Flint Photos: Kearsley Park Pool

 

The Cowboys of Flint

 I sense this cowboy would get his ass kicked in Flint.

The Michigan Mitten...with emphasis on the thumb

 

Inescapable Landscapes

 

1515 Illinois Avenue, Flint, Michigan.

"We can’t help ourselves. We are shaped by the landscapes we are born to as inescapably as any other earthly creature born to any other ecosystem."

— Margaret Renkl in the New York Times

Buicks in the Golden State

This just might be the alternate logo for Flint Expatriates. It's a Buick Apollo that lives a few blocks from my house in San Francisco.

Flint Expatriates on Facebook

Flint Expatriates

Flint Expatriates on Facebook

Flint Expatriates has a Facebook page if you're interested. Go here.

An Unscientific Study of Flint

I've drawn some very unscientific conclusions after three years of blogging about Flint:

1. Inexplicably, readers just don't get as excited as I do about urban planning issues. (Yes, my feelings are hurt.)

2. Posts on drinking, party stores and fake I.D.'s really seem to resonate with the target audience.

3. People love any items related to Angelo's Coney Island, Halo Burger/Kewpee's, or Slim Chipley, sometimes referred to as "The Flavor Deputy."

Can we come up with any grand conclusions about our beloved hometown based on these findings?

Maywood, California: How to Fire a City Government

Note: I'm re-posting this item that originally ran on July 21 because the comments are really worth reading. As readers have pointed out, the comparison between Flint and Maywood isn't that useful, but the discussion of city budget's in the comment section is useful and thought provoking. Here's the original post...


Like many cities across the country, Flint is struggling to maintain city services; hang on to police, firefighters and other city workers; and still maintain a balanced budget with a declining tax base and increasing legacy costs for retired workers.

But what if Flint simply fired all city workers and outsourced their jobs? Maywood, Calif., located southeast of Los Angeles, did it.

David Streitfeld of The New York Times reports:

While many communities are fearfully contemplating extensive cuts, Maywood says it is the first city in the nation in the current downturn to take an ax to everyone.

The school crossing guards were let go. Parking enforcement was contracted out, City Hall workers dismissed, street maintenance workers made redundant. The public safety duties of the Police Department were handed over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

At first, people in this poor, long-troubled and heavily Hispanic city southeast of Los Angeles braced for anarchy.

Senior citizens were afraid they would be assaulted as they walked down the street. Parents worried the parks would be shut and their children would have nowhere to safely play. Landlords said their tenants had begun suggesting that without city-run services they would no longer feel obliged to pay rent.

The apocalypse never arrived. In fact, it seems this city was so bad at being a city that outsourcing — so far, at least — is being viewed as an act of municipal genius.

One GM Truck You Might Not Want to Buy

G.M.'s chief Ed Whitacre (right) and some guy named Tiger Woods.

Bill Vlasic of The New York Times writes about new G.M. chief executive Ed Whitacre's recent visit to Flint:

Since taking over, Mr. Whitacre has wasted no time. He has promoted several young executives to senior positions, including naming Mark Reuss, a 46-year-old engineer, as head of North American operations.

Mr. Whitacre has also been meeting with employees at all levels of the company, including spending a day last week at G.M.’s pickup truck plant in Flint, Mich.

He went to Flint in a sweatshirt and jeans, and picked a spot on the assembly line. “I made them let me put a hood on a truck,” he said. “It looked like something I could handle.”

Flint Postcards: Burroughs Park

Reader Comments on Flint Expatriates

After a little experimentation, I've added a new list with all the recent reader comments in the right-hand column. I've been trying this for a few weeks, but there were some glitches with the app. It's cleverly named "Recent Comments," and it's an easy way to follow reader feedback without returning to the original post.

Happy Thanksgiving from Flint Expatriates

Buick City: From Cars to Copper

What's left of Buick City is still producing revenue...for copper thieves.

Ron Fonger of The Flint Journal reports:

The thefts are just an asterisk in the long history of the sprawling Buick City complex on Flint's North Side, where only a few hundred workers still produce parts for GM vehicles at what's called Powertrain Flint North.

Much of the Buick City site has been decommissioned or demolished since vehicle production ended here a decade ago.

The thefts apparently came from Plant 36, which had produced Buick engines until August of 2008.