on the east side near Washington School, I walked to school everyday past the planetarium and attended many events with my Parents and Siblings. Many memories! I moved to Canada many years ago but am proud of my American Roots and of the east side neighborhood. Although upset to see what my neighborhood looks like now. It was a working class family area where the owners took pride in their property and we looked out for each other. Hard to recognize my family home now!!
ReplyDeleteA mansion on Woodlawn Park Drive can be purchased for 100k or less. That is ridiculously low! There are no real rich people left in Flint. FYI: no Mott's still live in Flint. Fact: at night people are known to walk the street with machine guns in Flint. Listen to the scanner, I didn't make it up. With 50% youth unemployment anyone with real money is a target for an armed robbery.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that the stripper who bought the Woodcroft mansion for $190,000 somehow isn't rich or she overpaid or both?
ReplyDelete